Best in Canadian Beauty – Annabelle

The girls and I chat a lot about makeup (obviously) and one thing that we decided to do was to focus on Canadian brands when possible. We are slowly chipping away at some of the more known brands to start with and building out reviews or brand overviews from there. This is the first post in what I hope to be a sporadic series on Canadian brands. Over the past few months I have been picking up various products from Annabelle and giving them a try. I’ve found some the I quite enjoy and a few that aren’t for me. One thing I can say for certain is that I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the brand and I didn’t ran in to a single dud. So with that, let’s get to it!

The Brand: Would you believe that Annabelle Cosmetics has been around for 45 years!? So says their website! Good for them! Annabelle Cosmetics is a Montreal based makeup company and one of the few Canadian cosmetics brand featured in most retail stores. The were purchased by Marcelle in 1999. They are best known for their Kohl liner.

Where to Buy: Pretty much anywhere in Canada! Shoppers Drugmart, Rexall, Walmart, etc as well as online at http://www.annabelle.ca

Note that Annabelle’s website also has a rewards program. I looked in to it and in my opinion there is room for improvement but it’s a step in the right direction! They offer free shipping in Canada when you spend $30 or more.

What I’ve Tried: I’ve tried a good amount of products from this line but am looking to try more still. At this point I have tried their Biggie Bronzer, Blush, Eyeshadow Single, CC Perfecting Base, Skinny Brow Pencil and the make up remover pads.

My favourite products in the line are the Skinny Brow Pencil which I reviewed here, the CC Perfecting Base and the Biggie Bronzer. Some of their other products that I tried I would describe as good.Exactly what you would expect! But they didn’t stand out as much as the lovely’s mentioned above 🙂

CC Perfecting Base – provides a nice base for your foundation and concealer. It reminds me of the Benefit Porefessional Primer that people love but it’s not as thick. It can be worn on it’s own, with concealer and with foundation. I mixed it with a variety of foundation types and loved it best with a loose powder over top. I found that it has some pore minimizing traits and creates a great surface to blend my concealer in. It’s great for minimal makeup days.

Biggie Bronzer – it’s a bronzer! It’s big! The colour is nice and it works well with fair skin. It comes in a shiny or a matte option. Currently I have the shiny bronzer and I feel that it gently warms up my face without over powering it with gold and sparkles! It’s just a stand up bronzer. I enjoy the packaging too! I’m looking to pick up the bronzer in matte to see if I can contour a little with it.

Skinny Brown Pencil – comparable to Annastatia Brow Wiz, I wrote a review here.

The Eyeshadow Single in Suedine has a nice texture, decent colour payoff and seems to blend in well. I paired it with my Wet’n’Wild Brulee for a very nude look. I’m satisfied enough with it that I would go buy more of their shadows however I don’t find a lot of colour selection soooooo Annabelle – please come out with some cute special edition palettes!!

The Blushon in Rosewood is a pretty standard blush! Nice colour pigmentation, picks up on my brush well, blends well… the colour selection is once again pretty vanilla. All of them seem to be a variation of rose tones. Which are really nice for everyday use and very versatile but I already own a lot of similar colours.

And of course there were a few things that weren’t my favourite. Mainly because they felt a little young for me. That is the Big Shine Lip Gloss and the Lispsies. What can I say? They just didn’t do it for me!

My Impressions of the Brand: Annabelle appears to be targeting a younger crowd and their sister line, Marcelle, appears to target more my age group. Annabelle might be going for the 12-24 type market where as Marcelle would want a more mature audience. Their price reflects that. Annabelle is very affordable and can be compared to brands like Maybelline in price point. At this point I haven’t run in to any products that were truly bad but I have stumbled on a few that felt a little young for me such as their lip gloss and their new scented Lipsies. I don’t begrudge them this but for someone in her 30’s some of it feels a little young. Most of the products that I have tried I would describe as good and their price seems fair! Their colour range is lacking for me. I would love to see them come out with some limited edition items and try to be a little bolder. I would describe the colour range on their blushes and eyeshadows to be classic. That being said I will continue to try products from them and in fact I have a mental list of things I want to try including their Big Show Mascara, their Skin True foundation, the BB powder, and more of their makeup removers. If anyone has thoughts on any of these products are just Annabell at all – please comment below and let me know what you think! I’m curious.

I’d really like to include more Canadian makeup brands because I know that there are many they just don’t really get talked about. If anyone knows of some Canadian brands and has some requests for us to look in to, please leave a comment below! I’m looking for more. So far my list includes: Marcelle, Lise Watier, Pure Anada, Sappho, Live Clean (skin care), Noir, Bite Beauty, Cargo (sort of), and Boxx Cosmetics. Some are more affordable than others. Some are more accessbile than others. Suggestions are welcome!

Sheena