I must have been the last person on earth to hear about Colour Pop Cosmetics. A kind enabler on Twitter suggested I check out their lipsticks and I was very skeptical when I checked out their website because who’s going to trust $5 eye shadows and lipsticks right? I ordered just a few colours weeks ago and after thorough use, I can say that I’m really impressed with these. Every time I wear them I get so many compliments and they are just so easy to use.

I received a cute little personalised note with my package, which was a nice touch, and my first impression was surprise at how sturdy the packaging was. These definitely do NOT look like $5 eyeshadows.

Each shadow comes in a solid, white, screw cap packaging.

The second surprise was the consistency of the shadows. These are not powder shadows and are instead more like a cream/ cooling gel hybrid which dry and set extremely quickly. The consistency is almost mousse/ putty-like and it remoulds itself after use.

What “Hammered” looks like after I’ve pressed my finger gently into it.

Lastly, was surprise at how amazingly pigmented and shiny these shadows are! Pictures truly do not do these shadows justice and they give a great shimmer without veering into 12-year old girl at her first school disco territory. I got three shadows from the metallic range in “hammered”, “so quiche” and “cricket”, and two from the ultra metallic range in “get lucky” and “game face”.

So Quiche– The most unusual olive colour with pink reflects

Cricket– my joint-favourite along with “So Quiche”. A gorgeous light purple with matching reflects

Game Face– A metallic copper orange with high shimmer

Get Lucky– a metallic gold with high shimmer

L-R: Hammered, Get Lucky, Game Face, So Quiche, Cricket

This is out of focus but it better conveys the intensity of the sparkle

This is one case where the product most definitely lives up to the hype. I would happily pay far more for these and the mind boggles at how they can be sold for just $5. I’ve been using them for weeks and the staying power is incredible. They can easily be worn without a primer and I’ve already made a cheeky second order!

I did get a couple of their lippie pencils and a lippiestix, which were also very impressive, so look out for a review on those later. This new California-based company has really impressed me and I think they will impress you too.

ColourPop super shock eyeshadows can be found here and shipping is free for purchases of $30 or above.

Nana Adomah