Quack's Passion Pit: Review: A Tartan Tale Eye Palettes + Swatches!

I have to say that A Tartan Tale is easily one of my favorite holiday collections to date. Over the past couple of years, I have skipped most of the items, due to the fact that they were all repeats of the year before. This is somewhat true with A Tartan Tale, but in my opinion, it seems like MAC stepped it up a notch this year. Keep reading to find out what items I got!

So, like I said, I loved this year's holiday collection. However, because I am a long-time collector, I only got four things to avoid owning a bunch of repetitive products. I got:

-Dashing Lassie neutral/smokey eye palette

-Reelers & Rockers metallic eye palette

-My Highland Honey blush (to be reviewed in subsequent post)

-The Family Crest pigment (to be reviewed in subsequent post)

-Moonlight Night pigment (to be reviewed in subsequent post)

Other items that stood out to me were: Cut-A-Caper l/s (unique pink-coral, might go back for this), The Faerie Glen l/s (besides the name, a gorgeous nude); Semi-Precious e/s (beautiful, jeweltoned purple/burgundy); The brush sets (particularly, the bags- adorable! Too bad I have plenty SE brushes, sigh).

Anyways, here are my thoughts on the palettes (I will add reviews of the other things I bought in the next post!). Like I said before, the palettes usually tend to be repetitious year-by-year; they always have Warm and Cool palettes, and some variation on Smokey/Neutral and a Metallic, etc. They're pretty predictable, which is why I was going to skip these without a second glance, but in fact, when I saw them in person, I was kinda surprised by the color variation in the palettes, as well as the general color pay-off. The shadows felt smooth and not flaky or overly frosty.

^^Reelers & Rockers is the "metallic"palette, and it sure lives up to its name. It focuses on the stark silvers and golds that you would expect to see from your favorite punk "rocker". :) The first thing I thought was that Melt my Heart and Gaelic Gold are Silver and Gold pigments in eyeshadow form. They may not be exact, but the color pay off is great, and perhaps those of you who are into those pigments, this might be a nice substitute. Family Treasures is also a notable shade, because I feel like I've seen similar shades from MAC, but they've been blotchy in payoff; however, this one is so smooth, I was pleasantly surprised!

I can see some great, edgy looks coming from this palette- you might find that you already own plenty of silvers and gold to warrant passing this palette, but for me, it inspires the rocker in me. :)

^^Dashing Lassie is the neutral/smokey palette- it not only covers the neutral aspect, but will make a pretty, yet subtle, smokey eye as well. If you have been interested at all in UD's Naked Palette, but haven't been able to get your hands on it yet, you might find Dashing Lassies to be an appropriate substitute. It doesn't have nearly as many colors, but the colors that it does contain are gorgeous, sultry neutrals. The two lightest colors, A Dashing Lassie and Once Upon A Time, are pretty similar to each other, with ADL being more satin (despite being labeled a frost), and OUAT being more frosty. Magical Mist is a silvery taupe with solid payoff; Bronze is classic bronze, as the name implies; Buckwheat is a mid-tone brown with shimmer and great payoff; and Showstopper is a matte blackened-brown. It has been repromoted endlessly this year, but for good reason- it is a fabulous color, one that I use regularly!

So, why did I skip the other two palettes (Play it Cool and Twists of Tartan)? Well, if I wasn't worried about the $36/piece price tag (good deal for 6 shadows, but still adds up!), I would probably have been tempted by the other two. Play it Cool (the cool palette) was so pretty, and I think it would be a lovely variation of the smokey eye- it was a hard decision between this one and the Dashing Lassie, which ultimately I decided would be of more use to me. Twists of Tartan was kind of intriguing, with many new, different shades- but the color payoff seemed a bit lacking, and I wasn't entirely sure how I would incorporate all the bright shades into one look. I love palettes because you can pick them up and have a look right there, with no effort- ToT seemed harder to see it that way.

Swatches: