I had grand plans last Saturday afternoon to just bum around the house and paint my nails, but that all changed when El Hub asked if I wanted to catch Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
You know how much I 
movies, right? So I couldn’t refuse. We decided to try and make a 3 p.m. show, which meant I’d have to get ready in a flash.
Now, El Hub and I have been together for years, so homeboy knows that when I say, “I’ll be ready in 10 minutes,” it’s actually code for, “sometime today.”
This time, that wasn’t gonna fly. My mild mannered husband desperately needed his movie fix, and from the other end of the house I heard him yell, “10 minutes really means 10 minutes this time, babe!” with a tinge of desperation in his voice.
I had to hustle.
Sitting on the table right in front of me was Sula’s shimmery yellow-gold Creaseless Creme Eye Shadow in Hard to Get ($8), one of eight cream shadows in Sula’s new makeup line.
Like creamy versions of powder eyeshadows that come in tubes or pots, these are supposed to be a busy gal’s BFF, and they’re designed to be worn by themselves, or to give depth to some of your other favorite products, beneath powder eyeshadows or atop an eyeshadow primer (I love this untinted one from NARS).
Like I often do with cream shadows, which I generally love, especially when I’m in a hurry, I applied and blended Hard to Get on my lids with my fingers.
Tabs is always on me to try more cruelty-free products, so he was stoked to see me using this one from Sula. The line doesn’t test on animals and for that gets a big paws up from Tabs. They also take a more natural approach to ingredients than many brands do, leaving out the parabens, phthalates and petroleum by-products.
With the clock mercilessly ticking, I used my favorite NARS primer on my left eyelid but kept the right one bare, and then patted and blended Hard to Get on top.
Immediately, I noticed how dense and dry it felt — even drier than a MAC Paint Pot!
It took a bit of cajoling to even out Hard to Get’s somewhat patchy application, but after two layers and about one minute of blending, I liked the end result, a quietly shimmering golden glow — not too frosty — and just about half as pigmented as the average MAC Paint Pot.
Much to El Hub’s relief, we made it to the movie on time. 🙂
When we got back home a few hours later, sufficiently traumatized by the thought of angry apes edging toward revolution, I checked my makeup in the mirror.
HTG was MIA. It had almost completely faded, and what little remained exhibited unmistakable creases.
With so many oils listed up near the top of the ingredient list, I can’t say I’m surprised…
Ingredients: Cera alba (Beeswax), Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis ( Jojoba) Seed Oil, Octyldodecanol, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Silica, Tocopherol (Vit. E). (+/-) Mica (CI 77019), TiO2 (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI 77510), Tin Oxide (CI 77861), Carmine (CI 75470), Bismuth Oxychloride, Chromium Hydroxide Green (CI 77289)
I’m guessing that my combination skin, which has been pretty oily lately, was largely to blame. If it had been winter, when my lids are typically a lot drier than they are now, Hard to Get may have been more inclined to stick around.
Despite it not lasting all that long on my oily lids, I still like this shadow for its ingredients, soft shimmer and price, and I look forwarding to trying the other shades soon.
I can see fellow fans of Clinique finding a lot to like about Hard to Get. It’s just colorful enough to catch one’s eye without being so bright that it blinds them.
PRICE: $8 each
AVAILABILITY: Available now at Ulta stores and also online
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B
The write stuff
I’ve been doing this new thing in the mornings with Tabs where we write in our journals on the deck. I sip my coffee while he nibbles on the zinnias…
Do you keep a journal? If you do, how often do you write in yours? I’ve kept them off and on over the years. I remember getting my first one from a Hallmark store with my mom when I was about six. It had a picture of a unicorn and a rainbow on the cover and a message that read, “Secrets, dreams and happenings” in a scripty font.
I sure did love writing in that thing — well, until my mom badgered me into showing her what I’d written. For years after that I didn’t write in it much because I was always afraid to be completely honest, fearing that she’d see what I’d written.
Funny the things we remember…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
ohhh that sucks that it doesnt stay on! i had high hopes for you, sula creaseless cream!
How are your lids in the winter? If they’re bone dry like mine (LOL) then it might work for you then!
What’s for dinner tonight?
i think my lids stay pretty much normal all throughout the year. that cream shadow def wont work in summer but … youre right – it might work in the winter when its not hot and humid in this part of the world!
i had cereal (raisin bran w/ vanilla soymilk) — i was too tired to do much when i got home… 🙂
I know exaaactly what you mean about journals! I am always afraid to open up in case someone-ulp- finds it and reads it!
Yeah, I know. I should’ve picked out one with a lock on it, LOL!
I must say, though, they’re very therapeutic… whenever I’m feeling stressed I always feel better after working it out on paper.
Very beautifully written. I read through the whole post, even though I know I will never get one of these eyeshadows, just because it was so much fun to read 🙂
And two paws up from my cats for no animal testing =^.^=
Too bad about the shadow – it’s a pretty, delicate color!
As I child of the 90’s I had one of those hand-held, password-protected electronic journals. I remember they were such a pain to write in (took FOREVER) and very impractical for anything more than a sentence or two. We thought they were cool, though 😛
Shame this doesn’t have the staying power you need!
I always liked the idea of keeping a journal, but I never seems to use them regularly. They are addicting to buy though. I have so many cute little notebooks.
My eyelids have been really dry lately, so this might work for me. The color is so pretty!
Have you experienced patchiness with some of the darker colors? I find a lot of cream based products taht are light have this patchiness issue.
I love to write in my journal… but I just don’t have the time like I used to!
Thats also the same reason why I stopped writing journals!
Pity that eye shadow creased so much because the color looks really nice in the photos.
I only ever made one entry into my journal. I still have it and I find it hilarious to see what my handwriting looking like then.. and what I had written in it. 🙂
It’s cool that this is cruelty free, but I would rather use a MAC PP if Sula’s cream e/s fades that badly. My lids are super oily, and PP isn’t stellar on me. I would look like a hot mess if I wore Sula Creaseless Cream.
Did you ever try Stila Prime Pot? I’m using it now and it’s pretty good. I’ll be writing a review on it soon.
I’ve seen a few other people mention that eyeshadow doesn’t last long. It looks nice though!
My mom once photocopied a page from my journal in HS and was planning to take it to show my band teacher (it was me talking about random band drama, nothing crazy)! I found it on her desk and tore it up (along with the rest of my journal). Since then, I’ve been an online journaler, complete with password. 😀
WOW – I can’t believe your mom did that! Talk about evasion of privacy…
I love cream eyeshadows, so when I heard about this I had to try it. Especially since it’s cruelty free. I got For The Thrill and unfortunately was disappointed. It’s a lot of work to get any kind of color to show and it doesn’t last on me either. (I’m fair with oily lids and did use a primer) I was hoping I just got a bad one and was waiting to see your review!
I totally agree with the journal… my mom once found a love note I wrote in it. Uh oh…
I just tried one of Sula’s cream shadows too and the same thing happened! I got For The Thrill, a blue one, and it looks pretty bad on 🙁 I really had high hopes for it and was pretty disappointed. I think I’m going to return it to Ulta soon.
mmm I can’t deal with creasing eyeshadows! Maybe you’ll have better look with the other colors, though. And I used to keep a journal very on-and-off as well. I was just worried that someone might flip through it one day, so I didn’t write anything worth reading in there. For awhile, I even tried writing my entries in secret code, but man that was way too much work!
That’s too bad these didn’t work out. I’m always on the lookout for beauty products that can save me time when getting ready. I swear time seems to move faster when I’m trying to rush out the door in the mornings!
Lately, I’ve been diggin the Urban Decay Shadow Pencils for a quick eye look.
I haven’t written in a journal in years, but I my first one was small and pink and had a little lock on it. I wish I still had it so I could reminisce about all the things that were so important in my 12-year old life. 🙂
Lovely eye shadow but I’m not really a fan of it.
I’ve collected notebooks to write anything under the sun on it but I don’t have patience – looking at my penmanship, awful. =)
Some years back, I wrote blogs on my friendster account but we lost friendster.
Just last year, I signed-up on a free blog site and I no longer have time to update it.
Ah, I just want to write again.
The color is definitely pretty! On another bright note, if your shadow is going to crease and disappear, at least it did it in the dark movie theater. 🙂
I’m definitely not a journal writer any more. Similar experience in the 4th grade, but it was my friend who read it and I realized that, for me, some things were better left unsaid or unwritten. I do have great daily email conversations with one of my bffs, though. It’s a bit like a journal, plus a little therapy, for both of us!
I’ve kept a journal ever since I learned how to write! 🙂 It’s really fun to go back and see what you’ve written. Some of the stuff is hilarious! 😛
I had a journal that I poured my heart into in junior high school. My mom went through it because she thought I was on drugs. It was so embarrassing and hurtful that I’ve been afraid to ever documents my true feelings and thoughts on paper again because I don’t want anyone to do that to me again.