Hello you beautiful people!
Today, I'm introducing a new format at Anna's Makeup Oasis!
I have noticed that I often buy a few items of interest from an LE collection but rarely find the time to review each individually and then, I end up posting no reviews at all because somehow, the collection has run its course and the reviews would be fairly irrelevant.
To remedy the situation, I have decided to introduce the Collective Review format, in which I present my test results all in one post. This way, you get all the info bundled into one neat post and I can get more reviews out there for you! Win-win!
Premiering the Collective Review format is p2's Beauty Rebel LE. p2 is the house-brand of the German drugstore dm. The Beauty Rebel LE is huge, comprising everything from nail wraps over glosses to powder.
I got four items from this collection:
- The Powder & Sponge Duo in 010 Peaceful Nude
- The Go For It! Fake Lash Helper - a pair of tweezers designed specifically for the application of falsies
- The Tempting Eye Shadow & Highlighting Mousse Duos in 010 Tingly Lavender and 020 Soft Fuchsia
Can I just say, before we delve into the thick of things, that I think p2 has ridiculously long-ass names for their products? And I'm not talking about the actual name of the shade, but the name describing the product. p2 does this a lot and it's a pain in the butt to remember and type and I think it's just generally confusing for most consumers. I'd like to see those descriptive product names be shortened for the sake of clarity.
The Powder
This powder is surprisingly good and has solid medium coverage, without being too heavy. It wears well for about 8 hours and then starts to fade a bit, but not dramatically so. A primer or some foundation underneath will extend that wear-time a lot. As you can see in the arm swatch, it blends into my skin almost perfectly. They have a yellow-toned one and a pink-toned one in this LE, this is the latter.
The actual powder pan is situated in the cap of the product, while the applicator is in the bottom. When you unscrew it, you can see and feel that the sponge applicator is on a spring. As such, it picks up product when it's screwed into the cap and you always have the powder ready when you open it, without having to dip or pat it in the product.
Of course, this mechanism makes it fairly difficult to introduce a powder brush in the equation. However, for travel or for taking with you in your on-the-go makeup bag, this is quite the ingenious little gadget. The sponge applicator is smooth, firm and blends the powder into the skin very well. Once you peel off the plastic sheet on top, you also have a mirror. The whole thing isn't gigantic, further making it the perfect on-the-go companion.
You get 3g for 3,95€ and the powder is vegan. I can fully recommend it.
The Fake Lash Helper
I've only taken to wearing falsies in the past year or so and since I don't wear them often, I'm still a bit of a noob when it comes to applying them. I know how it works in theory, but in practice it's still a bit of a challenge sometimes. I think this is due to the fact that my natural lashes have quite a curve to them and I find it difficult to see through them where I need to place the falsies.
As such, I was thoroughly intrigued when I saw this strange-looking pair of tweezers in p2's collection.
The broad, curved tip is designed so that it grabs more of the lashes and makes pressing them on your lid easier, because it presses on more space than a regular pair of tweezers' tip.
The pink silicone bit at the other end is meant to enable the user to properly (and without pain!) press on the band to set it completely.
As you can see in the pictures, it all works like a charm! I really did have a lot less trouble applying my falsies (these, by the way, are p2's Lengthening False Lashes) and it didn't take nearly as long as it usually does either. You have to be careful not to get lash glue stuck on the tip, but I suppose that's always the case. The silicone tip is also very helpful in fine-tuning the application.
A definite must-have for anyone who is unsure when it comes to falsies application or simply for those who want to spend less time with it!
These also cost 3,95€ and are worth every cent.
Tingly Lavender and Soft Fuchsia
These two eye products caught my eye because of their colours. However, they don't fully deliver.
Both shades go on significantly lighter than they look in the pan, especially the Soft Fuchsia, which looks like a berry pink (I'm sorry, p2, but have you ever actually seen real fuchsia? nothing to do with this colour here!) but goes on like a very soft petal pink. Tingly Lavender's powder portion is true-to-pan but the cream portion goes on much lighter than it appears.
The idea of these shadows is that you get a 2-in-1 combo of perfectly matching cream base and powder shadow. I love that idea but the execution isn't quite up to snuff.
Without a base, the cream shadow creases after about 4 hours and makes the powder shadow on top crease with it. This happened to me with both shades, in the same time frame. With a base, the cream shadows sort of glided around a bit, which is a complete no-no. The powder shadows hold up just fine on a base but again, they are very light.
These powders are 2,5g each and the creams are 9ml each. The whole gizmo costs 3,95g a piece.
I'm happy to see how a cheap drugstore brand (and I say this purely descriptively, not negatively!) has come up with such innovative, gadgety product packaging. It may not be for everyone but frankly, I see so much of the same every day, I'm happy when someone tries to put a twist on packaging.
All in all, the products I tested were quite nice, particularly the tweezers. I wouldn't necessarily recommend the shadows wholeheartedly - I am a fan of getting what I see in the pan - but the powder is definitely a handy product to have. I just wish that p2 would sometimes also think of the darker skinned ladies and instead of having two "white" shades have at least one extra shade that would match dark complexions.
Stay beautiful, inside and out,
Anna
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