NYX Prismatic eyeshadow

Drugstore products hold my heart. While high end products may be top notch, I love finding those drugstore gems. It means it’s easier to find a dud as well, but at an affordable price point, I don’t really mind. So when I heard lots of great things about the NYX Prismatic single eyeshadows, I knew I wanted to try some for myself. These are my thoughts.  

NYX Prismatic eyeshadow
15 Savage
23 Dark Swan

The NYX Prismatic eyeshadows are a high shine, sometimes duo chrome formula that is supposed to give off a metallic finish. These aren’t for you if you love your mattes! At only €6.25 a piece they certainly do not break the bank and I was curious to try some. I bought mine from the NYX store in Amsterdam: they were out of the shades I really wanted (I’ve been eyeing Fireball for ages), but I figured I could also try some other shades just to see what the formula is like.

NYX Prismatic Eyeshadow Dark Swan

NYX describes this shade as a deep navy with shimmer. I’m not sure about  you, but to me this looks like purple. Perhaps I’m going colorblind but even looking at this in real life it is more like a blue-toned purple than a navy with shimmer.

The packaging of these is quite simple. I find them hard to open and I’ve nearly dug my nails into these a few times. This is also one of those shadows that isn’t done any justice in a picture. In the pan you will see a multitude of sparkles that results into a glistening shine.

NYX Prismatic Eyeshadow Savage

Savage is described as a deep turquoise with black undertones. To me, it resembles a grey toned green. More of a smokes and mirrors type of shade that isn’t too grey. A good shade for a smokey eye? It reminds me a lot of MAC’s Greensmoke in any case.

Again, the pictures aren’t doing this shadow any justice. Savage has less of an intense shine than Dark Swan, but it still looks like a muted green with lots of metallic shimmer in the pan.

The Swatches

I was surprised when I swatched these and not in a good way. The pretty metallic sheen in the pan? While noticeable in the swatch, I wasn’t too impressed. These shadows have a dark base with a shimmer layer on top. That’s pretty, but the base of these shadows isn’t fully opaque leading them to swatch quite sheer and a tad patchy. They do feel buttery smooth, which is a plus. Some shimmer can have a gritty texture: these certainly don’t have that.

The Application

And that disappointment extended to the use on the eye. With a finger these applied okay, but once I started blending them out they became patchy and all of that pretty metallic shimmer simply disappeared. How are these the same shadows as you see in the swatch?

I’m wearing Savage on the lid and Dark Swan on the lower lash line. Savage applied the worst: I tried packing it on as much as I could, but with a brush the metallic sheen simply disappears and it became patch: the dark undertones applied okay, but that green metallic sheen is nowhere to be found.

The same goes for Dark Swan, but since that shade pops a bit more it is less noticeable. Another drawback I have is that even after only using these a handful of times, Savage has come loose from its pan. That’s right, the full eyeshadow (not the pan, just the shadow), now falls out into my hand. I can put it back in easily, but an eyeshadow is not supposed to do that.

The Conclusion

At this point I honestly do not believe why everyone is hyping up these shadows. I have heard most people rave about the lighter shades in this collection though and perhaps those are indeed better? In any case, I am not impressed with how these perform: when I get metallic shine in a pan, I also want it to translate to my lids. The quality just isn’t there for me and I am now skeptical to try some of the shades that I initially wanted to get. When I want a high shine look I’ll just stick to my Catrice Liquid Metal eyeshadows.

What eyeshadow do you use when you want a metallic look?