Today, my belly is doing a Queen Elizabeth – coming out once a year to say hello to the masses. Why? Cos in true Chinese Asian tradition, I’ve spent the last few days neglecting my blog, visiting relatives’ houses, extorting red packets (ang baos) and mooching free awesome home-cooked food. Hah.
Ssince I usually take nice photos for my product reviews on Sunday and the first day of CNY happened to be Sunday, obviously I have no new photos to upload for today’s review. But fret not, years of working in magazines (and not knowing when the editor will spring a “I need an 8-page article from you in 3 days” on me) has prepped me for dire straits like these – backup materials!
I took these photos some time back, but never got around to uploading this review simply cos it’s not an outstanding product. However, it’s a staple product and also comes from a good brand, so it’s worth a (short) mention.
I say…
Every girl needs stuff for the smokey eye look – check out this article that says that 73% of men prefer women with a smokey eye look.
- This MAC eyeshadow is, well, a nice grey-black eyeshadow. It has a nice matte finish with very slight iridescent shimmers
- The powder grains are fine, and they don’t flake.
- They do cake after say 4-5 hours of wear on my oillids though, but that’s a naturally occurring phenomenon.
- It comes in a small compact case without any applicator or mirror. I usually apply this with an eyeshadow brush (for a more casual day-smokey) or those sponge tip applicators for a more intense night-smokey.
Of course, the easiest method to getting a smoky eye look is to go for a palette – I like the Kate Real Create Eyes palette (don’t go for the Clarins one – the colour isn’t intense and the grains tend to flake and cake. This brand is stronger for its skincare).
For convenient touch-ups, I like to use the Holika Holika Holy Cat Eyeshadow as well. I also have plenty of other awesome palettes (that I realised that I never got around to reviewing. eek!)
It doesn’t mean that palettes are the default smokey eye tools though – you can always combine several loose eyeshadows to get the look.
For example:
- the MAC Cream Colour or Hanskin Silk Basic Eyeshadow as a base
- Burberry Sheer Eyeshadow as a middle/blending colour
- Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill to add a tinge of colour to your smokey eye look
- Bobbi Brown Metallic Long-wear Cream Shadow or Lunasol Sheer Glossy Eyes as a top shimmer coat
- and Maybelline Hypercosmos Duos for just about every other purpose since it comes in so many colours.
I guess I’m on the fence for this product – there’s really no loving or hating this one since it does its job well. I guess it boils down to what you have in your treasure chest at the moment, and whether you need this.
