There's almost nothing I like more on the weekends than thoroughly reviewing beauty products and trying some new looks. I find it very relaxing to be creatively productive, and I can totally zone out while I'm playing with make up. Today, I'm showing you some pieces of Etam's Push Up Your Beauty collection. Etam has apparently been selling make up for a while now in France, but the Belgian market is just about to be breached.
After trying out this collection, I'm crossing all my fingers and toes for them to open a beauty counter near me. This is not just your typical lingerie brand branching out by creating some cheap beauty products to seduce the tweens. No, Etam is totally taking beauty seriously, with fully realized lip, eye and nail product ranges. To give you an idea, the collection boasts 80 different eyeshadow monos. EIGHTY. And everything is delightfully affordable, so let's explore the range!
I think I literally squealed when I opened this box. Etam's beauty products are all designed beautifully, perfect gift material, and all of these babies will look lovely on your bathroom shelves.
First, let's look at the complexion products I received.
The Oh My Décolleté powder duo is very gimmicky, but also completely brilliant as a bridge between a brand known for lingerie, and its new beauty collection: the Arnacoeurs are cleavage enhancers, consisting of a highlighting shade and a matte contouring shade, and they come in a light, cool toned version, and a medium, warm toned version. This is the latter version. Even if you're not into push up décolletage, this duo can be used for general contouring as well. The matte shade is a nice neutral brown, and the highlighter is gold: no glitter, so it can be used on the cheekbones and along the bridge of the nose etcetera for a lovely glow. Pigmentation is good, and the powders are easily blendable.
Then, there's a collection of bronzers: five shimmery bronzers, and five matte ones. This is one of the matte bronzers. I love how broad the range is here, offering light, medium and dark bronzers, and both cool toned and warm toned options. The Paréo de teint reminds me of Guerlain's terracotta joli teint powder duo which I reviewed here, the quality is just as nice and the colour is extremely similar, a delight to use.
The Push up de teint is not one of my favourites of the collection, the shade I received is very orange and extremely sheer, which is just as well because the orange would suit no one's skintone. I think it could be used as a primer-slash-pre-foundation-highlighter, but if I'm honest I hardly noticed an effect. I guess my right leg, where I used the Push up de teint, has a slightly evened-out complexion, but I don't think this is a product you need. It's definitely not a foundation or tinted moisturiser, it's way too sheer for that.
These are the Etam nail products I was sent over to review:
I'm only reviewing the Gant de velours nail polish. The pink
top coat is just a top coat, the colour hardly shows up, but it does
give your nails a subtle, healthy rosy glow. I personally don't care for french manicure pens, I can't work with them and I just don't like the look, so I can't really tell you how this one measures up. I just can't figure out how you get a nice, even application with that hard pen tip, polishes are supposed to brushed on if you ask me. But Gant de velours is lovely!
The nail polish is opaque in two layers, super glossy, and the durability is acceptable for the price, on par with brands such as Catrice. Etam's nail polishes come in a range of 98(!) shades, and there's loads of pretty ones in there. At 2.90€, it's very tempting to just pick out some eye candy and buy it all. I'm lusting over N°4 Nudista Metal, rose gold 4 life.
Moving on to the lip products.
Moving on to the lip products.
!!!!!! THIS is how you do liquid lipstick. Stays like a dream, matte as can be, opaque, extremely vibrant and it doesn't crumble off the lips like so many liquid lipsticks tend to do. Of course, it feels a bit dry on the lips, but I didn't feel like it dries them out. I am head over heels with this product and I want allllll of the 10 available shades.
The Over rose lip balm is too light for me, makes me look like '90s Barbie, but the product itself is perfectly nice. It gives good, even colour coverage, feels nice and moisturizing on the lips, and the crayon is fun to work with. No complaints!
The Kiss me forever lipgloss is really cool as well. It requires some work to get the colour to be even rather than patchy, and if you want a really neat finish I'd recommend starting out with a lip liner, but the formula itself is great. Kiss me forever remains glossy, with a slightly wet/tacky feel on the lips, but nowhere near the typical stickiness associated with lip glosses. The best thing about this product is that it can NOT be smudged: after applying, you can rub your lips as much as you want, but the product will not come off or move around. The picture on the right is after a few hours of wear + a meal: the colour has faded a bit on the bottom of my upper lip, but the gloss stains your lips like crazy so you'll still look amazing. I wore the product yesterday, and this morning when I woke up, I still had red tinted lips. Top notch!
I was also sent over some eye products to review, and they're pretty awesome.
Bonnet E is a volume mascara, and while I can't say I noticed it adding loads of volume to my lashes, I appreciated its formula, which reminded me of Maybelline Volum' Express (my personal favourite). No clumping, just a nice mix of volume and length added. I prefer finer brushes, personally, but Etam is offering a number of different mascara options so everyone is bound to find something they like. I for one want to try the coloured mascaras!
These eyeshadows though. Seriously. Colour pay off, lasting power, lack of fall-out: it's all top notch. My sister nabbed the pink when she dropped by, and now she's contemplating buying a range of different neon eyeshadow monos from Etam because the value for money is that good. And I have to admit, I've got my eye on a few more shades as well. Etoile noire is BREAKING MY HEART because of its prettiness, and the colour is amazing in a smokey eye. I mean, see for yourself.
I used Etoile Noire all over the eyelid, and added some Urban Decay Naked 2 palette's magic: Tease in the crease, Verve in the inner eye corner, and Blackout in the outer V + on the lower lashline. I'm also wearing the Bonett E mascara here, by the way.
Next up: BRUSHES!
PRETTY! At first I wasn't sure whether the brushes were good, because the hairs felt a bit "slippery": I didn't know whether they'd be good at picking up product, but I fell in love when I tried them. Mr. Big is just the right amount of floppy, extremely soft and pleasant on the skin. I use it for all over bronzing (including shoulders and cleavage). The Double Push Up brush is a bit stiffer than Mr. Big, which makes it great for more precise application and intense blending. I use the sides of the flat top brush for contouring + highlighting, and then I use the other, rounded side for blending. Love!
Finally, Etam has a line of bath products.
- shower gel Bulleuse Crapuleuse, 6.90€
I think this may be the prettiest shower gel I have ever seen. Those are little soap hearts floating in there!! This one smells very girly, apparently it contains perfume of sandalwood, vanilla, red fruits and patchouli, but to me it mostly smells very pink. I'm very curious to check out some of the other scents, as all of them look (and sound) absolutely stunning.
Last but not least: face + body scrub Bulleuse Lézardeuse. I can't find it on the webshop right now, but the others all range from 4€ to 7.90€, so this one will be within that price range as well. When I tried it, the smell immediately reminded me very clearly of Thierry Mugler's Alien: sultry floral with an amber, wood base.
And that's it! The collection contains hits and misses, but overall I am very impressed by the value for money, the range of available shades, and the pretty design of the packaging. Right now, you have to visit a French store to get to an Etam beauty counter, or order online at their webshop (shipping to Belgium is 5.90€), but I'm hoping Etam will soon open a beauty counter in Belgium.
What is your favourite product from the collection?
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