Review: Edward Bess Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow

After hearing so much about Edward Bess products from other bloggers, I decided to take the plunge and purchase one product to try out. I really wanted to try a lipstick, but wary of buying lipsticks online especially if I’ve not seen them in person, so I decided to buy an eyeshadow instead.
I was also wary of buying Edward Bess because I’d heard and read so much about how it’s a very neutral range, albeit a luxury and sophisticated range. Having black skin, I tend to favour brands that have a bit more colour in their range as I really like eyeshadow that stands out against my skin. If I am absolutely honest, in my head, I had come to the conclusion that it would work best on Caucasian skin. Clearly, I had some reservations about how much the range and I would get on. But throwing caution to the wind, I figured if it doesn’t work for me, I’ll add it to my professional make up kit that I use for clients.

I ordered from http://www.zuneta.com/ and I was very pleased about how easy the process was. I did sign up for their Clinic which recommends colours for you, but for some reason I didn’t chose anything they recommended. I decided to go for one of the Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow’s called Escape. Escape is described as a rich golden bronze so I thought that would work best against my skin tone.

Impressively it arrived the very next day (another brownie point for Zuneta). The packaging screamed understated luxury. The eyeshadow looked appealing, smooth and soft, but I did think, it looked just like brown rather than golden bronze. I was expecting a bit more warmth and golden undertones.

When I swatched it on my forearm, I have to admit that I didn’t think much of it and started getting despondent. As you can see from the pictures, it virtually blended in with my skin. Definitely not the pop of colour I was after!

Keeping an open mind, I decided to use it for my eyeshadow of the day. Then it really spoke to me and I understood what the fuss was about. It’s so finely milled; it was a dream to apply. It felt very soft and was buttery smooth on the eyelids.

It gave my eyes a sophisticated sheen of colour, slightly tinged with golden undertones and it really caught and reflected the light well. According to the boyfriend it made my eyes sparkle and gave me a really clean mature look. In his words ‘you look very well put together’. The more pictures we took, the more I loved it.

I then decided to put it to the test, by taking pictures outside to see how it looked in normal daylight. I was not disappointed. It softly highlighted my eyes, which I loved. Made it look like I’d made an effort without going overboard.

After wearing it, out and about for over five hours in hot and sweaty central London, I took some more pictures when I got home to see how well it fared. As you can see, it did very well and had staying power, even without wearing an eye primer. The colour was still vibrant and had not melted into my skin.

Granted, Edward Bess is not a colourful collection (they never claimed it was), but it’s a brilliant collection to use for soft highlighting and definition, even on black skin as shown. I felt the eyeshadow was excellent quality and felt like silk on my skin. My fears about the collection have been put to bed and I’m certainly looking forward to trying out more products in the collection. Go Edward!