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L'Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow Review, Photos, Swatches

L'Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow
L’Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow

If the Emerald City Only Sparkled Half as Much!

L’Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow ($7.95 for 0.12 oz.) is a sparkling, shimmering forest green with an olive-brown base. It has flecks of emerald green micro-shimmer and larger dirty gold shimmer. Tarina Tarantino Wonderful is less green, more olive. Urban Decay Bender has a stronger yellow undertone. Inglot #418 is less olive/yellow-toned. Make Up For Ever #310 is cooler-toned, no yellow or olive base coloring. MAC Humid is less intense, slightly yellower.

This shade sparkles in such an incredible, eye-catching way. There are few products and even less shades that sparkle in such a way; I was truly captivated when I swatched this, and it was as beautiful on the lid as it was on my arm. This is something that anyone who loves green eyeshadow should seriously consider grabbing–and the price point makes it nearly irresistible. It has one of the most gorgeous finishes I’ve come across. Not all L’Oreal Infallibles have this finish (and not all Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Intense Eyeshadows do either), but it’s an exceptional play on shimmer, sheen, and reflective surfaces.

Golden Emerald works best slightly damp or wet, because the pigmentation and finish really sing there. When it’s applied dry, it’s not quite as intense or as pigmented.  The color payoff is decent to good, but you’ll likely want to apply it over a primer if you plan to use it dry.  What’s nice about this kind of formula is that when you use it wet, it stays looking like that–it doesn’t intensify and then dry and look faded.  That lack of intensity is the only drawback about this particular shade, because the wear is tops–full ten hour wear with no creasing or fading.

For a comparison against Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Intense, please see this post. As a quick summary, L’Oreal’s colors can be less nuanced/have less depth, and then the wear seems to be a little more inconsistent with L’Oreal (some wearing fantastically, others creasing/fading more rapidly). The way I look at it (assuming you wear primer, because then the wear is usually fine), the more the merrier!  There doesn’t seem to be a lot of overlap between the color ranges, though–they’re not putting out dupes so much as different shades in a similar formula.

Golden Emerald

PPermanent. $7.99.
B+
B+
9.3
Product
9.3
Pigmentation
10
Texture
6.5
Longevity
4.8
Application
88%
Total

L'Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow
L’Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow

L'Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow
L’Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow

L'Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow
L’Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow

L'Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow
L’Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow

L'Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow
L’Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow

L'Oreal Golden Emerald Infallible Eyeshadow
L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows in Golden Emerald, Endless Sea (10 hours of wear)

30 Comments

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yellowlantern Avatar

It’s sad to see that the Endless Sea doesn’t seem to have fared as well as Golden Emerald. Golden Emerald would look great with the GA ETK #25 you posted yesterday as a dark green smoky eye. 

Quinctia Avatar

yellowlantern I’ve had good luck with Endless Sea over a primer.  But I generally have had great luck with all the Infallibles–over primer.  I even have to wear ETK over a primer.

Joanna Avatar

Ooooh this is SO pretty!!! Do you plan on reviewing all or most of the infallibles? I want to pick up the ones that have this super shimmery finish 🙂 Also, how do you like to apply your shadows wet? Just wet the brush a little? Sorry, I don’t ever use wet shadows. I only use Mac since I have do many to use up but they’re absolutely horrid the one time I tried them wet

Christine-Temptalia Avatar

@Joanna Not sure yet! :)I wet my brush first, then press it into the eyeshadows.  Not all eyeshadows can be used wet and dry – MAC’s regular line of pressed eyeshadows generally can’t, but their minearlize eyeshadows can!

SarahLedbetter Avatar

That is a lovely color! Thanks for the swatch. I think your “dupes” section at the bottom of the post must have been copied and pasted from a different color, perhaps? They don’t match the top, and the colors are not the same.

wwendalynne Avatar

That is sooo lovely, Christine!  Sadly, this is the type of green I cannot wear without looking like a Martian (if they were green, that is and I haven’t personally met any..yet).

Diana Avatar

Glad to see a positive review on this since I just purchased this color yesterday along with Gleaming Bronze.  These are my first Infallible eyeshadows, and Golden Emerald worked very well for me this morning.  I used it dry over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, and I was able to get vibrant color.

Kafka Avatar

I’d planned on getting this, along with the Smouldering Plum, but now I’m certain. I think this would be so pretty with my Paramaribo Duo. 

xamyx Avatar

This actually pairs *beautifully* with Smoldering Plum, or Liquid Diamond. Believe it or not, this one is actually my absolute favorite of the 11 I have, and I don’t have an affinity for greens.

Mariella Avatar

This is beautiful and I’m tempted to get it but when these first came out, I bought Permanent Khaki and I’ve got 2 or 3 of the shadows listed in the “dupes”. Since I don’t often wear green shadow anyway, this might not be a useful purchase for me but it sure is lovely.

Miya Caballero Avatar

is this your favourite one out of the infallible eyeshadows? i’m dying to pick some up but knowing my luck i would pick the one shade thats a dud

BooBooNinja Avatar

This is a lovely shade. Does anyone know if the Infallible Eyeshadows play well with regular pressed powder e/s?By the way, Temptalia , I think you’d really like Inglot 419P. It’s my first green and it will definitely not be my last! 🙂

Veronica Avatar

I’ve been eying this one for awhile, so I’m glad to see it’s worth the purchase.  I’ll have to grab it on my way home today.  🙂  Green isn’t always my go-to color, but I find shades that have some brown and/or gold in them tend to wear well on brown eyes.

marared Avatar

I found this at CVS for $7.99. Golden Emerald parses as a liiiittle bit bluer on me than in the swatches (NC30), and definitely use a primer, because I have deep-set eyes and without it (just testing!), it smeared all over my brow within minutes.

Dana Avatar

Hi Christine, could you give me your opinion on something? I’m debating on picking up UD Mildew & I already have Golden Emerald- do you think they’re similar enough to skip Mildew?

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