Guest Review: Eli Finally Caves in to the Siren Call of NYX

Guest reviewer Eli has had her resistance to NYX eroded by the constant raves in the blogosphere.

I had just finished a really depressing lecture on genocide and was all gloom and doom when I stopped by my letterbox on the way back to my room.

The sun burst out shining and dancing. My NYX haul had arrived!


From left to right: Round lipsticks in B52, Circe and Hebe; Black Label Lipstick in Diva (Actually got the last from Makeup Masala two weeks later)

Also, a Mega Shine Lipgloss in Natural and two concealers in beige (top) and medium (bottom).


Syen has already reviewed and compared the Round and Black Label lippies here so I am just going to show swatches and compare the shades.

From left to right: Natural, B52, Circe, Hebe and Diva.

Natural lives up to its name looking like a very pretty colour on my lips. It doesn’t work on days when my lips are redder than usual though. I am thinking of putting this away until spring as the shiny gloss effect seems a bit too much for overcast autumn/ winter days. The strong strawberry scent is a bit of a turn-off and I also find the gloss a bit too sticky for my liking. My hair got stuck to my lips during a windy day last week. Not good.

I am pleased to report that B52 definitely lives up to the hype surrounding this colour. My favourite lippie of the lot, it’s a lovely matte brown shade with a muted hint of pink. A definite MLBB lippie, I have been carrying this everywhere since I laid my hands on it.

Unlike what was narrated in “The Odyssey”, Circe did NOT cast a spell over me. Far from bewitching, I look like a ghost out of Ju-On (The Grudge) when I wear this. Guess that it is just my colouring though as Connie looks great wearing Circe in these FOTDs here. Looks great layered under one of my favourite lippies though so I am keeping it to tone down other bright lipsticks, Halloween and when I need to fake being sick for an essay extension.

I am puzzled that Hebe does not show up as red when I swatch it. Hebe is a wearable Christmas red shade with a little shimmer thrown in to keep it from being too boring. My sister claims the shade reminds her of 1940’s movie stars which can be interpreted as either “Yay, I look Ava Gardner glamorous” or “You look like Mum.” Take your pick.

Diva is a pinkish version of B52. Looks nice on me but I find myself reaching for B52 more often than this. Maybe it hasn’t grown on me yet.

As for the NYX concealers, beige comes with a yellow undertone while medium has a peach undertone to it. I think I have been spoilt by my Bobbi Brown cream concealers as I found these too dry and difficult to spread and blend unless I added a drop of moisturiser.

The concealer works fine on blemishes but not on undereye circles. The dry texture was difficult to work with, there wasn’t enough pigmentation and the colours simply didn’t match my skin. Think I will pass this on to my sister or a cousin (the wonders of having a huge family of girls) if it works for them.

Lippies get a huge “yes” from me but a “no” for NYX concealers.