Summer Collections 2008: Vincent Longo Liquid Shadow Review

Lately I've been daring enough to try out various cream eyeshadows. I'm normally not a big fan of cream shadows but I've run across some really good ones and this has turned my Nay into a Yay when it comes to them.

I recently blogged about Vincent Longo's Beautiful Dreamer Summer Collection and one of the main items released with it were some new liquid shadows. Of course, I had to go out and buy them for myself so I could review them here!





I was pretty excited about these as they appeared to be a shimmering liquid shadow plus the colors looked very Summer friendly. I do so admit that product gets sold to me very quickly when the promo images of the model sporting the makeup looks posh, put together, and simply gorgeous. This may stem from some unconscious need to look that flawless, that gorgeous, or it could be I'm hoping to attempt the same eye, lip, or cheek look. Who knows really but I do automatically hunt out a product if I'm liking the way it appears on a model pimping the collection out. The model was looking simply stunning in this particular advert.





The collection, aside from the liquid shadow, wasn't anything to get too excited about so I ended up purchasing just two colors of the shadow and leaving the rest. The liquid shadow only comes in four shades which is both good news and bad. Bad, if I ended up loving the product and not being able to get my hands on more colors of a great product. Good, because I actually didn't end up loving Vincent Longo Liquid Shadow as much as I had hoped I would.

I was expecting a shimmering cream shadow but sadly that's not the case. The lack of shimmer in these lead to the downward spiral that will slowly become my poor review on the product.

Did I miss the trendy boat that said metallics are so in this season? I never got the memo. This goes to show you how much of a non-trendy person I am. I tend to march to a different drum then the rest of the cosmetic society because I had no idea that metallics were so huge this Summer. I guess I should have gotten a hint when Bobbi Brown released it's Metallic Single Eyeshadows or when Bourjois Paris came out with it's Shimmer Shine Liquid Eye Shadow.

Which brings me to the fact that these do in fact dry down to a high metallic sheen. Although I don't mind metallics, I just don't find I reach for them first thing. These have some good key factors so it's not all bad. They dry down very slowly giving you plenty of time to build up color and blend as much or as little as you like. I think this is key with liquid shadows and I really appreciate this type of formula when I buy a cream shadow! One of the main reasons I avoid cream shadow is the incredibly quick dry down time which makes blending such a bitch. The fact that these dry down so slowly and give plenty of time for both blending and adding additional product to build up the color is a big plus. They are also very long wearing and have pretty good pigmentation but you do have to slather color on to see a good pop of color. One brush stroke will definately not create a dramatic eye so be prepared to saturate your eye area with cream shadow.

The colors I got were Supple Rose which is a warm pink and Liquid Desire which is a golden peach. Guess what? They look exactly the same on my eye. I couldn't really tell too much of a difference between the colors once they were on. Swatches appeared really gorgeous and shimmering and you can distinctively tell a difference in color. However, once applied the color melded on and both looked identical. I was particularly taken with the look of Liquid Desire when I swatched it but it ended up just being blah when it was on my eye!







Supple Rose




Liquid Kiss




As you can see from my FOTD's it looks like I'm wearing the same exact shade of shadow in both photos.

Aside from the drama of color I just didn't get the wow factor at all. The payoff in the end is very natural, neutral, and dare I say boring? Although you can't see it in my pictures the effect is that of a high sheen of metallic. The shadow dries down but it still appears somewhat shiny and wet. You'd think this alone would give some sort of dramatic effect. Nope. Not really. Yawn.

I really can't pinpoint exactly what it is that I'm disliking about these. I'm not thrilled about the price either. $24 USD per shadow isn't exactly cheap chips and it seems even more expensive when I am not loving the product! Have no fear I imagine I'd be a real sport about the $24 bucks if I was loving these!

When it's all is said and done I think you can safely skip these. Nice to play with, nice to try, but don't be fooled by the swatches you might do while in Sephora. As pretty and shimmering as they look on your hand you just won't get the same effect once the product is on your eyes.

Although the formula is excellent in regards to blending and pigmentation in the end it fails at creating any wow or excitement.

The Muse no likey.

Skip it and buy something else.

Own 'em already?

Love 'em?

Did you want to try 'em?

Tell the Muse!