Juniper
WN-1 & BU-1
Since I laid eyes on Maybelline’s Hyper Cosmos marbleized eyeshadow collection, I have been itching to try them out as I had a feeling they wouldn’t disappoint. I can tell as soon as I swatch eyeshadows whether they are going to work for me or not and when I saw the colour pay-off from these eyeshadow duos, I just knew they would live up to my expectations.
According to Maybelline, these eyeshadows have been a huge success in the US since they were launched, having sold 860,000 units and counting. I thought the Hyper Diamonds eyeshadows were all very well and good but they didn’t have the same impact on me as these marbleized lovelies.
These eyeshadows are formulated from an elaborate blend of seven different uncrushed pearls with pure pigments to achieve a multi-dimensional finish. The uncrushed pearls and pure pigments undergo a baking process that allows for the array of colours you see on the surface of the eyeshadows (in fact, there are so many veins on the surface that I feel as if no 2 applications look exactly the same!) and pearl effect that makes the eyeshadow texture very silky and soft.
The design of the eyeshadows is inspired by our galaxy and reminiscent of the solar system. The duo shades in each pan complement each other but there are some which I feel are too dark to be used as highlighter, e.g. the shades in WN-1. The lighter shade in BU-1 could be used as a base shade/highlighter.
I’ll admit I wasn’t jumping with excitement when I saw this in the envelope as I thought it was just another typical earth-toned pan, nothing interesting about it. I wished there was a highlighter shade in there as the lighter shade of brown is just too deep to be used as an all-over shade so I used it on the inner corners of my eyelids and the darker shade on the outer corners. Then I blended them together in the middle.
When I applied them, I realised that these aren’t the normal everyday boring browns. These have shimmer without the fall-out. I find them quite mesmerising as they lend some pizzazz to eyelids. It’s looking natural without looking like anyone else with brown shadows on their lids.
Now this is the star of the collection and I can definitely see why BU-1 is a favourite. The blue and icy white combination are my ideal cool shades. I had an accident with this one – as you can see from the image above, there are bits and pieces of the shadow around the pan. It slipped out of the envelope on to the floor. I thought it’d have shattered into a million pieces and I’d have to sweep it all up but to my surprise, it brokw neatly into halves within the pan so I could still use it as if it’d never broke. That says a lot about the durability of this shadow. It’d have been a real shame if I’d had to collect the pieces and throw them away.
I think it’s easy to see why BU-1 is my preferred eyeshadow duo, the blue is stunning and it’s almost as if it has silver hues. The shades can be quite sheer but I have applied a few layers as I think they look best when they have a certain amount of layering.
They certainly are out-of-this-world especially for a drugstore brand. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought the shades were from a counter brand as they have a quality I wouldn’t have expected from a drugstore brand. Each pan retails at RM28.90/2.5g.
