A while back I made a post about all the beauty shopping I did on my honeymoon trip to Santorini. On that haul, there were some Tommy G eyeshadows that I meant to review. And it only took me more than a year to write that review.
At least these are all still available.
In their website Tommy G calls these their “special eyeshadows”. I think the “specialty” comes from the fact that the pans have that petri-dish look that I like so much, with the sporadic blobs of colour and shimmer throughout the base colour. As is typical with this type of product, once you blend the powders, the swatch ends up being just one basic colour and there is no particular complexity to it, but I don’t mind it. Looking at the pans is part of the fun for me.
Eyeshadow No. 1020
In the pan, 1020 is a shimmery mint green eyeshadow with grey and forest green specks of shimmer. When swatched, the colour is a yellow based shimmery mint green. The brand claims these are metallic but this shade in specific I would have to disagree. It’s more frosty than metallic.
The texture is soft, ever so slightly powdery but without turning into a mess. I didn’t find it kick up any powder in the pan nor did it have any fallout when applied to the eyes. Pigmentation is on the softer side though – even if I tried to build it up, it would still be at medium intensity. And it looks better packed on the lid, because as soon as you blend it out, it fades away. It reminded me of those traditional asian eyeshadows, that give off a shimmery watercolour effect on the lid, but not really a lot of colour impact.
Worn over primer, I didn’t notice any fading or creasing for the 10 hours I wore it.
Eyeshadow No. 1030
Eyeshadow no. 1030 is a shimmery, pink-leaning peach. On the pan there are a few specks of white and dark gold that don’t translate into the swatch. I used it as a highlighter as well, as suggested by the sales assistant that recommended it to me, but I wasn’t a fan of it that way. Like the previous shade, it’s more frosty than metallic, and on the cheeks it doesn’t melt into the skin, just sits on top of it. On the lid it looks much prettier.
The texture is very much like 1020 (slightly powdery but no kick up on the pan and no fallout). Pigmentation is decent and buildable, specially when packed on the lid. I certainly find it more opaque than shade 1020, but it has the same issue where if you try to blend it too much it starts to fade.
And again, packed on the lid, when worn over primer, no fading or creasing for 10 hours.
Eyeshadow No. 1041
Eyeshadow no. 1041 is a shimmery, almost metallic coral. There are specks of lavender and peach on the pan, but unfortunately that shimmer doesn’t show up on the swatch. This is my favourite shade of the three, not only because of the colour, but because the texture is creamier and not powdery, and it doesn’t disappear once you blend it. It’s also the most pigmented of the three, you don’t need to build it up too much to get it to full intensity – which is still soft, because none of these shadows are uber intense or opaque, they are more on the translucent side, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s more a matter of preference.
This was the only shade I could successfully blend into the crease. Longevity was the same as with the other shades: worn over primer, I had no creasing or fading for the 10 hours of testing,
Final Thoughts
Each eyeshadow contains 4,8 grams of product, which is about three times a regular eye shadow size, and they cost 12,30€ each. Not expensive for the amount, but still, for the price I wish they were a bit better. From what I tested, seems like brighter, stronger colours are the way to go – both in pigmentation and ease of use – and I regret not getting a deeper shade to test the darker colours. Longevity is nice across the board (with primer) which was a nice surprise, because the slight powdery-ness of the lighter shades led to believe they would fade faster.
If you are wondering why the packaging is different for all three eyeshadows if they are all from the same line, then welcome to the club. I think the most recent packaging is the smaller one, with is a welcome change in my opinion – less plastic, less storage space needed – but the bigger compacts make it easier to remove just the pan in case you want to put them in a magnetic palette.
Overall, not a bad product, but choose your colours wisely.
