Finish: Matte / Muted golden brown 
Known Dupes: Rich Life pigment
Espresso is a dark, neutral-toned deep brown with a matte finish. In my experience with working with this eyeshadow, there’s really nothing ‘special’ about it that would make me say ‘I MUST have this’ now or in the future. I found it surprisingly easy to work with compared to some of the similarly dark browns in MAC’s collection (ahem, Brown Down), but I will say to be careful to use a light hand during application for easy blending later. It works nicely in many neutral combinations as well as brighter looks, as you’ll see below. I’m still on the fence as to whether or not I’ll keep Espresso based purely on the fact that I already have so many browns like this!
Look #1
MAC eyeshadows used:
- Rubenesque Paint Pot (inner half of lid, below crease)
- Arena (inner third of lid)
- Orange (middle of lid)
- Espresso (outer third of lid)
- Rule (crease)
- Vanilla (blend)
Heather Hammons
Thank you so much for showing some combos for expresso! It is one of my favorite colors but I have only paired it with tempting so it is nice to see what else I can put with it 🙂
My Eyeshadow Consultant
You’re most welcome, Heather! Enjoy!! 🙂
boops
Love them all Z-great posts. 3 and 6 are my favorites! And I have constructivist! YAY-but not wedge LOL.
My Eyeshadow Consultant
Haha! No biggie! You can use Kid or Naked from the Naked palette in place of Wedge! Any medium shaded brown! 🙂
anna Christensen
So if you’re not impressed with espresso, what brown would you recommend?
Zabrena
I really like Swiss Chocolate, Mystery, Kid, Soft Brown, and Tempting 😀
Rianna Harding
ive heard a lot of people say they use espresso for contouring the nose and cheekbones as well as an eyeshadow, which colour on the naked 1 palette would be similar for this? i am usually an ivory colour skin tone if that helps 🙂
Zabrena
Hi Rianna! MAC’s Espresso is most closely duped with Faint from the Naked basics palette, and there isn’t really a true dupe for it in the Naked1 palette, but you could try contouring with Buck. If that ends up being too dark, because I realize it can be, Naked would work, too! 🙂