Two duochrome posts in a row? Is that allowed? (As usual, we ignore the word "holographic" when it's in the name of a makeup product.) I love duochromes, and they make me pay more for drugstore eyeshadows than I normally would. More for eyeshadow singles in general (though there was that time I paid full price for Urban Decay X, and I don't even really like it). These (deep breath) L'Oréal Infallible Galaxy Lumiere Holographic Eyeshadows are $13 a piece, so I suggest waiting for a sale, which will always come sooner or later for drugstore makeup. I had a B2GO Free deal from, but if I hadn't also had Ulta points from my credit card to spend, I might have balked even at that.
None of that is to say that I don't think these eyeshadows are amazing and totally worth picking up if you are a duochrome fiend like I am. They're absolutely lovely.
The formula of these eyeshadows is interesting. Though they have the "Infallible" name attached to them, they're not the same as the regular Infallible singles (reviewed here), which come with little plates on top to keep them densely packed. These Galaxy shadows have a more spongey texture--not as squishy as Colourpop Super Shock eyeshadows, but if you press your finger into the pan, you can feel it compress a bit. I dropped Full Moon on the floor and, instead of shattering, the whole shadow came loose in one piece inside the pan. I was able to press it back in place with a finger. Like the L'Oréal Infallible eyeshadows and the Colourpop Super Shock shadows, these apply best with a finger. With a brush they go on very sheer and a little patchy.
How about I let my many, many photos do the talking? My swatches were made with a brush without primer. Each one is several layers, because these shadows are sheer, and in swatch form they don't show up clearly in a single layer.
Left to right: Crescent Moon (sheer beige with green shift), Full Moon (white gold), and Moon Kissed (purple with blue shift).
You can see that Full Moon (gold) is both the most opaque and the most reflective, but probably has the subtlest shift. Crescent Moon (beige) has the most shift but is quite sheer.
I swatched them all over black eyeliner too. I like to do this with sheer products that are close to my skin tone, like Crescent Moon, to see if they are just blending into my skin. As you can see, the beige base of Crescent Moon is almost invisible over black, while the green really shines. On every shade, the base shows through more over bare skin and the shift shows more over black.
I also made some comparisons to other duochrome eyeshadows I own. Here is Crescent Moon compared to some other beige/brown-green duochromes. Not much similarity here. Left to right: L'Oréal Crescent Moon, Total Intensity Bewitched (reviewed here), Urban Decay Sideline (reviewed here), Makeup Geek Ritzy (reviewed here).
I don't have a comparison for Full Moon, because I don't have anything like it. (The white gold City Color cream shadow swatched here would probably be similar, but I got rid of it, because the formula didn't work for me.)
I swatched Moon Kissed next to other blue and purple duochromes, but as you can see I don't really have anything else like it either. Left to right: L'Oréal Moon Kissed, Maybelline Color Tattoo in Seashore Frosts (limited edition, reviewed here), and Ulta Holographic Highlighter in Fairy (discontinued, reviewed here).
Now let me show you these babies on my face! First up is Crescent Moon, which, as I've said, is very sheer. In these first three photos, I applied the shadow with a brush, over primer. You can see how weak the results are, despite the primer. In all of the rest of the photos below, I used my fingers, which worked much better.
Crescent Moon is more intense, as the swatches showed, over a darker base. Below I'm wearing it over Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tough as Taupe, but an even darker base makes it pop more. For that reason, I suspect this eyeshadow would totally shine on darker skin, especially since it doesn't have a white base. I haven't found photos on someone with a deep skin tone, though, so if you've tried it, I'd love to hear how it worked.
And here's Moon Kissed. Pretty pretty pretty! (Sorry for the first eye! It was the best angle to show the color. I wasn't being murdered.)
And finally, Full Moon, which was the one of the three I wanted most originally. I've been looking for a vibrant white-gold like this for a while. I was really attracted to a shadow like this from the Nars Danger Control palette, but I knew I'd never wear most of the pinks in it. Full Moon is everything that I hoped it would be! I love how it brightens my eyes, though I'm not sure these photos really show it off.
Full Moon also makes a gorgeous highlighter. It's what I hoped the Marc Jacobs Glowstick (reviewed here) would be. I bet Crescent Moon would work great as a highlighter too, but I haven't played around with it that way yet.
I'm really enjoying these eyeshadows. They're on the sheer side, sure, but that's not a flaw. I'm going to have to do more layering with them and see what I can come up with. Of the three, Full Moon is my favorite. Crescent Moon is probably the least spectacular, but it's very versatile.
I'd recommend these shadows whole-heartedly--at least if you can get them on sale. (I just noticed, though, that they are apparently exclusive to Ulta, which is annoying for those of you who don't have access to one.)
No comments:
Post a Comment