On a recent visit across the causeway, I made a stop at SaSa, a retailer that carries a wide range of cosmetics and other beauty products, to check out TheBalm products. I had seen TheBalm products in stores before, but had always dismissed it until I started watching Emily on the Beauty Broadcast channel rave about its blushes and eyeshadows. Naturally, now I had to try it out. I ended up getting Meet Matt(e), an eyeshadow palette and Down Boy, a blush.

TheBalm’s more well-known matte palette is probably Meet Matt(e) Nude, 9 matte neutral eyeshadows launched after the Naked phenomena – Meet Matt(e) (S$36) is its smaller big brother. Each shadow in Meet Matt(e) is almost 1/3 the size of Meet Matt(e) Nude. This, to me, is a no nonsense palette, there’s no colour in there that makes me go ooh and ahh, but they work, or most of them anyway. These are fail safe colours that you can count on to create a nice matte eye look. They are soft, easy to blend and in most cases, very pigmented.

My least favourite shades are Matt Singh and Matt Chung, just because they don’t show up much on me. With Matt Singh, at least it helps to even out my skin tone on my lids, but Matt Chung just disappears on me. While these are matte colours, Matt McDonald, Matt Horowaitz and Matt Schilling almost comes up with a slight sheen when packed on. With these shades, it is easy to create a simple neutral look or a smokey eye, which you can jazz up by using some of the more unusual colours like Matt Schilling. Just a note, these were all one touch, one swipe swatches. The palette comes with a dual-ended brush, which, in a pinch would work well.

What I really like about this palette is that it is very travel-friendly, something that you can just throw into your makeup bag and not take up too much space. It also has a nice big mirror that will come in useful.

I really do like this blush. I’ve been looking for a blush that looks like I’ve a slight flush on my cheeks and this is working out well for me. A lovely baby pink, this blush has no shimmer or glitter in it and looks very natural on the cheeks. It is seriously pigmented, so a light hand and a stipling brush would be a very good idea. With that, you’ll get the most perfect, healthy glow of youth. Down Boy (S$24) is touted as a shadow/blush, but I probably won’t use it on the lids.

What I’ve tried of TheBalm so far, I’ve enjoyed. From the cute, handy, retro packaging to the overall good quality of its product, it certainly does compare to the high end makeup out there.