So I got to see this collection yesterday, but only the holiday sets were in. I think the packaging is really great this time round, and I loved the furry feel of the tartan cases.
The gold-plated MAC logo was really classy too, thumbs up from me!
The stars of the holiday sets were the eyeshadow palettes, IMO. I just hate swatching them all because there's only so much I can swatch with one hand, lol.
6 Beauties Play It Cool reminded me too much of last year's purple palette, so it was a no-brainer to skip it. I truly wanted to love
6 Dashing Lassie, but meh, the colors looked really ordinary and dupeable, so idk if I should get it after all. I already have Showstopper e/s, the light shimmery shade reminded me of Hey e/s (or any other light shimmery color, really), and the shimmery taupe-brown shade reminded me of Style Snob e/s. Bronze e/s is perm so I can always get it as an individual shade later on. I'm thinking if it's better (and cheaper!) for me to just buy an empty quad and create my own palette out of what I have, since they are so similar to the shades in this palette. Overall though, Dashing Lassie is a nice palette, very pigmented and the colors are well put together, but it is not overly unique. If you like the convenience of having all neutral shades in one palette then this might be the one for you.
6 Twists of Tartan is pretty, but some of the shades had pretty bad color payoff and were chalky. This is a fun palette so I might still go back for it. I really liked the dark blue color, but sadly I think it's also the most chalky one. The dark green e/s is so dark it's an almost-black color. The antiqued gold shade and the green were really pretty too. Finally,
6 Reelers & Rockers was surprisingly the star of the palettes, and it was the one I went home with. All colors were well pigmented, and I especially loved the shades on the bottom row (not the white and silver, but those were pretty too), and those 3 shades alone deserved the price tag of the whole palette. I asked the MA how exactly to wear the crazy silver color, and she said I could wear it all over the lid, with Carbon e/s in the outer-V to somke it out. I might have to try that one day. ;D I personally thought lightly layering the metallic shades over a dark color could look really pretty too, or maybe using it on the tearduct to create an interesting pop of color.
I wasn't a fan of the face kits since there would be one or two colors that I didn't like per kit. Smooth Harmony BP was quite orangey looking so I'm not sure how that would look on the face. I'm not a fan of lip palettes in general, but thought the brown-nude one was pretty.The lip bags were great though! Yes, both of them. I already have InSynch/BabySparks/MellowMood(which I just swapped away), so it didn't make sense to buy that one. I am totally digging the l/l from the Dazzle The Lads bag! I think it'll go well with all my peachy and coral lipsticks. Not crazy about the lipstick though, it was a weird frosty and dark plum-bronze-rose shade. Thank goodness for the l/l, because when the l/s is layered over it, it does somewhat lighten the color and make it a more wearable shade. To pay $70 for one lipliner, I don't think it's worth it, but we'll see...
Oh and I forgot to mention the brush sets! For the most part, quality of the bristles were much better than previous brush sets (but it depends on the particular brush as quality varies per brush). I personally thought the set that has the 129 and 168 in it had the best quality overall. HTH!
