The Ice Parade collection from MAC for the Holiday 2011 season dazzle with a high-wattage shine.

Here are some of the highlights from Glitter and Ice, available now in your MAC stores, and online through December 25th.

The Snow Globe Eye Shadows ($38)

These are true works of art; each eye shadow palette of six colors comes in three varieties, and topped off with a mirror over which a glittery globe lies. Play with it and shake it like a true snow globe. This one is for the collector’s items.

Shown below is the Snow Globe shown with colors in SULTRY (from left to right): Lightfully, Trax, Fun!, Festive Delight, Black Tied, Shadowy Lady.

There are other Bags and Kits from the Ice Parade collection that we will show you shortly, and they’re very silver Wonder Woman and futuristic.

The Snow Globe Eye Shadows are a very innovative way to package the six shades; I can’t think of a single MAC collection where you can stare at the packaging for hours — it’s cute, playful and very holiday.

As for the shadows themselves, many of them wear very well on darker skin tones. There are three versions of the Snow Globe that you can purchase: Cool/ Warm and Sultry versions. The Cool versions are all about frost, smoke, grays and blues. The Warm versions are about golds and wintry shades, and contain colors like Winterscape, Patina and Gaelic Gold. The Sultry version is what’s shown above, with colors like Lightfully, Fun! Black Tied and more.

As you can see, a lot of the shades are very frosty with glittery flecks. From left to right is: Lightfully, Trax, Festive Delight, Fun!, Shadowy Lady (Matte) and Black Tied.

As you can see the colors looked very different applied on the skin than what’s shown in the pan. I didn’t expect Trax to be so brown but it’s my favorite of the lot. The site describes it as a Burgundy Plum but it has such richness to it…this one is a winner.

Black Tied can be a tough shadow to pull off because it has a lot of glitter in it…use it sparingly and only if you’re doing a smoky eye. You can use a wet brush because the color will last longer and the pigment is deeper but use only a little.

What is your favorite in the eye shadow set shown above? Are you a fan of the Snow Globe concept or do you think it’s gimmicky?

– Charu Suri

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