MAC my own! custom Large Pro Palette

So, my birthday was November 28th. And, when my husband asked me if there was anything I really wished he would get for me I said, “I have really been wanting to go to the MAC store and put together a custom palette.” He came through!, taking me to the mall before we went out to dinner so I could make my MAC eyeshadows and face color selections. Voila! – here is the finished palette:

MAC is such a gold standard for cosmetics – with their very highly pigmented hues, array of formula options and fabulous color choices!!! Having the chance to put together my own customized palette meant I could have all the pans desired for eyes, contour, highlight and cheeks in one collection.

The girls at the local MAC Store in the mall were very sweet and helped with the selection of pans to create my perfect personalized combination of colors! I chose a LARGE MAC PRO PALETTE, and three separate palette inserts in this combination: 1 for two face powders, 1 for six eyeshadow colors, and 1 for two cream base colors.

Pre-‘hitting the mall’, I made a list of a wide range of specific colors I wanted to try on or at least try on my hand. This wasn’t something I thought I could do best online – as seeing the actual colors first-hand was the only way to determine those with the shade, color payoff and texture that were right for me.

For the cream color pans, I chose:

Shell – a cream base, perfect for highlighting the high planes of the face, and eyes. Shell is a soft sand pink with shimmer. Its very bendable and goes on fairly sheer.

Vintage Rose – a cream blush. Vintage Rose is a warm brown/rose nude that would look great on an array of complexions. It goes as a sheer color that gives cheeks a dewy finish and lips a just kissed flush. This shade is best applied with your fingers in order to get a natural glowing effect.

The two powder face color pans (on the left of the above photo) are Breath of Plum (cheeks) and Sculpt (contour):

Breath of Plum – powder blush, is a light, warm violet/pink with the faintest shimmer. This sheertone cheek color goes on very light but is buildable and natural looking on. Perfect for daytime wear!

Sculpt – powder contour, a soft taupe matte color. I’ve been wearing this along the sides of my nose and at the base of the cheek bone to provide a bit more definition to the face. Its soft enough to be an easy to wear color, but is on the cool side of its color range.

The eyeshadows were the most fun to choose as MAC has so many color choices. I tried to find at least one color that would work for contour (Saddle), highlight (Dazzlelight), eyeliner (Sketch) and lid (really any of these – depending on the desired look):