Recently I have been on a bit of a cream eyeshadow kick, especially if they come in a handy, travel-friendly stick format. For a while now I have been crushing on both the By Terry Ombre Blackstar shadow sticks and the Laura Mercier Caviar sticks because the formula and colour pay off of those seem incredible. I swatched them in Space NK and seriously fell in love but I wasn't so head-over-heels about the price tags! So when a friend of mine (who is also a make up enthusiast) told me about the No7 range, I decided to check them out to see how they compared and whether these would do as a substitute.
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The answer is, yeah pretty much. These eyeshadow sticks are very pigmented for an inexpensive product (£8) and even a light colour such as "Cool Mink" had an impressive colour pay off. They also glide easily and so do not pull on the delicate skin on the eye, which can cause wrinkles. It gives a fairly even application of the eyeshadow because it is so smooth, although I would always suggest blending with a eyeshadow brush or finger anyway (but that goes for all cream shadows).
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Top: Cool Mink, Bottom: Coffee Bean
The formula was interesting because it actually felt slightly sticky, but not in a horrific, glossy, gloopy, 'my eyelids won't close properly' way. I think this has something to do with the long-wearing property that this eyeshadow stick is supposed to have, so the colour actually stays put on your eye. It wasn't so sticky that I felt it on my eye, I only really noticed because I blended it in with my fingers. I think that the formula is also really helpful to help powder eyeshadows layered on top to stick.
The wear of these eyeshadow sticks is impressive and they stayed put on my eye for a long time. Without an eyeshadow primer I only suffered the tiniest bit of creasing and that was after a few hours of wearing the shadow but worn over a primer I didn't have any trouble with creasing at all. I also did not wear any shadow on top which would have discouraged creasing even more so the cream eyeshadow had to work extra hard at staying perfect.
The one thing about these sticks which annoyed me was the shape of the tip. I can understand why they went for the pointed tip for more precision and crease work, however I found that this made it harder to apply the eyeshadow. Also, during my first time of using the shadow stick the point on 'Cool Mink' fell off to reveal a perfectly rounded tip similar to that of the Laura Mercier and By Terry versions. This was much easier to use and I definitely prefer it to the pointed tip but I would have rather not lose that extra product from the broken tip either. Basically, I don't think the pointed tip is worth it.
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Top: Cool Mink- light taupe, Bottom: Coffee Bean- chocolate brown with gold shimmer
The shade range is fairly limited compared to higher end versions and I do prefer how Laura Mercier and By Terry have more variety in shades and tones. It just so happens that the two No7 sticks which I bought are very similar to other higher end shades. 'Coffee Bean' is almost exactly the same as Laura Mercier's 'Cocoa'and even has a similar gold shimmer running through it. I would say that the Laura Mercier version does feel more luxurious however, because the formula is impossibly creamy but the No7 isn't far behind it and so basically the perfect dupe. 'Cool Mink' is also very similar to By Terry's 'Blond Opal'. Unfortunately I don't have swatches of the high end brands to show you but maybe if you try them out yourself you will see the resemblances.
I definitely suggest checking these out if you have your eye on eyeshadow sticks but don't want to spend a lot of money on them, just be warned that once you try eyeshadow sticks you might be hooked by how convenient they are and want them in every shade possible!
Thanks for reading!
Kira xxx
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