I wanted to get my thoughts on Urban Decay's shadow pencils up before the end of the giveaway (extended through Memorial Day! Go enter if you haven't!), but didn't feel like doing a full review and happened to have swatches of Hourglass Gypsy that I needed to do something with, so...here's a quick combo review!
Urban Decay's eyeliners are cult favorites (I have Mildew and Rockstar, and love the former [the latter is a bit too glittertastic]), so everybody was pretty psyched when they came out with bigger shadow pencils. I picked up the 5 pack they'd released for the holidays when it was on super-sale and kept the two lighter neutrals for myself (the others are here), and have been using them on and off for the past couple months.
Sin is a shimmery light champagne, and Juju is a shimmery taupe. They're pretty firm, so I just swipe it all over my lid and then blend to soften the edges. On their own, they crease and fade pretty badly on my oily lids, but they last ~8 hours over TFSI, and longer if I top them with powder shadow.
$20 for 0.10 oz, available from Sephora and Urban Decay
Hourglass's eyeshadow duos are just divine; the texture is unbelievable, and you get a huge amount of product (0.20 oz total, or 4 MAC/Urban Decay singles!). I gave L the Gypsy duo for Christmas, and she was gracious enough to let me swatch and wear it to review for the blog! The left shadow is a light cream shimmer, and the right a (crazily pigmented) bronze. Together, they're an effortless neutral eye that illuminates and flatters immensely. And the texture, oh, the texture! So smooth and blendable, it's like a dream, and it wears impeccably over primer (I didn't get the chance to try it alone, sorry).
$38 for 0.20 oz, available from Sephora
Have you tried any of these? What did you think?
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| Juju (left), Sin (right) |
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| Juju (top), Sin (bottom) |
Sin is a shimmery light champagne, and Juju is a shimmery taupe. They're pretty firm, so I just swipe it all over my lid and then blend to soften the edges. On their own, they crease and fade pretty badly on my oily lids, but they last ~8 hours over TFSI, and longer if I top them with powder shadow.
Sin blended all over lid, Juju blended in crease
They do need to be sharpened, but I've gotten a lot of wear out of them without needing to do so yet (the only reason I did was to test and make sure it could be sharpened before writing this review, and yes, it can––I used the larger hole in the $2 Revlon sharpener I have to no ill effects). I wouldn't pay $20 for one, but I'm very pleased to have the ones I do! Grade: B (if you get them for cheap, A-)$20 for 0.10 oz, available from Sephora and Urban Decay
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| Arm swatches (Blogger is making this look way greener than it should. Boo, hiss.) |
Lighter shade on lid, darker shade in crease
Yes, there are many similar shades out there, and several in my collection, but damn, if you're looking for a versatile neutral duo of excellent quality, Hourglass Gypsy is one to consider. They have 5 other duos, including another neutral (Suede, which is lighter and less shimmery), and I yearn for Exhibition (gorgeous purples) and Dune (khaki greens). Also, the packaging is awesome: it swivels and flips, and has a mirror on the back! It also comes with a brush, though I just used my own brushes to apply, so I can't speak to the quality. Grade: A-$38 for 0.20 oz, available from Sephora
Have you tried any of these? What did you think?
