Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Luminous and Sparkling Shadows

After this sneak peak waaaay back when, I finally got around to trying some of these Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Luminous and Sparkling Shadows...sheesh! These loose powder eye shadows come in tiny little plastic pots with a foamy rounded applicator with a pointy tip. They were my first loose powder shadows (I know, I need to get with the program) so I didn't know better and paid a whole lot for very little as these contain a minuscule amount of shadow for $7 each. Yes, you can also get 2 for $12 or 5 for $20, but even then I still think it's expensive as they really should be, like, $0.99!

And seriously, the eye shadows are truly worth only $0.99! They are smooth, soft, and blendable, but they have zero lasting power! ZERO. Especially the darker colors, they fade after only a couple of hours and by mid day, there was nothing left of them on my eyes! This is particularly bad because I always wear waterproof sunscreen even on my eye lids and it acts as a primer of sort, helping to keep my eye shadows in place. But even that couldn't keep these eye shadows from fading! So considering the price, the amount, and the nonexistent lasting power, I conclude that these Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush loose eye shadows are a waste of money.

That said, I did find a few colors that are quite interesting (see comments on individual shadows below). If you would like to give these a try, I would recommend waiting until they go on sale and/or buy them with the promotions/coupons that Victoria's Secret usually emails or snailmails to you. Once you start buying from VS, they will relentlessly spam you with promotional emails/catalogues/coupons - trust me, I get them every freaking day! Otherwise, I honestly think the rest of these eye shadows are not worth it.

Another thing that irks me about these loose eye shadows is the minute difference between the so-called Luminous and the so-called Sparkling ones: a few iridescent shimmers! So much for the hot pink rounded stamp on the applicator handle of the "Sparkling" shadows that says "High Sparkle" (see Glamethyst and Purple Dazzle). Excuse me, but a few more iridescent shimmer don't really add up to high sparkle. As for the Luminous shadows, some of them are practically matte while others have metallic finish. So in addition to all the bad points mentioned above, these loose shadows are also inconsistent and are totally hit and miss!

- "Sparkling" Glamethyst: pearl, very sheer. As you can see from the swatch on the back of my hand, it's not that "sparkling" at all but instead only has some puny iridescent shimmers that my camera flash didn't even pick up! Also, it looks white in the swatch but is in fact a very pale lilac with pearly lilac iridescent shine. Okay for highlighting the inner corners of the eyes but would fade after a couple of hours.




- "Luminous" Too Too Pink: matte, low intensity, a fleshy pink. Although my camera's flash picked up some small shimmers in the swatch this color goes on practically matte. As I have mentioned above having found some interesting colors - this is one of them. Too Too Pink honestly sucks as an eye shadow, but is surprisingly great as a concealer for the eye area (just for the eye area though...)! Weird, huh? I know the color shows up pretty darn clearly pink in the swatch but it somehow just blended in with the skin around my eye area, providing coverage instead of color! And since I always sweep highlighting powder over my under eye area as a finishing touch, this actually helped sealing it in and kept it from fading!

I have never ever used a concealer before and it wasn't until I used this eye shadow that I finally realized why some people swear by them! Concealers are pretty darn neat stuff! The day I first wore this eye shadow, I was completely exhausted from working long hours the day before. My lids were puffy and my under eye area was purple like I hadn't slept for days! But after applying this eye shadow, I didn't look like I was wearing any eye shadows but instead just looked refreshed and awake! So not to contradict what I said above, but I would actually purchase this particular color again to use as concealer for the eye area.


- "Luminous" Plum Passion: metallic, high intensity. A beautiful metallic mauve, but didn't work out too well with my skin tone. It made me look like I had been crying for days with red and swollen eyes and everything! Horrible!




- "Sparkling" Purple Dazzle: Shimmer, medium intensity. The packaging makes you think the eye shadow will be a deep eggplant color, but it turned out to be a darker plum color instead. And sparkling? Nope. There were few sparkles. Grrr... I used it to lined my eyes, and it disappeared after a couple of hours. Next.




- "Luminous" After Midnight: shimmer, high intensity. A deep inky blue that was perfect as a liner, only it didn't last at all and faded after a couple of hours, just like the rest. Sad. Sigh...




- First row, left to right: Plum Passion, Glamethyst, After Midnight
- Second row, left to right: Purple Dazzle, Too Too Pink