Jewelled Multichrome Eyeshadow

The formula was described as "finely milled, ultra rich pigments" that have a "black base and intense colour shifting reflects" with the "end result [being] a saturated, vibrantly shifting shadow."

For those new to Multichromes, the brand has a nice application guide that walks customers through application. The big takeaway is with black-based Multichromes, less is more when it comes to blending as the more one blends, the more the base comes through and the shifting shimmer disappears. They can be used wet or dry, with a dry or wet brush, or with fingertips in "patting motions instead of swiping."

Clionadh's formula worked well with an assortment of brushes--flat shader brushes, fluffier shader brushes, narrow and larger pencil brushes, and even fluffier crease brushes. I liked using a small, lightly rounded crease brush to apply and diffuse product in my crease to buff out the edge for a blacker base to come through, which I found helped to blend the Multichrome shade with any transition/crease shade I might have used. A flatter, but not firm, shader brush worked well to deposit color all over the lid, especially on smaller areas, but fingertip application yielded the most intense, shiniest finish along with deeper color.

Multichromes are, in a way, the equivalent of applying three or four or five shades on an area at a given time, so for someone who likes the effect of more than one shade on the lid but may not feel as confident about blending... a multichrome gives some of that end result with less effort. It also does it in a reverse way, too, as they often shift slightly different from left to right, right to left, top to bottom, and bottom to top.

The consistency was smooth to the touch, dense and slightly thicker with a creamy, lightly emollient feel. A few shades felt more cream-like than powder-like, but most felt like a richer, creamier metallic by touch. The brand recommended applying the eyeshadows first as "there may be some fallout," though it seemed minor in my experience--the creamier consistency made the eyeshadow adhere readily to bare skin (or over primer).

I found them easier to use than expected, as I didn't feel like they had to be used with a wet brush or a fingertip to get opaque, even coverage, and they were blendable along the edges. The black base does make it harder to wear along the lower lash line without getting a noticeable shadow where the edge gets diffused, and the same was true around the inner tearduct (the brand's Iridescent Multichromes are better for these areas as they have a transparent base).

They had a tendency to crease faintly on me after eight to nine hours of wear without primer and more reliably between 10 and 12 hours over an eyeshadow primer. The shift became a bit more faded after seven to eight hours compared to the initial application over bare skin and around 10 hours over primer.

The brand recommended applying this formula over a "dried-down primer," which is actually unusual to see for an eyeshadow formula, so since most of the formulas I test don't require primer for testing, I tested all shades both ways so that they can be more readily compared to other formulas on the market.