Bourjois Intense Smoky Eyeshadow and Liner Trio review, swatches

Find out if this trio of two eyeshadows and an eyeliner worked.

Bourjois is my favourite drugstore/non-department-store makeup brand. Their Healthy Mix Foundation, Rouge Edition Velvet Mat lipsticks, Pinceau eyeliner and Rotating Mascara feature regularly in my makeup routine. However, I am not a fan of their eyeshadows. They don't have large palettes, but single, duo and trio eyeshadows. In fact, when I first began wearing eyeshadow two years ago, I began with the Bourjois trios, before discovering what pigmentation and staying power meant and moving on to other brands.
I received the Bourjois Intense Smoky Eyeshadow and Liner Trio in Violet Constelle in my December LookFantastic beauty box and, having never tried one of these, I decided to keep it if only for nostalgic reasons.

Here are swatches and the review of the Bourjois Intense Smoky Eyeshadow and Liner Trio.

This comes in a round, plastic palette containing three pans and an applicator. The latter is rubbish; sponge at one end and a thin liner-brush at the other. I keep such applicators for swatching.
I have used similar trios before, but those are the Smoky Eye Trios (see here) which do not feature eyeliner, with a highlighter, a crease colour and a medium eyeshadow. Those were hit-or-miss; I had success with the rose (Rose Vintage), the neutral (Moredore Chic) and the blue (Bleu Jeans) but the others were not as decent.

The moment I swatched the purple eyeshadow once, it came apart and I have two separate cake-bits now, as you can see below. 

The formula is dry and powdery. Pigmentation is better than I thought; but nowhere near those amazing Makeup Academy palettes (HOW are they just £4?) or Sleek or Accessorize shadows. I haven't had much fallout, but wear time, sadly, isn't much. Worst of all, these shadows crease very badly, despite primer, after a couple of hours.

Here are the swatches on bare skin. No primer. In direct sunlight:

In natural light:

Forgive the blur. I am experimenting with aperture settings on my camera.

On the eyes, it looks even less pigmented, despite being worn over primer. Some eyeshadows work better on the forearm and not as much on the eyes; this is one of them. I am wearing the greyish shade in the inner corners, the violet shade everywhere else and the eyeliner on the lower lashline.

Now for the biggest issue - see how this creases? I have worn this over Kat von D High Voltage Primer, reviewed here. That primer keeps anything intact and brings out the colour nicely. Except for lousy eyeshadow, clearly.

This is not a one-off incident with Bourjois eyeshadows. Here is what happens when I wear the Bourjois Smoky Eye Trio in Vert Trendy. As I said before, some of those smoky eye trios work; some do not. 

Verdict

While the Bourjois eyeshadow trios are inexpensive and cute, they cannot stay put for peanuts. Most of the eyeshadows crease. At £7.99 for two eyeshadows and an eyeliner, you are better off putting your money elsewhere. I got this in a beauty box; I would definitely not have bought this.
If you are on the look for a drugstore eyeshadow brand, I recommend Makeup Academy (MUA) since they are just £4 per palette and have far, far better pigmentation, staying power and formula. Not to mention that each palette has some 12 eyeshadows, in great shades. Used over primer, the MUA eyeshadows will do as good a job as you want.
It does pain me to be harsh, particularly when I talk about a brand I love so much. Bourjois is still my favourite drugstore brand, but I'm not a fan of their eyeshadows. And eyeshadows are one makeup product where paltry performance cannot be put up with.
If you have never tried Bourjois makeup, check out their products here or here. I highly recommend the lipsticks, the foundations, blushes, mascaras, bronzers and everything else but eyeshadows. Both places ship worldwide, of course!

Which is your favourite drugstore eyeshadow brand? Tell me in the Disqus comments widget below.

Affiliate Links