Review (4/5): Feel Soft and Creamy! Not too Pigmented But Do Build Up Well!
These come in an outer product box that is sealed in clear plastic wrapping. Once you remove the plastic wrapping, the product box has an open window in the front where you can see the eyeshadow shadow sticks (see photos). The back of the box lists the ingredients be the manufacturer (in China). It also has the cruelty free bunny logo. (See photos)
The eyeshadow sticks are all in black tubes. They have the brand name “Luxaza” along with the name of the shade on the front written in the shade of the shadow stick. There’s black lids on one end and a clear lid on the other end. Under the clear lid, there’s a brush. Now...it was really weird with the brush end. First, I went to pull off the clear cap, and it wouldn’t pull off. So I thought maybe it was screw off, so when I tried to twist it, I heard the clicking sound like the crayon part was twisting out, which I didn’t want since I still had the cap on that end. I then pulled really hard and the clear cap came off. Then, I brushed my finger across the tip of the brush to feel it, and it looked like a bunch of powder came flying off of it. So I thought maybe I missed somewhere where it said the other end of the shadow stick had a powder brush. So, I went to the product page to see and it doesn’t say anything about powder. It was just what I initially thought, that it’s a brush to blend out the shadow stick. So, I brushed my finger across the tip of the brush again to see if more powder came off and none did. So, I then took the clear cap off another shadow stick and brushed my finger across the tip of that brush to see if powder would come off...none did. Then I went through doing that with all the other shadow sticks and no powder type stuff came off of those. So I don’t know what it was with that first one...or if I’m just crazy which is entirely possible too 😂 Anyways, the brush feels nice and soft. It’s short and dense, but still a little fluffy, so blends out color well. Like I said, the clear cap is a little tough to remove...I really had to pull to get it off each shadow stick. Also, you need to be careful when putting the cap back on because the hairs of the brush get in the way.
The crayon part you don’t need to sharpen. It twists up. You twist the end with the brush. There’s not too much product in the tube. I twisted them all the way up to see. It ends up looking to be less than half the size of the tube (see photos, I took a photo of one twisted all the way up). They do feel smooth and creamy. They aren’t very pigmented. To get the pigment you see in my swatches, I needed to go over them each quite a few times (about 5 times). Most are shimmers. 2 of them have glitter particles in them (“Mermaid Teardrop” and “Purple Sunset”). The glitter isn’t too bad, it doesn’t fall out and leave glitter particles everywhere. But, like any glitter, when you try to remove it, you will see glitter particles randomly afterwards (anyone who have used anything with any glitter in it knows what I mean....it’s just everywhere! 😂). I do think that a few of the colors are so similar you don’t notice a difference on the eyes. Especially “Dark Orchid” and “Dark Magenta.” I just don’t notice much difference between them. The brush on the other end blends them out well. They last okay on my eyes. I have really hooded eyes, so any type of cream shadow usually creases and wears off within a few hours. These were no different when I used them on their own. But, if I used them together with powder eyeshadow, they lasted well.
Overall, you get 6 shadow sticks for $9.99 (at the time of writing this review). If these are colors you like and you want just a wash of color, I’d say go for it! They are smooth and creamy. If you’re looking for something with really good pigment, you’re going to have to really build these up for good pigment. Since there’s other cream stick shadows out there that are much more pigmented without needing to build them up, I wouldn’t really recommend these if you want something with a lot of pigment without needing built up.