MAC Paint Pot - Quite Natural

Shade description:
Dark matte brown

This paint pot has a similar finish to Soft Ochre and Painterly. It's great as a base shade for darker skintones (based on YouTube tutorials I've seen) but also works under shadows to darken them slightly or show up true brown shades. I personally like mixing it with Groundwork, which is quite light and has a pearl finish, to darken it slightly for a relatively natural daytime look. Because I'm so pale I haven't yet found a use for it on its own.

Ratings:
Packaging: 5/5
Product quality: 5/5
Worth the price? Yes.
Would I purchase again? I use this so rarely because my skin is so light, and when I do use it it's generally mixed, so the pot I have will last me a really long time.

MAC Paint Pot - Groundwork

Shade description: 
Midtone brown with pearl finish

Aside from Soft Ochre and Painterly, this is probably the most-used of my paint pots. I love it alone for a natural daytime look. It's one of the few paint pots that has a pearl finish as opposed to matte or frost. One of the only things that bugs me a bit about paint pots is that there aren't a wide range of shades for all skintones. This one can be used as a base for skintones that are too light for Quite Natural - I know I've seen it used in several YouTube tutorials. Because it's pearl rather than frost, it can still be used as a base for various shadow finishes without showing through. It'll do in a pinch!

Ratings:
Packaging: 5/5
Product quality: 5/5
Worth the price? Definitely.
Would I purchase again? I have and I'm sure I will again!

MAC Paint Pot - Painterly

Shade Description:

Neutral pink

I absolutely love this shade. It can be worn alone or as a base/primer for those with fair/light skintones. Alone it will even out any variation in skintone and create a flawless natural eye (providing, of course, that it matches your skintone closely). As a primer it lasts all day, doesn't crease and allows shadows, pigments and even glitter to cling to its surface.

I discuss a comparison of this and Soft Ochre in the review for Soft Ochre here, but in brief this will provide a more natural look while Soft Ochre is lighter and the yellow counteracts pink undertones thus creating a more neutral, lighter base to show up true pigment of shadows applied on top. Paint pots are easy to work with, thick, slightly tacky when first applied and can be layered to create a more opaque finish. They do dry quite quickly and once they have dried are not workable - this is what makes them stick in place without creasing, but also means that if you want to blend a paint pot, you need to work quickly.

This is one of the most popular base shades for those with matching skin tones, for good reason. I like using this on more natural days or with pink-toned shadows. It's one I highly recommend for daily use.

Ratings:
Packaging: 5/5
Product quality: 5/5 (I almost want to give this one 6/5, I like it so much!)
Worth the price? Completely worth it, in fact I'd say that given the utility of the product, how little you need and how often it will get used, it's a steal.
Would I purchase again? Over and over.

MAC Paint Pot - Soft Ochre

Shade Description:
Yellow-beige

This is one of the two shades that work well as a neutral base for fair/light skintones. It has yellow undertones, so it's good for very pale people, however because of how light it is it is probably the best base for showing the true colour pigment of a shadow - it's lighter than most skintones and therefore evens out and lightens the background colour that a shadow is then applied to. Painterly is the other base for fair/light skintones, which is actually going to be nearer most of these skintones because of the pink undertones, so if you are looking for something to even out lid colour that can be worn on its own, that's probably going to be a better option. See the full Painterly review here.

As a base, paint pots are excellent. Unlike primers like UDPP, they are thicker and have a slightly tacky finish that powder and even frost shadows will cling to. If applied properly they are very unlikely to crease, even if worn all day long (though this will, of course, depend at least in part on the quality and consistency of the shadow/pigment worn on top of them). They are thick enough to even out skintone with one layer, but can also be layered if necessary. You need so little at a time that one pot will last a very long time, even if used daily.


Ratings:
Packaging: 5/5
Product quality: 5/5
Worth the price? No doubt about it. Given the quality of the product and how little is needed per use, it is a very good investment.
Would I purchase again? I already have!

MAC Paint Pot - Bare Study

Shade Description:
Iced pink neutral with gold shimmer

I love MAC Paint Pots. They are great to use as bases, they don't crease, they last all day and over time they've had a wonderful range of colours. I love that not only can you use a neutral shade the shows a colour true to the pan, but you can also use a different coloured Paint Pot underneath a shadow to subtley or dramatically change the final shade.

Bare Study is the first Paint Pot I purchased, and unfortunately my least favourite. It looks beautiful in the jar, but I found it hard to work with. It doesn't ever seem to go on evenly and doesn't layer well. I do have a suspicion, however, that this is partly due to the angle that I'm looking from. It's quite possible that it looks uneven to me when I'm looking in the mirror, but may seem uniform to someone looking at it from a different perspective, so if you love the shade in the pot, it's worth playing with. It does swatch beautifully!

Ratings:
Packaging: 5/5 (I've had this paint pot for awhile and the container seals airtightly so that it is still the same consistency as when I bought it - no drying or cracking. Just be careful not to drop the container since it's glass!)
Product quality: 4/5
Worth the price? That depends if you have a similar problem to the one I had. If not, then sure, it's a lot of product for not much more than the cost of an eyeshadow.
Would I purchase again? No. I prefer to use one of the easier shades to work with like Painterly or Soft Ochre, or even Fresco Rose.