MAKE UP FOR EVER as the color expert in the makeup industry decided to revamp their brand’s iconic product. What seems to be just a normal uplift is not just any ordinary uplift as the brand recently launched a staggering 210 shades of Artist Shadow. Yes! 210 huge, big pan of eye shadow! After spending three years developing a whole new range of eye shadows, Dany Sanz the Creater and Artistic Director of MAKE UP FOR EVER could have come out with 500 shades but it wasn’t her goal. She wanted to offer a profusion, which is not to be confused with ‘too much’. It took the brand three years to perfect the quality of these shadows with the help of new technology. What you’re about to see is MAKE UP FOR EVER latest revolution shadow that is incredibly subtle colors, astonishing glosses and sheens that are highly versatile and some out-of-this-world effects that are finally made impossible now.

History of the brand’s iconic product – eye shadow

Let’s wind back just a little bit to give you the insight on how it all started. These new 210 Artist Shadow doesn’t happen overnight.

In 1984, eye shadows were the first products that Dany Sanz created. One hundred of them, all hand-pressed and made entirely in an artisanal fashion. In the world of makeup, this was already a genuine revolution. “When I opened my first boutique in 1984 (at 5 Rue de la boétie in Paris) with 100 eye shadows, it was a first. There were no makeup stores selling to both professionals and the general public at the time, and no other eye shadow line had such a wide range of colors. Everything was ‘home-made’ and they were placed shade by shade on enormous trays to display the entire palette. as soon as you walked in the store, they were the first thing you saw. We sold the eye shadows in round, see-through little pots, and we’re actually reusing that original design for ARTIST SHADOW.

The new Artist Shadow is like a collection of haute couture colors. These shadows are in intense shades and created in five different effects – Matte, Satiny, Metallic, Iridescent and Diamond. Besides changing the development technologies, the brand insist to keep the generous pan size, which symbolise strong for both the range and the brand, as well as maintaining its trademark codes of creativity, innovation, rigor, profusion, passion and generosity.

So what you can expect from the new Artist Shadow? First of all, get yourself ready for a huge eye shadow pan size. This will last you for years! When you swatch these Artist Shadow, you will immediately notice how smooth and fine-textured the shadow is. The best part? Almost zero fallout. I put almost just in case you didn’t have the same experience as I do. I’ve tried mine at home for a few times and hey, still zero fallout. The new formulation also enable the eye shadows to glide on smoothly. This is one of the few eye shadow that swatches beautifully and applies on beautifully and effortlessly. You don’t need to be a pro in this. Anyone can use this and come out with a natural-looking look anytime. Its impeccable hold and precise color effect gives any look an optimal result for makeup artists as well as ordinary women.

Let me show you some of the Artist Shadow shades available. Bear in mind these are not the whole 210 shades ya.

As I mentioned above, Artist Shadow was created in five different effects – Matte, Satiny, Metallic, Iridescent and Diamond. The pearly and matte formulas were developed by using two different types of state-of-the-art technology.

Pearly Formulas (For Satiny, Metallic, Iridescent, Diamond range)
Featuring two technical innovations: Water-blend Technology and Pigment atomization.

• Pigment Atomization brings purity, evenness and extremely intense color.
• Water-Blend Technology: powders, pigments and new 3d gel polymers are mixed with water to create a formula that is heavily loaded with pigments (up to 71.5%). Water is then extracted through evaporation, giving a supple and slightly creamy texture with extremely vivid colors that can be endlessly blended.
• Other Key Ingredients of the Formula: Mother-of-pearl, to add intensity and shine to the color, plus metal oxides and black pigments for all the metallic effects (metal finish).
• The particles of these eye shadows are less volatile which means they don’t fall away during application.

Matte Formulas
Artist Shadow’s matte line offeres fine and supple matte formulas that contain no pearlized particles whatsoever and provide an outstandingly even result.

• Pigment micronization ensures color is pure and even.
• Heavy pigment load – up to 88% in the matte black shade – guarantees hold and
  color intensity.
• Nylon powder makes the formula ultra soft so it’s easy to apply and to layer.
• Zinc oxide and talc ensure optimal hold that stays fast.

We are privileged to have Ms. Erica Saenz, Regional Education Manager from Philippine once again to show us some tips and tricks as well as to demonstrate to us two MAKE UP FOR EVER signature look 😀

I won’t go into deep with the application of both signature look as I will be doing a tutorial below but fret not! I’ve labeled for you what shadow goes to which part of the eye.

Signature Look #1

Signature Look #2

I didn’t managed to swatch everything but just to give you a heads up on what color payoff you can expect from Artist Shadow, here are some Artist Shadow swatches. You know which is my favourite? The middle peacock greenish brown shadow. It goes on as a peacock green but turns to brown as it goes lighter or when look from different direction. Looks familiar? *cough* * NARS Malacca* *cough*. Nah, just similar. I like this one better and yes, I’m going back to get it.

My everyday eye makeup technique tutorial aka fionastreetlove™ signature-do

Ahak at the ™ lol. It is very rarely for me to slash on a stripe of one shadow color on the lid unless I am on the lazy mode or I want to look more presentable and not wanting to scare other people out. I’ve evolved from MAKE UP FOR EVER signature look #2 (the only difference is mine is two color) to this current eye makeup technique that I’m about to walk you through. I’ve always wanted to do a tutorial on this technique so I guess today is the right time? 🙂

In this tutorial I will be using two new Artist Shadow in the shade M-856 (pink), S-632 (brown) and the new Ink Liner, which I’ll review another time.

Oh and by the way, none of these Artist Shadow is labeled with a name. Can you imagine going insane naming all 210 shadows? 😀 It’s all in specific code such as M-856, which M stands for Matte and 856 is the shade code or S-632, which S stands for Satin and 632 is the shade code. You know the drill 🙂

Before I start, I have to warn you prior that I’ve intensified all shades in order for the color to show up on the camera. So don’t freak out 😀

Step 1: Prep the lid / Apply transition color

I’ve pre-prep the entire lid with an eyeshadow primer as I have oily lids and dusting a matte nude white all over the lid so that the primer is not all tacky and easier for me to blend later on.

Next, you can either (1) apply a matte / satin white on the brow bone or/and proceed to (2) apply a brown as transition shade on the upper crease, like what I did below. Transition shade can be any warm light brown. I would also recommend using bronzer shade as it make a good transition shade due to its warm tone. As I have a typical Asian eye, my actual crease is at the below so what I do is to pretend my crease is on the brow bone and apply.

Step 2: Apply 2nd crease color

Take a smaller tapered brush, apply dark brown (in this case it’s S-632) just below the transition color. I usually do it with eyes open then lift my brows to check if I have all the color on evenly. This step is a bit tricky for me as I have puffy lid and smaller space in between my eye and my brow. But because I have transition shade on earlier, I’m not afraid of any mistake or if I over-applied. I can just blend it away later on.

Step 3: Create a V-shape on the outer lid

This step is optional. You can skip this and move on to the next step. I skip this sometimes too. Take the same brown (S-632) and apply it onto the lower outer V of the lid. Why lower not the whole? That’s because I already have the brown applied on top. This doesn’t have to be perfect either. I usually use a concealer to clean everything up at the end.

Step 4: Apply a brighter shade inside the crease

Take a shader brush (flat shadow brush) and pack any color you desire. Usually for this part you would want to use something lighter or shimmery or something matte that is strong and stand out. I’m using M-856, a pink shade from Artist Shadow line. Pack the shade into the empty area that doesn’t have any shadow on.

Step 5: Blend, apply eyeliner & mascara

Blend the transition color area or any shadow line that you think is too harsh. Apply a white shadow shade to the brow bone and on the tear duct. Curl your lashes, apply eyeliner and end with mascara.

Take the same dark brown (S-632) and apply onto the 3/4 of lower lash line. For remaining 1/4 lash line, I used MAKE UP FOR EVER Aqua Liner #19, which is a shimmering light pink. End with a coat of mascara as well.

Next is to dab some concealer on the under eye and use a brush to clean off the excess eyeshadow. For the concealer, choose a shade lighter as it will help with brightening the under eye.

This is how it looks like. If you find that the darker brown is hard to blend, just dip your brush onto some transition color and blend with it. You will find that not only the eyeshadow is nicely blended but the warm transition shade also add warmth and definition to the whole look.

Artist Shadow innovative formula offers endless color gradation possibilities, which means all the colors can be layered on without saturating the surface. MAKE UP FOR EVER suggest to use Artisan Brush No. 228 (Precision Shader Brush – Medium) to blend out any harsh line of a stronger color or you can also layer on lighter color over it. This will tone down the color.

What I really do like about MAKE UP FOR EVER Artist Shadow is that it is not necessary to be used on the eye as eyeshadow only but it can also be used on any part of the skin. For this I used my barbie pink M-856 as blush as well! 😀

Based on my experience, there is absolutely zero fallout. I was expecting at least some fallout as I was running my brush over the shadow pan several time and there was none.

Each refill comes with a plastic cover like the one you see above but you can purchase the casing separately for RM20 only. There is a choice of single, double or triple pan casing to choose from.