Kevyn Aucoin The Eyeshadow Single in 104 Soft Clay - review and swatches

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At the beginning of this year, I promised myself that I would review one of my older products each week: I have quite a lot of stuff on my display shelves that I've never reviewed for whatever reason, and it's definitely time to get those posts up!

I didn't manage to review one each week in January (only one for the month - ooops!), but I'm committing to doing it for the rest of this year.

So, first up is this Kevyn Aucoin eyeshadow in 104 Soft Clay, which I've owned for close to a year now.


As you can see, it comes beautifully packaged in a golden box that screams luxe.

The compact itself is the standard Aucoin arrangement: a dark maroon case with a gold bar that you press to open the compact.


The compact comes complete with a velvet dust jacket, embossed with the brand's name. A nice touch.

These eyeshadows singles are a generous 3.6g in size, so they'll last for ages. I have two and I use them both frequently, and I've barely made a dent in them.


Kevyn Aucoin claims/product details:
  • The must-have eyeshadow for every makeup artist or enthusiast
  • An exquisite collection of refined shadows (available in 10 shades)
  • Use as an all-over base, crease, contour or for soft definition
  • Apply with a damp brush for intensified colour
  • Sophisticated matte formula with a creamy yet silky dry texture that glides on smoothly
  • Contains eye-priming properties to prevent creasing
  • Micronised powder neutralises discolouration around the eye area
  • Apply as a sheer wash or build colour to full opacity
  • RRP $36 AUD for 3.6g, but do shop around (I got mine for 20% off from Beautybay, and I'm pretty sure it was around $31 at full price then, due to the exchange rate at the time)


There's the colour in sunlight above and in natural light below. 

Do be aware that the photo on the Kevyn Aucoin website (and other retailers' websites) shows this to be more of an orangey neutral, which it definitely isn't. It's more cool and almost pink in some lights.

I was initially disappointed about this because I'd hoped it would be more like Stila's Wit (it does look that way on the websites), which is my favourite crease colour of all time. Happily all was forgotten once I tried this and saw how good it looked on the eye.


There we are in sunlight:


And in natural light (here's where it looks more pink):


There's a swatch in direct sunlight (you can barely see it on the arm but it definitely shows up on the eye):


There I am wearing it as a base colour, all over the lids and up through the crease (natural light):


There's a close-up in sunlight (again, it looks more pink here):


And there's my completed eye look below (natural light). 

I've added Kevyn Aucoin's The Eyeshadow Single in 108 for more definition in the crease, and Kevyn Aucoin's Candlelight as my highlighter shade (I'll review those soon).


Verdict

I absolutely love the formula of Kevyn Aucoin's eyeshadows and this one is no exception.

Shade 104 Soft Clay is a neutral, pale brown that looks cooler and pinker in some lights. It's the perfect 'my eyes but better' shade that adds soft definition without being too much. It's also a great shade to put over other formulations if your eyeshadow looks patchy: a swipe or two of this and everything looks beautiful and melded together.

The formula itself is beautifully creamy and silky, and it almost applies and blends itself so it's one of those shadows that doesn't require a lot of work - my favourite kind!

I've just been comparing this to my Nars Portobello Duo Eyeshadow (also a matte formulation), and this one is far superior. Where the Nars product feels hard and powdery, this one feels soft and gorgeous. While the Nars product can take a bit of work to blend, this one is super easy and never looks patchy.

One thing to note about Kevyn Aucoin eyeshadows, however (at least the singles), is that they're not super pigmented. While they're buildable, you'd have to apply them wet to get a huge colour pay-off, so they mightn't be for everyone.

There seems to be a huge focus on strong pigmentation in the beauty community these days, with most people agreeing that high pigmentation is a good thing and low pigmentation is not. 

I'm not in that camp: I don't want heaps of pigment in my powders because I often find really pigmented products harder to work with and more prone to patchiness and mistakes. While that's not always the case because some pigmented products do blend out really well, you still have to be careful with them and not get too much on your brush/go easy with application, to avoid looking like a clown. 

I don't want to be super careful: I want to be able to throw my eyeshadow or blush on with one eye on my daughter and one eye on my compact. This product gives me that, which is one of the reasons I've given it an HG tag.

Another good thing about it is that it lasts well throughout the day, whether with or without a primer. I'd recommend using a primer because that always helps with intensity and therefore means you don't need to build the colour too much (which can add texture and look less natural, because powder starts to look visible pretty quickly). It also just looks high quality when applied. Often you can't tell between low quality and high quality powders once they're on your face, but I certainly can with this.

Compared to the Nars duo mentioned above, this almost looks ethereal and seems to lift the eye area without the use of shimmer or sheen, while the Nars product just looks standard. I don't mean to bag the Nars product - it's a decent shadow and I do use it - it's just that it's an obvious point of comparison because both products are similar colours, are both high-end, are both matte, and I use them for similar things.

In sum, this is a fantastic product and I think it meets all its claims. It won't be for everyone due to how sheer it is, but I love that about it and it's a product I would buy again.


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