Hey lovelies,
Estee Lauder have some gorgeous new additions to their eyeshadow lineup launching in August! The Pure Color Envy Defining Singles and Magic Smoky Powder Shadow Sticks, both pictured below, arrive on Estee Lauders counters in New Zealand and the UK at the beginning of August. Those who love a quick wash or smudge of colour will want to check out the Magic Smoky Powder Shadow Sticks, which comes in eight shades. I have Pink Charcoal to show you today.
The Magic Smoky Powder Shadow Stick is a chubby pencil coloured to match the eyeshadow shade (love when brands do this!). It has a pop on cap which stays firmly in place - no errant caps coming loose in your makeup bag - and needs to be sharpened, so there is some inevitable product wastage. For reference it fits perfectly in the larger side of my Revlon duo sharpener.
Swatched on bare skin under daylight bulbs, left to right: one pass, built up and sheered out
Pink Charcoal is a dusty mauve with gold shimmer. If we can rewind to 2007 for a second, the texture and application of the Smoky Powder Shadow Stick feels very similar to the limited edition Revlon Bedroom Eyes Powder Liners released back then (am I dating myself? Heehee), just more compacted in the pencil form rather than loose. It's a bit of a thrill swatching a pencil liner and getting a powder rather than the gel or waxy formulas we're used to seeing in this format.
The texture is a little dry, but it doesn't pull or tug at the skin - I find using a sketching rather than dragging motion gives the best results. On my lower lashline, as I have worn Pink Charcoal in the makeup look at the bottom of the post, I simply sketch along beneath the lashes and use a flat brush to diffuse the edges, while on my lids I do a quick scribble all over and then gently blend it out with a blending brush or a finger. Fabulous as a wash of sheer, shimmery colour and subtle enough that you can easily skip a definer shade.
Colour pay off is, as I mentioned sheer, but it's even. You're not going to get a bold smokey eye with this colour, more of an ethereal veil, which is fine by me. The rest of the range includes a mixture of shades and textures (including mattes and satins) so if sheer sparkle isn't your jam you may still like to check the rest of the range out.
Speaking of sparkle, if glittery fall out and migration is a dealbreaker for you, Pink Charcoal really isn't for you. I had gold shimmer all over my undereye area within a few hours of application. The colour was also very prone to fading on my lower lashline, where I hadn't used primer, but less so on my lids, where I had primed. You may want to go one further and use a sticky base, like Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy to really hang onto the shimmer and prevent it from going everywhere.
All in all, a 'nice to have' formula, depending on your preferred eye makeup look or style. I'm not blown away by Pink Charcoal but I don't dislike it either. I want to check out Slow Burn (shimmery bronze) and Scorched Gold (light-toned shimmery gold) on counter come August because they are colours I'd use often, plus I'd like to see how the more opaque colours fare. Here's the full colour line up:
SEA SMOKE – muted aqua blue with a shimmer finish
CHARRED PLUM – plum, with a hint of brown with a satin finish
SCORCHED GOLD – light-toned gold with a shimmer finish
INDIGO SMOKE – deep navy blue with a satin finish
PINK CHARCOAL – rosy mauve with a shimmer finish
COOL ASH – smoky gray with gold flecks and a shimmer finish
SLOW BURN – shimmery bronze with a shimmer finish
BURNT BLACK – sultry, black with a matte finish
*
A FOTD with Pink Charcoal
What I liked:
- Easy to apply and smudge out with fingers or brushes
- Shimmery, even colour
What I didn't like:
- The shimmer migrates a lot
- Colour is prone to fading
- Estee Lauder makeup counters nationwide from beginning of August. Find your nearest counter here.
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Lani
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