Vanity in the Dark: Etos All in One Party Colour Kit

Sure, I’ve been making an effort to widen my eyeshadow horizon to something beyond brown, brown and brown. But electric blue?! Blimey, of all the colours to choose from, how in the world did I end up with this?

I bought this at a local drugstore not expecting much and not realising that I already had something similar from NARS. I had swatched the eyeshadows at the store. The blue eyeshadow wasn’t too bad, I thought. It was a dull blue shade. The gorgeous aubergine shade which held so much promise was, however, a total disappointment in the swatch. It was half-dead and lacking in pigmentation.

Still, I bought it, together with a lip gloss. And why? Because I’m a sucker for gimmicks.

Gimmicks do wonders to distort your rational thinking, no?

Blinded by the lights, you could say. Well, you must admit that they do look cool in the dark. I can see the lights coming handy when you need to touch up your makeup while clubbing, or if you’re rummaging through the dark abyss that is your handbag looking for your keys (let’s just assume your phone battery’s dead), or perhaps if there’s a city-wide power blackout.

Now, I will feature the lights...I mean, products, with a bit more detail:

Illuminating Product No. 1
Etos All in One Party Colour Kit
Price: €5.99

Etos (pronounced ay-tos) is a Dutch drugstore chain that also has its own makeup line under the same name. They released this colour kit about a month ago and as you would have noted from its name, it has all you might need to make up your face, except for a foundation. There are two eyeshadow shades, one lipgloss and a blush. On the back of the slide-out box, you are shown pictorially which one’s which.

There are three variations available and the one I bought was for brown hair. Quite frankly, I don’t really care much about that. What matters is that I like the colour combination found in that particular kit.

I know I panned the eyeshadows but I gave it another chance when I got home. Lo and behold, this is what I got with a sticky eyeshadow base (swatches in daylight):

There are hints of shimmer in the eyeshadows. The blue is like electric blue and the aubergine finally showed its worth. The eye makeup pictured at the beginning was created with only these two eyeshadows using the sponge applicator provided and some mascara. I lined the eyes with the aubergine shade using the other end of the applicator.

I must say that this gets quite close to being a dupe for the NARS eyeshadow duo called Demon Lover. Here’s the comparison:

Top row: Etos, Bottom row: NARS Demon Lover

Swatches in three swipes with eyeshadow base and with flash photography

It’s close, but not a total dupe. The Etos shades have a slight hint of glitter. The dark purple shade in NARS which they describe as deep indigo is a tad more intense but the blue shade in Etos is certainly brighter. I don’t know if it is too much for you, but I do like that pop of blue.

Pigmentation aside, I’m quite impressed with the quality of these Etos eyeshadows. They veer slightly towards the creamy side and the best thing is that they don’t crumble, which in turn means that there is hardly any fallout.

The lipgloss (bottom right) is a bright tomato red. Personally, it’s got the consistency of a lipstick and not a lipgloss. It smells rather like vanilla. I usually just tap it on the lips for a hint of colour. I would add more colour for redder lips.

The blush (bottom left) has a creamy consistency and is a coral shade. The swatch above has been slightly blended out. It may look orangey, but once blended out, I think it would give the wearer a subtle glow on the cheeks.

Oh, most importantly, the light switch is right next to the equally handy mirror, on the right, somewhere above the blue eyeshadow.

Overall, I'd say it's a pretty good product. The packaging is basic but, for the price, I can't complain. The lights and the eyeshadows were the reason why I bought this kit and I'm glad that, with a good base, the eyeshadows performed above expectations.

Next up, the illuminating lip gloss. Oh hey, I'm sharing the fun there.........