Review: Pat McGrath Labs Decadence MOTHERSHIP

Monday, May 4, 2020

In December of last year, I managed to get my hands on a palette that I had been coveting for months and months. About once a week I would take a peep at the Pat McGrath website, hoping to see the Decadence MOTHERSHIP in stock, courting disappointment every time. When Mother announced a collaboration with Star Wars that included a re-promote of Decadence in shiny Star Wars gold packaging, I set my alarm and was pleased as punch that I managed to check out successfully.

I wince a bit every time I see Decadence's exterior, every single smudgy fingerprint stands out. My interest in the Star Wars franchise also died a few years back so every time I pull out this palette, it's a reminder of how terrible that last movie was. Had I known that eventually Decadence would come back in the normal black case, I would have probably waited to buy it.

Swatches over primer. There's a faint sweet scent to the pans that reminds me of white chocolate. None of the shadows are domed like they are in Subversive, these feel more silicone-y.

I love that all the shades in this palette are shimmery/glittery. I feel like I have a substantial amount of matte shadows, and good ones at that, but there's still certain colors that I don't really have in shimmery finishes.

Top row, left to right: Gold Standard, Inferno, Blue Blood, Sinful, Underworld
Second row: Sterling, Lapis Luxury, Divine Mink, Hedonistic, Enigma

My favorite shades in this palette are Blue Blood (middle of top row, shimmery plum), Underworld (blackened blue), Divine Mink (dark grey taupe, middle of bottom row), Inferno (coppery shimmer with a slight smokey tint).

Usually shades like Underworld are deafened by the black base, and that's somewhat true if you blend excessively, but for the most part I was satisfied by how much blue remains. I've met much worse blackened shades, that's for sure. Divine Mink is as close as I've seen to an old discontinued taupe (Sigma Brown Eyed Girl) that I have loved for years and years. Inferno stand apart from my other coppers due to how it almost has a hazy quality to it, it doesn't pop as much as my other metallic coppers, but in a good way that makes it easy to wear.

Here I've used Gold Standard, Blue Blood, Hedonistic, tiniest touch of Underworld and Lapis Luxury.

Here I've used Lapis Luxury, Underworld, and Inferno.

One of my favorite looks of all time! Featuring Underworld and Inferno (coupled with Viseart Milieu).

This look features Gold Standard. The matte hunter green is Cozzette Gardot and the navy is Jack, also from Cozzette.

Ultimately, I like this palette but I'm not as in love with it as I was in Subversive. The reason being that while I find myself reaching for Decadence quite a bit, I just don't feel as though the shades are as unique as some of Subversive's colors. Whenever I tried to dupe a shade from Subversive, I was left disappointed but I would have been satisfied with alternatives for the colors in Decadence, even if it wasn't in one convenient palette. This set of colors happens to fulfill some color gaps in my own collection, but that may not be true for everyone. For instance, I didn't have shimmery light red, and somehow I didn't have a shimmery plum anymore. I did have a shiny pewter and bold sparkly gold (actually two colors I had in other products from Pat McGrath).

I'm somewhat satisfied that I finally satisfied this long time desire of mine, but I don't know if I'd recommend this to everyone. Each MOTHERSHIP has a hefty price tag of $125, that's a good chunk of cash if you're not absolutely convinced that you'd really REALLY enjoy this palette. I have been using it a lot (well, out of the few times I've done my makeup in the last two months) so I don't regret it, I'm just not leaking pure adoration like I was with my first MOTHERSHIP. Times are tough right now for a lot of folks, it doesn't sit right with me to advocate for the purchase of such a big item (but if you're gifting yourself some things to ease the awfulness of quarantine, I totally support you in this) when many people are furloughed and are without income.

Pat McGrath Labs Decadence MOTHERSHIP is $125, limited edition on the PatMcGrathLabs website. From now until May 6th, you can use GOLD10 to get 10% off this particular palette.

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