little white truths

We received this eyeshadow quad from Violet Box a while back and you may remember I was rather upset (ha) that I got this colour option and not one of the warmer options (Bora Bora or Madrid).

What I should have done of course was find a better home for this, rather than deciding to open it - but as usual I couldn't help myself. Blame it on the blog ; )

It's a bit of a strange quad, come to think of it - it's one of the few that I haven't known exactly what to do with when I've seen the shades. I mean, what's my crease colour? Why include two pale shimmers when there are only four shades to choose from?

All four colours are shimmers - black, pale green, silver and white. It's a very very cool palette and I know most lasses who received it weren't happy: most wanted one of the warmer quads.

Anyhoo. With sub boxes, it's all the luck of the draw and you get what you're given!

Be a Bombshell claims/product details:

See colours above. When worn, there's too much similarity between the two palest colours (and the green is a bit of an odd inclusion); in that sense it's not the easiest palette to use.

See below swatches, taken outdoors in natural light. See what I mean in terms of the similarity between shades? The silver and white look pretty close when placed side-by-side, particularly when worn on the eye.

Photo taken indoors, with flash:

And on my eyes below. I haven't used the black (I would normally use that as a liner), but I've used the white as an inner corner and browbone highlight, the silver on the inner lid and the green on the outer lid and in the crease.

As you can see, it's a very cool, metallic look and not one I'd wear on a daily (or even nightly) basis. Indeed, I've only worn this to trial it and I can't see myself reaching for it very much, if at all. It could well end up as a Project Pan item soon enough.

Verdict

As mentioned, I really wasn't sure how to use this quad - the colours don't feel like a 'natural' mix and I don't think there's a massive amount you can do with them. This is partly due to the similarity between the paler colours.

The shadows aren't very pigmented (so I don't agree with that claim) and you need to build them. I had to swipe them quite a few times to get them to show up in the above swatches. I personally don't mind that: pigmented colours can be harder to use because it's so easy to overdo them and they can wind up looking uneven. I didn't have that issue with this quad.

Also as mentioned, there's not a massive difference between the silver and white, as you can see from the above shot of my eyes. The green isn't a great crease colour (it's not dark enough) but I wasn't sure what else to do with it!

As for longevity, I've been testing this without a primer because I reckon that's the best way to judge quality, and it's not too bad. The colours don't shift easily and you'll get at least a few hours' smudge-free wear from them without a primer.

I do like Be a Bombshell products (particularly the blushes) but I haven't had the best of luck with the brand's eyeshadows (see my review of Halo here). I think this little quad is pretty good quality - and a reasonable price - it's just the colours I have an issue with.

Have you tried this? How do you use it if so? If you received Bora Bora or Madrid, I'd love to hear how you went with them.