MAC Ice Parade Silver Iced Delights Eye Bag (Holiday 2011)

          MAC has unleashed a parade of frosty, glittery, and icy goodies for Holiday 2011.After a brief beauty brain freeze, I decided upon MAC Ice Parade Silver Iced Delights Eye Bag as the one kit I had to have. I fell in love with the eyeshadow duo of  silver lilac and darkened teal with copper shimmer. I also liked how the components of the set were mostly full sized, and not in limited edition packaging. The Silver Delights Eye Bag included the Silverwear / Blue Spruce eyeshadow duo, a Full size Zoom Fast mascara, a Full-size Technakohl eyeliner in GraphBlack, a MAC 275SE angled eyeshadow brush, and a futuristic silver cosmetics pouch.

          The cosmetics pouch is a reflective silver. The circle on the front is just decorative, and non-functional. The zipper pull is a long clear plastic rod with sparkles. It's not huge, but it holds the few products I like to tote around with me during the day.

           I'm actually quite pleased with all the components of the set. The MAC 275SE is a fluffy angled eyeshadow brush. It works quite will with Blue Spruce eyeshadow below. It's nice for applying and blending a pigmented shadow , and I find the angle to be helpful for going along the lashline. The length of the brush actually isn't too short, so it's easy to work with. I only wish that MAC would make more high quality synthetic shadow brushes, instead of the default fur/natural fibers; I'd really go nuts over these sets! I'm quite impressed with MAC Technakohl liner in Graphblack. It's a twist-up crayon type eyeliner. I love twist-ups because they're so convenient and I don't risk tugging my eye with pencil shards. I was surprised at the staying power (on top of primer and shadow of course). It is similar to my NARS Larger Than Life eyeliner, except the diameter of the crayon was smaller. This is great, since I can draw a thinner line. Graphblack has been my go to liner for the past week. I'm considering buying another color in the future. I haven't opened MAC Zoom Fast Black Lash mascara yet.

           Finally, here is the star of the show: MAC Silverwear and Blue Spruce eyeshadow duo.

          MAC Silverwear is a pale frosty silver lilac. It's a frost eyeshadow. It is difficult to get the pretty lilac to show up well. The swatch below required a couple layers I still like this color, despite sheerness. I think it adds a nice lilac sheen and brightness to the eyes. It's a nice balance to the more pigmented Blue Spruce. MAC Blue Spruce is a velvet eyeshadow. It's a darkened teal shadow with copper sparkles. The texture is very nice, smooth, pigmented, and blendable. The mixture of dark blue and green tones made this quite special. It's a nice alternative to a standard navy blue shadow. You can see comparison swatches in my NARS Mandchourie post. My only complaint is that there is a little fall out when applying Blue Spruce. It may be a side effect of a lot fine pigment on a fluffy brush during application, however, a little always makes it under my eyes.

         Overall, I find the MAC Ice Parade Silver Iced Delights Bag to be a nice set. I'm happy to have this eyeshadow duo. I think the colors are different from colors available in the MAC permanent collection, and they make an interesting and unexpected holiday duo. I'm pleased with the other components of the kit as well, so it was worth it for me.

          Thanks for reading! Have you gifted yourself with any MAC holiday lately? Is teal and lilac a bizarre holiday combination? Do you have any MAC basics (liner, mascara, etc.) that deserve more attention than they get?

Love, Dovey.