bareMinerals Afterparty Eyeshadow Quad Review, Photos, Swatches

Christine — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:49:42 +0000

bareMinerals The Afterparty Eyeshadow Quad

bareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow Quads: The Afterparty

bareMinerals The Afterparty Eyeshadow Quad ($30.00 for 0.17 oz.) contains four shades: Cheers, Mingle, Rowdy, and Lights Down. This quad launches in October, and it’s touted as a solid eyeshadow with SeaNutritive Mineral Complex that is “creamy, silky smooth” with “seamless blendability” and “stay-true color” that is long-wearing when worn alone without creasing or budging. When worn alone, I was able to wear several of the new duos (which have the same formula for pressed eyeshadows) for 10 hours without an eyeshadow primer. For more details on packaging, please read my original review.

Cheers is a white with a soft, frosted finish. It has a reallyd ense, buttery texture that gives it great color payoff and smooth application. It’s not a particular unique shade, though, and as such, it is similar to several other white eyeshadows like: Cumulus and theBalm Lab Coat.

Mingle is a subtly blue-toned, light-medium gray with a silvery sheen. It has pretty good pigmentation, but the texture isn’t as dense or as buttery as Cheers–it’s still very soft and easy to work with. It’s a touch lighter than Inglot #448, lighter and less metallic compared to Deja Vu. It is closest to Inglot #324 but that has a matte finish.

Rowdy is a brown-gray-plum with a pearly sheen. It looks grayer swatched than it does in the pan. The texture is soft but less dense and creamy compared to Cheers (expected, given the more matte-like finish), but the color payoff is good. Generally, you want a matte eyeshadow that’s soft and pliable, so it’s not dry and stiff, but you don’t want it so soft that it becomes powdery, as this can often lead to chalky or uneven application. This hits a good balance between softness and blendability. It’s grayer than MAC Tendersmoke, but I couldn’t find anything else in the gallery that seemed to be very close.

Lights Down is a mostly matte black base with silver sparkle. The texture is good, and the matte base has nice color payoff. As expected, the silver sparkle doesn’t translate so much on the eye–it tends to get lost. This is the kind of color (and concept) that a lot of brands have done–think NARS Night Breed, Lancome The New Black, MAC Black Tied, etc. For as much shimmer as there is in the pan, you can see how there is very little visible in the swatch. The good part about that is there is less worry about fall out, since it doesn’t even make it to the eye!

Rowdy is one of the more unique shades in the quad, but it may be the odd one out, too–I can easily see the combination of white, gray, and black working, but Rowdy throws a wrench in there. It’s a blend of brown, plum, and gray but none of those really dominate. It’s almost like a burgundy-taupe. I like that included a variety of finishes in the quad, and as several of the other duos/quads have been, these are more basic, core colors than revolutionary shades (which is fine!).