Rimmel Eyeshadow Quad - Sun Safari

I have really been getting into my neutral eyeshadows lately, and I think it was my Essence Eye souffle in Pas Des Copper that started it all off. I have been using that with various other beautiful brown or taupe shadows to create some gorgeous looks. When I saw this Rimmel Eyeshadow quad in Chemist Warehouse the other day on sale for five dollars, it seemed only reasonable that I pick it up. 

It's in the shade Sun Safari and contains four absolutely gorgeous colours, totally my types of shadow. Unfortunately, this quad makes two bad eyeshadow reviews in a row. The last eyeshadow I reviewed was the Model Co. trio, which like this Rimmel quad, had great shades but just did not impress. Poor pigmentation, chalky shades and lack of staying power has once again caused problems. Perhaps I should refrain from purchasing cheap eyeshadows in the future (although the Model Co. trio sells for $39!) but brands like Essence give me hope that a dollar or two can give you quality shadows. I have always had wonderful luck with cheap makeup in the past (oh the products I have managed to get on sale!) but I'm starting to think my luck has come to an end. Do I really have to resort to spending millions on makeup?!

It's clear in my swatches that these shadows are not pigmented. Even on my finger tips (where shadows usually show up so well after direct swatching) it's unclear as to the difference between each. It's so disappointing because, as I have already mentioned, these shades could create such a brilliant look if only they translated onto the eyelid well.They come up as glitter with a lot of fallout. In the picture of my eyelid, I am wearing all four of the shades and the only one you can see is my inner corner highlight. That shadow is the best out of the four, being the least chalky and most pigmented.

The staying power is very poor. Most shadows stay on my lids all day, even without a primer, but these last a couple of hours maximum. It's difficult to tell though because you can barely seem them on the eyes even moments after application.

The texture of these shadows isn't particularly good. They are chalky and a little gritty due to the small amounts of glitter that are present in three out of the four shades. The fallout is ridiculous, and even after cleaning it up once having initially applied the shadow, throughout the day more fallout made its way across my cheeks and under eyes.

As I always do, I gave this a chance in the hope that maybe using different application methods may give it an opportunity to prove itself. I used brushes, my fingers and the sponge applicator that it came with to apply the shadow and none of the methods allowed me to get a nice look. The sponge applicator gave the best colour pay-off but was awkward to use and didn't allow for blending or accuracy. My fingers were useless, getting glitter everywhere but not actually showing any colour, and brushes were the easiest to use but were useless in getting colours to show. In summary, no application methods were affective because, simply put, the eyeshadows are awful.

Yes, yet again I have stumbled across what appears to be an amazing set of eyeshadows only to find that looks are deceiving. I'm crossing my fingers that it won't be three bad reviews in a row, but I am keeping my eyes out for some nice neutrals to pick up.

I give this quad 3 out of 10.