MAC Burgundy Times Nine Eyeshadow Palette Review – You NEED this!

Following on from my review of the much hyped Urban Decay Naked Smoky palette, I have more eyeshadow palette goodness to share. The Eyes on MAC collection hit counters recently, featuring a colour-curated selection of mini eyeshadow palettes. Each palette contains an edit of nine eyeshadows (some permanent, some previously limited edition, some new) designed to complement and enhance each other for a variety of themed looks. There are four “times nine” palettes in the collection, in shades of Navy, Purple, Amber and, my favourite, Burgundy. Read on for my review and swatches of Burgundy Times Nine.

Burgundy Times Nine features an edited selection of shades in the (well duh) burgundy family, though it ranges from peachy-bronze to mauvey-grey tones, in a mixture of finishes from shimmer to matte. The shadows in this palette from left to right and top to bottom:

Honey Lust – coppery-gold lustre (permanent)
Poppyseed – warm mauve nude satin
Quarry – warm plum brown nude matte (permanent)
Antiqued – warm bronzey brown veluxe pearl (permanent)
Embark – dark reddish brown matte (permanent)
#Noir – black-brown with golden glitter velvet
Haux – rose-nude satin (permanent)
Star Violet – bronze plum veluxe pearl (permanent)
Sketch – matte burgundy with red shimmer (permanent)

It’s important to note that these aren’t full sized shadows in the palette. They’re 0.8g compared to 1.5g for a standard single eyeshadow, so they’re roughly half the size you’d expect. Though, for ladies who never hit pan on an eyeshadow, this is plenty to work with. At €40 for 7.2g of product (vs €10 for 1.5g eyeshadow refill pan) it works out roughly the same price gram for gram compared to the standard MAC refill pans. To be pedantic, the palette is slightly better value at 0.18g per euro vs 0.15g per euro.

There’s been some mention around the blogosphere, that the palette shadows are not quite the same quality as the standard single eyeshadows. So I pulled the shades that I already had in my collection for comparison. You can see side by side swatches above. While Haux is a slightly different colour, and Star Violet isn’t quite so gorgeously sheeny in the palette, the difference really isn’t huge. I haven’t noticed any difference on the eye. Here’s some looks I created with the palette.

These are some of the more dramatic looks I created using Burgundy Times Nine, but you can just as easily create gorgeous, wearable daytime looks. It’s incredibly versatile, and I haven’t even experimented with a more bronzey look which can just as easily be created from the shadows provided. Blue eyes and green eyes will really pop with these colour combinations. A NEED in my book. The problem is now I also need the others! Amber Times Nine is next on my list. Fortunately the palettes are PERMANENT (woo!) so you can take your time collecting them all!

MAC Burgundy Times Nine eyeshadow palette is €40 and available from Brown Thomas NOW.

What you think ladies, will you be picking up one of these palettes?