theBalm Shady Lady Shadow and Batter Up Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow

Previously, the only things I'd gotten from theBalm were their Time Balm Concealer and the Batter Up Creaseless Cream Shadow in Base Hit Kit and I was quite happy with those purchases.  Recently, I'd gotten intrigued with their eye shadows as well and decided to pick up a few from Sasa.  Good timing too because Sasa is currently having their CNY promotions until February 17th.

The in-store promo included purchasing the Batter Up Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow and a Shady Lady Single Eyeshadow for only RM68 (35% savings) and 50% off two of their Shady Lady Single Eyeshadow in shades All About Alex and Just This Once Jamie.

The Shady Lady Single Eyeshadows (3.4g, 0.12 oz) I'd found to be beautifully pigmented shadows.  It has a nice creamy texture and blends very easily.  Each eyeshadow is packaged in a hard cardboard encasement with a strong magnet to keep it closed and also comes with a mirror.  The eyeshadow pan is bigger than regular MAC eyeshadow pans and are the same size as elianto single eyeshadow pans.  Application is smooth and I didn't notice any fallouts.  You definitely won't need a lot of product to get the color intensity or potency and is pretty true to pan color.  I can't say for sure if an eye primer is required but I would still recommend it.

All About Alex is a greenish gray with a hint of taupe with a satin finish.  One of the first shades that caught my eye when I was swatching in the store.

Just This Once Jamie is a midtone plummy lilac shade with a satin finish.  I found this shade of the three to swatch a bit sheer and required some layering.  I do however think it would look beautiful as a base color for other eyeshadows or as a subtle crease color.

Mischievous Marissa looks a brown in the photo (and pan) above but is in real life a beautiful soft orange shade that might be similar to MAC's Melon pigment but slightly darker.  I was instantly drawn to this shade the moment I swatched the tester.

The Batter Up Creaseless Cream Eyeshadows (5g, 0.18 oz) is a cream eyeshadow in a pot and works great on it's own or as a base to layer on powder eyeshadows.  It comes in 4 shades: Base Hit Kit (soft golden glow), Grand Slam Pam (mauve/berry shimmer), Home Plate Kate (light rose pink) and Triple Play Mae (warm bronze brown).  The product is doesn't look creamy in the pot but is creamy to touch and dries to a nice powder finish.  It blends quite well as well but you'll have to blend it out before it dries.

Compared to: 

Stila Smudge Pot ($20; 0.14 oz) - Smudge Pots has a creamier texture overall but blendability is pretty much the same.  When cleaning with a cleansing wipe, Smudge Pots appear to clean off faster than Batter Up.
MAC Paint Pot ($16.50; 5g, 0.17 fl oz) - Paint Pots are less creamy compared to this product and not as blendable and have a thicker consistency.  Paint Pots wipes off completely in one swipe using a cleansing wipe.

Triple Play Mae is a warm bronzed brown and dries to a gorgeous almost metallic sheen.  It could possibly be a good alternative for MAC's Constructivist.  I haven't tried it out yet but after swatching, it took some extra effort to get the product off when using a cleansing wipe but comes off easily with regular eye makeup remover.

Here are the swatches:

NOTE: theBalm is also sold in Sephora (Shady Lady Single Eyeshadows, $16; Batter Up Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow, $18).