Saturday, June 27, 2015

Maybe I don't own all the eyeshadows yet: Swatches of L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy with comparisons

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L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy
L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy
I bought this eyeshadow after a particularly brutal job interview, when I was wandering around CVS and got sucked in by one of their "spend $15 on L'Oreal and get $5". I like the formula of the Infallible shadows, but $8-9 always feels like a bit of a splurge for a single shade (though most of them are cheaper on Amazon at the moment). For comparison, they come out to almost $67 per ounce (or $2.30 per gram), while Urban Decay Naked palette shadows are $87 an ounce - and that's on the more reasonable side for a higher end palette (most are $100+ per ounce).

The formula of the Infallible eyeshadows is really nice, much better than the vast majority of drugstore eyeshadows in my experience, so having calculated it that way, I feel better about my purchase. In general, with the exception of a handful of gems, including Wet N Wild permanent shadows and Maybelline Color Tattoos (and MUA palettes if you are in the UK) good eyeshadow seems to be one of the most difficult types of makeup to find at the drugstore. So the Infallibles are worth checking out if you haven't already done so. I've included swatches of the three I have below.

I picked out the shade Gilded Envy in part because it reminded me of an e.l.f. eyeshadow I had years ago that I loved and lost. But I also picked it out thinking that surely by now, in my vast hoard, I had already replaced that with something comparable. I knew I shouldn't buy it, but I was letting my mood do the shopping.

When I got it home, I was pleasantly surprised to find that in fact I didn't already have anything like it. SHOCKING. It's a fairly unusual shade, obviously. Gilded Envy isn't easy to describe. Antique gold it the first phrase that comes to mind. I think the closest reference from the natural world is pyrite, which features the same grey-gold and glitter that this eyeshadow has. At some angles, as you can see in the many photos below, it reflects a bit of green. At other times, it looks mostly silver. This one is a shapeshifter. Depending on the lighting, you can get anything from old gold to khaki to forest green to steel gray. It's pretty spectacular. The differences you see in each photo below aren't inaccuracies from poor color adjusting - they reflect this stuff's true shiftiness.

L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy
Here are swatches, the first without primer and the second with the mediocre Nars primer I reviewed here. The primer does make a difference for swatching, but when I used Gilded Envy on my eyelids with the Nars primer, it was a patchy mess, so I took replacement photos after opening my new tube of Wet N Wild primer. (That's also the main reason this post took so long to finish. I took the original photos on the way out of the house earlier this week and then had to redo them today.)

Swatches of L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy (without primer and over primer)
Swatches of L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy (without primer and over primer)
Here it is on my eyelid (below). The best way to apply it to get a smooth, even layer is with your fingertip. You can use a brush if you must, but it will make more of a mess under your eyes. Blending the edges with a brush works fine. This is definitely a powder eyeshadow, not a cream, but it's very fine and not completely pressed in the pan, so it comes with that little extra lid to keep it from exploding, which you can see in the first photo in this post. I'm not sure how absolutely necessary that extra piece is. I've never seen any signs of my Infallible shadows disintegrating. Traveling with them might be different, but I haven't done that. On my eyes, in these photos, the gold comes through a little more than in the swatches.

L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy
L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy
L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy
L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy
Despite all the glitter that shows up in the swatches, it's not too crazy once you put it on your eyes. To me, it seems perfectly acceptable for daytime/work wear. I've noticed almost no glitter fallout throughout the day, either.

Unfortunately for you, but fortunately for me, I don't have any dupes to show you. Dupes are good for blogging, but bad for my wallet. I picked out three eyeshadows for comparison, simply as a point of reference, since I thought these might be familiar to some people: Urban Decay Mushroom, Urban Decay , and Maybelline Color Tattoo Bad to the Bronze.

Comparison swatches of L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy, Urban Decay Mushroom, Urban Decay Mildew, and Maybelline Color Tattoo Bad to the Bronze
Comparison swatches of L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Gilded Envy, Urban Decay Mushroom, Urban Decay Mildew, and Maybelline Color Tattoo Bad to the Bronze (no primer)
I also wanted to show you comparisons with the two other Infallible shadows I have: Eternal Sunshine and Sultry Smoke. These shadows come in a range of finishes, as you can see. Gilded Envy is glittery and shifty, as I've said - at some angles the glitter is hidden and at others it's very sparkly. Eternal Sunshine is straight up metallic. Sultry Smoke is completely matte (I've written about this one before, because it doesn't perform quite as well on my eyes as you would expect from the swatch).

L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadows in Eternal Sunshine, Gilded Envy and Sultry Smoke
L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadows in Eternal Sunshine, Gilded Envy and Sultry Smoke
The swatches are slightly blurry, but that helps bring out the level of sparkle.

Swatches of L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadows in Eternal Sunshine, Gilded Envy and Sultry Smoke
Swatches of L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadows in Eternal Sunshine, Gilded Envy and Sultry Smoke
As it turns out, I didn't fail too hard. I'm happy that buying my feelings actually worked out for once. Gilded Envy is unusual, versatile, and really pretty. I'm already getting a lot of use out of it. Still, it was a close call, and self-medicating with makeup shopping is not a good habit to get into - especially since there are undoubtedly many other terrible job interviews in my future. It's nice to know that there's still new shit out there for me to discover, nevertheless.

ETA: If you're having trouble finding this particular shade, Ally helpfully pointed out in the comments below that Gilded Envy is part of the Butterfly Collection, not one of the core Infallible eyeshadow shades (though I found it in the regular display at CVS).

Any other Infallible shadows you'd recommend (or suggest avoiding)?

16 comments:

  1. PYRITE! Yes!! I own this but don't wear it as often as I should––I think I tend to forget that I have the Infallibles, and when I do remember I deem them "too much work" (because unscrewing a top is SUPER HARD). I'll have to make the effort more often! It is really pretty.

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    1. Also retail therapy after unpleasantness is totally understandable. I'm sorry the interview didn't go well, but I hope you have more success soon!

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    2. I completely understand certain products seeming like too much work, especially first thing in the morning. For me it's my eyeshadow palettes, which are stacked in a small train case. I have to open the lid to the case AND look through the stack to choose one? No thanks! Usually I just take one out and leave it on my desk, and then I'll use that for a few weeks. I don't know how to solve the unscrewing problem, though. :) And thanks for the well-wishes!

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  2. I enjoy these shadows and will be adding Gilded Envy to my rotation. Hard Candy makes a shadow very similar (right down to the packaging) and it's good too. You get two for $6-7 and the quality was good. I wasn't expecting much and like them a hair better than these that I have.

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    1. I am not super familiar with Hard Candy stuff, because there is no WalMart in convenient proximity to me (must be one of the few towns in the country where one can say that!). But I will try to remember to check those out the next time I'm there, thanks!

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    2. I haaaate Walmart and went to the one closeish to us (also don't live close to one) and they didn't carry Hard Candy! I went into the bowels of hell for nothing. Finally convinced myself to try another one and struck gold. They had Hard Candy, Black Radiance, and the Cover Girl Queen collection. My lips have never looked so good.

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    3. I think this shade may be discontinued. I've been to four drugstores and checked Ulta online with no luck :(

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    4. False alarm! They're part of the Butterfly collection, not the regular line. Whew!

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    5. Oh, that's good to know, thanks! They were just stuck in the regular L'Oreal wall display at the CVS where I got them, with all the usual Infallible eyeshadows. But I will add that detail to my post.

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  3. I collect the high end version of these: Giorgio Armani eyes to kill intense eyeshadow, mainly because the colours are more complex than the infallibles. This pyriteyness looks complex enough for me to want this though!

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    1. Oh yes, I've seen those, and they look gorgeous. Does the complexity remain when you actually use it, or do all the colors blend together to create a monochrome shade on the eyelid?

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    2. Depends, some shades remain very complex! They blend into a single colour, but with a lot of shifting in different lights. Especially the #1 blue with gold, it looks like a really cool subdued blue. Not sure if it's possible to get that kind of colour in a normal eyeshadow. Not all of them do though, and I'm not quite sure 3x the cost of the infallibles is justifiable :p

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  4. I love Infallibles but found them so blingy that I didn't know what to do with them, lol. I don't have any now but you're making me want to go out and get some. You know that these all have completely different shade names in Canada? It's so stupid that someone had to make a chart once upon a time.

    And I absolutely support buying some makeup after a shitty interview. Look good for the next one!

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    1. It's blingy, but my eye shape and glasses tend to tone down eyeshadow, I guess, so I may be more tolerant of bling than others. I wonder why they give them different names! And if they're not going to sell these ones in Canada, why the French on the label? Weird!

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  5. This is one of my favorite Infallible shadows! I too, could not find a ln exact dupe for it in my vast collection but the NYX Glam Eyes Shadow Stick in Dazzling Quartz is similar. It's less pigmented and sparkly and generally a pain in the rear without primer but is convenient to use.

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    1. I googled that one, and it looks pretty! I haven't had much luck with eyeshadow sticks in general though.

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