Saturday, August 8, 2009

Review: Annabelle Studio Pigments & Giveaway



One brand I always look at when I'm in a drugstore is Annabelle. They are a Canadian makeup brand based in Montreal, who carry a lot of great products. Their eyeshadows are quite wearable, and easily depotable into MAC palettes (always a plus for me!), and they always have the most colourful promo visuals among drugstore brands.

I've tried their regular pigments before, and they are excellent, comparable to NYX, Barry M, and MAC. These were no different!


The Studio Pigments:


Photobucket

The Studio Pigments are part of Annabelle's Studio line, and come in 6 shades:

Magentini, LOL, Greed, Dragonette, Cobalt, Karma

Photobucket

The jars these come in are thicker and feel more hefty. I do prefer if they had made it less bulky but if these are being kept in your traincase it will be fine.


The powders are finely milled and pigmented. Some shades are more matte / shimmery than others - usually the matte shades are the more pigmented colours.

Left to right:

Magentini, LOL, Greed, Dragonette, Cobalt, Karma

Photobucket


Magentini: Magenta pink colour with a shimmery finish. Well pigmented and smooth to apply

LOL: Primary yellow shade, like an egg yolk colour :) Has a very matte finish, thus it does apply a bit chunky at first. Superbly pigmented - exactly what I'd imagine a pro colour to be.

Greed: Camouflage green colour that is more shimmery and wearable. The colour is sheerer than the others in the collection so I had to pack it on more for the swatch

Photobucket


Dragonette: Another superbly pigmented colour with a matte finish, the shade reminds me of MAC Teal pigment - a strong, dark green-teal. I'd say this is its matte cousin.

Cobalt: True blue colour - reminds me of MAC Freshwater in pigment form. It looks mostly matte but has a slight pearl finish

Karma: Shimmery purple similar to MAC Violet but it is a bit less pigmented so I had to use more to get the same intensity that Violet would have given me.

Photobucket


I apologize for the lack of face pictures to demonstrate but my skin has been extremely uncooperative :/ I did however use them as a liner - Karma (purple) on top and Dragonette on the outer lower lashline:

Photobucket


My only complaint about these, and the same complaint I had about their regular pigments, was the container. It has a very small opening at the top, making it easy to ration out the amount you want to use (see below picture).

Photobucket

However once you do that there is always some spillage on the side surface, which will still leak out if you carry them around in a makeup bag. The best way to use this it seems is to always pour out the amount you need on the back of your hand or a clean surface, since there is no other way to pack on the colour on your brush.


In general, these pigments remind me of the MAC Pro Neon pigments, except that these are all eye-safe while some of the MAC Neons are not. They also apply smoother than most neon pigments which is a bonus. I'd say if you love bright colours and want to try a Canadian, more economical alternative go for these Annabelle pigments :)

Each jar retails for CDN$8.50. The weight of each pigment jar does vary by colour, probably due to the differences in product density.

POIDS NET WT 0.02 OZ / 0.7 G / LOL
POIDS NET WT 0.04 OZ / 1.2 G / Magentini, Karma et Greed
POIDS NET WT 0.02 OZ / 0.7 G / Cobalt, Dragonette

They will be released come August 16 exclusively at all Shoppers Drug Mart locations, so keep your eyes peeled! Don't worry if you don't live in Canada, US residents can also order by phone - details on their website.


In the meantime, courtesy of Annabelle, you Canadian readers have the chance to win your own set of the 6 pigments AND 2 eye brushes!

Photobucket

Brushes: A-8: Small Shader brush and A-14: Angled brush
Pigments: A brand new set of all 6 pigments

How to enter:
1. Be a public follower of my blog.
2. Leave me a comment indicating you are a Canadian resident and would like to be entered for the draw.
3. Tell me what your favourite makeup product(s) are that are made by Canadian companies.


Contest closing date: August 22nd 25th, 2009. The winner will be randomly drawn out of the qualifying entries using the random number generator at Random.org and announced through a post on my blog. I know there may be comments that are not entries so only comments that answer all 3 questions above will be counted in the draw.

Thanks for reading, and good luck to those entering! :D

27 comments:

Paris B said...

I'd read a lot about Annabelle cosmetics before and lots of people rave about them! The pigments look nice and so does your look! But that little hole dispenser looks like it would be a bit of a pain to use :)

*~Tiko said...

1. I'm a public follower, love your blog~

2. Please enter me, "I AM CANADIAN" ^___^

3. My favourite canadian cosmetics brand is Cargo. The PlantLove Botanical lipsticks are just wonderful. It's great that they use corn to make the case so that it's biodegradable and the lipstick doesn't contain mineral oils or petroleums. They even donate $2 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for every lipstick purchase. Great company with awesome products!

My birthday is on Aug 23rd, It'd be awesome to win this contest as my birthday gift. Thanks for the contest!!!

Lolita Riot said...

oohh these ones look better than the old ones! I do agree that I hate the opening as its hard to stick the brush in without getting fallout and making a mess. I will have to check these out :)

ALso I'd love to enter this, I'm a follower and I am a canadian resident :)
To be honest the only brand I've tried that is Canadian is Annabelle and I looove their blush! Its smooth and surprigingly pigmented.

izumi said...

aahh! i need to move to canada, hahahha. those look really pretty!!

Cris said...

Lol looks great :D!
Good luck to everyone eligible to enter :).

K said...

I wish I could join! I bought some Annabelle cosmetics when I was in Canada (2 years ago!) and I'm still using one of their eyeshadows. I agree with you that they are great quality!!

KAREEN said...

i am a follower : )
i am Canadian!
My favorite brand of Canadian makeup is Quo, they make such nice brushes and have some very high quality products :)

~Lisa said...

I'm a Canadian resident and would like to be entered in the draw.
My favourite makeup product is by Annabelle, which are the Le Rouge lipsticks and their Sable, Carbon, and Champagne single shadows.

cellophanegirl said...

1. Just followed your blog :)
2. Canadian resident and I'd like to participate in the draw
3. At the moment, I really like Lise Watier's mineral brush foundation and Annabelle's eye makeup remover pads.

Liz said...

Great colours! Can we expect a tutorial from you soon? :)

Emily B said...

I follow!
Definitely Canadian :)
And I'm following the trend and am a big fan of Annabelle. I also like Lise Watier.

yvonne said...

ooh, purty! I'm a Canadian resident and I'd love to enter.
My 2 favorite Canadian products are Annabelle's smoothliners and Les Soins Corporels l'Herbier's body butters and lipbalms.

Reiko said...

Hi

I'm a public follower of your blog and i'm a canadian resident ! My favorite canadian product would be the concealer portfolio from Lise Watier since it has all type of colour to conceal different area of the face.

Anonymous said...

I won the set from Jnie (another CAN blogger) and should receive mine this week, I'm pretty excited though (despite having a slight hatred for pigments, and my inability to be more careful not to tip them over!lol)
Plus the posts you put up don't help me to be patient until they arrive! haha...
good luck to all :)

Kat said...

Please enter me.

I am a public follower of your blog.

I am a Canadian citizen.

My favorite product is Joe Fresh Blush in Pink, which I went out and bought after seeing your review of it and I absolutely adore it, and Joe Fresh Tinted Lip Balm in Blush which is this marvelous coral peachy color!!

Unknown said...

Enter MEEEE! I'm Canadian--Torontonian too! Hehe (= I'm a public follower also.

Hmm...favourite Canadian brand would probably be Annabelle. I love love love their kohl pencil liners especially the metallic curacao (amazing teal colour). They go on so smooth and are highly pigmented. Plus, they're very inexpensive so can allocate more money to Chanels! Hehehe ^____^

Yuki said...

Hi!!

1) I'm a public follower of your wicked blog!

2) I am a Canadian resident and I'd love to be entered into this draw!

3) My favourite Canadian makeup company is ANABELLE - I use the single shadows in VERT-TO-GO.

Belinda M said...

I follow and I am canadian

My favorite canadian company is anabelle and I love the Le Gloss Lip Shine


Canadian Contests, Freebies, Coupons, Deals, Games and Chat - join us at CoolCanucks.ca


bluebelle0367(at)hotmail(dot)com

Angela said...

1. I'm a follower of your blog
2. I'm a Canadian resident, please enter me in your draw
3. I'm a fan of Quo makeup brushes

ohhbonnie said...

Hey ! : ) thanks for this giveaway!

1) I'm a public follower
2) I would love to be entered & I'm a Canadian resident.
3) I love Annabelle eyeshadows and Quo makeup brushes! :]

elaiNe said...

Hello! I am a Canadian resident and would love to be entered into this draw! Recently, the Joe Fresh products that Superstore carries have become favourites of mine- more specifically the sheer pink lip gloss( which reminds me of NARS turkish delight) and their nude cheek tint! :)

lilydarke4 said...

1~ I'm a follower! ^^

2~ I'm a Canadian! <3

3~ My favourite products are Annabelle's Eyecolour Creme and Joe Fresh brushes! :D

Rhania E. said...

Dear, MakeupSnob is having this giveaway, (to all MAC, SEPHORA and NYX lovers) click here: and take your part! http://www.themakeupsnob.com/2009/07/tms-100-followers-cosmetic.html

love lots,
rhain

PS
i couldn't join because iam not a canadian resident.. so im gonna share you another giveaway hosted by The Makeup Snob =)

Juicebox888 said...

Hey,
I am a follower!
I am also a Canadian!
Lastly, my favourite makeup products that are Canadian are Quo brushes, and their mascara and Annabelle smoothliners!

MiuMiu said...

I actually had no clue that annabelle was candian *shames away*

I'm a follower!
And I'm Canadian (actually gonna be back next saturday)

HMm.. I'd proably chose Cargo as my fav Canadian brand cuz their lipglosses are awesome.

Anonymous said...

Hello!
i am a follower of ur lovely blog
i am canadian, eh! lol
My favourite canadian brand has to be joe fresh (sry annabelle even tho u r one of my favourites) because its very affordable and has unique stuuf that i cant get from other brands :) i really like their lipstain! But annabelle is great too, i saw the new collection at shoppers and i freaked out! they were so pretty!

this is bebe (the girl that contacted u with email, bebe is my screen name)

deirdre said...

1. I am a public follower!!!

2. I am Canadian/ Je suis Canadienne! Winnipeg Manitoba. Cosmetics keep me warm in the winter.

3. I love Cargo Cosmetics; no one is kidding when they say that their bronzer is the hottest thing to hit Canada since chocolate milk. Their liquid shadows are also such a good time and, being a sucker for packaging, my heart jumps at the tins of blush everytime!

ALSO: I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cake Beauty. Right now I'm covered head to toe in their Barbie collection; I'm always up for smelling like baking, and their solid perfume is the one thing I always have in my purse (even when I'm locked out of my house without my cell phone).

Obviously I love Annabelle! The blushes kick butt. Tied with Annabelle is the Joe Fresh line, even if only for the Lip gloss (always amazing, never sticky), and the liquid eyeliner (can I say felt-tip, fool-proof, smudge-proof goodness?)

Blog Widget by LinkWithin