PAT MCGRATH LABS Mothership Subversive La Vie en Rose eye palette

La Vie en Rose, one of Pat McGrath’s Mothership Subversive eye palettes, is a set of six seriously gorgeous, highly pigmented eyeshadows.

These shades were made for spring! La Vie en Rose eyeshadows are in violets, plums, metallic gold, glowing peach and daring hot pink.

As with all Pat McGrath eyeshadows, you can apply them with a brush for a more subtle amount of color or with a damp brush for full-on pigmentation. But, if you want to have the best control with her colors, I recommend applying them with your fingertip. This method will ensure the greatest color payoff because you don’t lose any of the product on brush fibers. Although blending out colors with a brush does work perfectly, especially where you want the color subtler.

La Vie en Rose’s hues allow for enticingly bold eyes. As a matter of a fact, you can go as bold as you want with these! The Rose Risque standout pink is fabulous as a lid base or an above-the-crease statement color. Purple Reign is the darkest shade and works well in the outer lid corner and as a lash line color.

This palette is one of her smaller ones, and the packaging is covered in a printed paper (instead of a hard plastic case like some of her larger palettes). The palette sides fold in, to secure magnetically as well as with an elastic ring that attaches to raised paper circles attached by brads on the front. The internal black part that houses the actual eyeshadow pans is plastic.

These have a comparatively nicer price tag of $55.00 USD. I bought this palette directly from the Pat McGrath site, although you can find it elsewhere, like at Nordstrom. This is one of three in this set. And if you haven’t tried this brand yet you might pick up one of these smaller, less expensive versions.

the colors (each row, from top to bottom):

Gold Nectar—a creamy-textured, color saturated, metallic gold
Purple Reign—a versatile true purple that can be blended out for a sheer soft hue or applied with a wet brush for deep royal purple
Pale Fire—an iridescent, soft, peach duo chrome that catches the light and can alternatively be used to highlight the brow and/or cheek bones
Euphoria—an intriguingly muted satin plum with a pink shift
Rose Risque—a shocking fuchsia pink with the faintest sheen that allows you to create an eye as bold as you can go
Paramormal—a medium matte plum purple with warm tones, to amp up the intrigue

It is fun to experiment with these because of their ultra-varied formulas that create an array of effects.

Here I’ve laid out the sequence I have found I like to apply these best. It is just one way of a myriad that you can do it:

I would love to hear about your experience with any of the Pat McGrath palettes, and if you are loving them as much as I am. I already have my sights on another of her large palettes!!