MAC Stroke of Midnight Face Palette – warm

The Stroke of Midnight collection made it on the scene just before the holiday rush this year. Its nice to see MAC using some relatively toned-down colors for this collection – as I’m not as tempted to try their palettes when they include wilder colors. In fact I had a difficult time deciding between the warm and cool face palettes for this purchase as they were both lovely. And, it appears that the cool palette has now sold out at many sellers, although I may still see if I can find it.

MAC Stroke of Midnight Face Palette/Warm box

The sturdy black plastic casing of this palette feels fairly substantial in your hand. Its exterior is roughly 5.5 inches long by 3.5 inches, and just under an inch thick. The closure is magnetic, and snug. On the inside of the palette, the lid holds a good sized mirror and the lower half encases three eyeshadows: tenderly – a very soft, pale warm pink with frost; after dusk – a warm, medium tone, rosy pink with pearl; and showstopper – a matte deep black brown (fabulous for smoky eyes).

The larger round pan of color is a bronzing powder in golden – a warm, slightly reddish tan/beige with shimmer. I use it to brush color on the high parts of my face that would most likely tan first as well as the lower part of my cheek for definition and pair it with a lighter blush color.

This palette also conveniently holds an eye kohl in coffee – a dark, rich brown, that can be amp’ed up for night wear to create more drama.

Under a small black flip door (there is an indent to put the tip of your finger to lift it) are two lipstick colors: myself – a medium/light mauve with luster and love talk – a rosy cool medium nude creamsheen lip color.

I can’t say enough good things about this palette, however its drawbacks are that the pans of color are fairly small (except the bronzing powder) while the palette is a bit unwieldy. All the eye colors are striking! I use after dusk in the crease of my eyelid and on the top part of the lid, tenderly under my eyebrow for highlight as well as in the inner half of my lid, and showstopper on the outer corner of the eye as well as over the eyeliner for added attention on the eye area. The lipsticks colors are very pretty but may be a bit light for night wear