ILIA EYE STYLUS SHADOW STICKS | NEW IN

 

- Advertisement information: this post discusses items gifted to me with no obligation to share them (marked *). My blog has Skimlinks and RewardStyle installed to automatically monetise purchases of products I link on my blog, therefore this post may contain affiliate links. All opinions remain my own and please refer to my Disclosure Page  for further detail -  

I love Ilia, I love a cream eyeshadow. So, I'm sure you can imagine: the launch of the Eye Stylus Shadow Stick* | £32 each | line was a match made in heaven...

If you aren't familiar with Ilia; this makeup brand is kind of within that 'clean beauty' space, but honestly; I just think their products are great quality and perfect if you're like me and want a quick, easy, natural bit of polish from your beauty routine. Cream makeup products are perfect for this, and cream eyeshadow is the perfect tool for making it look like you made more effort than you did!

Ok, I'll start by walking you through my general experience with the formula, then talk about each of the shades and any differences I found in texture and performance from shade to shade. The formula overall is creamy and has good opacity; you have a little bit of time to blend before it sets down and becomes more long-wearing. At the same time, it does have enough general slickness to it that I'd recommend an eyeshadow primer (my days can be pretty long, so it's just a standard part of my makeup routine!) This is a great one-swipe formula, though some of the lighter shades might need a second coat for you to get that really opaque metallic look. Some of these shades are better as liners, for me personally, so I'll just apply them on the lower lash line and blend them out with a wide, flat synthetic brush. These shadow sticks overall have good longevity; it's not like the best I've ever experienced but it's far from the worst in the cream eyeshadow category. It isn't as budge-proof when it sets down as other products I've used, but I also don't find that it creases or disappears either. Overall, I'd give it a B in this category, and it's a product I can trust to still look decent at the end of my typical work day.

Let's start with Beam; a cool-toned light champagne metallic shimmer. This is pretty, though for my skin tone it's not really something I'd use all over the eyelid; I like it as a little pop of sparkle on the inner corner. Would I buy a £35 eyeshadow stick for that purpose? No, but for fair and cool-toned people, I think this would be a lovely 'one swipe' shade. The next-lightest shade I have here is Flax, a kind of matte taupe light-medium brown-grey colour. This makes either a great eyeshadow base or a quick and easy neutral matte look for when you just want a bit of definition around the eyes.

Next, we have my most-worn shade: Jubilee. It's a warm light coppery-gold colour that I like to use all over the lid. It has a metallic finish and is perfect for warm-toned makeup looks. It's an everyday colour that just always seems to work for me. I will absolutely buy this when I run out of it. Nymph is one of the more colourful tones in this fairly natural-looking shade lineup; it's a light lilac matte colour. I think lilac is a surprisingly pretty shade for makeup on a range of skin tones. Personally, I tried this on my lower lash line as a kind of lazy graphic colour liner look. It's pretty and subtle, though I do find the longevity a little worse (likely due to the fact I'm not going to use primer under my eyes and that they're naturally going to water a little throughout the day). If you've been wanting to experiment with this kind of colour but you're not super confident with a bold lilac eyeshadow: give this a try.

The final two dark shades are ones I use on the outer corner of my eye and on the lower lash line. Regal is a dark plummy-bronze metallic shimmer that has really good colour payoff and blendability. I did find it's a little more prone to transfer and a little less long-wearing than other shades from this line, but I do wonder if it's because of how I like to use a shade like this. Finally, we have Patina: a deep forest green shimmery metallic. This is a little messier to use, and needs a little more building to get the full opacity. It's pretty on the lower lash line but does seem to fade quite a bit throughout the day, so I wouldn't personally pick this one up again, even though it's a very nice colour.

All-in-all; this is a great formula and I really love the shade range (there are also even more available if you check out their website; this is just a small selection). Jubilee is a product I'm using pretty much every day at the moment and if you can find your 'every day' shade in this line; I think you're going to love using it just as much. Once again, I think the quality from Ilia is great and honestly pretty consistent across the different colours.

Have you tried these eyeshadow sticks or anything else from Ilia?

Don't forget to follow me on:

Bloglovin | Instagram

Read more posts from this series here!