W7: The Good and the not that Bad.

There is nothing really ugly about any of the products on offer from budget brand W7. There are some really stand out products though and they have piqued my interest making me keen to seek out more stockists of the brand so I can find shades that suit me.

I was sent a few bits from the Irish distributors of W7 and I am pretty impressed. Some of the bits are Ok, others are Pretty Great. Read on to see which made their way into my makeup bag

W7 SuperTint Moisturiser in shades Medium and Dark. RRP €3.50 for the 30ml tube. Toted as a tinted moisturiser, the coverage of this lotion is rather high, even when blended out and unfortunately these are the only two shades on offer. The Dark would be a good contour shade to practice with (for those who are after the kind of thing) as it blends into the skin quite nicely without going patchy. But as a tinted moisturiser its not fantastic on my combination skin: it tends to separate after 2 hours on my skin and the pigment settles into the pores around my nose making them quite prominent. And neither of the shades will match me even with a tan, so the typical fairer than fair skin tones will need to look elsewhere.

W7 also sent me Catwalk Complexion Powder compact in Beige (RRP €3.50) and Catwalk Perfection Cream to Powder foundation in Honey (RRP €3.50) and I haven't had the chance to play around with them, but initial swatches show they are quite heavily pigmented and would be good for full heavy coverage if you can get this in a shade to match your skin. Immediate impressions are mixed and I will do a full post on them separately once I've had the chance to have a good play with them. I think these would be good for oily skins.

The W7 Brow Twister pencil RRP €2.50 is actually quite a nice product for €2.50. It is creamy, highly pigmented and gives good hold and good colour. While the wax/cream is quite soft, it does give a great fine line (to mimic hairs) but being soft it gets blunt quickly. Not a problem for this one though, bring the nib back into the holder and run it down a tissue a few strokes and it is sharp again! I like this, and I think most ladies will. It also comes in Hazel and Dark Brown and I want both. Brown tends to run a little on the red side and I prefer a more ashy brown, but I can't fault this. Its less than a starbucks and will last much longer ;)

W7 London Eyes Eyeshadow Palette (RRP €6.50) is more hit than miss and that makes this a pretty good buy . 24 shades in a plastic holder that doesn't look like much, but means that each shade costs just 27c. Now the pigmentation isn't Mad Fantastic, but it would be good for everyday wear and those starting out as the colours combine well for daytime looks. And of the mix of matte & shimmer shades about 6 of the colours have poor payoff and are a bit chalky.

Only 6. So €1.62 of the €6.50. Not bad eh? The swatches in the pic are one swipe of my finger over the shadow and onto a dry arm (no primer), these will work well over primer and don't crease/fade as quickly as you may think. I have another post coming on this palette. Its a great one for travelling, because even if you drop it you are not going to cry big tears as it really is as cheap as chips to replace.

These two W7 Chunky Eyes Pencils (RRP €2.50) are the the "Cream of the Crop". Coffee is a gorgeous shimmery creamy dark brown that applies without pulling or dragging and blends easily with a fingertip. Cappuccino is a lighter brown the colour if a nice milky cappuccino. Soft, shimmery, creamy long lasting and beautiful, these have won a permanent place in my makeup bag. The other shades: Mocha and Latte are on my list.

W7 Aye Aye Captain Very Black Liquid Eyeliner (RRP €2.50) is , for me, Awesome. Black, quick drying, long lasting and a cinch to use with its precision tip. It doesn't drag and the applicator is soft, but not overly flexible so you can get a thin line if you use the tip, or get a thicker, more defined line by pressing the length of the applicator tip right into the lash line in a series of dashes. Easy Peasy, no mess and no fuss. As I said it dries pretty quickly so you need to work reasonably neatly, but with a little practice it is easy to master a good looking flick. It dries to a matte finish that isn't strictly waterproof, but it wont just come to come off with a random tear or even a good soaking in the rain, you will need a cleanser, a facecloth /cottonpads and warm water to get this off your lids.

Stockists in Ireland are limited, but I know that the distributors are in talks with a few major chains so hopefully we will have better access to this budget brand. For now you can find W7 in:
Donabate Pharmacy , Donabate , Co Dublin
The Cosmetics Outlet , Meath St , Dublin
Adrian Dunne Pharmacy Group , Various Locations
Mc Sharry’s Pharmacy Group , Various Locations
Sweeny’s Pharmacy , Claregalway
Cara Pharmacy , Various Locations
Brosnans Pharmacy, Middleton, Co Cork

And W7 is also available online at www.cheapcosmetics.ie and if you only get one product then let it be the Chunky Eyes!


 


All products sent to me for review