Makeon Princess Gel Eyeliner Set - Season 1 mermaid

I'm always on the lookout for ways to make my makeup more portable - I travel a lot at the moment between Wales and Bristol and I've lost count of the number of blushers/eyeshadows/powders I've managed to shatter all over my handbag/clothes. Blushers I've replaced with creams and tints, powder I've replaced with mist, but after trying several cream type eyeshadows and coloured eye crayons/pencils I've yet to find one with the staying power I desire. 

I'm a massive fan of eye crayons - they're so easy and quick to use, the colour payout is usually good and the end look is always pleasing. Then something happens between the bathroom and arriving at work..the crayon has creased, the tasteful shimmer now decorates my cheeks like a "little miss America" contestant and the "waterproof/smudge proof/12HR wear" claims have left a bitter taste in my mouth. 

So when I saw the adverts for this product on wishtrend.com showing an incredibly waterproof product I jumped the gun and bought it instantly. 

Let's see if this set lives up to the hype...

Image from Wishtrend.com

Makeon is the makeup line from Tosowoong, a Korean skincare brand. They've brought out several sets of gel liners all available in tins decorated by pictures of various "princesses" (I assume this one is supposed to be Ariel). I bought season 1 - which is mostly Browns/golds. 

The outside metal case - very travel-proof!

I purchased this set from Tosowoong on eBay during an auction for £7.50 about 2 months ago - which I still think was a very good price. I also got 5 Tosowoong samples! Or if you prefer you can buy it from Wishtrend or Memebox. 

The inside - perfectly cushioned for beauty on the go

The case contains 5 different pencils, all around 4 inches each. 

The colours are:

Party Tonight Pearl Black 

Lovely Espresso Brown

Sexy Vampire Burgundy

Sweet Princess Gold

Look At Me Lovely Beige

I was most excited about the gold and the beige in this set, as brown and black eyeliners with good staying power are easy to find. I love using light shimmery colours in the inner corner of my eyes, but it never usually lasts very long. 

Completely water-proof - some flaking when rubbed with soap though

First impressions: As you can see in sunlight these all have a slight pearly shimmer and the gold has slightly larger flecks of glitter. The colour payout was very good and they dried almost instantly - becoming completely smudge-proof, water-proof and crease-proof. Now you must remember with these types of pencils that they are waterproof not oil-proof, so use minimal skincare on your lids before using them and consider using a primer if your lids are very oily. 

Ease of use: The black and brown shades apply beautifully, they don't tug and one swipe is all you need to get a really strong colour. Burgundy just doesn't suit my pinky skin and makes me look like I've been crying all day but this one also applies smoothly. 

The gold (ahh the gold...) tugs. When you apply it it tugs my lids and you have to swipe more than once to get a good colour payoff - which causes the colour to clump making my eyelids look bumpy. To add insult to injury those gold flecks then explode over my cheeks (yayy teen disco!!!!) As this was the colour I was most looking forward to this was a bit of a disappointment. 

The beige also suffers from the same tugging affliction, but it stays put even on my inner eyes - so I can forgive it for tugging a little.

Another point to note is that these are not auto-pencils - you do need to sharpen them like normal pencils. 

The good and the bad

Rebuy: Maybe, I'd like to try Étude House Play 101 pencils to see how they fare compared to these and then perhaps Clio Gelspresso pencils (that Fanserviced-b has been raving about) These pencils are miles better than any I've tried from the UK, they do last all day - but for me I'm still looking for my perfect "gold" pencil.

Étude House bb cream samples

I recently received some samples of Étude House BB creams and one face base, as I am forever on the search for a HG BB cream I was eager to try these, although I had a slight suspicion that they wouldn't be my shade (see below for lard coloured skin examples). 

From left: Baby choux base in "Mint Choux", Precious Mineral BB in "Blooming Fit w13" and "Cotton Fit w13"

(I'm maybe slightly more tan than white flour) I'd say the blooming fit was around an NW 15-20, and the Cotton Fit is around an NW 20-25.

Baby Choux in Mint Choux costs $15 from www.etudehouse.com

I was very excited when I received this as I've been looking for something to tone down the red marks around my nose and hoped this would work well. 

Ingredients: WATER, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, METHYL TRIMETHICONE, TITANIUM DIOXIDE (CI 77891), GLYCERIN, ETHYLHEXYL METHOXYCINNAMATE, DICAPRYLYL CARBONATE, DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, CETYL PEG/PPG-10/1 DIMETHICONE, BUTYLENE GLYCOL DICAPRYLATE/DICAPRATE, SILICA, ZINC OXIDE (CI 77947), DISTEARDIMONIUM HECTORITE, SODIUM CHLORIDE, PEG-10 DIMETHICONE, CETYL ETHYLHEXANOATE, DIMETHICONE, DIMETHICONE/VINYL DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, CYCLOHEXASILOXANE, ALUMINUM HYDROXIDE, POLYSILICONE-11, STEARIC ACID, CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, TRIETHOXYCAPRYLYLSILANE, POLYMETHYL METHACRYLATE, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, DISODIUM EDTA, ALOE BARBADENSIS LEAF EXTRACT, NELUMBO NUCIFERA FLOWER EXTRACT, PRUNUS MUME FRUIT EXTRACT, CHROMIUM OXIDE GREENS (CI 77288), IRON OXIDES (CI 77492), FRAGRANCE

First impressions: 

Texture: A lovely mint green colour with quite a light texture. 

Scent: The scent is slightly floral but it's very subtle. 

Coverage: It blends easily and smoothly and the green colour doesn't settle in any lines, in fact the green colour disappears pretty quickly. 

This was more of a base than a BB cream - the colour pay off was next to nothing for this reason. I'm still unsure what exactly it's supposed to do, because it did ermm..nothing. Maybe due to the fact that I'm so pale, I found no difference in my skin tone after applying, it had no effect on any red patches and no effect on how smoothly my foundation went on afterwards - if anything it made my foundation much slower to absorb. 

Buy it or bin it? Bin, unfortunately it didn't do a thing. YMMV this may be more effective on darker skin colours - but if it's redness you're trying to cover, keep looking because this isn't going do a thing! 

Precious mineral BB cream in Blooming fit w13 costs £7.20 And you can find it here: 

http://www.roseroseshop.com/en/20-sale/121355--etude-house-precious-mineral-bb-cream-blooming-fit-60g-now13-natural-beige-new.html?ps_full_site=1 

Ingredients: WATER, PHENYL TRIMETHICONE, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, TITANIUM DIOXIDE (CI 77891), BUTYLENE GLYCOL DICAPRYLATE/DICAPRATE, ETHYLHEXYL METHOXYCINNAMATE, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, HYDROGENATED POLY(C6- 14 OLEFIN), CYCLOHEXASILOXANE, CETYL PEG/PPG-10/1 DIMETHICONE, GLYCERIN, NIACINAMIDE, ZINC OXIDE (CI 77947), BORON NITRIDE, POLYGLYCERYL-4 ISOSTEARATE, DISTEARDIMONIUM HECTORITE, SODIUM CHLORIDE, POLYBUTENE, HYDROGENATED POLYISOBUTENE, HEXYL LAURATE, ALUMINUM HYDROXIDE, BEESWAX, STEARIC ACID, TRIETHOXYCAPRYLYLSILANE, CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, DISODIUM EDTA, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, ADENOSINE, METHYL METHACRYLATE CROSSPOLYMER, MOTHER OF PEARL, PHYLLOSTACHIS BAMBUSOIDES JUICE, ALCOHOL, IRON OXIDES (CI 77492, CI 77491, CI 77499), FRAGRANCE

First Impressions

Texture: This has a very light texture and a good amount of "slip" although it was too dark for me it would still do in a pinch during the summer, due to how blendable it was. 

Scent: Not much of one, just a slight "sunscreen" smell.

Coverage: I couldn't really test it on my own face as it's now winter and I've got my whole "Morticia Adams" paleness going on. My mother however is a perfect NW20-25 and this was perfect on her, I'd say the coverage was medium, but very buildable. The most impressive thing was how this completely covered deep pores without caking and without primer - pretty miraculous stuff! It also did a very good job at hiding dark circles and didn't settle into any lines throughout the day. 

Staying power: Stayed matte all day (but she does have normal/dry skin) didn't settle into lines, some wear around the nose but considering the ease of applying it would have been easy to touch up. 

Buy it or bin it? Mums asked for it for Christmas, so I guess I will be buying it! 

Etude House Precious mineral in Cotton Fit w13 costs $15 at www.etudehouse.com

Ingredients: WATER, PEARL EXTRACT, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, TITANIUM DIOXIDE (CI 77891), GLYCERIN, PHENYL TRIMETHICONE, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, BUTYLENE GLYCOL DICAPRYLATE/DICAPRATE, CYCLOHEXASILOXANE, NIACINAMIDE, NYLON-12, CETYL PEG/PPG-10/1 DIMETHICONE, HYDROGENATED POLY(C6-14 OLEFIN), ZINC OXIDE (CI 77947), TALC, DIMETHICONE/VINYL DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, IRON OXIDES (CI 77492), BEESWAX, HELIANTHUS ANNUUS (SUNFLOWER) SEED OIL, GOSSYPIUM HERBACEUM (COTTON), CENTELLA ASIATICA EXTRACT, PORTULACA OLERACEA EXTRACT, ARGANIA SPINOSA KERNEL OIL, MELISSA OFFICINALIS LEAF EXTRACT, MALVA SYLVESTRIS (MALLOW) EXTRACT, ACHILLEA MILLEFOLIUM EXTRACT, ALCHEMILLA VULGARIS EXTRACT, PRIMULA VERIS EXTRACT, MENTHA PIPERITA (PEPPERMINT) LEAF EXTRACT, VERONICA OFFICINALIS EXTRACT, SODIUM CHLORIDE, SORBITAN ISOSTEARATE, PENTYLENE GLYCOL, HEXYL LAURATE, TRIBEHENIN, DISTEARDIMONIUM HECTORITE, POLYMETHYLSILSESQUIOXANE, TRIETHOXYCAPRYLYLSILANE, PROPYLENE CARBONATE, DIMETHICONE/METHICONE COPOLYMER, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, ADENOSINE, KAOLIN, SILICA, LECITHIN, DISODIUM EDTA, PHENOXYETHANOL, FRAGRANCE(PARFUM), MICA (CI 77019), IRON OXIDES (CI 77491), IRON OXIDES (CI 77499)

First impressions:

Texture: This was much thicker than the other two, well it was just as runny but it just felt thick when I was blending it. 

Scent: Smells like sunscreen

Coverage: Again this one was too dark for me and the coverage was higher so it was much harder to blend. I'm not sure if you can see in the picture but this one even settled into the tiny lines on my arm to leave an almost "snakeskin" look - not nice. 

Staying power: Not tested, but it's not rubbed off my arm in the past 6 hours despite being under my sweater. I'm pretty sure the "sweater arm test" will be the next big thing in product testing. 

Buy it or Bin it? Bin - this would be more suited to someone with oily skin and of course a darker skin tone. 

Final thoughts

My pale BB search continues! I've heard some promising things on reddits /asianbeauty about Misshas BB cream so I will be purchasing that soon to try out. 

I found that these sample sizes although they looked rather small were enough to do two coats of bb on your whole face - I imagine that if you're a light coverage kinda girl these samples would last you 2 days - something to think about if you're planning on doing a trial before purchasing! 

Rosamund x x