Battle: My Collection of Eyeshadow Pencils/Crayons/Sticks

Hi guys!

Tonight's post is a little comparison (well, I like to call it a battle as you know) of my humble collection of jumbo eyeshadow pencils.

Here's tonight's line up:

From L to R: Jordana 12 Hr Made to Last Eyeshadow Pencil in Continuous Almond, Rimmel London Scandaleyes Eyeshadow Stick/Crayon in Guilty Grey and Gossip Green, Chi Chi Metallic Eyeshadow Stick in Solid Gold Dancer, NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, Pur Minerals Shadow Stick in Iced Bronze

I love me some product photoshoots.

Here are my swatches, no flash and flash, as always (sorry they're in backwards order to above):

No flash.

Flash.

So how do they compare? EXCELLENT question, you've come to the right place.

Pur Minerals Shadow Stick in "Iced Bronze"

This is definitely my favourite formula in terms of texture and blendability. It doesn't have the sticky/creamy feeling that the NYX and Scandaleyes do (I'll expand on that after), and feels like eyeshadow, but without the powderiness. That's a really bad description. But it blends really well. The colour itself is fairly neutral, considering it's called bronze I was considering a more warm-toned colour. But I like it as a go-to brown. My only issue - and it's actually quite a major one - is that it's so goddamn SPARKLY. Like full on silver sparkles in there. Which, to be fair, is quite obvious since the pencil itself is sparkly, but is not really what I desire in a brown eyeshadow pencil. And, again, I feel as though a bronze labelled product would have gold sparkles, not silver. It's also a bit of a pain to sharpen, you can kind of see in my above pictures that the point is looking a little misshapen.

I received this as a present from a family member who buys makeup in bulk from those TVSN type things (which can be, admittedly, good value for money), so I didn't purchase it myself. I just went to look them up online and realised they're called "Liquid Metal Eye Pencils" which isn't what it says on the pencil itself (it just says Shadow Stick). Strange. Sorry if you wanted to buy one of these, you might have to go digging a bit.

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in "Milk"

Aaaah, the cult product. This was the very first thing I bought after being sucked into /r/MakeupAddiction on Reddit, and I'm glad I did. It's a great little multi-tasker. I use it as an eyeshadow primer to make bright colours pop, in my waterliner, as a face highlighter and inner corner highlight. It does have that slightly sticky, creamy consistency, which can be a bit strange to work with but setting it with a white or translucent powder tends to solve that issue. Overall, its a very diverse product that's super useful to have in your collection. Using it as an actual eyeshadow, however, is probably not the best use for it, as it can be better utilised in other ways.

Chi Chi Metallic Eyeshadow Stick in "Solid Gold Dancer"

I bought this for my year 12 formal, and one thing I can say for it is that is lasts, and lasts, and lasts. Seriously! Once set, it's staying power is great. It's formula is a bit like the Pur Minerals one, in that it isn't creamy per se, in fact this is more like a regular old pencil eyeliner - which isn't a negative at all. It has a great, bold gold colour, but unfortunately is a bit patchy when it comes to application. This is fairly evident in the no flash swatch above.

Rimmel London Scandaleyes Eyeshadow Stick/Crayon in "Guilty Grey" and "Gossip Green"

These Rimmel eyeshadow sticks are highly pigmented, creamy, and super easy to blend. They're a less sticky consistency than the Milk pencil, and the colours they come in are great. I got the green one first and had to go back and buy the grey. They are quite metallic looking, not shimmery or sparkly, but not matte either. You can see this especially in the flash picture of the grey above. The green is a pretty pure green, whereas the grey is very noticeably blue-toned. They glide on the eye easily and don't pull on the skin at all. If you're looking for an easy, affordable eyeshadow stick, these are probably your best best.

Jordana 12 Hr Made to Last Eyeshadow Pencil in "Continuous Almond"

I don't really want to talk too much about this, since it features heavily in my last blog post - the review of my Cherry Culture haul. It's a very light nude (well, nude for my skin tone) pencil with a creamy texture. I will say though, after I put these swatches on my arm, I had to go out somewhere so I quickly rubbed at them with a dry tissue and ran out of the house. Then my arms were covered all day and I forgot about them until the next morning. This swatch had not moved. Seriously, it was still in the exact shape, just a bit faded. The others were all faded and smeared, barely visible. So, A+ for that Jordana, you well and truly surpassed the 12 hour claim.

This is how I tend to wear them for a simple, no fuss look - just above my winged liner, from inner corner to outer corner. Gives a little pop of colour on my hooded lids when I'm too lazy for proper eyeshadow. This is my eye with Chi Chi's Solid Gold Dancer on:

So, is there a winner for this battle?

Not really. I feel as though they are all winners, just for completely different reasons. Pur Minerals, for it's texture and lack of creaminess when it's not wanted. NYX for being a complete all-rounder and highly, highly pigmented. Chi Chi is super metallic and lasts forever, giving a great twist to an otherwise basic eye look. The Scandaleyes do the best as a traditional 'eyeshadow pencil', and come in a range of great colours with a pigmented, metallic finish. And Jordana wins for sheer lasting power, and it's ability to magically match my skin tone perfectly.

Well, there we go. So much for a battle. Sigh. 

In all seriousness though, I hope this blog post has been helpful! And, as always, thanks for reading. Until next time!