MAC Powerchrome Eye Pencils Reviews, Photos, Swatches

MAC Copper Strip Powerchrome Eye Pencil

MAC Powerchrome Eye Pencils ($21.00 for 0.055 oz.) are a new product being launched in the collection. The new formula will be available in four shades: Copper Strip (frosty mid-tone copper), Life’s Luxury (deep bronze brown), Polished Jet (charcoal with pearl), and Rich Glance (light gold).

Copper Strip is a warm, coppery bronze with a soft, frosted finish. It had good color payoff in a single pass, and it was creamy enough to apply without tugging or pulling on the lid. Make Up For Ever #22E is a bit lighter. Clinique Fuller Fudge looks nearly identical. MAC Eclair is also very similar. Maybelline Bad to the Bronze is less coppery.

Life’s Luxury is a deepened, warm-toned bronze brown with coppery-red pearl. It had nice color payoff in a single pass and was buildable on the lid. I don’t have it myself, but a guest swatched NYX’s pencil range here, and Black Bean seems rather similar. Benefit Bronze Have More Fun is warmer. Bobbi Brown Bark doesn’t have the frost/shimmer finish.

Polished Jet is a soft, gray-black with silver sparkle. It had decent pigmentation in a single pass but was more buildable. Urban Decay Mercury is bluer. Urban Decay Barracuda is similar. Maybelline Audacious Asphalt is lighter.

Rich Glance is a warm-toned, champagne beige with a metallic sheen. Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy is a bit darker. Urban Decay Sin is pinker. NYX Yogurt is also pinker. Maybelline Barely Branded is lighter. MAC Mooncake is darker and more glittery.

The first thing I noticed was these seemed small; smaller in overall size compared to other jumbo eyeshadow pencils, but the weight is only 0.055 oz. To put this in perspective, consider these competing brands’ jumbo pencils: Make Up For Ever at 0.14 oz., NARS at 0.14 oz., Urban Decay at 0.10 oz., and Clinique at 0.10 oz. It’s only slightly more than your average eyeliner pencil (which is usually 0.04 oz.)–and MAC is more expensive, by the ounce, than all of those brands but even just ignoring the size, only NARS’ is more expensive ($24).

I wore all four shades yesterday, and they lasted for eleven hours without creasing. There was some very slight fading, but it was minimal and all four shades looked mostly intact. These set nearly instantly, which makes them harder to blend together. I recommend working very quickly if you use multiple shades and one eye at a time. I ended up “blending” by lightly stippling color over the shade next to it and using the pencil’s tip to sort of blend the two together, because most of the brushes I tried weren’t getting the job done. As far as brushes went, NARS’ Small Dome Brush worked the best for blending. The formula is lightly creamy; each pencil glided across skin well and didn’t pull or tug, and there was a good amount of color payoff without having to go back and forth.

If you used this as a base or only one or two at a time, I think they’d be easier to use. I also tried using two shades as eyeliners, and they held up well–there was some slight thinning apparent after eight hours of wear but no migration or smudging. Lastly, these do require sharpening, so there will be some waste (which is certainly a bummer, given how little product there is!).

Where to Buy: MAC, May 16th online (approximately), May 23rd in-stores; $21.00

The Glossover

A-

The formula is lightly creamy; each pencil glided across skin well and didn't pull or tug, and there was a good amount of color payoff without having to go back and forth. If you used this as a base or only one or two at a time, I think they'd be easier to use.

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