The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - Annabelle Eyeshadows

I'm a big fan of Annabelle Cosmetics, and I'm a big fan of their eyeshadows. I have a few of them sitting in my palettes, so I decided to do a review and show you guys some swatches.

Before I begin, Annabelle has two different types of packaged eyeshadows available to buy: single eyeshadows - which are potted, and mono eyeshadows - which are in pans made to fit into the Annabelle Custom Quad Magnetic Compact.

I've seen Annabelle products at Shoppers Drug Mart, Wal-Mart, and some Zellers locations. And of course, Wal-Mart has them for a cheaper price.

The Good:
- Like I mentioned before, the eyeshadows are pretty cheap, ranging from $3-$6 CDN. So this is great for someone who is starting out in make-up and wants to build their collection.
- Some of the eyeshadows are pretty pigmented, and you don't need to pack them on for the a whole lot for the colour to show up.
- There is a nice range of finishes: from matte colours to colours with frost and shimmer.
- These eyeshadows, whether they are mono eyeshadows or single eyeshadows (which can be depotted) can fit into MAC palettes, which is great for someone who wants to keep their eyeshadows together.

The Bad:
- The texture of some of the eyeshadows (the non-matte) ones can cause fallout if you dig your eyeshadow brush into them.
- I've noticed that Annabelle's labeling system is all over the place, in the sense that on the single eyeshadows, there's no eyeshadow names - just a number printed on the label. When I go on the website to try and match the number to an eyeshadow name, there's no way to do that. From all the single eyeshadows that I bought, only one had the actual name printed on the label. Everything else I have to remember from the display case in the store. The same goes for the mono eyeshadows, they don't have a label on the back of the pan, the eyeshadow name is printed on the packaging - so I had to create my own label to attach.
- The mono eyeshadows are made for the Custom Quad Magnetic Compact. The quad is already magnetized, so there is no magnet attached to the back of the pans, SO, if you wanted to put it in a MAC palette, you would have to attach a magnet to the back.

The Ugly:
- I've noticed that with some eyeshadows, for example: True Charcoal, Vert-To-Go and Indigo Glow, I really have to pack the eyeshadows on for the colour to show up because they apply kind of sheerly.

Here are some swatches of the shadows that I own:

With flash, no base

With flash, no base

With flash & MAC Soft Ochre paintpot as a base.
(Indigo Blue is applied twice in these set of photos because I thought it was showing up funny, but you can kind of see how sheer it is)

No flash & with MAC Soft Ochre paintpot as a base.

*All eyeshadows were packed on with an eyeshadow brush.

Overall, I'm happy with Annabelle eyeshadows, and I definitely would purchase more. I only wish that Annabelle came out with a broader range of and bolder colours for the permanent collection - but they do carry a good range of neutral eyeshadows.

Must Haves: Ebony, Vanilla Chilla, Gleam, Gold Digger (although it doesn't really work with my skintone)
Nice To Own: So Foxy (I'm not a big fan of the finish, I wish it was completely matte rather than having a satin-y texture - but it's a good brown colour that can be used in a variety of looks), Vert-To-Go (this would be a good dupe for MAC's Humid eyeshadow).
Skip: None!

Hopefully this is helpful to some of you guys who have always been passing by the Annabelle display and were curious about their eyeshadows.

*I'm probably going to film a video review tomorrow, if I do I'll post the youtube link here. (: