I’m a sucker for targeted instagram and TikTok ads, and influencer marketing, and one such brand is Baseblue Cosmetics. I had come across their makeup while watching a Tarababyz video where she raved about their products. I had seen their liquid lipsticks and some of their brushes being reviewed by some influencers but I was finally motivated to purchase from the brand when I began my journey for a replacement for my favorite Sulwhasoo Perfecting powder.
I visited their website and the ceramic powder holder was so cute, I couldn’t resist. I decided to make it worth the shipping cost and placed a large order.
I ordered the The Angel Soft Focus Loose Face Powder set in 01 (powder & container, Fruit is fruit hand Cream in peach, IVF Collection Liquid Lip in Hope, Summer in Kyoto hand soap, 10 years Makeup Brush and Mini Airsponge sponge.
Order & Shipping
I observed something interesting when I browsed their site — it looked eerily similar to the Florasis website. Also, at the time of reviewing these products, I didn’t find much information about the brand online, It looks like a Chinese Cosmetics brand with a DC address. I don’t think that they’re a drop ship brand and I do think that they design their own products. But they seem to be somewhere between a drop ship company and established brands like Kaleidos and Florasis. Another thing that tipped me off was the quality of English language used by the Customer Services executives. It isn’t the quality I expected from an American brand. Despite that, the greed for pretty things had taken a hold of me and I had placed an order.
While the order process itself was easy, the shipping was another story. It took a month for my order to be shipped! Sure they threw an extra powder refill as an apology, but a month is an unusually long wait. Also, my order was missing a powder puff.
What’s amusing was that my order arrived in an Amazon prime box! What is happening at their warehouse?! I’m going to still give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they also sell through Amazon and decided to repurpose a box.
The products
Let’s begin with how beautiful their products are. The packaging is A+. But the quality seems to differ from product to product. I started using and reviewing the makeup purely from a brown girl perspective. Since I suspected that this was an Asian company, I was skeptical about the shade range and I was right.
Let’s begin with the products I liked to ones and end with ones I didn’t or didn’t want to use.
Angel Soft Focus Powder
I’ll admit, I came for the packaging but stayed for the powder. The powder is so finely milled that I’m usually covered in a cloud of the powder when I try to use it. Right now, I use it to set my under eye concealer. Not the best way to use it because it supposedly has flashback because of the SPF in it. But so far, it’s been fine for video calls. I probably wouldn’t use it when I step out.
The only problem I have with the powders is the shade range. They have 4 shades and the 2 shades that seemed right for me — 1 & 2 — are very light. The other 2 shades were orange. It was either Cheetos orange or Ooompa Loompa orange. Now, I don’t think that the powders look orange on my display, I truly think they’re orange. So I ended up ordering shade 1, the darker of the 2 shades; unfortunately that wasn’t dark enough for me. The powder itself is good quality and does a great job of setting my makeup, but I wouldn’t use it all over my face because I can end up looking ghastly. Literally.
The plaster container itself is beautiful and delicate. And just like Tarababyz, who was probably one of the first few influencers to talk about the brand, I decided not to store the powder in the container. I have very less space on my vanity and considering my butterfingers, I’m sure I’ll drop the container and break it. So I decided to use the powder from its refill container because I don’t have another container with a sifter to depot it into.
The refill comes in a beautiful cardboard container and a sifter that you’re supposed to stick onto the refill. Except that fails completely because the powder removes the adhesive on the sifter. So, till I can depot it into a container of its own, I have to be very careful while I use it.
It’s a beautiful finely milled powder and does a great job of setting my under eye. If they had better shades, this is a great powder to use. Does it measure up to the quality of my favorite Sulwhasoo powder. No it doesn’t. Does it measure up to my second favorite powder, the Clinique Blended face powder? Still no. But it’s a decent powder; I’d compare it to my third favorite powder — the elf prime & stay finishing powder.
Here’s the funny thing though — it’s supposed to include a powder puff, but I did not receive one.
Would I recommend it? Yes, but only if you’re pale. This is a skip for brown skinned girls. I like that it has SPF, I hate the shade range.
Price: US$ 58
IVF Collection Liquid Lipstick
This is a very dimethicone-y slippery liquid lip. I like how it looks after it dries down. It almost looks like the liquid lip that Seo Yea-Ji wears in the K-Drama “Eve”. It feels comfortable when it dries down.
But, here’s the problem. The shades don’t match what is on the site; atleast the shade “Hope” doesn’t. It turned out to be a nudey Brick Red with an Orange under tone. Since I’m neutral with golden undertones, it looks awful on me. I should’ve just ordered “Serenity” but I assumed it would be too light on me. The other problem is the way it feels when you first apply it. It feels like it’s going to slip right off of your lips because of the several types of dimethicones and silicones in it.
Would I recommend it? I wouldn’t. There are better liquid lipsticks out there, it’s not worth wasting money on.
Price: US$ 36
Ten Years Makeup Brush
I like the concept and idea behind this brush. I even got a version with my name etched on it. Except it is rough! It felt alright on my skin but it’s not as soft as an RT or a Japonesque brush. I’ll try it and update this post, but I have a feeling I won’t like it. Besides, it’s too big to be a blush brush for my tiny face.
Would I recommend it? No. I think you can get better brushes for the same price.
Price: US$ 46
Fruit is Fruit Handcream in Peach
This is an interesting product. The tube has two parts — an inner tube that contains the cream with fragrance and the outer tube that contains a transparent gel that provides the moisturization. As is the case with most products like this, including the infamous Clinique ID Gel, I got a bunch of gel before the cream in the inner tube was dispersed. The smell is amazing, but it doesn’t do much for my dry palms. I’d rather use my travel size Jergens.
Would I recommend it? No. I think there are better hand creams in the drugstore.
Price: US$ 18
Mini Airsponge
This was such a cute product to look at it. But it just didn’t work for me. It’s a sturdy sponge and is very different from the sponges I’m used to — Beauty Blender and elf. To me, it feels like the makeup wedges that you get at Dollarama. I tried using it to apply concealer under my eyes and I couldn’t control the application of the product.
Would I recommend it? Depends. If you’re used to using makeup wedges, this is a cute version of it. If you like sponges like Beauty Blenders, this is a skip.
Price: Free/Sample
Summer in Kyoto Soap
I bought this because it had cute soap flowers suspended in Gel soap. And then I read the ingredients and realized that I didn’t want to use it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very cute; but I don’t think I want to use it. Because of this, I can’t review or comment on the product.
Price: US$ 6.40
Final Thoughts
All in all I realized that the makeup from the brand is not very Brown Girl Friendly. The products are cute but apart from the packaging they aren’t stand out products.
Here’s the bottom line: If you live in the US and you’re fine with taking a chance on this brand, do check out the face powder. I feel weird recommending this brand because something seems a bit off about it; it feels like a drop ship company with an office in the US.