Time was, if you wanted a scarily bright eyeshadow for a night out, a costume party or whatever-other-reason-you-might-want-a-peacock-blue-shade-for, you had to go to a MAC or MUFE counter. Yup, those boyos had the whole brights thang wrapped right up, and in particular excelled at highly-pigmented mattes in screech-inducing colours. Not everyone wants to spend €15 on a single shadow though, and why should you?
We've lots more bright choices these days with brands like Inglot, Illamasqua, Make Up Store and Gosh on hand to offer up decent options, but I've got a budget brand my sleeve today. Essence. Yup: those guys who make those teeny polishes that are so good for nights out. Now, I've bought a number of those in my time but always turned up my nose at the rest of the brand's offerings because I reckoned that shadows, lipglosses and blushers that cheap would be serious crap.
Turns out I have to eat my words. I went to an Essence launch the other day and got to stick my finger into lots of stuff, and here, I was impressed. Now, don't get me wrong, we're not talking velvet-soft high-end quality here (and nor should we for the tiny prices) but the brand's Quattro Shadow kits are pretty darn good for brights you don't want to commit a lot of cash to, specially considering they cost around €3.49 a go.
Advertised
Five differently coloured quads are on offer with a mix of mattes and shimmers and that feller above is a good one to have on hand for those times when nothing but canary yellow will do the trick. Mostly matte, the shades are only a teeny weeny bit shimmery, and they've got decent intensity (not as good as MAC, better than, say a Bourjois little round pot), but you'd get even more out of them by using them wet or layered over a primer.
