It’s been very educational 24 hours.
First, I learned that seasons two and three of The Great British Baking Show ??? are on Netflix (you’re welcome). Second, OMG! I learned that gray is a legit transition color for green and blue eye looks.
Seriously, girl, I had no idea. Here I was, all this time thinking that I was limited to browns in the crease whenever I wore greens or blues on my lids, but no! Turns out gray works too. And yellow. This knowledge comes courtesy of the new MAC Tropic Cool Times Nine palette from the MAC Eyes on MAC collection.
The release features six limited edition Eye Shadow X9 palettes available on counters and online March 2nd through April 13, and Tropic Cool is one of them. And it’s a pretty distinct one, too, because it’s the one with lots of blue and green. You can’t miss it.
What interesting transition colors!
I had no idea how well gray would work in the crease with blue and green looks, or that yellow eyeshadow and gray would even go together.
I mean, I know it works as a combo with clothes and home decor, so I don’t know why I never thought to pair them together on my lids.
That’s the thing about this palette… It’s interesting. It has all these fun, boisterous blues and greens, which are getting me even more in the mood for spring, but it also has these unusual transition colors that make the whole thing interesting and kind of unique.
The new-school X9s rock
You know I had beef with the quality of the old-school X9 shadows. Well, I think this one’s just as good as Semi Sweet and Red Hot. The powders are both easy to blend and pigmented. There is, however, a little fallout, and I find myself doing more cleanup than I do with Semi Sweet or Red Hot, but that could very easily be due, at least in part, to my playing and getting carried away with my swirling and swiping.
So the palette made me do it. 🙂
Awesome wear time
It’s just incredible. I spent a couple hours cleaning the house yesterday after work and getting it ready for Connor’s B-Day weekend, so I was on the go from 8 in the morning till 8 at night, but Tropic Cool looked solid the whole time. All I did was wear it on top of NARS Pro-Prime.
It’s also kind to fine lines
Of the three Eyes on MAC palettes I’ve tested so far, Tropic Cool is the kindest to my fine lines. The powders look the most “natural” (air quotes) to me.
Well…as natural as blue, green, gray and yellow eyeshadow can look on your lids, haha.
The final verdict
It’s a go! Tropic Cool has so many wonderful transitioning yellows and grays, which aren’t typical transition colors, and they distinguish this palette from so many other colorful blue and green palettes out there. For $32, it’s also reasonably priced for MAC.
I’m so confused a lot of the time by bold eyeshadow palettes, because they’ll have beautiful brights that are ridiculously pretty, but I can never figure out how to make them look good. Tropic Cool makes that easy.
Speaking of The Great British Baking Show…
Last night I learned that because angel food cake doesn’t contain fat from butter or shortening, you need to bake it in an un-greased baking pan to get some height. That way the batter can grab and climb up the sides of the pan.
Consider that your fun fact of the day. 🙂
Hope your Wednesday was wonderful. Now I’m gonna go work it out in my HIIT class!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Angel food cake… Mmm…
Chelsea says
You’re like a mermaid! Love the way you transition them.
Hope you have fun in HIIT! I did a silks class tonight and had a lot of fun. Then we went to go see Get Out.
Karen says
I’ve been wanting to see that movie! Did you like it? I remember you not liking scary movies for some reason…
Sarahc says
LOVE The Great British Baking Show and this look. I like this palette but I wish the yellow shades were more transitiony greens and blues.
Karen says
The Great British Baking Show is the best! Last night I learned all about breadsticks…
Chris25 says
That’s a cool fact about angel food cake. I’ve always wondered why you’re not supposed to grease it.
Your eye makeup looks great! Those blues look so pretty on you.
Erin says
Very pretty!
Jessica says
I really like the look you did with this palette.
Grey is such a fantastic definition/transition color…I use it a lot with blues and greens.
LindaLibraLoca says
I have been using grey as a transition color with almost everything lately, somehow brown looked strange lately. Too warm.
Laurie says
So interested to hear you say that gray is a legitimate transition color for me! I just commented on Perilously Pale that I wish gray would be considered a neutral, as it is in clothing, because brown is just not for me. Every so often, including recently, I’ll try browns, but then I realize I just don’t like how they look and go back to my grays. There are a couple of gray palettes I have my eye on, but it’s really tough to find just the right light shade of gray, as so many are more silver than gray or taupe-gray or greige rather than actual gray, but still, yay! Thank you for validating my choice. I know it’s silly to need somebody to tell me it’s okay to wear gray, but still, thanks.
Valentina Chirico says
Wooow MAC has chosen the right name for this cool palette… the yellow is surprising! 🙂
Monika says
YAY! I’ve been waiting to see what you’d cook up with this palette because I immediately wanted it when I saw it in the press release. I’m so happy you love the quality of it because I want to buy this one and the other two you’ve reviewed so far since they have colors that I really want in my eyeshadow collection. Hope you end up reviewing in the flesh since that one looks better than I thought it would, too!
Rachel says
Good to know about the show, there aren’t very many good food/cooking shows on Netflix imo but I like that one!