Name: Quattro Eyeshadow
Brand: Gosh
Size: 10g
Price: £8.00
From Gosh’s website:
Four matching eye shadows put together in a beautiful color collage. Quattro Eye Shadow is produced with a new technology allowing the use of ultra fine pearl- and micro pigments. With this production procedure you get a remarkable intensity of color in the base with fine micro pearl effects.
What I liked:
– sheer to medium pigmentation
– longlasting but only if used with a primer
– the price
What I didn’t like:
– colors not as bright as I expected
– texture is not very smooth
– the packaging
Around the blogosphere, I often heard people talk about Gosh as the European (and cheaper) MAC. So, when I was in London at the beginning of last year (I know, this review is long overdue but better late than never, right?), I couldn’t help but pick up some of their products, including one of their eyeshadow quads.
I chose the quad in Toucan which features four colorful shades: yellow, apple green, light blue and lilac. I didn’t have a chance to swatch the colors as most testers in Superdrug are missing or just dirty and messy so I was disappointed to find, once home, that when swatched, the colors are nowhere as bright as they look in the pan.
Apart from the yellow shade which barely shows up on my skin and I need to apply several coats to get a nice color payoff, the other shades only require two as they are medium pigmented. The shades are all very wearable and perfect for a wash of color during the day, but personally I prefer something more intense.
To get better color payoff, it’s better to use a primer, which will make the shadows stay put all day without creasing as well. As for the texture, that’s not very smooth, but the colors are quite finely milled and easy to blend.
I’m not too fond of the circular black packaging. It’s quite sturdy, but also bulky and too plain for my tastes. The lid is see-through so you can see the shades inside and a dual-sponge applicator is also included. But as always, that’s useless.
Overall, I can’t see how Gosh eyeshadows can be compared to MAC’s since the quality is inferior. Gosh’s shadows are less pigmented and the texture less smooth. The quality is not bad at all for a drugstore brand, but then I’d rather buy a Sleek palette instead: you get 10 very pigmented and soft shades packaged in a sleeker case for just £4.50.
Summary
Overall, Gosh Quattro Eyeshadow is just average. The colors are sheer to medium pigmented and provide a nice wash of color on the eyes. However, they are not as bright as in the pan and last all day only if used with a primer. The texture isn’t very soft either.
Rating: 3/5
Disclaimer: the item was purchased by me for both personal and review purposes. The review is based on my own personal and honest experience with the product. For more information, please see my disclaimer.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
The colors look good on your skin. Those would probably look horrible with my tan Asian skin.
All Women Stalker, thanks. They are on the pastel side, so some Asian women may find them hard to pull off. But there are lots of other color combinations to choose from that I’m sure will look good on you.
I think I’d rather go with the Sleek palettes too. More colors, better pigmentation and less pricing. I heard that Gosh was good as well. Maybe there are just certain products that are similar to MAC and not the brand as a whole?
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Dee, overall, I’d say Gosh is a good brand. But like every brand there are bound to be some products that aren’t as good as the others and sadly, this is one of them. I really wanted to love the quad, but it’s just average. I have a lipstick from Gosh that I really like though and I’ve heard they make a great eyeshadow base and brushes (their e/s brush is actually supposed to be a dupe for MAC 239 brush). But as far as the eyeshadows are concerned MAC wins hands down. I’d still buy still Sleek over MAC though, the quality is just as great and it’s better value for money.
Ooh! I’m SO thrilled that you reviewed this! This was the first quattro eyeshadow that I bought and used to create a four-colour eyeshadow look, all the way back in 2006 when I first started playing around with make-up.
I agree that the texture is a little strange and that it takes a few strokes to get a good colour, especially with the yellow. However, I do have olive skin (so, yellow undertones…) and I just wanted to share a couple of photos of me wearing these, if you don’t mind?
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=41001412&l=ec51d971ef&id=61416741 – not symmetrical, I know
http://pics.livejournal.com/vanityflair/pic/0001gar3/g1
I didn’t know anything about primer back in those days so I think those are just over foundation, applied using the sponge applicator that came with the compact. I should try the same look again with primer, I think
Simone´s last blog ..Ill met by moonlight.
The colors looks pretty interesting and very spring-ish. But, yeahhh… Sleek palette looks better…
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yeah i think the colors will look better on yr fair skin than very tanned skin.
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The colors are beautiful, but I think they will make a great base to layer on top of… hehe~
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Simone, I’m glad that you enjoyed my review and thanks for sharing your pix. Of course I don’t mind, I love to see the look my readers come up with. Unfortunately the first link doesn’t work for me but I love the second look. It’s beautiful, springy and colorful but soft. And wow, you did that with a sponge tip applicator? I’m useless with those, but you did an amazing job, the blending looks great, well done!
I used to apply eyeshadow over foundation before I discovered primers and while that works well for some people, it never helped my makeup last longer, the colors to pop or prevent creasing. Maybe I used very bad foundations lol. But a primer would makeup the colors look a bit brighter and bolder. You should try that, I’d love to see it.
Anastacia, the colors are very pretty and springy indeed. And I agree, with Sleek palette, you get more colors and they’re more pigmented
prettybeautiful, I agree with you. They look better on pale skin but I’m sure those with darker skintone can still find ways to make them work for them.
This looks like a really bright palette when you look at it, too bad I don’t use these colors in my makeup. From the swatches I see they are kind of sheer and I would love more pigmented colors.
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Ahleessa, they are beautiful indeed, but I wish they were more pigmented.
I prefer Gosh Effect powders and lipsticks. My friends love their liners too. Guess the shadows didn’t leave up to the brand’s quality
Tavia, I agree, they look so bright in pan, but once applied they’re sheer to medium pigmented. I wish they were more intense too.
Halifax, I love their lipsticks too, they’re good. And even though I haven’t tried the liners myself yet, I’ve read very positive things about them. But the eyeshadows are pretty disappointing. They’re not bad, only average. I guess I was just expecting too much as most other products from the brand are good.
I’m reposting the first picture URL…hopefully it’ll work this time! This is a close up of the look so I really wanted to share it: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/hockeygoddess22/n61416741_41001412_967.jpg
Like I said, sorry for the asymmetry =P
For what it’s worth, I found the sponge applicator that came with this palette to be better than ones that you get enclosed with other eyeshadows. It’s bigger, feels more solid and seems to pick up more colour. I actually still use it sometimes, but only with this palette.
Simone´s last blog ..Ill met by moonlight.
Simone, the link works now, thanks for posting it again. Don’t worry about the asymmetry, I can barely notice it. The makeup is really good, so colorful, fun and beautiful! I love it.
I think you get better color payoff if you apply these eyeshadows with a sponge tip applicator but as I said, I’m rubbish at using them. I used the one that came with this quad once but I gave in as I prefer using brushes anyway. You got me curious to try and use this again, if it works well then it’d be handy for touchups or when you travel and forget your brushes at home (I did that once and had to resort using my fingers lol).