Saturday, August 9, 2008

Black Shadows

So, I've been wearing powdered black shadow for a long long time. I've gone through a lot of different ones (including my old favorite, which was discontinued) and I wanted to give my review of them as both a help to other people and an tribute to all the ones I own. I wish I had the time and money to try out cream ones that give that awesome death rock look (it's so opaque and wonderful, how do you ladies do it?), but I love me some shadows...

So it all started off with finally convincing my parents to let me spend my money on makeup and to ease them into black, I started off with super dark blue color from JANE cosmetics, a company carried at Wal-Mart. It used to be targeted to the same customer that bought Street Wear, back when that fabulousness was going on (I miss Street Wear so much).

So, eventually I got my first black eyeshadows and they were terrible. I don't even remember the first one I tried but I remember being so disappointed that it was going on gray, and only got slightly darker when wet. So, eventually I bought Clubbin' by JANE, it was #11. I went through three of them and still have the last one (completely shattered) as a back up if ever I run out of the good stuff because it is amazing. Not until the last shadow on this list did I ever again find a shadow that went on black. The only problem with JANE cosmetics is that they're really powdery (because they're cheap) and have a lot of fall out, so I went through a lot of loose powder in high school just trying to keep the black easy to clean off my face. For awhile JANE didn't make this shadow anymore, hence why I had to move on when mine broke. Though now you can get it again at Wal-Greens if you're on a budget.

The next one I tried (and liked) was by Yes Mistress! Cosmetics (a company that doesn't exist anymore ;_;). Their black was in the Isolation trio and came in a cool padlock compact. It also came with a great white and a really pretty brown (which I used up). I haven't used a lot of this black because it isn't very dark, but it's really good if you want a matte gray that's easy to blend. Unfortunately the white in my pack shattered, because it was WHITE. I'm trying to find a left over compact online so if you want to be in my really really good favor and you find it and buy it for me, I'd probably make you something. I mean, that brown was just the best... I still have the black and use it from time to time for blending.

Well, after the darkness of the Yes Mistress! black didn't satisfy my longings, I figured that Manic Panic would make a really dark black since they're a goth makeup/hair dye company. I was wrong. The black my Manic Panic is called Raven and you get a lot of it for $10... but it isn't dark and it is super matte. It also isn't very pigmented in that you have to use a lot of it just to get the gray. I don't even use it... ever.

Then I grew up and started buying "adult" makeup. Urban Decay was my favorite so I tried their black shadow: Oil Slick. It's a black shadow with lots of silver glitter. I thought that would be fun since Clubbin' by JANE also had some silver glitter in it and I always liked that look of just a bit of sparkle. Yeah, it was ok. Dry it's pretty gray and doesn't go on a lot at a time without work because there's just so much glitter in it. Wet it's darker and with the Urban Decay primer it really starts to get dark... but still not as dark as JANE's Clubbin'.

Then Manic Panic came out with cream shadows for a bit. To try them (cause I was sooo hopeful) I got the sample pack. In the end I would have used the hell out of the black but in the sample pack all my colors were pretty dried out (which it doesn't do in the tube) so I never got to use ANY of them. I tried melting them with a blow dryer and even that didn't work. I think I might have even thrown them away. I have no idea where they are. That was a waste of a lot of money.

As a last ditch effort (at this point I had re-mashed Clubbin' in the pot so I could continue to use it) I bought Urban Decay's Deluxe Eyeshadow in Zero the week it came out. Having already spent $16 on the failed experiment that was Oil Slick, I went to the store to try out Zero (at $18) before buying it online. I have to say it is my absolute favorite eyeshadow of all time. It gets super dark dry, getting it wet it's almost liquid liner dark and with primer and wet it blends right into my liquid liner (even Clubbin' didn't get that dark). I use it so much that it's already half gone. I hope they never get rid of it and if it ever is in danger of going away I'll probably buy 10 of them just so I never have to do this search again.

People always ask me why I didn't just get Kryolan Aquacolor in black or get MAC and truth be told, I never really trusted MAC cosmetics for a good black and Kryolan is just too hard to get a hold on (and I didn't know anyone personally that had ever used it... and it isn't cheap). So, maybe one day if I feel like spending the money I'll see if MAC has a better black, but I doubt I ever will and maybe one day I'll switch over to Kryolan for all my colors but I don't have that kind of money now, so till then my vote is Zero Deluxe Shadow by Urban Decay. Buy it. Love it.

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