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The Hit List: Least Pigmented Eyeshadow
What’s the Least Pigmented Eyeshadow…?
What brand/product wins this category? Any particular reason it wins?
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I was very disappointed with Urban Decay’s Stardust collection. Sparkly, yes. Pigmented…no.
Good answer! But they did release it saying “a sheer wash of color” . . . I was surprised at how much color I can get with these if I work at it a bit.
Bare Escentuals loose eyeshadows…just would not show up or stay put on my N42 skin.
thats a shame… I have about 15 different colors I think are very pigmented. I have found they do not stick well without a primer, maybe give that a try 🙂
Come to think of it, I didn’t use a primer. Maybe I’ll give them a second chance. Thanks!
i love my bare escentuals eyeshadows! the only one i have that didn’t show up that well was “wonder” a light purpley shade. but i love black emerald, does mac have an eyeshadow like that? i would like it more if it was pressed…
Oooh, I do LOVE the black emerald shade! I also find that the shadows, while not always super pigmented, do show up a little better when used wet or “foiled” as they like to refer to it. =)
have you ever tried pixie epoxy from fyrinnae? it’s quite inexpensive per use, since you only use the tiniest little bit on your lid, then you brush (do not pat) the mineral shadow on top of it. the difference is incredible!
Really? I’m a NW43 and I find the BE e/s to be super pigmented. I often have to use a lighter hand or fluffy brush not to over do it. They are mineral e/s though so a tackier base is needed.
YSL #9 Parisian Sky Palette! Arghh now that I remember it, it just makes me angry and I didn’t really get to use it when it was too late to return the stupid palette. I feel like I’ve been ripped off.
I would probably have to say Maybelline eyeshadows. I have used the Expert Wears and the baked ones and there isn’t a lot of color payoff.
I had two of the Expert Wears monos and they sucked. Haha. The pigmentation was horrible and the staying power… well, there was none!
Yep. Maybelline is one of those companies you’d think would be better quality but their shadows look and feel so cheap.
bourjois, they are baked eyeshadows but they have to be used wet to give any colour!
totally agree, when i took it to the counter the sales girl said they are baked but so what no color pay-off!
The baked ones are really sheer, but have you tried their loose pigments? They are much better as far as color, but the brush they come with is pretty awful.
I have a Bourjois eyeshadow duo and the colors are SO pretty, but they only show up well when wet.
Mac Kid
I totally disagree! I love Kid. I use it everyday at work for a neutral eye. I have NC20 skin and it shows up really well with a fluffy dome brush a few times! I wish it worked for you, it is one of my faves!
I have to be honest here. Normally, I LOVE NARS eye shadows so maybe mine was a dud, but Night Rider did nothing for me. The color in the pan is a gorgeous purple with flecks of glitter, but I can barely get any on my brush, let alone my eyes!
I had the same problem until I bought a cheaper/rougher brush. The ELF eyeshadow brush (only $1!) picks up the Night Rider. It also shows up better over a pigmented primer.
MAX Factor, BY FAR, don’t touch these shadows! I think the line may have been discontinued in the US
Agreed! The come out as a white CHALK! Such a waste and a shame. :/
It was such a gorgeous seafoam green in the pan!
I agree, I remember buying a soft neon green eyeshadow (Guava something…) and I’ve never been more disappointed in an e/s, it barely showed up at the skin at all. The pretty girl in the ad sporting a vivid pigmented green shadow on her eyes could not have been wearing that same e/s, it must have been something else!
Covergirl! It looks pretty in the container, but it takes me a lot of effort to get it noticeable when it’s on my skin.
I agree!!!
I hear you there and Cover Girl has a very odd distinct smell that I do not like!
I remember when cover girl used to smell like noxema…it was nauseating
Yeah I had one blush from Covergirl and it smelled like… soap and it was SO strong!! I just couldn’t use it and threw it away
Agreed. Stay away.
I think some of their products still do like blushes and some foundations.
Stardust eyeshadow from Urban Decay. It’s so sheer! I like it anyways though…
i bought this estee lauder duo thing. looked like a donut kinda… the most expensive piece of chalk ever
I know what you’re talking about! I was expecting a great product with Estee Lauder, but was very disapointed.
Vincent Longo
I agree. I have a trio of his that gives nothing, no matter how hard I tried.
same here! it does nothing.
I’ve had really bad luck with the Loreal HIP line.
Agreed. Me too!
I am glad to hear that I thought it was just me!
same! well the eyeshadows at least… LOVE the gel liners and the pencil eyeliners!
I have only tried one and the pigmentation wasn’t too bad but it was chalky and powdery…(was a matte dark brown). I will have to try the gel liners. I have been wanting to for a while now.
i wasnt too happy with sephora brand eyeshadows 🙁 most were not very pigmented
Rimmel coulour rush quad
Oh goodness, yes. Like crayola chalk on your eye. Terrible!
For me, it’s Maybelline – their “traditional” formula, not the limited editions, etc. Very chalky, hardly any pigment at all. You can overload the brush like crazy, yet hardly any color gets deposited on your skin!
revlon quads. bleh, what a waste
Ugh. I’d have to say some of the Bare Escentuals/Minerals eyeshadows have TERRIBLE payoff and a huge amount of fallout. Some much worse than others … and it’s sad because they have such pretty colors and look great in the pot. But not always on the skin. =\
are you using a primer?
i have six of them, and they are pigmented with little to no fallout.
I bought some horribly chalky piece of nonsense when I was in England a few years ago. Sadly, I can’t remember what brand it was. It looked like Bourjous, but I don’t think it was…
Revlon Colorstay 12-hour Eyeshadow Quad in Starlight – no color pay-off what so ever!
totally agree, threw mine away
the maybelline quads. it’s sooo hard for them to show up!!!
Most of the drugstore brands I’ve tried have been lacking in pigmentation. Covergirl, Maybelline, and Revlon come to mind pretty quickly.
Drugstore- Bourjois, goes for their blushes as well, I find the texture very hard.
Higher end- Too Faced shadow duos, I was expecting excellent things from Urban Decays’ sister brand, but I find their eyeshadows really hit and miss, some, like Sexpresso are pretty good, but others are really difficult to build up and I find they go a bit dusty looking when you try and pack them on to get a better payoff.
Deborah for me. Once a friend of mine gave me a make-up palette for my birthday and I decided to try some colors on… no matter how much I dipped the brush on them, the color was still unnoticeable. Horrible.
L’Oreal shadow (not HIP) is very bad, no pigmentation!
I was also really disappointed with the Bobbi Brown nude palette I swapped for – no pigmentation & I couldn’t tell one color from the other once swatched. maybe I got a dud.
Body Shop Shimmer Cubes!
L’oreal HIP eye shadows, everyone always says how great they are but I bought one the other day and it’s horrible and there was a huge amount of fall out and Glo Mineral eyeshadows do not give off any pigment at all, for being so expensive I expected so much more.
Tart and Mark eyeshadows are quite chalky and never seem to last on me even with primer. I have very oily lids and MAC are the best imo for pigmentation and wear.
Tart is a waste of money if you ask me.
I agree with you on this! I also have oily lids and I never used to wear eyeshadow that much during the day, only at night when going out or whatever so it was never on for a long time. Then I started wearing it during the day more and I can REALLY tell the difference with MAC. I don’t know how they even last through the hot weather with my oily lids!
NARS cream eyeshadow in Nomad. Nada nada nada on my lids. I tried all sorts of ways to get pigment cause it’s in the pan. I don’t know where it went on the way to my eyelid, but all I got was shimmer: no color. The lovely green thing went back to the store. Francois oughta discontinue it. I admit I ignored bad reviews and bought it anyway. Certain shades of green eyeshadow and the brain blips out on me.
2nd choice is any of several Bare Escentuals shadows. Below a certain pigmentation level, they vanish on the lid. Over that level, it’s Fallout City.
rimmel colour rush trio in spices
you don’t even understand how awful this trio is. rimmel is hit and miss and this one was a serious miss
Really?
I use it too, with a primer, and for me it works quite well…
Hard Candy Baked duos are by far the worst shadows I have ever used. They’re chalky and have no pigment.
Revlon color stay khaki , ysl quad Tawny is like xmass balls in a quad frosty. frosty. frosty in a bad way
I have trouble with Nars eyeshadows. they look great in the package, but not on my eyes, even with a primer!!!
MAC’s Dame Edna collection Royal Tour shadow trio. I have been and I am a loyal MAC devotee, but this I cannot condone. The most expensive chalk I ever bought. Grr.
We must have very different skin! I have found the dame Edna palettes are my two all time favorites and often have to be careful not to apply too much!
i totally agree.i love the dame edna collection,i also have the royal tour palette but i was so dissapointed with the quality of the shadows.only kept the palette beause of the packaging otherwise it would have been in the bin a long time ago.aghhhhhh makes me angry even now!!
ITA. The Dame Edna shadows were so bad and chalky!
l’oreal matte “wear infinité” eyeshadows. they are certainly NOT matte and you have to work very, very hard to get any color out of them. i had to use a base and wet the brush to get a wash of color that wasn’t just sparkles.
Ignoring drug store brands, the lest pigmented shadows I’ve tried have been tarte. I bought two palettes by them from sephora and they were both awful. Most mineral or organic shadows do nothing for me.
I bought the Tarte Femme Naturale palette – I can’t see anything on my lids at all. A waste of money. Such beautiful colors in the pan but they do not stick to my lids. They just mush into one greigey color – not attractive at all.
So far, from my experience, NYX Cosmetic’s Runway Palette in Strike a Pose.
A friend bought it at IMATS this year and the only way you can get decent color pay off is if you use your fingers to apply it on your lids as oppose to a brush. Boo.
I Totally agree… I bought 3 of the runway palettes and hated them all.
Oh no, I just got one earlier this week and I haven’t tried it on yet but they looked so nice in the pan! Aargh!
They look pretty in the pan. 🙁 Even the black was disappointing. 🙁
OHHH i just bought one of the NYX runway palettes in Caviar something. they are deff hit and miss! lighter colors very very chalky.
I agree.
I have the Champagne & Caviar palette and I’m happy with the pigmentation. But I’ve heard others complain as you have.
I know this sounds odd but Nars eyeshawdo duos dont have any payoff for me its really kinda sad since its such a high end brand
It has to be Banshee from MAC… that’s glitter in pressed form, really. Do you have it? Do you know how I can make that eyeshadow work? 🙁
Banshee is high on
my top ten list of fave shadows! I use it in my crease for a neutral look that is great for work. I just use my 224 brush to apply shading in my crease then blend in some shimmery light pink such as wintersky or seedy pearl on my lid. The color is there, it’s just a neutral color.
I have banshee and I haven’t had any trouble working with it, I just use a good base underneath and it applies, but you need to really pack it on your brush
Cover girl! Ugh!
Mainly drugstore brands – Maybelline, Rimmel, Revlon, Bonne Bell, Almay, Cover Girl
I also hate Sephora brand anything, including their eyeshadows!
I would have to say that most drugstore brand eyeshadows have no pigmentation…really sucks too because some look so pretty and they make you so excited
NYX= beautiful on the pan but so chalky and no pigmentation.
I can see that about their matte shadows but I dig the rest of NYX’s shadows. Mine have always had nice color payoff and a smooth finish.
I bought a duo eyeshadow from Ysl. I think it’s caled Intense Jade/ Lame green. I loooove looking at it because it looks so pretty but I have to scrape it with my brush to get enough colour to make it show on my eyes : (
drug store: Revlon; high end: Tarte
I picked up two at Macy’s at KOP I was the first to buy it there they said it will be gone by tomorrow!
I have had an amazing experience with Mac eyeshadows, but the hello kitty “too dolly” quad had AWEFUL pigmentation! Big disappointment!
Revlon 12hr shadows are horrible! & some of the Sephora brand eyeshadows…they have noo pigmentation in them 🙁
I’d say it’s a tie between the Dior Blue Croisette quint and the L.E. Chanel camellia quad that came out a few springs ago. I don’t remember the exact name of it but the individual shadows were shaped like flowers; shimmery pastel pink, blue, white, and lavender. I was working for Chanel at the time and there were so many customer complaints about the lack of pigmentation to the company headquarters that they issued a new sales strategy to all employees nationwide!
rather than putting one brand in the bottom… i’ll just say that most DS eyeshadows suck. I have no patience to try and achieve a sheer wash, I like bold color. L’oreal HIP duos are an exception (except, not their crystal(?) ones) — also the older metallic HIP duos were awesome!
I definitely dislike sephora brand cosmetics. Since eyeshadows are my favorite cosmetic item… I just have to say that Sephora brand eyeshadows are really bad! I have tons of friends who aren’t obsessed with makeup like I am, and use sephora eyeshadows… UGH. I swipe, and swipe…. and it’s fallout + sheer. Just horrible.
I find some Lancome colors to be a little too sheer sometimes. Covergirl is also awful.
L’oreal HIP, Maybelline. The one drugstore brand that I expected to have horribly pigmented eyeshadow turned out to be excellent. I’m talking about Wet n’ Wild. Their Lust eyeshadow palette is AMAZING
I liked that palette too. I was pleasantly surprised.
Shue Uemura’s eyeshadows were a huge disappointement for me, considering the prices. Awfull pigmentation!
Rimmel and Bourjois baked formula. The Bourjois ombre stretch are pretty decent for the price – good colour pay off and soft to blend
I didn’t have a good experience with Avon’s Aquadelic Quad. Looks pretty in the package but goes on very sheer. Not what I expected!
Revlon Color Stay. So pretty in the pan… NOTHING on my eyelid! Ugh!
Drug store: Covergirl
High end: I hve had bad luck wth CHANEL. may be its my skintone (NC42) I mean I pay freakin 60 bucks for a quad (tax included)
Sephora brand eyeshadows.
Covergril, MAJOLICA MAJORCA, Bobbi brown chocolate palette, and Chanel.
MAC’s Lucky Tom, its a pitty because it could be such a gorgeous colour!
i have to say a few Mac shadows (yes you heard right lol mac) especially Paridisco i love this color but not much of pay off you really have to work with it. its my favorite eyeshadow a gor. coral color. i do agree with a lot of you on the drug store shadows no pay off i feel so many people waste there money experiencing with cheaper products and costing more in the end instead of investing in better quality makeup..words of wisdom the one thing you should invest your money in is your your face!
Dior Iridescent quints. They’re very sheer, and if I try to layer more shadow, the sheen is just gawdy.
I think it might just be me, but Urban Decay Flash just does not show up on my skin at all.
I had that problem too, but if you use the NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk as a base, it seems to help a little. Still veryy frusterating though.
Sephora eyeshadows always have terrible colour payoff/fallout for me.
I have a single eyeshadow by sephora. I don’t know the name of the colur, but it’s a dark grey that looks almost black and that one pretty pigmented. and while at sephora I swatched a few more on the back of my hand and they were fine to.
Bobbi Brown. I know it’s weird but they never go on the color they are in the pan. They don’t stay on very well either, even with primer.
NARS eyeshadow in Night Star is a glittery mess! I also hate all of the Urban Decay shadows in the Ammo Palette. Maui Wowie is fallout city!
Don’t even get me started on Shroom by MAC–least pigmented shadow I own! I don’t understand the hype, because that shadow is crap.
I feel the exact same way, I have it in a quad and I heard how everyone has given this shadow HG status but seriously it does nothing for my skin tone at all
Mac Ego, ugh soo dissapointed
i had a rimmel quad in smokey noir i think but it had almost no pigment at all, i had to ” backcomb” it with my brush in order to get more eyeshadow off to get on the brush but still it had almost no color pay off
Rimmel has to be the worst, by far, that I have tried. I bought a duo with a creamy white shade and a yellow shade becuase I wanted to experiment with yellows… and I got absolutely nothing. Such a chalky mess!!
clinique, loreal and covergirl e/s! worst pigmentation!
NYC shadows are horrible. A black barely shows up chalky light grey on my skin
I used to use Cover Girl and Maybelline. I think they have both been reformulated but I don’t know….
I also have a Smashbox duo thing that is bad, which is surprising because I have another single that is awesome.
I hate the Sephora eyeshadows, I got two pretty colors and all that I could get to show up was all the glitter.
Tarte!
majority all drugstore eyeshadows, sephora brand e/s
Bourjois’ eyeshadows! I really don’t like them at all…
MAC:
Lucky Tom
Retro Speck
Wow… Retro Speck is one of my favorite golds!! It *IS* flakey, but if you use a base and a stiffer brush (no swiping with a fluffy or you’ll get fall out galore) you’ll find the color and the shimmer.
I have heard negative feedback on Covergirl’s eyeshadows, is this true?
clinique eyeshadows have terrible payoff, i swear they’re like colored dust.
Totally agree. I got a Clinique eyeshadow duo free, and it took about a billion layers to get it to show up even a little.
No kidding!! I even repressed them, thinking if they were not so caked into the pan I might get more color payoff… It worked a little, but no pigment = no pigment!!
Sephora brand, even their blushes suck. (A Sephora employee tipped me off on that one and boy was he right) Half my L’Oreal HIP duos suck for colour, a L’Oreal quad they reformulated for “enchanted bouquet”(colours were completely different) horrible for colour payoff and those Cover Girl blast combos. BAD BAD BAD.
My “Expensive Pink” in my MAC Hello Kitty palette is less pigmented than the one I had before.
Maybe I’m just too picky now 🙂 But if I’m paying for it, it should atleast show up!
Loreal HIP duos and Estee Lauder! Completely awful!
MAC Beautiful Iris
The least pigmented eyeshadow that I have is NARS Sugarland.
MAC purple haze, paradisco, stylin’ (hello kitty quad)
Covergirl eyeshadows were the worst for me….
Maybelleine.
The worst EVER eyeshadow.. I forget what they’re called but it’s by Milani and they are single shadows with lots of glitter on top of them. They look so beautiful in the pan but when you apply them all you get is the glitter ( Which doesn’t even stick.. usually ends up on your cheeks. )
bitter and atlantic blue both are useless and i was excited about atlantic blue but not anymore, lol
I find that the Bobbi Brown eyeshadows generally have a poor color payoff
nyx rimmel and urban decay stardust are 100% dreadful
maybelline and rimmel…no pigment at all!
maybelline, loreal, revlon. i mean why even make eyeshadows at all? disappointment all the way. if i could trade all my “useless” drugstore eyeshadow, i think i could buy tons of dior, mac and chanel with the junk i’ve accumulated over the years.
MAC Honesty…what a terrible e/s. In fact almost all the MAC lustres and a lot of the mattes.
ULTA eyeshadows! They are pretty in the pan but there’s no color payoff at all! I do have oily lids and most things don’t show up on me even with primer, but there were the worst!
Bare Escentuals
there loose eyeshadows are horrible, theres more of it under my eye than on my eyelid. they have no pigmentation whatsoever.
Cover girl. They look beautiful in the package but horrible when applying. And Avon eyeshadows craptastic. Although mark. By Avon has really good pigmentation