New Products: Superhero Edition

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EYE MAAAAAAAAAAASK!

And that ladies and gentleman, is the most efficacious thing about this particular eye mask - the comedic possibilities. As a beauty-delivering device, it left me feeling a bit shortchanged. However, it did prompt me to do another product review post. So. Here it is - some things I've tried these last few weeks that are easy to find when everything's closed, and wont break the bank.

This eye mask is another of the the Garnier Moisture Bomb Eye Tissue Masks. This one claims to sport coconut water. I suppose I should back up a minute here and say that like with the other products in this post, I am not being paid to review this mask. That's probably ok, since I would probably have to act like an adult if I were getting paid. This mask is pretty much your standard issue hyaluronic acid tissue mask, it smells faintly of coconut, and is fashioned into some sort of Batman & Robin eye mask that fits nobody, but looks hilarious on everybody. It's also hard to wrangle. Seriously, is it supposed to go under my eyebrows? What is that little perforation for? Am I supposed to tear it apart? Won't it get in my eyes if I try and fit it up under my eyebrows?

Apart from delivering some much needed moisture to my undereye area, this mask did little to deliver on its claims to plump up the skin or reduce fine lines. This may be perfectly fine if you're 25. For those of us who are so totally not 25, do not even waste our time by promising a Batman level of efficacy only to a deliver Droopy Dog amount. Not that there's anything wrong with Droopy Dog. Just not when we were promised Batman.

This mask's performance may have been underwhelming, but I suppose anything that inspires me to dance around the house singing the Batman theme and taking selfies does have inherent worth. In medicine they'd call that sort of unintentional find an incidental finding. For that, I am giving it a score based purely on comedy, and in no way reflects how it worked on my actual undereye area.

Garnier Moisture Bomb Tissue Mask: B-

Next up is a happy accident product. As some of you may remember, I am a huge fan of the Anastasia Dipbrow Gel wand for brows. I've written about eyebrow stuff quite a lot, because as it turns out, as you get older, brows matter. I used up my last tube of Anastasia brow gel a while ago, and was sort of dithering about getting more because quite frankly I recently resigned from my day job and I'm on a pretty serious budget.

About a week ago, while in the local grocery store, I decided to try the Rimmel Wonderful Brow that was sitting in front of me on the only cosmetic display in the entire shop. Why not? It was £6, it filled a need, and at the very least it would give me something to talk about here on the blog.

Guess what? I like it better. Like the Anastasia, it is waterproof once it dries down, so not only is it nice for shaping the brows and filling-in the little gaps, it stays put. The darkest, brunette color was not too warm and orangey for my increasingly silver hair, and it is way, WAY easier to work with once you get used to it. The Anastasia goes on very thick, and dries down rather quickly, so if you make a smudge, you may be committed to a look you did not intend.

The Rimmel goes on a lot thinner. Yes, you have to work with it a bit longer to get the coverage even, and it takes a bit longer to dry down, but it is much, MUCH more forgiving if you muck it up. When you do muck it up, it's easy to correct. When applying it, you can use a much firmer press of the wand than you can with the Anastasia, so it's actually a lot easier to control, ergo easier to get a natural look when you aren't wearing a ton of makeup, which I rarely do these days. This Rimmel product also washes off easily at the end of the day with my go to cleanser.

Rimmel Wonderful Brow Eyebrow Gel: A-

Lastly is another happy(ish) accident (incidental finding) product. Last week I nipped to the drugstore to grab a few things I had run out of, and saw this little red pot sitting in the bargain bin. Behold, the Revlon + Wonder Woman Glow Pot Glossy Face highlighter in the shade Golden Lasso.

If you think that perhaps purchasing a superheroine-branded highlighter from the bargain bin at the drugstore might bring you less than stellar results, you would technically not necessarily be wrong. Technically.

When you open this highlighter, it looks like a little pot of whipped-up gold, and you cannot wait to dig in. It's when you stick your actual finger into it when things start to take a funny turn. While I was expecting a highlighter with a light texture that dries down to reveal a subtle sheen (you know, like literally every other liquid highlighter), what is actually in the pot is this sticky, tacky....it's pretty much lip gloss. It goes on sticky, and it stays that way. All. Damn. Day. And to be honest, believe it or not, I'm torn by this inexplicably weird texture, because when it's on your skin, a little goes a long way, and it really does look natural and glowy. I genuinely like the way it looks, but cannot stand the formulation. Because again, you're literally smearing lip gloss on your face.

But don't take my word for it. Check out some of these reviews.

"Basically Vaseline. I could DIY a better highlight."

- Mecca S.

" Greasy"

-V

"Gross. This feels heavy and tacky on the skin. Your hair will stick to it. I would only recommend it if you wear your hair up and use it as a lip gloss"

-Anon

You get the idea. So yeah, it looks nice and natural, and I am actually still using it (albeit sparingly) right now, really just because it's here and nobody is going anywhere right now. Plus at the moment, it's all I've got. I also wear my hair up every day while we're still in a lockdown here in the UK, and I think that's the key to being able to tolerate this product. Im guessing that if i didn't tie my hair back with this product, a stiff breeze would end up sticking all my hair to the sticky lipgloss stuff all over my face.

Wonder Woman Liquid Armor Glow Pot: C-