I was drawn in by the glint of every colour I could imagine in one place. It was eye candy so I HAD to have it! $16 is a very reasonable price to pay for a very budget conscious person two big ticks for me so far and I haven't even got in to the compact. But in all honesty this is where it stalls and falls short for me. For me there aren't enough darker colours to create smokey eye looks with.
The compact itself is quite boring really. It has no pop and sparkle and that is was draws me in with packaging. I used my best shadow brush in the Real Techniques range to make sure I was applying with quality tools. The fall out is horrendous because it's so chalky. The shadow literally falls off the brush the moment I lift it beyond an inch of the compact therefore wasting product and having to double dip to get enough.
Applying it to my eyes and I wonder to myself.....when does the colour start to show? It was so diluted down once applied. I want statement colours full of pigment but I just never really got that. I felt ripped off. I had to apply the shadow five times before I saw any real colour. Fast forward three hours and check my makeup. Hello! There's a line of shadow build up where my eye lid crease is. This has ever happened before, not even with $2 shop eyeshadows. I had no colour anywhere else on my lid except on the crease. I looked ridiculous and not being able to fix it chewed in to my OCD issues to have perfect makeup everytime. I gave it the benefit of the doubt thinking it might be the amount I applied so kept it to just one swipe of the brush plus blending. Same thing happened! Needless to say this sat in the bottom of my makeup draw until I passed it on to my nine year old niece for play makeup which is what it more suited for! Not impressed at all really.
I found the eyeshadow was very easy to crumble. Didn't stick to the lid easily which resulted in stay eye shadow on my face. Some colours you have to apply multiple times and others are quite thickly coloured. Just not worth the hassle really. Cheap product, invest the money into something else