FEBRUARY VIP HAMPER REVIEW

I haven’t really ever been a smoky eye girl and when I opened my hamper to see this I gasped because I felt seriously intimidated and fearful. I am by no means a makeup artist and I know very well how tricky and difficult it is to apply the eye shadow in an artful manner. But I decided to embrace my fears and make the best of this experience. Now that I’ve covered my personal fear of the smoky eye let me get to the product.

The product is called 4 Step Smoky Eyes and comes in 2 different colour palettes – Silver Black and Golden Brown. I received the Silver Black in my hamper. The palette is in a beautiful black casing with the 4 different eye shadows, a little khol eye pencil, a brush and pencil. The eye shadows are an ice white base for covering the eyelid; a charcoal and black for lining and shading the top eyelid and lastly a silver highlighter for highlighting the inner corners of the eye and top arch of the eye. To finish off the look the pencil is used to line the eyelids. The kit retails for R199.00 which is not too bad considering that this is a TBS product and of very good quality.

How I feel about the product:
The eye shadows are great quality and all have amazing pigmentation. The white provides a beautiful base and I find that it prepares the eyelid well for the other eye shadows. The black is a deep, rich intense black that has to be applied VERY carefully else it does look like a raccoon. It goes on very smoothly and evenly. The charcoal blends very well into the black and provides a beautiful smoky effect. Then you come to the star of this palette, the silver. This truly is the best eye shimmer I have ever used. It is creamy meaning that you won’t have to deal with shimmer falling onto areas you don’t want any shimmer on. All eye shadows last incredibly well and the look stays refresh and colours rich. I read that often with smoky eye look the eye shadows have a caked on look and tend to almost have a cracked look and as the day or night wears on, the colours fade and lose intenseness; so far I haven’t experienced any of that. So the eye shadows score 10/10. I love the large mirror in the palette. When placed on a table the lid of the palette can be moved to a number of angles that allows you to see what you are doing very easily and you can have both hands free. It would be VERY frustrating and difficult to have to hold the palette in one hand and apply the product with the other. When you open the lid it is tight and holds the position in which you leave it – fantastic!

What I don’t like:
Although the brush and eye pencil are a nice added touch I find that they are not that practical. When you are out and about they are useful to have but for daily use or when applying at home, I am sure many people would prefer to use their own brushes and eyeliners. When dealing with all these colours you need a few brushes so that the colours do not mix in the palette. The brush’s head is also a little too big for lining the eye with the intense black, so it’s tricky to apply an amount of eye shadow precisely to where you want it. Then you have to clean the brush before you can use it on the next colour – especially when you are move from the black to the charcoal and then onto the silver. The silver is so beautiful that I would not want to mix other colours into it. A positive of the brush is that it is an excellent quality brush and is fantastic and blending the colours. With regards to the eye pencil, I find it incredibly difficult to apply an actual line to my lower and upper eyelids. I even sharpened the pencil thinking I needed to break through a protective layer, but the pencil just does not want to transfer onto my eyelids for some reason. It is also quite a hard pencil so it tugs on your upper lids a bit. Granted I am not a seasoned makeup artist, but it is quite frustrating and I found myself reaching for my Physician’s Formula automatic eye pencil that glides on so easily.

In summary:
I am actually really glad about receiving this palette in the hamper. It has given me some courage to embrace new looks and push me out of my comfort zone. The eye shadows are all great quality and definitely make this product a must have for any smoky eye lover. It is beautifully packaged with a great sized mirror and having an eye pencil and brush in the palette is useful for a woman on the go (even though I am not the biggest fan of the pencil).