Nordstrom Exclusive: MAC Cine-matics "On-Screen" Pro Palette Eye Shadow Duos, Double Feature #7 and #8

This year I was lucky enough to gain access to the Nordstom Anniversary Sale pre-buy, as my best friend of 20 years has a Nordstrom card (and a lot of friends in the Cosmetics department). We hit the sale last Saturday. To be honest, I didn't see all that much that was terribly fantastic (gasp!), or so I thought until I got home and realized that I'd neglected to purchase a couple of apparent must-haves like Chanel's Rose Tourbillon Jous Contraste blush (my bestie got it, though. Maybe she'll tire of it one day and pass it along to me) and Le Metier de Beaute's Rock n' Romance Nail Lacquers (seen here as swatched by the lovely Karla Sugar...I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I passed these over!). 

Anyhoo, I'm trying to get over my regret, and I've had a bit of help because I did pick up two little goodies exclusive to the sale...MAC Cine-matics "On-Screen" Pro Palette Eye Shadow Duos, Double Feature #7 and #8. Their colorful goodness has helped ease my pain. 

Double Feature #7 features a slightly shimmering bright orange coupled with a deep charcoal grey with a very subtle navy shimmer. The blue does not show when applied, but does cool down the grey a bit. Double Feature #8 features a brilliant fuschia with a violet shimmer and a deep, neutral, matte charcoal.  Again, the violet doesn't show on the lid, but it does add depth to the color. 

I was a little concerned that these colors are so vivid, they might be a bit...ummm...too much for me. I'm all about the smokey eye, but I don't normally step out of my comfort zone into really bright colors. However, I found that they are surprisingly workable and didn't have me walking out the door looking like Lady Marmalade. 

Here are some shots of the duos taken in indirect light: 

In this shot of #8, you can really see the navy shimmer, but it's much more subtle in reality. The orange is much more vivid in real life, but I couldn't get a shot that showed it well. 

In this shot of #7, you can see just how neutral the charcoal is as opposed to the charcoal in #8. Again, the fuschia is much deeper and brighter in real life, but my camera wasn't cooperating. 

Here are some swatches on my arm: 

#8 in direct sunlight and indirect sunlight. 

#7 in direct and indirect sunlight. You can get an idea of how vivid the fuschia is in these shots. 

I did a couple of looks with these two duos, and was pretty happy with the results. I did find that pigmentation wasn't quite as dense as I had hoped for, and it took several passes to get the vivid pink and orange, as well as a good bit of blending for the two charcoals. However, I was pleased in the end. The colors didn't fade or crease on me for most of the day, although they're not as long-lasting as my beloved Chanel and Dior shadows. I do always use primer when applying shadow; without it, these colors were much more muted and difficult to work with. 

Here are a few shots of the looks I did for these shadows. I'm normally a little more creative, but I was in a hurry and just slapped it all on with the standard "bright on lid, dark in crease" method. 

As you can see, I was too lazy to do these twice, so I did one eye of each!

#7 Duo

#8 Duo

Bottom Line: So, as you can see, the colors are pretty doable, even for daily wear. I'll probably get more use out of Duo #8, but that's to be expected. I found that I needed more product to get real color payoff than I expected, and I was kind of bummed about that. However, the shadows are still high-quality and last 8+ hours with ease. I prefer the MAC Mineralize shadows for pigmentation and blendability, but these are both fun duos and I know I'll get some good use out of both of them. Overall, I'm pleased with this purchase and glad I jumped on these when I had the chance! 

For your chance at these and other exclusive sets, check out Nordstrom's current Anniversary Sale Beauty Exclusives.