Essence: Ready For Boarding Eyeshadow Palette Review

I hadn't bought any eyeshadows from Essence for a pretty long time. My last eyeshadow purchase from the Trend Editions (i.e. limited editions) was the much sought-after Vampire's Love Eyeshadow Palette back in November last year. The pans may have been tiny but the eyeshadows were fab.

The Ready For Boarding trend edition collection has been in stores here for several weeks now (and not selling well, I must add). Against my better judgement, I bought the eyeshadow palette, called 01 Beauty On Tour. I'm not a huge fan of light/pastel eyeshadow shades but after swatching the testers in the store, I convinced myself that I needed some lighter eyeshadow colours to balance out the abundance of medium-dark ones in my drawer.

[slaps face]

I regret getting this palette. I really do. Okay, I didn't spend a fortune on this - only €3.49 - but it's still a waste of money. Cosnova (the company behind Essence and Catrice) knows how to make quality eyeshadows and selling them at very affordable prices but this palette is, ppffff, sub-standard.

The Ready For Boarding Eyeshadow Palette does look cute with its postcard/stamp-like design. It's small (approx. 3.5" x 2.5") and it shuts with a magnet. You get six mostly pastel shades for the price but to be honest, I thought the only respectable one of the lot was the brown eyeshadow on the far right. All the shades have a satin finish.

The swatches:

L-R: Light taupe grey, pale yellow, mint green, pale cornflower blue, pale beige, medium brown

They look quite all right in the swatches, don't they? Decent.

Well, the problem I have with the five light eyeshadows is that once I've blended them out, they all look pretty much the same. The grey and the blue end up looking ashy. Faded out, the mint green and the pale yellow would resemble the pale beige. I can hardly tell the difference! Ashy and beige become one!

The brown shade is the only one able to hold its own. It's not unique but at least, it's a lovely bronzy brown.

I've worn these eyeshadows numerous times but I won't bother to show you a couple of the eye looks. They were just, yes, ashy and/or beige.

However, the following eye looks were okay (not wow), I thought, but that's only because in one, I had used predominantly the brown shade and in the other, I used the orange Exotica (one of the Catrice Coolibri Eye Shadow Pens) as a base.

Note: For all the swatches and the first eye look, I've used the Etos Eyeshadow Underbase as my eyeshadow primer.

Products used:
Ready For Boarding Eyeshadow Palette - pale yellow and brown
GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Liner - Metallic Brass
Catrice Lashes to Kill Mascara - Black Green

Products used:
Ready For Boarding Eyeshadow Palette - pale yellow, pale blue and brown
GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Liner - Metallic Brass
Catrice Lashes to Kill Mascara - Black Green

For this second eye look, I applied the pale cornflower blue on the orange of Exotica.

"Where is the blue?" I hear you ask.

My point exactly! It just 'ashened' the orange.

Perhaps it's worth pointing out that this Essence palette was made in China. Many of the Essence/Catrice products that I've purchased were made in countries like Italy, Poland, France, Germany and Luxembourg, so seeing 'Made in China' here is unusual. Oh, I don't know.........

Enough said!


Essence website

GOSH: Long Lasting Lip Marker Review

Funny product, this.

Right, I know there are many lip marker products on the market these days but this Long Lasting Lip Marker by GOSH is my first one. And probably my last one.

I don't get this one. I've had this for some months, used it a few times, didn't like it and put it into cold storage. I thought I'd give it another go, have been using it a few weeks and gaaah, I still don't like it!

To those ladies who can work well with lip markers, good for you. I probably have whacked lips.

This GOSH Long Lasting Lip Marker:

• is weird
OK, this is just the inherent nature of such a product. It's literally a marker pen. I never thought I would be using that on my lips one day! It even makes a slight rustling sound quite like when you write with a marker pen on paper. The pen tip, by the way, feels cool on the lips.

• is difficult to apply
On the pen, GOSH says to use on clean and dry lips. No kidding. This marker pen won't draw well on wet/moist lips and on lips prepped with lipbalm. In my case, even if my lips are dry, the marker doesn't draw properly sometimes. The colour won't take. I end up having to draw over and over and over and over again to get the colour to transfer. Shaking the pen helps somewhat to get the liquid inside to flow to the tip.

• is not longlasting
Sure, the colour sinks into the lips leaving a nice stain (it's pigmented but don't expect full-on colour). It doesn't stay intact for very long on me though, about two hours. It doesn't transfer too much from drinking but most of it does go if I eat.

• does not fade evenly
To make matters worse, it fades unevenly leaving an awful outline on the lips, especially when used alone. Really awful.

• is not moisturising
As mentioned above, the colour sinks into the lips, into every line on the lips. There is some hydration but I can feel my lips shrivelling a bit within an hour. To counter that, I would use either a lipbalm or a lip gloss over it. If a lipbalm is used, try to apply it with your finger. Otherwise, be prepared for stains on your lipbalm stick.

I can say one good thing about this lip marker though. It smells/tastes sweet. It has the sweetener, sorbitol.

Ingredients

The shade that I have is 003 Berry, a lovely fuchsia red (OK, that's the second good thing). I've seen two other shades in the stores, Chocolate and Red. I'm aware that there is a fourth one called Pink.

Without lipbalm

Strangely, there is no information on this product on the GOSH website. So, I got this from the website of Superdrug:

Now it is possible to make an even more precise application of lip colour. The pen-like tip gives complete control over the application.

The lips will stay hydrated and refreshed and the colour will last for hours.


Yeah, right! I'm sorry but this is going to the waste of money bin. You get 2.5g / 0.1 oz of product but it's a waste of €7.49!

Palmer's: Cocoa Butter Moisturizing Lip Balm Review

I can actually summarise my thoughts on this lip balm in just one word.

However, for the benefit of those who would like to know more about this lip balm, I will go about it my usual verbose way.

The Product
Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Moisturizing Lip Balm with SPF 15, 4g / 0.15oz. I don't remember now how much exactly I paid for this, but it must have been in the region of €2 - €3.

According to Palmer's
A convenient balm with SPF 15 and Vitamin E. Medicated to help prevent and temporarily protect chapped, cracked or wind-burned lips. Smooth application and convenient size make this the perfect year-round lip balm.

What I Think, What I Really Really Think
The truth is, I didn't check the ingredients list before buying it. I had wanted to try it for a long time because of the cocoa butter formula. What I discovered later was that, oops, it's got paraffinum liquidum. Mineral oil! As one who used to be a hard-core Vaseline addict (for many years), I wasn't too keen on going back to it. Still, I made this an exception.

Ingredients:

The texture is all right, not too waxy. It glides on the lips nicely. It definitely smells of cocoa butter, much like the scent of Palmer's Cocoa Butter Body Lotion. The SPF is, of course, a good thing.

I bought it half a year ago, tried it for two nights and had to stop. The lipbalm was banished to a dark corner in my cupboard. I figured it might have been a fluke then, so to be sure, I tried it again yesterday and also before going to sleep.

This is what happened both times: my lips swelled. It started out all right, but in the few hours after application, I gradually felt a mild burning sensation especially in the upper lip. It got bad overnight. I woke up in the morning with swollen lips and with the skin red above the cupid's bow.

I must be allergic to this lipbalm. I'm not sure which ingredient I'm allergic to though. It could be one of the first three (active) ingredients on the list. Anyway, I didn't find this lipbalm that moisturising. Even plain ol' Vaseline did a better job in the old days!

Final Words
I know everyone's different, so I will concede that this lipbalm may agree with you. But me, I'm sitting here typing this now with swollen lips. So, no prizes for guessing how I would conclude this. I doubt I have ever used this word on a product before in my writings, but okay, just this once. That one word that would suffice for this review: crap. I wouldn't even think of including this in my Lip Treatment series. I'm tossing this lipbalm in the waste of money bin.


My first non-petroleum-based lipbalm: Alima Pure Nourishing Lipbalm

Jelly Pong Pong: Shoe Palette Review

I love shoes, but this ain’t a review on a shoe polish kit. If you know Jelly Pong Pong, you’d know it’s about makeup in kawaii packaging. This is the last of the three Jelly Pong Pong items that I purchased sometime back.

The Basics
This Shoe Palette from Jelly Pong Pong has a hardcover paperboard clamshell case that shuts with a magnet. It measures approximately 9 x 4cm with a net weight of 3g / 0.16oz and it comes complete with a handy mirror. It seems innocently small but it has a moderately cheeky poem on the cover to make up for its frail appearance.

There are two variants of this Shoe Palette. The one I have is called Vertigo Stiletto while the other one is called Plush Pumps. Each palette has two pans – a cream eyeshadow and a “lip jelly”. Vertigo Stiletto contains a Bronze Cream eyeshadow and a Pearl Gloss lip jelly.

Jelly Pong Pong says:

Dedicated to shoe fanatics, Shoe Palette is a quirky twist to the classic lip-and-eye kit. We love that it comes in 2 wearable combinations to be layered, and a mirror in silent testament to women on the go. This shoe-themed palette, printed with a witty poem, contains complimenting cream shadow, lip shimmer and heaps of glamour.
Bonus : Long-lasting product gives a luminous & brilliant finish, without the stickiness.

The ingredients:

My Thoughts
Cream Eyeshadow
This eyeshadow has such a lovely rich shade of bronze and, of course, there is some shimmer. It glides smoothly on the lids. Apply using your finger or a sponge-tip applicator, take your pick.
Other products used in image right: GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Liner in Metallic Brass and Maybelline Volum' Express Turbo Boost Waterproof mascara.

However, as is the curse of most cream eyeshadows, Bronze Cream creases. I tried using it over the eyeshadow primer that came in Jelly Pong Pong’s own Cherry Pie Eyeshadow Palette and still it creased within an hour. Ditto with Too Faced Shadow Insurance. So, sadly, I’d have to give this a thumbs down. I love your colour, Bronze Cream, but you gotta de-crease, man.

Lip Jelly
A fancy name for what seems like a lipbalm-cum-lipgloss. A darned sticky one at that! The one in my palette, Pearl Gloss, is exactly that, a white pearl, which does no favour to my lips. After a couple of hours, most of it is gone, leaving my lips dry and exposed. Or sometimes, I even see a ghastly white layer still sitting on my lips. Using it alone is not an option for me as I end up looking very pale. If anything, it’s better used over a lipstick whose colour you’d like to tone down. Another disappointment.

Packaging
For some reason, my Shoe Palette started to ‘leak’ and I think the Lip Jelly is the culprit. The palette has oily stains all over and mind you, this isn’t something that started appearing only recently. These stains were already present half a year ago and I know I have never left the palette in a hot place. So, check out my lovely oil-stained Shoe Palette, ladies.

Final Words
The Shoe Palette retails for £10 but you can get it for less if you bought the £13 Deluxe Gift Bag which contains two full-sized Jelly Pong Pong products. Whatever it is, I’m neither impressed nor amused with this Shoe Palette. "Long-lasting" - not true. "...without the stickiness" - not true. Into the 'waste of money' bin it goes! You’d be much better off spending your money on a........kebab!

More information:
If you're still interested, Jelly Pong Pong can be purchased in Europe through websites such as BeautyBoxx and Zalando: UK, Nederland, Germany, Austria.