Review: New Palladio Shadow & Liner Herbal Crayons

Every once in a while a product comes along that makes me so excited that I can't even remember how I survived without it.  I am delighted to tell you that this is exactly what happened after I received the new Palladio Shadow & Liner Herbal Crayons for review recently. I love them so much that I'm having a hard time thinking straight.

Let's start with the basics and then I'll explain exactly why I am in LOVE with these things.  First of all, the concept is nothing new, really. We've all seen jumbo pencils like this that can be used as eyeshadow, a base for powder shadows and also to line the eyes. The textures of these pencils reminds me of Maybelline Cool Effect Shadow Liners. Just like the Maybelline pencils, these Palladio crayons have the same cooling effect when you run them across your skin.  But in my opinion, that's where the similarities end.

I've tried a few of the Cool Effect Shadow Liners over the years and the pigmentation and staying power always left a little to be desired. With the Palladio crayons, the pigmentation, color and performance exceed any other jumbo pencil I've ever used (and yes, even the NYX jumbo pencils I own, which I had such high hopes for but never seemed to quite deliver for me and my oily lids). 

During a recent heatwave here in San Diego, I tried these crayons in all three ways: as eyeshadow, as a base for powder eyeshadow and also as liner.  So let's break it down:

As eyeshadow, these crayons can give you either a great punch of color or a soft wash, depending on how much you blend them out. And they LAST. Seriously, I think I got about seven hours of wear out of each shade before I started to see fading or creasing. And that was with no primer and no powder shadow layered on top of them.  When you apply them to your lids, you have about a minute of play before they set, so just be careful to blend them out with your fingertip (brushes don't seem to work as well) immediately upon application.

As eyeliner, these crayons give me a fantastic smokey eye. And for a jumbo pencil, I just cannot begin to explain how pleased I am with the staying power. Never would I dare use a jumbo pencil to line my eyes and expect it to last more than an hour or two. But with these, I am able to get about five hours of wear before I started to see slight creasing in the outside corners of my eyes, but even then it's minimal. And if I layer a bit of powder eyeshadow over them, they wear like iron.

But the real rockstar for application is to use these as a base for powder shadows. I don't know about you, but I've got a rather large collection of "meh" eyeshadows that aren't super pigmented and don't have stellar staying power on their own. So when I get a new shadow base, I immediately break out my "meh" eyeshadows to see if I can breathe new life into them.  That's exactly what I did with these Palladio crayons I could not be more delighted with how they transform my powder shadows:

OK, if you take a look at these swatches, you'll see that I swatched them alone and then with various powder shadows layered over them.  I deliberately selected some shadows from my collection that aren't exactly superstars in the pigmentation category.  As you can see, these crayons are very nice on their own, but LOOK OUT when you layer a powder shadow over them. They take on a whole new dimension and I love how they really bring out the shade of the powder shadow.  Plus, the color of these crayons doesn't dominate my powder shadows--you can see in the swatch of the CG shadow (over espresso) that the shimmer and lightness of the CG color doesn't get overpowered by the color of espresso. It just heightens the original shade and makes it even better.

When you use a powder shadow shade that is very close to the shade of the crayon (see the LA Colors swatch on the right side of the collage) you can see how much it intensifies the color.  Alone, that LA Colors shadow is pretty sad, but WOW is it intense over espresso.

And the staying power? One word: incredible.  Honestly, even in 100 degree weather, these wear like iron for me and literally do not budge or crease or fade for the entire day (and into the night). I wore espresso with the CG shade for 10 hours the other day when I looked in the mirror that night, practically everything on my eye had disappeared except for the area where I used espresso as a base. It was still going strong and just as vibrant as when I applied it earlier that day. Also, these crayons remove easily with just my regular facial cleanser. No need for eye makeup remover. Love that!

If you're on at tight budget right now and you can't afford to buy every pretty new shadow you see at the drugstore, I HIGHLY recommend picking up one of these new Palladio Shadow & Liner Herbal Crayons  (there are 12 shades available).  For just six bucks, I think it's an awesome investment because these crayons literally breathe new life into my otherwise drab eyeshadows. It's like having a whole new collection of shadows now, just by using one crayon. I literally have been layering everything but the kitchen sink over these crayons and I haven't found a bad combo yet.

Palladio Shadow & Liner Herbal Crayons are brand new, so for now you can only purchase them on the Palladio website. I'll find out from my contact when they'll be available at Sally Beauty (in-store and online) and I will definitely let you know ASAP.

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews.