I’ve been wanting to get MAC Paint Pot ever since I heard about it from various Youtube beauty gurus. Two of the most mentioned Paint Pot is Painterly and Soft Ochre, which unfortunately is not the two that I’m about to talk about today. I knew I would be going to the annual Estée Lauder warehouse sales so I hold on to my purchase at the store, hoping MAC would throw in a few pots at the sale event. I made a beeline to MAC right after stopping by Bobbi Brown. I was right alright. MAC did indeed had a box of Paint Pot on clearance. I managed to take my sweet time choosing the right pack with the right shade for me and so I went home with MAC Paint Pot Bare Study and Layin’ Low.

The reason why I chose this duo is because Bare Study is the lightest shade available but unfortunately it was paired in a pack with Layin’ Low. That’s how it is at warehouse sales. You don’t get the best of both world. All these while I know these pots as “Paint Pot” but Layin’ Low is labeled under Pro Longwear Paint Pot. I took a quick glance at MAC website and Paint Pot is now referred as Pro Longwear Paint Pot. Well, I’m just going to call these Paint Pot 😀

I wasn’t expecting Bare Study to be shimmery and I certainly didn’t expect Layin’ Low to be darker that what it looks like from the outside. Then again, the very main reason I bought these is to be used as an eye base before eyeshadow. It works just as well as I expected BUT I wasn’t expecting how diversify these Paint Pot can be.

Here is the swatch of both Bare Study and Layin’ Low on the back of my hand. Bare Study is a beautiful frosty, shimmery light gold and Layin’ Low is a darker matte finish cream that goes well with medium to dark skin tone. Texture wise, both is quite creamy. Bare Study is a teeny bit easier to blend while Layin’ Low is drier but still blends well although not as effortlessly as Bare Study. When working with Paint Pot, you need to be fast. This eye cream dries down fast with no down time. Once it dries, it set completely without budging.

Remember I said earlier that I bought these Paint Pot eye cream as an eye base but soon discovered these isn’t just an ordinary cream that only work as eye base? Here is my top 4 reasons on why you need MAC Paint Pot and how you can incorporate them in your everyday makeup.

Reason #1 – Using as an eyeshadow base

Despite being a cream shadow, many beauty guru used it as eye base thanks to it’s non-tacky, long lasting formula. It performed 100 times better than any other eyeshadow base for example the highly raved UDPP. I too jumped into the bandwagon and used it mainly as eyeshadow base. Bare Study is the perfect fit for my skin tone but because it is shimmery, I only used it accordingly to the eyeshadow of the day. Layin’ Low is darker on my lid. However nothing that eyeshadow can’t do to hide the darker tone or the shimmery of both Paint Pot. Once I sweep on the eyeshadow, it’s not even noticeable anymore 😀

There is absolutely no creasing, no meltdown and last the whole day on my oily lid. If you do plan to get Paint Pot as your eyeshadow Base, go with either Painterly (lighter shade) or Soft Ochre (warmer shade), depending on your skin tone.

Reason #2 – As a highlighter on the brow bone / inner corner eye / lower lash line

One of the best trick I’ve learnt is to use a concealer to carve out the eyebrow for a sharper and cleaner look. On days where I need more highlight on the brow bone, I would use Bare Study along the under brow line. A little bit is all I need to instantly brighten my eyes without looking too shimmery. Painterly work just as well, the only difference is that it will be matte.

Reason #3 – Using as an eyeshadow

I’m not a fan of cream base eyeshadow in general. Paint Pot is nothing like I’ve ever used. The quick-drying formula is what make this such an amazing product to work with. After I sweep Bare Study all over the lid as an eyeshadow base, I notice that the pigmentation is intense enough that I no longer need to apply a lighter / satin shade on the 1/3 of the inner eye to brighten the whole look. Bare Study did the job for me. If I need to intensify the color payoff, I would then dab some more onto the area where I don’t have any eyeshadow on. Most cream eyeshadow needed to be set with powder eyeshadow or for the color payoff. With Paint Pot, there’s no need to!

Reason #4 – Using as concealer for under eye clean-up

I’ve also been using Bare Study to do a “cut crease” look as well but that is like way too advance in eye makeup, which I will talk about some other time eventually. So let’s talk about another brilliant trick which everyone should do after finishing the whole eye makeup. I first revealed about this under eye clean-up in the Maybelline HyperSharp Liner Laser Precision review and winged eyeliner tutorial post (click to read) which not many people will do but should do. It makes a whole lot different to the look after cleaning up all the excess eyeshadow that surpass the eyeliner line. For this, you will need a matte shade i.e. Painterly.

Phew! Never knew there’s so much I can talk about a simple Paint Pot. I only need one reason to get MAC Paint Pot but soon discovered more reasons and how easy or diversified it can be. Originally meant to be as a cream eyeshadow, it is now widely used as a clean perfect canvas for eye makeup. Each pot comes with a price tag of RM77 of 5g pot. Sounds expensive for just a mere 5g product although in real you don’t need a lot per use therefore one pot could last you for a very long time.

I like it as it’s not tacky like other eyeshadow base product. If it’s tacky, I will have a hard time blending in transition shade and eyeshadow would go on patchy, not forgetting hard to blend evenly. Paint Pot is just nice. It’s no wonder beauty gurus around the world raved about this cream in a pot! Next I would be getting Painterly. I hardly make a dent on my pot so it will be a very long time before I needed to spend on Painterly 🙁

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored review. I bought the product on my own.