As a beauty editor, it's my job to play with the latest and greatest in makeup, day in and day out. I know; tough gig. And as much as I love it, I have to admit that one of the downsides is that sometimes I feel like I've seen everything — like there's nothing new in beauty under the sun.
And then a product comes along that totally surprises me, and reminds me how much cool stuff there really IS in the beauty world. This week, it was MAC's insane new Spellbinder Shadows.
First, a mini-history lesson: We first saw these shadows in this teeny tiny video that BLEW UP on Instagram.
Like, WHAT KIND OF WITCHCRAFT IS THIS?
At first, the internet wrote that video off as a hoax — but no, my friends, these insane eye shadows are REAL.
These are MAC's Spellbinder Shadows ($22, MAC Cosmetics). They are real, and they exactly as beautiful (and amazing!) as you'd been hoping.
MAC sent me two shades to play with and review.
Gravity's Pull is a velvet purple ($22, MAC Cosmetics) with black undertones. Aphrodisiatic is an intense cobalt blue ($22, MAC Cosmetics).
And as beautiful as they look here, they're actually even better.
To begin with, the magnetic "gimmick" works exactly as advertised. It is INCREDIBLY cool.
The loose pigments contain black, magnetized particles which stick to the magnet in the glass pot.
This means you can do basically ANYTHING to these shadows without ruining them. You can dip a brush into them, you can push the pigment around with the handle of a brush (like I'm doing here), you can knock them off a table without breaking or spilling them (something else I did, no shame in being clumsy) — and then, like magic…
Just pat the shadow, and it goes back to looking absolutely perfect.
Do not adjust your screens — we didn't use any tricky filming techniques. THIS IS AS EASY AS IT IS. Before we shot this footage, I has used these products. I had dug my finger down to the bottom of the pot (do not recommend this, btw), and practically thrown this blue shadow across our studio (also do not recommend this). You'd never know — a few pats, and you have an immaculate eye shadow again.
Despite the way these Spellbinder Shadows look, they are smooth — not ridged.
I KNOW, THAT SURPRISED ME TOO. It's either the way the light reflects off the magnetic pigments, or it's makeup sorcery. One way or the other.
Both shadows feel like literal velvet on your fingers, and have the most intense color payoff I've seen in a sparkly pigment EVER.
While they're not glitter shadows EXACTLY, they're definitely glimmery. I found that Aphrodisiatic (the blue) had more intense color, while Gravity's Pull (the purple, above) was more sparkly.
Here are swatches of these two colors, because who cares how cool the packaging is if the payoff sucks?
This is one swipe on dry skin. Damn.
OK, so all that was impressive — but how do these shadows work to create a look?
Pretty damn well, honestly. I used a beige primer on my lids before I began, but I'm not even sure I needed that — the purple packed onto my eyelids incredibly richly, and blended up towards my brows like a delicate dream. The blue was a little trickier to work with — which sometimes happens when you layer color like this — but was SO bold and gorgeous along my lashlines and inner corner.
I am FEELING this colorful smoky eye, guys. Gotta be honest.
As for how these shadows wore, I noticed that the purple became less violet and more black after about four hours — but the blue remained intense until I washed my face, nine hours after application. YES.
The Spellbinder shadows are available in eight shades — and I seriously want ALL of them.
Amazing colors, cool packaging, spectacular wear. I'm all in. The Spellbinder Shadows are available for a limited time online (MAC Cosmetics) and in stores, for $22 each.
IT'S A HALLOWEEN WITCHCRAFT MIRACLE!
Are you going to try these amazing shadows? Which color is your favorite? Tell me your feelings — about eye shadow, or about black magic — right here, or over on Facebook!
