Sydney Grace Cream Eyeshadow Review

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

From left to right: Sydney Grace cream shadows in Candlelight, Down the Coast, Cliff Jumping, Campfire, The Deep Love, Cranberry Streusel, Master Plan

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!