Hello, everyone! Hope you’re all safe at home and feeling healthy and well. Today I have a review of the Sydney Grace cream shadows, which came into my life when I purchased a mystery bag from the brand last year, and one of the shades was included in the set. Although it came in a shade I wouldn’t really wear much often, I fell in love with the formula and knew I just needed more in my collection. Since then, I have collected a total of seven, and I thought it would be a good time to do a review.
THE BASICS
Our Cream Shadows will dry down to a smudge proof finish but are easily washed off with water. They will provide bold intense color all day long with no creasing
The Sydney Grace cream eyeshadows retail at $8 USD for 10 mL, and are available on the Sydney Grace website. The brand ships worldwide to all countries except China, as Sydney Grace is a cruelty-free brand. All Sydney Grace products are made in the USA.
I would like to mention that Sydney Grace has amazing customer service. I ordered six of these cream shadows at the same time, and one of the shades they sent was wrong. To be honest, I probably would not have said anything if the wrong shade hadn’t been one I’d rarely wear, but I did email the brand to let them know about the mix-up. They emailed me back within a few hours to apologize, and let me know that I could keep the incorrect shade and that they would send me a new one. It takes about two weeks for me to receive orders from Sydney Grace, but I received the new shade in a week, which means they must have expedited the shipping. I was really so impressed by their handling of the situation!
THE PACKAGING
The cream shadows come in a mauve tube with the brand’s logo emblazoned in gold on the front. I find this type of packaging is really great for cream products, because they’re less likely to dry out compared to creams contained in pots.
What I don’t like about the packaging is that you can’t tell which shade you have in your hand, as all of the tubes are mauve. There is a small “window” on the back of the tube that shows you which shade is inside, as well as a sticker with the name of the shade. It’s not a dealbreaker, but I find it a little annoying to have to turn the product around to figure out which tube is which. Ideally, these would be great if the colour of the tube reflected the shade inside, but since Sydney Grace is an indie brand, it’s understandable that the packaging is all the same since they only have so much money to work with.
Another thing I don’t like is that the first time I opened each tube, every single one of them would have cream shadow exploding out of the applicator as soon as I unscrewed the cap. It might have something to do with them being filled up really full with product (or maybe air?) – I’m not entirely sure. This is not a problem after opening it for the first time, but it kind of sucks to lose some product right from the get-go. There’s a lot of cream shadow in one tube and I don’t think anyone would get through an entire tube, but still!
THE SHADES
Candlelight – metallic pink champagne
Campfire – metallic bronze
Cliff Jumping – Cool metallic taupe
Cranberry Streusel – Bright burgundy
Down the Coast – light silver metallic
Master Plan – pink-lavender shimmer with a green shift
The Deep Love – Deep burgundy satin

Cranberry Streusel was the shade that started it all for me. I received in the mystery bag, and although the bright pinky-red isn’t something I wear often, I wanted to try other more wearable shades. Since reds seem to be a popular eyeshadow shade though, and I feel like a lot of people would love it!
Colour is a very personal thing, but my favourite shades are Candlelight, Campfire, and Master Plan. Candlelight is a beautiful, wearable champagne pink that is great for every day wear or special occasions. Campfire is a gorgeous dirty bronze that gives you a beautiful smoky eye. Master Plan is such a beautiful lavender-green duochrome which is very unique, although you probably own similar shades from other brands – ColourPop’s Glass Bull being the one that comes to mind.
The Deep Love was the shade Sydney Grace sent to me incorrectly instead of Down the Coast. However, after receiving Down the Coast, I felt like I shouldn’t have contacted the brand to correct the order and saved them the shipping cost, because Down the Coast isn’t something I would reach for, either. I actually picked out my shades based on swatches and descriptions off Temptalia, and both her swatch and description mentioned this was a warm, light-toned taupe. It isn’t – it’s a straight-up cool toned silver (and is described as such on the website), which I learned long ago is not a flattering shade on me. I haven’t tried mixing this shadow with the other ones to make it more wearable on me, but I might do so.
THE PERFORMANCE
I fell in love with the formula as soon as I started using these. As I mentioned, I was so impressed with the formula when I received Cranberry Streusel in the mystery bag that I knew I had to buy some in shades I knew I would actually use. The consistency is really creamy and smooth, and they have very bold colour payoff that made my jaw drop.
I don’t know why, but I find Down the Coast a lot runnier than all of the other shades, which makes it harder to work with. The runniness also makes the formula thinner, I have to try shaking it in the tube before squeezing some of the product out, as well as applying it in thin layers and building the shade up.
These dry down fairly quickly, which I think has its pros and cons. The good thing is that cream shadows with quick dry-down usually mean they won’t crease unless you have very oily lids, but the bad thing is that they’re not the best choice for beginners, who may need more time to work with the product.
My favourite way to apply these is with my fingers, but I also like squeezing some onto the back of my hand and taking some onto a stiff, dense brush. The website mentions that you can use these with fluffier brushes to blend them out in the crease, but to be honest, I have a lot of trouble with blending them out with a fluffy brush. It might be due to user error/experience level, but I prefer the light shades that I can use all over the lid to the deep crease shades that require the use of a fluffy blending brush.
Another thing that makes me iffy is that I noticed the website says these have a shelf life of 6 months. I’m not sure why it’s so short – does it become a health risk if you use the shadows after 6 months? Either way, it doesn’t allow you a lot of time to enjoy these, especially if you already own a ton of makeup like I do.
THE LOOKS
I have done four looks with the shades that I own. I tried to use every shade in these looks, but since the ones I own can’t create complete looks, I also incorporated my Sydney Grace pressed shadows.
The first look features Campfire all over the lid, with Sydney Grace’s powder shadows in the shade Camel as a transition and Beyond in the crease.
The second look features Master Plan all over the lid with the powder shadows Regal as the transition shade, You, Only Better in the crease, and Milk & Cookies as a browbone highlight.
The third look is a halo eye featuring Down the Coast in the middle of the lid, with powder shades Officer in the inner corner and crease, and Milk & Cookies as the browbone highlight.
My last look was an attempt to use the shades I rarely touch, and trying to make it more wearable. I have Candlelight in the inner corner, Cranberry Streusel in the middle, and The Deep Love in the crease. I found it difficult using one of the crease shadows in the crease and trying to blend it out with a fluffy brush, so I took the pressed shadow Fire to blend the look out.
That’s it for my review of these! They are gorgeous cream shadows that have amazing performance, and although I own all the shades I want and won’t be purchasing more, I highly recommend these to everyone. Thanks for reading!
Wow these shadows swatched beautifully. I do agree that the packaging isn’t ideal though!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, the packaging isn’t ideal but I do recognize they have constrictions as an indie brand!
LikeLiked by 1 person
OMG the first one is everything! I’d love to try them!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!! I highly recommend Sydney Grace if it’s easy for you to order from them!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll have to check if they have European retailers x
LikeLike
Wow the swatches and looks of these cream eyeshadows are really amazing! I would love to try these out xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope you get an opportunity – Sydney Grace is an amazing brand!
LikeLiked by 1 person
These sound fun and I love the variety of colours you have! I love silver eyeshadow but I don’t wear it as much as neutrals these days, I really need to wear it more often. I have a really pretty single silver shade from Colourpop and a silver MAC pigment. Such a shame Down the Coast seemed to have a different formula, have any reviews of that shade said the same? Look #1 and #4 are my favourites!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I think silver would probably be stunning on your skin tone – not so much mine! I haven’t seen any reviews of Down the Coast being more runny than the others, so I’m not sure what’s going on with me. Thank you for reading, Chanelle!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I prefer silver over gold but can wear both shades on my eyes 🙂 hopefully you didn’t get a bad batch!
LikeLike
I’ve never heard of this make-up brand, but the eye-shadows look great. I also think all of your make-up looks are really pretty. This was a really nice post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for reading! Sydney Grace is an indie beauty brand! You don’t hear about them much from the big YouTubers, but I found out about them through smaller YouTubers and Instagrammers. They have seriously gorgeous stuff!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am interested in indie beauty make-up. I think I’ll give this brand a shot. 🙂
LikeLike
Oh I love a good cream shadow and I’ve been itching to try something from Sydney Grace for a while. Maybe this is it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Do it, girl!! They actually have a Christmas in July sale every year – not sure if you’d be willing to wait another 4 months, but the sale is worth it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have so much stuff already, I can afford to wait 😉.
LikeLike
Would love yo try these cream shadows one day! And i LOVE LOVE LOVE these eye looks! You did such a wonderful job with them Michelle! Candlelight, Cranberry Streusel, The Deep Love and Master Plan are calling for my name!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahh thank you girl!! I know you said there were a few pressed shadows you wanted that were out of stock the last time you checked – if you are willing to wait, you can wait until their Christmas in July sale to try this brand. They have all sorts of discounts at that time!
LikeLike
Oh my gosh, I absolutely need to try these. It’s a shame about the packaging being over-full, losing product isn’t every a good thing. But hopefully you still have lots to work with! The shades campfire and down the coast really catch my eye, but all of the shadows are so beautiful. I love all three looks you did!!
LikeLike