Review & Swatches ~ Concrete Minerals Matte Eye Shadow.

Currently I have a big thing for bright, vibrant, matte eye shadows. My go to brand for this is Sugarpill and their pressed eye shadows, but they are fairly pricey. When I came across Concrete Minerals pro matte eye shadows my first thought was that some of the shades looked like really good dupes (e.g. Risque and Sugarpill's Love +). Luckily they do a blogger's pack, so I ordered four shades for a discounted price. I expressly chose colours that weren't similar to ones from Sugarpill that I already owned.

Packaging: each 2.5g of product comes in a little pot, with a sifter. The lid has the company logo and the underside has the name of the shadow, the list of ingredients as well some other info. My order came in a plastic bag, wrapped in pink tissue paper and with two free samples also in little bags.

Price: normally each full size pot cost £5.31 ($8.00) compared to Sugarpill, which is £7.96 ($12.00) for 4g. This makes Concrete Minerals £2.12/g (price per gram) compared to Sugarpill, which is £1.99/g. In the end the price difference isn't that much (surprisingly) so the choice between companies should mainly be based on your preference between pressed or loose eye shadow or a particular shade. The P&P was also really reasonable.

Formula: This is actually my first foray into loose matte shadows, like I mentioned, I usually go for pressed, so I haven't got much to compare to. I found they were easy to blend (although less so with a primer, naturally), and the pigmentation varied between colours, Thrash being the best and Ravage being the worst, although using a primer solved that problem anyway. When I wore them I found they all stained to various degrees, especially Ember.  I found that some of the colours had varying (but tiny) amounts of glitter, which are hardly noticeable, although more so with Thrash, I gather this is to do with being able to blend them more easily. I also wore them without primer or any make up and found they all turned out much better on my lid than on my arm, maybe due to the natural oils on my skin and there was no creasing. Fade happened after a few hours. I only found Ravage to be a little disappointing, but I would definitely be able to wear the others without a primer.
In the end, there isn't much bad to say about this product.

Summary:

• price per gram comparable to Sugarpill
• pigmentation varied but was good overall, no problems with primer
• wear time also good, with little to no creasing
• some staining after wear
• all of my chosen colours are vegan and 100% cruelty free
• ingredients include no preservatives, skin irritants or fillers

Swatches: Each photo of the colour includes a swatch with primer (left) and without (right). I used MUA's professional eye primer.

Ravage

A soft, matte purple, edging on the side of pastel.
Like I mentioned, the most disappointing in terms of pigmentation.

 

Hi-Fi

 A matte, bright fuchsia.
There is something about fuchsia that I really love at the moment, and this did not disappoint.

Thrash

A matte, mossy, forest green.
Such a pretty, muted colour. Definitely less 'bright' than the others.

Ember

A matte, vibrant orange.

For whatever reason this is much brighter in real life than the swatches make it seem. A really good, bright orange, borderline neon.

All together: Ravage, Thrash, Hi-Fi and Ember

These are two free samples, from their normal mineral eye shadows range. I was sent:

Rocked ~ a shimmering, creamy beige

and

Revolver ~ a shimmering, earthy brown

So, what do you think of Concrete Minerals, any colours that appeal? Have you had any experience with them? Is there anything about my review you disagree with? As always would love to hear your opinion in the comments below!

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