Pat McGrath Mothership I Subliminal Palette – for whom is it worth it?

If you’re going to splurge on a super expensive makeup product, you should definitely think about if it suits you. And with that, I don’t only mean your skintone, but your makeup preferences, skills and habits. With this post, I’ll help you decide: is the Pat McGrath Mothership I worth it?

Contents

For… the beautyjunkie only?Mothership I Subliminal Palette review Packaging Use: Application and wear Mattes Shimmers Glitters Versatility Who should buy this, then?Pat McGrath Mothership I worth it ?

Usually this would be the perfect candidate for a ‘worth the money?’ post, because this is a freaking €135 eyeshadow palette. But the price point already makes it VERY clear: this will only attract a special kind of customer. Very few non-beautyjunkie people will ever walk into a Sephora and decide to splurge on 10 eyeshadows with that price point.

For… the beautyjunkie only?

Pat MCGrath eyeshadow palettes worth it — Is it only for seasoned beautyjunkies?

You need to be a beautyjunkie to properly enjoy it. It’s not only the price point, but also the difficulty to actually buy Pat McGrath Labs products – you have to be in the know (more on this in my post about the launch of the brand at Selfridges). You also need to be curious about textures, formulas and application techniques, because otherwise (spoiler!) any high-end palette along the Anastasia Beverly Hills or Huda might suit you just fine.

Before I tell you more about what you should consider before buying the Mothership I Subliminal palette, let me tell you how the eyeshadows perform, now that I had them for a while.

Mothership I Subliminal Palette review

Packaging

Pat McGrath eyeshadows review — So very beautiful – but maybe not the easiest for travelling.

Differently to the 6-pan-palettes, only the outer packaging is made of cardboard (the graphics are stunning!) and reminds me of a beautiful notebook. The actual palette is housed in shiny black plastic that attracts fingerprints like nothing else. It comes with a large mirror on the inside, and is heavy as hell. There’re 10 eyeshadows inside: The four glitter eyeshadows on the right are 1,5g/0,053oz., the regular six eyeshadows are 1,2g/0,042oz.

Pat MCGrath Mothership 1 review — The cool and neutral shades that make my heart sing! Clockwise from the left: SkinShow Nude (‘gold pearl shimmer’), Depth (‘rich matte brown’), Xtreme Black (‘dense black’), Lilac Dust (‘Multi-dimensional lavender’).

All in all, we have two duochrome shades (glitter toppers), two high-voltage glitter shades that you can use on their own, three mattes and three shimmers. Britta said in her post here that the eyeshadow formula is rather unique – the four glitter shades have a ‘hybrid’ formula which makes them smooth and prone to drying out over time. It’s surprisingly made in the USA. The vibe of the whole palette is cool and neutral, with pops of colour to spruce that up.

Use: Application and wear

Pat McGrath Mothership I swatches — Clockwise from the left: Depth (‘rich matte brown’), Ultimate Taupe (‘deep matte taupe’), Substance (‘shimmering chocolate brown’), Lilac Dust (‘multi-dimensional lavender’)

Mattes

All three mattes (XTreme Black, Depth, Ultimate Taupe) are easy to pick up with a brush and easy to apply and blend. Please note that I did all my testing over a base of NARS’ eyeshadow primer. They don’t kick up a lot of dust and there’s no fallout when applying them. They’re easy to blend into each other, on top of each other and also play well with eyeshadows of different brands.

Mothership I in depth review — The ones that make my heart sing: Clockwise from the top Pale Gold 002 (‘glittering platinum gold’), VR Violet (‘dual chromatic vivid violet’), Blitz Blue (‘vibrant blue’), Astral White (‘colour-morphing and sultry shine’).

I used my Hakuhodo brushes for those, which are a mix of synthetic and animal-hair brushes (goat), and I didn’t run into any problems. They’re also quite true-to-pan, although XTreme Black isn’t particularly extreme (or pitch black). I like all of them a lot, I’d even go so far that this is the best matte eyeshadow formula I’ve ever encountered.

Shimmers

Mothership 1 daylight swatches — Swatches in rather bright daylight on my fair, neutral cool skin: upper row l-r Skinshow Nude, Depth, Ultimate Taupe, Pale Gold 002, VR Violet. Lower ro l-r Xtreme Black, Lilac Dust, Substance, Blitz Blue, Astral White.

I’ve to admit that I was most excited for the three shimmer shades in the palette: Skinshow Nude, Lilac Dust and Substance. And it were these I was most disappointed about. If you swatch these, you’re golden. Rich and shimmery, my initial fingerswatches in the store were a dream. On the eye, it’s a different story. While on the smooth skin on my inner arm and wrist these twinkle alluringly, on the textured skin of my eyelids, they loose their magic. Even with primer, it’s impossible for me to get a similarly smooth effect.

For me, the ratio of shimmer to base colour is wrong. I also find that the shimmer particles are too big, and instead of that gorgeous shimmery eye you end up with a rather matte base with sprinkles of shimmer on top. In daylight, this is a disappointing look, no matter what, and I remember the bad old days of 1990s eyeshadow formulas. In artificial light, though, this (no pun intended) shines. It’s then a sophisticated, sparkly look. Astonishingly, there’s no fallout when I use them, and they’re easy to apply and blend.

Glitters

Mothership I Subliminal Palette swatches — Still daylight, but in a rather dark room – notice how glowy and saturated that makes the shadows? Same order as above. So, is the Pat McGrath Mothership I worth it?

Pale Gold 002 and Blitz Blue are glittery shades that you absolutely can wear as a wash of colour on your lids. What makes Mothership I so unique for me is due to them, and I was drawn to Blitz Blue immediately. I mean, have you SEEN Pat McGrath’s IG vids where she uses this?! It’s incredibly.

Now imagine my surprise when this swatched nicely, but nowhere near as creamy/buttery as I imagined. And on my lids, it was worse, even over primer. Nothing special, just a royal blue, glittery shadow. I suspect you need the Mehron Mixing Medium that Pat McGrath loves for it to excel. I used Mac’s Fix+, and it got near that result from IG. Close, but not with the same electric vibrancy. I do mourn that.

How to use the Mothership I Subliminal Palette — Last one from my swatch marathon, still daylight. This is the pic where the duochromes appear the most shifty, that’s why it’s here. I did all the swatches with my fingers over primer, with brushes, you’ll get a vastly different result (see here).

VR Violet and Astral White are glitter shades you use as toppers over your other eyeshadows, and they are PHENOMENAL. If you like duochromes, but then, who doesn’t?! Astonishingly, both look rather similar when applied as both flash from blue to pink.

Astral White’s glitter particles are larger than VR Violet’s, and surprisingly, VR Violet can, in some light, look nearly invisible on my skintone. I don’t apply them with a brush, but with a finger, and pat them onto my lids. They hold up astonishingly well – there’s no fallout whatsoever, and they don’t accentuate any skin texture.

Versatility

Pat McGrath eyeshadows worth it — Is it a versatile palette? If you like cool neutrals, I’d say it is. Have a look at Pat McGrath’s website to see her own suggestions for three looks!

I like to do two different kinds of looks with this palette – a neutral, greyish-purple eye that can be elevated with one of the toppers for a more fun look. If you like cool neutrals, this could be your palette, and nowadays, cool neutrals are hard to come by anyways. No, there’s no transition shade for my skintone in there, but that doesn’t faze me. I can imagine that a wide range of skintones can wear this one, from fair to dark.

Who should buy this, then?

problems with Pat McGrath's eyeshadows — And never loose the little leaflet, because the eyeshadow names aren’t anywhere else.

When I used the Mothership I for the first time, I went for a simple little taupe/neutral look and was incredibly disappointed. I own a travel palette with MAC’s Kid and Shale that I looked at and thought ‘they can do it better’. Give me Shale any day over Lilac Dust! But after my first attempts I realised that these are eyeshadows designed by a makeup artist, for runway shows.

I realised that these shadows are designed to be used in artificial light. I also realised that all youtubers and bloggers who raved about Pat McGrath Labs ALSO have a specific light setup to shoot, while I want an eyeshadow I can apply in the morning and wear the whole day. Those do hold up easily, but I believe they’re not made for eyeryday life. They’re designed for bright lights.

Pat McGrath Mothership I worth it ?

If you’re a makeupjunkie with money to spare, why not. Is an eyeshadow palette ever worth that kind of money? Doubt it. The quality is there, without a doubt, but keep in mind that the texture of the four glitter shades will make them expire faster than regular eyeshadows. (The packaging says those four will expire after 18 months, the other shades after 30 months.) The shadows perform beautifully and easily. Still, I do absolutely think that they’re better suited to artificial light.

The glitters are unique and beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like them. They’ll spruce up any old neutral eye, and I’m happy to play with them.

Nevertheless, is the result worth about 100€? I’ve to admit that curiousity brought me to buying the Mothership I palette. I really wanted to see for myself if an eyeshadow formula could be so much better than the one’s I’m used to (MAC, Nars, Anastasia, Huda). I can clearly say, while I’m relatively happy to own it, I wasn’t blown away. And I think for 135€ this should’ve rocked my socks.

If you think hey, Pat McGrath Mothership I worth it? Totally! It’s available at Pat McGrath Labs.

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.