Category Archives: Eyeshadow Pencil

Jordana Made To Last Eyeshadow Pencil Review, Swatches, Comparison

Purchased

Jordana is one of my favorite drugstore brands – very inexpensive and generally good quality – so I was excited to see that they’ve released some new products.  I bought several to test out and review, and first up I have four of the new 12-Hour Made To Last Eyeshadow Pencils.

Here’s the new section of the display, where you can see the eight available colors. The four neutrals are all matte (Eternal White, Stay-On Black, Tenacious Brown and Continous Almond), and the four colors all have shimmer or glitter (Pink Evermore, Aqua Last, Prolong Purple, and Endless Emerald).  As you can see, they retail for $4.49 at my Walgreens, which means they’re probably going to be about $3.99 elsewhere – the Walgreens stores around me tend to charge more than MSRP.

 

It’s barely visible in the display photo, but the pencils are shrinkwrapped, which I always appreciate. The pencils need to be sharpened – they are not twist-ups.

Jordana Made To Last Eyeshadow Pencils

Eternal White // Continous Almond // Prolong Purple // Endless Emerald

Texturewise, the two matte pencils I bought were extremely creamy, almost to the point of being slippery.  They are very, very soft, and although they are opaque in one swipe, they sheer out when blended.

Jordana Eyeshadow Pencil Swatches - Eternal White - Continuous Almond

Eternal White // Continuous Almond

The colored pencils are not quite as soft and slippery feeling as the mattes, but they are still softer than any other eyeshadow pencils I have tried (NYX jumbo eye pencils, Milani Shadow Eyez, Rimmel Scandaleyes, & UD 24/7). Prolong Purple was somewhat sheer when blended, and Endless Emerald is relatively opaque when blended, especially for a cream product. Both have micro glitter which becomes more visible when blended out.

Jordana Eyeshadow Pencil Swatches - Prolong Purple - Endless Emerald

Prolong Purple // Endless Emerald

The soft texture of the pencils made me concerned that they might slide around or crease, but they dry down quickly to a fairly immovable finish.

I bought the two mattes to use as bases, and I’m quite pleased with them thus far – they help eyeshadow colors pop, it’s easy to blend on top of them, and they haven’t creased on me at all. I’ve worn the purple on it’s own, and had some very faint creasing after about an hour.  Since it’s hard to get it opaque enough, I’ll probably stick with using it as either a base or as an eyeliner.  I’ve been wearing the green on my waterline today, and thus far it’s holding up very well – it looks almost perfect after four hours, which is a long time for me! I think the green will probably work better than the purple as an eyeshadow, since it’s more pigmented and thus fewer layers are needed.

I also have comparisons with a few similar eyeshadow pencils.

Milani Almond Cream Jordana Continuous Almond Eyeshadow Pencil comparison swatches

Milani Almond Cream // Jordana Continuous Almond

Milani Almond Cream and Jordana Continuous Almond are extremely similar.  The colors are not identical, but very very close. The textures are noticeably different – the Jordana is much more slippery feeling. I prefer the Milani.

NYX Milk Jordana Eternal White Eyeshadow Pencil comparison swatches

NYX Milk // Jordana Eternal White

NYX Milk and Jordana Eternal white are matte whites, so identical in color, but again the textures differ. The NYX is not as smooth or creamy, and I find that it’s more likely to crease on me, because it doesn’t dry down as thoroughly. I prefer the Jordana.

Rimmel Jordana Urban Decay Purple Eyeshadow Pencil comparison swatches

Rimmel Paranoid Purple // Jordana Prolong Purple // UD 24/7 Delinquent

The Rimmel (reviewed here) is the shimmery, but not glittery, so although it’s close in color to the other two, it’s not a dupe.  It gets very sheer when blended out. The Jordana and UD look like dupes to me, but again the textures differ – the Jordana is a touch softer than I prefer, and the UD is a touch harder than I prefer.  I don’t really have a favorite out of these three.

Overall, I really like the Jordana pencils, especially when used as eyeliner or as eyeshadow base.  I’m glad to have an alternative to NYX Milk, and if you missed out on Milani’s limited-edition neutral Shadow Eyez, the matte Jordanas are a great alternative. Recommended!

*I purchased the product(s) featured in this post. This post does not contain any affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

Milani Neutral Shadow Eyez Pencils Swatches & Review

Purchased Affiliate Links

Milani Neutral Shadow Eyez Pencils - Black Ink Almond Cream Golden Bronze

Yesterday, I posted display photos of Milani’s new Naturally Chic Shadow Eyez collection – six neutral toned shadow pencils in their fabulous Shadow Eyez formula.  I know a lot of people are disappointed that these are limited edition instead of permanent – and after swatching and doing some testing, you can add me to that group!

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Rimmel Scandal Eyes Shadow Stick Review & Swatches

rimmel scandaleyes shadow sticks

A few days ago, I reviewed the Rimmel Scandal Eyes eyeliners. I love them so much that I decided to try another product from the Scandal Eyes line – the shadow sticks. Like most shadow sticks, you’re supposed to be able to use these multiple ways – as eyeliner, as eyeshadow base, or eyeshadown (worn alone).  There are nine shades available (or at least there are nine shades on the Ulta website – which may not have all of them) and I purchased two, Bulletproof Beige and Bad Girl Bronze.

rimmel scandaleyes bulletproof beige bad girl bronze swatches

Bulletproof Beige // Bad Girl Bronze

Above, I’ve swatched each shadow stick two ways. On the left, I have a heavy swatch, and on the right is a blended out swatch.  If you use the shadow stick as eyeliner you’ll get something more like the heavy swatch – if you use it as an eyeshadow base or an eyeshadow, you’ll get something more like the blended swatch. Unfortunately, even if you use multiple layers, it doesn’t seem possible to build up the color to the opaque swatch level when you’re using it as an eyeshadow.

Edit: I like these enough that I went back and bought a third, Paranoid Purple.  Here’s a quick swatch.

Rimmel Scandal Eyes Paranoid Purple

In terms of texture, these are very soft and creamy.  I have some of the Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencils, and the Rimmel pencils are noticeably more creamy – the UD ones are much drier and more difficult to blend.  I actually rarely use the UD ones because I have difficulty blending them – I much prefer the Rimmel texture!

I’m sure these will be compared to the Milani Shadow Eyez as well, but I haven’t tried those.  From looking at reviews, it appears that the Milani shadow sticks may be more opaque. I’m not sure how the texture compares. I may need to buy one to compare myself! If you’ve tried the Milani ones, how would you describe the texture?

I’m sure everyone’s main question is how the Shadow Sticks last and whether they crease, and I’m happy to report that they last all day on me (10+ hours) with no creasing at all.  Do note that I have slightly dry skin, so I can’t test how these would fare on someone with oilier skin.

Overall, I really like these – they’re creamy, blendable, and last all day.  They’re good for a sheer wash of color and shimmer or as a base.  The major downside is that you can’t build them up be opaque.