Like many of you, I was pretty excited when Japanese lifestyle designer brand MINISO made its way into Canada and when it finally came to Vancouver I was there with the crowd to shop this brand with a reputation for low cost, but high quality goods. I can attest to their underwear, T-shirts and pantyhose being fantastic, but their beauty department was what I was MOST interested in trying because there can be some surprises (good, bad or ugly) when it comes to inexpensive beauty products so in honor of #LunarFebruary, I put my face to the test and had some surprising results!
I picked up as many things as I could for a full face of makeup only to realize I had forgotten an eyeliner (I went back for this). At the time, the only blush available was in cushion form which I generally do not like AND it was on the pricier side of $7 so I thought it best to leave it alone and get things that I may actually like!
The Queen Collection Lipsticks ($4.99 CDN) were my "splurge" product and when it comes to packaging honestly rivals what we find at the drugstore for more money. With its cream finish and magnetic cap, this lipstick feels like it could be double the price.
Pigmentation is buildable with one swipe being a kiss of colour and three swipes being as intense as I could get it. There were at least 2 other shades in this Queen Collection all in the red/pink family. You won't find any crazy shades here!
Ah, the eyeshadows. The Three Color Eyeshadow Palettes ($2.99 CDN) came in some really pretty shades and felt like butter when I swatched! The only drawback? SO MUCH FALLOUT. My advice would be to not use a brush, but instead use the sponge applicator included or your fingers to pat the colour on.
I decided to use this mauve-themed palette for my look and though that berry shade looked beautiful and swatched well on my arm, the more I tried to blend it on my eyes the more "all over the place" my look started getting. The browns faired better with slightly less fallout, but it still wasn't the best.
OMG, these have got to be the worst false eyelashes I have ever used. For $2.99, getting 10 pairs of eyelashes is an amazing deal, but the lashband was so thin! It was a challenge applying the glue and a challenge getting the band to stick to the base of my lashes because the band was too soft like thread and too thin to get that nice "grip". Yes, they work but I would rather pay a little more and go with a drugstore brand like KISS for inexpensive lashes.
The Super Slim Eyeliner ($2.99 CD) was a surprise favourite! Mine is a little dirty from picking up some of the berry eyeshadow, but the applicator is super precise and if you ever need a super thin line this eyeliner lasts and really does the trick. MINISO actually has a TON of eyeliners so I literally just stuck my hand out and picked one because they all seemed similar.
I tried to go for a more Asian makeup look with shimmery eyes and natural looking skin. I also thickened my brows, making them less angled and decided to wear my hair super straight as I have noticed that Asian makeup ads don't often have hair with curls.
Face:
Miniso Hydro Light BB Cream
MAKE UP FOR EVER Ultra HD Microfinishing Pressed Powder*
IT Cosmetics Universal Brow Pencil
Eyes:
Apply primer all over the lid and under eyes. I am using one from Mary Kay.
Using the Purple Three Color Eyeshadow Palette, take the lighteset shade and apply all over the lid up to brow bone.
Apply the berry shade on lid. There was quite a bit of fall out with the shadows so blending seemed to make things worse!
Apply the brown/purple shade along lower lash line.
Line lower water line with Annabelle Kohl Duo Eyeliner in Brownie*.
Line the upper lash line with the Miniso Liquid Eyeliner in Black.
Apply Miniso False Eyelashes.
Cheeks:
Canmake Powder Cheeks Blush in PW28
Lips:
Miniso Queen Lipstick in Vintage Red
Final verdict: From what I picked up, the BB Cream and eyeliner were my favourites. Some of you might really like the lipsticks if you would rather a more natural looking finish and if I hadn't known where these came from, I would have thought Queen Lipstick was a new brand! The eyeshadows were OK factoring in how nice the colour payoff was, but we live in a world of really nice eyeshadow formulas so I would rather spend the money on a nice palette with a better formula as these shades are not novel. Please leave the false eyelashes unless you are absolutey dying or have had all of your eyelashes burned off.
Have any of you tried MINISO makeup yet? How do you feel about "budget" makeup products?
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