Review: Nuance Salma Hayek Mineral Eyeshadow Duo in Sheer Plum/Putty

 Nuance Mineral Eyeshadow Duo in Sheer Plum/Putty

(retail: $8.49, 0.17 oz)

Today I'm bringing you the last review of the products I purchased a while back from the new Nuance Salma Hayek collection from CVS. Since the BOGOFREE sale on Nuance products is going on this week at CVS, I hope this helps some of you who may want a closer look before you make a purchase.

 The names of the shades in this duo are so fitting. Putty, the matte taupeish-gray shade, is actually the color of putty, while Sheer Plum is a sheer plum shade with a beautiful, soft shimmer.

Swatched without primer, both shades are pretty sheer, yet certainly not invisible. I find the texture of the matte shade, Putty, to be incredibly smooth and buttery. It's a joy to apply and much more smooth than even some of my high-end mattes. The texture of Sheer Plum is smooth as well, but it really benefits from the help of a primer. As the name implies, it's pretty sheer on its own. For the pics above, I used my CoverGirl Intense Shadowblast Primer in Beige Blaze and it seemed to darken both of the shades in the Nuance duo. But if you look closely, even though my Shadowblast is a shimmery primer, it didn't add too much shimmer to Putty (which is matte) but it DID enhance the shimmer in Sheer Plum.

Here's an eye look I did using both shades in the Nuance duo:

For this look, I used the following products:

Foundation:  

Physicians Formula Healthy Wear Powder Foundation SPF50 in Translucent Light

Concealer:  

Nuance Salma Hayek Front & Center Concealer + Brightener in Medium

Blush:  

Milani Baked Blush in Berry Amour

Lip color:  

NYC 16H Smooch Proof Lipstain in Champagne Stain

Eyeshadow Primer:  

CoverGirl Intense Shadowblast Primer + Shadow in Beige Blaze

Eyebrow Pencil:  

Maybelline Define-a-Brow in Dark Blonde

Mascara:  

NYC City Curls in Extreme Black

Eyeliner: 

The taupe shade in the Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Automatic Eyeliner Trio for Hazel Eyes

Eyeshadow:

Nuance Putty from lash line to crease and blended upward

Nuance Sheer Plum in outer "V" and blended across lid

As you can see, these shades work together to create a very natural, safe-for-work, daytime look. I love how they work so well together and I also love the soft, subtle look I can achieve. It's the exact type of look I love to wear on a daily basis.

Thinking of dupes for Putty, I immediately thought of MAC Copperplate, but as you're about to see, it's not really a dupe at all:

Even though these two shades are not even close to being dupes, I do want to note that the texture and smoothness of Putty is quite comperable to Copperplate, which I find to be one of the smoothest matte shades from MAC that I own.

And finally, since I own quite a few soft, subtle, earthtone mattes, I thought I'd swatch Putty next to a few others in my collection, just to help give you a better idea of this shade:

MAC Wedge is MUCH more warm, while Bobbi Brown Woodrose has a touch more pink to it, and lacks the gray that's in Putty.

FINAL VERDICT: If soft, subtle, wearable mattes are your thing, I think you might enjoy the Nuance Mineral Eyeshadow Duo in Sheer Plum/Putty. The texture of these shadows rivals my high-end shadows, although they work better with primer than when worn alone. Over my CoverGirl primer, I can get about eight hours of wear before I start to see creasing/fading. Both shades in this duo blend effortlessly and I can honestly say I don't have a dupe of either shade in my current eyeshadow collection.

I hope this review helps you better determine whether you might want to purchase this duo. If you have already purchased some products from Nuance, I'd love it if you'd share your thoughts below!

All Nuance products were purchased with funds. Some of the other products featured in this post were 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.