Review & Swatches: Milani Shadow Eyez 12HR Wear Eyeshadow Pencil

If the temperatures in your neck of the woods are causing your eyeshadow to crease or disappear, listen up! THESE ARE FOR YOU! Milani introduced these new Shadow Eyez 12HR Wear Eyeshadow Pencils a few months ago, and I recently got my hands on them. Good news! They’re AMAZE!

Shadow Eyez are available in six shades, and you can use them as eyeshadows, or eyeliners. Sometimes with pencils like these, I experience that they can be kind of dry—and they even tug and skip across the eyelid. I don’t know how Milani did it, for the price point ($5.99), but these are seriously prestige quality in my opinion. These perform EVEN BETTER than some of the higher end shadow pencils I’ve tried in the past.

See more photos, swatches, and details…

After these set, they do not budge! They’re waterproof (and pretty much bulletproof for all-day wear), I definitely had to use a cleansing oil to remove them. (My current fave is DHC Cleansing Oil.) The pigment payoff is incredibly vibrant, but I noticed that the white pencil was less opaque than the rest of the bunch. No worries though! It will build up nicely in a few swipes.

You’ll want to make sure not to add TOO many layers, since they’re pretty opaque, they may even start to look a little thick if you go to town with them. You don’t need many swipes at all with these, with the Winter White being the only exception. Even if the green, blue, or purple are a little much for everyday wear for you, DO NOT WALK to pick up Champagne Toast, RUN! It’s an excellent look in general for almost everyone, and makes a fantastic base for powder shadows.

Winter White, Brown Deluxe, Champagne Toast, Green Safari, Aquatic Style, Royal Purple

While I haven’t had a chance to do a thorough dupe check yet, I think there are going to be some close calls here. Any of these shades ring a bell for you compared to other brands?

Bottom Line…

These are FANTASTIC and they earn a solid 5-star rating from me. Milani states that they’re paraben-free, and that they’re not suitable for lining the waterline, so err on the side of caution. I know it looks tempting! They are definitely waterproof and crease-proof, but make sure you give them a little longer than usual to set before blinking a ton. If not, they may crease in that instance and then set that way because these are pretty durable once they do.

I forgot to mention—you’ll need a chubby pencil sharpener for these!