Connie of Skindeco.net wrote her point of view recently about why she does not use eyeshadows found in local drugstores or pharmacies. Go read it – its an informative read on why she feels the way she does.
Whilst I agree with some points she made, I found myself disagreeing with others. Here’s my counterpoint and my argument FOR local drugstore or pharmacy eyeshadows because I like playing Devil’s Advocate 😉
In the main, I’ve found that some brands found in our local drugstores or pharmacies are of great quality and things have been improving. I disagree that the colours do not show up or are too light. In many instances, its to do with styles and textures preferred by an individual.
If you prefer an intense eyeshadow look which Connie does beautifully, then you might find that inexpensive brands available locally do not offer that sort of pigment and vibrancy of colour. In fact, I’d venture a suggestion that this isn’t even found in most drugstore brands anywhere in the world with few exceptions.
For brands with intense colours available locally, I will suggest you try MAC Cosmetics, Make Up For Ever, I Nuovi and Shu Uemura for eye popping colours bar none.
The downside to preferring something intense is that if you are new to eye makeup, its not easy to work with intense colours. Mistakes show up easily. I know. I used to be a “victim” 😛
However, if you prefer something lighter or the Japanese or Korean or just Asian style of makeup which is more understated, then our local drugstores are a veritable goldmine. I personally find that Japanese or Asian eye makeup is easier to get the hang of and has a lovely way of enhancing your look without quite screaming at you “Look! I’ve got eye colour on!”. Also, the gradational colours in palettes which is favoured by Japanese brands makes things easy for purposes of blending and colour matching when you are in a hurry or are new.
The downside of course is shimmer. Japanese eye makeup is big on shimmer and some people don’t like that. A little bit of shimmer however can open up your eyes and help you look a little more awake than you feel, which is great 😉
However, if you’d want to check out some good brands for eyeshadows in the Asian style found in our local drugstores and pharmacies, I’ve listed some brands I like below.
The brands or products from each brand that I presently like are:-
- Maybelline Diamond Glow eyeshadow palettes – the shimmer is less strong and there is a colour combination available to suit most. I am specific to just this eyeshadow palette – the previous Eyestudio one or eyeshadow singles are a write off.
- L’Oreal Open Eyes eyeshadow quads – This is in the same vein as that of Asian makeup – gradational colours with less shimmer than other brands. Its the first purple palette I have that works for me!
- Majolica Majorca eyeshadow palettes or single eyeshadows – I used to own the singles and palettes. The texture is smooth and it comes in different textures with different levels of shimmer. Some are outright metallic, others are less bright and easier to use for everyday. Most are very pigmented.
- Kate eyeshadow palettes – Kate tends to be heavy on the shimmer. Some of the palettes like the Glam Trick palette is strong in pigment as well which is great.
- Beautilicious eyeshadow palettes – stick to either Alyssa or Victoria and you’ll be fine. I agree with Connie that the singles are less desirable.
My take on some of the other brands available are:-
- Fasio – I’m less impressed with Fasio than Connie is. I’ve never had a good experience with it so I gave up on the brand. I found the eyeshadows chalky compared with brands like Kanebo Kate or Majolica Majorca.
- Elianto – Some singles are good and nicely pigmented. If you want to experiment with a particular colour e.g. teal, fuchsia, yellow, its a good brand to experiment with because RM5 won’t break your bank. The shimmer eyeshadow isn’t bad.
- Bloop de Paris – I liked the 1 green eyeshadow I owned. Colour wasn’t all that strong though. Otherwise its quite unmemorable.
- ZA New York – Digressing a little, their 2 way foundation is not bad! Eyeshadows are unmemorable though.
- Revlon – I’m afraid I have to agree with Connie on this one. I haven’t come across a Revlon eyeshadow I liked yet.
- Silkygirl – Same with Connie. I liked it before but its taken a childish turn that has me cringing each time I see the products and packaging. That said, the blockbuster palettes are quite something, in particular the Forest Green one.
So ultimately, whether eyeshadows found in local drugstores or pharmacies are good or bad depends a lot on the eye makeup styles we prefer. I prefer doing a lighter style on the eyes partly because I have a soft spot for blush and lipstick and I can’t have all 3 elements strong on my face or I’d look like a clown 🙂 Also, having lighter or sheerer colours means I can wear colours to work without raising too many eyebrows; and its easier to work with. Hence, I do like some brands easily found in most drugstores or pharmacies.
So don’t write off the local pharmacy the next time you are in the market for a new eyeshadow. What you find there might just surprise you 🙂
Your take – how do you feel about drugstore brand eyeshadows found locally and do you have one you like?
Paris B
Note: For purposes of this discourse:-
- I have omitted brands like NYX Cosmetics, and mineral makeup because the former is not found locally in Malaysia and the latter is found mostly online. I have not covered brands available online or through “sprees”, only what is readily available in the pharmacies.
- “Pharmacies” and “Drugstores” refer to Guardian Pharmacy, Watson’s Personal Stores, Caring Pharmacies and other pharmacies in Malaysia.
- “Local” refers to Malaysia where I am located.
i quite like maybelline quads too, and unfortunately for revlon shadows, all just blah me
Ya its a pity about Revlon eh? I like their powder foundations though 🙂
I own the previous Maybelline Eyestudio Quad, and come to think of it, its not half bad with eye primer, hahaha. But I do adore my Clinique Eyeshadows, because they’re really soft and long-lasting. Their colors are more vibrant with primer too! Ditto for Lancome Color Focus ones. Well, as for Elianto, I have eight colors, and the first four were utter rubbish… hehhehe.
Have a nice day~ ^.^
Erm… I still have nothing good to say about the old Eyestudio quads LOL and Elianto is hit and miss as it is with most lower end products. Actually even Lancome’s color focus quads are hit and miss. Their recent stuff are great – their older stuff totally lacked pigment.
OOOo…. Really? About the Lancome Color Focus ones, I got mine from a palette known as Sublime Seduction? I think it was one of those palettes you get at airports, but they are divine, hehehehe.
I prefer MAC but I really like Maybelline quads and the L’oreal HIP line. If you have the money to always invest in MAC, that’s great, but some drugstore lines are ‘good enough’ and the price is unbeatable.
That’s very true 🙂 I sometimes like going drugstore for colours that I may not use very often – we don’t have the L’Oreal HIP line here but I’ve tried it and its great
I love L’Oreal eye shadows quad! Imho, it’s very pigmented than Stila eye shadows.
In terms of pigment I must agree, compared to some Stila eyeshadows. Still Stila does win in terms of texture 🙂 But I’m not quite complaining 😉
I’m afraid I’m with Connie on this one 😛 Most of the drugstore eyeshadows disagreed with me (alhough I have to rave about Loreal’s Chrome Shine single eyeshadows and the HIP gel liners. Those are fab). Found a lot of them to be gritty 😛
Haha that is also true. Many lower end eyeshadows do tend to be gritty. I think its the cost of obtaining finer ingredients that keeps them from going that route. What I cannot get it when HIGH END products feel gritty. That really riles me up
I guess I really do love to death smooth and soft powders such as those from iNuovi. If it doesn’t feels like iNuovi does, I wouldn’t buy it. That said, none of the drugstore brands feels like that. The drugstore shadows that I own now were bought when I did makeup first time. Asides for Majolica, I’ve not touched drugstore shadows since. And I regret Majolica to the core. It’s way too expensive for colours that do not show on me. I like the colours as seen. I think it’s really good for everyday use, but I am unable to love them on me.
I don’t mean I like to buy expensive stuff or what. No. But drugstores really do not carry soft and smooth shadows. Sigh. I wish they would. Saves a lot of money. Not sure if they have Canmake in M’sia. But currently, it’s the only one that makes the grade. And I like Canmake poppy strawberry triple. (can’t remember exact code).
We do (or perhaps did) have Canmake here and I loved the trios albeit the colours were very sheer. The texture is nice but only in the trios for me. The singles were blah. I think the reason drugstore brands can’t get the eyeshadow texture soft and smooth and colour pigmented is due to cost – higher quality ingredients and more pigment costs more which they’d have to pass on to the consumers. That said, I’m always a little happier with Japanese drugstore eyeshadows perhaps because the style suits me (and the colours do show up most of the time) 😀
It’s good to be neutral tone or fair. Anything goes. No good being yellow skinned. haha. Silkygirl duos actually does shows up really well. Just that they fall off as easily, which is irritating especially when you have to last through a dinner, and spent 2 hours doing full full makeup.
Hmm.. never tried most of it.. I seldom put on eyeshadow..=p
Will take your suggestion if I decided to get some cheap and nice eyeshadow~^^
Yeah I read Connie’s post before , so I was a little bit shock when I saw your post title. hahaha…
I got the same point with you . I think Loreal those brand is really not that bad , but just don’t compare with those branded one lak . Some of those brand are still very adorable^^
I think we got canmake in some of the Watson stores, but I saw the blusher only, not really sure about the eyeshadows ^^
True 🙂 Drugstore is drugstore – good enough for the price you pay but not quite comparable to the more expensive brands (though they might not all be good either) We used to have a good range of Canmake but I noticed there are fewer items areound now.
Excellent rebuttal, PB!
I tried the L’oreal quad the other day… tak boleh. sheer and shiny. pretty but made my eyes look funny 🙁
You know, I’ve actually been tempted to try Japanese style makeup after reading (not literally) all those Taiwanese magazines. Wonder if it’ll look good on me. Plus I’ll have an excuse to get Asian brand eyeshadows :p
Haha its your colouring dear – intense colours suit you so well and I honestly don’t think you’ll be able to take the lighter Japanese style with lots of shimmer. But then, hey you can come use my Asian eyeshadows and experiment so you don’t have to “buy to try” 😛
I’m very particular when it comes to eye shadows. I’ve very sensitive skin and I develop allergies to a lot of drugstore brands, for example, NYX. I have tried Japanese brands but I am not a fan of e/s with shimmers. MAC e/s are the only ones I own and buy.
I like a few from MJ and have the L’Oreal smoky eye palette but have not tried it out yet. I agree that the Japanese / Asian sheer, shimmery shades are more forgiving. It can get a little too shiny though.
I echo the love for Beautilicious 🙂 As far as Revlon goes though, the only great experience I had with their e/s was a wet/dry quad I had quite some time back…never been the same since though.
I think that drugstore brand like In2It and silky girl will be long lasting and vibrant in color when u apply the right eye primer. I find that Urban Decay Primer Potion helps a lot to make the eye shadow stay.
I personally like Estee Lauder Eye shadow because it is easy to blend.
Question >.>
Is Eye Studio™ Color Plush™ Silk Eyeshadow the same as the Maybelline Diamond glow?
Just asking.
http://www.maybelline.com/Product/Eye/Eyeshadow/eye-studio-color-plush-eyeshadow.htm
It does appear to look the same and is possibly the same item just bearing different names and colour schemes to suit different parts of the world