Press Samples
Hi everyone! We've reached the last post in our series comparing the old and new formulas of the matte shadows from Blackbird Cosmetics. Check here for our Collection Overview and part 1 of the Volume II swatches!
As always, let's start by checking out the eye look...
Old formula:
New formula:
In general, the reformulated shadows in this group packed much more of a pigment punch than the old shadows. I tried my best to use the same amount of product on each eye, and the new formula eye came out looking a lot more heavy-handed than the old formula eye. Blending was improved pretty much across the board; I'll go into more detail about this in the individual shade reviews below.
Hi everyone! We've reached the last post in our series comparing the old and new formulas of the matte shadows from Blackbird Cosmetics. Check here for our Collection Overview and part 1 of the Volume II swatches!
As always, let's start by checking out the eye look...
Old formula:
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From the website: Neutral golden brown.
Eye Shadow Ingredients: Talc, Titanium Dioxide, Magnesium Myristrate, Iron Oxides, Boron Nitride, Isoeicosane, Zinc Stearate, Mica, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Alkyl Benzoate, Lauryl Laurate, Caranauba Wax, Tocopherol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Jojoba Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil
Vegan & cruelty free. Eye, lip & face safe.
Personal Comments: I used Modesty as a brow and inner corner highlight in the look above. I felt there was a small improvement in blending, which is just fine because I didn't think the old version was that terrible at blending to begin with! I will say the new version appeared to show just a bit more of my skin texture than the old version, but they both look nice and smooth from normal viewing distance. I didn't see any noticeable color difference between the two once I got them on my eyeballs.
Applied over Urban Decay Primer Potion. This picture was taken outside in natural light.
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From the website: Blackened red.
Eye Shadow Ingredients: Talc, Titanium Dioxide, Magnesium Myristrate, Iron Oxides, Boron Nitride, Isoeicosane, Zinc Stearate, Mica, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Alkyl Benzoate, Lauryl Laurate, Caranauba Wax, Tocopherol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Jojoba Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil
Vegan & cruelty free. Eye, lip & face safe.
Personal Comments: Ruca is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. In Kristin's swatch photos here and on the back of my hand, the new version is definitely, absolutely, no doubt about it more pigmented than the old version. On my eyes, the exact opposite was true. I have no idea if the old version grabbed onto some excess oils on my skin or something, but it applied with a serious bang. I'm blaming aliens. Fortunately, the new version builds up just fine so you can achieve whatever pigmentation you desire. The new version also blends significantly better (seriously, go check out my lower lashline in the eye looks above) and looks very slightly less red/more brown.
Applied over Urban Decay Primer Potion. This picture was taken outside in natural light.
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From the website: Dark taupe.
Eye Shadow Ingredients: Talc, Titanium Dioxide, Magnesium Myristrate, Iron Oxides, Boron Nitride, Isoeicosane, Zinc Stearate, Mica, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Alkyl Benzoate, Lauryl Laurate, Caranauba Wax, Tocopherol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Jojoba Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil
Vegan & cruelty free. Eye, lip & face safe.
Personal Comments: The new version of Smudge is definitely some combination of darker and more pigmented! As always, I tried my best to use the same amount of product on each eye, but you can see that Smudge looks significantly heavier in the crease of the new formula eye above. There's also a big improvement in blending. I use Smudge a lot in my crease and I've found the new version is much, much easier to blend out into a smooth gradient.
Applied over Urban Decay Primer Potion. This picture was taken outside in natural light.
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From the website: Muted, but somehow still vibrant mid-toned violet.
Eye Shadow Ingredients: Talc, Titanium Dioxide, Magnesium Myristrate, Iron Oxides, Boron Nitride, Manganese Violet, Ultramarines, Isoeicosane, Zinc Stearate, Mica, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Alkyl Benzoate, Caranauba Wax, Tocopherol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Lauryl Laurate, Jojoba Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil
Vegan & cruelty free. Not lip safe.
Personal Comments: On the eye, the old and new versions of Vintage appear to be the same color. However, the new version of Vintage looks more pigmented and is easier to use as a result. I found it's much easier to get the new version to look true-to-color on the eye. I thought both versions blended out just fine; I didn't notice much difference between them in this regard. I used this on my upper lashline in the eye look above.
Applied over Urban Decay Primer Potion. This picture was taken outside in natural light.
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From the website: Light perfect grey.
Eye Shadow Ingredients: Talc, Titanium Dioxide, Magnesium Myristrate, Iron Oxides, Boron Nitride, Isoeicosane, Zinc Stearate, Mica, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Alkyl Benzoate, Lauryl Laurate, Caranauba Wax, Tocopherol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Jojoba Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil
Vegan & cruelty free. Eye, lip & face safe.
Personal Comments: The new version of Whisper is definitely more pigmented and came across as perhaps a shade darker than the old version on my eyes. Both versions seem to both sheer out and blend out well, especially when applied with a fluffy brush. I do think the new version of Whisper shows more skin texture than the old version when packed on the lid, but it's not really noticeable until I get up close to the mirror to do the super critical blogger thing. On a more personal note, one of my favorite looks to date started with a wash of Whisper through the crease. I know this is possibly the lamest thing I've ever written on this blog, I couldn't help but think that it looked - true to its name - like a whisper of color across my eye.
Applied over Urban Decay Primer Potion. This picture was taken outside in natural light.
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Final Thoughts: At risk of making this post even longer than it already is, I've got some parting thoughts as we wrap up this series. Overall, I think Maleah did a great job with the reformulations. One or two of the shades were misses for me, but in general I saw very noticeable performance improvements across the board. I believe Maleah's main goal was to improve blending, and I'd call that a success for most of the colors. I also think that tinkering with the pigmentation on a lot of the shades was a good move.
But let's get serious here - all of the products shown in this series were press samples, and I think the true test of what a person likes is what they're willing to pay for. Maleah just launched pressed versions of her shadows and I placed an order for Whisper and Lucid. If I didn't already have full sized jars of Dog Days and Smudge, I would have picked up those as well. Between the performance improvements and the fact that the colors are just to my personal taste, those are my favorite shades from the lineup.
Links to the rest of the Blackbird reformulation series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
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