Revlon’s Colorburst Balmstain in Adore

I've spoken of my love the Revlon's balmstains. They are very easy to dispense, they're not nearly-invisible sheer washes of color, they run from pale to pigmented, and they're nicely inexpensive. I happened on a display where all Revlon products were Buy One Get One 50% off, and I had my...

Meow Cosmetics’ On The Rocks

HiFi Cosmetics’ Between The Stars

There have been several eyeshadows from various vendors that include larger, sparsely scattered glitter bits (usually hexagonal rounds.) They don't always apply to well, so my overall impression of such eyeshadows has been a bit…ambivalent. This color does have the sparsely scattered hexagons, but the underlying color is attractive...

Beauty from the Earth’s Vega

This is another shade that I initially steered clear of. It looked like a blue-black, and I didn't really want another shade like that. Then, I saw it used in a look…and realized that it's a more like a stonewashed denim blue. I like how the pink and silver...

Beauty from the Earth’s Atomic Teal

I love this color. Love, love, love. It looks more green in the pot, which is why I initially decided against sampling it. It applies a rich greenish teal with aqua shimmer. It's a bit deeper than Aromaleigh's Drama Teal or Loretha, but if you love either of those shades,...

Smashbox’s Metallic Cream Eyeliner Palette kit

I purchased both of the Smashbox cream eyeliner palettes this past Christmas season (December 2012), and took one on my trip to IMATS LA. I like the palette. But after reading this story of egregiously snotty customer dealings by a Smashbox makeup artist, I will not be buying or recommending any...

Aromaleigh v2’s Alchemie collection

One of the first “permanent" collections introduced by Aromaleigh v2, this set was based off of the Elemental Lustres collection. For each eyeshadow, they listed its closest equivalent (if it had one) in the old Elemental Lustres collection so that people could either avoid accidental dupes, or pick up more...

Meow Cosmetics’ Deck Your Halls collection

When this collection was introduced, I wasn’t too sure about the colors. They looked fairly similar to shades I already had in my collection. I sampled a few, though, and ended up buying full size of all but one of the colors I sampled. (I wonder if Meow has...

Black Rose Minerals’ Andromeda

An interesting softer brown with some gold highlights. It's semisheer, which I don't always love; but it is buildable. I wish the color had a bit more heft right out of the pot, but on the upside, it's inexpensive, and it applies evenly. There are no bald or even thinner...

BareMinerals’ Satin Gold

Another satin-finish eyeshadow that performs fairly well. The color is a pale almost-burnished gold, not a clear gold but not the same color depth as something like BFTE's Dragon Slayer. It will work fine as a shadow, and possibly for a subtler under-eye liner shade, but it doesn't have the...