Milani Cosmetics Gel Powder Eyeshadows

Introducing the new Bella gel powder eyeshadows from Milani Cosmetics! Saw these at my local CVS store last week however they had a smaller display which only had some of the shades, I then went to Walgreens today and was able to grab a few more as they were on sale for $3.99, whereas CVS was $4.59 each. Since I hear these are permanent, I would wait until they have a BOGO half off or BOGO free sale (which they occasionally do). I believe there are a total of 19 shades.

I skipped on some of the other colors only because I know I would either never use them, or because I have something similar (do I really need another black eyeshadow?!??).

First impression: These are NOT gel, nor are they "gel-like", it's not soft and mushy like a gel, in fact I have actual gel-powder eyeshadows from Colour Pop Cosmetics to compare it to, and those are definitely gel, because as soon as you touch it, your finger feels somewhat wet to the touch, and the slightest touch causes the product to move similar to that of a mousse/gel.

These eyeshadows however, just feel like a soft, baked, finely-milled powder eyeshadow. They don't shift to the touch, and they feel very velvety and smooth. Some shades are highly pigmented, even on their own without a primer, some looked less pigmented with a primer for some odd reason, and some were not pigmented at all (Bella Cappuccino and Bella Caffe were the worst performing, they were so light and I really had to scrape a good amount of color just to swatch them), in all fairness though, it may be a good thing that they go on so light for those of you that have a heavy hand, because it will really give a more natural look then going on too heavy or borderline smoky. Bella Sand was also another one that was very sheer and light, however that was what I expected, and it makes a good highlighting color.

In terms of performance and staying power, I have not tested it myself as of yet since I just got these, from what I know with past Milani eyeshadows, a good eyeshadows primer is a must. They seem to fade very quickly when worn alone.

Below are the shades I bought, there are two swatches in each pic, for each color, the swatch on the left is the eyeshadow by itself, and the swatch on the right is with an eyeshadow primer (I used a Rimmel eyeshadow primer for these).

My favorite shades: Bella Gold, Bella Bronze, Bella Emerald, Bella Navy, and Bella Charcoal
Least favorites: Bella Cappuccino and Bella Caffe

Are you picking up any of these? Have you seen them yet at a store near you? Sound off in the comments below!