PAINTERLY VS SOFT OCHRE — MAC Paint Pots



Soft Ochre, Painterly

Soft Ochre and Painterly are matte eyeshadow bases that also act as a primer and eyelid concealer. In MAC terms Painterly is NW (cool toned) and Soft Ochre is NC (warm toned). The reason I am doing today’s comparison is because I think that there is a lot of confusion when it comes to these two!  Should I match it to my undertone? Should I use a particular one based on the eyeshadows I’m using? Hopefully I’ll answer those questions and any others you may have.



I originally bought Soft Ochre a long time ago because I am slightly yellow toned, and I thought it would be a better fit. After acquiring Painterly, I realized you can wear either one of them regardless of your undertone.

Roughly speaking, yellow neutralizes red and pink neutralizes blue. If you have a lot of redness on your eyelid and you would like to cover that and brighten up the eye, Soft Ochre may work better for you. On the other hand, if you have a lot of veins or bluish discoloration on your eyelid, Painterly may be the better choice.



Overall I much prefer Painterly for myself and most other skin tones — unless you have extremely yellow undertones, in which case Painterly looks very pink and strange. Soft Ochre has a drier formulation and can appear dry on the skin (you can see this in the eyelid pictures below). Painterly, on the other hand, applies much more smoothly.

Because they are both skin colored, they don’t change the look of the eyeshadow. Some say if you are doing a warm look to use Soft Ochre and for a cool look use Painterly. I don’t think they are different enough to justify purchasing both just for that purpose.



Paint Pots make eyeshadows pop and help them to appear true to the color in the pan. They also keep the eyeshadow from creasing on most people; If you have very oily eyelids, I would recommend Urban Decay Primer Potion over these. I also wouldn’t recommend Paint Pots for use on mature skin as it may tug.




EYELID COMPARISONS

NO MAKEUP — I had just removed my makeup so my eyelid is a little redder than usual, but I definitely have some discoloration!



SOFT OCHRE — Does a great job at covering up redness but doesn’t do much to cover my blue veins.

PAINTERLY — much less ashy looking and does a better job of covering up veins.



I hope that was helpful!  Do you use Painterly or Soft Ochre?

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One thought on “PAINTERLY VS SOFT OCHRE — MAC Paint Pots

  1. Sophia Rouhani

    I have painterly but I use urban decay primer lotion ! Love that stuff!!
    After reading your post, I'm going to use it today 🙂

    Reply
  2. mizera

    You make the best blog posts. Thank you:)!

    Reply
  3. Andrea Gomes Tavanti

    Love the post! Very informative and it was exacly what i was looking for. 😀
    Thank you!

    Reply
  4. Anonymous

    Just the review I was looking for! Thank you!!! 😉

    Reply
  5. Anonymous

    Very helpful and unique review..I know what I'm getting…Painterly for the smoothness.

    Reply
  6. Samantha Derrick

    SOFT OCHRE IS BEST! IM VERY PALE AND MY GO TO IS SOFT OCHRE.

    Reply
  7. jisela

    Painterly

    Reply
  8. Unknown

    this is so helpful! but i was just wondering, do you think your soft ochre paint pot was drier because you've had it for a long time? or has it not dried out and it just has a drier consistency?

    Reply
  9. Lisa Wood

    Super helpful post!

    Lisa | lisawoodbeauty.com

    Reply

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