Sparkled Beauty

If you haven't noticed already, drugstore makeup is at its prime. To continue the good streak, I have reviews for you today of the Annabelle Spring 2013 products. It is a long one, sit tight :)

I was super excited about the CC (Colour Control) line, since it deals with issues my skin has.

The CC pressed powder (in Light/ Medium here), enriched with Vitamin E and antioxidants, is to offer a flawless anti-shine finish. The hidden compartment has a mirror and a brush for touchups.

The Instant Perfecting bases (in Natural and Luminous finish) have microsized spherical powders with photoluminescent diamond controls (neutralizing redness, dull and uneven complexion), corrects (reducing appearance of pores and fine line) and primes skin for makeup, improves foundation wear.

These products are oil/ paraben/ perfume free, lightweight, non-sticky and suits all skin tones.

Swatches of the Instant Perfecting bases - Natural finish on the left, Luminous finish in the middle (you can see the glow on the top), and the pressed powder - almost invisible, on the right.

My experience with the Instant Perfecting bases has been very pleasant. The natural finish offers a natural my-skin-but-better look while the luminous finish offers a soft glow, subtle and not shimmery. I have done looks with both to show you in next posts.

The powder is great as finishing powder for me. Coverage is light, not enough to hide my flaws, even with a concealer, so I definitely still need a foundation. But if you have good complexion, the base and this powder might be all you need.

The line retails $16.95 a piece.The bases have 1oz/ 30ml, the powder contains 0.28oz/ 8g. They are on sale this week at Shoppers for $12.99, plus $2 off coupons are available on the display, best time to get them!

The dual-ended tube of Roll-on Eyeshadow + Liner sparkled some doubt in my mind about its practicality (well, the roll-on part), but I was surprised of how much I enjoyed using it. This shade is for brown eyes, with a taupe loose eyeshadow with a roller ball applicator on one end, and a black liquid eyeliner with a fine brush on the other end.

The roller ball deposits the eyeshadow quite well then you can blend with a brush. If the product does not come out as much as you want, just give it a gently shake to get more product near the roller ball.

Due to its loose form, the eyeshadow does have fallouts and needs a good base/ primer to stick to on your lids for more than 4 hours.

You can mix some eyeshadow with iTransformer (or a mixing medium of sort) to turn it to a cream eyeshadow, for easier application.

The liquid liner is a typical black liner, gets a little heavy once dry. I only applied a very thin line a few times I tested it, hard to testify about any flaking or fading, unfortunately. Swatches are below :)

The product retails for $10.95, 4 colour combinations. The eyeshadow size has 0.05oz/ 1.5g, the eyeliner has 0.12oz/ 3.5g.

Now the Expandable mascara :)

The polymer brush changes with a turn of the dial (following the + or - signs on the hot pink stripes at the bottom of the handle). I already bought myself this mascara before the press sample, so I have two brushes to compare the wand lengths.

The expanded form is to create
volume and the retracted form for length and definition. The brush is a little harder than what I am used to, so take a bit of care when you bring it close to the lashes.

Volume? Definitely, but when you go over the lashes with the shortened brush for length, don't apply more than 2 coats or you will end up with clumped lashes. I would say the good combo for me is one coat of each length. The formula is not wet coming out of the tube, very easy to use. I did not experience smudging or transferring with this mascara.

Suggested retail price: $10.95, 0.25oz/ 7ml.

And lastly, the Zebra bronzing powder in Haute Gold in Biggy size - 0.65oz/ 18.7g (vs. the now-discontinued size 0.37oz/ 10.7g). I put them side by side so you can see how big it has "grown". Note the heart image on the lid, my camera loves Haute Gold too :)

I got this bronzer (the smaller one) back in 2010, hit pan slightly, and it is still one of my favorite bronzers. Love the wave pattern with a mix of bronze and gold colours, the warmth it brings to my face, the very subtle silky shimmer that adds just the right shine where needed. Enough said?

The Biggy size of this bronzer retails for $11.95.

Swatches of the roll-on eyeshadow and liner, and the bronzer.

This eyeshadow (I wish it has its own name instead of just "eyeshadow for brown eyes" lol) looks nothing special in the tube but swatches beautifully. It is a taupe, with hints of purple. To help with your imagination, it is very close to the infamous MAC Satin Taupe :)

On the eyes, it shows up less saturated, more like a light taupe. Great as a wash colour, or to bright up the inner half of the lids, or add a pop of colour in the middle of the lids.

The liner did not smear when I did some messy lines on my hand. The pigmentation is not crazy/ extreme intense but good enough. If you plan to do thick lines/ cat eyes with this liner, it might pull your lash line a little afterward, based on my experience with thin lines.

The bronzer is just simply beautiful, works well on me. For fairer skin tone, this colour still works, just use a light hand and build gradually if needed.

To summarize, the best Spring product from Annabelle is definitely the CC Instant Perfecting bases, both finishes are wonderful. Check out the FOTDs with the CC Natural finish base and the CC Luminous finish base. And if you haven't own the Haute Gold bronzer for some reason, get to it, Summer is not too far away :)