Category Archives: Eyeshadow & Eyeliner

Milani Brow & Eye Highlighter Review, Swatches, Comparisons

Earlier this year, Milani released three Brow & Eye highlighters, which have a variety of uses. Milani -->describes --> the shade I bought, 01 Matte Beige / High Glow as following:

Both sides can be used underneath the brow bone as a highlighter. Matte Beige can be used as an eyeshadow or eyeshadow base. High Glow can be used in the inner corners of the eyes to brighten.

I purchased this pencil primarily for the matte end, which appeared to be (and is!) a more yellow shade than the other nude pencils I own, which suits my skin color very well. First, here are both ends of the Milani pencil:

And here’s a comparison of the nude/beige liners and chubby pencils I own:

MAC = MAC Chromagraphic Pencil in NC15/NW20
Rimmel = Rimmel Scandaleyes liner in Nude (review)
NYX = NYX Wonder pencil in Medium
J = -->Jordana 12 Hour Made to Last Shadow Pencil --> in Continuous Almond (review)
M (left) = Milani Shadow Eyez pencil in Almond Cream (review)
M (right) = Milani Brow & Eye Highlighter in 01 (matte side)

The MAC & NYX are very similar in color – and a bit too dark for me. The Rimmel is a little darker still. The Jordana and Milani shadow pencils are similar in color – too pink for me – but note that they’re not dupes; they have very different textures. The Milani brow highlighter is definitely the best color for me – just a bit lighter than my skintone. It’s a great color to use as a browbone or inner eye corner highlighter; I’ve also used it as a reverse lipliner (blended well!) and on the inner rim of my eye (no irritation, but it doesn’t last very well there).

Overall, I’m pleased with the purchase – it’s a great color, but I do wish it lasted better on my waterline!

*I purchased the product(s) featured in this post. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

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Black Eyeliner Swatches, Comparisons, Wear Test

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eyeliner overload!

I’ve done black eyeliner swatches before, and even did a post with a wear test way back when my blog was new, but I have different eyeliners now and I wanted to see how they compared.

Instead of trying to keep track of which swatch was which, I wrote an abbreviation for the brand on my arm. The follow table has the abbreviation, name of the eyeliner, and type of eyeliner. Continue reading →

Matte Black Eyeshadow Comparison – Swatch of The Day

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best matte black eyeshadow - comparison swatches

See labeled photos below for shade names

Looking for the best matte black eyeshadow? For today’s swatch of the day, I have a comparison of all my matte (including two nearly matte) black eyeshadows.

1. From the Lorac Pro Palette – a fantastic palette, but quite a sheer black.

2. From the now-discontinued Wet n Wild Greed Palette, which is a long-time favorite of mine. This black is fantastic – it’s my general go to when I need a black eyeshadow.

3. Wet n Wild Panther – the mattel black WnW single. This is a good quality black single eyeshadow for $2, and I would recommend this one if you’re looking for a black.

4. From Wet n Wild’s limited edition Matte Palette (mine is Drinking a Glass of Shine; it’s also been released as the I Heart Matte Palette). This seems to be the same formula as Panther. It’s almost, but not quite, matte – there’s a tiny bit of shimmer which you can’t really see in photographs.

5. Milani Pitch Black single eyeshadow – this is a great, very pigmented black, but it’s very soft – it crumbled a little when I swatched it, and I think half the ones I’ve seen in-store have been shattered.

6. From the Sleek Original Palette – this shadow is very hard, and the payoff is not very great. Useable, but not a great shadow.

7. From the Illamasqua Neutral Palette, which I love – this is a great black, very smooth and neither too soft nor too hard. It’s also available as a single directly from Illamasqua, but Sephora (which carries some Illamasqua single eyeshadows), does not carry this shade.

8. Urban Decay Blackout – available as a single eyeshadow, though mine is from the limited edition 15th Anniversary Palette. Not recommended – sheer and does not blend easily – not worth the price when there are better, cheaper, alternatives.

9. Makeup Geek Corrupt – just look at the swatch! This shadow has a matte base with some sparkle. It is fairly soft and has a lot of fallout, but may be worth it to you for the intense blackness – nothing else comes close.

What’s your favorite matte black eyeshadow?

Inglot Eyeshadow Swatches

Inglot Eyeshadows

I’ve swatched most of my Inglot eyeshadows for the blog before, but I thought it would be useful to collect all my swatches in to one post. And, there are a couple in here that I hadn’t swatched yet.

For reference, here are most of my Inglot eyeshadows, labeled with the color names:

Inglot Rainbows: 120, 117, 112, 116; Inglot Mattes: 249, 342, 363, 353;
Inglot Pearls: 419, 433, 421, 423

I also have two eyeshadows in my blush palette:

Inglot Eyeshadows (used as blush) – 366, 382

And two matte colors hiding in another palette – I had forgotten about these when I originally took photographs for this post.

Inglot Eyeshadow: 377M, 388M

First, the rainbows. I found these to be disappointing as compared to Inglot’s other eyeshadows; read my full review here.

Inglot 120R

Inglot 117R

Inglot 112R

Inglot 116R

Then, the matte neutrals – I love these, all four are soft and silky.

Inglot Matte Neutral Eyeshadows – 349, 342, 363, 353

The pearls – all four of them are lovely, silky and very pigmented. It’s not as hard to do a pearl eyeshadow well though.

Inglot 421P, 423P

Inglot 419P, 433P

The two matte brights bought to be used as blush don’t have the same perfect, buttery texture as the neutrals, but are still very nice.

Inglot 366M, 382M

The other two brights are similar; they’re good, but not great.

Inglot 377M, 388M

Sixteen eyeshadows! I didn’t realize I had that many Inglots, I’ve acquired them just a few at a time for the most part.

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Project Swatch #26: Brown and Neutral Eyeshadow Swatches, Comparisons

It’s been a while since my last Project Swatch post! It’s really difficult for me to categorize my last few eyeshadows; they’re sort of all neutral-y and brown-y. For today’s post, I have two sets of eyeshadows for you. They’re sorted by color family – but I’m not sure what to call each color family.

First up, the bronzy brown-ish darker neutrals. Darkhorse and Hustle are from the Urban Decay Naked Palette; MIA is from the Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette, and Truffle is from the Smashbox Softbox Palette. (All my high end eyeshadow is from palettes – it’s just much better value!).

All four of these have exceptional texture and color payoff – they are soft, smooth, and buttery. Highly recommended!

Next up, we have two sort of warm rosy colors, and two champagne-colored glitterbombs.

The middle shade from the Wet n Wild trio Sweet as candy is a surprising almost-dupe for Urban Decay Toasted (from the Naked Palette). Both are great quality – the Urban Decay one is softer, but the Wet n Wild is also smooth and has great payoff. If you love Toasted, consider picking up Sweet as Candy; for $3, it’s definitely worth it!

Urban Decay’s Sidecar (Naked Palette) and Midnight Rodeo (15th Anniversary Palette) are both excellent quality shadows, though due to the glitter in them, they have tons of fallout. I recommend using a sticky base with these, and all glitter eyeshadows.

Do any of these shadows look like something you would wear?

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Project Swatch #25: Matte Brown Eyeshadow Comparison, Swatches, Photos

Today, I’m swatching all of my matte browns for you! I’m going with the matte browns because I have so many brown/copper/bronze/neutral eyeshadows that it’s hard to figure out how to separate them all out. Separating out the matte browns is an easy distinction. As always, I swatch without primer.

Inglot 342 is a really lovely almost-taupe medium brown. Like all my Inglot eyeshadows, it’s soft, silky, and pigmented – and not even a tiny bit chalky. I bet this would make a fantastic eyebrow color for someone who has lighter brows than I do.

Urban Decay Naked, from the Naked Palette, is a very pale light brown, verging on cream. It’s also soft and smooth. It’s relatively close to my skin color, so I use it to blend out the edges of my eyeshadow fairly frequently.

Urban Decay Buck, from the Naked Palette, is a basic medium-light brown. My swatch doesn’t look that great, but I’ve never had any trouble with this shade – it’s also very good quality, soft and pigmented. I don’t use this shadow much, as it’s not a particularly exciting or flattering shade on me; for my neutral looks, I tend to reach for something more bronze or taupe.

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