MAC X Aaliyah Haughton Age Ain't Nothing Palette

Today I have a review of the new MAC x Aaliyah Haughton Age Ain't Nothing Palette.

For those of you who do not know, Aaliyah Haughton was an American singer, actress and model that tragically died in 2001 at age 22. She was a really successful and famous R&B singer at the time of her death. I remember hearing of her name, but I don’t think I had ever heard her music. I was 8 years old the year of her death, which may explain why I hadn’t really heard of her.

I purchased this palette for £26.00 directly from MACcosmetics.co.uk. It is a limited edition product, but it is still available to purchase as of today. The packaging is made out of shiny plastic and it was specially designed in a metallic burgundy colour and it has Aaliyah’s signature printed in silver on the front. The packaging is a lot like their other nine shade palettes, apart from you can’t see the eyeshadows from the front, due to the signature design. It has a magnetic opening and the eyeshadows are laid out in threes. I feel like they could have included a little mirror on the inside of the lid because it looks really plain. This is probably why their other nine shade palettes are transparent. The eyeshadow pans are quite small, but you can easily fit your fingers or an eyeshadow brush in them.

You get nine 0.65g eyeshadows in five different finishes; Veluxe Pearl  (VLXP), Lustre (L), Satin (S), Matte (M) and Frost (F).

LOVESMOKE - bright warm silver (VLXP)

MAGIC MOOR - warm purplish-brown (VLXP)

CARE 4 YOU - medium plum (L)

CREATIVE COPPER - light warm gold (L)

THAT SOMEBODY - soft golden brown (S)

PRINCESS OF SOUL - medium dirty brown (M)

DECEPTION - bronzy taupe (F)

GINGERSNAP - rosy copper (F)

DANCE IN THE DARK - deep purplish-brown (M)

The colour story is described by MAC as being a “moody deep neutral shade wave”. The eyeshadows should be highly pigmented, apply evenly, blend well and can be used wet or dry.

I am a little disappointed by this palette! The packaging and shades do look beautiful, but the quality just isn’t there. I am not overly keen on the formula of MAC eyeshadows anyway, I think they are dry and lack pigmentation in general and this palette does unfortunately live up to that. The shades Lovesmoke and Deception are the most dry and patchiest shades of the palette, even with primer. The eyeshadows blend ok, but I struggled with inspiration for looks as there is not many matte or light shades. It is definitely a grungy inspired palette with a couple of pops. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this palette and I wouldn’t look at purchasing any other MAC little palettes, especially if the quality is supposed to be like this one!

I just find it a little dodgy when brands do collaborations with deceased celebrities. It is like they are using their name just to sell, in some cases, low quality products and make money off them. If the celebrities were still alive, I doubt some of them would have consented to the collaborations as they are!

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