Sunday Riley Prismasilk Eye Colors are finely milled and richly pigmented eyeshadows. I fell in love with Leprechaun on The Non-Blonde and agree whole-heartedly with her review. While at Barneys I was particularly impressed by the color selection and I had similar challenges to Gaia narrowing down my initial picks. I of course was drawn to the more complex shimmer neutrals and picked out Lady Godiva, Fool’s Gold, Leprechaun and Burnt Eggplant ($26 each).
As I swatched each color at the counter, I found that many of the shimmery shades applied slightly different than what you see in the pan. This is due to the blend of many different shimmers and pigments. I wouldn’t call any of them duo-chrome, but the shimmers are quite complex.
Lady Godiva 104 is a sandy-beachy shimmer neutral with a hint of mauve. I found it almost identical to Sanders 100. In the pan they looked practically identical. On the skin I felt Lady Godiva was slightly cooler-toned. On the skin, I find that Lady Godiva darkens a bit to add a bit of a paler-mauvey-nude-champagne finish. It works as an all over lid shade, layering creates a contour color, or you can use it as a highlight. The texture is very soft (think along the lines of Urban Decay) and easy to blend, although I do believe you will need to experiment with different brushes. I used a Bobbi Brown Brush on one eye and a Laura Mercier on the other. Both created a bit of powdery debris in the pan and I had fallout when applying. Using my Edward Bess brush picked up the most color without having any fallout. Do note that once on the eye I feel these last all day.
Fool’s Gold 111 is a gorgeous deep blackened bronze with gold flecks. It rivals Burberry’s Midnight Brown. I did find that Fool’s Gold is best when applied with a damp brush. It blends/smokes out easily. Applied dry I ended up with tiny bits of gold glitter and brown shimmers all over the cheeks. At Barneys, the SA showed this layered over Casablanca (a shimmery steel blue grey) and the result was stunning. I didn’t pick up Casablanca because I found it too blue but I have to admit I was tempted. Fool’s Gold changes color depending on how the light hits the pan. Fallout issues aside when applied dry, I do think this applies much better than NARS Night Series eye colors.
Leprechaun 116 is summed up in full by The Non-Blonde (see her review here). Leprechaun is a beautiful mixture of olive, green, gold, brown. The shimmer factor is high but not overly so. I find it a more office-appropriate version of Lancome’s Erika F. I had fall-out issues with this color as well, but it applies beautifully dry. You just need to clean up under the eye with a q-tip.
Burnt Eggplant 128 is one of those odd-ball shades. It appears more brown in the pan but applies more plum. This one is my favorite out of all the ones I picked out. The shimmer is finely milled and applies softly as a nice contour shade. The pigment is intense but layerable. It’s a good soft plum-brown without being too harsh.
Swatched, two views:
Ingredient listing:
Overall a thumbs up. Sunday Riley Eyeshadows can be found at Barneys New York. Try this link for online access, it might be hit or miss for going through (found this via a google search): Sunday Riley Prismasilk Eye Color.
