Creating perfect smokey eyes or blending the right shadows together can be tricky. With this in mind, brands like Eye Majic by Japonesque, ColorOn Professional and Avon have each created instant eye shadows. These are strips that already have oval-shaped color deposited on them to rub on your lids. Most of them come with layers of different colors and look like mini rainbows on the strips. The idea is to give you the exact application on both lids the way a professional makeup-artist would.

I tried Eye Majic. Its applicator is a foam pad for each lid. In variety packs of 5 or 10 sets, they come individually wrapped. To apply, you peel off the plastic, remove a pad from the backing and place it on your lid close to your lashline. Rub the pad for a few seconds and slide it out to see the color transferred on you. The pigment is really rich, so once I did this it looked a little scary- like exaggerated stage makeup. But once I blended with my fingers to diffuse the obvious stamp look, it looked surprisingly natural. I like that it gave me a look that I wouldn't have tried on my own otherwise. They remind me of press-on nails, quick and easy to apply. And you don’t have to worry about buying different shadows or figuring out what colors to mix together. This does the job for you in a blink of an eye or two!