Prestige iQuad Review

So today I really needed to relax after school (it was a really stressful day, deadlines and whatnot), so I decided I would play with makeup and maybe review a quad that came into my possession in December. This is technically a present to my mom, but since my mom doesn't wear makeup much, she gave it to me.

Prestige iQuad in Playback

SRP is around $5.99 for 2.5g of product (because this was given as a present and I haven't had the time to check the stores, I don't know how much it costs here in the Philippines)

Ingredients: Talc, octyldodecyl stearoyl stearate, phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben (LOOK AT ALL THOSE PARABENS), BHA. May contain[+/-]: Mica CI 77019, Iron Oxides CI 77491/CI 77492/CI 77499, Titanium Dioxide CI 77891, Bismuth Oxychloride CI 77163, Ultramarines CI 77007, Manganese Violet CI 77742, Ferric Ferrocyanide CI 77510, Carmine CI 75470, Chromium oxide greens CI 77288, Yellow 5 Lake CI 19140, Blue 1 Lake 42090

Swatches - top row w/o base, bottom row w/ ELF Studio eye primer

The eyeshadows were swatched counter clockwise from the purple

Two swipes each for top row, for bottom row anywhere from 3-5 swipes to get color to stick to base

Here's a mini tutorial for the look I did while I was playing around with this quad in order to review it.

Once eyelids have been primed, apply baby pink shade over eyelid. Layer on until you get your desired intensity (I layered on as much as I could, but it's so hard to get the colors to show up. I gave up at some point since the color would just disappear)

With a crease brush, take purple shade and apply on outer V, bringing the color into the crease. Again build to desired intensity--I was unable to do this again as the eyeshadow just won't layer on. Look at all the fallout!

With a fluffy eyeshadow brush, take the white shade and apply as higlight under browbone, bringing color into inner corner of eyes. As you can see...the first two shades (pink and purple) I applied pretty much disappeared. Still LOTS of fallout.

Line upper and lower lashline. I believe I used Maybelline pencil eyeliner..I forget which kind exactly. It was black, and I went over it with the purple from the quad

Apply mascara

Finished look -- of course you can't really appreciate it granted the fact that the colors pretty much DISAPPEARED.

So here's my review.

PACKAGING

2.5/5

First and foremost, I think the packaging is interesting, but upon realizing that it's packaged to look similar to iPods I'm left scratching my head and wondering why. What's the connection between the two products? They're worlds away from each other. But, okay...it's a novel concept (iQuad = eye quad), and the execution was okay, except the pan did not fit the compact perfectly. I pay attention to details and it bothers me (shallow as I am) that there is a gap in between the pan and the compact where there isn't supposed to be one.

Plus points, however, for the mirror--its sized decently enough. Also for the window on the cover which allows you to see what shades the eyeshadow inside come in without having to check. The compact also seems sturdy.

PRODUCT

1/5

Yeah I know, the quad only costs $5.99 but honestly, I can buy myself 4-6 palettes (5 shades) from LA colors for that price. I gave this such a low rating because as you can see in the pictures above:

• There was MAJOR fall out
• I could hardly swatch the eyeshadow
• It was REALLY hard to get the colors to appear and when they do they disappear after a while. I realize that they're supposed to go on sheerly but come on, I can't even layer on for intensity!
• The three shades (white, green, pink) all look the same to me when swatched/applied
• I don't like the consistency of the eyeshadow/powder/formula
• Would you believe that for the look I did above, I ended up MAJORLY denting the quad? I had such a hard time picking up color that I had to keep going back for more. At this rate I think this would only last me around 10 uses before I toss it...if I even use it
• It IRRITATED my eye:

I really only gave it a 1/5 because the white, pink and green would seem like decent highlighter colors. Also, the subtle shimmer is nice. The purple shade would have been great, but it disappeared from my crease soon after I finished using it.

WOULD I (RE)PURCHASE?

No. Just flat out no. Like I said, for $6 I can easily pick up other products that have much more 'bang for the buck'. I kind of actually expected more from this product but oh well, I guess this is a miss for me. I'm really glad this was just given to me because if I'd purchased it I'd probably be annoyed.

If you've tried this product, have you had the same experience with it as I have?