From my Urban Decay Giveaway, a reader told me that they would like to see more articles about the VOV Castledew brand. I will make sure the acquire more of this amazing line next time I go to Korea, but for now, I have a fabulous item to introduce: The VOV Color Stick Eyeshadows.
I really liked this concept when it from MAC. I prefer to sleep that extra ten minutes in the morning than carefully go over my makeup, so i thought the idea of eyeshadow sticks sounds nice, since I don't have to waste the time on grabbing and cleaning an eyeshadow brush. So laziness is basically my incentive, but I'm sure you can find many more reasons why you should try those products.
This product is quite similar to MAC's, except that it is a little more pigmented, a little softer, stays on a little longer, and lastly, costs a fraction of the price. It sounds ideal, doesn't it? Well, read on for the pros and cons.
The size of this is pretty perfect. I can just swipe on my lids, it would fit perfectly. What I also like to do is to swipe them under my brows to highlight the arch (well, not those three colors, but a white pink color I also have). Something I've seen a lot of coworkers do is to buy the brown color and swipe it under the eyes, as an ultra-thick eyeliner or something. It really looks pretty nice. :)
However, those eyeshadows are not without faults. The sticks are softer than MACs, but they are still not soft enough, since when I swipe it, it doesn't really hurt, but I feel that there is a sort of drag that might damage the delicate skin if you use it daily. However, I've been told that if you apply moisturizer/eye cream before using this, it would stop the drag. I haven't tried this yet, because I prefer to let my skincare products completely sink in before doing makeup so that they may give me the full benefits, but I suppose it won't be too troublesome to just dab a little more of my eye cream before the eyeshadow the next time I use it.
Another con of this product is the glitter. i don't know if I should call it shimmer or glitter because my friends actually say it should be called shimmer, rather than glitter. However, whatever it is, it is not subtle enough for my office. It's like the glitters on the NARS Angelica blush, not too much, but it's definitely visible. The glitters are silver.
Staying power is 7 or 8 hours on my brow bones, and 5 hours on my lids without primer.
Summary:
PRO:
1. Cheap price: $4 if you buy more than 5
2. Great concept, very convenient
3. Okay lasting power
4. Great pigmentation for the price
5. Comes in 15 beautiful colors, much more than MAC's
CON:
1. Hard consistency
2. Too glitter/shimmery for me! But I'm way too conservative in terms of makeup. If something doesn't look as if I can be born with it, I won't use it...