The New MAC Pro Pallets: The Good, The Bad, and the Slightly Less Beautiful

For those of you who didn't already know, MAC recently launched a new and "improved" Pro Pallet design. The pallets now feature customizable inserts including a 15-eyeshadow, a 6-blush, a 24-well, and 12-well insert. Inserts are sold separately from the actual pallet and aren't actually required. Everyone has been posting mixed reviews and so I thought it would be appropriate to throw in my two cents.

First off, I've generally always used the Z-Pallets, which I've raved about here and here, in lieu of the MAC Pro Pallets. Why? Because the clear tops make it easy to grab the right pallet at a glance and the bottom is magnetized, eliminating the need for pesky magnetic sheets.

Without further adieu...

The New MAC Pro Pallets

Can you play name that eyeshadow?

Why I Like Them:

There are several "pro's" (No pun intended. Okay, maybe it was intended... see what I did there?) for these pallets. 

1. Clear Lids: Much like the afore-mentioned Z-Pallets, the new MAC Pro Pallets feature a clear acrylic lid, making all of your beautiful colors visible. This is great for those of us who have two or three or twenty pallets, and makes it so that we don't have to open up each one to find the pallet we want. 
2. Inserts: The pallets feature four different inserts that you can tailor to suit your needs. I'm most excited about the well inserts, and plan on making a lip pallet out of the 24-well insert and a full coverage foundation/concealer pallet out of the 12-well insert.
3. No Inserts: If you're still a die-hard fan of the Z-Pallet, these pallets can be used much in the same way. The bottom of the pallet is metal lined, so one can simply stick magnets on the bottoms of your shadows and pop them in. 

Where They Fall Short:

1. The Price: With the conversion from a one-piece pallet to a two-piece pallet, the whole thing has become slightly more expensive. The old MAC Pro Pallets used to set you back around $15 and you could choose between either the 15 eyeshadow style or the 6 blush style. Now the pallet itself costs $18 and each insert costs $9. 
2. The Size: This is debatable. The pallets are indeed larger and thicker than the old MAC Pro Pallets, but I think they're more comparable to the Z-Pallet, in which case they're smaller but still have roughly the same interior dimensions. If you're an old pro pallet user, this might be a con for you.
3. Non-Magnetized Bottom: Unlike the Z-Pallet, the base of these pallets are metal, so one must first stick magnets to the bottoms of the eyeshadow pans before sticking them in. Strangely enough, MAC eyeshadows are some of the only shadows I've found whose metal pans don't stick to magnets, making this point somewhat moot. When using MAC shadows with a Z-Pallet, one must stick metal stickers to the bottom of the shadows, so this goes both ways I suppose. 

Verdict

I'm happy to say I really do love this pallet, and I'm looking forward to purchasing more as time progresses. I'm especially looking forward to the well inserts and making my own lip and foundation pallets. Below are some helpful tutorials on how to do this. 

Dusty Hunter - Foundation Pallet DIY

Lip Pallet DIY

If you guys want me to take you on a tour of all of my various pallets, let me know in the comments below!

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