Nuance by Salma Hayek Eye Quad: Neutral, Smoky

Nuance by Salma Hayek Eye Quad

Nuance by Salma Hayek Eye Quads: Neutral, Smoky

Nuance by Salma Hayek Eye Quad

As far as I could tell, Walgreens had a monopoly on the drugstore niche in my city when the Rite-Aid's closed down. However, a few CVS's have popped up so I went in today to see what they offered. Their selection was pretty similar but they did carry this Nuance line by Salma Hayek. I believe it is new and being promoted with a Buy One, Get One Free deal. I got these two eyeshadow quads for $8.99.

The packaging is, of course, the focal point. The quads come in these buds that open up into four petals, each with an eyeshadow. In the center of the bud is an eyeshadow sponge. The sponge was a cool surprise, although not useful. I don't love the packaging because it is bulky and you can't tell from the outside which quad you're reaching for. Still, it is an interesting novelty. I haven't seen anything else like it. It might be prone to breakage though.

Nuance by Salma Hayek Eye Quad: Neutral

Top: Frosted Blush, Toasted Almond
Bottom: Champagne Gold, Shimmering Bronze

Frosted Blush, Toasted Almond, Champagne Gold, Shimmering Bronze

The Neutral Quad (#080) offers a light champagne pink ("Frosted Blush"), a medium taupe-brown ("Toasted Almond"), a tan-gold ("Champagne Gold"), and a deep coppery brown with red tones ("Shimmering Bronze"). All but Toasted Almond are shimmery. Toasted Almond is not quite matte as it does have a sheen.

Nuance by Salma Hayek Eye Quad: Smoky

Top: Pearl Teal, Silver Mist
Bottom: Cool Charcoal, Warm Smoke


Pearl Teal, Silver Mist, Cool Charcoal, Warm Smoke

The Smoky Quad (#075) has a blue-green ("Pearl Teal"), a cool-toned opalescent pink that flashes lilac ("Silver Mist"), a blackened green ("Cool Charcoal"), and a gray-purple ("Warm Smoke"). The green shades are shimmery, although Cool Charcoal doesn't look that way when swatched. The pink and purple have sheen but are near matte.

Frosted Blush, Toasted Almond, Champagne Gold, Shimmering Bronze
Pearl Teal, Silver Mist, Cool Charcoal, Warm Smoke

I haven't had the chance to wear these on my eyes yet but my first impressions aren't positive. The pigmentation is weak and required repeated swatching for me to build up enough color. The shadows themselves feel smooth and they come off nicely onto my finger, but they don't transfer onto my skin the same way. Of the two quads, I prefer the Neutral. This is not based on color preference but on the performance of the shadows. These were the easiest to swatch out, with Champagne Gold being the best. The Smoky quad required more work. Silver Mist was chalky, Cool Charcoal was patchy on initial swatch, and Warm Smoke was the worst in color-payoff. The Pearl Teal performed best in this quad.

In all honesty, I am not impressed. The colors in the Neutral quad are nice but bland. They don't show much promise as far as performance but I'll definitely see how it goes. The Smoky quad is sort of bizarre in its color selection. These aren't the sort of shades that you'd expect from a palette meant for smokey eyes. It did remind me of the Chanel Lilium quad, which also has a cool pink, deep green, and gray-purple. This is what drew me to it. However, the way these shadows swatched was really a nightmare. I don't think it will be worth the work to get potential Chanel dupes. Overall, these quads don't seem worth looking into. There are other inexpensive eyeshadows (Wet & Wild's, for example) that outperform these by a lot.

UPDATE 8/22:

I gave the Neutral quad a try today and was pleasantly surprised to find that these shadows applied just fine to the lids. Pigmentation was nice and blending was easy. They wear well with little fading. I guess you can't always judge by swatches! This still isn't a palette that I'm excited about because I think it's a bit boring, but it does perform well. I'm still under the impression that a brand like Wet & Wild will outperform these and for cheaper, but $9 is not bad for four very safe, basic shades and novel packaging if you're interested.

Frosted Blush in inner corner, Toasted Almond across lid, Shimmering Bronze on outer corner