Urban Decay Stardust in Diamond Dog - $20 at sephora.com and Ulta

I tried to ignore these shadows. I promise I did. After all, I'm no longer really a glitter girl. I pull out my MAC Reflects glitters once or twice a year to lightly pat over my eye makeup for the ultra-rare "Mommy & Daddy Night Out." Try though I might, I couldn't avoid these for long. I was drawn in by the shimmery taupe awesomeness in the pan, and the futuristic-looking packaging that requires just the convenient squeeze of a couple fingers to pop open. The straw that broke the blogger's back was that Ulta was offering 2 free mini 24/7 eyeliner pencils with a $20 Urban Decay purchase. I am a hopeless fan of 24/7 pencils and have or have had nearly all of them, so I couldn't resist, especially because the cashier let me choose which ones. But I digress... the eyeshadow.

Yes it's gorgeous in the pan, and it can be beautiful on the eye as well, you just have to figure out how to apply it. The draw of these shadows is that they are a sheer wash of color with loads of teeeeeensy glitter that will give a wet look to the lids. Keep in mind; they're not kidding, they're super sheer. If you attempt to brush these on, it will look like glittery smudges of dirt. Urban Decay recommends applying these with your finger, but this precision-lacking method will make the dirt-smudge look even more of a reality. I feel like the most success I had in applying this was with a spone-tip applicator. By packing a bit of shadow on the sponge, tapping or blowing off the excess glitter and then patting it on to the lid will give the best result. I also recommend applying a base shade similar to the shade you're using underneath to intensify the effect. The fallout while applying wasn't very bad using this method, but throughout the day I did get some random glitter landing in my lashes and hovering distractingly just inside my field of vision. The wet-look did stick around for a bit, but the base color sort of started to fade a bit. Overall, this is a cool idea for special occasions, and indeed I think they're really meant for that. Consider getting a neutral shade like Space Cowboy that you can tap lightly over any shadow at all for a little extra oomph.

Above is Diamond Dog alone over Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden, and then the eye is lined with UD 24/7 in Mildew

And below are the pencil choices I made. I was sad that there were no Zero pencils, as I use this shade every single day, but there were newer shades available I haven't tried yet!

Flipside and Mildew - two great shades for green-eyed girls for sure. Flipside really brings out the green in my eyes while just looking fun and Springy, and Mildew sort of blends and melds with my eyes and makes them look big! I love these.