Day 10 of 12 Days of Xmas 2021: My Favourite Cream & Liquid Eyeshadows

Now here’s a category I’ve been exploring a lot this year. I remember a time when if a cream eyeshadow came out that wouldn’t crease, it would be instantly hyped because it was such a rare event. Now we have them in all colours, finishes and formats. This post will be about 10 different formulas, and not specific shades, because I couldn’t be bothered to just select a colour for each.

On the Tenth day of Christmas, myself gave to me,

Ten terrific shadows

Nine perfect powders

Eight pretty palettes

Seven stellar blushes

Six superb bronzers

Five fab foundations

Four fine highlighters

Three proper primers

Two great concealers

And a Rephr brush set under the tree.

There will be a big overlap with this post and my top 7 cream/liquid eyeshadows that’s I’ve posted earlier this year. Because of that, I won’t take too much time describing the eyeshadows I’ve already talked about, but you can always reference the other post in case you want to learn more about them.

Best Liquid Eyeshadows

Driven by my positive experience with Louboutin’s liquid eyeshadows, I’ve branched out and tried quite a few this year. But not all liquid eyeshadows are made the same. Among the few fails and many “oks”, my favourite formulas remain the Louboutin Tape à L’Oeil Nude Matte and the Huda Beauty’s Metal & Matte (particularly the matte side).

Both formulas are blendable before they dry down, they don’t move after that, and yet you can apply another layer without the eyeshadow lifting or getting patchy (even though you likely won’t need to, because they are super pigmented).

Best Stick Eyeshadows

The Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow Sticks and Kiko’s Long Lasting Eyeshadow Stick perform incredibly similar. They are easy to apply, creamy, build up nicely, but once they’ve dried they are staying in place with no creasing or fading. They are great for a quick one and done eyeshadow look.

Avon’s Power Stay 16 Hour Shadow Stick and NYX’s Jumbo Pencils are better used as eyeshadow bases. They never fully dry down, both remain with some tackiness on the eyelid, although Avon offering is more long lasting and takes a lot longer to crease than the Jumbo Pencils (not 16 hours like they promise though). Both are great to amp up eyeshadow pigmentation, (specially NYX’s white pencil, Milk), and with a primer underneath and powder eyeshadow on top they won’t crease or fade throughout the day.

Best Cream Eyeshadows

For a traditional cream eyeshadow in a pot, 3ina’s “The Cream Eyeshadow” is your typical long wearing, reliable, easy to use cream shadow. It has nice pigmentation, doesn’t crease, and it’s applies easily with a finger, and there are a lot of eyeshadows like it on the market (Charlotte Tilbury’s Eyes to Mesmerise, MAC’s Paint Pots) but this one is more affordable.

The Ciaté London Marbled Metals eyeshadows and the Illamasqua Iconic Chrome Pigment Paints have a similar cream to crumbly powder texture and perform similarly on the lids. They build up nicely, last well on the lids and the shades are very complex, with shifts of colour and multicoloured shimmer.

Lastly, the Danessa Myricks Colorfix Mattes eyeshadow in the shade Desert Rose surpassed my expectations: the texture is very light, to the point where I barely feel it at all on my eyelids, and although it dries down to a powder finish that does not budge, it’s not as drying on the skin as the liquid eyeshadows or the 3ina pot. It’s hyper pigmented and I have more time to blend it out before it sets.

If you’ve seen my Top 7 Cream & Liquid Eyeshadows post, you might’ve noticed there is something missing here: Colourpop’s Super Shock Shadows. It’s not that I stopped loving it, it’s that I don’t know if I should consider it a cream. The formula is very much in between a cream and a powder and I honestly think about it has a powder eyeshadow that’s creamy instead of a cream eyeshadow. But if it’s a cream, then consider it part of this post. There, bonus favourite again.

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