Viridian Bloom Eye Shadow Trio by Elizabeth Arden

I admit it, the stamped flowers and colors of Viridian Bloom enticed me.  I haven't used Elizabeth Arden products in like, forever, and was never a big user of their cosmetics.  I mainly stuck to their fragrances and was a devotee of their Tranquilities blue body spray mist in the early 1990's.  I guess that was one of my earlier forays into aromatherapy, as the original scents were all marketed towards promoting different emotional states, as reflected by the names.  I remember paying big money in my relatively poor state back then for it, long before they slashed prices and started selling them in drugstores.

Viridian Bloom is one of the two eye trios from the New York in Bloom Color Collection.  Viridian means a durable blue green pigment, so that explains the name.  I find cream/turquoise/brown color schemes to be so appealing, which also explains my attraction to this trio.  Just look at how pretty Elizabeth Arden's signature sun flowers are stamped across the shadows!

The compact itself is sturdy, fits in the palm of my hand, and contains a mirror and foam applicator.  The shadows feature three different finishes:  a turquoise metallic, a cream shimmer, and a brown matte.

Applied dry (sun)

Sadly, I did not find the quality of these to be on par with the $32 price.  Pigmentation is lacking, as I found I needed to really bare down hard with my finger or the foam applicator in order to pick up enough shadow to build color.  The brown applied the best and the turquoise provides a sheer wash of color.  The cream provided a few bits of mica type sparkles but very little color.  These can be used wet as well, which did produce more vibrant color.  However, I had a hard time getting smooth coverage, especially with the turquoise.

Applied wet (shade)

I felt like I had to work harder than I'm inclined to make these shadows work for me.  Using a brush did not work with the turquoise or brown, as the shadows were hard and it felt like I needed to scrape the surface in order to pick up the powder.  Perhaps that's because I did use a wet brush when I did the wet swatches, which may have caused a change to the surface.  For the look below, I layered the turquoise color over Urban Decay's 24/7 eye pencil in Junkie, which amped up the color significantly.  I used the brown shade up to the brow bone and under the lower lashes, and the cream on my brow and inner eye area. 

Overall, I'm disappointed in Viridian Bloom.  The compact itself is lovely, but the performance was a bit frustrating.  The description doesn't say if these are baked shadows, but the sheerness of color payoff and how they applied do remind me of  baked shadows.  There are many less expensive baked shadows out there that perform as well if not better, even if they are not as pretty!

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.  

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