A $25 Eyeshadow Single? Review and swatches of Rouge Bunny Rouge eyeshadow in Delicate Hummingbird

Disclosure: Affiliate links.
You may be thinking, "Wait a goddamned minute. Why are you reviewing a $25 eyeshadow on a blog with 'cheap' in the title?" Why indeed. That's a fair question. After all, I recently debated whether or not $8 was too much for a single eyeshadow. Well, let me tell you a story. I ordered this eyeshadow from BeautyKind late last week when they had a fantastic promotion with no apparent expiration date posted. I used someone's referral link and got a $25 credit to use, no minimum purchase required. So I just had to pay $6 shipping for the $25 eyeshadow. Score! It arrived Monday evening, so my plan was to test it for two days, and then blog about it, to share the amazing deal. So I tested it for two days . . . and then when I woke up this morning, BeautyKind had changed their rules. Now the deal is a $25 credit to be used on a minimum purchase of $50 when you sign up through a referral link (here's mine). That's way less exciting than a free $25, but I guess 50% off (if you spend exactly $50) is still something.

BeautyKind has a bunch of brands that aren't super-obscure but aren't available everywhere, including Juara, Laura Geller, Butter London, Lipstick Queen, and, of course, Rouge Bunny Rouge. They also donate a 5% of your purchase to a charity, and you have a choice of a few options that change periodically. I chose the American Cancer Society. Of course, if you really want to be charitable, you should just donate your money directly to a cause, rather than treating yourself and then feeling smug and self righteous for doing a good thing. But if you were going to buy the makeup anyway, it doesn't hurt that a couple of bucks are going to charity. BeautyKind also sent me three samples in foil packets, which was a nice bonus, even if one of them was this fat girl bullshit that I posted on Instagram and then threw away without using.

So that's the story. I'm sorry that I don't have a more spectacular deal to share with you, but I thought it would be a little tacky to post a referral link when I hadn't even properly tested the product. Now it's too late. I already took photos of this eyeshadow, however, so I'll go ahead and review it anyway. It makes a good pendant to my recent expensive lipstick review.

Rouge Bunny Rouge When Birds Are Singing Shimmer Shadow in Delicate Hummingbird

Rouge Bunny Rouge has a reputation for beautifully pigmented and creamy powder eyeshadows, so I was interested in how they compare to the many other, definitely cheaper, shadows I already own. The texture is certainly nice. It's pigmented enough that you don't need to spend a lot of time building it up, but not messy, and it's easy to blend. I think it's closely comparable to the shimmer shades in the classic Wet N Wild Color Icon trios, which is high praise. The wear time is also good. I tested it without primer, and it actually lasted a few hours before creasing and didn't fade dramatically. Everything creases on my oily eyelids eventually, so I wouldn't actually wear it without primer, normally.

I chose the shade Delicate Hummingbird, which is described as "cool, dusky, sugar-frosted plum, iridescent with pink shimmer," because it sounded like I wouldn't have a dupe for it in my hoard. Most of my makeup was still in disarray from moving, however, so I didn't actually search through it to make sure before placing the order. (Or was I just too lazy?) The description is basically right, though I think the purple itself is a little warm - and almost brownish ("dusky" I guess) - and a good deal of the metallic shimmer is silvery rather than pink. It's also pretty shifty, depending on the light. A lot of the photos I've seen almost make it look like it has some gold shimmer in it, but it doesn't.

I was successful in not duping anything I already had, so that's good. Here's a comparison with Urban Decay Gravity, which is more pigmented (to the point of being annoying), definitely purple (not plum), and has more silver glitter in it; the purple shade from the Pixi Eye Glo Cube palette, which is lighter and cooler and much less pigmented; and the discontinued Maybelline Color Tattoo in Pomegranate Punk, which is much warmer and redder (next to the others here it looks brown here, but it's really not). I looked at a few other purplish eyeshadows in my hoard, and nothing else looked comparable either.

Swatches of Rouge Bunny Rouge Delicate Hummingbird, Urban Decay Gravity, purple from Pixi Eye Glo Cube, and Maybelline Pomegranate Punk

I find purplish eyeshadows in general tricky, because if they lean at all toward the red side, they make me look ill. Pomegranate Punk, for example, is one of those reddish plums that I simply cannot wear (I pulled it out of my reject pile to swatch). Delicate Hummingbird is right on the line. It's almost the exact color of the dark circles under my eyes (+ shimmer,) so concealer is definitely required. With sufficient care, it's pretty, but not spectacular on me (though if you want to see a really lovely eye look using this shadow, check out this post from Rocaille Writes).

Now the real question: is it worth $25? Um . . . no. Maybe if I had picked a more flattering color, I would have been more blown away, but I'm not convinced. It's a quality eyeshadow, thats for sure, and the packaging is sturdy. If you like to travel with eyeshadow singles, I guess it would be useful to have one with a mirror, and I think the container is refillable. But I also think you can get just as good eyeshadows at a fraction of this price - based on comparison with just this one shade, admittedly, which seems to be among the most popular Rouge Bunny Rouge sells. I'm not immune to expensive beauty product related FOMO from time to time, but it's unfounded. My position is consistently reinforced that there is very little correlation between quality and price when it comes to makeup. True, you might get more attractive and sturdier packaging at a higher price, so if that's important to you, it's worth considering. But as for the products themselves, there is a similar range from terrible to excellent at all price points. There's absolutely nothing wrong with treating yourself to something pretty or luxurious, but don't delude yourself that just because you're spending a lot of money, you're automatically getting something better than the poor schlubs at the drugstore.

If you're interested in Rouge Bunny Rouge, then the $25 off $50+ (plus shipping) from BeautyKind may be the way to go. The shipping was very fast, just a few days. If you do use my referral link, you should know that I also get a $25 off $50+ credit and some points. Their point system confuses me, but you can read about it here and try to figure it out yourself, if you want.

I'm also curious if anyone else has already shopped at BeautyKind, and what your experience has been like, since the site is new to me.