Mar 2, 2013

Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-On Shadow Paints: Review/Swatches

Pure Color Stay-On Shadow Paints $24.00 ea

Available for a limited time from: Estée Lauder

From Tom Pecheux, Creative Makeup Director, Estée Lauder: “I wanted to experiment with texture and create a new way of playing with makeup. Pure Color Stay-on Shadow Paints are great for mixing and are an especially easy way to apply makeup – there are infinite possibilities.”

Estée Lauder recently released their Spring 2013 collections; a color collection called Pretty Naughty, a five piece nail collection and this collection of Double Wear Stay-On Shadow Paints. There are nine shades available, I have eight here. The one missing from this post is called Bold Cobalt. You can see a video review of these cream shadows (and find out why I didn’t bother buying Bold Cobalt) here.

These were an unfortunate miss for me. While the neutral shades (like Halo and Chained) performed mostly as advertised, all of the others applied streaky and dried so fast that they were literally un-blend-able. Whether I used stiff synthetic brushes, fluffy blending brushes or my fingers – each time the results were streaky and patchy and once they dried I was left with a layer of paint on the lids that cracked and flaked off onto my cheeks.

Never one to give up (I have dubbed myself the “King of Multi-Purposing” on many occasions), I also tested these on lips, cheeks, lashes (they actually make interesting lash tints, though they don’t add length at all) and brows. I also tried them as an eyeliner and base for other shadows and when all else failed, I started blending them with my go-to “gettin’ creative with it” mixing mediums: Lauder’s classic Advanced Night Repair Serum and their eye gel/cream (which is similar to Clinique’s and MAC’s). Sadly every method yielded the same results: a dry, cracked, flaking and streaky product.

NOTE: The press release for these says you can mix these with Lauder’s new Advanced Night Repair Eye Serum for a wash of sheer color. Believe it or not, that actually did work! I got a sheer wash of long-wearing, watercolor-esque eye paint. However with so many better performing cream shadows on the market (and at a fraction of the price since you also need a $60.00 serum to make these work), I’d recommend looking somewhere else. It’s a shame too, because they swatch beautifully, look stunning in the containers and the initial texture is creamy, smooth and deceptively hydrating for the first few seconds!