When I was looking at what r.e.m. Beauty makeup products I should try, the liquid eyeshadows seemed to be screaming “pick me!”. And I did. The price was good, the packaging was adorable and the colour range was very interesting. The only thing left to know was if the quality was any good.
I chose the shade 11 Milky Way, which is a dark blue with a purple base and a lot of blue shimmer. The website describes this as teal, and although I wouldn’t call it that, on the eyes it looked more like petrol blue than it did on the hand swatch.
Texture: this feels like a typical liquid eyeshadow. Even though it is quite packed with shimmer, it does not feel gritty or chunky.
Application: it can be quite finicky: the doe foot applicator is enough to deposit the colour on the lid, but not precise enough to evenly spread it out. If I try to use my finger, the colour is sheered out and gets patchy and uneven. The best way to apply it is with a flat brush. The eyeshadow does not dry down super fast so you have some time to work with it, and I was able to build up more layers without the new layer lifting the product that was already underneath, however, after it dried down, I had a bad time trying to blend eyeshadows on top of it, because that did cause the product to lift and I ended up with bald spots where I tried to do the blending.
Pigmentation and finish: it is quite pigmented, and you can only really wear it at full opacity – trying to sheer it out only makes it look uneven and muddy, and you lose that shimmery effect. That being said, it’s not too complicated to build up more layers on the lid to get it to be the most intense, but that comes with its own set of issues (see “Application” for details). It has a reflective shimmery finish.
Longevity: on bare skin, without any primer, after three hours this had transferred to my upper eyelid, and the eyeshadow started to look patchy. After five hours, it had transferred a bit to my undereye area. When worn over a primer, and with some powder eyeshadow in the crease, it lasted well with some fading noticeable around the 9 hour mark, and a little bit of transfer to the lower lashline area after 10 hours of wear. But the issue is, I had patchiness right at the beginning of the wear test because I had to use a powder eyeshadow and it lifted the product on the crease area.
Packaging & other info: the tube looks like a capsule, with a white lid and a thick, glass-like plastic container. It’s lovely, and not too big. Total amount is 4,5 ml, which is average for a full size liquid eyeshadow. Price is 17,99€.
Final thoughts: This is such a beautiful colour, I wish it performed better. It’s too difficult to work with to be a one-and-done eyeshadow. You need primer and some powder to prevent transferring, but, this is not a team worker, it’s something to be used as the last step of any look and left alone – which given the colour, it’s hard to do, because dark shadows you are either super precise with the application or you’ll need to blend out the edges a little bit. Might work well as an eyeliner (didn’t try it that way). Given all of this fussiness, I’m not willing to try a different shade. You’re better off with something else.
