MAC Amber Times Nine Eyeshadow Review

MAC Amber Times Nine Eyeshadow Review

I’ve had the MAC Amber Times Nine Eyeshadow Palette in my collection since January, I hadn’t heard of these until I was googling away deciding what to buy from MAC having gotten a gift voucher as a leaving gift from my old workplace. I wanted to get something that I maybe hadn’t been eyeing, and something I might not have bought for myself otherwise.

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I opted for the MAC Amber Times Nine Eyeshadow palette, but then I had the difficult decision deciding which from the collection I wanted, there’s curated palettes in different colour ways designed to compliment each other perfectly. I decided to go for the most neutral ‘Amber’ version. One of the reasons I liked the look of these palettes was that the shadows inside are about half size of MAC’s normal shadows – and that makes the palette completely travel friendly. It has everything from mattes to shimmers and lights to darks which in my eyes made it a perfect catch all palette to take on travels.

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I’ve held of completing my MAC Amber Times Nine Eyeshadow review, there’s been shades that I’ve loved in this palette and shades that completely missed the mark. Some of the shades are exclusive to the palette, some are part of the permanent collection, and swatches I’ve seen of this palette side by side next to the full size originals you can see a difference in texture and pigmentation for one to the other.


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Top Row: Cosy Grey, Kitties, Georgia Peach

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Cosy Grey is a nice cool beige matte shadow great for transitioning colours, but it’s one of those which when swatched on the skin looks like nothing, it’s a colour that you really have to use to appreciate.

Kitties is a gorgeous pale champagne bronze, great for the inner corners and also a good all over lid colour too for a bright eyed basic look.

Georgia Peach is another matte shade, with a peachy tone this is nice to add a slight wash of colour as a base to the lid, but also good for


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Middle Row: Ricepaper, Creative Copper, Cork

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Ricepaper looks like it’s going to be quite coloured in the pan, but it comes off really sheer. It’s a light champagne shade, it’s not quite good enough pigmentation to be a inner corner highlight. But like Kitties it can add a wash of simple shimmer to the lids.

Creative Copper was the shade that drew me to the palette when I was comparing the swatches of the different times nine palettes online. This isn’t a copper to me at all, this a gold with a slight lean on the warm side. This has quickly become a shade which I’m reaching for everyday.

Cork is a shade that I wasn’t expecting to fall quite in love with, but has probably become my joint favourite in the palette with Creative Copper. This is a permanent shade from MAC and it is one that side by side doesn’t swatch as well as one from the permanent line. I do however still love Cork all in the socket crease and it’s one I’ve turned my hand to use even if I’m not using any other shades from the palette.


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Bottom Row: Don’t Tell, Aromatic, Pepper Please

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Don’t Tell This was one of the other shades which I was drawn to following looking at swatches online. It’s a gorgeous medium warm brown metallic packed with silvery and gold shimmer. This can be packed on for an uber sparkly look – but it can also be used with a fluffier brush and a lighter hand for a sheer more natural look.

Aromatic is one of the disappointing shades from the palette. Whilst in the pan it looks like the exact matte shade I like to use in the outer corners for a smoked out neutral look, it applies and blends really patchily, and requires a lot of time and attention to get it looking acceptable as it doesn’t really build up either. I’ve found myself reaching for some of the shades in my Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 palette instead of the hassle of working with this.

Pepper Please is a matte base dark brown with plum tones, packed with gold glitter. When it swatches the gold is a lot less obvious than how it first appears like it might do. It is quite similar to Aromatic but with a subtle-ish gold glitter to it, but has the same patchy problems as Aromatic too when blending out. This is a shade which I’ve barely reached for, I’m not sure if it’s just me but I don’t have much call for a dark matte brown with glitter.


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Cork in the socket crease, Creative Copper all over lid, Aromatic in the outer corner and a spot of Kitties right in the inner corner to lighten.

Overall I have found myself reaching for this palette a lot, but some of the shades are a little disappointing. It’s a great palette for travel which is the reason that I decided to opt for it as it’s far smaller for a palette which has a ‘bit of everything’ compared to others. I don’t think however I would repurchase it. The iffy pigmentations on some of the darker shades really let the palette down and take it from being great to being average.

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rachael

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11 Comments

  1. March 12, 2016 / 7:26 am

    I have the burgundy times 9 pallet and I found the exact same problem. Some of the shades simply didn’t have enough pigmentation! Quite annoyed considering the pallets aren’t cheap!!

  2. NotQuiteLondon
    March 12, 2016 / 9:14 am

    Beautiful pallet😍

  3. March 12, 2016 / 11:06 am

    Your lashes!!!! Love! Lovely colours in the palette!

  4. March 12, 2016 / 11:21 am

    I agree not enough pigmentation in my burgundy times 9

  5. March 12, 2016 / 2:39 pm

    I absolutely love this palette!! Especially the shade Don’t Tell but I know what you mean with pigmentation, takes a lot of coats especially compared to palettes use as the Too Faced Chocolate Bar!

  6. March 12, 2016 / 4:00 pm

    i nearly got this but i’ve seen so many bad reviews :/ might just go get a naked basics instead!! they’re 10 pounds less and look so much better xox

    • March 12, 2016 / 6:23 pm

      Depends what you want really, this is a good all rounder, mattes and shimmers, with a few disappointing shades in terms of pigmentation, but the majority of them are great. I love my Naked Basics but it is only matte shades, and one very subtle shimmer, I can’t use just that one by itself, but it’s a handy accompaniment to any other palette. xxx

  7. March 12, 2016 / 8:08 pm

    These palettes are great value! Too bad about the lacklustre shades but I guess that’s one of the risks with any palette. Cork and Don’t Tell are my favourites of the 9 shown. 😊

  8. March 13, 2016 / 5:11 am

    It’s so disappointing when a palette has absolutely beautiful shades like this one, but some of the shadows turn out to be duds. Creative Copper and Don’t Tell look amazing!

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