Part supermarket, part office supplies, part homewear, part clothing and also part make up shop: Dutch budget department store Hema has it all. It’s one of my favorite Dutch stores to shop in. Not in the the first place because there is one just around the corner from my house. I got most of my Christmas decorations there and I used to swear by their underwear as a teenager. I’ve never been a super big fan of their make up, but it was one of the brands I started out with when I first started trying things out. The other week, as I was picking up Christmas decoration, I just couldn’t help myself and browsed the make up isles and found a few gems that I didn’t think should be withheld from anyone.
Hema Metallic Eyemousse Intense Colour & Waterproof in Nude
Hema Smooth Smokey eyeliner in charcoal grey, bronze brown, burgundy aubergine
I don’t remember the exact prices, but I believe the pencil liners were 2.50 each and the eyemousse was 3.50. And for anyone old enough to remember: how much does this pot remember you of the lipgloss trios Hema used to do? Oh my, nostalgia right there! As you can see, I bought one eyemousse and three pencil liners. I can already tell you that I like the eyemousse so much, that I actually purchased another one in a dark grey color, which I decided to leave out of this review.
Hema Metallic Eyemousse Intense Colour & Waterproof in Nude
The Hema Metallic Eyemousse Intense Colour & Waterproof in Nude, was what instantly caught my eye when I walked up to the display. I’m thinking this is a Christmas exclusive, but with Hema you never know. I swatched the tester and blinked, once, twice, three times. This was the prettiest, shimmery, champagne color I had seen in a long time. It has nice pigmentation, is super creamy (it really feels like a mousse) and longlasting when you wear a thin layer over an eyeshadow base.
Packaging wise, nothing special is going on. I feel like Hema used to do a similar product 10 or 15 years ago, which, just like their lipglosses, came in a trio stackable set. I don’t believe those old ones were this shimmery or longlasting though. However, we’re talking my very first forays into make up when I was 15 and knew nothing about make up and there were no beauty blogs to help you out. So I’m a bit fuzzy on that bit. All in all, the packaging is practical and light weight. I like how you can see the color through the packaging as it doesn’t cause any confusion when you’re grabbing for it in your stash.
And just because I couldn’t resist: a close up of the product. Can you see that micro shimmer? Yep, that WILL transfer to your eye. In fact, I think when applied a little bit more thickly, it makes for an almost wet look effect on the eyes. And this neutral color is super versatile and a bit of a shape shifter, as you will see below, where I’m wearing it on my eyes over the grey eyeliner you can also see in this post.
Hema Smooth Smokey eyeliner in charcoal grey, bronze brown, burgundy aubergine
Apart from the eyemousse, I also purchased these eyeliners. Truth be told, I also went back to the store to pick up a few more of these after deciding I really loved the dark grey. These also have a metallic look to them, glide on smoothly and are super easy to blend. I don’t really care for the sponge tip at the back of the pencil liner, but it’s nice that it’s there. Unless the eyemousse, these don’t come with names. In fact, I made up the names. Let’s have a closer look.
Charcoal grey
This charcoal grey number was what caught my eye first. I didn’t own a dark grey pencil yet. I have plenty of browns and black, but grey? Nope. And I think it makes for a nice difference, yet still is a neutral enough shade that it can go with different looks. This liner has steely silver reflects to it, which makes this a super duper easy base for a smokey eye. I used this smoked out all over my eyelid and into the crease with the eyemousse on top in the full face pictures at the end of this blog post.
Burgundy aubergine
Because I wasn’t sure whether I’d like the quality of these, I decided to wait until I had used the grey one before picking up some more. But right away, this purple/ burgundy shade caught my eye. I have plenty of purple eyeliner, but a burgundy? Not something you find quickly at a drugstore/ budget brand. This shade also has pretty pink reflects, which make this a great lower lash liner to amp up any look.
Bronze brown
Where I didn’t own any of the other shades yet, I do own plenty of brown liner. But again, this looks different from anything I have. For one, I don’t have many metallic looking eyeliners. And this deep chocolate brown color is infused with gold reflects. It’s just a stunning color and a great basic to have and I thought it would be nice to use it to round up this blog post.
Swatches! As you can see the eyemousse is super shimmery, almost glittery. And the liners are intense, jampacked with color and pretty reflects to give the shade some more dimension. All these swatches are one swipe of my finger, or pencil. Impressive right? Like I said before, the liners blend easily and I’ve used the grey and purple liners in the look below. I also posted this look last week, as part of my Christmas inspiration, so if this looks familiar, you’re absolutely right!
Since I smudged the eyemousse over the dark grey liner, the effect becomes more like a metallic silver than a champagne nude. That’s one thing I like: it’s a bit like a chameleon and adapts its color depending on what base you put under it. I wore this without a base (just a layer of eyeshadow base) in combination with the dark grey mousse not in this post and that became a little bit messy by the end of the day. Some of the mousse had gone smudgy around the outer corner of my eye. But I tend to have that quickly with creamy products anyway.
If you’re in Holland and you find yourself near a Hema: go check these out! There are Hema stores in Belgium and a few in the UK now as well, but I’m not sure they stock these products anywhere else. They are cheap, easy to use and the colors are stunning and well pigmented. If you’re looking to try different colors, do swatch them before buying, because I found that not all the colors in these products had the same amount of pay off when I swatched them in store.
What is your favorite make up product from Hema?