L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow

If you've spent anytime on my blog at all then you know these little beauties have been in my sights for several weeks.  L'Oreal finally announced these were officially available in the U.S. and the hunt was on!  I finally tracked mine down at a local ULTA and I suspect these will be tough to find for a few weeks yet.  These are one of the few new products I've seen that live up to the hype.  My prediction, expect to see these on quite a few Best of 2012 lists!

I am going to go through the swatches then get to my wear time test. All swatches were done wet on top (I use Visine) and Dry on bottom.  They were done over bare skin, no primer or base.  * Note these only need a light touch.  Don't jam your brush into these and I would avoid using fingers in the pot as your natural oils will likely change the texture of the product over time.  But give it a clean finger poke once..you know you want to.

Endless Pearl

Endless Pearl

Endless Pearl is a satin, nearly matte  warm ivory shade.  Perfectly suited to highlight the brow bone.  This was so close to my skintone that I am afraid the swatches are not very helpful. It applied very smoothly and softly.

Eternal Sunshine

Eternal Sunshine

Eternal Sunshine is warm gold frost.  This reminded me of my MAC Goldmine only brighter and more intense.  I am sure there are better dupes, but I don't own them.

Golden Sage

Golden Sage

Golden Sage is a neutral/cool toned sage green.  This was very similar to MAC Metal X ('07) in Verdigris.

Bronzed Taupe (sigh <3)

Bronzed Taupe

Bronzed Taupe is a warm rose/golden taupe.  The closest I had to a dupe was MAC Chocolate Brown pigment, Chocolate is much darker.  This is gorgeous....stunning!  This is not my genetic taupe bias speaking, this really was one of the most beautiful taupes I've worn.  Again, there may be better dupes, but this was not like anything I own. This was the most pigmented of the colors I tried.  It took very little to become opaque.

Continuous Cocoa

Continuous Cocoa

Continuous Cocoa is a dark chocolate brown, nearly black.  The color reminded me of chocolate wafer cookies...made me want peanut butter pie, damnit.  This was the trickiest of all the shades to work with.  It is the only shade that actually applied worse when wet.  I do not particularly care for this shade for shadow, however I bet this would make a fabulous eyeliner when applied with an angle brush.

Thoughts, feelings...first off the product I hear this most compared to are the Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill.  And sadly, I do not own any and I haven't seen them in person, so I can not speak to their similarities.  From what I have read of GA, I don't think these are dupes for one another, these seem more dense, not spongy and not as nuanced.  In my eyes, this is was what MAC Metal X shadows SHOULD have been.

The texture was remarkably similar to the 2007 Metal X shadows....you know after you mutilated your way through the top crust.  When swatched, again, they reminded me of the Metal X.  That is where the similarity ends.  The Metal X shadows creased terribly and did not have the blendability of the Infallible shadows. This is one of my favorite things about the L'Oreal shades, they blend out so well.  Wet or dry they were so easy to use.

I have one complaint and it's fairly minor.  I did experience some unexpected fallout when applying the shadows....kind of a lot, especially for pat on application.   It was easily swept off with a fluffy brush so it was really a non issue.

Okay, the 24 hour claims.  I have limited time to test this, so I will test this against a normal 8 hour day..even if you could wear it for 24 hours..would you want to?  I am most interested in the crease proof claims.  I have oily eyelids that are very prone to creasing.  For the images below I used three colors.  Golden Sage on the lid, Bronzed Taupe on the crease and Endless Pearl on the brow bone.  All application was done dry.  My right eye (dotted) was done over E.L.F Eyelid Primer and the left eye was bare, no primer.  I want to see how they compare over an 8 hour period.

Dotted eye has primer.

Application for the most part was identical in terms of color payoff.  The primer eye was just a smidge more intense.  Not really noticeable at all.

Primer Eye

No Primer

Flash forward 8 hours and a two hour nap later.

After hours of wear

After 8 hours the biggest change I had was intensity.  I experienced no creasing on either eye.  That's a big deal!  I did experience fading, much as I would expect from a pigment shadow.  It was not radical fading, but noticeable.  The eye without primer did fade more then the eye with primer. 

8 hours later  Primer Eye

8 hours later No Primer Eye

So to sum up.  These are singularly wonderful products.  While I don't think they live up to the 24 hour claim, they are creaseless, pigmented, blendable and gorgeous.  If you love the intensity of pigments but maybe don't love the application, I think you will enjoy these. I recommend you use a primer to combat fading and boost intensity.  With the Metallic eye trend still burning hot, a few of these need to make their way into your stash.

At $7.99 for 3.5g /.12oz, you would have to spend $10-$15 more to get close to the quality you find with L'Oreal Infallible shadows.  Normally with budget finds it feels like you have to settle in some ways.  Some element of the quality isn't what you would like.  I just don't have that issue with L'Oreal Infallible Shadows.  If I paid $20 for this I would probably still feel I got my moneys worth.

Where to buy: ULTA  or check L'Oreal  for other retailers in your area
 Price:  $8-$10  Depending on the retailer