G'old McDonald and In the Taupe Ten Stylo Eyeshadow Pens by Catrice

I recently picked up two more of the Catrice Stylo Eyeshadow Pens ($5.99) when Ulta was having a sale, after having loved Brown to Earth so much. G'old McDonald is a light gold shimmer that performs nicely as an all over lid color or as a highlight on it's own or over other shadows. I'm a fan.

It's lighter than Julep's Warm Gold Shimmer Eyeshadow 101 pen, which has more of an apricot tone to it. I don't think I have any dupes for G'old McDonald in pencil format.

Julep's Warm Gold Shimmer

In the Taupe Ten reads more gunmetal gray than taupe to me, and the formula was a bit problematic. Initially I thought the bunching up you see below might be because the pen was sitting in the heat while I was taking pictures, but it still applied rather patchy on my eye when it was at room temperature.

All is not lost, however, as it works well as a base shade with powder eyeshadows on top. I'm wearing a new favorite, Estee Lauder's Fierce Safari, over In the Taupe Ten below, and all evidence of patchiness is gone.

This is such an easy dark/smoky eye look, and I even got compliments on it, so In the Taupe Ten redeemed itself in the end.

I do have a close dupe to In the Taupe Ten, Julep's Gunmetal Shimmer Eyeshadow 101 pen, which has a much better formula, albeit also a higher price ($18).

Julep's Gunmetal

Brown to Earth is still my favorite of the Catrice Stylo Eyeshadow pens, as both the color and the formula are fantastic. Here I'm wearing Brown to Earth with Fierce Safari, and I love the metallic smokiness that resulted.

In other less happy news, my Westie Lulu passed away on Thursday. She was almost 15 years old, and we had a wonderful life together. I miss her terribly.

Lulu having fun while I raked leaves

Maggie and Lulu enjoying the sun

Lulu opening gifts at her 14th birthday party

Checking out the Christmas presents

Brown to Earth Stylo Eyeshadow Pen by Catrice

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

I picked up the Stylo Eyeshadow Pens ($5.99) in Brown to Earth as part of my Catrice Cosmetics haul from Ulta. I was curious to see how it compared to other comparable products, such as the Mally Evercolor Shadow Sticks ($25), the Laura Mercier Caviar Sticks ($29), and Julep's 101 Eyeshadow Creme to Powder Sticks ($18), as I've got experience with those.

Ya'll, Brown to Earth (cute name) is good, like really good. As good as the much more expensive versions I listed above, which makes me happy. Brown to Earth is a lovely bronzed brown that has multi-tonal shimmer that gives it more complexity beyond just a basic brown.

I've got oily lids but worn over primer, this lasted all day with no creasing. You have a small amount of time to blend out the pigment, and then it sets for budge proof wear. Below you can see heavy application followed by the same swatch blended out.

I did pop a gold shadow on the center of the lid below, so that's why it's looks a bit more gold on my eyes. I found the formula easy to apply and work with, and my only complaint is that I wish there were more colors beyond the six neutral tones that I see on Ulta's site. I already have comparable colors or I would be snatching a few more of these up.

Thus far Catrice is impressing me with their products. I know they are the slightly more expensive sister company to Essence, as both are owned by the German company cosnova Beauty GmbH.

Here I'm wearing Brown to Earth with Maplewood from butterLONDON, another cream eyeshadow I'm really enjoying. I'm also wearing the Sunkissed Beauty Mosiac Powder Compact and Autumn Peach Silky Touch Blush by Essence. On my lips I'm wearing Beautifying Lip Smoother in Blackberry Muffin by Catrice. Yay for drugstore products that are just as good as the mid to higher end brands!

Light and Shadow: November Julep Maven Box

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

November's Julep collection focuses on shimmery, harvest inspired hues.  The two nail polishes I gravitated towards are the sheer holographic nude Carrie Ann and the deep wine shimmer Syd.  I've been wearing variations of these two colors for the past 6 weeks, with nudes on my hands and wine shades on my toes. No telling how much longer that trend will continue, but I'm going with it.

November also saw the release of more Eyeshadow 101 shadow sticks, and I opted for Gunmetal Shimmer and Midnight Blue. I don't have anything like them in my stick shadow collection, which helped me bypass the warmer tones I usually go for.

The formula of the Eyeshadow 101 sticks is comparable to Laura Mercier Caviar sticks, and I like using darker shades like these as eyeshadow bases. These are billed as cream-to-powder eyeshadows, but I think that's a bit misleading. You do have a short time to blend these before they set, but once they set they are budge proof, which is why I disagree with the "powder" portion of the description.

So far I've only played with Gunmetal Shimmer, which I used as a base with a blueish silver Estee Lauder shadow from the 2016 Color Portfolio on top. I like how this look turned out!

I paid $19.99 for my box (I was grandfathered in at the lower price), and used my Julep points to add on Carrie Ann. All total the value of the box is $64, which goes to show how deep of a discount these monthly Maven subscriptions can provide.

Warm Gold Shimmer Eyeshadow 101 Shadow Stick by Julep

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

I love wearing gold shades on my eyes as a neutral with a bit of bling, plus they complement my blue eyes. Julep's Warm Gold Shimmer Eyeshadow 101 shadow stick ($18) hits that sweet spot, although it's not without issues. Let's take a look.

If you are not familiar with Julep's Eyeshadow 101 shadow sticks, here is how they are described:

A crème-to-powder shadow stick on top with a smudger on the other end. Expect huge color payoff and crease-proof, stay-all-day power.
What it does:

• Glides on evenly with excellent color payoff
• Blends easily before setting to a long-lasting finish
• Soothes and smooths delicate skin with plenty of vitamin E

Warm Gold Shimmer can look lighter or darker depending on how heavy you layer it. Based on the arm swatch I was expecting smooth color, as applying and building it up was easy peasy. However, pictures of it on my lids told me a different story, as it looked slightly patchy.  Still pretty, but not the smooth opaque color I was expecting.

So, I've decided this particular color works better as a topper over other shadows, which is how I wore it below.  It gives a nice glint without looking metallic, something that my crepey lids appreciates. Once the shadow sets it wears well and I like having a more reasonably priced option than the Laura Mercier Caviar sticks,  but like I said, there are issues.

The Eyeshadow 101 shadow sticks are not the most sturdily packaged, as the shadow bullet tends to come loose in shipping and if you are not careful fly out when you open it. This problem was supposedly fixed, but mine was from the new improved batch and still came apart.  Fortunately, no harm was done and I was able to put it back together, but....not optimal.  Most of the shades are showing out of stock on Julep's site, so it will be interesting to see if these come back or are being phased out. Personally, I hope they come back with more colors.

Scandal Eyes Eyeshadow Sticks in Bulletproof Beige and Bad Bronze

The Scandal Eyes eyeshadow sticks are the first Rimmel London products I believe I've tried, and they are fabulous!  Smooth, creamy, easy to blend, long lasting, and inexpensive - what more could you ask for?

Bad Bronze

Bulletproof Beige

These remind me of Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide On shadow pencils, but at a fraction of the cost.  The UD pencils are $20, whereas Rimmel's are $4.49 each.  Given the frequent BOGO deals on drugstore products, they can be even cheaper.  UD does have a better color selection with 12 pencils, but I'm seeing nine current colors in the Scandal Eyes, which is not bad. 

Here I used Bulletproof Beige from lash line to crease, and Bad Bronze smudged out along the upper and lower lashes.  Scandal Eyes eyeshadow sticks are supposed to be smudge and waterproof, and in the week that I've been wearing them, I'd say that is true.  They are blendable when first applied and I've been using an eyeshadow brush to smudge them out, but once set, they wear beautifully.  I do use an eye primer, but my lids are very oily so a primer is a must for me. 

For this look, I applied shadows first and then Bad Bronze smudged along the upper lash line and Bulletproof Beige along my lower lash line.  I love that they can be used as both a shadow and a liner and find them really easy to work with!  I've got two more colors that arrived today, so it will be interesting to see if there is consistent quality throughout the color range.

Have you tried these?  What do you think?

Disclaimer:  I purchased these.