| Review | Louboutin Matte Nude Eye Color
Once again, I have been suckered in by the beautiful and artful packaging of Louboutin products. I mean who can really resist that stunning art deco inspired packaging? It's so ornate and opulent! It's very exciting to see Louboutin expand their luxury beauty range, especially into eye makeup. They have a very extensive lip range but now we are starting to see more eye makeup coming from the brand. Whether or not it is worth of its extortionate price is yet to be determined.
The Louboutin Matte Nude Eye Colors retail for $50.00 USD for .23 fl.oz. (for some reason the Saks website says .16 oz, which seems like very little but I am going off of what is actually on the packaging) and is available at Saks and other retailers. Just to reassure you that you're not getting a teeny bit of product, I looked my Armani Eye Tints (full review here) and they come with .22 fl. oz. for $39.00. So you are getting the industry standard amount for a luxury liquid eyeshadow. Of course because of the elaborate packaging, you're going to pay signifacntly more per ounce. These liquid eyeshadows are ornately packaged in true Louboutin art deco inspired style! They have a long handle that tapers to a sharp point, to represent the Louboutin high heel and the bottle has a beautiful decorative fringe-like design. It looks like a very fancy pen and ink well. The packaging is very reflective and gold! Much shinier than I expected but very beautiful. While much of Louboutin Beauty's packaging has been a mixture of edgy and classy, I feel this one is just very classy and
elegant.
There are 6 matte shades, I bought 2 of them:
Daria - This is a very surprising shade. I didn't know what to expect from the pictures online but this is a beautiful matte sepia shade! It's a very true yellow-toned light brown that is sepia! I think this is such a cool and unique shadow shade. I haven't seen a color quite like this one in any other range! It looks beautiful really blown out all around the eyes and to ground the look a bit of smudgy warm brown liner will really compliment this color. You can also of course use this shade as a base for other shades.
Mariza - This is a very cool purple-toned greige color in the tube but it comes off more of a pink nude on the eyes. This is a really beautiful color and one of my favorite kind of all-over lid shades. I don't find it super unique because I believe I have similar shades in a powder formula but for a liquid shadow, I don't own anything like it. This shade is definitely a very universally flattering shade.
Surprisingly, this liquid eyeshadow comes with a brush applicator. This is something very different from other liquid shadows on the market, which typically come with a doe-foot applicator. The brush is a very small short brush. It's like a little nub. To me, based on the density and size, this may as well be a doe foot applicator. I don't feel the brush applicator makes that big of a difference except for maybe applying more product at one time. The brush is not a good stand-alone applicator. You will still need a blending brush or your fingers to blend out the edges. Unless you have very tiny fingers, you will not get a nice precise blend. I recommend a nice dense and fluffy synthetic brush but natural hair can work well too. The included brush is however, great for getting underneath the lash line. Just be sure you don't have too much product on it though!
I like to brush the product on my lid or wherever I want the most product, the go in with a brush to blend immediately! This formula dries quite fast so I recommend doing one eye at a time! The liquid shadow is also extremely pigmented! Start with an even thin layer, most likely one swipe will be enough to cover your whole lid. I blend the edges first, then I take the brush over the lid where there is more product and I move and blend the liquid shadow on the lid. I like using the applicator brush with the remaining product to go under the lash line but I still find that I need a pencil brush to blend the shadow out for a precise and seamless blend. This product also layers extremely well! Most likely you won't need a second layer on the one shade but if you wanted to layer multiple shades together, they layer and blend together very easily. Once these set, they are SET! These are like eye paints, they don't move and don't smudge! You don't need a primer at all with these! They just stay put once they dry!
Below Mariza on the eyes:
I have to say, this is the best product from Louboutin that I have tried and I own quite a variety of their products! The only product I find on par with these shadows is their matte lipstick formula and even then, I find it hard to recommend due to the incredibly high price! So I actually really believe, for once, that these are worth the price! These liquid shadows have beautiful and extremely long-lasting formula that makes it unique and worth the heft price tag! Their pigmentation is very strong! The strongest I've seen from a liquid shadow formula! I really like the brush applicator because you get a lot of product out of the bottle at one time and it makes it easy to evenly coat the eyelids. The formula is very easy to blend out and layer. I honestly have no real complaints about this product, which is shocking because I haven't given the rest of this line the best rating. I highly recommend these liquid eyeshadows and I hope they continue to expand the shade range!
Shop Louboutin Beaute:
The Louboutin Matte Nude Eye Colors retail for $50.00 USD for .23 fl.oz. (for some reason the Saks website says .16 oz, which seems like very little but I am going off of what is actually on the packaging) and is available at Saks and other retailers. Just to reassure you that you're not getting a teeny bit of product, I looked my Armani Eye Tints (full review here) and they come with .22 fl. oz. for $39.00. So you are getting the industry standard amount for a luxury liquid eyeshadow. Of course because of the elaborate packaging, you're going to pay signifacntly more per ounce. These liquid eyeshadows are ornately packaged in true Louboutin art deco inspired style! They have a long handle that tapers to a sharp point, to represent the Louboutin high heel and the bottle has a beautiful decorative fringe-like design. It looks like a very fancy pen and ink well. The packaging is very reflective and gold! Much shinier than I expected but very beautiful. While much of Louboutin Beauty's packaging has been a mixture of edgy and classy, I feel this one is just very classy and
elegant.
There are 6 matte shades, I bought 2 of them:
Daria - This is a very surprising shade. I didn't know what to expect from the pictures online but this is a beautiful matte sepia shade! It's a very true yellow-toned light brown that is sepia! I think this is such a cool and unique shadow shade. I haven't seen a color quite like this one in any other range! It looks beautiful really blown out all around the eyes and to ground the look a bit of smudgy warm brown liner will really compliment this color. You can also of course use this shade as a base for other shades.
Mariza - This is a very cool purple-toned greige color in the tube but it comes off more of a pink nude on the eyes. This is a really beautiful color and one of my favorite kind of all-over lid shades. I don't find it super unique because I believe I have similar shades in a powder formula but for a liquid shadow, I don't own anything like it. This shade is definitely a very universally flattering shade.
Surprisingly, this liquid eyeshadow comes with a brush applicator. This is something very different from other liquid shadows on the market, which typically come with a doe-foot applicator. The brush is a very small short brush. It's like a little nub. To me, based on the density and size, this may as well be a doe foot applicator. I don't feel the brush applicator makes that big of a difference except for maybe applying more product at one time. The brush is not a good stand-alone applicator. You will still need a blending brush or your fingers to blend out the edges. Unless you have very tiny fingers, you will not get a nice precise blend. I recommend a nice dense and fluffy synthetic brush but natural hair can work well too. The included brush is however, great for getting underneath the lash line. Just be sure you don't have too much product on it though!
First Swipe
Blended
Blended & Dried Down
I like to brush the product on my lid or wherever I want the most product, the go in with a brush to blend immediately! This formula dries quite fast so I recommend doing one eye at a time! The liquid shadow is also extremely pigmented! Start with an even thin layer, most likely one swipe will be enough to cover your whole lid. I blend the edges first, then I take the brush over the lid where there is more product and I move and blend the liquid shadow on the lid. I like using the applicator brush with the remaining product to go under the lash line but I still find that I need a pencil brush to blend the shadow out for a precise and seamless blend. This product also layers extremely well! Most likely you won't need a second layer on the one shade but if you wanted to layer multiple shades together, they layer and blend together very easily. Once these set, they are SET! These are like eye paints, they don't move and don't smudge! You don't need a primer at all with these! They just stay put once they dry!
Below Mariza on the eyes:
Louboutin Matte Nude Eye Color vs. Armani Smokey Eye Tints
Armani Smokey Eye Tints
Louboutin Matte Nude Eye Color
Pigmentation - Louboutin is significantly more pigmented and required no layering. This can be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences. I think the Armani is easier to work with because the color can be easily built up, while the Louboutin is trickier because you will have to apply less product and blend quite quickly to achieve a sheer look.
Formula - The Armani doesn't dry down as quickly, allowing for more time to work with and blend the shadow. The Louboutin dries very quickly and you need to blend immediately before it sets.
Wear-time - The Louboutin shadows last significantly longer than the Armani and they're completely smudge-proof! The Armani is also long lasting but not to the caliber of the Louboutin formula.
Applicator - I think for each of the formulas, their applicators work very well. The doe foot works well for the more liquid formula of the Armani and the brush applicator the more paint-like consistency of the Louboutin.
Shade Range - The Armani range has been around for significantly longer so the shade range of both the matte and metallic formula is extensive. Louboutin carries a smaller range of shades and the mattes are mostly in the neutral-brown family.
Price and Value - The Louboutin is .23 oz for $50.00 and the Armani is .22 oz for $39.00. You're getting pretty much the same amount of product but the Armani is significantly less. I assuming due to the packaging differences.
If I had to choose? I would say the Louboutin barely edges just above the Armani formula for me. Mostly because of the insane long-lasting budge-proof formula but I also love the intense pigmentation of this formula! It gets the job done fast and it stays put all day long! The Armani Eye Tints are much easier to work with and their shade range is pretty exceptional.
I have to say, this is the best product from Louboutin that I have tried and I own quite a variety of their products! The only product I find on par with these shadows is their matte lipstick formula and even then, I find it hard to recommend due to the incredibly high price! So I actually really believe, for once, that these are worth the price! These liquid shadows have beautiful and extremely long-lasting formula that makes it unique and worth the heft price tag! Their pigmentation is very strong! The strongest I've seen from a liquid shadow formula! I really like the brush applicator because you get a lot of product out of the bottle at one time and it makes it easy to evenly coat the eyelids. The formula is very easy to blend out and layer. I honestly have no real complaints about this product, which is shocking because I haven't given the rest of this line the best rating. I highly recommend these liquid eyeshadows and I hope they continue to expand the shade range!
Shop Louboutin Beaute:
-01.jpg)
