Well, these are all the treats! Primarily a professional range (a proper one, not a ‘pro’ diffusion line), Kryolan is the make up maker. Chances are, formulations by your favourite brands are made at Kryolan. Pigments are something I’ve never really got into – they always seem inconvenient with high disaster potential in my clumsy hands but I’ve had my mind well and truly changed. If you’ve ever wondered whether there’s any difference in pigment quality, I can say very firmly, yes, there is and you’re looking at the gold standard right now.
Your very best friends, when it comes to using pigments to their full potential, are Mixing Medium (£6.80) and Eye Shadow Primer (£18.30). Mixing Medium is a water based, film forming liquid that transforms pigment powders into a creamy consistency so that you can either create a foil effect liquid/cream liner or a foil effect shadow (or lip if you dare!). The Eye Shadow Primer, when mixed with pigment powder, creates a creme shadow that’s not quite as high beam in shine if you need to take things down a level, and will stay put through thick and thin. The truth is that you could use either of these products to transform your entire make up wardrobe into endless options as they can be used with any make up, not just Kryolan.
There are 9 shades in the Metallic Pigments (£17.50), 32 Pure Pigments (£17.50) and 8 of the Holographic Pigments (£16.50).
To give you an idea of the transforming effects, the first swatch is Metallic Pure Pigment in Pure Orange on its own, as it comes out of the pot. The second swatch is the same pigment using Mixing Medium and the third is with Eye Shadow Primer. You can see each shade looks slightly different.
I’ve done exactly the same with Pure Magenta, above.
I just mixed them on my palm but if you’re going to use them a lot, then you might find getting the Make Up Mixing Set with a plate and spatula (£11.50).
Above you can see three of the Holographic Pigments which are a little bit shade shifty and more dimensional than the others.
They colour-shift according to the light and like the other pigments are highly adhesive so drop isn’t a concern.
Shades above are Butterfly, Rainbow and Chameleon. I’d be absolutely stuck to choose between them because they’re completely lovely.
Kryolan pigments are an absolute revelation to me – yes, you do need to get mixing if you want different effects but it’s so well worth it. I had a pack of Simple face wipes on hand to clean up as I went along and I’d suggest you do the same just in case.. although now I’m saying it, swatching for a blog is different to mixing up your own tiny amount for eye shadow. So, perhaps not! I can’t recommend the pigments highly enough or the mixers for rejuvenating your make up collection. I’m a convert. Kryolan is HERE.
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