Product Review: Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips e/s for Hazel Eyes

Because I'm one of those esteemed "CVS card holders" (i.e., I buy a lot of crap from CVS), I frequently get coupons for all sorts of things. Last week I managed to get one of those elusive but oh-so-nice "$7 off the price of any makeup product" coupons and decided I'd check out the Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips eyeshadow and liners.

Like the heavily marketed Almay and Cover Girl eye enhancing products, these shadows are designed to bring out your natural eye color. They come in shades designed to compliment blue, brown, green, and hazel eyes (sorry, Liz Taylor; those violet peepers are shit outta luck here).

Now, I have green eyes, but I personally found the green eyes palette to be pretty heinous (turquoise? teal? really?). But I jumped for the Hazel eye shadow grouping for a few reasons.

1. Dusty pinks, shimmery nudes, and deep bronzes: Hazel eyes, schmazel eyes. These colors work fabulously with green eyes. Truthfully, I think they're usually more flattering than the typically recommended purple.

2. This palette reminds me of Clinique's Pink Chocolate quad, another product I used on my wedding day and a definite staple in my makeup stash. However, at $26 a pop, the Clinique shadows are definitely a luxury item, and so I try to keep my eyes open for similar, more budget-friendly products, which I refer to as "dupes."

3. The price: with the $7-off coupon, this palette only cost me $4. At that price, even if these shadows proved to be less than stellar quality, I couldn't be too mad at myself for the purchase. No buyer's remorse allowed here.

Once I got home, I immediately played with my itsy-bitsy haul. The verdict? It's just ok.

The breakdown:

 The texture at a glance

The nude and pink shadow shades are very sheer. With these shadows, you aren't going to get a defined wash of color, which depending on your personal preference is either great or terrible. I personally prefer my lighter shadows to be sheer, so I don't really mind how transparent these colors are. When I go for lighter colors, it's with the intention of keeping my look natural anyway. I do feel these colors are buildable, but that would require really packing the colors on the lid and I fear the end result would be a chalky mess. The white and vanilla shades in particular are heavily speckled with shimmer, so beware of fallout.

Dry swatches

Basically, the nudes and pinks would make excellent highlighters, but as stand alone shades, you can find better.

Wet swatches

The bronze shades, though, are quite lovely. The pigmentation is fantastic and you don't need a lot of the product in order to achieve a gorgeous wash on the lid. They look amazing wet or dry, and they're very smooth and blend easily. I'd go so far as to say some of these shades remind me of the UD Naked Palette, with similar quality. Thumbs up! I'm looking forward to creating a lovely bronze smokey eye with these colors sometime soon.

The packaging is fine enough; a fairly durable clear plastic box with a flip lid. The included brush is a total P.O.S., though. I'd recommend tossing that.