Review : The Balm, Mary-Lou Manizer aka The Luminzer

I recently won Dee's Sleek and The Balm giveaway, the products were supplied by Beauty Emporium. Massive thanks to you both :) I'd never tried any products by The Balm before so was very excited for these.

Today I am going to share with you my thoughts on Mary-Lou Manzier, aka, The Luminzer.

Packaging

I really like the packaging, it has a Benefit-esque vibe to it which I love. It comes in a nice compact with a handy little mirror.

Product

The product itself glides on effortlessly and smoothly, this is one swipe in natural light. As you can see it has a lovely gold shimmer, but isn't too shimmery to make me afraid.

You can use this as a highlighter, shimmer and eyeshadow making it is a very versatile product.

Longevity

I wore the product alone on my eyes for a working day, to give it the 9-5 test. I was very impressed. As you can see in the photos the product lasted all day with very little creasing, bearing in mind that I used no primer at all and have very oily lids this is quite an achievement.

Would I recommend this product - yes I would. I'm not sure how easily available it is as I won the product and have never come across any products from The Balm before. If you come across this beauty I strongly suggest picking it up. The tin is huge (8.5g of product) so it will last ages.

*Please note, even though I won this product in a giveaway all opinions are my own, I was not asked to blog about my prizes.*

Review : ELF Duo Eyeshadow Cream Mocha Swirl - 9-5 Test

Hi guys, how are you all?

Today I'm going to be reviewing ELF's Duo Eyeshadow Cream in Mocha Swirl. This is from the £1.50 range.

Nice simple packaging. I like the clear lid which means that you can see the product at a glance.

As you can see the swatches appear to be quite pigmented.

8:30 am

However, this is what happened when applied to my eyes. I do have oily lids so maybe that is the reason, but it would hardly transfer. I had to build it up A LOT to get this result.

5:30 pm

Hello serious creasing! Unfortunately I cannot get on with this at all. As I said above I do have greasy lids so maybe this is why. If it wasn't for the creasing I think that these would make a good base for powder eyeshadows.

ELF say : "Express yourse.l.f. with the easy to blend, crease resistant, creamy duo eye shadow colors. Each gorgeous shade can be worn alone or together for a dramatic effect. The soft-blending formula can also be layered under powder eye shadow to set the color in and keep it lasting vibrant all day."

I say : The crease resistant claim really wasn't true in my case, but I'm yet to find a cream eyeshadow that doesn't crease on me, I think me and my oily lids need to take the hint and stay away from cream! As for the 'wearing alone for a dramatic effect' I'm not convinced! I think these would be better suited to be 'layered under powder eyeshadow'.

I am disapointed as this is the first ELF product that I haven't been happy with, but I can't help but think that all of the problems are down to my oily lids.

Have you tried these yet? What did you think of them?

You can buy the eyeshadows here, they cost £1.50 for 3g and come in a variety of colours.