Seventeen is a British beauty brand that had never sparked my interest prior to last month’s UK trip. It doesn’t get much press in the blogosphere, probably because it’s exclusive to the drugstore giant Boots and so lacks a solid brand identity. Boots has two house beauty brands: the more famous and extensive Boots No. 7, which also offers a range of skincare, and the smaller, trendier Seventeen, which is geared toward younger shoppers. Having turned seventeen almost a dozen years ago, I assumed that Seventeen had little to offer me: the name evoked images of brightly colored, poorly executed kiddie makeup. But one day I decided to swatch a few of Seventeen’s eyeshadow singles, and though some were indeed patchy and cheap-looking, I came away very impressed with the shimmery neutral shades. Two in particular caught my eye: Rose Quartz, a purplish taupe, and Statuesque, a coppery rose gold.
Top to bottom: eyeshadow monos in Magenta (note that the matte formula is much less pigmented) and Rose Quartz, along with two matte lipsticks whose names I forget:
Eyeshadow monos in Brown (seriously, guys, are you even trying?) and Statuesque, first in indirect light, then in direct sunlight. For some reason, probably prolonged exposure to air, Statuesque swatched darker from the tester than it did from my new pan:
Rose Quartz was very similar to an eyeshadow in my theBalm custom palette, but I didn’t have anything quite like Statuesque, so that was the only one I bought. Why does so much British advertising rely on painful puns like “eye eye”?
This looks like your typical manicure-ravaging drugstore eyeshadow pot, but it opens with a clever mechanism:
Push down on that latch, and the lid pops open—no need to wedge your fingernails into an evil little crack. Nice work, Seventeen!
The eyeshadow itself looks pinker in the pan than it does on the lid (this is after three weeks of frequent use):
It occupies a nice middle territory in my eyeshadow collection: darker and more bronzey than my true pinks, but pinker and lighter than my bronzes. Top to bottom: finger swatches of theBalm Stand-offish, theBalm Stubborn, Statuesque, Maybelline Pomegranate Punk, Maybelline Bad to the Bronze:
Blending out Pomegranate Punk produces a color similar to Statuesque (see this post for proof), but the large gold sparkles make Pomegranate Punk less subtle than Statuesque. I also don’t think my pot of PP is long for this world: it’s getting dry and hard to blend. By comparison, Statuesque’s formula is very soft and blendable, but still opaque. (I don’t buy many cream eyeshadows these days—I don’t want to have to worry about them drying up and becoming unusable.)
Statuesque impressed me on first swatch, but it was my own absent-mindedness that revealed the extent of its versatility. For our nine-day visit to London, I left much of my eyeshadow in Birmingham, bringing only my Urban Decay Naked2 Basics, my theBalm custom palette, and Statuesque. I promptly misplaced my custom palette in our rented flat (it turned up on the last day, hidden in a stack of books on the nightstand), depriving myself of my usual grays and taupes, as well as some quirkier colors. I had to adapt to an entirely brown-based color selection, with Statuesque my only non-matte shade. It soon proved its worth both as a one-and-done shade and as the point of interest in a brown smoky eye. It also proved its durability, clinging to my lids (over primer, of course) throughout the long muggy days.
Here it is today, applied all over the lid (again, over NYX HD primer) and blended into the crease—no other eye makeup here except mascara:
And the rest of my Independence Day look: Illamasqua Zygomatic blush, which I’ve been wearing for about a month straight, and Urban Decay Revolution lipstick in 69. (I’m also wearing shorts that match the lipstick exactly. AMERICA! And I bought those moonstone earrings at an outdoor market in Oxford last week.)
Something a little more complex, from last week: Statuesque on the mobile lid, Urban Decay Primal (a cool-toned medium brown from the Naked2 Basics palette) in the crease, and Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Demolition on the lashline. Unfortunately, I have such a light hand with eye makeup that all my “smoky” looks end up boringly work-appropriate (though I promise this looked smokier in person).
And here’s the full look. My blush is Zygomatic again, and my lipstick is Bourjois Rouge Edition in Beige Trench, which I’ll review next.
Wearing Statuesque for almost a week straight revealed not only its own versatility but also the versatility of the products I wore with it. Until last month, I’d never quite unlocked the potential of Demolition or the Naked2 Basics palette (note that I still haven’t reviewed either one). Now, though, I feel a lot more confident with both products. It was useful to have my options limited so dramatically for a week, even if my chronic forgetfulness was to blame.
Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans! (And happy belated Canada Day to those of you who don’t have to worry about Donald Trump becoming your next president.) If you’re still seeking the perfect summer cocktail, I highly recommend this bourbon slush punch from Smitten Kitchen: you squeeze some oranges and lemons, mix the juice with bourbon and strong black tea, and blend the mixture with crushed ice. We made it yesterday and have lots of punch mix left over for future revelry.
And by “future” I mean “imminent.” Byeeee.
Auxiliary Beauty 
Very pretty! And I definitely need to make that punch.By the way, I've found that if I scrape off the top layer of my Color Tattoos with a tissue or q-tip, there's creamy stuff left underneath. Still a bit of waste, but better than having to toss the whole thing. Some of them seem to dry out faster than others, though.
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That cocktail sounds good. I made a strawberry lemonade sangria this weekend – also excellent. I'm pretty fond of most cocktails, though, to be fair.Such a pretty, versatile shade. It reminds me of Urban Decay Underground in its utility, a shadow which I loved solidly for six years and then finally got rid of because the last little bit became fine powder and got everywhere.
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Thanks, I'll try that with Pomegranate Punk! It and Bad to the Bronze are definitely the most long-lived Color Tattoos I've tried. Bad to the Bronze is three years old now! Electric Blue and, uh, the silver one (not Silver Strike, it had a different name) were already pretty dry when I bought them, and they were unusable within a year.
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I'm definitely a cocktail person! I'll also drink wine and occasionally beer, but cocktails are just so much more exciting to me. They're the duochromes of the booze world.I just looked up Underground and it's very similar! Rose golds are great because they pair well with both warm and cool colors.
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I think you were thinking of Audacious Asphalt. I own both that and Bad to the Bronze. Same experience. Asphalt is dry and cracky, but Bad to the Bronze has a beautiful texture. I only wish Bad to the Bronze showed up better on my olive skin and eyelids.
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Is it bad that I still (!!) can't tell which eyeshadows are taupe-colored? I know taupe is gray-brown, but an eyeshadow is either brown or gray to my eyes.AnywayBeige Trench looks lovely on you. I'm not keen on nude lipsticks but it looks great!
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Yes, that was it! It was almost impossible to apply, and I wasn't a fan of the HUGE silver sparkles either.
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\”Taupe\” is just as ill-defined a word as \”coral\”! (Temptalia refers to a lot of lipsticks as \”coral\” that I see as red or fuchsia. Not every warm pink is a coral!) Honestly, some of the shades that I call \”taupe\” are probably warmish gray, or even neutral gray. If I had to identify a true taupe, though, I'd say MAC Satin Taupe comes pretty close.I'm not much of a nude-lipstick person either, but I really like the gray (or should I say taupe…) undertone of Beige Trench!
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Statuesque looks remarkably like a shadow I just, er, got rid of.. I'm looking at your pictures starting to second-guess myself, but I haven't worn it in two years! I'm almost envious of how good this looks on you, because most shades in the warmish-brownish family don't look right on me, somehow. I haven't quite identified what it is about them that throws me off, but I'm beginning to suspect it's the red hair. Trench looks so much like Cava! Maybe I should review Cava, hmm. My summer cocktail of choice is a Cointreau margarita with fresh mint and lime juice.
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No need to second-guess! Not everything works for everyone. And most warmish brownish shades look weird on me, actually. I can get away with warm red- or pink-browns, but I have to avoid any brown with too much yellow. I guess that's a good thing, because I haven't been tempted by any of the warm neutral palettes flooding the market right now.I'd love to read a review of Cava. It might give me some ideas for wearing Beige Trench! A tiny part of me regrets not buying Cava before it was discontinued, but Beige Trench was cheaper, so.
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Yeah, I have a LE blue-pink duochrome one from a few years ago that is like new, and Bad to the Bronze is holding up well, too. But Tough as Taupe is the same age and now really hard. I might have to chuck it.
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I had Tough as Taupe for a while, too, and it dried up pretty quickly. I can't say I was sorry to lose it, though, because I could never quite make the color work for me.
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That cocktail sounds delicious, I can't remember the last time I had a cocktail. I find holidays often make me appreciate certain eyeshadows or lipsticks – I become a bit more relaxed with my makeup and fall back on certain shades I don't always wear at home. Laziness while at home can also have that effect though which is nice 🙂
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[…] I’ve never been impressed by Barry M’s original Nail Paint formula, but their slightly more pricey Gelly Hi-Shine line is fabulous. The word “Gelly” is misleading: these polishes aren’t as long-lasting as gel manicures, nor do they have a jelly or crelly finish. But they are beautifully opaque and they come in great colors: Butterscotch Sundae is the yellow-white of clotted cream, and Damson is that blazing International Klein Blue shade that nail polish bloggers were losing their shit over a few years back. I should note here that Damson totally smells like weed. I swear it does. I made my boyfriend smell it and he thought I was crazy, but I’M NOT. Go smell it and tell me I’m not. 6. Seventeen Eyeshadow Mono in Statuesque […]
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[…] to right: Golden Mauve, Seventeen Statuesque, Maybelline Pomegranate Punk. I didn’t get home before sunset today, so I had to take this […]
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[…] Zygomatic cream blush, the dark brown sparkly shade from my theBalm custom palette, Seventeen Statuesque […]
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