Happy Sunday everyone! 

If you found the yellow painterly brows cute, check out these monochromatic chicas as they bring life to fringed necklaces, bronze accessories and that sizzling smokey-eyed look! 

Fringes, bronzes and smudged eye makeup go well together, eh?

The first time I encountered 4U2 products was when I got hold of their Gemtone Quad in Moonstone. I even did an amateur EOTD (my first ever, actually!) using the affordable eyeshadow quad. Now that they have released a new line called 'Envy', I grabbed the chance to purchase a 4U2 Envy Makeup Set (feel free to click on pics for a ginormous view of pigments).

4U2 Envy Makeup Set in 01... it's no deadly sin!

They have really stepped up this time. The 1 1/8" x 1 1/8" palm-size box contains 3 eyeshadows, a blusher, an eyeshadow applicator, a blush brush and a mirror!

4U2 Envy Makeup Set in 01 Net wt 6g
Also comes in 5 other shadow+blusher combos (#02-#06) 

It's not a fantastic packaging though. It's a lightweight plastic (rather flimsy) and the sad thing is that it can be a bit difficult to open the box (or was it just me?).  Nevertheless, the palette seals tightly and it's just totally jaw-dropping that the tiny 4U2 Envy palette has a matchmaking set of shadows and a blusher (plus tools!).

Swatches. I have never tried any blush from this brand but I have to say I'm really impressed with how pretty palette 01's blush is on the skin.

4U2 Envy Makeup Set 01 Blusher's swatch

Why isn't 4U2 naming their pigments? Even with the other quad, I had to play silly and name it S1, S2, S3 and S4 for reference. These lovely colors deserve a name for themselves! I forgot to do so with the pretty blusher but I took the liberty of naming their amazing shadows:

I baptize you 'Clean', 'Sin' (coz you look like UDPP Sin) and 'Tempt'
no primer to boost the shadows' colors, only used The Body Shop's crayon concealer

During that last post on the Gemtone quad, I ranted that I may have bought an expired palette. This time, the 4U2 Envy Makeup Set's manufacturing and expiry dates are blatantly displayed on a sticker on the product's seal (hard to miss)... so that's really good.  Mine will expire on 2013 (manufactured mid 2010).

[Can you help me name the blusher? And did you like the new names of the shadows?]

I will be reviewing the entire set in-depth during the next post lest I bore you once again with my long posts. I know Lysa won't be bored, but I won't keep you. I'll let you drool on the palette for now and give you the juicier stuff that the 4U2 Envy Makeup palette has in store for you later!

Epilogue to my previous post entitled, 'Beauty Tool Hot Seat: Brushes!': The winner of the Bloom Blush Brush is Larrisa Pedrosa. I was flooded with answers! Thank you girls! By the way, the answer is: all are synthetic. :)

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

I dropped by Watson's today and bought an eye palette. 4U2 offers a good number of eye shadow pans, including quads and 8-pan palettes.

4U2 Gemtone 4-color Eyeshadow in Moonstone

Watson's, 424php (~$9)

The 4u2 Gemtone Eyeshadow Quad line offers around 12 palettes (I think) in a simple yet catchy packaging. I wanted to buy all palettes, but doing so would be too much... at least for a person who barely knows how to put on eye makeup. So I bought their Moonstone palette.

On the Packaging:

It is decent, it doesn't look cheap. The product is so compact you can throw it in your kikay kit.

Oooooh... looks like a nugget, eh? The Gemtone Quads come in different colors!

Palm-size

Unfortunately, you can tell that packaging is of poor quality once you open the case. There are scratches on the plastic edges and the pans aren't aligned. Call me an OC, but these low-end makeup manufacturers should at least exert effort to take note of the littlest details.

I am clueless about the product's manufacturing date... is it MFG 291107? Nov 29 07? If it is, this is a big 'Oh no!' because I hate getting items that were made ages ago... and 2 years ago is ages ago.

No expiry date; and is this the manufacture date?

Another 'uh-oh' on the packaging is that it doesn't have those tiny holes for depotting. You'll have to use something that can fit the tiny space at the center created by the pans to take them out. Come to think of it, I never saw refills at the counter. However, the SA claimed that refill pans will be on stock soon.

On the shadows:

This Gemtone line is a collection of powdery shadows. Some colors can be chalky (but this specific quad, moonstone, isn't...yay!). The shadows are very pigmented.

Shadows with no name...

I noticed that S2 and S3 looked similar on the pan, while S2 and S4 were hardly distinct from each other when swatched.

swatches under lighting #1

swatches under a different lighting

The only shadows I think I'd use are S1 and S3. S2 is so-so, while S4 is horrible! I'm not sure... but perhaps as I learn more about eye makeup application (and buy the right eye brushes), I'll retract this statement. Who knows?

On the Price:

For 424php, you get pretty eye colors packed in a sleek casing. That's neat!

Overall:

4U2 cosmetics are owned by Belair Cosmetics (USA) and are manufactured in Thailand. It's a shame that 4U2's website isn't working as I love to learn more about them.

I'd love to recommend this, but knowing that Maybelline has eyeshadow quads retailing at ~450php, I might opt to spend on collecting the Maybelline quads over 4U2's.