Jane shimmer eyeshadow in River Rock

I picked up this shadow a month or so ago at Ulta.  I have a few very old Jane shadows, which were quite forgettable, but I was curious about the brand since it re-launched.  I decided to pick up the Jane shimmer eyeshadow in River Rock.

I have a couple of the Jane shadows and they're all the shimmer shadows.  Since it's a drugstore brand, there aren't testers, at least not at my Ulta.  From YouTube reviews, it seemed like the shimmer shadows are good, but the other finishes are hit and miss.  I have to say I am very happy with the shimmer shadows.

River Rock is a pewter shadow with a good deal of multicolored shimmer in it.  I think it performs really well.  I don't get much fallout with it and it wears well through the day.  I'm not exactly sure how/where Jane is trying to position itself in the market.  They're pricey for a drugstore brand, but less than a low-mid-range like the Sephora house brand.  I don't know.  I feel like they're having a bit of an identity crisis, but maybe that's just me.

Jane Shimmer Eyeshadows contain 2.5 grams of product and retail for $8.  I picked mine up at Ulta.

Overall:  7/10

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in 755 Gilded Envy

The L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow in 755 Gilded Envy is a new shade that launched with the L'Oreal Butterfly collection.  I believe it's permanent.  I've seen it pretty much everywhere that L'Oreal Infallible shadows are carried.

L'Oreal doesn't offer a specific description as far as I can tell.  It's a very golden green.  In the pan, it looks much more green than it shows up on the skin.  On the skin, it's definitely a tarnished gold color.

Personally, I find the Infallible shadows to vary a lot in texture from silky smooth to a chunky nightmare to apply.  Gilded envy is on the chunkier side to me, but it does apply well (unlike my much loved Amber Rush - beautiful color, total pain to apply).  It has good pigmentation, but sometimes it takes a bit of work to make sure you have uniform color coverage.

As with all of the L'Oreal Infallible shadows I've tried, it wore really well.  I don't know that I buy the 24 hour claim, but it definitely holds up for the work day.  

L'Oreal Infallible eye shadow in 755 Gilded Envy contains 3.5 grams of product and retails for $5 - 10 depending on where you're purchasing.  I picked mine up at CVS on a BOGO1/2 off.

Overall:  7/10

Tom Ford Eye Color Quad in Silvered Topaz

So, yes, for the record, I know that I already did a review of this palette.  But, as with my previous reviews of Golden Mink, the review for the Tom Ford Silvered Topaz quad also suffered from some fairly dismal product and swatch pictures.

The problem with getting good quality pictures in terms of color accuracy is that the pictures really need to be taken outside, on a sunny day, around mid-day.  And at this time of year, days like that are incredibly limited.  I have such a backlog of products I need to photograph and swatch.  I apologize for the delay and a huge thank you to anybody who is still bothering to check in.

The Tom Ford Quad in Silvered Topaz contains glitter, satin and matte shades.  Starting in the upper left hand corner and moving clockwise, the shades are:

• Light peachy glitter shade.  Mostly, it's a lot of sparkle, but it does retain enough color that you can tell it's peachy.  This shade is ideal for adding very precise sparkle or for layering on top of other shades in the quad.

• Warm silver satin.  Like all of the satin finish Tom Ford shades I've tried, the color payoff is phenomenal.  The shade is buttery soft and intensely pigmented.  I love this shade because warm silvers (and pewters) are fairly hard to find, at least for me.  I feel like this shade is one of the most unique across the Tom Ford line and it definitely makes this palette worth picking up for me.
• Light brown satin.  This shade verges very close to taupe territory for me. (Which is a good thing!)  While I do think 'light brown' is the best description for the shade, I also think it sells it short.  This is a complex shade that I find incredibly wearable.

• Matte cool dark brown.  This is similar to the dark matte brown from the Cocoa Mirage quad, but they are different.  The shade from Cocoa Mirage is definitely warmer.  Also, I do not detect any glitter in this matte shade, unlike the shade from Cocoa Mirage.  As with the other Tom Ford matte shades I've tried, the texture on this shadow is incredibly soft and very pigmented.

Silvered Topaz is part of the permanent Tom Ford line.  Like the other Tom Ford quads, it contains a generous 10 grams of product and retails for $78 wherever Tom Ford Beauty is sold.

Overall:  10/10

Tom Ford Eye Quad in Cocoa Mirage

The next up in the Tom Ford overview is the Eye Color Quad in Cocoa Mirage.  This palette is part of the permanent line and is the only one of the Tom Ford palettes I own that doesn't contain any of the shimmer (glitter) shades.  This quad has two complete matte shades, one mostly-matte shade and one satin finish.

The top two shades are completely matte.  My experience with the Tom Ford mattes so far has been phenomenal.  The mattes are buttery soft with fantastic pigmentation (though I understand that in some of his other palettes, that isn't the case). 

Cocoa Mirage is fairly neutral in my opinion.  It leans ever so slightly warm, but I don't feel like it's so warm that someone cool toned couldn't wear it.

 As you can see from the swatches, the lightest shade is a very close match to my natural skintone.  The second matte shade is a mid tone slightly warm brown.  The third shade is a warm medium-dark brown and the only satin finish in the palette.  It has lovely pigmentation and texture.  The last shade is a dark brown that leans warm.  It is mostly matte, but there is the tiniest amount of gold glitter.

I swear I'm not a total Tom Ford fangirl.  There have been two palettes which I acquired (swapped for on MakeupAlley) and then promptly swapped away because I was not happy with them.  So when I say that Cocoa Mirage is a fantastic palette, I really mean it.

Overall:  10/10

Marc Jacobs Style Eye-Con No.7 Plush Shadow in 204 Starlet

I received a couple of Sephora gift cards over the holidays, so I decided to pick up one of the Marc Jacobs Style Eye-Con No.7 Plush Shadow palettes (OMG, that name *le sigh*).  Looking at the palettes in the store, the Lolita palette was definitely the most up my alley in terms of colors.  However, I've seen quite a few YouTube reviews of the Lolita palette and the reviews seemed really mixed.

After swatching the other palettes in the line, I decided to pick up the Starlet palette.  This palette is a bit outside my comfort zone, but the payoff of the shadows is absolutely phenomenal.  The three shadows on the left and then the far right shadow are definitely going to get a lot of love from me.  I can't say that the bright peach, or the straight up gold or silver shades are going to get much use, though I suppose only time will tell.

The far left purple-taupe shadow is actually what sold me on the palette.  It's just gorgeous.  I actually included swatches of it in my Rouge Bunny Rouge Delicate Hummingbird purple-taupe comparison swatches.

All of the shadows do have a metallic finish.  They are buttery soft with great color payoff.  They applied evenly and wore fantastically well, even on my hooded lids.

The Style Eye-Con No. 7 palettes contain 7 shades and 7 grams of product, so one gram of each product which is not a lot of product.  The wells are fairly small.  That may be a huge plus or a minus depending on what you're looking for.  On the whole, I tend to like quads with bigger wells and fewer colors.  But if you're looking out to try a lot of different colors, this is definitely a good bet.

The packaging isn't my favorite.  I feel like it's just an awkward shape.  It's a very slim, long plastic reflective packaging.  It feels fairly sturdy and snaps closed.  There is a spring in the mirror so that when you unsnap the palette, it does stay open.  Again, only time will tell, but I feel like this packaging could be a problem if either the snap closure or the spring break.  The palette also comes with a little canvas dustcover.

The Marc Jacobs Style Eye-Con No. 7 Plush Shadow palette in 204 Starlet is available exclusively at Sephora and retails for $59.

Overall:  8/10

Sonia Kashuk Monochrome Eye Quad in #11 Textured Cocoa

Several months ago, I picked up the Sonia Kashuk Monochrome Eye Quad in Textured Cocoa after hearing several YouTubers rave about it.

The quad contains four shadows.  One matte, one satin, one matte with glitter and one glitter.  All of the shades lean fairly warm, so if you're going for a warm chocolate or bronzy brown eye, this is a lovely palette.

All four shades had good payoff, even the glitter shade, which in my other Sonia Kashuk quads, tends to be just some clear sparkle.  Here, the glitter has a definite brown tone.  I found all of the shades to be well pigmented and nicely blendable.  The matte shade with the glitter does tend to lose all the glitter as you blend it, which is sort of to be expected.

If you're into bronzy brown eyes, this could definitely be the quad for you.  I find it a bit too one-note to be too usable for me.  I do really like the satin shade, but I have really similar shades in other quads that I find more well rounded.

The Sonia Kashuk Monochrome Eye Quad in #11 Textured Cocoa contains 5.2 grams of product and retails for $13.60 exclusively at Target.

Overall:  7/10

Rouge Bunny Rouge Eyeshadows: Bohemian Waxwing, Abyssinian Catbird, Delicate Hummingbird

So I mentioned eons ago that I did a Rouge Bunny Rouge haul from BeautyHabit.  Yeah.  I'm finally getting around to do a review of the Rouge Bunny Rouge eyeshadows.  

*hangs head in shame*

I picked up 3 of the shadows, Bohemian Waxwing, Abyssinian Catbird and Delicate Hummingbird.  When I originally ordered, Delicate Hummingbird was on backorder.  It probably took a month for it to finally be delivered, but it did show up and I wasn't charged any extra shipping.

(daybulbs)

(indirect natural light)

I know it doesn't seem like it looking at these shadows all swatched against each other, but I swear, these shadows are all sort of taupe-y.  Next to each other, they look brown, green and purple, but on their own, or swatched against real browns, greens and purples, they are much more taupe.  They're gorgeous complex colors that look different depending on the light and the colors they are paired with.

Bohemian Waxwing

Abyssinian Catbird

Delicate Hummingbird

The shadows are smooth with good pigmentation.  They have a satin finish with some subtle shimmer.  They wear well on me, but then again, pretty much everything does.

I'm including some swatches of these shadows compared to shadows from other brands just so you can see:

RBR Abyssinian Catbird comparisons

RBR Delicate Hummingbird Comparisons

Rouge Bunny Rouge shadows are available in a variety of compact configurations, but I chose to get the pro-pans.  I just put them all in a Z Palette with most of my other shadows.  As far as the quality, they seem pretty close to MAC shadows (good MAC shadows).  Actually, the entire Rouge Bunny Rouge line reminds me a whole lot of MAC (though marginally more expensive and much more difficult to procure).

Rouge Bunny Rouge eyeshadow refill pans contain 2 grams of product.  They retail direct from the Rouge Bunny Rouge webstore for $19.63 (plus international shipping).  I picked mine up from BeautyHabit for $19.  BeautyHabit often has sales and deals on shipping.

Overall:  8/10

MAC Silver Dawn Extra Dimension Eyeshadow

MAC's Magnetic Nude collection launched late last month and it contains eyeshadows, blushes and MSFs in MAC's Extra Dimension formula.  As soon as I saw swatches, I was very intrigued by the Extra Dimension eyeshadow in Silver Dawn.

I have quite a few of the Extra Dimension MSFs and blushes, but Silver Dawn is my first Extra Dimension eyeshadow.  I was drawn to it because it looked like a vaguely taupe-y pewter color.  I'm always in love with taupe shadows, but I'm definitely working on a pewter obsession as well.  Mmmmm, pewter.

To my relief, Silver Dawn is indeed a taupe-y pewter color.  It's a very warm silver with hints of brown.  It's a complex color that changes depending on how the light hits it.

(daybulbs)

(indirect natural light)

Silver Dawn is very pigmented and easy to use.  It's not an overly soft product and it is not powdery at all, but it does have excellent true-to-pan color payoff without fallout. As I mentioned earlier, it is a complex color that shifts depending on the light, so it works well as an all over color (I LOVE shadows like that.)

As I was playing with Silver Dawn I went through my other eyeshadows to see if I could find anything similar.  I pulled Benefit's Skinny Jeans, which is most similar in color, though it's a cream product.  MAC Patina and Rouge Bunny Rouge Abyssinian Catbird look very different in the pan, but swatched are similar (though not dupes).

MAC's Extra Dimension eyeshadow in Silver Dawn is (not surprisingly, *sigh*) limited edition with the MAC Magnetic Nude collection.  As of the writing of this post, it is still readily available from most retailers that carry MAC as well as directly from MAC online.  It contains 1.3 grams of product and retails for $19.50.

Overall:  10/10

bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 2.0 in The Top Shelf

The bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 2.0 in The Top Shelf is definitely a lovely duo to have on hand for the holiday season.  Paired with a red lip, you have a classic holiday look.

The two shades in the duo are:

• Mixologist - satin champagne beige, very true to pan color.
• Cognac - warm metallic antiqued gold verging on bronze (but not overly orangey even on my pale pink skin)

The texture and payoff on both of these shadows is just phenomenal.  They are buttery soft, very pigmented and they blend like a dream.

I picked this duo up months ago when Ulta was having a big bareMinerals sale, so I got it for less than 50% of retail.  If you can't find a sale, these duos cost $20 wherever bareMinerals is sold.  The duo contains 3 grams of product.

Overall:  10/10

bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 4.0 in The Happy Place

The bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 4.0 palette in The Happy Place is nothing new.  It's been out for at least a year and is readily available wherever bareMinerals are sold.  

I tried the bareMinerals quad in Truth, which everyone seems to rave about, but I really didn't care for it.  I thought the payoff was less than stellar.  But ... I decided to give the line another try.

I picked this quad up months ago when Ulta was having some crazy sale on bareMinerals.  I think I ended up getting it for like $10.  It was too good a deal to pass up.

But after I picked it up, it just sat in my makeup storage for months.  Anyway, lately I've been really gravitating toward plummy shadows, so I decided to pull out this quad and use it and I've been just blown away by the quality.  

I did notice that a lot of the online reviews for this quad (both at blogs and retailers) make it seem a lot darker than it is.  This is not a smoky quad.  These are bright, vibrant colors (okay, maybe not the matte brown, but definitely the others).

The shadows are:

• Peace - matte light peach.
• Imagine - metallic peach that swatches a bit darker than it looks in the pan.
• Euphora - metallic smoky plum that swatches a bit more taupe-y than you would think
• Exhale - matte cool medium brown

The color payoff on these shadows are phenomenal.  And the mattes might be even easier to work with than the metallics (that NEVER happens).  The mattes are so soft and so pigmented that they almost behave like cream products.  I have matte shadows that I love, but none of them even come close to the texture on these two shadows.

The metallics are vibrant and easy to work with.  I've said it again, I think it must be fairly easy to make a good metallic shadow, but these are no exceptions.  They're beautiful.

All in all, this is a fantastic palette and I'm kicking myself for leaving it sitting in a drawer for so long.

As mentioned earlier, I picked this quad up on sale at Ulta.  It contains 5 grams of product and usually retails for $30 wherever bareMinerals are sold.

Overall: 10/10