My previous Luxury Makeup post was months in the making, and the next one was heading down that road as well. Rather than take a few weeks off of posting, which would have been necessary to complete it, I decided to split it into smaller parts. Today’s post will be dedicated to the high-end/luxury eyeshadows I have yet to review on this blog.

Pat Mcgrath Labs Mothership IX: Huetopian Dream

Astral Amethyst Moon is the real reason I wanted this palette, and perhaps 3-4 other colors. Because I felt like half of these shades were similar to what I already own from Pat Mcgrath, I told myself I wasn’t allowed to get it unless the price dropped to $80 at most.
Well, at the end of June, Huetopian Dream was on sale for the lowest I’ve ever seen and it was under my maximum price, so I finally bought it!

The mattes are the high pigment, blendable, smooth, fantastic quality I’ve come to expect from Pat Mcgrath. Skinshow Nude Xtasy is the typical fine shimmer satin-feeling highlight shade. The three baked shadows are the flaky, slightly rough feeling (Bronze Solaris 005 is a bit smoother), dry, high impact shimmers that look fantastic, but are best applied on top of glitter glue or with a dampened brush to minimize fallout. I love the colors and intensity of the baked shades, though the tricky application process and fallout issue prevents me from using them as often as I should.

There are three shadows that surprised me though. Blitz Sextreme is less opaque than I expected based on my experience with the Divine Rose 2 palette’s Sextraterrestrial shade. Sextraterrestrial was so good that it kept me from buying the closest Clionadh equivalent for several years. I am dissatisfied with how Blitz Sextreme looks on my eyes unless I use glitter primer, which I had to apply in the second eye look below. It wasn’t until I compared the two “triochromes” side by side that I realized they’re different in texture as well. Sextraterrestial is a baked shadow whereas Blitz Sextreme feels close to gel-like. It feels like a Juvia’s Place multichrome. Perhaps it’s not a matter of skimping on the pigment as I originally suspected. Typically, when a brand uses this kind of formula, they have a black base to intensify it or at least some other base color that will enhance the multichrome, whereas in the baked form the pigments are practically concentrated. So, I wish that when they switched to making a triochrome in a non-baked form, they did something so that I wouldn’t have to help it along by packing it onto glitter glue myself. Perhaps the target PML customer would appreciate a more subtle multichrome, but that’s definitely not me. Clionadh proved with their Earth Vibrant line and more neutral colored Stained Glass shadows that it’s possible to make “wearable” duochromes and multichromes that are toned down based on color, while being fully opaque. When applied as is, Blitz Sextreme is an example of the kind of subtle I don’t like. To me, if a product like that is too weak to be able to see the color shift well enough, what’s the point? Without a shift, it may as well be a regular shimmer, which would be more affordable to make anyway.

The other two that were unexpected were Bronze Desire and Cosmic Bloom which also felt more like a gel rather than creamy feeling for PML’s “typical” shimmer formula. I had issues with them creasing in the beginning, but two months later, these feel a lot less wet. With it being less wet, the creasing isn’t as prominent either. I still try to keep these shades strictly on the lid though and avoid the crease, but I’m happier with their performance now. It was very strange that this happened at all though because I don’t recall anyone saying that in their Huetopian Dream reviews when they first launched. Perhaps it’s just my palette, but I’m glad it’s not an issue anymore.

Overall, I like this palette. I definitely would have been unhappy if I paid full price though. It’s not to say the quality is bad. I think it’s very good quality with a few little differences from past palettes. The thing that I have trouble understanding though is Astral Amethyst Moon’s presence here. It’s supposed to be the star of the palette considering it’s the most colorful shade with the brightest pop, even surpassing the triochrome. However, the other shades in this palette don’t fit with it. They don’t play off or enhance that color in any way. Astral Amethyst Moon is like a powerhouse of vibrancy, whereas everything else is too soft to support it. I thought Shockwave would be the color to do it, but it’s so much more muted on my eyes, and really not that much deeper than Secret Eden. Xtreme Plum Noir at least gives it some drama because of its depth, but when I build it up, it looks more brown than plum which isn’t as exciting. In my final eye look above, I used last year’s holiday palette to give an example of the type of colors I expect to help support this shadow. I wish this shade wasn’t tied to this largely pink-neutral color story. If I’m in the mood for those tones, I’m going to completely ignore Astral Amethyst Moon when I open the palette. If I’m doing an eye look and want a colorful vibrant lid shade, it’s unlikely I’m going to whip this one out just for that one shadow. It would have been better off in a quad, but whoever decided to put it in this palette got me to spend far more just to get it. Congratulations to them. I couldn’t let that shadow go, and honestly, I still don’t regret getting it at the reduced price.

Surratt Beauty Artistique Eyeshadow in Dore and Noir Le Plus Noir

These are normally $22 each, but for some reason these particular shades were on sale on Surratt’s website for $8.80 each instead. I was willing to pay the extra $5 shipping in order to try and see why these eyeshadows are raved about so intensely among the luxury beauty community.

Now that I’ve used them, I understand the hype. These remind me of Suqqu shadows in texture, and I believe Surratt eyeshadows are made in Japan as well. Both brands’ eyeshadows are thin, but after the initial layer with Suqqu, it doesn’t really build up beyond that. These Surratt shadows build up to a stronger intensity if I want them to, while still being just as blendable. However, as great as the formula is, it’s not so much better than the rest as to be worth it to me to spend $22 per eyeshadow if it’s not a multichrome. If I see more of these available online at a reduced price, then I might be interested in getting a few more.

Lisa Eldridge Liquid Lurex Eyeshadow in Titania, Zora, and Liza

Considering what I just mentioned above, it’s a bit funny how I don’t look at single eyeshadows the same way when it’s in liquid form. I guess it’s because I am rarely tempted by them, so if a brand can get me interested enough in theirs to buy it, they deserve the money they’re charging for them.

Other than these from Lisa Eldridge, and Sydney Grace, I think I hadn’t purchased liquid eyeshadows since the Stila Suede ones launched (not to be confused with the 2023 relaunch) in 2019. Technically, I do have Danessa Myricks ColorFixes (from a TrendMood box), but they’re still unopened. What made me interested in these is that they looked stunning on the models on the website, and reviewers said these don’t crack or flake, they last all day, and despite looking packed with shimmer they don’t have fallout which makes them great to incorporate in eye looks or for one-and-done looks. I happened to be caught right at the perfect time of wanting a satisfactory single-shadow look, which I normally am not interested in doing.

Essentially, what everyone said about them was true. This is a fantastic formula. They blend in with each other very well and on top of other brands’ shadows. If I use one even layer of product, I don’t get sparkles under my eyes as the day goes on. If I pack it on a bit too thick, then I do notice significantly more glitter particles under my eyes at the end of the day. Also, these shadows set and don’t budge if left alone, but if I touch my eyes I will still get sparkles on my finger though the base color doesn’t come off until I’m ready to remove it.
Melt’s Gel Liners can be used as eyeshadows and eyeshadow bases, but the Lurex has the benefit of feeling like nothing on my lids. I don’t get any tightness. Melt’s aren’t stiff either, but there is more of an awareness of it on my eyes, unlike Lisa Eldridge’s that I forget I’m wearing.

I purchased Titania at the end of last year, then Liza when Lisa Eldridge products began being sold at Selfridges, and then recently Zora finally restocked on the official website. So, I now have all the colors I wanted.

Also, Titania and Liza are sentimental names for me! Honestly, that did partly influence my purchases. Plus, Zora is close enough to Zoro, who is one of my favorite characters from One Piece.

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As a bonus, I wanted to show some eye looks combining everything in today’s post.

I hope this has been helpful.

Thank you for reading!

As a last minute note, I wanted to say that I have next week’s post auto-scheduled and ready to go. However, the forecast for Idalia hitting Florida and the level it’s projected to strengthen to, if I’m out of electricity and internet for a significant time or my area sustains damage near to what Hurricane Ian did last year, I might not be able to post for a while.

Update: Thankfully the Hurricane missed where I live and we just experienced the outer bands, which did not knock out our power or internet!

-Lili ❤