Back in February my boyfriend and I went on our first vacation ever to London. Before I go on vacation I always do a little research in terms of what special pieces of makeup are available in the destination I’m going to and create a list of the things that I want to get while I’m there. One day I was scrolling to the Harrods site’s makeup section and I came across this stunning palette, the MAC x Harrods eyeshadow palette. It’s only available at Harrods which means that it’s pretty special and therefore I wanted it. As you can tell I ended up buying it and today it’s time for the review. So, if you’re interested in finding out everything there is to know about this stunning MAC Fashionably Harrods eyeshadow palette, make sure you continue reading!
So, first things first, the packaging. As you can probably tell the MAC Fashionably Harrods Eye Shadow Palette comes in a very pretty and unique box. The box is especially designed for Harrods and therefore I think it’s really cool. It’s also just very pretty. I love the big, golden Harrods building and the eyeshadow colours on the background. I think that MAC and Harrods did a great job at designing this box. It looks very luxurious, like Harrods is, and that makes it just the prettiest thing ever in my opinion.
But of course it’s just a box. Once you start using the product you will probably remove it and it’s not really something I’d personally put on display. So of course just the box wouldn’t be enough reason to buy this palette considering that, but well, it happened okay. Don’t judge me.
The palette itself comes in the same packaging as all MAC x 15 Eyeshadow Palettes. It’s a big palette with a black bottom part and black lining around the lid of the palette and it has a clear middle part. In the middle of the palette it says MAC. The palette itself does feel very well-made but isn’t extremely heavy. All in all I really like the look of it. It’s simple, classic and professional.
MAC Fashionably Harrods Eye Shadow Palette – £49,50/€57,60
Moving on to what’s inside the palette. Obviously it’s no surprise that it’s filled with eyeshadows since we’re dealing with an eyeshadow palette over here, but that’s not what I meant with that. What I was trying to say is let’s take a look at the colours. Like most of the palettes I buy and own, this one comes with a ton of stunning neutral eyeshadows. However, I don’t think it’s very basic. And that is something that amazes me since most neutral palettes aren’t that surprising anymore nowadays.
The first thing that makes this palette not like any other nude palette is the fact that it has a combination of neutral, warm and cool toned shadows. You got your burned orange/rusty colours, but also some more taupe like shades. Thanks to this you can go either way with this palette and therefore it is a very versatile one.
However, I do miss some shades in this palette. First of all it doesn’t really come with a good matte highlighting shade for underneath the brow bone. There is one shade that could do the job, but for my pale skin tone that shade is rather dark. When you get a palette filled with 15 eyeshadows I do think that having at least one or those of those shades is essential. I don’t feel like grabbing a separate shadow to do that every single time I want to use this palette. In addition to that I also think that there are lots of matte brown colours in this palette, but there aren’t a lot of good lid-shades. I love to use very shimmery champagne brown colours all over the lid. And lately I do like to use a somewhat darker shade for that area. This palette only comes with 3 shades appropriate for that purpose, from which I think 2 are rather light.
Well, enough about the colours that come inside this palette. Let’s start talking about the quality of these eyeshadows. Like most of us know, MAC shadows are pretty premium eyeshadows. In fact, they are the first high-quality shades I have ever used and therefore I do have a good relationship with them. It’s almost a bit sentimental for me to be honest. Anyway, the shadows are very smooth and rich, but they are never powdery or creating a lot of kick-back. Nowadays a lot of brands, even the more affordable ones, can create palettes full of very pigmented eyeshadows, so the amount of pigment isn’t the best standard for quality anymore. What does tell me a lot about the quality of the shadows is the texture. How much fall-out they create, the kick-back and how smooth they are.
In my opinion MAC is one of the best brands in that category. They master the balance between a smooth and silky shadow and not too powdery/creamy textures. In addition to that their eyeshadows are always very easy to apply: they glide onto the lid. And blending-wise they are the best. When you apply them using a more fluffy brush they will already come on slightly blended. Doing the rest of the blending will therefore be a very quick proces.
Having said that, I do think it’s important to look at the pigment as well. Obviously you don’t want shadows without any colour-pay off, so let’s start talking about that right now.
Vanilla Extract – The first shade of the bunch is a yellowy matte white kind of colour. This is a shade you could use underneath the brow bone to highlight. It is a bit on the warm and yellowy side for my skin tone, but I can make it work if I have to.
Sloane Squard – This is the other shade that could be used underneath the brow bone as a highlight, but again it is on the darker end of the spectrum for me. However I do think it’s a particularly nice colour.
Honey Lust – Moving on to a nice and shimmery shade. This one has a pretty warm undertone which isn’t my favourite kind, but I do think that it looks absolutely gorgeous all over the lid. I’m also a big fan of the quality of this shadow.
Tea Service – Tea Service is a really nice warm matte medium brown shade. I’d use this one as a transition colour in my crease to make blending easier. You could also use this as your crease shade if you’re going for a somewhat more natural kind of look.
Antiqued – The last shade in this first row is Antiqued. This is a really pretty shimmery rusty shade. I love using this in the crease but it could also work as an all-over lid kind of colour. I love how pigmented and smooth this shade is. I think it’s absolutely stunning.
English Accent – Moving on to the second row. First of all we have English Accent. It doesn’t really show up that well on the picture, but when I use this in my crease as a transition shade it does work really well. It has a more cool undertone and is quite light.
Bamboo – Next to that we have Bamboo. This one also barely shows up on the swatch. It’s a bit more on the pink side compared to English Accent.
Pleasing To The Eye – Then we have Pleasing To The Eye, another medium brown shade perfect to act as a transition shade. Do you get where I’m coming from with the shade selection? Anyway, this one is a lot more pigmented and a bit more pinkish than the other two are.
Be Spoken To – Moving on to a really pretty reddish brown matte shade. This one I like to use to darken up my crease area and I think it does a great job at that. I love the amount of pigment in this shade and how well and easily it applies. It’s a really pretty colour.
Dance In The Dark – Dance In The Dark is a little less smooth and consistent, but still a very pretty dark shade. I like to use this along the lash line to darken things up or in the outer corner, as well for darkening things up.
Fashion Haute Spot – Continuing with the last row. Starting off with a nice semi-deep taupe shade. I do really like my taupes. This one does have pretty decent pigmentation, but doesn’t swatch as evenly as some of the other shades do. However, on the lid this does look very pretty and even.
Gift Wrapped – Gift Wrapped might be my favourite lid shade out of all of them. It’s a shimmery cool toned champagne colour, my favourite. It is rather light so I do like using something dark underneath it to darken it up a little, but on its own it’s really pretty as well.
Hyde Park – Hyde Park is my favourite medium brown transition shade in this palette. It has a nice neutral tone to it, it has very proper pigmentation and a nice, smooth texture. It’s a really solid colour that should be in every palette and that I get a lot of use out of.
Luxury Cachet – Overall Luxury Cachet is my favourite colour in this palette. It is a shimmery dark brown colour that I love wearing all over the lid if I’m going for a more smokey, evening look. But it also works really well in the crease. The pigmentation is absolutely amazing and I just think it’s stunning!
Carbon – Lastly we have Carbon, a black shade. It isn’t incredibly opaque on the swatch, but on the eye it does show up really well. It’s nice and deep and perfect for taking the look to the next level. If you want to smoke things up, Carbon is definitely your friend!
All in all I’m a fan of the quality of the eyeshadows that come inside the MAC x15 Fashionably Harrods palette. I think that the shadows are overall very nicely pigmented and they have a nice and smooth, blendable texture. However, I don’t gravitate towards this palette too often because the colour selection is a little bit off. I think there are too much transition shades in there and too little lid and crease shades. But overall it is a really nice collectors piece and the quality is great, so I definitely don’t regret buying it!
That’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed reading today’s review and be sure to let me know what you think of this gorgeous exclusive palette and whether or not you think it’s prettier than the regular MAC x15 palettes!
Oh god! Neeeeed!