Amethyst Ablazed - Maybelline Color Explosion Luminizing Eyeshadow

Last week, CVS was printing out 2-dollar off on Maybelline product (what seems like everyday of the week) so I did what a sensible human would do: Getting all of those half-off Color Explosion Luminizing Eyeshadow Quints. Amethyst Ablazed is the first (of the four) that I got to play with - It's an intimidating one with bold and red-toned purple (on my skin, that combo screams "eye infection") but I reckon if all things fail, I can always use the two palest ones as allover lid wash.  

The shades in the quint are 1. Chunky silvery glitter with massive fall-out (I will pass on that one). 2 Deep semi-sheer plummy purple with lavender sheen floating on top which despite its depth, looks very thin and bruise-like on the skin (another pass). 3. A lovely pinkish lavender (turns more pink on me) with golden over-spray.  4. Mid-tone (the most blue-ish one in this predominately pink palette)purple with purple and fuchsia micro-glitter. 5. Shimmery light dusty-lilac that turns a little more blue on my eyes.

Unlike the typical shimmery/frosty texture you find in a typical American eyeshadow palette, the three deepest lid shades are actually small glittery sheen on a matte base. As with many mattes, the two darkest one are sheer, a little dry/chalky and hard to blend. (The pink was nice smooth and buttery though).

 An easy (OK, I spent more time on this that I would like to admit) eye look with the lightest (bottom) shade allover the lid and under eye. Pink shade on around the area of the fold and purple as lid (beneath the fold)/depth creating color, which thankfully got hidden by my hooded lid (because it turned really blotchy).

 Overall: Only two (which reminds me of crape myrtle!) out of five shades turns out usable to me. You just have to be your own judge on wheather it's worth the (even reduced) price. I think people with bigger lids and more patience might still work their magic on that glitter-overload and the two chalky mess...