The Body Shop Metallic Eye Definer

I've finally acquired them all, so here they are in all their colourful glory!

A couple of years ago, the Body Shop launched a seasonal makeup collection that featured a range of shimmering eye pencils; the latter became a permanent feature on the Body Shop makeup line.

The reviews found online on this product vary from the very positive to the extreme opposite. I attribute this misconception to the fact that not each shade works the same- some are trully brilliant while others fall short of pigmentation.

But first, let's talk about the good and bad news that are common in all shades:

The good news: all pencils are extremely soft, the softest I've come across!

The bad news: while it's ok to use them on top&bottom lashline or even as a wash of colour on the lids instead of an eyeshadow base (cause I've mentioned it above: they're sooo creamy!), if you want to use them on the waterline... forget it. Won't happen. Somehow they're so slippery that the pigment can't stick to the waterline!
Although I found out that if you apply a layer of black pencil on the waterline and then go over it with one of these, you're more likely to see some shimmery pigment there...

Now let's talk through each shade individually!
Starting with my least favourites up to my favourite:

The shades that dissapointed me the most were the ones I had high hopes for: the purple (Glowing Amethyst) and the green (Vibrant Emerald), with purple being the worst: the colour is not that purpley, while the shimmer is ever so little! The green one, let alone that is far too minty as a colour, seems to contain more emollients than actual pigment, which makes it difficult to leave some colour on the skin.

Next, we have the silver (Shimmering Steel) and bronze (Burnished Amber): both are equally pigmented and look amazing smudged on the lower lashline. A sales assistant had told me that she uses the bronze pencil on her lips too, and she tops it with a clear lipgloss!

But my absolute favourite pencil is the blue (Brilliant Blue) colour: again, the pigmentation is excellent and it makes brown eyes stand out like no other! And that's why I put it top of silver and bronze, tehehe! It's also the only pencil that is sold out from time to time... Coincidence? Don't think so!

Now, the best way to use these pencils to their full potential is to go over them with a matching shimmery eyeshadow- as a demonstration, I've used 4 eye shimmers by the Body Shop (for which I've blogged about here) and a silver eyeshadow:

Don't they look just gorgeous?
The pics don't do them justice, they're far more vivid and bright in real life! The silver eyeshadow, when used on top of the metallic silver pencil,
looks like liquid metal! No joke!

As a conclusion, I would totally recommend the blue, silver and bronze metallic pencils- it's a nice way to wear colour during daytime without looking too made up, and when they're smudged with an eyeshadow they can really glow in the dark! Although you must forget about using them on the waterline, that's their only drawback :(

What do you girls think?
Do you use colourful eye pencils during daytime and/or when going out in the evenings?

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