MAC I Like 2 Watch Dazzleshadow ($20.00 for 0.06 fl. oz.) is described as a “mid-tone brown with gold sparkles.” It’s an almost green-tinged gold set over a warmer, copper-brown base with a sparkling, metallic finish. Applied dry, it is sheer and dusty, which made it hard to work with as it diffused everywhere and tended to fade faster. Applied damp, it was much more opaque and smoother, so it adhered better to the lid and wore for seven and a half hours with moderate fall out. YSL Avant Garde #4 (P, ) is less shimmery. Lit Cosmetics Rich & Famous (P, $12.95) is more shimmery. Too Faced Twinkle (LE, $16.00) is less shimmery, lighter. Fyrinnae Lucky Charmed (P, $6.80) is less shimmery. NARS Etrusque (LE, $24.00) is less shimmery, darker. Urban Decay Stargazer (P, $20.00) is lighter. Urban Decay Spell #1 (LE, $18.00) is less shimmery, lighter. Maybelline Bold Gold (P, $6.99) is less shimmery. MAC Gaelic Gold (LE, $16.00) is less shimmery. MAC Old Gold (P, $21.00) is less shimmery, brighter. See comparison swatches / compare dupes side-by-side.

FORMULA SUMMARY | The texture has a slightly emollient feel, but it is primarily a powder eyeshadow. It’s not really gritty, as the sparkles are flatter and less textured, but it’s not quite smooth like your traditional powder eyeshadow, because it is packed with sparkle. The wear is poor when used dry; there is a fair amount of fall out as well as creasing within six hours, and there’s a tendency for the color to sheer out as it is blended on the lid. Even just applying the eyeshadow with a damp brush improves the wear to eight hours with minor creasing and less fall out but still a moderate amount. I also used Too Faced’s Glitter Glue, which these are harder to blend over (workable but requires extra brushes), but the primer intensifies the base color while making the finish appear more sparkly. I think they’re an improvement as far as your standard powder eyeshadow that has sparkle or glitter in it (think of MAC Lustres as a good example), but it’s not a perfect formula. You’ll still want to use a good, slightly tacky base underneath to maximize the performance of both color payoff as well as wear. Check out part one for a full overview of the formula.

MAC I Like 2 Watch Dazzleshadow

MAC I Like 2 Watch Dazzleshadow

MAC I Like 2 Watch Dazzleshadow

MAC I Like 2 Watch Dazzleshadow

MAC I Like 2 Watch Dazzleshadow