Essence Quattro Eyeshadow - To Die For

 First of all, I took photos of this prior to actually using it but they were all deleted off my camera, so my apologies!

The Essence Quattro in 'To Die For' is a collection of four neutral eyeshadows for the measly price of about $5. I had seen a couple of reviews on this particular shade and it caught my interest, though it was certainly never an 'I must have' type product.

Let's start with the packaging. Simple, though slighly bulky, the clear plastic with the black print allows you to see the shadows (a big plus for me) without having to actually open the quad. The arrangement of the shadows themselves is okay - I prefer them all to be the same size but I never actually run out of eyeshadow anyway so it doesn't really matter.

I love the shades in this quad, although the two brown shades on the bottom are remarkably similar. Perhaps at more golden type colour or mid toned brown would have been better. All the shades are shimmery, the fourth shade not as much as the others though, and have a medium level pigmentation (except for the third shade which is highly pigmented).  My favourite is the second shade, which appears to be quite pink toned but is in fact a gorgeous peachy champagne type colour I use all over the lid.

I like that the shades have no noticeable 'chunks' of glitter (like some of the cheaper eyeshadows you can pick up have) and that they have a pearly/shimmery type finish instead of glittery. I can't stand it when an eyeshadow has more glitter than colour, and this is certainly not the case.

I've been wearing these shades almost every day in various combinations, and I am fairly pleased with them. The lightest shade is a little chalky. I don't use it as an inner corner highlight as I had hoped to do, because it gets into my eyes and irritates them. On the lid it is fine, but just not in the corner of my eye. The second and third shades have a lovely silky finish and blend well. The fourth shade has the poorest colour payoff and needs to be built up for adequate colour.

The lasting power of this is nothing remarkable but it's certainly not awful either. It last the duration of a normal length day, though it has faded by the end. This is without using a primer though so I expect the lasting power could easily be extended with one. In terms of creasing, it does crease, though not to a terribly concerning extent. Once again I rarely bother with primer when it's just an average day and the mild creasing at the end of the day doesn't bother me too much.

I think considering the price especially, Essence has made some really great eyeshadows though they aren't something I would rave about or go to great lengths to pick up. I like the wearable nature of these shades and that I can use them with ease as they blend well, have good colour payoff and last the duration of the day. When you think about it, for five dollars (just over a dollar per shade) it's amazing value and nothing to turn your nose down at.

Like the other Essence eyeshadow I own in 'Cappuccino please,' it is a nice shadow that is worth picking up, but certainly not a holy grail kind of product.

I give this 7/10.

Not sure why my hand looks green in the bottom picture!