MAC Review: Semi Precious Eye Shadows in Smoked Ruby and Faux Gold + EOTD

I'm not ordinarily a big MAC fan, but the other day I was walking through Macy's and passed the MAC counter and caught a glimpse of the new Semi Precious Collection. As is my habit, I was drawn to the Mineralize Eye Shadows in the collection, and found them to be gorgeous. I'm not fond of MAC's regular eye shadows, but the Mineralize line, to me, is better pigmented and easier to work with, and I decided to give a couple of these "gems" a try. After much deliberation, I chose Smoked Ruby and Faux Gold because I don't have a lot of warmer eye shadows at the moment. They've impressed me beyond expectation!



Smoked Ruby is a very deep reddened burgundy shimmer marbelized with a matte black. The color is deep and complex, and the marbelization is large enough to use just one color at a time, or you can swirl them together for a more subdued look. I choose to layer the individual colors, with the black as a base and the burgundy packed on top to give an iridescent duochrome effect.

As you can see above, the color is very dark, but the red-burgandy is stunning. It's deep, full of shimmer, and it's a very complex color that flashes copper highlights when applied. I love it!

The Faux Gold is much lighter and brighter, an almost coral orange described as being marbled with "gold, lime, and bronze." My Faux Gold doesn't seem to have much (if any) of the lime, and certainly not enough that I could ever delineate it from the other colors, but the gold and bronze are there in abundance. Swirled together, they create a burnished gold color with orange undertones. Lovely!

I swatched them heavily with my fingertip to give you the intended effect of both colors. These swatches are both the result of swirling the colors together with my finger to get a heavy layer. When using a brush, you will need to either use several coats to get this dramatic effect, or you will need to press the color onto your lids.

These colors are truly to die for. I absolutely adore them. I'm not usually into warmer-toned shadows, but these are superior, and I'm so glad I tried them! The Smoked Ruby, in particular, transfixes me with its duochrome effect and depth of color.

Here's a look I created with Smoked Ruby and Faux Gold. I started off with MAC's "Blitz and Glitz" Fluidline as a base. Blitz and Glitz is a black with a hint of silver shimmers in it, but dries down to a fairly matte black. I applied it across my mobile lid and blended gently into my crease. I then swept a touch of the matte black portion of my Smoked Ruby shadow onto the lid, followed by packing the ruby color on top. I completed the look by blending the Faux Gold into and slightly above the crease line and used a slightly shimmery neutral cream at my brow bone. This is the final result:

Taken straight-on

Looking down to show the color gradation

And from the side. 

I finished this look with Chanel Ectriture de Chanel Automatic Liquid Eye Liner on the upper lash line and Diorshow Iconic mascara, my current favorite. 

Bottom Line: These shadows surprised me, as I didn't expect them to be all that. However, they apply easily, are well-pigmented, are complex and are easily workable. They stayed on all day without creasing (with a primer) and there was no fading. The overall effect of the look I chose gave the appearance of a beetle's wing, flashing a duochrome iridescence that's beautiful. I even got a compliment from the cashier at Kroger when I wore this! I do recommend this collection, as it has colors for everyone. If you like depth and dimension in your shadows, I highly advise that you head for your local MAC counter or online to MAC Cosmetics to grab something before it's all gone!