Sephora haul: shadows, brushes and EOTD

Hello my lovely readers! I hope you 're all well! :)

So, I 've been doing some Sephora shopping lately, as the title suggests!

It all started with a spur-of-the-moment kind of purchase (I think we 're all familiar with that sort, "it was there, it looked pretty, it made me buy it, it wasn't up to me"), and it was none other than one of their own collection of glittery eyeshadows.

I 'm not sure how I ended up swatching their eyeshadows to be honest, but it was a pleasant surprise for me, as I 've not really tried much from Sephora's own brand.

True to my natural inclination towards neutrals, but looking for something different at the same time, my eyes were almost immediately drawn to the sparkly neutral shades, and after a bit of swatching I came home bearing No. 51, "So Elegant" (cheesy much?).

The Sephora website describes this one as a "rich brown sugar with silver glitter" and I find that to be fairly accurate, it is a medium brown, slightly bronzy shade, that's shot with pretty silver glitter. Now, this is clearly not for those that wish a super easy, fuss-free application (as anything followed by the work glitter implies a bit of work), but I was sold!

So, I went back and this time I knew exactly what I wanted. I 'm trying to add a bit of colour to my collection lately (making the effort with light greens and purples for now), so I knew I had to get No. 45, "Python Bag" (who comes up with these names, seriously?).

It's the olive green equivalent, and it's infused with the same lovely silver glitter (and it would also be great to pair with my Photo Realism quad come to think of it)!

Both of these eyeshadows are very nice, they 're reasonably pigmented (all of the pics are taken after the second swipe, difference in pigmentation is only due to different lighting, see below), and they 're quite easy to apply, if you take into consideration that they 're the love child of any nice eyeshadow with a sheen and semi-chunky silver glitter.

This photo is to better show the silver glitter, I fear that's extremely difficult to capture on camera (especially with artificial light), but I hope that it gives you an idea.

As with any eyeshadow containing glitter particles, the application requires a bit of patience and some Fix+ (plain water is also a good, cheap alternative), so it's best suited for a special occasion or a night out imo, and just as an example, here's the eye makeup I wore on the bf's graduation day (and yes, there was the "meeting of the parents"): not too dark or overly dramatic (hence why I decided against eyeliner or a darker crease shade), but more special and festive than an average "going to uni" look! I just let the sparkly bits do all the talking!

After some UDPP, I used my trusted Estee Lauder Tea Biscuit all over the lid up to the brow bone and then I slightly darkened the outer corner and crease with MAC Romp (Romp is below Amber Lights). Then I spritzed some Fix+ onto my brush, and applied "So Elegant" by pressing the brush onto the lid. The look was finished with some mascara (that looks so horrible on this photo, but it's the sparkle that I was trying to make show).

So, how do they behave? I wore them more than 6 hours straight (and it was heavy duty 6 hours), and found that they were still on my lids and not on my cheeks at the 6 hour mark. Yes, there will be the occasional odd glitter particle somewhere, but you will not end up looking like a discoball and that's good enough for me (obviously, people with more hooded lids, people that move their eyes more or people that accidentally rub their eyes will suffer more, goes without saying).

Now, Sephora seems to be aware of the fall out issue, as they 've released this silicone tip brush, that they market as the special tool used to apply glittery eyeshadows, making them stay put. I 'm extremely dubious about this brush. I really want to believe it does what it claims. Apparently you 're supposed to use the flat side of the brush to apply the shadow, but in all honesty, that's exactly what I do with my regular eyeshadows anyway.

Does anyone have this and do they find it works for them? Do let me know.

Because I tried it in the store, but found it did absolutely nothing that my fingers wouldn't do.

So, my money went to a couple of other brushes, that I 've yet to try, but I 'm really excited to!

The first is the Large Shadow Brush (a synthetic bristle brush, that I 'm hoping it will stop me from wanting MAC's 252) and the second is the Rounded Crease Brush, that I 've read good reviews on. If it works for me, then I can gladly say goodbye to my 226 and Louise Young lemmings! :)

So, that was it for my Sephora experience!

Hope you enjoyed this post and rest assured that there's a few coming up soon, as I 'm on a project "one post every day for the rest of the week"! :)

Have you tried Sephora's eyeshadows and makeup brushes?

What was your opinion? Do let me know!