When I heard the Shop MAC collection had an eye shadow quad with two Veluxe Pearl shadows, I immediately thought, SOLD!

The Colour Added eye shadow quad consists of four (4) colors: Laundry Daze (S), Colour Added (VXP), PrePackaged (VXP) and Self-Serve (S).  Laundry Daze is a satin-finish shade with a slight yellow tint. Colour Added is a light yellow shade with a pearl sheen while PrePackaged is a dark teal.  Self-Serve is a smokey dark grey color with a satin finish that is an absolute pain in the proverbial to swatch and has the worst color payoff of the entire group.  Still, it’s a shade I could care less about as the other three work fabulously together and are very well pigmented.

Colour Added (VXP) is slightly more yellow than Going Banannas (F/Dare To Wear) and is more pastel yellow on my NW43 skin than Three Ring Yellow (VXP/Cindy Sherman).  I have heard some blog reports that Three Ring Yellow and Colour Added look the same on them.  Perhaps this is the case if you have yellow undertones (NC range) but as I have cool red undertones (NW) the color difference is very apparent. Three Ring Yellow actually has more of a green cast on my skin than yellow.  Colour Added is very buildable and has excellent color payoff as I’ve come to expect from Veluxe Pearl finishes.

Laundry Daze (S) is a satin finish that looks obviously ‘flat’ next to the uber-shimmery Crystal Avalanche (VXP). This makes a great brow highlight shade as it is not very shimmery and blends easily.  It does appear to have a slight lemon cast to it when swatching but it isn’t easily apparent.  I had no performance issues with this color which is surprising as I am not a fan of MAC’s satin eyeshadows.

Self-Serve (S) is obviously darker than Copperplate (M2)  and has more grey and no sparkle in it as compared to Hocus Pocus (S).  Perhaps it’s because it takes time to ‘break’ it in but I found swatching Self-Serve got easier the more product I got on the brush.  Of course this means I’d wind up eventually using more product.  As this is my least favorite color of the quad (and honestly, it isn’t what drew me to it) I don’t consider it a knock on the value of this palette.  Consider it the ‘Crazy Memaw‘ of the quad and roll with it.

Pre-Packaged (VXP) has a brighter blue cast than Deep Truth (F) and brighter than Plumage (M) which has no shimmer.  The color swatches beautifully and when blended with the yellow Colour Added produces a subtle smokey green that adds to the mystery of your eye look.  I love this shadow on its own but combined with the other two it looks amazing!  Even the Crazy Memaw color of Self-Serve takes a little of the shine off to give it a different effect.

Unlike with the Call Me Bubbles quad, Colour Added is more ‘in your face’ and edgy.  If you want to add more dimension to your eyeshadow collection or want to try something different, I think you will be pleased with it.  Folks who are ‘color averse’ may want to either skip this or swatch in person before making a decision.  For olive to dark-skinned girls I think this is an amazing quad to have.  Just make sure to use a pale base on your eyelid (MAC Soft Ochre, Painterly or Nublie paint pot, or Crystal Avalanche eye shadow) before applying the Laundry Daze or Colour Added or else the color won’t pop as well or last as long.

The Colour Added quad retails for $38 USD, is a limited edition item and is available at all MAC locations (freestanding and counter) and at MacCosmetics.com.  International release is slated for March of 2012.