Before I had the nerve to purchase a pot of M.A.C. eye shadow, I kept my cosmetic shopping at Wal-Mart. Why? Well, everyone knows why. The great prices, of course! Since I was always on the look-out for good quality eye shadow that wouldn’t cost me an arm and a leg, I decided to try using a brand called HIP. HIP stands for High Intensity Pigments shadow. The duo I had purchased was called Brazen. This HIP Brazen eye shadow was half magenta pink, and half brown. HIP is made by L’Oreal. I thought it was a pretty good combination, even though it was a little pricier than the other eye shadows that it was competing against on the shelves. When I opened up the package to the HIP eye shadow, I noticed that not only did it come with an applicator, but it came with a brush too! How convenient! The pot-like device the eye shadow came in was a good size. I thought I was going to love this eye shadow. And I was right! The brown was could be blended easily on my eyelid, and the pink was very intense, but pretty. Who knew you could find great quality eye shadow at Wal-Mart?
Then, my husband and I decided to splurge one day. We went to the Lancôme Counter, and I saw this beautiful, shimmering black color called The New Black. It looked like a trillion stars on a blanket of very black skies. I asked the Lancôme lady to apply some on my eye, and she did. I felt like maybe she didn’t know what she was doing, because the effect was less than I expected. The color looked uneven. In fact, it looked pretty ugly. But I chalked it up to the fact that maybe the salesperson wasn’t experienced, and that the black was pretty anyway, so I could make it work. Boy was I wrong…very, very wrong. The New Black from Lancôme did not come with an applicator, much less a nifty little mirror like the HIP Brazen eye shadow. Considering that the cost was double the amount for the Lancôme eye shadow then the HIP cost me, I thought maybe it would come with an applicator. Well, I had to purchase a good quality one myself. When I applied The New Black on my eyes, I noticed that the color wasn’t a black at all. It was a very ugly, uneven grey that didn’t blend well at all. In fact, it’s safe to say that the blend-ability factor was absolutely horrible. Instead of the color ending up on my eye lids, I saw that black dust particles from the Lancôme eye shadow were landing on my cheeks. Since I had already done the rest of my face, I had to wash my entire face and start over. Only this time, I put Lancôme’s The New Black away. What an annoyance. Honestly, I expected more from that eye shadow. I wanted to see the glitter sparks dance on my eye lids. I wanted to achieve that smoky effect that women crave. But no, that wasn’t happening.
Even though the HIP eye shadow in Brazen and the Lancôme’s The New Black were not the same color, one can easily compare the quality. For some reason, the HIP eye shadow was of great quality. True, the color was a little matte, but it was definitely highly pigmented, and it did not crease. The New Black did crease. And it looked extremely ugly. All you saw was a pale grey on your eye lid with black creases where the pigment collected. I love how with the HIP eye shadow, you only need a small amount of the brown to go a long way. To even begin to achieve a darker color anything close to black with Lancôme’s The New Black, you’d probably have to scrape up some eye shadow and use half the pot, and pack it on your eye lid like putting frosting on a cake! And to top it off, it was exceedingly difficult to remove completely. Between HIP eye shadows, and Lancôme’s The New Black, it’s easy to see which one sets off the positive alarms. The price doesn’t always reflect the quality of the product.
