Confession--I bought these like three months ago, and have totally forgotten to review them. I generally have little faith in drugstore cream eyeshadows, but Tanya Burr (Pixi2woo, she's adorable, please watch her YouTube channel) endorsed these in one of her videos, and they were on sale at CVS, so I picked up two. I got Bad to the Bronze (25) and Pomegranate Punk (30)--click to enlarge the photos.
Bad to the Bronze is honestly more of a warm, metallic taupe for me than an actual bronze--it's very similar to MUFE's Aqua Cream in 15 (Taupe), which I also own, albeit a slightly warmer and more shimmery taupe. Pomegranate Punk is such a fantastic color. It's a rusty cranberry metallic with some silvery shimmer shot through it. It's a little like MAC's Vainglorious eyeshadow and Cranberry eyeshadows had a baby. I'm one of those strange people who really loves brownish-red eyeshadow, which is admittedly a little strange and hard to pull of at times. However, I think Pomegranate Punk looks fantastic on the lid and on the lower lashline when anchored with a black line. It feels a little glam/rock and roll, and can transition nicely from day to night. Bad to the Bronze is just a pretty neutral that I like to swipe across the lid on days where I don't want to do a lot of work in terms of eyeshadow. I can just use that and some liner and call it a day, or I can use it as the base of a brown smokey eye.
Application: the shadow feels very firm in the pot, but goes on like butter. I use my finger to apply, and two or three swipes across the product is enough to cover my entire lid. I'll blend it out a bit with my finger, and then use a blending brush to smooth out the edges and the crease. I find that this applies very smoothly, with no patchiness at all, and you have a good minute or two to put everything out before it sets entirely. The application reminds me of the MUFE Aqua Creams--those have slightly more slip, whereas these are a little more tacky, but it's very similar.
Wear time: I usually put this on around 9AM, and take it off at around 12AM, so I'm wearing it for about 15 hours. Part of the name of this shadow is 24hr, which implies that it lasts 24 hours. I don't think it does. When I get to 15 hours, it's still clearly on my lids, and the color hasn't faded a ton, but it does start to crease and fade just a tad. I think at 20 hours it would be on its last legs. I always wear this with primer (MAC's Paint Pot in Painterly), so I can't speak to how it wears without primer. But who needs to wear eyeshadow for 20 hours?!
Packaging: It comes in a thick glass pot with a black plastic screw-on lid. The labeling information comes on a sticker, which is a little blah, but I think the swankiness of the glass pot makes up for it. You get .14oz of product, and in about 3 months I've used up about 1/4 of shadow. So far they haven't shown any signs of drying out, so I think you could get a lot of use out of these.
Awkward Chic rating: A-. I wish these lasted a tiny bit longer, but the lasting power is definitely comparable with the much more expensive MUFE Aqua Creams. The pigmentation and application are great, and these are only $6.99 at drugstore.com. I think I want to pick up Bold Gold and Tough as Taupe too.
I HAVE INTERNET! I know that's not exciting for most people, but it's really exciting for me (I'm paying bills, kids!) and now I can blog! (And just using exclamation points, I swear).
So I meant to review these a while ago, but I got distracted with life things. I actually bought the taupe one in January, and used it almost every day this past semester, and I'm only about a third of the way through! You can see the little dent I made below. I have #15 Taupe and #12 Golden Copper, both $23 at sephora.com. With the MUFE Aqua Creams, you get .21 oz. That's $109.52/ounce, compared to $118.75/ounce for the Benefit cream shadows, so it's a good deal.
They come in these little plastic tubs, with screw on black lids. I like that the tubs are clear, so you can really see the color you're getting, and while I'm usually scared of twist-on lids for cream products, because I think they tend to dry out, I've had that taupe one for months and it's still going strong. The packaging doesn't feel super luxurious, but it's sturdy and clean, which I like.
As for the colors, you can see in the swatch that the taupe on the left is warm taupe with a slight metallic sheen, and the copper is a very warm, golden copper with a strong metallic finish. I love the formula. It does a have chemical smell that isn't so pleasant, but it doesn't linger on the skin. In the tub, it feels firm, but when you run your finger across the shadow, it comes off on your finger like butter. It is so intensely pigmented that I can just dab it two or three times and cover my entire lid. I can really see one of these lasting a year with constant use. You do have to blend them pretty quickly, as they set and then do NOT budge, but I don't have trouble blending them.
The lasting power is phenomenal. I can go to the gym and run around all day, and it's still going strong 10 hours later, with little to no creasing (I do use a MAC Paint Pot as primer). What I really love about these is that I can throw one on my lid, blend it with a crease color, throw in a little highlight, and be done for the day. It's simple, but it can still be really high impact. I've honestly stopped using powder shadows on my lids because I just love the wet-look finish you get from cream shadows. Usually that comes with short staying power, but not in this case!
These Aqua Creams come in a wide range of fun colors, from the more neutral to the very dramatic. I'm looking at picking up the pretty Warm Beige next.
Awkward Chic rating: A+. I am so sold on these. I have next to no criticisms of them (the smell? Eh), and the price is right.
