Eye Studio Color Explosion

I'll be honest, I really only wanted these because for drugstore eyeshadows, the packaging is absolutely gorgeous and comparable to the packaging designs of the far more expensive Japanese brand KATE eyeshadows. Actually, although a lot of people criticize the Maybelline eyeshadow packaging as "cheap" and "flimsy," I've found their packaging to be even more stable than the KATE eyeshadows from Japan, where the lids feel like they'll just fall off at any moment.

I got my first Color Explosion eyeshadow palette in a swap and tried it on, both with and without eyeshadow primer, and both with and without the glittering "luminizer." I found myself preferring to use this without the luminizer at all, because although the luminizer does intensify the eyeshadows a little more, it's not by much. In fact I spent too much time catching glitter fall out from the luminizer on my lids while applying eyeshadow, that ultimately it wasn't worth the slightly better saturation. But by themselves, the eyeshadows appeared really sheer no matter how much I tried to layer it on.

I tried the eyeshadows on again using Victoria's Secret VS PRO Lasting FX Eyeshadow Primer and it worked wonders for these eyeshadows—colors were more opaque and saturated and I spent less time trying to pack the colors on. It worked much better than the included luminizer, so I generally end up just skipping the luminizer, which is a bit of a waste for how much this palette runs for!

If I could suggest anything, the "luminizer" should have just been a highlighter shadow color instead of a pan full of glitter that's difficult to control both under and over the eyeshadows. Otherwise I would have given this a rating of 4. Overall, this isn't a bad eyeshadow palette and it's packaging is very pretty for a drugstore eyeshadow, but their Color Plush Eyeshadows are better than these for their wider color variety, lower prices, and comparable silkiness and opacity.

If you're in on Color Explosion just to collect their packaging, great! Because I love the packaging too. But if you really want more for your money, skip this. There are better-value drugstore eyeshadows.

I wanted to like but it didnt do much for me. The colors were pretty but I had to put on a lot for them to actually show, even with eye primer. They did last for a while but I ended up having to take off since the glittery one started flaking off and falling into my eyes but then again I think most glittery eye shadows do that. The packaging is horrible, really small and kind of a pain. In all honesty its not so bad for the price (I paid sale price, $6 at Target!!!) I would say its most definitely a good makeup if your not looking for something too dramatic =)