Wondering if Pat McGrath’s MTHRSHP Subliminal Platinum Bronze Eyeshadow Palette might be for you? Read on, because I’ll have answers to all of your questions: How’s the quality? How do the shadows apply? And, in the end, is the price worth it? Here’s the Pat McGrath Platinum Bronze palette review that helps you decide whether the palette is for you – or not.
Pat McGrath has been called one of the most influential make-up artists of all time, so I won’t go in any details of her long and outstanding career. (I mean, look at the woman’s wikipedia entry!)
She launched her make-up line Pat McGrath Labs in 2016, releasing a gorgeous set of eyeshadows (Phantom 002) for a whopping $240. That puts her line definitely into the high-end category. While I found her larger MOTHERSHIP palettes beautiful, I couldn’t bring myself to order a ~ 140€ eyeshadow palette without testing it. But when she released her 6-pan palettes in spring 2018, I gave in and bought the MTHRSHP Subliminal Platinum Bronze palette. It’s the cooler toned one of the two neutral palettes and I hoped that it would suit my light and neutral complexion (MAC NW15, NARS Mont Blanc).
The packaging
It’s beautiful, individual, artsy, bulky and annoying all in one. There is no outer cardboard box and the artwork on the palette itself is just stunning. The cardbord feels sturdy and high quality. I do like the style and the fastening which does remind me of beautiful stationery, another weakness of mine.
But all of that sturdy cardboard makes the palette really heavy and very bulky. The most annoying part for me is that the smaller flap won’t stay open. I have to hold it down, putting another palette on top of that flap it is, to be able to get to all of the eyeshadows.
On Pat McGraths website as well as on her instagram she posted short video tutorials for those 6-pan palettes with concise instructions on how and where to place the shades. They are worth checking out.
The eyeshadows
Pat McGrath seems to have her own formula. The ingredients for each individual shadow are listed on the back of the palette. Only one shade contains one of the more common silicones. I haven’t found the exact ingredients in other shadows in my extensive stash.
The eyeshadows are easy to blend and smooth. I didn’t experience fallout during application. You have to build them a bit to achieve true-to-pan colour, but that’s something I rather like. They didn’t crease on top of my usual base consisting of MAC 24-hr Extended Eye Primer and a MAC Paint Pot. There was no fading during my 14-hour days and apart from migrating mircoglitter no fallout. So the quality someone would expect from a professional like Pat McGrath is there. Let’s go into more details about the individual shades!
Platinize
A light warm beige-grey with a more metallic finish. Smooth and blendable, a bit darker than my skintone. A beautiful shadow with a great formula.
From left to right: MAC Electroplate Electric Cool e/s, Pat Mc Grath Platinize, Viseart Bijoux Royale 1. row 1. shade form the left, NARS Dirty Talk (Love Game Palette), Illamasqua Invoke
Smoke and Mirrors
Shimmery plummy-brown. Pigmented, smooth application and blends well, like nearly all of the shades. The shimmer gives a slightly metallic finish.
From left to right: MUFE Heavenly (Star Lit Palette), Pat McGrath Smoke and Mirrors, MAC Smut e/s, Nars Shimmering Amethyst (LE)
Telepathic Taupe
Then there’s beautiful Telepathic Taupe with its gold mircoglitter that immediatly spreads over my whole upper lid. And that might be why Pat McGrath uses her fingers to apply this shade in her tutorials. That shade does look stunning under the LED lights of my vantiy, but in daylight it’s just a warm taupe with cheap looking silvery-white glitter. A bit like those old drugstore shimmer shadows. Disappointing.
Text: From left to right: Viseart Bijoux Royale 2. row 2. shade form the left, Pat McGrath Telepathic Taupe, Viseart Bijoux Royale 2. row 3. shade from the left, MAC Tempting e/s
Deep Velvet
A deep plum-brown matte. Pigmented, easy to build and blend. Quite close to MAC Handwritten, Usually I go for the more burgundy shades in that colour family.
From left to right: Melt Meanstreak, Melt Last Caress, Pat McGrath Deep Velvet, MAC Deep Damson e/s, MAC Smoked Ruby mineralized e/s, MAC Handwritten e/s
Ritualistic
The deeper, less shimmery cousin of Smoke and Mirrors. Works as well as that one.
Text: From left to right: Kiko Supreme Cream Eyeshadow in 02 (LE), Pat McGrath Ritualistic, Nars Shimmering Amethyst (LE), MAC Smut e/s, MAC Midnight Madness mineralized e/s (LE)
Sextrovert
A warm gold-brown with a soft metallic sheen. It is very pigmented, easy to build and blends just as well. Close to MAC Museum Bronze Pigment minus that green undertone. But not as pigmented as Museum Bronze, that is one swipe with a MAC 239 natural hair brush!
From left to right: Pat McGrath Sextrovert, Nars Sunburst Copper (LE), MAC Bronze e/s, Nars Play Me (LE), MAC Museum Bronze pigment, MAC dark gold shade (Surf the Ocean Crushed Metall Pigment Stack)
Application
Platinum Bronze is definitly warmer than I expected. For someone with my skintone the Platinum Bronze Palette doesn’t offer enough variety between lighter and darker shades. Most of my looks with that palette ended up being a deeper smoky eye. The lightest colour, Platinize, is still darker than my skintone. Also, the fact that five eyeshadows out of are shimmers doesn’t increase the versatility.
I tried a few of her tutorials, but none of them were really flattering on me. The model she used for the Platinum Bronze demos has a medium skintone and I do find that’s the shade of skin these shades look best on. For me it’s not a standalone palette and I paired it with a lot of different eyeshadows, mainly my two Viseart Mattes, MUFEs Star Lit Palette and my MAC single eyeshadows. The shades are not totally unique, if you do own a lot of neutrals, you can create a close dupe for the palette.
Worth it?
Even with one dud (Telepathic Taupe) it is a high quality palette. The shadows are easy to work with and do last all day. They remind me of my MAC Pigments in quality and application and having shades like that in a less messy version is nice. Pat McGrath seems to have a thing for glow and shine, just look at the newest incarnation of her Skin Fetish highlighter! So it makes sense that she didn’t put a lot of matte eyeshadows in her palettes. And the shadows do look their best in artifical light, but that might be true for a lot of the modern style shimmer shadows. I don’t find that my old school MAC eyeshadows have that issue. In the end I’m not regretting buying it, the shadows are well made and the packaging is stunning. If you have a medium skintone, go and get it immediately!
Where to buy: Sephora USA and Pat McGrath’s own website. ($55)
Please note that this review is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods, or money, for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.
