My 2 Cents: MAC Pro Palette

UPDATE 2014:  I stopped using the MAC Pro Palette and went back to the old one. The shadows stay in place and it fits in my bag better. I accidentally dropped  the Pro Palette (on the counter during use, only about 1 foot) and it busted up 2 of my shadows. For such a short drop, it shouldn’t have destroyed them. *throws up hands* I’m done! 

Let me start by saying that when I first started wearing MAC makeup, I bought eyeshadows in the little individual pots.  After I got a real job, I could afford more than two of those, and I soon discovered that the most cost effective (and least cluttering method) was to buy the pan refills and get a palette. I’ve had it for about a year now.  (PS. It’s easy to get the pans out of the little individual pots too, just in case you were like me and had a few already –just set them on top of a flat iron to heat the glue holding it in and then use a pin to pop it out of the pot. The glue will still be sticky on it, so slap a magnet on the back and Vuala!)

Sadly I am just now discovering that the old MAC pro palette got discontinued.  You have no idea how this upset me.  I finally collected enough shadows to fit into two 15x palettes and they go off and stop making the old ones.  It would turn my mild OCD into a major problem if I had two different palettes so I scoured eBay in search of some old ones.  The “new” ones have been out since 2012, but I knew that there would be some old ones still floating around.  Let me just tell you, folks are proud of their old used palettes.  Bidding was up to $60 and $70 on sets of only 2 palettes. People, please!

Since buying more old palettes was obviously a pain in the butt (and expensive) I decided to bite the bullet and buy the new ones.  I should have protested, but I am a sucker. I figured I’d go ahead and get the Large/DUO version where you can fit two little pan holders in at once.

HOW ABOUT THE SIZE/WEIGHT?

Here’s what it looks like when you take it out of the box:

This is NOT small. It is much thicker than two of the old palettes stacked and a good bit heavier. (Probably 3-4x thicker than the old palette.)  It feels sturdier in hand though, so it’s probably less likely to crack or bust.  But it’s going to weigh down your makeup bag a good bit more, and take up valuable space… so if you’re like me and you tote it with you everywhere, you might not love that aspect.

DOES IT LOOK NICE?

Definitely, I like the way it looks. If it is clean. The only downside of the design is the inserts are made of shiny black plastic. It will show every speck of powder that lands around the pans… and it is impossible to keep it 100% clean.  For some people, this may not be an issue, but for me, it makes my OCD act up a little and I find myself trying to wipe around them. On the old container the flyaway didn’t bother me as much, just because it less obvious on a matte surface.

WHAT ABOUT FUNCTIONALITY?

It serves its main purpose. It holds eyeshadow securely… With that being said, however, it really is a pain in the butt to pop out the insert holder once you get it in. And when I opened it the first time, I pinched my fingers on the middle back because it opens just like a book. So beware if you get in a hurry. The upside is the pans sit in secure enough to stay in place, but loose enough to pull out with one fingernail around the edge. If the insert is out, they are super easy to remove because the insert has holes in the back you can just push through.  The clear plastic separater in-between the two halves has a functional purpose, and it is 100% necessary. It looks nice too, clean and sharp, but it’s not really easy to grip to open and close either. It takes a little practice.

IS IT COST EFFICIENT?

The case is $25. Just for the stupid case!  Then, the inserts are $9.  What a ripoff! So, if you buy 1 duo case($25) + 2 inserts($9) = $43 (and don’t forget Uncle Sam’s part!)  If you fill the case with all eyeshadows in the 2 inserts, you are looking at $1.43 per shadow space.  The old palettes were only $16 but held half the pans, so it is roughly $1.06 per shadow space.  If you don’t use the inserts at all and decide to put 24 shadows into the pan on each side, you’re looking at only $0.52 per shadow space.

Personally I like the way it looks with inserts, but if I had more shadows, I could see where not using them would be beneficial and MUCH more cost-efficient.  Another advantage would be that you can buy inserts for blush and other MAC cosmetic pans as well, so if I needed to carry a lot of powder or blush as well I would probably really appreciate that feature.

IN SUMMARY:

I like the way it looks.

I like how sturdy it feels.

I hate how heavy it is compared to the others.

I think it’s less easy to get open and access.

I hate how expensive it is with the inserts. Those greedy buttholes.