NYX Jumbo Pencils

Oh the raves about these little things I tell you! Of course I just HAD to investigate!

Hence, I present to you these:-

From left to right:- Milk, Pure Gold, Purple Velvet, Orange and Black Bean.

The must have colors are Milk and Black Bean. Milk used as a base so lighter colors applied on it pop and Black Bean as a base for smoky looks.

What you notice first is that these are not your regular slimline pencils. These are the Sumo Wrestlers of the pencil world and hence the name "Jumbo" Eye Pencils! For the relatively cheap price (less than 15 ringgits) I was all excited at the amount of product that I got!

The best part is that these pencils apply so very smoothly and are dreamy creamy which makes it so super blendable. Because it is creamy though, there can be a tendency to overuse. So exercise caution when using as a little goes a very long way.

On the downside.....because of the Jumbo-ness, it is not ideal for using to precisely line the eyes. You will most likely end up with an uneven line. (You can tell that I tried to do it right?) 

You will also need to invest in a sharpener that is big enough to accomodate the larger girth that this pencil has but this is not difficult as these sharpeners are easily found. You know when I am sharpening my lip liners, I always mourn the fact that a lot (a LOT!) of product is wasted from the sharpening....I hate that which is why I was delighted to come across many video's online on de-potting (yes! de-potting) the Eye Pencil without changing the quality or consistency of the product. I may give it a go and report back later with my findings.

Jordana "Glitterama" Eye Liners

Jordana is a US drugstore brand and although I believe way back in the late nineties, it was sold in Bukit Bintang Plaza, I have only recently stumbled upon it at Shins. I saw a few products in this line and I picked up the Glitterama Eyeliner Pencils for their attractive colors and great price!

What attracted me to these pencils were the cute colors namely the  purple and turquoise and the glitter. The eyeliner pencils came in a packet of 5 for the price of RM29.90 which is super cheap.I mean who wants a plain ol' eyeliner when you can make your eyes pop with glitter around them!!

On a more serious note though, I was curious to take this for a test drive to see if :-

• the pencil is soft
• the glitter would show up after application

Here is a swatch of all 5 colors. They are Midnight Celebration, Purple Party, Turquoise Jamboree, Bronze Fest and Black Bash. Not the most creative of names, I must say but that did not put me off buying it though!

On their website, Jordana glitterama is pitched as being "glamorous, glitzy, daring and edgy". They also claim that the "sparkling micro-glitter adds shimmer" and the color promises to be "super intense and creamy". However, I beg to differ.

The pencil was not soft and creamy. I think what made it difficult to apply were the micro-glitter which had a tendency to scratch the lids. The pencils pulled on my lids and did not apply as intensely as I wished it would. This is especially so for Bronze Fest and Black Bash which was a total disappointment in terms of intensity.

You can see from the swatches that the glitter is minimal and not at all that intense which can be a good or bad thing. If the glitter was really intense, then these pencils would be great to use to a party or for a night out. But seeing that it is not that 'in your face' these pencils are suitable to be worn to create a day look without looking too overdone in my opinion.

I wore Black Bash to the office and the glitter was not so noticable - I had drawn a thin line on my top lids that day. Perhaps it would have been more noticable if the line had been thicker. That remains to be seen and perhaps I will swatch these on my eyelids soon to give you a feel of what it looks like that way.

Overall, I am not that enthusiastic about these pencils and I may use it occassionally perhaps but for now, I will stick with what I am using.

Review: Maybelline 2-In-1 Impact Shadow Liner - Great Drugstore Find!

Readers, have you set your eyes on these yet? I found them whilst restocking on some drugstore essentials yesterday and my have I hit the jackpot for those on a budget!

These are Maybelline's 2-In-1 shadow and liner from the Eyestudio line - and you do know how I love, love, love items that double up.

For RM13.88 (there was a sale going on) you get these pens that apply so very smoothly on your lids. Very important for ladies who are concerned about those horribly dry liners that pull and tug at your lids. These are surprisingly creamy. Upon swatching the tester pens I was sold when it applied super smoothly. So I purchased three colors - (from left to right in the picture below) Forest Green, Ocean Blue and Bordeaux. Forest Green and Bordeaux are shimmery and Ocean Blue is matte.  

There are two ways you can use this - firstly, you can smooth the color all over your lids like an eyeshadow and perhaps smudge immediately for a lovely wash of color or you could use this as a liner to define eyes.

This product promises to be waterproof and hence stays on without smudging the whole day. I wore this on my lid and did some cooking and sweating(!) all at once and after 5 hours, the one eyelid I applied the color on, still had a bright pop of color and looked as fresh as when I first applied it! So a big thumbs up here.

It also contains several moisturising ingredients, including jojoba oil, vitamin E and cottonseed oil. What more could we ask for eh, readers?

I give this two thumbs up for how creamy it is as well as the price. It's unbeatable! If you want more than the three colors featured here, the Shadow Liner comes in a range of colors which are - Black, White Pearl, Chocolate and Dark Purple. So what are you waiting for?

Avon Ultra Luxury Eyeliner

My mother was an Avon lady in the 80's! She was a teacher in a primary school and some of her friends persuaded her to do this business and it is the only "business" she has ever done!

So you see, my introduction to the world of makeup began at a very young age indeed. My mother never went out of our home without putting on her makeup and I must say that when she was young, she was quite a looker (still is, if I may add).

Every so often, she would get a big box of cosmetics sent to her by the Avon man (that's what we called the delivery guy). And we would eagerly dig into the box to see what the products our friends and neighbours had ordered looked like. Mum would be issuing warnings after warnings to be careful not to open or spoil the boxes which fell on deaf ears of course.....It was the smell of new cosmetics and perfumes that was so wonderful and I believe it was this that got me hooked on makeup.

It must be said that the Avon products of the 80's has changed dramatically from the quality of the products now. Sadly, it is my opinion that the quality has dropped to that of the 80's when I think it was manufactured in the US and imported and sent to the doorsteps of many a Malaysian woman.

There is one product which I still use and think is the best in the market - their underarm deodorant. I have tried many other brands and I always end up with moist underarms at the end of the day. With the Avon deodorant, my underarms always remain dry and comfy! It must contain a helluva lot of chemicals to get that eh! Oh well, thats another story altogether.

Another product that I purchased recently was its Ultra Luxury Eye Liner. When I was younger, I loved to line my eyes and taper it out at the end for a cat eye look! I still do but I now find that I can achieve this look better with a liquid eyeliner.

I purchased this eyeliner in black one day and I think it is fairly decent. It is soft and I am able to apply it without pulling at my lids and I love how it is a deep and dark black. Also, it cost slightly less than RM10 during a promotion.

This is what it looks like on my lids.

Although Avon is not as as famous as it used to be back in the day, I still think there are several gems in there that are worth looking at!