This is a vegan formulated, 3-in-1 product that can be used as an all over eyeshadow, kohl or liner that is tough enough to last in the waterline or the lid for up to 24 hours. This formula is said to be transfer-proof, smudge-proof and waterproof and though I’ve never had the luxury of wearing make up for that length of time, if my eyeshadow can look decent after 12 hours I’m pretty happy! 

There are 11 shades each coming with their own sharpener on the back. I have played with these eyeshadow sticks a few different ways. The first way was what I call “the lazy way” which is really my favourite method of applying eyeshadow as I start feeling overwhelmed once more and more brushes of varying sizes get involved. The formula itself is very smooth and glides very easily over the eyelid. I’ve seen some reviews of people saying that the formula is too waxy, but if I’m using just one shade I don’t mind. I just use my finger to pat and smooth out the edges and all is good. The formula starts to get challenging when I want to blend multiple shades of Aqua Resist because the “resist” part gets real! For the makeup look below, I used the shade “Jungle” to create a smoky look and had to work FAST and then blend pretty aggressively with a brush.

Using this to line my waterline and lash line has been good as the pointed pencil tip makes it easy to be precise. This is something I appreciate about the Aqua Resist vs the previous iterations which were a bit more on the chubby side and as someone with a smaller eye shape, going too thick can be overpowering.

I photographed the swatches in both natural and artificial light, but you can see that the more shimmery lighter shades are barely detectable on my skin. It was a similar issue to when I applied these on my eyes and I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get more intensity like what I would get with the Laura Mercier Caviar Sticks. Even as an inner corner highlight, I felt like the last two shades Desert and Peony fell short of bringing some shine to my eyes. Perhaps this is because this is a vegan formula? 

The shades Jungle, Copper and Solar were great and very pigmented and though Quartz is almost the same shade as my skin when applied onto the lid, it has been an easy go-to in the mornings for a natural eye look. I just add a tiny bit of a dark brown eyeshadow to smoke things out and I look put together in a pinch!

Final verdict: Whether I used primer or not, these shadows seem to hold up for the same amount of time which is around 7-8 hour mark on my eyes. Around this time is where I start to see the colour intensity fade, but thankfully does not get patchy and still looks decent enough to go out after work. I would say yay to the darker shades, but nay to the lighter shades as they didn’t have the colour payoff or intensity I would have expected from a waterproof eyeshadow stick like this one. I will pick up another shade or two in darker tones to see how those are as I have a feeling they will live up to my expectations of intensity!

MAKE UP FOR EVER can be found at Sephora and MAKE UP FOR EVER boutiques.

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