First impression + swatches: H&M's new beauty line!

H&M will be launching their new beauty line with over 700 products in September. Here in The Netherlands the newest H&M store, openend this August in the city Utrecht, is already selling the range. Of course I couldn't wait to check it out! I've been there twice and I bought some really nice cosmetics I'll show you in this post so keep on reading for a lot more pictures, swatches and information!

I bought two eye creams and an eye shadow palette. There are also single eye shadows and loose glitters dusts available but I was most interested in the products on the picture:

The eyes creams come in glass jars with plastic white lids on them.The eye shadow palette comes in a slick black case that almost looks like a smartphone to me.

I bought the eye colour palette that's named Smoky Essentials. There are four palettes available with different color themes. Each palette contains 9 shadows and there's a large mirror inside as well. The packaging is looking and feeling really good.

Here you see the nine eye shadows from the Smoky Essentials palette. It's a nice selection of smoky colors with different textures. There's mattes, shimmers and glitters.

Here you see swatches on my arm made with a sponge applicator. I swatched each row down.

The pigment of these eye shadows is quite poor. Tha's a bit of a downer. On the other hand, it will be useful for those who like subtle everyday smoky looks.

A nice extra is the leaflet with three easy to follow tutorials on how to use the palette to create looks for different occasions.

The eye creams didn't catch my eye immediately but once I swatches them in the store the got me pretty amazed. So I end up buying two colors: Champers and Countess. In total there are five of these beauties available.

They have a mousse like structure and once dried on the eye lid they seem quite steady and up to stay there for a while. The pigment of these creams is really good as you can tell by the swachtes a few pictures down. I choose two warm colors that will let blue eyes pop but will also be nice on brown eyes as well.

I like cream eyeshadows and I like cream blushers. Not everybody likes to work with cream products but I think creams melt into your skin beautifully to give such a nice glowy and natural look. So I also bought a pure velvet cream bluher in the color Dusty Rose and an cream lip colour named Last Tango.

The packaging feels a bit cheap to me. The off white color combined with gold looks fancy at first glance, but it feels kinda light and plastic-y. The eye shadow palette and the eye creams have better packaging if you ask me.

The cream blusher is said to give sheer coverage and a natural finish. To my opninion the pigmentation is good and you can easily build up the color to a less sheer more intense finish. I'm not sure how many colors are available at the moment. I guess it's three to five. The color I have, Dusty Rose, is a very natural color for lighter skin tones.

There are like twenty or more lipsticks available. There's a shade for everybody's each and own liking, that's for sure. I bought the color Last Tango. It's a dark fuchsia color that I'm really into. The lipstick is really creamy and feels very comfortable on my lips. The color is opaque in one strike so I got nothing to complain on the pigmentation here. I think it's best to wear a color like this in combination with a long lasting lip liner to make it stay in place.

Swatches in sunlight. L-R: eye cream Countess, eye cream Champers, cream blusher Dusty Rose en cream lip colour Last Tango.

Swatches in daylight. L-R: eye cream Countess, eye cream Champers, cream blusher Dusty Rose en cream lip colour Last Tango.

Last but not least I'm showing you some tools I bought. The buffer and blusher brush is to be used on face and cheeks for applying, blending and contouring liquids, creams and powders. I haven't used it yet but it feels nice. The bristles on the blusher side are really soft while the angled buffer brush is sturdy and good to use for cream products. I use a comb on my hair when it's wet after washing. This detangling comb has wide-set teeth and smooth edges so it should be perfect to comb out wet hair carefully.

Overall I believe H&M did a good job by reinventing their beauty line. I hope the beauty line will survive in The Netherlands because beauty is not that big over here although it's still up and coming. Also the prices are okay for me (a thirty three year old with a steady job), but I think these new H&M cosmetics can still feel a bit high priced for e.g. students. From the products I bought and tested I really like and recommend the eye creams, the cream blusher and the lipstick. I'm not too excited over the eye shadow palette because of the poor pigmentation of the shadows. The brush and comb are just fine. There are way more goodies to pick up from the new beauty range. I also spotted matte lip creams as well as foundations, powders, lip liners, a lot of brushes and much more!

Price information (based on the prices in The Netherlands, Europe):
- eye shadow palette: € 12,99
- eye cream: €5,99
- cream blusher: € 7,99
- cream lip colour: € 9,99
- buffer and blusher brush: € 6,99
- detangling comb: € 3,99
Go to hm.com for the prices and availability in your country!
I have the idea that color names of the products might differ per country which is quite annoying if you're looking up swatches online so keep that in mind.

What do you think of this new beauty line by H&M?