Korean Eyeshadow Review - Aritaum Shine Fix Eyes in #25 Vampire Kiss

Hello everyone!

This post is the start of a little series of reviews. I've got quite a lot of eyeshadows lying around and while I want to review and swatch them all, I want to do it in an *~orderly~* fashion. So, themed reviews. The first part will be a look at red hues.

While I only have one 'true' red eyeshadow, I do lean to buying reddish hues like browns, sienna colors, and the occasional orange or pink. Wearing only red is impossible for me, as my eyes just look swollen and sickly, but combining red-brown hues with a red color as the point of focus works very well for me! (also, there will be one burgundy eyeliner thrown into the mix!)

The brands introduced in this series will be my usual fare, cause I'm just that boring:

Innisfree Mineral Single Shadows (the old formulations as well as the new collection that came out in autumn 2015)
Aritaum Mono Eyes (the 'basic' eyeshadow line)
Aritaum Shine Fix Eyes (the glittery-sparkly eyeshadow line)
Mamonde

Let's start this series of with my very red, very sparkly contestant:

The Shine Fix Eyes eyeshadow line by Aritaum is quite popular in Korea! All shades are incredibly sparkly, but they also have great staying power, which makes them easy to wear when compared to some more fall-out prone glitter shadows.

Them being popular makes it a bit difficult to get certain shades on sale... As soon as they're part of an event (mostly 1+1 sales) all the popular shades are immediately sold out.

The shade I own is: Aritaum Shine Fix Eyes #25 Vampire Kiss or 뱀파이어키스

It's a deep red with gold glitter particles.

I went with this red shade because I figured that, as I don't like to wear glittery eye makeup on a daily basis, it would be great to have a more 'special' color instead of a simple one for daily use.

I'm surprised to say that this IS actually very wearable! I like to combine it with a brown hue, though.

The packaging is very well made. In addition to the screw-on lid, there's a plastic cap to protect the glittery gel-like eyeshadow from drying out or spilling.

I've already used this several times but there's not yet even a dent in the product! This lasts forever!

Shade #25 looks like a bronze color in the pot, but don't be fooled! It's really a red (leaning slightly pink), and the illusion of an orange-bronze color is created by the golden particles reflecting the light.

See? Nothing bronze there. I was really surprised how pretty this looks when swatched, but it's impossible to catch all the glittery goodness on camera...

Swatching on paper (yes, I'm an illustrator, I HAD to do this.) and on my arm.

The beige hue on top is what I'm using in the following swatches on my eye as a base color. Innisfree Mineral Single Shadow (the old collection) in #22 Cashmere 푹신푹신 캐시미어

The second from the top is the Shine Fix Eyes #25. Due to the angle and lighting, the glitter particles aren't visible - you can see the base color clearly!

The swatches below are what I normally would combine with that red shade to give the eyes some depth and definition. I'll introduce them in another blog post (this is a series after all) - they are by Mamonde and Innisfree respectively.

The Innisfree Mineral Single Shadow in #22 is barely visible on my skin, which makes for a great base color.

For the following swatches, I didn't use any primer, just layered the Shine Fix Eye #25 on top of the Innisfree Mineral Single Shadow in #22.

This was my first eyeshadow - bought it two years ago, some time after I'd moved to Korea. It's suffered a lot since then!

A warm beige with very, very, INVISIBLY tiny shimmer particles.

Here we go. Eye swatches!

First, just a tiny smudge near the eyeline. The Shine Fix Eyes are surprisingly easy to blend and use. I didn't use a brush, just my fingers - I seem to generate less fall-out this way.

Blend blend blend! I built the color up gradually, as I'd never used it all over my lid before. It's easy to layer, too. There's definitely some glitter all over my under-eye area and in my lashes, though. Not sure if that's just my lack of practice and precision, or a general feature...

I think it could be cleaned up by applying eyeliner and mascara, though!

The shade changes slightly depending on lighting. Sometimes it's more pink, sometimes a deep, blood-red. I love the glitter! The particles are very small, and the effect all over is delicate and beautiful.

Also: Red shades are great for hazel and green eyes!

Overall:

Especially when used in combination with a primer or fixer, this shadow really stays put! In that, the Shine Fix Eyes shadows are similar to the Mono Eyes shadows by the same brand. Aritaum's stuff just won't budge, or crease. The inital fall-out (if you're as untalented with application as I am...) can be cleaned with a soft brush. Once the application is done, there was no more falling out over the day.

This shade is also great for a night out - it looks good in dim light and, as I said, stays put.

Now I kinda want some more shades, though... I'm falling in love with how the glitter looks both in reality and on camera! Here you can have a look at the shade selection on Aritaum's official website. Which should I get...? (And review, of course.) #22 and #32 are calling to me!

These retail for 8,000 Won and contain 3.5 g of product each. For comparison, the Mono Eyes eyeshadows contain 1.3 g of product - so there's really a lot in these little pots here!


I hope the swatches and my rambling review were useful and I'll be back with more soon!