Shadow Swatches: Miscellaneous Eyeshadow Singles and Quads from Stila, L'Oréal, Tom Ford, Butter London, Revlon, and Urban Decay

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I didn't buy anything during the Sephora sale, did you? 20% off just isn't very exciting for me. I mean maybe if there was something I was definitely planning to buy anyway, it would be better to get 20% off than no discount at all, but there wasn't. Plus I have a bunch of Ulta points to use on frivolous shit.

Instead of shopping, lately, I've been playing with what I already have, including these eyeshadows which I realized I'd (mostly) never written about on my blog. Rather than doing a full review of them, I thought I'd just take some swatch photos and say a little about what I like or don't like about each. Not all of them are currently available, but I hope you enjoy the pretty pictures anyway.

The swatches below were made with a brush over primer (Black Radiance eyeshadow primer, reviewed here). If this were a proper review, I would have swatched them with and without primer for your information, but I just really wanted to show you the color and finish clearly. You can still tell which ones are shitty even over primer, anyway.

Oh, and I took way too many photos, which probably all look the same, so here's a cut.

First up are a couple of Stila singles, Diamond Lil on the left, and Golightly on the right (in natural light above and artificial below). These two eyeshadows are absolutely stunning and perform beautifully. They're pigmented but not messy, and I love them both for one-shadow looks. It seems like they've been discontinued, which is bad news for you, but was good news for me, because I got them for $3 each from Hollar. Stila singles are normally $18.

Hollar is great, by the way--it's like an online dollar store with a lot of coupon codes. It has your usual drugstore/dollar store makeup, but then it also sometimes has excellent deals like this on discontinued, higher-end stuff. Right now they have a bunch of OCC/Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics products for $6 a piece, plus some Lipstick Queen, Cargo, Laura Geller, a few things left from Stila, etc. You can get a $5 credit with my referral link (me too).

I would totally recommend either of these eyeshadows if you ever see them. They're great, semi-metallic, non-boring neutrals.

Next is a L'Oréal quad that I got as compensation for a consumer study (more about those here).

This is the Colour Riche Dual Effects Quad in Perpetual Nude (also possible called Beloved Nudes in some places?). It's a subtle, shimmery, neutral quad. I think it's really pretty. It applies very nicely and the complex shimmers remind me of some Japanese eyeshadows.

I swatched it on Instagram a while back, too, and I think those photos turned out well. The only thing I don't like about this quad is the mildly spermy shapes of the pans. They look silly, and I think they'll get annoying as I finish more of it up.

Here's another quad that I got from Hollar, a Revlon LE palette from the Gucci Westman collection a few years back, called Wild. Hollar still has it for $1.50.

This palette defies expectations, in that the bright mattes are fantastic (pigmented, blendable, not messy), which the satiny beige is awful. Since when is a beige satin a difficult eyeshadow?

Here's a photo of something I tried just before bed one night, which is my excuse for the flaky mascara and the red skin. But you can see how vibrant that red-orange is, combined here with some shadows from the Juvia's Place Nubian Palette (reviewed here).

Now two duochromes from Urban Decay.

On the left is X and on the right is Sideline.  I love, love, love Sideline, with its orange-gold-green shiftiness. It's beautiful to wear all on its own.

I don't like X, and I wish I hadn't bought it. It's pretty in swatches, but rather than the peachy duochrome I expected from reviews, it's more of a baby pink with gold shimmer. It just looks like nothing on my skin tone/eyelids, unfortunately. I can see how it would work on someone else, but I really should have known that I wouldn't be excited by it, because pale rose-gold eyeshadows never do what I hope for me. Anyone have suggestions for what I might pair it with to make it more interesting?

Here's another late night, poorly lit experiment. I used X in the middle of my lid over NYX Glitter Primer (reviewed here). The primer made it nice and foily, but I think you can see what I mean by the color just being invisible on me. I have enough champagne shimmers that have the same effect that I didn't need this too.

It does make pretty swatch pictures, though, so please enjoy!

Finally, two spectacular duochrome/multichrome cream shadows.

On the left is Tom Ford Cream Color in Sphinx, and the right is Butter London Glazen Eye Gloss in Oil Slick. Sarah-who-reads-my-blog very generously gave me a huge sample from her pot of Sphinx last year. It's starting to dry up a little, but that actually hasn't negatively impacted its performance. It acts more like a very smooth powder now and works perfectly well over primer. It has a stunning shift from pink to gold to green. I had a hard time photographing the green, but you can see it a little in the last photo below, I think. And just below is what it looks like on top of Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tough as Taupe. (It was creasier when it was less dry.)

It's hard for me to actually recommend that you buy Sphinx, because it's $46 for a single cream eyeshadow that will dry up eventually. But then again it's really cool, and I don't know of any cheaper dupes (maybe someone knows an indie?). So perhaps you could ask for it for a gift? (My family would never buy me a single makeup item that cost that much though. They would think I was nuts.) Or maybe you have a gift card or a really good discount code? Let's all try to be reasonable here. I am very grateful to Sarah for sending this my way, because I never, ever would have bought it myself. And I would have missed out on the glory.

Oil Slick is also glorious for a little more than half the price, which still isn't cheap. This is your classic red-brown/blue-teal duochrome (other duochromes swatched here!), but in a messy, yet somehow easy-to-use formula. You can see the mess in my Instagram post--be sure to keep that inner lid to prevent the product from drying up, if you get one of these! You only need the tiniest amount; it's very easy to spread and blend with fingers; and then it dries down and doesn't crease (i.e. it's not an actual gloss). I get a tiny bit of glittery fallout, but nothing ugly. I love it. (Here's a swatch of Oil Slick sheered out, which is also really lovely.)

Anyway, this is all just me playing with some eyeshadows I have sitting around. Do you have any of these? What have you been playing with lately?