eyeliner

UNBOXING: Birchbox May 2018 – Palm Leaves and Warm Breeze

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This month’s theme was Palm Leaves & Warm Breeze, saying ‘aloha’ to the first signs of summer.

No full-size products this month. We will use everything in the box. Well-curated but nothing particularly exciting other than the box, which is beautiful and definitely worthy of staying out on show.

DOUCCE: Luscious Lip Stain in Amber Rose, unknown size
Value: Approx £10 (not sure of sample size), full size 6g is £21

Image result for doucce lip stain amber rose

“This pigmented liquid formula applies matt, dries fast (so it won’t transfer onto anything and lasts for hours. Unlike other matte lip products, this long-lasting formula glides on smoothly for comfortable all-day wear”

BT INITIAL OPINION: A super flattering, fresh colour for oriental skintones. Formula is a little watery but the pay off is that is doesn’t ‘crack’ or dry too much like most matte lip paints. Tried the kiss test and it passed with flying colours 😀

GREENFROG BOTANIC: Geranium & Peppermint Botanical Bodywash, 50ml
Value: £1.49

Greenfrog Botanic Geranium and Peppermint Award Winning Soapberry Body Wash

“This organic formula is cruelty-free, vegan and completely free from chemical nasties! Brimming with moisturising alow vera and Saponin-rich soapberries, this gentle wash cleanses your skin whilst maintaining pH levels.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – The fresh scent is nice and the size will be great for a weekend away. This claims to be great for sensitive skin, eczema and psoriasis which would be the main plus point for us, but the sample is too small to verify these claims.

NATIVE UNEARTHED: Activated Charcoal Natural Deodorant Balm, 15g
Value: £1.99

Native Unearthed Activated Charcoal Natural Deodorant Balm

“This all-natural cream forgoes chemicals in favour of sweat-absorbing arrowroot, antibacterial coconut oil and soothing shea butter. Just smooth a pea-sized amount onto clean underarms to form an invisible shield.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Small sample but happy to try alternative product like this although it’s not that different to a pushup stick or roll on once applied.

CAUDALIE: Make-up Removing Cleansing Oil, 30ml
Value: £5.40

Caudalie

“This 100% natural blend of sunflower, sweet almond and grape oils is a must have afor all skin types. Just massage onto dry skin to dissolve make-up, add water and rinse away to leave your skin clean and soft.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – We love cleansing oils! Will be interesting to see how this compares with our enduring classic Shu Uemura cleansing oil (which actually works out cheaper).

EYEKO: Skinny Liquid Eyeliner, 1.2g
Value: £9.60

Skinny Liquid Eyeliner

“This easy-to-use pen-style applicator will have you lining and defining your eyes in a flash. This fade-resistant formula will last all day and night.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Black eyeliners will always get used and this one has a great reputation. Really surprised that the full size product is only 2g – super expensivo at £16. Let’s see if its performance justifies the high price tag when plenty perform well around the £5 mark.

OVERALL VERDICT:

We feel a bit conflicted with Birchbox at the moment. First of all, they got rid of Birch points and lifestyle extras and beauty tips. The quality of the boxes is very samey…on the one hand, they are mainly products we will use and are happy with. On the other hand, they are featuring high end brands less and being less exciting in general. Caudalie and Eyeko are solid brands but feature in boxes so often. In addition to this, there were no full size products. This was not so much the issue as some samples being too small as well (meaning that you can’t really tell if a product is worth buying). Whilst we’re not unhappy and have some great items to go in our travel washbags, Birchbox need to try harder.

Box price: £10.00 plus £2.95 shipping (rolling month by month subscription) – although we got this on a discount offer

Total value: £28.48

Note: We paid for this Birchbox with our own hard-earnt pennies

Like the look of Birchbox? Subscribe at www.birchbox.co.uk and you’ll get £5 off your first box! You’re welcome 😉

REVIEW: Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eyeliner Black, £4

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Image result for rimmel exaggerate eye liner waterproof

Picked this up last minute in an airport. What a great find. The highly pigmented formula applied really easily and smudged well and stayed put relatively well. For oriental eyes, this is no mean feat where there pigment often creases up and collects in the corner. The waterproof formula makes it perfect for humid climates and beach-based holidays. The automatic pencil comes with a little smudger on the end although we didn’t use this.

Due to the easy application and soft ‘lead’, the eyeliner won’t last that long. But the pricepoint is fair. You also can’t get as fine a line as with a hard formula pencil or ink. Perfect for smokey eyes.

We now use this daily. An excellent waterproof eyeliner that works hard for its money.

Pros:  High performance eyeliner, smudgeable, waterproof, true black, good price
Cons:  Wasteful due to soft formula (have to throw plastic barrels away)

SCORE: 4.5 out of 5

We bought this without our hard-earnt pennies

REVIEW: Collection Fast Stroke Eye Liner (black) 3.8g, £2.99

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Image result for collection fast stroke eyeliner

We like the control of a pen, dislike the faff of gel liners with separate brushes. Our favourite liquid liners are definitely the dip style felt tip liquid liners. You get great control with these.

This Collection product was at a pretty good price but was very average. It stung our eyelids a little for the first couple of weeks, but the main issue was that the colour was not really as dense as we would usually like.

Not terrible/average in all. Our favourite so far is Rimmel Exaggerate (or the Clio Kill Black Eyeliner Pen, not available in the UK) which gives a really opaque line.

PROS: A good-quality tip for producing nice shapes/lines, relatively cheap

CONS: Colour bit watery

2 out of 5

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Shara Shara Creamy Dual Auto Eyestick #3, Celeb Burgundy

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Image result for shara shara dual creamy auto eye stick

Shara Shara is a Korean cosmetic brand, more well known for its fun take on beauty than quality.

This is a dual-ended ‘automatic’ type pencil with a creamy glittery ‘eyeshadow’ that goes on smoothly and a more narrow, darker ‘liner. Ours was a peachy corally eyeshadow (shade similar to NARS orgasm) together with a burgundy liner.

The quality of both of these isn’t great and like most soft liners, they settle in to creases quickly without the use of primers and fixers. We suggest applying them then dusting along the lash line with a shade of eye shadow that matches or is darker than the liner to set it.

Whether or not the shades suit you, whether or not the shadow is too glittery for you, our biggest gripe is the absolutely terrible value. The liner end of the pencil broke and the turns out, there’s maximum 5cm of product in that end.

You woulodn’t get a whole eye look with this product and not that convinced the two colours even complement each other that well but it does give quite a fresh look. It’s a fun throwaway product that came in a Memebox, but we wouldn’t actually have wanted to spend money on this.