I have been using the Make Up For Ever Aqua Eye Cream for a long time now, I'm pretty sure I bought it back in May last year. My intention was to replace my MAC Paint Pot that had just run out and use the Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream as an eye shadow base. I had never tried Make Up For Ever before and it seemed like a good place to start. I had heard of these shadows quite a lot through other bloggers. When I first started watching Gabriella from Velvetghost she used to talk about these shadows all the time, especially Shade 13 'Warm Beige.' After seeing Gabriella talk about them so highly I had always wanted to try them. All of this seemed like fate when I walked into Debenhams and saw that the Aqua Cream Shadows were half price. Well I had to get one didn't I? I had a browse of the shades and there was a single shade 13 left which immediately became mine as soon as I saw it. There was also a lovely warm brown which I thought would pair perfectly with 13 and it was Shade 14. As they were half price I basically got two for one but that pleased me nonetheless.
I have used shade 13 pretty much everyday since I bought it, either as a base for eye shadow or on its own. Shade 14 has remained in my make up draw almost untouched. There is nothing wrong with it, I have just struggled to find a use for it. Shade 14 is too dark to use as a base and I wouldn't use this as a single eye shadow all over lid for that very reason. This means shade 14 would only really work as an outer corner shadow but I find this formula too hard to apply to such a small area whilst making it look good.
This brings me to my first problem with these shadows they cannot be applied with a brush. I've tried literally every single eye shadow brush I own and nothing works. The product is very soft and if a brush goes near it, it just bunches up into a ball hoping not to be disturbed. This wouldn't be too bad if you could get this ball of product onto your eye lid but as it is a ball of product, it doesn't really stick to the brush and therefore it just falls off. I do my make up at the end of my bed and it is now covered in dried cream eye shadow as it has come off my brush and dropped onto my bed. With other brushes I've had it where the eye shadow just mushes up into the brush so you can get a little bit on there and apply a small amount of product onto your eye lid but that is it.
Really the best way to apply this product is to use your finger and usually this wouldn't be a problem but at the moment I've still got my Christmas nails on and they are super long! There is no way I can even get the eye shadow out of the pot, let alone get it on my eye. I have actually found a way of getting it out of the tub which is to scrap a bit of the eye shadow using the front of my nail, then warming it on my finger and applying it. This is great but I still can't get the shadow close to the inner corner of my eye as my nails stop me from getting anywhere near it. I wouldn't usually talk about nails for so long or even consider this a problem as I wouldn't have nails this long but this is a problem I am currently facing so I am sharing it. If you do like to have long nails then this is something to consider as you really can't use a brush for this shadow and nails can make the application of this shadow hard.
When the cream shadow is applied with your finger, it is beautifully pigmented and very smooth. I can't fault the way this shadow looks after it has been applied. They contain a fine shimmer rather than glitter so it isn't chunky at all. If this shadow always looked the same as it does when it is first applied then this would probably be my favourite cream eye shadow but it doesn't, so that title remains with MAC Paint Pots. The Make Up For Ever shadows look great for a few hours but it does have the horrible habit of bunching up in the crease. After a long day at work this does also fade, especially around the middle of the lid, the only place it really remains intact is close to the inner corner of the eye. The longevity is improved by using powder over the top but it still fades quicker than a MAC Paint Pot. It really is a shame, especially with shade 13 as it does apply so beautifully. I found shade 13 especially good for my Christmas looks as it is such a pale champagne shade, it gave colour to the eye lid but it wasn't too bold.
Personally I think the Aqua Cream Shadow actually looks better as an individual shadow rather than as a base. I much prefer the way it looks on its own. As this shadow fades away, when you use a powder shadow over the top and you have spent ages slaving away blending that bloody eye shadow, there is nothing more disappointing than seeing it look patchy. If you just use a little bit of powder to set the eye shadow, a bit of liner and lots of mascara, it looks great and is super easy for the morning.
One thing I do have to give kudos to is that the cream shadow still hasn't dried out. By now my MAC Paint Pot was starting to feel dry but my Aqua Cream Shadow in shade 13 is still going strong. Shade 14, not so much as I don't use it, it is almost a rock at this point but that is to be expected. However I am pleasantly surprised that shade 13 isn't feeling close to the end.
As you can tell throughout this post, there is a lot of conflict about the Aqua Cream Eye Shadows. The good and bad sort of equalise each other in my mind so it becomes a nothing product. I don't hate it, I don't love it but I have used it enough to have hit pan which shows that I have been using it long enough to try and form an opinion. One thing I probably can take away from this is that I prefer the MAC Paint Pots, they are longer lasting and I think powder eye shadow applies better over the top. When the Aqua Cream Shadow in shade 13 runs out I will be going back to MAC. A positive out of this product being average is that they actually do not sell it anymore so if I had loved it I wouldn't be able to buy it anyway. If after reading this you feel disappointed that you couldn't at least try it, I honestly wouldn't worry and I would get yourself to MAC and buy a Point Pot instead; same concept, better product! I would try more products from Make Up For Ever but I have to say I won't be rushing out to buy them.
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