I received the Shadow Shields to trial (thank you BR!) and after trialling it for the week I’ve made up my mind that it’s more of a ‘nice-to-have’ as opposed to a ‘must-have’.
I tested the product with and without my 'face paint' just to see the difference. In general I apply my eye makeup before my 'face paint' which suited this exercise because that’s how the Shadow Shields creator intended for it to be used (not a strict rule obviously but that’s what she had in mind when creating it). I placed the shields directly under my eyes as well as testing them on a slant to provide a sharp edge for my eyeshadow or winged liner. The shields caught all the fallout and goodness I had no idea just how much would fall out which made me wonder how could I not notice this pre shadow shields?! Removing the shields was painless and I had shadow-free cheeks and beautiful sharp edges so onto the next step I went.
When I used the shields on top of my face paint I wasn’t too impressed. Did it catch all the fallout? Absolutely. Did it provide a beautiful sharp edge? Of course. Was it painless to remove? Not quite so much. Did I have to touch up my 'face paint'? Slightly.
I’m not sure what I did differently for the adhesive to cling on tight to my skin. How can it be painless pre 'face paint' but pinch post 'face paint'!? To describe the feeling it’s very similar to trying to remove fake lashes that are stuck on real good with stubborn lash glue. Now it could be how I placed it (under eyes / slanted for sharp edge); how hard I pressed the adhesive (didn’t think I pressed too hard; it’s my eye area after all) or my 'face paint' (in all my attempts I used MAC Studio Fix, Revlon Nearly Naked and Hourglass) but still there was the tugging to remove it (a small bit at a time).
I don’t think I would purchase this myself but if I was going to then I wouldn’t use it everyday. I would only bring it out when it’s the heavy duty panda eyes business (black smokey) but other than that I would stick to my plastic post-it tabs.
I was lucky enough to get receive these from BR for review and am super glad I did as they are not something I would usually purchase otherwise (since they aren't a necessity). Being $18 a pack with 30 shields (15 applications, one for each eye) they cost $1.20 per application so are not really affordable to use daily. I would say they are more suited to when you want perfect eye make-up for a special occasion, are going for a dark smoky eye or using pigments/glitter that are prone to major fallout.
In saying that I tried these out with a neutral everyday eye-shadow look and was quite surprised at the amount of fallout the little shield collected. Another awesome use for these is winged liner...and for a beginner at winger liner like me these are super handy and help create a nice crisp line and a guide to follow for a nicely shaped wing.
I have used these both before applying foundation and after and found they work well either way, however, I would suggest removing some of the stickiness by applying it to the back of your hand and removing a couple of times so it is easy to remove from the delicate eye skin and also doesn't remove foundation (if that is already applied).
Overall, I love these and think they are super handy...however, as they aren't super cheap, they will be reserved for special occasions in my case.
Tips: Remove some of the adhesive on the back of your hand so they don't stick so strongly to your delicate eye skin or remove freshly applied foundation.