Review / Swatches: Laneige Two Tone Shadow Bar – All 4 Shades!

Hola~! I know yall have been waiting for this one – sorry for the slight delay. Le Cushions had to be done first (and I’ve still got the Shu Uemura one left to review!). Anyhoos, after the successful launch of Laneige’s Two Tone Lip Bar last year, they’ve decided to come up with 4 new shades for the lips, as well as expand the concept to include eyeshadows. The Two Tone Shadow Bars are meant to give simple and convenient eyeshadow application with just one swipe of the Bar which holds two colours, and is seen by some to be a godsend when it comes to blending and applying eye colours. Let’s see how they work :D

The side view of the Bar has the lever – push down to get the Bar to come up (I know, it’s a bit confusing)
Available in 4 shades – Humming Coral, Golden Rose, Orange Island and Coffee Bronze. Note the tailends of the Bars – they denote the shade you’ll be getting (i.e. orange bum gives you an orange-coral shade while the brown bum gives you brown-toned shades)
L: The four new Lip Bar colours and R: The four Shadow Bar colours

The cross section of the Shadow Bar is diagonal, and you can see that there’s more of the pearly (light) shade than the darker shade

Colour breakdown:

• Humming Coral: Light pearly pinkish sheen + Coral orange-pink
• Golden Rose: Light shimmery pearl + hazelnut light brown
• Orange Island: Light shimmery pearl + coral orange
• Coffee Bronze: Light pearly pinkish sheen + chocolate brown

How all 4 shades will look like on the eyes – note that minimal blending was done with the fingers. I only used the Bar to color in gently

Unfortunately for us sufferers of oily eyelids, you can look forward to some slight creasing of the eyeshadow.
Face: Etude House Big Cover Concealer BB, Eyes: Laneige Two Tone Shadow Bar in my favorite of the lot – Coffee Bronze.

I say…

The Packaging: It comes in a slim long tube measuring about 9cm long x 1.5cm wide x 1.2cm thick. The cap is a rose gold shade that differentiates it from the Lip Bars which come in a silver cap. I  noticed that the bottoms of the Shadow Bars come in 2 general shades – coral/orange and brown/bronze, which denote the colours inside.

The Scent: Nil.

The Texture: Even though this may be based on the same concept as the Lip Bar, this isn’t as creamy. Instead, it’s more of a cream-powder texture that glides on smoothly onto the eyelids without pulling on the skin. The shimmer pigments are particularly strong, and I also noticed that the shimmer/light portions are more than the darker shades, which means you gotta be a bit careful during application (i.e. tilt the Shadow Bar so that there’s more of the darker end in contact with your eyelids, especially nearer your lash line) or you’ll end up with two-thirds of your eyelids being super shimmery. The pigmentation of the darker shades are pretty decent as well – just 1-2 layers will give you a nice color payoff. My favorite color is Coffee Bronze cos it’s the most wearable and natural, and for some reason, when it starts creasing, it’s not as obvious as the coral/orange shades.

• Tip #1: Blend in the colours using either your fingertips or just by going over the eyelids with the Shadow Bar another time.
• Tip #2: Be sure to wipe the tip of the Shadow Bar with a tissue before/after every usage as the colours can smudge over each other.

The Verdict: In theory, this would work well – like Tinder, swipe to the left/ right and you’re done. In practice, yes it does work relatively alright – I literally just swiped the colours onto my eyes. One layer gives a sheer colour, while 2-3 coats will really pile on the color. That said, I do wish the diagonal cross section had been swapped for a half-half cross section instead, so that I can get an even amount of both colours on my eye. The diagonal cross section means that you get more light shade than dark. That aside, you can choose to carefully layer on more of the dark shade by angling the Bar. One good thing is that you don’t get a very distinct line between the two colours, especially if you do two layers – somehow it just blends in very easily. However, note that the oil control isn’t very strong, so be sure to use a primer. It lasts about 3-4 hours before starting to sink into the eyelid creases. Otherwise, eyeshadow noobs, this one’s for you to start your venture into the eyeshadow realm. For the rest, this makes a rather convenient eyeshadow product to carry around for touch-ups (the lighter shade can be used for the lower lashline / aegyo sal) – my only peeve is that the cap can get knocked loose relatively easily in my makeup pouch (ok fine, maybe it’s cos I carry around too many makeup items).