Mac Burgundy Times nine palette

If you’re looking for an easy to wear, versatile palette, that is perfect for travelling or indeed won’t take up lots of space in your makeup bag, then look no further than the beauty that is the Mac burgundy times nine palette.

The burgundy times nine palette is part of the recent permanent palette releases from Mac. Mac relaxed 4 new palettes including Navy times nine, Amber times nine and purple times nine. Each palette in this times nine collection, contains nine eyeshadows that tie into the theme of the palette. Each palette contains a mix of new and permanent shades.

The eyeshadows are smaller than the regular Mac shadows. They are each around the size of a 10 cent coin. At first I was a little put off by how small the shadows were, as I thought my brushes might be too big to pick up product in the pan. However, Mac got the size exactly right as my brush fits perfectly and there is plenty of product to use. The palette contains a mix of red and pink toned shades, along with a mix of textures including mattes, satins and frost shadows.

The top row of the palette has the shades, Honey Lust, Poppyseed and Quarry. I found that Honey lust had quite a bit of fall out and when applied to the lid there wasn’t a great amount of colour payoff. However, my favourite way to use this was to place it on top of other colours. When applied this way, it really comes into its own. Poppyseed and Quarry are probably the two most work appropriate shades in the palette. I like to wear poppyseed on the lid with quarry in the crease and outer corner.

Antiqued was hands down one of my favourite colours in the palette. It is such a beautiful warm, coppery brown that when placed on the lid and buffed into the crease gives such beautiful tones and really makes blue and green eyes sparkle. Embarked is a more muted cooler red brown colour. While this is a lovely colour, it is one that I really don’t like, as I find that it looks a little muddy on my eyes. This is a personal thing, rather than anything with the colour as it can look really beautiful on other people’s eyes. Noir is my least favourite of the palette. It is a grey black with hints of gold flecks and when applied to the eye is a little patchy and the gold doesn’t really transfer to the lid. I sometimes use Noir to deepen out the outer corner when using antiqued, but I really haven’t use this colour all that much at all.

All three colours on the bottom row work really well together, as well as independently. Haux can work as either a crease colour or an all over the lid colour. I like to wear haux on the lid, with sketch in the outer corner, or as a soft cut crease. Star violet is absolutely divine all over the lid and buffed into the crease or even with sketch to deepen out the crease or outer corner. Sketch has been a favourite of mine for a long time and one of the first Mac shades that I bought, so it is really handy to have it in the palette too.

When I initially posted a picture of the burgundy times nine palette on Facebook during the summer, there were a lot of questions surrounding the quality of the eyeshadows in the palette. There had been rumours circulating that the quality of the shadows in this palette were not as good as the single Mac eyeshadows. I kept this in mind when using the palette, but I can honestly say apart from the Noir shadow, there is no difference at all in the quality and this palette is up to Macs usual high standard. The matte shades are lovely and buttery and easy to blend, while the shimmery shades have a real wow factor to them and most pack serious pigmentation.

Over all I found that the palette to have a really great mix of colours. The only down side is that I found it lacked a good warm transition colour. When wearing shades that are in this palette, I love a warm orange or red with these shades and found that the lighter shades were a little too cool to work as a transition colour for me. I really think that this palette is a real all rounder. If you’re someone that isn’t confident creating eyeshadow looks, then this would be a fantastic buy, as so many of the shadows work well on their own and need very little work and even those who are more confident in creating looks, can use all the colours to create some really beautiful looks.

While my love for this palette was a slow burner, due to the lack of transition colour, I have since fallen head over heels for it. I have reached for it again and again over the past few weeks and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. At €40 for the palette, it won’t break the bank and will give you nine beautiful Mac shadows to work with. You can buy it from any Mac store or online here.