New L'Oreal HIP Eyeshadow Duos: "Crystal"

Popping up recently in the special displays at the drugstores are new HIP (High Intensity Pigments) Eyeshadow Duos from L'Oreal in a "Crystal" finish. Today I have swatches from three of the five new duos.

I haven't had a chance to try the shadows, but they struck me as subtle, shimmery, and metallic, with the potential for a bright, glimmer effect perfect for a winter evening...perhaps New Year's eve? Or, at this point, another festive midwinter evening celebration.

First, I wondered, what is "Crystal" supposed to mean here? As opposed to the other categories, such as the metallic or bright. According to the L'Oreal site, the powders "contain a high pearl content, leaving the irridescent, crystalline finish that beautifully highlights eyes." So, that's the "Crystal" label, as opposed to calling them "Pearl." The finish promises to be "shimmery" and "pearlescent" and "glimmers like pure crystal."

Second, I noticed a little re-branding going on: "HIP Studio Secrets Professional Crystal Shadow Duos."

Now to the swatches, first the duos from left to right: Romantic, Charming, and Darling.


First up is Romantic, with a silvery color on the left and a pale pink-brown on the right:


The first thing I notice is the texture. Without really pressing my finger down TOO hard, the shadows really flaked up like crazy, especially the silver on the left:

Correspondingly, the shadow did not adhere very well to my arm in coherent swatches:


The middle shadow duo is "Charming" with silver on the left and a purple, almost a blurple, on the right. This duo was the one I was most interested in:

The texture was just as flaky and problematic:


And, the third duo, "Darling", in pale, pearlized beige (left) and brown (right) tones:

The now customary pic of the loose flaky mess left by the swipe of a finger:



Comparison swatches:




The shadows look great in the containers until you swipe them with your fingers. I wonder how one would apply them and make them adhere. Put an extra layer of eye shadow primer?? Coat one's lid lightly with Vaseline?? And the eyeshadow brush as well?? It seems these duos with the pearl-crystal finish were in theory a great concept, but I am not sure, based on swatching these crazy-flaking shadows, how well they will work in practice. Hmm.

Urban Decay "Show Pony Shadow Box"

When I was at my ULTA store a few weeks ago on the usual nail polish run, I found myself browsing the makeup. I already own an Urban Decay matte eyeshadow as well as the Urban Decay Primer Potion (UDPP), and all the little kits and sets were looking really tempting!! I helped myself to a couple of smaller eyeshadow kits in order to give other shadows a try. The Volume 2 of Urban Decay's "Book of shadows" (containing 16 shadows) didn't seem a good idea until I had tried a few more, and since they don't have a book of shadows in all matte, the little palettes were a way to test the waters with these shimmery ones.

First up is the "Show Pony Shadow Box" of six Urban Decay eye shadows.


What really caught my eye, besides the cute splashy artwork, was the miniature UDPP. How handy to have a travel size as a back-up for my full size primer potion! The colors also looked like good basic colors, with both neutral tones and some pops of color, all in warm tones.


Isn't this the cutest?? The artwork is by Kime Buzzelli.


Voila! Open, the palette reveals a mirror and the 6 shadows, with more decoration like on the outside.


Here are my home swatches, with apologies to the great arm swatchers such as KarlaSugar.



All of these shadows are quite shimmery on the surface. Starting on the top row left to right, "Snatch" is kind of shiny and sparkly and is a peachy, beige-y, coppery color---I seem to have a hard time finding the right words to describe the color. It seems to have some gold flakes in it. Against my finger, the shadow feels smooth but with some texture.


"Mildew" is a gorgeous olive drab green. Is this loden? It shows green in the palette but not a forest or emerald but a more neutral olive-y tone. On my finger it is soft and mossy...is it a moss green?? Swatched on the skin, it does have a shiny finish to it.


"Flash" is a beautiful medium purple that feels fairly smooth in texture on the skin.

"Painkiller" is very soft and smooth and easy to get a lot onto my finger. A very intense aqua blue. And look, it is very close in color to China Glaze Adore!!


"Smog" is a nice neutral light metallic brown color. It is very similar in color to "Toasted," below. Smog seems more of a greenish brown kind of color, though, while Toasted is a pinkish-coppery tone.


All together now!


Blaze and Mildew are at the bottom.

And, the kit wouldn't be complete with an eyeliner pencil, now would it? Here we have the 24/7 eye pencil in "Zero" which is black. Handy dandy!


Let's add the liner at to our eye shadow swatches to see it with the shadows.


The pencil goes on so smoothly. No one wants to be standing in front of the mirror, bearing down on her lids with her eyeliner pencil trying to get it to draw a good line. Pencils always go on pretty smoothly on the hand, while the real test is the eyelid; I do believe that this pencil that it will work nicely on the lid. I can't wait to try it, especially since I generally stick with brown or charcoal colors (with occasional green, blue or other fun colors....actually, I never use black now that I come to think of it).

More close-ups of the swatches with the liner.

Top to bottom: Snatch, Mildew, and Flash.


Top to bottom: Painkiller, Smog, Toasted.


Smog on top; Toasted on bottom.

The logical next step is to try some eye looks with these shadows. Yay, I can't wait! I am very glad I bought this sample kit. They are six great colors, it's great to have a test eye pencil in basic black, and I love having a mini size UDPP to take on the road!!

So far, I give this kit a preliminary Euridice 5 out of 5 YAY! rating, but the real score comes after trying them out for a while.

L'Oreal H.I.P. Eyeshadows Review and Swatches, Pt. 1

If you haven't been in a drugstore makeup aisle in a while, check out the L'Oreal HIP (High Intensity Pigments) line. In my case, when I recently resumed wearing makeup, and thus became obsessed with adding more colors to my arsenal, just marching to the mall and randomly buying expensive shadows would not have been a really smart move. The popular L'Oreal HIP eyeshadow duos were the perfect solution. They come in a wide variety of really pretty colors, in some cases very high contrast, dramatic pairings. And, best of all, most of them do have high pigmentation that one wouldn't necessarily expect from drugstore makeup.

I wouldn't say these shadows are equal to MAC or other high-end makeup brands' shadows, but for drugstore, they are really good buys. I am featuring my own collection and providing reviews and swatches in case they might help someone reading this. It is my magnum makeup opus!

The most recent release is the matte shadow duos, and the other categories are the concentrated, bright, and metallic duos. Let's start this series with the concentrated. I'll be reviewing two duos, "Charisma" and "Devious."

I provide pictures of the shadows, swatches, and my attempts to use them on my very own eyes. Eek! Obviously, I am not a model (nor a makeup artist or photographer!!), and my hooded eye shape isn't the best for showing off eyeshadows. On the other hand, so many women have this eye shape, and seeing shadows on this eye shape might provide something other blogs or professional beauty sites don't?!

Both of the looks in this post are the same, with the left shadow used on the lid, then the right shadow blended into the crease. I note the differences and staying power for each individual duo.

First up: Charisma, a purply duo. The left shadow is a shimmery light pinky purple, smooth and silky to the touch, while the right shadow is dark purple, rougher and less creamy with just a touch of shimmer. When smearing the swatches on my hand, I found the lighter color really smeared while the darker stayed put. I did this not to be messy or contrary, but to predict how the shadows will blend or go on the eye.

I've worn these shadows recently over Urban Decay Primer potion a couple of times, and they have excellent staying power.

Pictures of the duo are indoors, first the duo in the overhead light, then tipped to be more in shadow, and followed by swatches on my hand or arm.


Some swatches on my hand to show the colors:



And, some pics on eye. And, another reminder that my lid is small!!



"Devious" is an earthy duo that reminds me of fall clothes. It contains a medium green---kind of an olive green with some shimmer---paired with a tobacco brown that is also shimmery. Both shadows have the same texture, going on silkily and smoothly and blending the same when I was smearing them on my hand. These shadows will blend well on the eye, and will provide some layering possibilities. I have had good results with the shadows from the duo staying on for the whole day.

Swatches on the back of my hand:


Pretty!!! Earthy!! Autumny!! And, below, showing them out of the direct light.


On the eyelid, just the green (with some fallout that needs cleanup):


With brown in the crease:





Supporting characters:

The tools used in my pictures include L'Oreal Telescopic mascara in brown black, Maybelline eye pencil in slate blue, three shadow brushes from CVS (two smaller crease brushes and a domed eyeshadow brush, all with the lighter handles), a blending brush from Japonesque (purchased from ULTA, in back with black handle), and Urban Decay Primer Potion (UDPP).

Conclusion: My favorite duos are turning out to be the ones that are more blendable, in this case, Devious, the green and brown. When applying these particular shadows, one can adjust smears or miscues easily as one goes along. With the darker color in Charisma, the purple duo, the staying power is great in theory, but they are not easy to manipulate when needing to tidy up or adjust when applying. For that reason, I think those colors are great for lining the lids, either on their own or layering with an eye pencil or eyeliner.

Coming up: I have 6 more concentrated duos, as well as 2 matte and 4 metallic! Stay tuned.