August 7, 2012

Lush Emotional Brilliance Eyeliner Review & Swatches

This was provided to me by a brand for review but all opinions expressed are my own



Lush Emotional Brilliance
has launched to a great big hooray from the Lushies out there, myself included. As a lover and huge fan of B Never, Lush’s original makeup collection, I was quite excited about Lush Emotional Brilliance.

But….B fans, if you’re out there, be warned, Lush Emotional Brilliance is nothing like B Never.

Take a look!

You don’t have to but Lush has a “Spin the Wheel” discovery game you can play which personalizes your color experience with Emotional Brilliance.

The entire makeup collection is available for you to purchase at will in boutiques however, if you’re feeling up to it you can spin Lush’s Color Wheel which will select a shade based on your “mood” or “state of mind”. The wheel is available in store as well as a virtual wheel you can spin online.

Lush’s concept for the collection and shades is less about wearing make-up that�s in-season or on-trend and more about wearing colors that suit your mood.

The color game or wheel is intended to unveil the colors one should wear to fulfil a need and each shade has a corresponding word that the shade is named after. You should select the shades not because they are your favorite colors or because they match your clothes because you are emotionally drawn to the colors.

Although a fun idea I’m more about picking shades of color that I think will look good on me. What do you think? Up for the color wheel? Or more about choosing colors you like on your own?

The 30 products in the range are all vegan and come in tiny 8g vials.

I tried the Emotional Brilliance Eyeliner in Fantasy which is a brassy old gold shade in the bottle but comes across a truer gold on eyes. This is $22.95 for a good deal of eyeliner at 8g however, it might be challenging to get through it all before it goes bad. B Never makeup used to have a shelf life of six months to a year so I imagine that Emotional Brilliance has around the same expiration time. Although it lists the date it was made I was surprised it didn’t show when it would expire. This isn’t typical of Lush who always puts a fresh date as well as an expire date on their products.

The vials are kinda classy and have an old world alchemy feel. They aren’t as pretty as B Never’s old packaging but they run towards being a bit more modern.

Fantasy is a very pretty shade with a fairly nice formula. Pigmentation was quite nice and application and wear proved equally nice. The thin brush enclosed in the jar was easy enough to use and apply the liner to my eyes. I had no problems creating a precise line on my eyes and thought the shade came across way more 24k gold looking on lids than it did in the actually bottle. Wear time was good and it set to a perfect finish without fading or flaking off.

My issue?

It seems like the brush isn’t quite long enough to get at the product in the bottle. I gave it a shake or two but the brush doesn’t seem to saturate well with product. I think the vials could prove a little iffy for application and getting at the product particularly when you are down to the last of it. To avoid the issue you might want to dip your own liner brush into the bottle. I didn’t try this but seems the best solution here.

Overall, seems a little expensive for me as I don’t typically use liquid eyeliner but could prove a value for some if liquid is your eyeliner medium choice. The shade, application, and formula all proved excellent however, I did have issues with the bottle. Seemed challenging to get at the product inside….!

Emotional Brilliance isn’t B Never and I can’t help but wish for something more B-ish but it looks promising enough. I’m hopeful some of the other products prove nicer.

Tried it?

Do share your thoughts!

This was provided to me by a brand for review but all opinions expressed are my own

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Becca @ The Beauty Sample

    I love the gold color! I’ve been looking for a gold liquid liner lately after seeing an amazing FOTD online, but you’re right–$23 does seem like quite a bit for a Lush eyeliner. Not sure about this one…I might go for a UD one or something instead

  • Jen

    I had such bad luck with the line. 🙁
    Got the ‘Strong’ lip color. It was grainy and stained my lips, which is great if I was looking for a lip stain but I wanted a normal lip color. And I couldn’t get past the texture. Exchanged for ‘glamorous’ a gorg mod pink. Wore it once, noticed it got streaky and clumpy on the lips. Wiped and went to reapply, opened it to find the applicator tip broke off into the bottle! 🙁 I returned it, and just got some skin care instead. :/
    Not too impressed with the quality, especially with the price tag!!! It’s a shame because all the colors are so bright and pretty! 🙁

  • Rebecca

    Haven’t tried it yet, but I have been looking for a kind of glittery eyeliner. I am debating between this (using my own brush) or the UD heavy metal one.. what do you think?

    • the Muse

      too different products hun, lush is more refined and ud is chunky glitter ;-D

  • Rebecca

    Oops, Muse if you get a chance could you fix that post without my last name lol!

  • caroline

    I too bought Fantasy, and on a whim because I was purchasing a gift for a friend when this caught my eye. I didn’t do the color wheel game but just gravitated toward this beautiful gold liner. I have used it a few times and love the color pay off. Yes, my issues are the same as you mentioned. Bottle is super cute but the brush could be longer. I guess I can always dip my liner brush, as the SA told me to do if I didn’t like the current brush. Too bad this will go bad before I use it all up. I won’t repurchase due to the price.

    • the Muse

      caroline I used a thin benefit liner brush I had and this helps A LOT! the brush is a little too short to get at the product. I’m unsure of the exact expiration date on them but I agree, it’s very large and challenging to use all up!

  • Kiss & Make-up

    Haven’t tried it yet, but I will because tomorrow I’m off to Lush in Antwerp. Can’t wait to try out the emotional brilliance line (and spin the wheel :-))

  • Alanna

    This might help some who are having trouble with the lip colors- I purchased “Perspective” a pretty dusky rose pink, and my first adventures with the sponge applicator were disastrous! It picked up waaaaaaay too much product, as this stuff is very saturated with pigment. I ended up using a tiny lip brush to pick up a like microscopic bead of the product and that was enough for my entire bottom lip. I did the same for my top lip, brushing it out in little strokes to spread it evenly. That got a stain sort of look. I let those set and added one more extremely thin coat, and got a perfect lipstick effect which wore for almost my entire work shift, so 5-6 hours (and I’m a retail SA, so lots of talking and fast swooping jaunts to grab a drink of water), although I did have to blot the inside of my lips once or twice. I also tried a couple of the shadows in store but I’m not a fan of liquid eyeshadow in general, but the pigment situation seemed similar for the colors I sampled.
    In conclusion, I would say give the line a go if you live near a Lush and can return it easily if you hate it. 😉 I’m keeping mine but will probably not repurchase since over $20 is pretty expensive for something so painstaking to use.

  • Lucy Hollander

    If you like bright lips, you have to try Passionate. Its a HOT pink, almost duochrome. It stays on forever and I get so many compliments when I wear it. Also, you can use each product as all the others so even if you buy a pink lipstick, you can use it as a mascara, eyeliner or eyeshadow.

  • Ruthless

    I sampled every color at my Lush store. While the pigmentation is intense, the practicality of the line is doubtful. There are some amazing blue eye liners and bronze colors but…?? Just not sure if I love them enough

  • Melissa

    Today I bought my first Lush makeup and I ‘like it but due to the pricing I don’t know how much else I’ll buy. I got a brown eyeliner that has a copper glow to it can’t think of the name right now and the lipstick in bubbly. I really like how well the lip product wears and feels. I have had no issues with the applicators in either one. I think that I spent two much on these two products but since I love Lush anything I am happy with my purchase. I got a bubble roon, a lip balm and a refill of aquamarina too.

  • Liane Graham

    I bought Perspective, a lip color (though I’ve been known to use my lip colors as cream blushes too) and I have to say I’m loving it. The color payoff is amazing and it lasts!
    The face products are great too. I’m loving Feeling Younger at the moment, and I’ve been using the mascara which I like as a natural, daytime mascara. I just think the color selection in general is a little bizarre, but I think it always takes some time for a new line to work out its kinks and figure out what it really wants to do.

  • Marilyn @ Lipgloss and Spandex

    I swatched all of the eyeliners and loved most of them. They’re quite pretty. I’m not crazy about the applicator though. I bought one of the dark charcoal/taupe shades but was upset that when I actually applied it on my eyes, it felt like it was burning for a little bit. The feeling eventually went away, but for something that’s marketed as having ingredients that are more like an eye cream than makeup, I’m very disappointed. I’ve never really had that problem with any other eye products either. It’s getting returned ASAP.

    • the Muse

      me too, the applicator doesn’t get the the bottom did you notice that? really??? I didn’t have that problem thankfully. be careful, don’t use it if it irritated you even once, it’s not work forsaking your eyes!