Sparkled Beauty

I received a few new products for Fall from The Body Shop to review for you. First, an InstaBlur Eye All-in-one tinted concealer + primer? Count me curious.

With Community Fair Trade marula oil and spherical powder for extra smoothing texture, InstaBlur Eye is meant to conceal under-eye dark circles, prime the surface and enhance the eyeshadow vibrancy.

Claim to have 12 hour shine control, extend makeup wear, hide blemish and make pores appear smoother, the product has a lot to prove.

I find InstaBlur Eye only conceals my dark circles lightly. Mind you, they are the consistent type of dark circles and it is a hard job to hide them. But with it on, my other concealers go on and stay on very well.

As an eye primer, it goes invisible after being spread out (the yellow tint does not stay, see a swatch below) and works well with my eyeshadows. The lids feel smooth, making eyeshadow blending a breeze. However, it stinks my eyes if applied near the inner corner, so be careful with application.

With my tube, the product comes out a little dry but I don't think it affects the quality. Just handle with care so it does not roll off your finger before going on your lid :)

Ingredients: Isododecane (solvent), Dimethicone (skin conditioning agent), Vinyldimethyl/ Trimethylsiloxysilicate Stearyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer (absorbent/ bulking agent), Silica (absorbent), Dimethicone Crosspolymer (emulsion stabilizer), Polymethyl Methacrylate (emollient), Isononyl Isononanoate (emollient), etc.

The tube is small (0.3oz/ 10ml), retails for $15, out now.

Also new this season is the Smoky 2 in 1 gel liner for eyes and brows in 01 Black.

With the same Community Fair Trade marula oil ingredient, and blended with ultra dark pigments, the liner sounds promising.

Now the product concept, including the built-in brush, is not new. And unfortunately for me, it does not stand out as a reliable product on its own.

The gel is soft enough to apply easily, quite dark and dries quickly. But it smudges (a few minutes in) and transfers (a few hours in) if not set with a powder eyeshadow. You'll see more in the FOTD post later.

I am not sure the product with this texture would work on the brows, thick and obvious on, so I did not test it for that purpose.

The jar is 0.06oz/ 2ml, sells for $15. Also available in Brown.

Lastly, the product that created quite an anticipation in me - Drops of Youth Eye concentrate.

I like the Drops of Youth serum, so I am game for this eye cream that is supposed to have smoothing effects on the appearance of bags and  lines with stem cell technology (from Edelweiss, a rare flower with resilience and potent renewal properties).

I do like the combination of a roller ball and a pump (on the other side of the tube from the ball) to discharge the product and the figure 8 application motion the brand suggests to stimulate blood flow to the area.

Other than wishing the plastic cover outside the ball a little smaller so it does not come into contact with my lid when I do not pay close attention doing the figure 8, I enjoy this eye cream for the ease of application, the cooling effect of the roller ball in the morning and how it keeps my eye area moisturized.

Note that I am still waiting for scientific proof that the vegetable stem cell technology works on human, but I won't discredit this product for what it does for me so far. The prize is up there with higher end eye cream though, for a small tube - $30 for 0.33oz/ 10ml ($5 off for LYB members right now).

Ingredients: Water (solvent), Polyethylene Terephthalate (film former), Acrylates Copolymer (stabiliser), Butylene Glycol (humectant), Pentylene Glycol (solvent), PVP (hair fixative), Phenoxyethanol (preservative), Polyurethane-11 (film former), Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), etc.

In the swatches above, I spread out the InstaBlur Eye (left) to show you the texture. Smoky 2 in 1 gel liner (middle) was freshly applied, hence the top part was still drying. Drops of Youth Eye concentrate (right) shows its luminosity out of the tube, but that won't show on your lid.

Check out a FOTD I did featuring the products above.