Bright Eyes or Pinkeye?

I strongly believe that we all have make-up ‘looks’ that we are curious about but never daring enough to try. Whether it is red lipstick, false eyelashes, whatever; there is always something that we saunter past in the shop, cast a wistful glance in the direction of, but would never buy. For me, this is bright eye shadow. I see girls in magazines with eyes more profuse in colour than Joseph’s dream coat, pinks, greens, oranges extending right up to their perfectly shaped brows. I am filled with envy at their cosmetic audacity and think that I really must try something different before returning heedlessly to my fail-safe of grey or gold.

                This month I decided to use this blog as an excuse to fulfil my secret make-up ambition. The decision was met with much consternation by my housemates, who apparently don’t share my enthusiasm for the brighter side of life. Nevertheless I am not one to be deterred by a little light resistance and so, spinning them some yarn about bright eye shadows resembling fireworks and thus befitting of the season, I over-ruled their objections. I don’t think they bought it but were too polite or busy to argue further with my creative decision.

                Happy and in the spirit of research I wondered round the make-up department of John Lewis testing out a whole array of colours. Bobbi Brown currently has an amazing palette filled with a selection of punchy matt colours, reminiscent of a child’s painting set whilst Nars always has an extensive hoard of powdery jewells. However as we all know these are out of my budget and so, with a heavy heart and a light purse, I trudged off to find some hidden gems. The results are as follows... (I’ve reversed the order this week after my friend Clare told me no-one would read beyond the winner if I put it first. She’s so supportive).

5^th- H and M eyeshadow in Brown dust (£1.99)- Now this was a difficult one and it’s low ranking is really no fault of its own, it simply did not fulfil the brief. It represents my reversion to type and should serve as a warning to all who embark on the quest for a bright eye-shadow. Don’t be half hearted about it and cop out with gold. Bright sparkle is not the same as bright colour and will have nowhere near the same impact. Having said that we all loved the colour and it was the only shadow that came with an applicator.

4^th- Collection 2000 Dazzle Me! In Illusion (£1.99)- Oh wow this was awful. The texture was very clumpy (despite being topped with an odd sieve-like contraption) and it was impossible to apply evenly. We all got it down our faces which led to a nice rash-like effect. Even staying power, a quality I usually look for in an eye-shadow became a negative attribute in this case. It simply wouldn’t come off, so not only did we look vaguely rash-y but also like we had a severe house outbreak of conjunctivitis.

3^rd- Models Own powder eyeshadow in Purple Sky (£5.00)- As the most expensive product this was disappointing. The first comment I received was that it was a bit of a prostitute colour and although it pains me to admit it there was definitely something of the street-walker about it. Again it was very clumpy and although the colour was strong, it was that kind of unrelenting matte that is very unflattering on anyone.

2^nd- Barry M Dazzle Dust in London (£4.50)- It probably won’t surprise many of you that Barry M (king of the sparkling shadows) ranked highly in this challenge. This eye shadow had a good texture and so was easier to apply than many. It also came off fairly easily, which following five minutes of frantic scrubbing at our pink-eyes, put it at something of an advantage. I also thought it looked really good on both Nims (normal) and Grace (pale) revealing versatility in terms of skin-tone.

1^st- Primark eyeshadow dust (apparently Primark doesn’t bother with shades) (£1.00)- What a bargain! The cheapest and the best (and you got two shades in a packet), this is what this blog is all about. Both colours had a flattering, subtle shimmer to them and a nice, silky texture. It should be noted however that you needed to layer colour quite thickly as lackadaisical application left us looking like we’d been in a brawl. Also in typical Primark style the two colours in the packet didn’t go terribly well together so, unless you’re attending an ‘under-the-sea’ event, don’t try any risky blending techniques.

Now, the mildly perceptive amongst you may have noticed that my product reviews perhaps haven’t quite lived up to my initial excitement for this month’s theme. They say you should never meet your heroes and I think this warning is probably as valid in the cosmetic sense as it is the celebrity one. I now realise that bright power eye shadows are a bit like shearing-lined clogs. All over the high street and catwalk but rarely seen out.  The reason...they’re impractical, difficult to carry off and there’s a high percentage chance you’ll end up looking a bit of a ninny.