Go Mad for Mattes!

I’ve long been a fan of matte eyeshadows, particularly for women of a certain age (mine). When I was younger, I used mattes to blend my eye looks so that there were no harsh edges. I still do that but now also find that they are especially useful when applying color to my crease and the dreaded “hood” that I’ve developed over the years. While the look of the ‘80s (big hair, frosty, unblended eye shadow) doesn’t really work with my fine lines, I can still pull off a mean smoky eye as long as I use mattes. That’s where Sonia Kashuk’s Eye on Neutral Matte Shadow Palette comes in! This lovely, reasonably priced palette contains twelve beautiful and neutral matte shades that let’s me blend to my heart’s delight! Read on for more!

For the past month and a half, I’ve enjoyed creating all kinds of great looks going from day to evening. Let’s start with the swatches.

The first (top) row contains the three lightest shades: a bone, a slightly yellow color and then a very light peach. The bone shows up very well on my hand but the yellow and peach are much closer to my skin tone and do not show as well. In the picture above, the second shades are right above the reflective area (I think that was some shine back from something else I had on my skin as both of these colors are actually very matte). Depending on the look I’m going for, I’ve used each of these as both base colors for the lid as well as highlight colors.

The next three colors work well (for me) as lid colors. They include a peachy light terracotta, a coral and a light but warm brown. I also use the light brown in a “no makeup look” as a crease color. It’s nice in that it can lightly define the crease for a subtle look.

Row three contains the most beautiful, creamy matte browns. There’s a warm red-brown, a neutral darker brown and a neutral very dark brown. Any of these make wonderful crease or “outer V” colors. As a liner, the darkest brown looks lovely.

Finally, the lower row features a cool-ish brown that almost looks like it has a hint of purple, a medium gray and a very pigmented black. These three colors can really turn your eye shadow look on its edge and jazz things up.



Eye on Neutrals contains twelve amazingly pigmented shadows for only $19.99 and is available at Target. It is, without a doubt, the best drugstore palette I’ve ever used! If you’re looking for a great collection of neutrals whose quality rivals the best high end palettes, look no further than Sonia Kashuk!

Ages of Beauty rating: *****

Product Review: Sonia Kashuk Monochrome Eye Quad in Textured Rose

I’ve been a fan of Sonia Kashuk’s brushes for years but had not tried her makeup line until recently. My first purchase was the Monochrome Eye Quad in Textured Rose. I mentioned my use of this eyeshadow in my “Rose Gold and a Tan” post here. This product promises soft, blendable eye shadows in matte, subtle shimmer, metallic sheen and sparkle shades. I was very curious and anxious to try it out!

Velvet Matte---upper left pan

Subtle Shimmer –upper right pan

Metallic Sheen---lower left pan

Sparkle---lower right pan

I found each color to be very soft with mostly a lighter pigment. Each shade was fairly blendable with the most being the matte shade and the least being the sparkle shade (but all were acceptable). Despite what looks large chunks of glitter in the picture above, the sparkle shade was very wearable, particularly in the tear duct and inner eyelid areas, which is great for women our age. Even the “metallic” wasn’t so obnoxious to render it un useable. In fact, it was probably my favorite finish in the quad. Although it’s difficult to build any kind of real intensity with this quad, Textured Rose is a great option, on it’s own, for a subtle summertime look. During the cooler seasons, it will be a great compliment to more pigmented, darker shades.

Velvet Matte, Subtle Shimmer, Metallic, Sparkle

As far as wear time is concerned, I had no creasing after eight hours but minor fading after four (I have moderately oily eyelids and shadows tend to crease easily on me without a primer).

Velvet Matte on lids, Metalllic in crease and Sparkle in tear duct area

Overall, I do like this eye quad for a subtle, sheer look. In fact, I am probably going to purchase at least one of the other three colors to try out as well!

Sonia Kashuk’s Monochrome eye Quad can be found at Target for $13.69. It is also available in colors Textured Cocoa, Textured Mauve and Textured Taupe.

Have you tried this product? What do you think?

Ages of Beauty rating: ***