When I was last in Sephora a while ago (springtime!), I picked up one of their shadow singles in No. 21, Space Odyssey. On clearance and never having tried a Sephora branded product before, I wasn’t expecting much. I haven’t been impressed by other, “house-brand,” shadows before, and even though I love Sephora, I was entirely expecting it to be just okay. (Spoilers: MY BAD.)
Sephora eyeshadow in No. 21 Space Odyssey
SI’ve had it for months now, and just picked it up to swatch it on Thursday night. For the love of CATS this shadow is pigmented. And awesome. And pigmented. And glittery. Take a look!
Take another look, with the glitter in a different focus:
Take another look! Isn’t it odd how sometimes you have to be slightly out of focus with sparkles to pick them up?
Sephora eyeshadow in Space Odyssey is a dark, dark charcoal grey (almost black, but not quite black) that is chock full of exquisite fine blue sparkles (I could swear there’s a hint of bluish-purple, too, but maybe I’m crazy). Get your messy galaxy nails out of here; you need this, instead. In addition to being gorgeous and pigmented and awesome, the texture itself is finely milled, very smooth – you can’t feel the glitter. It blends out superbly and fallout is minimal (way less than YOU, Urban Decay Sidecar). I seriously cannot believe I got it for $3. But here’s proof that I did:
I was worried about how it would show up on camera, so here’s a swatch. This is just from tapping and gently pressing–yes, tapping; not swiping, not rubbing–my finger to the surface of the pan. Then, I swiped that finger across my hand twice. This is what you get:
Yissssss. If this Sephora eyeshadow’s payoff looks like this with just a tap, what does it look like with a proper swatch? Don’t worry, I got ‘chu.
Let this be a lesson, too, on why you should be using primer – on the left, it is swatched over bare skin. In the middle, it is swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion. On the right, it is swatched over Nyx Milk pencil. Ready?
As awesome as these pictures are, I cannot capture the sheer awesome of it with my badass Nikon (because I’m a noob, not a photographer). You have to see it in person, but here’s another angle for you. UDPP clearly wins as this shadow’s base.
And another because I was indecisive. Better too many pictures than too few so you have an idea of what you’re getting into.
I promptly used it for my eye makeup the following day just because yeah, it was that good. This is coming from someone who never does dark eye looks during the day. I don’t have any photos because frankly, I half-assed it – but now that we are approaching autumn and vampy looks will be, “cool,” I promise to share soon.
If you would like a similar shade but have richer taste, I did some homework and found that NARS – Night Flight (also available at Sephora, and probably other places that carry NARS stuff) is a very similar color, though the sparkles in it seem to be a cooler toned blue than those in Space Odyssey. I don’t have Night Flight to swatch for you, though, so you’ll have to enjoy this Sephora eyeshadow on its own. To my sorrow, I believe it is discontinued (hence being on clearance for $3) SHUT THE DOOR, no it freaking isn’t, get it for $5 on Sephora.com (Space Odyssey), or, if you’re lucky, your local store may have this particular Sephora eyeshadow. Check out the other awesome colors (I definitely want to do a double-wing with No. 6 Apple Mojito).
Sephora eyeshadow also comes in shimmers and mattes, but the glitter in this one is so good that I don’t even care. Channel Ke$ha for a day if you want (but don’t be Ke$ha, because Jack Daniels is not adequate for maintaining oral hygeine). Look like a botched Pinterest project. Have fun with your makeup because if you aren’t having fun, there’s not much point, right?
I am very impressed by this little guy, and if the formula of all the Sephora shadows is the same or very similar then we all need to run (not walk) and gobble ’em up. I’m not actually going to buy them all, but I look forward to trying a few others.