Almay Intense I-Color Liquid Shadow Reviews...

...can we all just agree on something?

Almay markets their colors as being specially formulated and selected for your eye color. Can we just all agree that that's as much a smart marketing tactic as it is anything else? Because if that was the way to do it, that'd be the way everybody was doing it, right?

And can we agree on something else? That these don't take great pictures. They really don't. In fact, I wore the shadow for green eyes one day, and the shadow for blue eyes the next, and my seven year old asked me if I'd even changed my eyeshadow at all. Awesome.

Thanks to some savvy couponing, I actually had three of these to try - the color for blue eyes (a silvery blue), green eyes (a gold), and the color for hazel eyes (a darker gold shade. Like...gold, but almost an olive tone?)

There's little variation from one to the other, formula wise.

The product comes in a tube applicator, with a doe foot at the end of the wand - the packaging is actually really similar to the average lip gloss. Color goes on silky, soft and light. It doesn't layer particularly well - by the time you apply, and then blend out, you've lost pretty much all the color. You'll see the swatches on my arm that are applied to a small area, and completely unblended.

Almay markets that this color can be used as a primer as well, and it's actually not bad there - if you like their Shadow Softies, but wished for a bit more color payoff there as well, you'll find good luck using these underneath.

As just a shadow - not as a primer - the wear time is pretty good. I've had mine on about 12 hours now, minimal fading, no creasing!

A few beauty shots!

Swatched on the inside of my wrist (in bathroom lighting). Hazel eyes, blue eyes and green eyes, from left to right. The green eyed version is probably the most universal of the group - everybody can rock a nice delicate gold, regardless of your actual eye color - and the hazel eyed is the most pigmented of the three. The blue eyed one looks nice on - it's a nice, delicate wash of color - but would be the most challenging to use as a primer, I think. I've even tried it, and only did it with blue eyeshadows - it would really cool down the look of any shadows you use.

Hazel eyes, blue eyes and green eyes, from top to bottom. These aren't super stellar pictures - but then, they don't take super stellar pictures. They look very similar in photographs. A nice, delicate wash of color. I reach for these not as a shadow primer, but in one of those moments where you've overslept, and need to get out of the house looking reasonably pulled together, in about 10 minutes. Or, when you don't want to wear a lot of makeup, but you want a little polish.

Will these change the world? Of course they aren't. They aren't high octane enough for that. But they do give a nice wash of long lasting color that will keep you looking nice - or your eyeshadow looking primed - all day long, which is all anybody wants from their eyeshadow! So...I guess, I don't know if I recommend it exactly, but I don't think you'll hate owning it either? That's not a super glowing review, is it? Haha...