As I mentioned the other day in my post about the Vitality Show I bought myself a heap of Helen E eye shimmers and glitters to add to my growing make-up collection.
I'd never previously heard of Helen E but once I did a little research into them I learnt that they are based at selected Debenhams stores here in the UK. Not only that but their makeup is decently priced! They sell a range of makeup from eyeshadows to blush right the way through to tools. I managed to buy 6 Shimmer Eye Powders for £10 and 3 Sparkle Glitter Pots for £5, however a special discount was applied as it was the Vitality Show.
Shimmer Eye Powders
Ordinarily their eye shimmers retail at £4.99 each (and their glitters retail at the same price). The shimmers are loose and come in small shaker pots so be warned they're a tad messy as they're loose and the powder isn't very fine. I've tried three of the shades out of the six I have and created a nice subtle daytime look with Shade 2 - a creamy, vanilla shade great for highlighting, Shade 17 - a warm coffee colour and Shade 18, a chocolate brown great for accenting.
At first I wasn't really won over - even with my Urban Decay primer, I was really struggling to get the desired strength in colour. I had to use quite a bit to build the colour up a lot. Funnily enough, when at the show my friend asked the lady who sold me these if they were mineral shades and she replied that they weren't, but added that mineral shades don't normally deliver the same level of colour as their shimmer pots.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree. I've used plenty of mineral shades since the mineral craze launched last summer and have never struggled to get the depth of colour the way I did with these. In fact normally, mineral shades are great for the "less is more" advantage! And another part of me felt that the shades, even though I didn't go crazy with them, had the potential to look a little cheap once applied. You could say that it's what you pay for at £4.99 a pot, but with Barry M offering some fantastic shades with great colour payoff and fab quality at the same price, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect Helen E to deliver the same great results too.
Obviously if you're not into sparkly, shimmery shades then these won't be for you. The fallout is almost unavoidable and annoyingly it's not necessarily the powder but the tiny, tiny pieces of glitter that you find half way down your cheeks, which are harder to spot unless you're in direct sunlight. Once I'd applied them however and let the colours settle I felt happier with them. I think if I'm to use these shades more often in the future it will be for work and days out - i.e. for subtler washes of colour.
Sparkle Glitter Pots
Out of their selection of glitters, I bought Red Disco, Penny Copper and Blue Disco. All of their glitters come totally loose rather than in a fixing agent such as a gel or liquid, so again be careful of the mess. You can buy a fixing gel separately from Helen E for £7.99 . However you may find you don't need it sometimes, the glitter gets everywhere and sticks quite easily to the skin without the aid of a gel. Alternatively you can use a base (if applying to the eyelids) such as a MAC Shadestick or primer to give the glitter something to cling to. I tried Blue Disco on top of MAC's Shadestick in Sharkskin - the results were very impressive!
These glitters are fabulous, the glitter's aren't fine like MAC glitters though so make sure if you buy these you're after big-bang glitter for nights out and fancy dress or wild looks for the camera! The selection of colours are very striking and deep and can really add impact to any look. They're multi-purpose so can be used anywhere on the face or body, but be wary of getting them in your eyes! They are eye-safe but the glitter pieces are fairly large.
Just make sure you've invested in a great makeup remover - this glitter is as stubborn as a mule when it comes to removing it! Even my makeup remover which is fantastic at dissolving the most hardcore of makeup struggles to lift this glitter.
Overall I think the value for money on both of these products are great so I give them a 4 out of 5 there. However I probably won't purchase the eye shimmers again as the colours don't deliver well enough for me and I worry that they may look low-quality once applied so performance-wise I give them a 2 out of 5. The eye glitters however are great fun and I think once my collection of these is running low I may re-invest :-) So I give them a 3 out of 5 for performance!
Visit here for more on the Helen E collection!
Image Sources
Both images courtesy of www.helen-e.com
I'd never previously heard of Helen E but once I did a little research into them I learnt that they are based at selected Debenhams stores here in the UK. Not only that but their makeup is decently priced! They sell a range of makeup from eyeshadows to blush right the way through to tools. I managed to buy 6 Shimmer Eye Powders for £10 and 3 Sparkle Glitter Pots for £5, however a special discount was applied as it was the Vitality Show.
Shimmer Eye Powders
Ordinarily their eye shimmers retail at £4.99 each (and their glitters retail at the same price). The shimmers are loose and come in small shaker pots so be warned they're a tad messy as they're loose and the powder isn't very fine. I've tried three of the shades out of the six I have and created a nice subtle daytime look with Shade 2 - a creamy, vanilla shade great for highlighting, Shade 17 - a warm coffee colour and Shade 18, a chocolate brown great for accenting.
At first I wasn't really won over - even with my Urban Decay primer, I was really struggling to get the desired strength in colour. I had to use quite a bit to build the colour up a lot. Funnily enough, when at the show my friend asked the lady who sold me these if they were mineral shades and she replied that they weren't, but added that mineral shades don't normally deliver the same level of colour as their shimmer pots.I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree. I've used plenty of mineral shades since the mineral craze launched last summer and have never struggled to get the depth of colour the way I did with these. In fact normally, mineral shades are great for the "less is more" advantage! And another part of me felt that the shades, even though I didn't go crazy with them, had the potential to look a little cheap once applied. You could say that it's what you pay for at £4.99 a pot, but with Barry M offering some fantastic shades with great colour payoff and fab quality at the same price, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect Helen E to deliver the same great results too.
Obviously if you're not into sparkly, shimmery shades then these won't be for you. The fallout is almost unavoidable and annoyingly it's not necessarily the powder but the tiny, tiny pieces of glitter that you find half way down your cheeks, which are harder to spot unless you're in direct sunlight. Once I'd applied them however and let the colours settle I felt happier with them. I think if I'm to use these shades more often in the future it will be for work and days out - i.e. for subtler washes of colour.
Sparkle Glitter Pots
Out of their selection of glitters, I bought Red Disco, Penny Copper and Blue Disco. All of their glitters come totally loose rather than in a fixing agent such as a gel or liquid, so again be careful of the mess. You can buy a fixing gel separately from Helen E for £7.99 . However you may find you don't need it sometimes, the glitter gets everywhere and sticks quite easily to the skin without the aid of a gel. Alternatively you can use a base (if applying to the eyelids) such as a MAC Shadestick or primer to give the glitter something to cling to. I tried Blue Disco on top of MAC's Shadestick in Sharkskin - the results were very impressive!
These glitters are fabulous, the glitter's aren't fine like MAC glitters though so make sure if you buy these you're after big-bang glitter for nights out and fancy dress or wild looks for the camera! The selection of colours are very striking and deep and can really add impact to any look. They're multi-purpose so can be used anywhere on the face or body, but be wary of getting them in your eyes! They are eye-safe but the glitter pieces are fairly large.
Just make sure you've invested in a great makeup remover - this glitter is as stubborn as a mule when it comes to removing it! Even my makeup remover which is fantastic at dissolving the most hardcore of makeup struggles to lift this glitter.
Overall I think the value for money on both of these products are great so I give them a 4 out of 5 there. However I probably won't purchase the eye shimmers again as the colours don't deliver well enough for me and I worry that they may look low-quality once applied so performance-wise I give them a 2 out of 5. The eye glitters however are great fun and I think once my collection of these is running low I may re-invest :-) So I give them a 3 out of 5 for performance!
Visit here for more on the Helen E collection!
Image Sources
Both images courtesy of www.helen-e.com
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