Axiology Balmies Review

Posted byNicole Whittle Posted onMay 9, 2020 Comments0

Tags: axiology, balmies, blush, eyeshadown, lipstick, plastic free, vegan, zero waste

Axiology are one of my favourite lipstick brands – not only are their shades and formulas gorgeous but they’re vegan, cruelty-free and palm oil free too. I was super excited when I saw their Balmies launch – love a bit more plastic-free beauty in the world!

Zero waste, plastic-free beauty is still pretty new and a bit intimidating. In todays post I’ll let you know how these products perform – what they’re best for and what doesn’t really work.

Prefer visuals? Check out my video review of these Balmies:

The Ethics

These Balmies have been made with the planet in mind:

Zero waste, plastic-free, all cardboard packaging
Multi-purpose product – helping you cut down the amount of makeup you need
Boxes handmade from recycled rubbish by a women’s cooperative in Bali
Free from: fragrance, alcohol, gluten, animal derived ingredients, soy
PETA certified cruelty-free

My Shades

Axiology kindly sent across the Cotton Candy Skies set for me to try out. This set is all about soft rosy nudes and includes the shades:

Champagne
Sorbet
Rosé

Cotton Candy Skies swatch: rose, sorbet and champagne

To be quite honest, this set didn’t suit me well at all. I thought that Rosé was a gorgeous rosy, darker nude shade – this looked really nice on my lips, eyes and cheeks. However the other two shades were really not me. Sorbet was a bit too cool and bright for my liking and Champagne left no impact on my skin once blended out.

They have too other sets: a sun kissed Malibu Magic and a spicy Of the Earth. These two packs definitely seem more my style and I probably would have enjoyed them more.

Size Matters

Initially I was quite surprised by the size of these Balmies – I expected them to be bigger, more similar to the Lush Glow Sticks. However, the colour is a lot more concentrated in these little sticks and their smaller size makes them work really well for lining the eyes – think i just found an easy, plastic-free alternative to eyeliner!

I really love how the formula goes on to the skin – not too dry or too oily. It feels hydrating but is long wearing. I think this works particularly well on the lips and eyes, but found it hard to blend out on the cheeks.

Do I Wear Them?

As you can imagine, I have a lot of makeup. So the real question is – do I still reach for this product once I’m done reviewing it?

Honestly, I didn’t think I would. I don’t like these Balmies for the lips as I find the idea of topping up with them throughout the day frustrating (bit too much faff to be honest!), and find them too hard to blend out on the face. However, I really love the Rose shade for lining my eyes – and love that it’s zero-waste too! I’d be keen to get their golden Chestnut and dark Nude Plum shades for the same purpose. These are both from the Of The Earth set, so I might have to order that!

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