Dec 6, 2014

Old Almay Eyeshadow Trios & My First Z Palette

This is one of those useless blog posts, because I am going to talk about some old drugstore eyeshadows that are now completely reformulated but not necessarily for better, in my humble opinion. Which means I am not going to recommend the new version for you nor are the old ones readily available anymore; hence "useless".
I have been extremely busy with work and feeling quite stressed out lately. Blabbering about random beauty things that are not sparkly new is all I want to do today, and it feels quite relaxing, actually.

The old Almay eyeshadow trios are probably the last drugstore eyeshadows I was enthusiastic about. For some reason, Almay has tweaked the packaging quite often, and it seems the quality has changed as well, which is a real shame.

These are the first generation of the various Almay i-trio series.
Weirdly enough, these simple ones are the best out of all I've tried.





They all have creamy satin finish with decent color payoffs and sit very well on skin. Honestly, they are better than some of the higher-ends I've experienced.
The color structures are simple and easy to use. You can easily create soft grey, purple smokey eyes and sophisticated blue eyes with an interesting twist.

Swatches speak for themselves.

The purple trio

The grey trio

The blue trio

They are all awesome but the blue trio is my favorite. The blue/bronze color combination even reminds me of the last Dior summer Transat palette


Soon after, Almay changed them adding some embossing on the surface. Interesting that around the same time the discontinued Revlon ColorStay eyeshadows started coming out with the similar emboss. It makes sense since Almay is owned by Revlon. Sadly this superior formula had turned as well performing much like the old ColorStay eyeshadows (which were okay but nothing to write home about).

This cooler palette of blue would have been a much better fit for me, but alas, the quality is not at all similar to the old ones with plain surface.

Then Almay brought out the current "eye-shaped" trios some time ago. I have bought a few out of curiosity with the aid of drugstore sales. I do not even have a picture because I tossed all of them away. Maybe it was the color choice but I found them chalky and dry, nothing like the old ones.

Maybe three old trios are enough for me anyway. So I've decided to put them all in one place since I still like using them.

Enters my first Z Palette.

This is ridiculous since Z Palette is worth all three of the Almay trios, and it isn't even pretty nor the perfect size for them. Sometimes it is hard to understand myself because I do not like depotting.


Yup, this would be my last one.
(I put two Estee Lauder eyeshadow strips in as well because..I couldn't bear the empty spot.)


It is sad since I can't seem to find quality drugstore eyeshadows any more although I haven't really looked hard lately. If you have found some, please do let me know!


What are your thoughts on drugstore eyeshadows in general?
Are you a depotter? If so, what do you like about depotting? Any tips?






Join the conversation!

  1. I went through a crazy phase in depotting, but have slowed down since. I like that I can get all colours in one palette, but sometimes I regret it because the palettes I bought are rather bulky. That said, it has saved me lots of space! I have tried a few drugstore eye shadows a few years ago, but I never liked any of them. I just gave them all away, so now, I don't even bother. I guess I'm just really really picky, or just snobbish :-P

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    1. I personally like smaller palettes and usually buy nothing bigger than quints. So naturally I'm not terribly drawn to the idea of depotting. In this case the case is not pretty (lol) and the stripes can put neatly together, so I tried. And I totally understand if you need to depot some of your NARS things due to the melty packaging!

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  2. I think I will never be able to depot anything because I am just too much of packaging hoarder xD
    but i have once considered to depot my eye shadows so I can have them all in a huge Z palette, I didn't do it of course. lol.
    Almay is a brand that always screams 'american' to me I don't know why.. Maybe because it is one of few brand which you can't really get anywhere outside the US, and it just has a sense of old school and cult to me.. :)

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    1. I'm like you, too! I could never bear to depot from Dior or Chanel palettes for example. ;D These Almay palettes are rather ugly, so it wasn't an issue. LOL
      I totally agree Almay is maybe too American. For me, they lack glamor since they target people with sensitive skin. They were still unique back then but I'm afraid they now are too much like Revlon. ;-/

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  3. nyx!!! those are really good drugstore eyeshadows!!! and wet n wild! their singles, trios and 8 pans are brilliant!
    and not unless. who cares. i would want ppl to just write what they wanted to write since its their beauty diary after all.
    and i hope work gets less stressful :)

    i have a lot of z palettes. but i'm actually moving over to the Make Up For Ever empty palettes. they hold way more than the XL Z's.

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    1. NYX was hit or miss for me. I loved some of the singles but was totally disappointed by trios, for examples. Plus I'm into eyeshadows with harder texture. Then I haven't tried them lately. Maybe I should look into them again! :)

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  4. I have that old purple trio! So nostalgic, was one of my first makeup items and used it very frequently. I find depotting therapeutic in some ways, maybe gets out my destructive tendencies ;) however I don't usually depot the high end stuff (fear of damaging the packaging/product). Rest up and hope your stressful period will die down soon!

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    1. Hi Meiko! Thanks so much for the kind words. Today I came home relatively not too tired. I hope I can catch up with some blog reading and commenting as well! ;)
      I'm glad to hear that you have the purple trio, too! It is a very well-balanced and sophisticated one, imho.

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  5. Wow, those old ones look so good! I hate most drugstore eyeshadows too-I haven't really bought any besides maybe the odd Essence one. If you can ever find those, they are pretty decent and really cheap.
    I haven't deported much besides MAC shadows. I should do it, but it's so much work!

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    1. Ooh, I depotted some MAC and old jane eyeshadows and put them in the square e.l.f. palettes before. They were perfect fit!
      Anyway, if it needs heat resulting fumes, I'm out. LOL
      I know the type of pigments really matters when it comes to the quality of eyeshadows, but I can't understand why they can't make the same quality ones any more. ;-/

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  6. Ah, too bad these have been reformulated- they look lovely! I have several MAC shadows I need to depot, but I've been scared! Need to just take the plunge. And I agree with Jenn above- NYX and Wet N' Wild make some great drugstore shadows! I also really like the Flower Beauty cream shadows :)

    -Jen

    www.vibrantbeautyblog.com

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    1. I have only depotted the old MAC eyeshadows before, but decided to stop because you need heat to do it properly. I am not sure if that would affect eyeshadow consistency not to mention it would be quite dangerous. In this case, I just used an old nail file (metal one) and they came off easily.
      NYX and WnW are maybe too soft to my preference, but I will look into the Flower Beauty. Thanks for the rec! :)

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  7. The Wet N Wild trios/quints are really good in my opinion, especially for their price! Smooth, buttery and surprisingly pigmented, even the lighter colours.

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    1. I haven't tried WnW in a while but would love to look into them again soon! The ones I've tried were maybe a little too soft with fallouts. Maybe it was the color choice. ;)

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  8. Aw, they looked pretty good! Why did that happen? Lame! They are super pretty, it's too bad about the reformulation.

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    1. I like to imagine things like..maybe the eyeshadow master(?) at Almay got booted out because Revlon eyeshadow people wanted to take over. The tragedy of merging, whatever. But who knows? LOL

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  9. It's good that you even discovered these in the first place since quality drugstore eye shadows are so scarce. Each palette has such pretty and wearable colors too. It's always a shame when companies abandon perfectly fine formulations for lesser ones.

    Thanks for your very kind comment on my blog anniversary post Lena! I feel so lucky to have met wonderful blogger friends like you through this realm :)

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    1. I don't understand why it is so hard for them to produce quality drugstore eyeshadows since I love many of the drugstore lippies!
      At this point my preference for eyeshadows are quite particular and I have tons that I'd never use up anyway, so I've practically stopped buying eyeshadows whether drugstore or not.

      It was my pleasure, Rowena! I am happy that we have connected in this blogging world and appreciate your beautiful blog. Cheers! ^-^

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  10. That's a real shame! Why would they downgrade the quality of their products? I don't get it! :(

    I recommend Wet n Wild (the original 8-pan version, not the newer/LE ones). They are AWESOME! And this comes from a person who's super crazy about eyeshadow palettes (if you don't know that already lol).

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    1. Aha, so the orginal 8-pans, huh? Thanks for the tip!
      I trust your rec since it is coming from the queen of eyeshadow palettes! :D

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  11. Soooo stunning! I really love the brown/blue trio best! I really miss the older revlon quads in strips! They were awesome! I don't know why but I really prefer strips of shadow than funky shapes or uneven sizes!

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    1. I agree! The blue trio is really pretty and unique! It is not tacky at all - the usually issue I have with most blue eyeshadows. erhm.
      And the simple shapes are totally better, you're right about that! ;D

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    2. Hey thanks for correcting me on the Bourjois foundation fact! I swear at some point I was told it was the other way around! But that's shocking that Bourjois owns them instead now! I really need to go read up on an updated 'who owns who'!

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    3. No problem! I also thought it was the other way around! ;D
      I don't think they are all the same, though. For instance, Chanel has some of the really gorgeous and unique colors. ;)

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  12. For my go-to eyeshadow, I love the caffeine rush palette (already discontinued but they are sparkly and creamy like Japanese ones) and Sunbaked Neutral from Maybelline (the the two shades though, the vibrants have more garish shading and sometime are chalky). I don't really like the shades from their new nude palette so I skip them (another reason is that they overlap with what I already have). As for Almay, I guess I never really look into their products with that packaging and marketing (gear toward more grown-up?) but I think I will try their new lipsticks that look like the lip butter.

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    1. Now I feel all reminiscent about old drugstore favorites. I still have the old Revlon ColorStay Quad in Sandstrom, for example. Well, pressed powder virtually lasts forever, so we should be so sad. Plus it is hard to use them up anyway. ;p
      Almay has this "hypo-allergenic" thing going on and did have their unique character as a separate brand. Now it seems they carry the same things as Revlon, only in a different packaging. Not a fan of that.

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  13. I've thought about depotting, but I'll probably never get around to it. Packaging and presentation plays a big part in my decision to purchase, so I tend not to buy big bulky palettes, or want to ruin the packaging that I like. On the other hand, I do like systems that let you customise your own palettes, like Art Deco and Bobbi Brown. Thought about getting a MAC one and looking at Inglot too!

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    1. I am the same way, Teresa. Packaging plays a big part for me to decide my purchase as well. In this case though, the grey plastic cases are not much, so I could go for depotting for once.
      I like that I have three different smoky sets that are easy to use all in on palette. I won't do it again anytime soon, though. ;p

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