e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow in Enchanted: Worth the trouble?

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I bought this eyeshadow even after reading a handful of reviews saying it pretty much totally lacked pigmentation and sucked, because it looked so fucking pretty. I got it for half price ($1.50), and so I figured I wouldn't hate myself too much if  I ended up with someone inside my head doing the "I told you so" dance.

e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow in Enchanted

Turns out I don't hate myself at all. It is definitely more hassle than your average eyeshadow, but the shifty rose gold gorgeousness is worth it, in my opinion. Basically, you must use primer with this shadow or you're going to get fuck all from it. Even better, though: use a wet brush. You can see in the photo above that I've been using half of the thing wet and half dry. I don't like to get the entire surface of a powder product wet, because sometimes that creates a hard film which makes more trouble if I want to use it dry in the future.

The swatches below show it dry without primer, dry with primer, wet with e.l.f. Lock & Seal, and wet with water. On the left, the part where you pretty much don't see anything at all: that's without primer. I used the same brush to swatch it over my favorite Wet N Wild primer, and it's much prettier. It works nice this way on the eyelid, but it's sheer.

Swatches of e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow in Enchanted (left to right): dry, dry with primer,
wet brush with e.l.f. Lock & Seal, wet brush with water

The Lock & Seal and water create a similar effect (the difference in sheen is mostly from the angle of the lighting). The main distinction between them is that the Lock & Seal will make the product last longer. In the swatches below, I rubbed over them both a few times with a dry cloth, and more eyeshadow wore off the water swatch. Be careful with the Lock & Seal though: if you apply too thick a layer of eyeshadow, it can end up flaking off. Don't go crazy.

Swatches of e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow in Enchanted after wear test (left to right): e.l.f. Lock and Seal vs. water

Finally, here's a comparison with the rose gold-looking shade from the Wet N Wild Coloricon trio in Sweet As Candy, just to compare with another cheap pink eyeshadow. At least it seemed like it was rose gold until I put them side by side. It's looking a lot more rose and a lot less gold here. The shimmer is pretty silvery in comparison. Both are swatched with a damp brush.

Comparison swatches of e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow in Enchanted
and "eyelid" shade from Wet N Wild Coloricon trio in Sweet As Candy

The other shades of e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow are all supposed to be much easier to work with. I own Burnt Plum, and it definitely performs better on its own - I'd still recommend primer, though, to get the most out of it.

I do not regret buying this eyeshadow at all. It's a bit more finicky than usual, but since I always need primer anyway, I don't mind much. I'll take the slight increase in hassle to have such a spectacularly pretty eyeshadow for $3 or less. But now you know what it's going to take to make it work, if you're considering picking it up.