I got my first MAC eyeshadow when I was about 15 years old. I purchased it at The Bay in Eaton’s Centre in Toronto and the colour was Pink Freeze, a frosty iridescent light pink colour, which I actually still have.

Since then I have collected a few more over the years, not a ton though because MAC eyeshadows are quite expensive in my opinion.  They are almost $20 CDN ($17.50) and you only get one.  Now as we all know, one eyeshadow is not a lot.  You need a base colour, a crease, highlight, accent, and if you really wanted, a eyeliner colour as well.  That’s five colours and if you buy five of them from MAC that will set you back $87.50 CDN.  That’s a lot for only five eyeshadows (albeit that they do last you a long time).

Enter the MAC Pro Palette.  I discovered this beauty a few years ago when my city finally got a MAC store.  Previous to the store we only had the counters at The Bay where you had to buy the eyeshadows in the pan or you can buy the special edition palettes.

Colours from top to bottom, left to right: Carbon, Soot (pro colour), Black Tied, Cosmic (limited edition), Satin Taupe, All That Glitters, Sketch, Indian Ink (pro colour), Trax, Pink Freeze, Beautiful Iris, Phloof!

So what is it?

The Pro Palette is a palette (available in either four or 15 slots) that you put your MAC eyeshadows into.  It has a variety of benefits; it keeps your collection together in one handy tool, it’s great for travelling, perfect for organizing, it looks cool, and best of all it will save you money.  The individual pans for this bad boy are $14 CDN or $11 USD.  The potted eyeshadows cost $17.50 CDN or $14.50 USD. Let’s do some math here.

Let’s say we were to buy the 15 slot palette ($17.50 CDN, $14.00 USD) and 15 shadows to fill it:

CDN: 15 x 14 = 210 + 17.50 = $227.50

USD: 15 x 11 = 165 + 14.50 = $179.50

Okay now let’s compare that to just the eyeshadows alone if we were to buy 15 of them.

CDN: 15 x 17.50 = $262.50

USD: 15 x 14.50 = $217.50

Therefore:

CDN: $262.50 – $227.50 = $35 (the cost of two potted eyeshadows)

USD: $217.50 – $179.50 = $38

I’m in no way a mathematician but clearly the Pro Palette saves you a ton of money on eyeshadows.

When you buy the colours they come in the panned version with a magnet on the back to stick in the palette.  There will also be a label that says the name of the colour.

So with all these pros there has to be some cons right?  The Pro Palettes and the pans to fill them are only available at the MAC stores or MAC Pro stores (stores that sell the Pro line colours and products), you cannot get the pans or palettes at a MAC counter (like in The Bay).  Most of the major cities across Canada have a MAC store, but for those who do not and only have a counter you can order online through the MAC website.  Also, the limited edition colours are only available in the potted form (some counters will tell you differently, the colours I have ever wanted were unavailable as just the pan).

So what if I have a ton of potted eyeshadows?  Well, luckily there are tons of videos on YouTube that show how to depot your MAC shadows.  They are actually quite easy, all you need is a hair straightener, some wax paper, and a knife.

Once the pans are popped out you can add a magnet and sticker and write the name on the back and stick it in the palette, it’s that easy!

And that’s not all! You can take the empties and if you have six MAC containers you can take them back to a MAC counter and exchange them for a lipstick of your choice, or at an actual store, an eyeshadow, lipstick, or gloss as part of the Back to MAC program.  It’s just win-win all around!

One more to go before I can get a free product!

I personally love my Pro Palette, I think it’s a super handy tool and it keeps my eyeshadows all organized, and not to mention, saves me money!

If you have any questions regarding the palette leave me a comment below!