Sore, tired eyes? Put more makeup ON! (Almay - One Coat Gel Eyecolour)

Member Name: ihatebroccoli

Product:	Almay - One Coat Gel Eyecolour
Date:	29/10/00 (794 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent product, very cooling to apply

Disadvantages: Bit expensive, I found it hard to find Almay stands which stock this product in the colour I required

I have been looking for this colour for ages. In the Almay displays (which I am also finding it increasingly hard to find in shops) there are little “tester trays” which you can pull out, and are supposed to contain tester samples of the products you want to try. Whenever I have gone out looking to buy this colour, the tester is always blunt, and the actual product was never there to buy. Finally, a couple of days ago, I went into Superdrug in Oxford Street and “they had loads!!!” I couldn’t believe my luck. I bought one immediately and once home, tried it out.

The first thing that struck me about this product was the coolness of it on your eyelids. Also, I thought that if you had to reapply eyeshadow again during the day, say if you were going out and only had time to touch your makeup up, this would be an extremely easy product to use. Being in a pencil form makes it much more easily directed, and not as messy (getting powder everywhere) as powder-based eyeshadows. I also found that I liked to use it under my eyes as well, for a really sultry look (with darker colours), or for a more “wide-eyed” look (with lighter ones like “06 Heather” - the one I chose).

It looks exactly like a chunky pencil, but it is actually gel in a pencil form, so it can just be sharpened once it has started to wear down. The pencil is white on the outside with a white lid, and the colour of the product is shown on the end. You don’t need to apply very much, and you can smudge it if you want a lighter colour. The other colours available include: Taupe, Cocoa, Toast (browny beige colours), Khaki (greeny grey colour), Smoke, Blueprint, (silvery grey colours) and Plum (a darkish purple) The only advice I would give, would be to be careful putting this on, on the back of your lashes if you have already applied mascara, as I found it tended to get onto the lashes, especially if I’d been using curling mascara (the
lashes curl up and its difficult to get the chunky pencil behind them, unlike a regular shadow applicator).

The only other thing that bugs me about this product is that I can’t get it out of my head that it’s nearly £6 for a pencil. I know it is a new type of product (gel shadow), and that it’s hypoallergenic, but when I walked up to the till to pay for it, I could help thinking “oh, I’ve only got a bottle of pop and a pencil, it should be a couple of quid”, but it came to £6.45 (pop included of course). I know Almay are a very good company, and their hypoallergenic products generally a good quality, but I guess, as soon as something is termed “hypoallergenic” these days, the price immediately rockets. I know, because I am allergic to normal sticking plaster, and the hypoallergenic kind is more expensive to buy.

Overall though, excellent product, very cooling feel (if my eyes felt sore or hot whilst I was still wearing makeup, I’d just smooth some of this on the lids, and they’d feel cooled and refreshed). It stays on all day, and looks very smooth and slightly shimmery. I was a bit put off by the cost, but I suppose you get what you pay for with hypoallergenic products. Next time I think I’ll buy it at Boots and get the points (if I can find an Almay stand again that is).

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