Review: New Black Radiance Artisan Color Baked Eye Color

The other day I went on my semi-annual Walmart trip. I've mentioned before that I'm more of a Target girl, but about twice a year I go to Walmart in order to see all the makeup that isn't sold anywhere besides Walmart (Hard Candy, Pure Ice nail colors, etc.). And while my Walmart didn't have any of the new Hard Candy stuff (aside from the limited edition Halloween polishes), I did spot some brand new Black Radiance goodies and I can't wait to share them with you!

Black Radiance Artisan Color Baked Blushes (left) and Baked Bronzers (right)

(retail: $4.74 each)

Black Radiance Artisan Baked Eye Colors

(retail: $2.48 each)

For those of you who don't know, Black Radiance is made by Markwins (the makers of Wet n Wild). So even though those limited edition Wet n Wild Color Icon Baked eyeshadows, blushes and bronzers never seemed to surface in my town (waaaah!) I feel like this is the next best thing, and many of the colors seem very close to the WnW Color Icon shades! PLUS, these Black Radiance Artisan Color products are not limited edition. So if you missed out on the Color Icon Baked collection, look out for these!

Black Radiance also has two new lip products:

Black Radiance Moisturizing Lip Stains

(retail: $2.48 each)

Black Radiance Indelibly Sheer Lip Tints

(retail: $2.48 each)

I just about fainted when I saw these! If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know how much I LOVE lip stains, and did you see that beautiful plum-colored baked blush??

After many minutes of debating, I picked up one of the Moisturizing Lip Stains (which I will show you in a future review) and one of the Artisan Color Baked Eye Colors:

I decided to purchase Mint Julep because it seemed to have the least amount of sparkle to it. I've noticed that most drugstore-level baked shadows have a considerable amount of sparkle to them lately, and this one appeared to have very little. Plus, I love the name, and I love the combination of marbled colors to this shadow: cream, gold, bronze and moss green.

I put this next to a MAC eyeshadow single just so you can get an idea of its size. I think, for the price, you get a good amount of shadow and, in person, Mint Julep is even lovelier than it appears in my pics.

So, what does it look like when applied, right? Let me give it to you three ways:

My favorite way to wear this is definitely dry, on top of primer. I think that wearing it this way really brings out the "antique gold" quality of this color. Applied wet, it looks more like a true gold foil, and applied dry without primer, you get a much softer look, which would be nice if you're going to use this shadow as a highlighter.

As for the staying power, I get a lot more mileage from this shadow when I wear it on top of primer. I used my Jesse's Girl eyeshadow primer for these swatches and that's what I've been using on my eyes when I wear this shadow as well. With primer, this shadow doesn't budge for me--it stays put all day and into the night. I can get about 3-4 hours of wear when I don't use a primer and apply it dry.

Application is quite easy for me, as this shadow goes on smoothly and blends effortlessly. There IS some hidden sparkle to this shadow that you can't see until you start applying it, but the sparkle isn't chunky and it's not noticeable once I blend the color.

All in all, I think that Mint Julep is a gorgeous antique-gold type of shade that you don't find every day at the drugstore. I'm very impressed with this product and, for the price, I think that if you're a baked shadow fan, you'll probably enjoy this very much.

Please stay tuned because I'll be reviewing the new Black Radiance lipstain in the days to come.

Are you a Black Radiance fan? Have you spotted these new products in your area yet? If not, are you excited to look for them? I'm so excited that we gals who never got access to the Wet n Wild Color Icon Baked Collection can get these instead! Oh, and if you don't have access to Black Radiance in your town, Walgreens.com tends to have the best selection of any website I've seen so far. They don't have these new products on their site yet, but I bet you they will eventually.