The Perfect Mossy Green: L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Golden Emerald

I was never a fan of green eyeshadow, perhaps mostly because of the fact that it's my mom's favorite color and one of the very few she would use in her make-up. The thing is, she has a beautiful golden olive complexion, and me - I'm a ghostly porcelain, so I would always have it in the back my mind that green is just not my color. But, I was lemming a mossy green to include in my fall eyeshadow stash and so I turned to the much-loved L'Oreal 24HR Infallible eyeshadows and selected no. 335 'Golden Emerald' - and what a beaut she is!

As you probably all know, the L'Oreal Infallible shadows are somewhere in between a cream and loose pigment formula, much like the Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kills shadow pots, and come equipped with a little stopper to push the shadow down. Much less messy and easy to apply than a standard loose pigment!

'Golden Emerald' is in fact, as the title suggest, the perfect mossy green packed full of golden shimmer. I usually associate emerald with a much cooler gemstone shade, and this is more of a warm green, somewhat greener than olive and of deeper intensity. I think it's supposed to be comparable to MAC's Humid but I can't vouch for that. In fact, I have a hard time comparing it to any other green eyeshadows on the market, simply because it's actually my first green :)

L'Oreal Golden Emerald, deep green (!) from Sleek Storm palette, Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Mildew, NYX Glide-on liner in Esmeralda

L'Oreal Golden Emerald swatches beautifully with very little effort; what you see below is a single swipe, no primer. It is however a bit more difficult to achieve the same intensity on the eye; I found patting multiple layers with a finger worked better than using a brush. The gold sparkle definitely shows up on the lids and it wore with no fallout over eye primer and minimal creasing for a solid 8 hours.

The green smokey eye I had here was a simple wash of 'Golden Emerald' on the lid blended upwards using 'Sophisticated' and 'Sultry' from theBalm Nude'Tude eyeshadow palette, with a touch of 'Snobby' in the inner corners. I then lined my upper lashline and waterline with a black khol and applied lots of mascara. Done! I think the look was a bit more dramatic in real life and I actually liked it a lot. Maybe I've conquered my fear of green eyeshadow?