Random MAC Neutrals – Cream, Beige, Brown, Grey Eyeshadow Swatches

At one point I found myself lemming for the Naked 2 palette. Then I realized, in my massive makeup collection, I probably had more than enough naked neutral shades, so I really didn’t need to have a lemming for it. I ended up looking through all my neutrals and so many looked the same in the container, I decided to swatch them to see the variances.


All eye shadows were swatched on Meow’s Light Primer. The Blushes were swatched on bare skin.

Row 1 = Creamy Bisque – Vanilla – Dazzlelight – Orb – Bisque – Yogurt
Row 2 = Retrospeck – Vapour – Blanc Type – Jest – Naked – Fairylite
Row 3 = Hoppin’ – Maid of Honor – Sugar Snack – All That Glitters – Patina – Vex
Row 4 = Soft Brown – Handwritten – Nebula – Copperplate – Typographic – Hypnotizing
Row 5 = Crystal – Electra – Hocus Pocus – Tabby – Weathered – Knight Divine
Row 6 = Rondelle – Palatial – Courtly Grey – Majestic – Knight – Silver Ring

Row 1 = Creamy Bisque – Vanilla – Dazzlelight – Orb – Bisque – Yogurt
Row 2 = Retrospeck – Vapour – Blanc Type – Jest – Naked – Fairylite
Row 3 = Hoppin’ – Maid of Honor – Sugar Snack – All That Glitters – Patina – Vex
Row 4 = Soft Brown – Handwritten – Nebula – Copperplate – Typographic – Hypnotizing
Row 5 = Crystal – Electra – Hocus Pocus – Tabby – Weathered – Knight Divine
Row 6 = Rondelle – Palatial – Courtly Grey – Majestic – Knight – Silver Ring

Shade Descriptions
Creamy Bisque – dirty ivory with pearl (frost) (LE)
Vanilla – peachy-ivory with reflects (velvet)
Dazzlelight – neutral with shimmer (veluxe pearl)
Orb – soft peachy-beige (satin)
Bisque – soft muted pinky-beige (matte)
Yogurt – soft pale pink (matte)
Retrospeck – bleached blonde (lustre)
Vapour – soft pale peachy-pink duochrome flecked with violet shimmer (velvet)
Blanc Type – creamy beige (matte2)
Jest – soft muted peach with icy shimmer (frost)
Naked – fleshy beige with pearl (matte) (pigment)
Fairylite – very pale ivory shimmer with opalescent pearl (LE) (pigment)
Hoppin’ – clean pastel peach (Heatherette Trio 1)
Maid of Honor – chalky grey-cream (satin) (Royal Assets Holiday Smokey Eyes)
Sugar Snack – light pink (matte) (Shop & Drop quad)
All That Glitters – beige with gold pearl (veluxe pearl)
Patina – taupe brown with golden pearl (frost)
Vex – soft pale green duochrome with pink opalescent shimmer (frost)
Soft Brown – soft golden peachy-brown (matte)
Handwritten – rich chocolate brown (matte2)
Nebula – dark greyed brown with pearl (LE) (pigment)
Copperplate – muted mid-tone grey (matte2)
Typographic – asphalt black (matte2)
Hypnotizing – frosted grey mauve (frost) (Shop & Drop quad)
Crystal – muted violet duochrome with silver opalescent shimmer (frost)
Electra – silver with icy shimmer (frost)
Hocus Pocus – dark sooty grey with silver pearl (LE)
Tabby – dirty grey (frost)
Weathered – dirty blue grey (Delights 6 Eye Cool Palette)
Knight Divine – black with silver pearl (veluxe pearl)
Rondelle – light silver with white pearl (frost) (Royal Assets Holiday Smokey Eyes)
Palatial – taupe brown (lustre) (Royal Assets Holiday Smokey Eyes)
Courtly Grey – cement grey (matte) (Royal Assets Holiday Smokey Eyes)
Majestic – neutral grey brown with silver sparkle (lustre) (Royal Assets Holiday Smokey Eyes)
Knight – dark grey (veluxe pearl) (Royal Assets Holiday Smokey Eyes)
Silver Ring – grey with silver sheen (veluxe pearl)

So I think I’ve got neutrals covered.

Fairylite is my all time favorite pigment from MAC. Nebula is a close second. Vapour has been a favorite highlighter of mine for years. I’ve loved Tabby, and later Copperplate, because they’re both dirty grey shades that really seem to work with my eye color. I like all the greys, really. Blanc Type is a great matte highlighter and great for blending out the edges of other colors.

I also swatched Trace Gold blush and Nyx’s Taupe blush. I read on someone’s blog recently (and I can’t remember which blog I read it on) that Nyx Taupe is a perfect contour shade for pale ladies, so I picked it up to give it a try. So far I’ve only played with it on my hand, but the results were pleasing.

Trace Gold – gold with shimmer (sheertone shimmer)
Taupe – light matte taupe brown

Do you have a lot of neutrals in your collection? I didn’t even realize I had so many, aside from the greys. I knew I had a lot of greys. Do you see any shades you like? Would you wear any of these?

Some products were purchased by me. Some were gifts from friends or family. All opinions are my own.

26 Comments

  1. NYX’s Taupe blush looks nearly identical to a La Femme eyeshadow pan I got and which I use for contouring. La Femme makes some killer products, especially their blushes. And they’re all under $3 each! Best blushes ever. Nothing compares to them. Not MAC, NARS, NYX, or anything else. They’re crazily pigmented & come in so many shades it’s incredible. I was so bummed when I got my first order of 6 pans and discovered they’re much better than all the mid to high end blushes I have. 6 pans for under $18, unbelievable. And because they’re so pigmented, I’ll never run out of any of them. You should check them out, you’d love them!

  2. I found a cheapy palette at Forever 21 that was neutrals. It didn’t quite quench the Naked 2 lemming but a saved a ton of $$$. 🙂
    Like you, I’m sure I have a dupe for every single one of the Nakeds shades.

  3. Great swatching. :]

    I did this to stem my lemming for all the quads from the Shop MAC / Cook MAC. From wanting all of them, I realized I could dupe them.

    Such a good idea, I need to do it more often. LOL

  4. This post is EXACTLY what I needed. I’m getting ready to order a MAC palette online, most of the shades sight unseen. I’m trying to look at the MAC site and Youtube videos, but this was by far the most helpful.

  5. Vanilla & All That Glitters are go to shades for me. I’ve found that if I apply Vanilla from brow to crease, it makes it really easy for me to blend out crease and transition colors. I use ATG as the lid color for a lot of looks, because it’s fairly versatile.

  6. You do have a lot of great neutrals! The Naked2 palette is okay…. I should pull it back out and use it again! But yes, we all have so many colors in our collection, we probably have a lot of dupes for what is in the palette!

    1. I just figured I had more neutrals than I realized. Swatching them all really helped me to see what they are and how they look 😉

  7. I don’t contour often (usually pressed for time in the a.m.) but NYX Taupe is my go to for that. It’s light enough to be foolproof for me & can be built up if I’m looking for a bit more drama. Lovely collection of neutrals! I’m a neutral girl through & through! I don’t have Copperplate but that is my favorite of the ones you swatched. I do have NARS Lhasa & BE The Perfect Storm palette so have a couple of colors that are similar. I love a dirty grey on my blue eyes/pale skin that leans cool.

    1. Copperplate is an awesome shade! It can actually work as being applied lightly on the lid, deeper in the crease. That sort of dirty warm brown shade really works with my coloring.

      Lhasa sounds awesome 😉

  8. Such a nice neutrals collection! I own far too few neutral shades to be honest, whenever I need a soft muted pink I have to use a blush instead. Bright colors just catch my eye so easily..

  9. I have both naked palettes. I don’t have many neutral shadows at the moment, otherwise, I’d stick to just the naked since it’s easier for me to wear. Vex looks interesting:) Hypnotizing looks similar to MC gargoyles glance to me I totally dig that

    1. Hypnotizing is from the Shop & Drop quad 🙂 Vex is VERY interesting! It looks great as an inner corner color or a lid color.

    1. Some of them are from palettes, so where I might not have normally purchased them, they came along for the ride.

      I’ve had many of these shades for YEARS.

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