NYX Caribbean Collection 5 Color Shadow

Here we are in the dog days of summer and what could lift our spirits more than air conditioning and a sultry pop of color? I found a real mood lifter in NYX The Caribbean Collection 5 Color Shadow Palette in I Dream of St. Lucia. NYX is offerring ten different palettes in The Caribbean Collection to suit your taste, all coming in at a cool $8.50 a piece. I chose the fun, uber-bright colors in I Dream of St. Lucia as a playful accent just perfect for the hot summer months. These five shades practically beg to be worn alongside a body of water!

Ok, so I love the colors, but what about the quality of these shadows. Check out my swatches to see how richly pigmented they are. The swatches were even done on bare skin with no primer or even a moisturizer, so this is really the way the colors will look on skin. I did find that when worn on the eyelid with no primer there was a tad bit of fallout. When I use my primer they wear flawlessly for hours. After giving these shadows a fair test run, I would say they are on a par with MAC shadows - and at a fraction of the cost. I will say that I much prefer the flat 3 pan palettes or the 5 pan palettes as opposed to the single eye shadows. The singles have a raised "quilted" design which I find results in more breakage and crumbling of the products. NYX products are carried at ULTA locations, but I find that the selection is pretty well picked over so I generally order directly from the NYX site.

My favorite way to use these almost peacock-like shades is to accent the "ball" of the eyelid - just above the pupil with a generous round smudge applied with a finger and then blended out all around. Think of it as a sunset on the horizon in a painting.  As an alternative, they also make great accents at the inner tear duct - really makes your eyes pop!

Another fun way I've been enjoying some of these colors is on the lips! I use either the pink or the orange shades smudged on the center of the lower lip and then apply a similar shade of lip gloss.  For example, NARS Easy Lover lip gloss looks amazing over the pink shade and the orange shade looks great under Pantone Universe Tangerine Tango Glaze. Have fun experimenting!