Reviews-Day Tuesday ft. Annabelle Cosmetics *Giveaway Alert*

Good afternoon, tea mates 🙂  Today I’ve got a look at some of the newest releases from Canadian company Annabelle Cosmetics.  As I have mentioned in the past, this brand holds a special place in my heart as one of the first cosmetics items I have ever owned – an eyeshadow duo named “Olive Spark”, with a shimmery olive shadow, and a matte pink shadow.  I applied that pink shadow every day for school, and absolutely loved it.

Click through to read the details about these new products.

Let’s start with the powders.

This season, Annabelle has released 5 new blushes.  They are called ‘Blushon’ as in “”time to get your Blushon”.  They are paraben and gluten free, and come in a variety of 5 colours – from a matte finish, to a shimmer finish.

I tried out “Spring Petal”, which is a peachy pink blush.

Macro shot of “Spring Petal”

This blush is quite bright, so I think the colours will lend themselves quite nicely to the upcoming seasons, especially spring, with the purple-toned blushes.  However, with my light skintone, it’s coming off a bit too vibrant for winter.  When swatching the blush, I found that if you use too much product, it can get a bit chalky, but that can be reversed by blending it into your skin.

Next is the Annabelle Zebra Bronzing Pressed Biggie Bronzer.  These bronzers are oil free and come in 3 colours – Haute Gold, Dark Gold, and Matte Gold – so there’s something for you sparkle lovin’ ladies, and something that’s shimmer-free for the rest.  Let me tell you, being called “biggie” is no understatement – these things are HUGE – great bang for your buck.  I tried out “Matte Gold”.

Macro shot of “Matte Gold”.

Huge, right?  I took a photo of the bronzer next to a nickel, just to show you what we’re workin’ with.

Now, being a pale gal, it’s very hard for me to wear bronzer.  I need to stick to cool toned bronzers, and this one is not.  It has a bit of a red/orange tone, so if you have a darker skin tone, like tan, or olive, this colour would probably compliment you.  And I can’t imagine how long it would take to hit pan on this thing – I’d love to see someone keep track of how long it takes to use up.

I know, I know, I keep playing the ‘pale card’, so to show you that I’m not pulling your leg, here’s a swatch photo of the blush and bronzer on my arm.

The powders are finely-milled, which I can appreciate, and I think I’ll get more opportunities to play with these colours once the sun comes out, and gives me a bit of colour.

Next is the Annabelle Lipsies Lip Balms, which you can actually get your hands on now, through Annabelle’s contest – I’ll get back to that at the end of this review.  Annabelle has released 12 different flavours of lip balm, that claim to be non-sticky, glossy, fruit scented, tasteless, and sheer.  They come in retractable pens, and keep your lips soft, smooth, and moisturised.  I tried out 2 flavours – lychee and cherry.

These smell soooo good!  Lychee is definitely my favourite, it reminds me of those little jelly cups with lychee chunks that I used to snack on, when I was younger.  The lychee flavour applies as a sheer nude colour, and the cherry like a red-tinted gloss.

Annabelle Cosmetics Lipsies in “Lychee”.

Annabelle Cosmetics Lipsies in “Cherry”.

With the lip balms that are more tinted, like the cherry one, be sure to remember that these are balms and not lipsticks, and to therefore not expect it to act as a lipstick.  I found myself trying to put on a bunch of layers to make it take the place of a lipstick, but because it’s a glossy balm, if you run the pen over the same spot several times, it will make the product drag, and look patchy.

All in all though, these lip balms came through on all of their claims – they smell yummy, apply sheer and glossy, and they keep your lips feeling moisturised.

Now for the contest.  Annabelle is putting on a contest until March 9, 2015, where you could win your very own full set of 12 tubes of Lipsies lip balm.  Annabelle is encouraging you to show off your pout, by puckering up, and posting a picture of you and your tube of Lipsies on Instagram, with the hashtag #AnnabelleLipsies.  You can enter once a day, and a winner will be drawn from the entries.

So join Annabelle’s spokesperson, Shenae Grimes-Beech, and show off that gorgeous pout.  Who knows, it might get your own set of fruity lip balms.  Until next time. – Shawna

Products in this post were provided for review purposes.  All opinions are my own.