When I saw Pat McGrath’s Holiday 2024 collection (Luminous Legends) revealed, I immediately knew I wanted this palette. No matter what this brand releases, I always feel like there is something for me. And I don’t just mean from a personal preference standpoint. As a woman of color, there are so many releases in the luxury beauty category that just won’t work for me. I have never had that issue with Pat McGrath, and I really appreciate that. Now, we can talk all day about the brand cutting some corners on packaging and some of the customer service and shipping issues I’ve heard about. But when it comes to the products themselves, I am continually pleased with shade selection and formulation. I also know there are a lot of complaints about repetitive colors being released, and I get it. If you already own something similar, it is disappointing when there isn’t something you want to buy. I don’t think it means the brand is doing anything wrong or out of the ordinary. However, I don’t buy every Pat McGrath release because all of the items don’t suit my preferences. So, that likely helps me stay excited about the brand’s products. So, with that said, let’s get into some swatches of the Dawn Divinity 5-pan Eye Shadow Palette from Luminous Legends.

Pat McGrath Dawn Divinity, $38

I haven’t used this palette very much since I got it this past Friday, but I wanted to go ahead and share swatches and my thoughts for anyone curious about it. I’m familiar with Pat McGrath’s eye shadows, and this palette felt in line with the quality and performance I was expecting. I have used all of the shades, and the only one I don’t like is the deepest shade, Twilight Topaz. I’ll give you a quick rundown of each shade (left to right as they appear below) and what I’ve experienced so far. I used the MAC Prep and Prime 24HR Extend Eye Base as my eye primer.

• Glowing Desire is a smooth metallic, and I had no issues with application or blending. I didn’t see any fallout from this shade during application or wear. I’ve only used it with my fingers.
• Sienna Sunrise is a velvet matte. This texture is new to me; I haven’t had a matte like this from the brand before. It feels slick to the touch and somewhat like a cream, but it performs like a traditional matte. It doesn’t look as dry as a traditional powder matte, but it doesn’t have any sheen. It sheers out easily and builds easily. So far, so good.
• Rose Metallica is a smooth metallic. I’ve used this with both a brush (natural hair) and fingers, and it works well with both. Finger application gives more intensity, which is normal in my experience.
• Sunlit Nectar is metallic with a little more texture than Glowing Desire and Rose Metallica. Because of that looser texture, I was careful with this shade and didn’t notice much fallout during application. It does, however, have a little fallout during wear. It isn’t very noticeable on my NARS Tahoe/Estee Lauder 4W4 skin tone. This shade isn’t terrible on eyelid texture, but it does look more textured than the other two metallics.
• Twilight Topaz has a gritty shimmer texture due to the purple and gold shimmer particles in it. I couldn’t get the purple shimmer to translate well on camera, but it is beautiful as long as you don’t mind the texture. Surprisingly, the fallout on this shade wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, considering the shimmer. I did tap off my brush (synthetic) before applying it and tested it with my finger, and the fallout was minimal with both methods. It did have some fallout during wear, but that wasn’t surprising to me, given the texture of the shadow. This formula type isn’t my preference, but it does seem to perform well. I don’t use glitter glue or wet my brush when I use eyeshadow, which may improve some people’s experience using this shadow.

Update October 27, 2024: If you are interested in the duos from the Pat McGrath Luminous Legends collection, I posted swatches and a review of Celestial Jade and Petallic Passion here.

So those are my thoughts so far on the Pat McGrath Luminous Legends Dawn Divinity Palette. As I’ve come to expect with Pat McGrath Eyeshadows, all shades are very pigmented. I’ve had difficulty with some of the mattes from this brand in the past, but the velvet matte formula in this palette has been no problem for me. This palette has no baked formulas/special shades, but that doesn’t surprise me since it retails for $38. For my personal preferences, it would’ve been nice for Twilight Topaz to be the same shade but in the velvet matte formula. Other than that, I’m happy with my purchase. I doubt this collection will sell out, but it’s still nice to get some information and swatches as you may be trying to decide between the various holiday releases.

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