Anna Sui Eye Brightener Review and Swatches

Eye brighteners are one of those beauty products that you may or may not need, depending on your routine. It may be an unnecessary product if you use an eye primer, for example or use a base for your eyeshadow or do not have uneven skin tone on your eyes. It may be useful, however, if you do not use an eye primer or eyeshadow base or if you don't wear eyeshadow or wear a lot of eyeshadow.

With this in mind, read on for the Beauty Squared review of Anna Sui's Eye Brightener. This particular eye brightener is meant to act as a highlight or to conceal discolouration of the eyelids in preparation of eyeshadow application. It comes in one shade (01 Bright Beige) and comes in a tube with a doe foot applicator.

Directions for use, according to the back of the box are to apply to the eye area prior to eyeshadow application. This is how I tested it.

Tube decorated in typical Anna Sui design.

The tip of the wand is a rose.



Anna Sui Eye Brightener swatched on NW15-20 skin

This is a very light highlighter/concealer with the trademark Anna Sui rose fragrance (all of her beauty products have a rose scent). If you have very dark undereye circles this product won't do much. As an eyelid brightener, it works well, as you can see below. Because it has a slight shimmery quality, it works well as a highlighter as well. It's a very subtle highlighter though, and gives a natural glow. So if you want a very natural glow or don't wear a lot of makeup, this is a nice option. For someone who wears makeup or has darker skin than I do, I recommend you pass on it.

It doesn't work effectively as a primer to keep your eyeshadow from fading or creasing but it works to provide you with a "blank canvas" so to speak for keeping your eyeshadow colours true. Think about using a paintbrush and dab of blue paint on a piece of white paper as compared to an off-white or pink or light brown piece of paper. Using a fleshtone base underneath your eyeshadow helps your eyeshadows come across as truer. 

Left eye - with eye brightner, right eye - without

To sum up, this is a nice product but perhaps unnecessary to many makeup collections. If you already have an eye primer or a fleshtoned base colour for use under your makeup or if you have a highlighter that you like to use on your browbones, inner eyes, cheekbones, temples, etc. you can skip this.

C.

Splurge VS Steal: Skincare - Cleansers, Toners and Eye Makeup Removers

Welcome to a new column for Beauty2 - Splurge VS Steal! In this series, we will dish on our favourite products, both upscale and drugstore.  We hope that our suggestions will give you some options when considering your beauty budget. Steals are generally items that can be found in a drugstore (or kitchen!), while splurges are generally the stuff of department store counters or available online.  Whenever possible, we will give you the most accurate price for the item (in Canadian dollars).

To start off we will describe our skin types to give you a background as to the products we use.

Jill: Combination with an oily t-zone.  I rarely break out but the few pimples I get tend to be fairly  deep & painful.  I sometimes suffer from puffy eyes. I live in an extremely dry climate.

Catherine: Combination skin - normal on my cheeks, oily in my t-zone. My skin is rarely without pimples, but they tend to be small. When I don't exfoliate, my skin gets flaky. I live in Toronto, a city with a temperate, moderately humid climate.

This column is all about cleansing and getting that skin of ours (and yours) as smooth and fresh as possible. It's so very important to wash your face every night so it can do it's thing while you sleep and breathe and refresh. Read on for our picks!

Cleanser

J: SPLURGE - Clinique Liquid Facial Soap Mild ($20.00 CA)
    STEAL - Cetaphil Oily Skin Cleanser ($17.99 for 500 ml)

The Clinique cleanser is a great for those who like foaming cleansers but don't want to overstrip their skin.  I like them both but do find the Cetaphil the tiniest bit more drying.

 C: SPLURGE - Philosophy Purity Made Simple (24 fl.oz., $52/16 fl.oz., $42/8 fl.oz., $26)

Purity Made Simple is a multi-purpose product, acting as a cleanser, make-up remover and toner in one. For removing make-up, which I do nearly everyday, this is a fantastic cleanser. For the few days where I'm not wearing make-up or for first thing in the morning, it can be a little drying.

STEAL - Kibio Fresh Pureness Foam(125 mL, approx $12)
Kibio has a fresh, clean scent and I like that I can get it at Shoppers Drug Mart. It's also very effective at removing make-up and doesn't dry out my skin. It's also gentle enough to use in the morning.

Toner

J: STEAL - I don't use any!

C: STEAL - I don't use any either, although I will occasionally on summer mornings. In my opinion, toner is an unnecessary product. It does give your skin a fresh, clean feeling so if you like that, go ahead and keep using it. It certainly won't hurt your skin.

Eye Makeup Remover

J: SPLURGE - Lancome Bi-Facial ($34.00 CA for 125 ml)
It has a cult following because it works!  Despite the fact it has an oil component in it, it isn't oily at all.  It is the only remover I know to effectively remove the waterproof mascara I wear everyday.

C: STEAL - I simply wash off my eye make-up with my facial cleanser.
I don't use a separate eye make-up remover because I simply wash my whole face with a facial cleanser (Purity Made Simple works especially well for this). I am extremely cautious about my eye area as I have loose skin there naturally and I know genetically, that's where my face will age the swiftest. I find that using water and a sudsy or creamy cleanser reduces dramatically the tugging and wiping on the eye area and my make-up comes off cleanly! Even MAC's Fluidline and false eyelash glue. Of course, if I wore waterproof mascara, it may be a different story.

For Part Two and Part Three of our Skincare Splurges and Steals featuring our picks for masks, day moisturizer, night moisturizer, eye cream, exfoliators and pimple treatments click here and here.

And as always, let us know what you think, if you have any questions and what your splurge and steal picks are. The two of us have very similar skin types so we want to know what you dry-skinned, sensitive-skinned and problem-skinned folk like and love!

C & J