Epilogue to my previous post entitled, 'Beauty Tool Hot Seat: Brushes!': The winner of the Bloom Blush Brush is Larrisa Pedrosa. I was flooded with answers! Thank you girls! By the way, the answer is: all are synthetic. :)
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
I dropped by Watson's today and bought an eye palette. 4U2 offers a good number of eye shadow pans, including quads and 8-pan palettes.
4U2 Gemtone 4-color Eyeshadow in Moonstone
Watson's, 424php (~$9)
The 4u2 Gemtone Eyeshadow Quad line offers around 12 palettes (I think) in a simple yet catchy packaging. I wanted to buy all palettes, but doing so would be too much... at least for a person who barely knows how to put on eye makeup. So I bought their Moonstone palette.
On the Packaging:
It is decent, it doesn't look cheap. The product is so compact you can throw it in your kikay kit.
Oooooh... looks like a nugget, eh? The Gemtone Quads come in different colors!
Palm-size
Unfortunately, you can tell that packaging is of poor quality once you open the case. There are scratches on the plastic edges and the pans aren't aligned. Call me an OC, but these low-end makeup manufacturers should at least exert effort to take note of the littlest details.
I am clueless about the product's manufacturing date... is it MFG 291107? Nov 29 07? If it is, this is a big 'Oh no!' because I hate getting items that were made ages ago... and 2 years ago is ages ago.
No expiry date; and is this the manufacture date?
Another 'uh-oh' on the packaging is that it doesn't have those tiny holes for depotting. You'll have to use something that can fit the tiny space at the center created by the pans to take them out. Come to think of it, I never saw refills at the counter. However, the SA claimed that refill pans will be on stock soon.
On the shadows:
This Gemtone line is a collection of powdery shadows. Some colors can be chalky (but this specific quad, moonstone, isn't...yay!). The shadows are very pigmented.
Shadows with no name...
I noticed that S2 and S3 looked similar on the pan, while S2 and S4 were hardly distinct from each other when swatched.
swatches under lighting #1
The only shadows I think I'd use are S1 and S3. S2 is so-so, while S4 is horrible! I'm not sure... but perhaps as I learn more about eye makeup application (and buy the right eye brushes), I'll retract this statement. Who knows?
On the Price:
For 424php, you get pretty eye colors packed in a sleek casing. That's neat!
Overall:
4U2 cosmetics are owned by Belair Cosmetics (USA) and are manufactured in Thailand. It's a shame that 4U2's website isn't working as I love to learn more about them.
I'd love to recommend this, but knowing that Maybelline has eyeshadow quads retailing at ~450php, I might opt to spend on collecting the Maybelline quads over 4U2's.
