Review: Makeup: Eye Majic Instant Eyeshadow

I had written about Eye Majic previously after I stumbled upon it online. I also read that it had been featured on Oprah and anything featured on Oprah is bound to garner a lot of interest. Among the many comments I got about this product were questions about where to buy it from and I compiled 2 sites from comments made.

Sharon, of the New Zealand Eye Majic distributor contacted me and was kind enough to offer to send me a sample of each of the 12 colours currently available to try out! I was thrilled! She kept to her word and a week later, I found a package on my desk with 2 boxes of Eye Majic instant eyeshadow inside.

The boxes were larger than I had expected. Each box would contain 7 pairs of a colour but for this purpose, I had one of each colour in it. The side of the box gives very clear and precise instructions on how this instant eye shadow is to be worn. Essentially, you press the pad containing the colour on your closed eyelid for about 4 seconds, then slide the strip off and blend the colours using the reverse side of the strip.

Eye Majic claims that their strips of eyeshadow are:

• Quick to use, giving you confidence
• Great for travel
• Keeping you up to date with fashion
• Individually sealed for your protection
• No more stretching your eyelids whilst applying, giving you even application on both eyelids
• Longer lasting than conventional eye shadow due to its secret method.

Intriguing! I opened up the boxes and true enough there were 12 pairs of eyeshadow colours. Each of the colours currently available for purchase. As there are no pictures of the colours online that I’ve found, I took this picture to show what they look like.

They are actually mostly shimmery tones from what I can see. Each pair comes in a sealed slim plastic pack and you can easily peel away the plastic. Here are better pictures with some colour descriptions (not official ones just how I see them).

#1 - Dark silver-grey, silver and shimmer white highlight
#2 - Brown, brown-gold and light champagne highlight
#3 - Rust, Cranberry and white highlight
#4 - Rust, Bronze and champagne highlight

#5 - Light brown, Light green and white highlight
#6 - Rose, orange and peach highlight
#7 - Dark grey, Cranberry and white highlight
#8 - blue-grey, Cranberry and white highlight

#9 - Purple, lilac and white highlight
#10 - Light blue, light pink and white highlight
#11 - Light green, Rust and white highlight
#12 - Brown, pink and white highlight

I noticed that there was a lot of colour repetition and to be honest, some of the colours looked a bit odd together. #9 didn’t have much colour difference between the 2 purple shades and #6 was a bunch of very similar shades. I think #6 would look better on darker skin tones than light but we’ll see.

I will be giving away away Shades #3 and #9 to Beetrice who will be trying it out and reviewing it on her new Reviews site, and Shades #1 and #5 will go to Tine who will review them on her Beautyholics site. This way we all get a better feel of the product and I like sharing the love lol!

How to use and my review

For my trial run for this review, I used Shade #2 for work. You peel off the plastic backing first. The fact its sealed is good as it means its hygenic. However, I found that there was a lot of colour transference from the pad onto the plastic. So a lot of colour is lost that way. I also found that the pad is anchored onto the hard plastic shell by a dab of glue so it doesn’t move around.

From the picture you can see that quite a lot of colour had transferred off the pad onto the plastic cover. This might have resulted in the uneven application I experienced.

Using it is easy. You remove the pad from the shell and press it for 4 seconds (I counted) onto your closed eyelid. Make sure that you place the pad as close to your lashline as possible. Then, lightly but firmly pull it away from your lid. You’ll find that the colour has transferred nearly fully from the pad onto your eyelid.

However, it would have transferred in the exact manner it was placed on the pad which means that the lines of the colours are very sharp and defined. It would definitely make you look odd if you don’t blend. You can use the back of the pad to blend but I just used my finger.

I found that the colour on both the pads were not very balanced. It might be something to do with the colour transference onto the plastic cover earlier. So, I used my finger to remove some colour from the plastic (there was a lot) and balance up the colour. I then blended the colours again with my fingers.

The colour actually looked quite nice once blended properly. You could see that there was gradational colour with the darkest colour close to the lashes and lighter shades on the lid. It was also quick. 10 seconds to do both eyes is not an exaggeration. It really did take 10 seconds or less for me!

However, having proper eye makeup does not stop there. My eyes looked unfinished with just the eyeshadow on. So, I added my usual gel liner and mascara for my everyday work look. That takes time so the time saving on the eyeshadow application was not really felt in the bigger scheme of things.

Gosh! I look cross-eyed don’t I? Lol

What did I think

I had it on the whole day. I actually got compliments on my eye makeup today, which was a surprise. I must admit that my eye makeup looked more evenly applied. Since its “instant” I would expect that.

It was not very shimmery but had just the right touch of shimmer so your eyes don’t look flat. The lasting power was good. It was still there by the end of the day with minimal fading. I don’t have oily lids so most eyeshadow don’t fade on me anyway.

The convenience is probably what makes this most useable. I can see it being useful for travelling. Bring a strip for every day and you don’t have to fiddle around with little pots and palettes. You can also be assured that your eyes will more or less looked balanced every time as the colours are “pre-printed”.

Honestly though, as someone who love her makeup and especially eye shadow, I cannot see this product taking the place of conventional eyeshadow pots. I like mixing colours and coming up with various combinations. I like messing around with my pots of colour and I don’t think my fingers or brushes stretch my eyelids any more than tugging on the pad to release the colour would.

I’ll give this product top points for innovation, portability, convenience and novelty. For its price of approximately $15.95 (excluding shipping) for 7 strips, I think its quite expensive. So, whilst its a good product, I just don’t see it taking the place of conventional eyeshadow.

Pros: Portable, convenient, long-lasting colour, easy to use, idiot-proof eye makeup

Cons: You still need your liner and mascara, expensive, few colour combinations, colour transference

Rating:

Prevent wrinkles and premature aging

I’m no expert but here are some tips I have picked up from over the years to prevent wrinkles and premature aging. Nothing tells age more than wrinkles, especially those around the eyes.

Wrinkles and skin elasticity has a lot to do with lifestyle and genetics, but you can use these tips to delay the inevitable.

Eyes

The skin on your eyelids and around your eyes are very thin and delicate. Constant pulling and tugging on them will cause them to stretch and this will cause wrinkles. To prevent wrinkles and avoid premature aging, try these tips:

• When removing eye makeup, don’t pull or tug on your eyelid. Instead, saturate a cotton pad with eye makeup remover then hold it over your eye for a few seconds before lightly swiping across your eye. This will help the remover dissolve and loosen your eye makeup and make it easier to remove.
• When using waterproof makeup, always use an eye makeup remover that can remove waterproof makeup to prevent tugging.
• Use an eye cream. Even eyelids need moisturising.
• When applying eye cream use your ring finger (4th finger). Its usually your weakest finger.
• To apply eye cream, dab some eye cream on each ring finger, rub your ring fingers together to spread the cream then dab gently and lightly on your eye area. Do not drag your skin.
• Do not rub your eyes.
• Wear sunglasses. Its good to protect your eyes and will prevent you from squinting.

Face

The skin on your face is usually more delicate than the skin on your body. Also, we don’t realise this but our face muscles move a lot during the day, and all this adds to wrinkles but these tips can help you delay that effect:

• Don’t rest your face on your palm. Its tempting to do so when in thought, but this results in you pushing up your cheeks and causing lines to form.
• Don’t frown often. Frowning causes lines to form on your forehead and if you aren’t careful those creases will remain permanently.
• Don’t pull faces often.
• Don’t squint.
• Use a good moisturiser. Dry skin wrinkles more easily than properly moisturised skin.
• When applying your moisturiser, don’t rub and pull on your facial skin. There are 2 ways you can apply your skincare. If its a cream, dab 5 dots on your face: forehead, nose, cheeks and chin and then gently spread out without tugging. If its a lotion, spread it in your palms before applying to your face.
• When cleansing your face, lather up your cleansing lotion or cream or scrub in your palms first before applying to a damp face to avoid pulling on the skin.
• Use a good sunscreen or sunblock. Make sure you use one that blocks UV-A and UV-B rays. 
• Try not to sleep on one side of your face but its hard to do.
• Stop smoking or don’t start. The pursing and puckering up of your lips will cause lines to form on your lips and around your mouth.
• Don’t sulk and don’t purse your lips with displeasure.

But above all, smile often. It will give you wrinkles but of the good kind.

Review: Makeup: Elianto Eye and lip makeup remover

Elianto is a Korean-Malaysian cosmetics brand that targets the lower end market. Their products are sold in the same way that many other mid-low end Korean cosmetics are sold i.e. in kiosks or stand alone stores, with a wide display of their wares.

It brings to mind a buffet counter with spreads of colours for eyes, lips, cheeks, face, skincare lining the shelves etc. Elianto falls in the low end in terms of pricing and I feel it targets and appeals to teens or those starting out in makeup. At RM5 an eyeshadow, their products are very afforable.

My review today is for their Green Tea Lip & Eye Makeup Remover. My current makeup remover is down to its last drops and I was passing by an Elianto store so I thought to pop in to see what they had to offer.

Their lip and eye makeup remover comes like many other such removers in the market i.e. 2 toned. You must shake the bottle to mix the 2 products together before applying it on a cotton pad and applying it to your eyes and lips.

There are 2 types of lip and eye makeup removers by Elianto. One is Green Tea (Green) and the other is Deep Sea Water (Blue). I got the Green Tea one because I did not care for the smell of the Deep Sea Water.

A bottle costs RM16 which is very cheap. To my surprise, it actually works quite well at removing eye makeup, even waterproof makeup. I usually shake the bottle then pour the remover onto a cotton pad and hold it to my closed eye for a while before removing my makeup. Eyeshadow gets off easily. My gel eyeliner takes about 2 swipes and the waterproof mascara takes the longest. Then again I’ve had lots of trouble removing this mascara with anything other than cleansing oils so IÂ wasn’t unduly concerned. It works just as well at removing lipstick.

I like the bottle as its slim and tall which makes for easy storage as the footprint is small. The cover is also good as there is another section inside that fits over the mouth of the bottle so that there is no spillage. Makes it easy to travel with.

My only gripe would be the smell. The fragrance though fresh smelling, is rather strong. Since this product is going near my eyes I would prefer not to have fragrance in it.

Pros: Cheap, effective, removes even waterproof makeup

Cons: Fragrance

Rating:

Art imitating life?

Watching TV crime series never cease to amaze me, not only the technology involved in fighting crime these days, but also the many ways in which they can track a person’s DNA. A strand of hair or a fingernail or even a scrap of skin can turn out to be a vital clue to capturing a miscreant. The other thing that never ceases to amaze me about TV detectives are how well turned out their female detectives are. In real life, few female cops wear makeup and those who do only wear lipstick. I guess this is an instance where art does not imitate life.