Eyeshadow Sticks: An Obsession!
I have recently been having a good (almost) spring clean of my make up kit and in doing so it was brought to my attention my obsession with eyeshadow sticks, mostly due to the outrageous amount I own but also by the fact that I have used most of them right down to there stubby end and I will definitely be replacing the majority of them. The eyeshadow stick craze began for me and everyone else a few years ago as there was an influx of handy fat stick versions of our favorite products, I am pretty sure Clinique started us all off with those chubby lip pencils and suddenly everyone was longing for the ability to scribble everything on and fast! The market has since become completely saturated with eyeshadow sticks with prices ranging from £4 to £25+.
I use eyeshadow sticks everyday, there creamy formulations make them so easy to blend and smudge meaning even the biggest make up novice can achieve a pretty impressive looking eye quickly. They can be scribbled straight onto the eye lid and smudged out with fingers, I in fact recommend this over using a brush as the warmth from your fingers will blend the product more effectively. I find some of the cheaper shadow sticks can be less creamy and so harder to blend, for these i’d build the shadow up on the eye blending gradually as you go, this will lessen the risk of the product setting before you have time to blend.
My absolute favorite shadow sticks are the Laura Mercier Caviar Sticks as they are so creamy and easy to work with, once they’ve set they really last with no creasing or patchiness. I often scribble one on as a base for my eyeshadow, they work brilliantly layered together or just as well with powder eyeshadow products too. I have accumulated pretty much the whole collection and use them all regularly so picking an absolute favorite is just too tricky. The ones I have replaced over and over though are ‘Sandglow’ which is the most beautiful, wearable bronze, I wore this everyday for about 6 months after I first got it and was a little obsessed! and then ‘Cocoa’ which is an almost matte chocolate brown which is brilliant for creating a bit of smudgy drama at the lash line, softer than a line but gives the same great definition around the eye. The two together, well thats just a match made in heaven!
To complement this blog I decided to create four very different make up looks ranging from very natural to very dark and smokey using only eyeshadow sticks to demonstrate just how versatile they are. All the looks below I created using just my fingers to blend and all of them took a maximum of 5 minutes. So if your stuck in a lazy rut with your eyeshadow, you have minimal time or you just find it all a bit tricky give eyeshadow sticks a try, you won’t regret it although a warning- they are addictive! x
The eyeshadow sticks i'm wearing in each look are.....
Top Left: Laura Mercier 'Rosegold' and 'Cocoa' Caviar Sticks.
Top Right: Laura Mercier 'Sandglow', 'Khaki' and 'Cocoa' Caviar Sticks.
Bottom Left: Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleon Sticks in 'Bronzed Garnet' and 'Amethyst Aphrodisiac'.
Bottom Right: NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in '629 Sparkle Green' and Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in 'Smoke'.