January 24, 2009

Before you start calling me a MAC traitor, let me explain myself!  Yes, it's true, I did order 10 La Femme eyeshadows from Makeupmania.com, but MissChevious is all to blame!  She talked about MakeupMania.com in one of her MissChevious Channel YouTube videos, and said that La Femme actually makes high-quality eyeshadows for prestigious makeup companies, but most people don't know that.  Since these shadows are only $3.50 each, and MissChevious seems to be pretty much in-the-know, I figured it was worth a little experiment and I went with it.  I was tempted and I caved!

I ordered 10 shadows, and one – Iridescent Brown – is still on backorder.   Here is what I got:

La Femme Eyeshadows

From left to right, the top row is Pink Blush (very frosted), Pink (matte) and Nude (matte).

The middle row is Rose Petal (very frosted), Iridescent White and Bisque (matte).

The bottom row is Plum (matte), Clove (light frost) and Beige Pink (very frosted).

I've now used all of these, and can report that they are indeed high quality eyeshadows.  I applied them as I do my MAC shadows: packed on with a good brush over a thin layer of Urban Decay Primer Potion.  I found that all of the shadows lasted throughout the entire day with no creasing or fading.  I dropped one of the shadows on the tile floor today, and it didn't crack or show any damage at all from the fall.  Most drugstore brands at a higher price point would not have survived that challenge intact.

Although they are good shadows, I didn't love all of the colors I chose, especially the matte shades.  Bisque and Nude were just nothing colors at all, I much prefer MAC Yogurt for a good neutral foundation color if I'm going to use one.  These are not very pigmented and were just blah.  They also seemed a little fly-away during application.  The Pink shade was more of a matte peachy melon on me rather than a pink, and was just ok.  I wasn't a huge fan of the Iridescent White, which I hoped would be a good highlight color. The color doesn't apply very evenly and it can't decide if it's too sheer or chalky…it's kind of both at one time.

There is some good news, and it's mostly about the shimmery La Femme colors.  I really liked the Pink Beige, Pink Blush and Rose Petal.  The frost was just right, and didn't fade away to nothing after 15 hours, even though it's fairly sheer.  I also liked the Plum, which is more reddish than a purple.  I used it to blend in my MAC Corduroy, and liked the rosy brown hue I got.  Clove was more terra cotta/orange-toned than I expected, but it's a great warm color for bringing out blue eyes if your skin tone will allow you to do the orangy thing.

That's my verdict on the La Femme eyeshadows.  The formula is good, they last a long time, the price is fabulous, and the MakeupMania customer service is efficient.  Just choose your colors carefully!  If you get one you don't love, at least you haven't dropped a huge amount of money on it!  The main thing is to have fun, it's just makeup!

~BigSis