I saw these in the drugstore and thought they looked interesting so I picked up two to bring home and try out. Drew Barrymore looked gorgeous in the imagery and I admit that she sucked me in.
Drew wearing CoverGirl Smoky Shadow Blast in Silver Sky
The CoverGirl Smoky Shadow Blasts are double-ended cream shadow sticks designed to be used without brushes or applicators. The Step One end has a rounded tip and is meant to be worn on your lid, while the Step Two end has a slightly tapered tip for applying to your lashline and in your crease.
Close-ups of the two ends.
Step One is a rose shade and Step Two is a warm brown.
Before swatching or applying, my concern was about the tapered Step Two end. With use, the tapered point will get worn down and since it's meant to be used for more precise, thin application, using it will increasingly result in smudgier and smudgier looks.
I admit that my first instinct was to use brushes to apply this product, but I opted to stick with the instructions on the package and the CoverGirl website for this review.
I admit that my first instinct was to use brushes to apply this product, but I opted to stick with the instructions on the package and the CoverGirl website for this review.
Purple Plume swatched
As you can see by the swatches, these cream eyeshadows aren't very pigmented and have a metallic sparkle to them. In my experience, smoky eyes work best when you start light and build your colour, blending as you go, layering sparkly shades (if you use it) over more matte shades. So I was skeptical about how well these would work in producing a satisfying smoky eye.
Here's Purple Plume applied.
As you can see, it's very, very soft in terms of pigmentation. I did not wear an eyeshadow primer or apply any product, such as a translucent powder on top for staying powder. Within 5-10 minutes the product had begun to travel into my crease (you can even see it beginning in the right photo).
I also found the colours too similar in intensity to really differentiate enough. I had to work to get any intensity at all, in fact and layered quite heavily to get the effect you see above. The instructions tell you to use your finger to blend the product out. It was actually quite difficult to see the Step One colour on my lids while I was applying it and the Step Two colour only provided a reasonable darkness and dimension to my crease. I could not seem to get it to show up very much, perhaps because of the amount of Step One I applied.
I itched to apply powder eyeshadow on top, for longevity and for pigment but didn't for the sake of this review.
Silver Sky was moderately better in terms of the look but the same in terms of staying power and application.
Close-ups of the two ends.
Step One is a medium silver and Step Two is a silvery plum shade.
Silver Sky swatched.
Again, the colours don't differ much in terms of intensity and are quite metallic.
Silver Sky applied:
Silver Sky applied:
I did much prefer the effect of Silver Sky over Purple Plume because I do like a silvery eye, but again, this is far from a smoky eye for me. As you can see the Step Two colour doesn't have any effect in adding dimension to my crease or emphasizing my lashline. It blends almost completely into the Step One colour on my lid.
Overall, I would not recommend these. They definitely need an eyelid primer underneath and a powder to help them set on top (which would likely minimize their sparkle). The colours aren't bad, but then they're more about the shimmer than pigmentation. I might wear Silver Sky again but definitely under another eyeshadow since it creases so quickly on my oily lids.
C.