I’m back with a supplementary post to my initial Bao Bao Wan first impressions write up, and looks like I am finally ready to give you the low down on the best buys and detailed reviews on each item.
Here’s what I have in store for you today.
Usually the first thing to catch my eye in ANY collection are the lip products. So let’s begin with the gorgeous Bao Bao Wan lipsticks, Burmese Kiss & Forbidden Sunrise.
Forbidden Sunrise described as a creamy orange, is a medium neutral toned orange in a matte finish. The colour applies pretty opaque in one swipe. I noticed that this wears best with minimum product on the lip as over applying can result in the colour looking uneven. So I wore this sheered out for a Korean inspired lip, concentrating the colour to the innermost potion of the lips.
Overall the wear wasn’t the most comfortable as matte lipsticks tends to dry out my lips and emphasize each and every lip line I had! However, I still love the colour and happy to own it as it’s my favourite between the two and more unique.
Burmese Kiss is described as a Coral toned pink which is pretty accurate. This too was a neutral leaning slightly warm with a matte finish. Also again, not the most forgiving formula but for those of you who enjoy matte finishes this would be an ideal shade for spring or summer.
Here’re some quick swatches I took a few days ago. Please note I prepped lips with a balm so they go on smoother.
Also some comparison swatches,
As you can see, I couldn’t find anything quite as orange as Forbidden Sunrise, although Burmese Kiss did have a rather closer match. Toxic Tale (part of the Red Red Red collection that launched early this year) is a slightly deeper, warmer coral with more orange tones in comparison to Burmese Kiss which was more pink than coral. They also differ in finish, as Toxic Tale is a creamier Satin. Between the two I liked Toxic tale more. It glides on with ease, doesn’t emphasize lip lines and highly pigmented. If you shy away from mattes, this one’s a good substitute!
Next up, the powder products.
There were two released and I have them both. Let’s start with the Summer Opal Beauty Powder. A stunning beige/nude powder with a hint of pink and gold sparkle.
When swatched, I found this beauty powder to be a bit too sparkly to be used all over the face. Instead, it does make a beautiful highlight, so I reviewed it as one.
This powder is rather tightly packed which works great for keeping wastage to a minimum allowing the brush to pick up just enough product for a subtle highlight, if you are looking for a highly pigmented product, this won’t cut it. But i’m happy to report the colour is buildable. So you can keep layering on for desired intensity.
Once applied, the pink tones of the product become more apparent with a bit of the gold shimmer shining through. The final look was a luminous and glowy highlight.
Here’re some swatches,
I swatched Summer Opal against some popular highlighters. And as you can see it’s very well suited for fairer skintones even though it’s not quite as light as the KA or Hourglass.
Overall it’s a lovely product to have, one of my favourites from the collection.
Now onto the star of the show, Bao Bao’s Jewels. A palette filled with glistening jewel toned eyeshadows that can be worn wet & dry.
The Bao Bao’s Jewels palette contains 5 Veluxe Pealfusion shadows.
Top to bottom,
Shade 1- A light shimmering baby pink with loads of sparkle. This applied smooth although slightly dry. I recommend patting this on carefully as the formula is on the drier side and has difficulty adhering to the lid.
Shade 2- A warm yellow gold in a high shimmer finish. This applied just as intense wet or dry, and wet application definitely brought out a smoother metallic finish.
Shade 3- A warm coppery bronze with intense pigmentation. This too performed great wet or dry and application was silky and glides on beautifully without any patchiness.
Shade 4- A warm taupe brown with yellow undertones. There was a massive difference in intensity when swatched wet where this transformed from sheer brown to a beautiful molten metallic number. I also noticed that the wet application brought out a deeper, and almost khaki tone while with dry application, this looks a warm mid brown with a slight red undertone.
Shade 5- Lastly a gunmetal grey with blue tones. This applied quite poor dry although wet application instantly picked up the game to an intense shimmering steel. Also worth noting, this performs very differently when swatched with fingers against a brush. I felt that the brush didn’t seem to pick up quite as much product and the final swatches were worlds apart when compared.
Round up
Overall the wet application delivered the best colour payoff (as expected) and looked beautiful and vibrant on the lids. Applied dry, it was a more faded version of what the colour could have been.
I noticed regardless of the use of primer, there was considerable fall out. More than i’d normally be comfortable with and applying your base makeup last was the only way to go. Luckily though, I didn’t notice much fall out during wear.
*I feel the major deciding factor for any interested beauty addicts would be the overall tone of the palette. It’s VERY warm. Some of you with pink and cool complexions will most certainly find this product clashing with your skintone. Given the amazing colour payoff and interesting shades, this would be a very nice addition to aspiring MUA’s as a palette is most certainly value for money.
Overall thoughts on the collection.
From what i’ve experienced, the powder products were the best buys. They performed well and were quite unique.
The lipsticks were judged mostly on finish rather than colour, as at the end of the day they do have to feel comfortable enough to wear. And even though I had scrubbed and primed my lips before application, these still emphasized texture. Of course if you don’t have lips ‘drier than the desert’ (like I do), maybe these would work well for you! Cos the colours certainly are pretty.
My pic of the lot would be Forbidden Sunrise. Bet you won’t find anything close to a dupe in your stash ;-).
Pricing and launch info
Lipsticks will be retailing at SGD 33
Summer Opal at SGD 46
Bao Bao’s Jewels at SGD 75
Nail Polish SGD 25
Collection launches at Robinsons and Ngee Ann City today (6th March)
Tangs will carry the collection on the 12th. (In case you miss anything you can always wait for it to release there ;-))
