When I checked my stash for products to review, the first brand that came to mind was
Joe Fresh cosmetics. Their line doesn't seem to have a lot of visibility over the internet as I can only find a few blog posts and videos featuring their products. I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on this Canadian line which offers awesome products at a low price point. In fact, you can only get these at local supermarkets (Loblaws and Real Canadian superstore).
I normally check online sources for reviews before buying any product. But for Joe Fresh, it's just pure impulse. I remember the first product I bought from their line was their powder blush in
Pink, creamy lipstick in
Cinnamon, and tinted lip balm in
Honey (read: blush and lipstick hoarder! LOL). It was love at first try, so I've been going back and collecting more.
Take a peak at my Joe Fresh collection... Forgot to include the tinted lip balms. I'll cover that in a future post along with some new lip glosses I have acquired recently :)
Happy Joe Fresh family :)
I love the formula of their cream blushes as they're not sticky and sloppy as the NYX counterpart. Blends easily and dries to a powder finish. I have long gave up on cream blushes as they tend to accentuate freckles and age spots on my cheeks. Furthermore, my cheeks turn oily in the middle of the day because of how emollient most creamy products are. Greasy cheeks - not a good sight. That being said, cream blushes are off limits in my stash for some years. These babies totally changed my mind and gain back my fondness on cream blushes. The lasting power is superb. An application in the morning is enough to last me the entire work day. I initially got the shade in Apricot, which looks like... uhm... apricot! (gee, I'm really bad at describing things) Imagine coral with a prominent orange hue. The shade just brings life to my otherwise dull and yellow-toned face. I couldn't get enough of it so I decide to pick up another bright color in Melon. Melon is definitely more vibrant and more coral than Apricot. It looks scary on the pan but definitely not so on the cheeks. I'd say both shades are summer must-haves! :)
The powder blushes have been staple in my stash and I love them as much as the cream blushes. But I do use these more often than the cream versions as I can apply them in snap and get out of the door in no time. These come in various shades which have a mix of subtle colors and bright bold colors. I got 4 powder blushes - Pale Peach, Buff, Pink and another one in rosy color of which the name I can't recall for now. Pale Peach and Buff are subtle everyday colors that gives just a slight flush on the cheeks. As light as it is, they show up quite well on my skin tone (NC25-30). Pale Peach is a peachy color that falls between Benefit's Sugarbomb and Coralista without the sheen. Buff, on the other hand, looks light beige on the pan like a face powder shade, but definitely applies pink on the cheeks. It's like a darker version of Benefit's Dandelion. For some reason, Buff reminds me of a bride's flushing glow. Don't ask me why, I don't know either :) Both blushes feels like MAC's beauty powder blush with more pigmentation. My definite faves!
Too bad, I forgot to take photos of Pink and the other rosy shade before I gave them away. I still see them on the racks but not on Joe Fresh's website. Discontinuing? Probably. Pink is a bright shade that resembles MAC's Dollymix. I'm not sure if it's a dupe coz I don't own Dollymix. But they definitely look similar. I have Cargo Catalina so I decided to give Pink away. The other rosy shade, I remember giving it away coz it looks a lot like MAC's Prism, which I already have (and seldom use).
Joe Fresh blushes are 6 CAD each, which is pretty cheap in my opinion. I love these as much as my other high-end blushes.
Top: Cream blushes in Melon and Apricot
Bottom: Powder blushes in Pale Peach and Buff
Next up are lip products. I had picked up a few cream lipsticks but only one left in my stash right now. Again, purged due to duplicates. The one I have now is in
Nude, which I believed is part of Spring 2011 collection. I'm totally up for anything nude so I got this despite the overflowing nude lippies in my stash.
Nude is actually not nude, but pink and slightly frosty. I can pull it off but not the type of nude I was expecting. The formula is ok - creamy and pigmented, doesn't dry the lips but not moisturizing either. A slight swipe of this gives you full color. Staying power is average. I'd say 3-4 hours with constant drinking. The other shades I gave away were from their permanent line -
Cinnamon and
Pink.
Cinnamon is warm beige that falls into MLBB category for most but just a tad bit dark for my liking.
Pink is a lighter and frostier version of
Nude. I prefer natural lip colors so I tend to retain wearable nudes in my stash - which I admit is a boring color preference. And since I'm a sucker for nude, I got the matching lip gloss in
Nude. I must say, this is the perfect nude for me - slightly dusty, slightly pink. It resembles my favorite MAC
Blankety and
the Faerie Glen lipsticks in a MAC cremesheen glosses form. Formula is slightly liquidy and not sticky.
Nude is considered quite pigmented for a gloss as it's enough to cover my natural lip color without a lipstick underneath. Another point worth noting is that it is not super shiny like the MAC lip glasses. I might be the only person who prefer less shiny glosses. It just looks more natural and wearable on my lips (slightly full and slightly pouty).
Nude is my fave gloss at the moment :)
Joe Fresh lipsticks are 6 CAD each and lip glosses costs 8 CAD each. I think the glosses are slightly pricey for a drugstore/supermarket brand... it would be nice if they keep these at 6CAD each like most Joe Fresh products.
Lippies
Cream lipstick in Nude
Lipgloss in Nude
Here are the swatches :)
Top: Lip gloss in Nude
Bottom L-R: cream lipstick in Nude, Melon, Apricot, Pale Peach, Buff
This post is lengthy enough, so I'll leave the eye products in my next review.
