BENEFIT Double The Lip & Eyeshadow Duos

Good MORNING! Today I am sharing a new launch that I was a little late to but since testing I am completely in love with. I initially thought these liner/lipstick combos were a bit of a gimmick, I thought that at best they'd be a funky shaped regular lipstick and at worst it would look like I was wearing 2 different lip colours. That being said, at £16.50 they're reasonably priced and I was excited to try them for myself.You can see that some have more contrast than others, I also noticed the texture of the liner side wasn't consistent across the range. Some were very creamy and opaque, others required more effort.. in theory this would give less definition on the line than the fill.. not quite the idea, I thought. Here I'm wearing Nude Scandal - my favourite of the bunch - and I think you can just about make out the outline made by the darker 'liner' half. It creates a slightly plumper, 3D look that I really like. Not at all as obvious as I imagined and yet is does SOMETHINGAnd here I'm wearing Revved Up Red, the most sheer of the bunch with the weakest 'liner' side. It looks a touch translucent on the lips but the colour is just beautiful and the softer liner again has a kind of plumping effect.Although they are effective they are subtle. They add an element of shadow or contour in one tube for those who can't be bothered or just plain can't line and shade their way to the 3D lip trend with a traditional liner. As a liner lover I like the ease of these lipsticks, not having to dig out a corresponding colour, being able to reapply on the go with just one product, etc, etc. I'm not giving up my pencils anytime soon but for a fresher look (especially for Summer) I will definitely be reaching for theseThe Duo Eyeshadow Blenders are a different matter, however. While the shadows are nice enough (though nothing exciting) the gimmick here is that you apply both colours in one swipe with a spherical sponge. I have now tried this multiple times and I can only imagine it is designed with only certain eye shapes in mind. My eyes are hooded and so I don't have a great deal of lid space to work with, for me the applicator was a complete waste of time. I will still use the shadows with a brush but once you take away the gimmick you're left with a pretty blah eyeshadow duo in plastic packaging for £19.50. I'm not sold on this one.You can check out my FIRST IMPRESSIONS VIDEO (and see my attempt the eyeshadow blender for the first time) here and take a look at the range online here