If you've never purchased a refillable eyeshadow palettes (or blush palette), it's quite exciting to be able to select the colours you want, rather than always buy a pre-made palette. This used to be predominantly a makeup artist thing - designing their own custom palettes -- but more and more it's available for non-professionals to do. Getting to choose a set of eyeshadows for a specific look, or just a selection of colours and textures you don't yet have in your collection is really helpful. How many times have you bought a pre-made palette at the drugstore or makeup counter and loved say two of the four shades inside, or liked all but one of the shades?
Artdeco, available at select Shoppers Drug Marts in Canada, is the first brand that offers the majority of its eyeshadows as individual pans that you can mix and match in a variety of empty magnetic cases. Some fit just eyeshadow pans and some fit both eyeshadow and blush pans.
With my first purchase of Artdeco, I picked up one of the Beauty Box Duos, which fits two eyeshadow pans and an applicator. I didn't bother with an applicator, which are sold separately, because I prefer to use brushes.
I don't know how many eyeshadow pans are available and the selection will vary from store to store, but currently Artdeco has 171 shades available on their website, in a range of textures and colours.
The eyeshadow pans are rectangular and contain about 0.8 g/0.02 oz of product. They come with clear plastic lids that slide or snap on and off. The shades I chose are 34 (a shimmery peachy-vanilla shade) and 04 (a shimmery dark grey).
On the inside of the Beauty Boxes you'll find a mirror on the top and a magnetic base for the eyeshadows.
See!
The little area on the bottom (or if you slide the shadows down, the top) is for the applicator.
And here are the eyeshadows swatched.
Both eyeshadows go on extremely smoothly and creamily. They have decent pigmentation and aren't dry at all. I also love the combination of the two. That's another good thing about being able to choose your own eyeshadow shades; you can can create your own look. I wear these two together quite a bit, with 34 on my lid and browbone and 03 smudged along my lashline and into my crease. It wears very nicely as well. I didn't notice any fading until 12 hours or so had passed. As both 34 and 03 are shimmery, I'd like to try some of the matte shades to see if the texture and application are comparable. Matte eyeshadows tend to be drier and more powdery.
With these two shadows and the Blissful Taupe shadow I've reviewed previously, I can safely say that I am impressed with Artdeco's eyeshadows. I recommend checking them out if Artdeco products are available near you.
Some background info: Artdeco is a German brand available in a few Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada. You can do a search on the Shoppers website to see if any stores near you carry it. Here's the link.
Grade: A
