So the kit comes in this cute little box, packed with tissue paper, and four products inside it. The four products in the kit are the Brow Gel in Caramel, two Hydrafull Lip Glosses in Heiress and Plastic, and an Illumin8 Eyeshadow Duo in On Set. It's coming out early this summer, and I don't know how much it's retailing for, but you get $86 worth of product (everything in it is full size! Yay!) and I assume it'll retail for less than that.
So from the left we have the Heiress lip gloss, then the lip gloss in Plastic, then the brow gel, then the shadow duo. The shadow duo has a shimmery champagne shadow and a coppery gold shadow, and comes in a metal-looking plastic case that's extremely reflective (which acts as a mirror on the inside). The duo comes with a little shadow applicator too, which is nice as far as these kinds of applicators go, but not something I'd ever use. I'd prefer a mini-eyeliner, but that's just me.
The lip gloss has a very interesting applicator--it's like a flat plastic paddle. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I see how it could be useful in not using too much product. On the other hand, I have a really hard time applying the lip gloss with it. I have to be right in front of a mirror watching it or there's uneven lip gloss everywhere. Here are the swatches: from the top, the shadow duo, the brow gel, Plastic lip gloss, and Heiress lip gloss.
Okay! The products:
Eyeshadow: I really love this. The packaging is decent, it looks very polished but doesn't feel that luxurious given that it's plastic. But the eye shadows are lovely! They are soft, go on like butter and very opaquely, have great lasting power, no fallout and are easy to blend. Both colors have a fine shimmer that really brightens the eye. I really, really like them! The champagne makes a nice inner-eye highlight color, and the copper-gold is a very pretty lid color that reminds me of MAC's Amber Lights a bit. It does pull a bit orange on me, and makes me look a little ill without being anchored by some black liner, but it's lovely against green or blue eyes. It's just bright enough to pop without being so bright that it looks garish or unflattering. The shadows have a Youthful Synergy Complex that claims to hydrate and firm the skin, which sounds lovely, but I'd have to use it for a few weeks straight to see if it works or not.
Lip gloss: Heiress is a medium coral-pink and Plastic is a straight-up Barbie pink. In terms of opacity, both of these glosses are very opaque--surprisingly so, really. They smell lightly like vanilla, but don't have a discernible taste. The formula is glossy, and has a nice, moisturizing feel on the lips without being heavy or greasy feeling. The lasting power is really impressive--my gloss lasted through dinner and then some, which is pretty good for me. My two qualms would be that it's a little on the sticky side, and that I don't like the applicator. Given that the gloss is so opaque, I can't casually apply it on the go because the applicator is a bit unwieldy for me, and I get really uneven application without a mirror. However, I really like the color of Heiress--applied thinly, it amps up my natural lip color nicely, and applied thickly, it's dramatic and lovely. Plastic just doesn't work for my skin tone, but it's a cute color. Apparently the gloss is packed full of moisturizing plant extracts that will make your lips look better, but I can't speak for that yet. The tubes themselves are above average quality, but you don't get that much product for $21 a pop--but given how pigmented they are, they probably last a while.
Brow gel: I really like the packaging on this. It's cute, but not too cutesy. The applicator is a spooly-brush (similar to a mascara brush) which makes it easy to comb through my brows. It goes on nicely, and looks very natural on my brows, adding a bit of color and a nice amount of hold, which definitely lasts all day. The isn't the color I would choose for myself, but Caramel is a medium golden brown with a hint of golden shimmer (which I didn't notice on my brows at all). I could see this being a really nice product if you have naturally shaped brows that don't need much filling in but maybe need a little control. My brows are lighter than my hair and full of scars and such, so I need a bit more of a heavy-duty product to fill them in, but I like the idea of this for a natural look. It also claims to plump hair follicles with botanical extracts, but I have thick brows already, so I can't judge that either. It retails individually for about $21.
Awkward Chic rating: Would I buy this? Probably not, just because the brow gel and one of the lip glosses don't work for my coloring. But would I buy the Heiress gloss and the shadow duo separately? Yes! Especially the shadow duo. I'd buy other Anastasia shadow duos in fact.
Disclaimer: this product was provided to me for review, but all my opinions are my own, and I am not paid to review products.
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