My darlings,
I thoroughly enjoyed the drugstore this month. There have been some lovely new products coming out (some of these have been out for months aka new-to-me, others are brand new.) I wanted to share what I loved this month, and what I actually RETURNED to the store because I was so offended by their quality (do these companies think we are stupid?).
Hits: 1) Wet n’ Wild’s Comfort Zone eyeshadow palette, 2) Revlon’s Lip Butters in Red Velvet and Pink Truffle, and 3) Physician’s Formula Happy Booster Blush in “Warm”.
These newish products are all amazing for the price, which range from $6 for the eyeshadow palette, to $9-11 for the blush and lip butters. (I bought these all at CVS with coupons and BOGO deals, so it is possible to get the price significantly down). The “Comfort Zone” palette and the blush shade are both new colors for a pre-existing line of products.
Wet n’ Wild’s Comfort Zone eyeshadow palette
Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone eyeshadow palette
I own quite a few Wet n’ Wild palettes. The shadows are lovely– excellent quality for the price. Better than the raved about Elf products, I think. This is the BEST color selection of any of the WnW palettes I own. There is not a dud in the group. They are beautiful, shimmering, pigmented neutral shades with a couple of interesting surprises– like the duochrome color in the lower right quadrant marked “Definer”. That particular shade is so pretty– a cool brown shot through with gorgeous blue tones.
Colors from the right side of the palette– in descending order: shimmering light beige “browbone”, shimmering dark mint “eyelid”, shimmering brown with dark green undertones and gold sparkle “crease”, duochrome purple-blue “definer” shadow. (There are good comparison swatches of the last shade to similar MAC and Lorac shadows at Scrangie’s blog linked here.)
Colors from the left side of the palette in two different lights.
Revlon Lip Butters in Pink Truffle and Red Velvet
I have tried a few lip butters now– I adore the formula, which is creamy and moisturizes my lips. I don’t find all the shades that wearable (Creamsicle, I am looking at you!). These two shades, on the other hand, are wonderfully wearable– rich and dark but not overpowering. Easy to throw on first thing in the morning to jazz up a minimalist make up day.
Physician’s Formula Happy Booster Blush in “Warm”
This new blush shade is a gorgeous peachy-pink with the hallmark highlighter quality of all of the Happy Booster blushes. The feel of Happy Booster blushes on one’s skin is soft and smooth, they have a lovely scent (although I’m not sure that they are actually mood boosting), and they are paraben-free. Swatches are forthcoming in a peachy-pink blush comparison blog.
Misses: 4) Almay “Wake Up” eyeshadow+ primer palette, and 5) Physician’s Formula Shimmer Strip Custom Eye Enhancing Kohl Kajal Eyeliner Trio.
Oh. My. Gosh. The worst. Like WORST. So bad that I actually took time OUT of my work day to RETURN the products, instead of just taking them home and making them work somehow. I am seriously in disbelief that companies would put out such worthless products. Especially considering that they aren’t rock bottom prices and there are better quality items for cheaper at the drugstore.
Almay “Wake Up” eyeshadow+ primer palette
So pretty in the palette right? I was excited when I bought it. Look at that lovely shimmering mint color and pretty browns… and how cute that it comes with its own little primer! Ach, I thought to myself– what a lovely little compact item to carry around with me in my bag. (Musing of a Muse has some nice pics of the whole Wake Up line here). Until BOOM. I swatched the colors….
As Gertrude Stein once said of Berkeley, California (and the most accurate indictment of California I have ever heard): “There’s no there there.” Indeed. There is no THERE in that eyeshadow. Almay “Wake Up”? More like GO BACK TO SLEEP. Boring colors. That green on the top? Yeah, the camera saw more than my own eyes. To me it read plain old glitter with absolutely no green to it. That light brown/ gold? Can barely see it. No color, no dimension, no depth. It was just a hot glitter mess. In the pic above, the colors are HEAVILY swatched. The primer did nothing to help with color saturation and left my skin feeling like an oil slick. Terrible product. Really. Don’t insult my intelligence, Almay.
Physician’s Formula Shimmer Strip Custom Eye Enhancing Kohl Kajal Eyeliner Trio
This product with a mouthful name was another bitter disappointment. So, so sad. The colors were actually lovely, the kit came with a purple, a green, and a black liner– I swatched the green and it was a great color– but the pencil tip crumbled when it touched my arm and I knew instantly I wanted to return it so I didn’t continue swatching.
The problem with these eyeliners is that they aren’t retractable, nor does it look like they sharpen. All the product is stacked in a mountain shape on top of a tube-stick thing. It makes absolutely no sense. The whole point of having a sharpenable pencil or retractable pencil is that the liner product is protected until you need it. I saw this sitting on my bathroom counter with a myriad of accidents befalling it, rendering it impossible to use. I briefly considering slicing off the liner product and putting it into a little pot and applying it with a brush. But then I shook myself out of la-la land, considered how many other wonderful pencil liners there are out there that don’t need all that work, and took it back to the drugstore.
Well there you have it, my beauties. Some fabulous drugstore products and some disappointments. Happy shopping– let me know if you pick any of these up!
What goodies have you acquired from the drugstore lately?
