In January of this year I signed up to Beauty Bulletin and was lucky enough to be chosen to review a hamper. One of the products I received was a smoky eye palette from The Body Shop.
I haven’t really ever been
a smoky eye girl and when I opened my hamper to see this I gasped because I
felt seriously intimidated and fearful. I am by no means a makeup artist
and I know very well how tricky and difficult it is to apply the eye shadow in
an artful manner. But I decided to embrace my fears and make the best of the experience.
Now that I’ve covered my personal fear
of the smoky eye let me get to the product.
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| Smoky Eyes Palette 01: Silver Black |
The product is
called 4 Step Smoky Eyes and comes in 2 different colour palettes – SilverBlack and Golden Brown. I received the Silver Black in my hamper. The palette
is in a beautiful black casing with the 4 different eye shadows, a little kohl
eye pencil and a brush. The eye shadows are an ice white base for covering the
eyelid; a charcoal and black for lining and shading the top eyelid ; and lastly
a silver highlighter for highlighting the inner corners of the eye and top arch
of the brow bone. To finish off the look the pencil is used to line the
eyelids. The kit retails for R199.00 which is not bad at all for a palette.
How I feel about the product:
The eye shadows are great quality and all have amazing pigmentation. The white provides a beautiful base and I find that it prepares the eyelid well for the other eye shadows. The black is a deep, rich intense black that has to be applied VERY carefully else it does leave you looking like a raccoon. It goes on very smoothly and evenly. The charcoal blends very well into the black and provides a beautiful smoky effect. Then you come to the star of this palette, the silver. This truly is the best eye shimmer I have ever used. It is creamy meaning that you won’t have to deal with shimmer falling under your eyes onto your nose and cheeks. All eye shadows last incredibly well and the look stays refresh and colours rich. I read that often with the smoky eye look, the eye shadows have a caked on look and tend to crack or that as the day or night wears on the colours fade and lose intenseness; so far I haven’t experienced any of that. Another great thing is that the colours can be built up to however dark you like it making it easy to achieve both a subtle day time look or a dark evening look (I prefer a more subtle day time look where I even skip applying eyeliner to soften the look). I score the eye shadows a 10 our of10. I love the large mirror in the palette. When placed on a table the lid of the palette can be moved to a number of angles that allows you to see what you are doing very easily and you can have both hands free. It would be VERY frustrating and difficult to have to hold the palette in one hand and apply the product with the other. When you open the lid it is tight and holds the position in which you leave it – fantastic!
What I don’t like:
Although the brush and eye pencil are a nice added touch I find that they are not all that practical. When you are out and about they are useful to have but for daily use or when applying at home, I am sure many people would prefer to use their own brushes and eyeliners. When dealing with all these colours you need a few brushes so that the colours do not mix in the palette. The brush’s head is also a little too big for lining the eye with the intense black, so it’s tricky to apply an amount of eye shadow precisely to where you want it. Then you have to clean the brush before you can use it on the next colour – especially when you are move from the black to the charcoal and then onto the silver. The silver is so beautiful that I would not want to mix other colours into it. A positive of the brush is that it is an excellent quality brush and is fantastic at blending the colours. With regards to the eye pencil, I find it incredibly difficult to apply an actual line to my lower and upper eyelids. I even sharpened the pencil thinking I needed to break through a protective layer, but the pencil just does not want to transfer onto my eyelids for some reason. It is also quite a hard pencil and therefore it tugs on my upper lids a bit. Granted I am not a seasoned makeup artist, but it is quite frustrating and I found myself reaching for my Physician’s Formula automatic eye pencil that glides on so easily.
In summary:
The eye shadows are all great quality and definitely make this product a must have for any smoky eye lover. It is beautifully packaged with a great sized mirror and having an eye pencil and brush in the palette is useful for a woman on the go (even though I am not the biggest fan of the pencil).
How I feel about the product:
The eye shadows are great quality and all have amazing pigmentation. The white provides a beautiful base and I find that it prepares the eyelid well for the other eye shadows. The black is a deep, rich intense black that has to be applied VERY carefully else it does leave you looking like a raccoon. It goes on very smoothly and evenly. The charcoal blends very well into the black and provides a beautiful smoky effect. Then you come to the star of this palette, the silver. This truly is the best eye shimmer I have ever used. It is creamy meaning that you won’t have to deal with shimmer falling under your eyes onto your nose and cheeks. All eye shadows last incredibly well and the look stays refresh and colours rich. I read that often with the smoky eye look, the eye shadows have a caked on look and tend to crack or that as the day or night wears on the colours fade and lose intenseness; so far I haven’t experienced any of that. Another great thing is that the colours can be built up to however dark you like it making it easy to achieve both a subtle day time look or a dark evening look (I prefer a more subtle day time look where I even skip applying eyeliner to soften the look). I score the eye shadows a 10 our of10. I love the large mirror in the palette. When placed on a table the lid of the palette can be moved to a number of angles that allows you to see what you are doing very easily and you can have both hands free. It would be VERY frustrating and difficult to have to hold the palette in one hand and apply the product with the other. When you open the lid it is tight and holds the position in which you leave it – fantastic!
What I don’t like:
Although the brush and eye pencil are a nice added touch I find that they are not all that practical. When you are out and about they are useful to have but for daily use or when applying at home, I am sure many people would prefer to use their own brushes and eyeliners. When dealing with all these colours you need a few brushes so that the colours do not mix in the palette. The brush’s head is also a little too big for lining the eye with the intense black, so it’s tricky to apply an amount of eye shadow precisely to where you want it. Then you have to clean the brush before you can use it on the next colour – especially when you are move from the black to the charcoal and then onto the silver. The silver is so beautiful that I would not want to mix other colours into it. A positive of the brush is that it is an excellent quality brush and is fantastic at blending the colours. With regards to the eye pencil, I find it incredibly difficult to apply an actual line to my lower and upper eyelids. I even sharpened the pencil thinking I needed to break through a protective layer, but the pencil just does not want to transfer onto my eyelids for some reason. It is also quite a hard pencil and therefore it tugs on my upper lids a bit. Granted I am not a seasoned makeup artist, but it is quite frustrating and I found myself reaching for my Physician’s Formula automatic eye pencil that glides on so easily.
In summary:
The eye shadows are all great quality and definitely make this product a must have for any smoky eye lover. It is beautifully packaged with a great sized mirror and having an eye pencil and brush in the palette is useful for a woman on the go (even though I am not the biggest fan of the pencil).
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