Just in time for the BOGOFREE sale at CVS this week, and before I post my review of one of the Nuance shadow duos I picked up a few weeks ago, I'd love to share with you this extremely in-depth reader review of another duo in this collection. This review was submitted by my friend and longtime reader (and photo contributor), Rach. Take it away, Rach!
I swung into CVS yesterday and found the new Nuance
Salma Hayek line was out, and decided to treat myself to something small. I got the
eyeshadow duo in Moonstone/Shimmering Sand, which has a sparkly
grey-taupe and a sparkly champagne-gold.
Nuance Salma Hayek Mineral Eyeshadow Duo
in Moonstone/Shimmering Sand
(retail: $8.49 0.17 oz)
I was impatient so I opened it up in the car and
finger-swatched it on the back of my hand. I was in love! Gorgeous taupe
with not exactly a shimmer but instead a sort of sparse glitter across a
satiny base. And the champagne-gold is near my skin tone but a few
shades warmer, with the same kind of sparkle. I kept ogling the swatches
on my hand as I drove home. (A 20 minute drive, since I live in the
boonies.)
So when I got home, I took a finger and rubbed off
the little bit of eyeshadow I had on, and tried applying the shadow to
my eye, thinking it would look absolutely incredible. .... No such luck.
The grey-taupe base turned just dull grey against my skin and made me
look like I had undereye circles that stretched around my entire eye. :/
Somehow the sparkles all seemed to migrate to the edge of where I
applied the shadow, turning into a little area of gold glitter that made
the contrast of the cooler, duller taupe even more pronounced. Also, as
soon as I used a brush to pick up the shadow, instead of my finger, the
powder started flying everywhere around the compact, leaving the edges
all messy.
I was really disappointed, and almost sent this
email as a super-negative review, but I decided to have another play
with the shadow this morning to see if a primer or anything would help.
So I've swatched it on my arm (powdered with a bit of MAC Studio Fix
Plus in N4) for you in a few different ways:
as a finger swipe
using a
brush with no base
over NARS Smudgeproof primer
over Fyrinnae Pixie
Epoxy
and finally foiled (I used ELF Mist & Set spray to wet my
brush b/c it was handy)
Finger-swipe, as you see, shows the color beautifully. If it would show up exactly like that on my eyes I'd be a happy camper.
With
no base (other than some powder foundation to even out my arm's tone),
using an eyeshadow brush, it's such a wimpy color. And the sparkles go
*everywhere*. Seriously everywhere. I'm glad I did these swatches before
showering because my whole arm is sparkly now.
Over the NARS base, the colors are much more vibrant
and closer to what I had with a finger-swipe. They're less sparkly
overall but I'm a bit disappointed that the taupe color has pulled way
more grey and lost a lot of the rich brown undertone I see in the pan
and with a finger-swipe.
Next I pulled out my Pixie Epoxy, which is the go-to
for sparkly eyeshadows, be they loose or pressed. I think that gave me
the best result so far, bringing back a lot of the warm brown to the
taupe and keeping a lot of sparkle to the colors.
Finally, I realized I hadn't tried foiling it, so I
dug around and found a little bottle of ELF Makeup Mist & Set,
sprayed my brush and applied again. You have to see the pictures to
understand how much the color transformed.
The taupe color's base
darkened significantly and the gold sparkle/glitter made it practically
metallic. It got a bit lumpy as I applied it, but I think that was user
error in loading too much on my brush. The champagne-gold color turned
metallic too.
They applied so creamy and opaque, they're what I imagine
one of those Illamasqua Pure Metal Pigments to feel like. Unfortunately,
I haven't been able to recreate this look on my eyes -- I got part of
my lid covered but then I started to get lumps of shadow. Hopefully if I
take a little time with it I can get it to work.
So that's my mixed-bag review of Salma's sparkly
eyeshadows. If you are expecting to get them to look exactly like they
do in the pan or how they swatch with your finger, no luck. But I think
with the right sticky base or foiled this will turn out to be a pretty
good purchase.
Rach was even kind enough to shoot a video so that you can see the sparkle in action
(click the full-screen option for a closer look):
Thanks so much, Rach, for the extremely thoughtful and detailed review!
Have you tried a Nuance eyeshadow duo yet? Are you thinking about picking one up during the BOGOFREE sale at CVS this week?
gorgeous! loved the review!!
ReplyDeletei also sent you an email a couple days ago about sinful colors:)
I had mentioned that I picked up many of the samples when they first showed up at my CVS and I guess I should give a little mini-review for anyone considering a purchase. First, the positive review goes to the cacao and coffee body cream. I was pleased that the sample had enough in it for me to cover the areas I usually do. I don't do my whole body (does anyone? Who can reach their own back? lol) I have oily skin so the only areas that really need lotions and creams are the parts that the sun hits, arms, legs, chest.
ReplyDeleteNow, I'm a chronic complainer so I will say that I would have loved to have double the product to luxuriate in it, and go over everything all over again! lol
This stuff is totally delish and smells like I expected the Organix mocha espresso shampoo and conditioner to. You definitely get the coffee and chocolately cacao scents in this one, instead of Playdoh like the Organix!
Also my skin just drank this in and I didn't realize how hard I had to work to get my Vaseline Intensive Care lotion to sink in until now. My skin is still silky soft and smooth hours upon hours afterwards. The only odd thing is that this lotion is a tan color instead of the usual white. Nothing freaky, just thought I'd mention it.
Now for the negative, I tried the tinted moisturizer in medium. The sample is disappointing in that you are only given enough to basically swatch on your jawline for a color match. Lucky for me I was greedy and grabbed three so that I could do a face of it for a day.
ReplyDeleteThis stuff covers nothing, it's a moisturizer, that's it. It did nothing to even out skin tone, I could see all my freckles and moles, I could see the redness in my cheeks and forehead, I could see the zit on my chin. I also usually use my foundation on my lips so that my lip color will be as close to the color in the tube as possible. You couldn't tell I had anything on my lips with this.
I was like, okay, I guess I'm going with a no foundation day today, and finished up my face with the rest of my makeup. About four hours later when I looked in the mirror I was a grease ball, even with primer (Rimmel) and finishing powder.
At least my skin was soft. It is a decent moisturizer.
I also tried the eye serum. I was pleased to see that it's a gel, I like gels for under my eye since they tend to sink in immediately and hydrate well. Then a minute or two later, I was horrified to see that my under eye area looked scaly. I touched it and it felt like I had swiped a thin layer of Elmer's glue there. While it looked scaly it felt completely smooth. This might be the "wrinkle filler"? I don't know, the look and feel were freaking me out so I washed it off!
ReplyDeleteThe last thing I tried was the moisturizing day cream, once again the sample was far too small to really try it out, but I was greedy and grabbed three, so got a full face of this.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have anything positive or negative to say about this. It seems to be your basic face cream, like many others I've used before. Since I only used it for a day I can't say whether it's any better or worse than any other. It didn't break me out, (but I don't have especially sensitive skin) and it made my face soft and smooth as expected. As long as it's the right price I'd pick it up, which it is this week, and I have the $2 coupon from the body cream too!
Thank you Donna for the review's!! :)
ReplyDeletenice job on the review! I just wish Nuance was a little more inexpensive. I recently checked out their display and saw the tined moisturizer. I scanned it for the price, around $14!!!! Looks like Nuance may be better in Sephora....:)LOL
ReplyDelete