little white truths

You may remember I promised myself this year that I would review one of my high-end products each week. 

Last week I reviewed my Kevyn Aucoin The Eyeshadow Single in 104 Soft Clay (see here) and this week I'm reviewing the other one I own, 108 Faded Heather.

I bought them together last year when Kevyn Aucoin was 20% off at Beautybay: actually, my husband bought them for me because I was on a spending ban at the time (thanks honey) - even better ; ).

The packaging is beautifully luxe and screams fancy. Just what you'd expect from an expensive brand.

I love the gold boxes and I've kept mine so I can display them on my makeup shelves. The compact itself isn't my favourite in style but it does look good and it's functional: the gold bar at the base presses in and there's a mirror in the lid of each product.

Each Kevyn Aucoin product I own also comes with a little velvet dust case - a nice touch.

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)

Verdict

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

Shade 108 Faded Heather is a neutral, dusty plum that looks cooler in some lights and more neutral in others. It's my go-to shade for adding definition to my crease and depth to the outer edges of my eyes, without ever looking done up. It's great for the office and for 'no makeup' days, and paired with 104 Soft Clay as my all-over lid colour, I don't need anything other than a highlighter shade and I'm good to go.

Like 104, this one's also good if you've used other eyeshadows and they haven't blended well or look a little patchy: just chuck a swipe or two over the top 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! The texture also feels better than other high-end mattes I own because it's so finely milled and smooth.

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.

As I mentioned in my review of 104, 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 on my eyeshadow or blush 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.

This eyeshadow also 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. It almost looks ethereal and seems to lift the eye area without the use of shimmer or sheen. A rare thing, in my experience.

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.