Collection Cosmetics review – are their new launches good?

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Is Collection Cosmetics a good makeup brand? We’re putting this drugstore brand’s newest launches to test to see if they’re worth your money in this Collection Cosmetics review.

Collection Cosmetics has been a staple drugstore makeup brand for as long as we can remember. Their products are available at both Superdrug and Boots in the UK so are super accessible.

But most importantly, they’re super, super affordable.

Most of their products cost under £5!

They have some really great products we’ve used in our routines for years and recommend to everyone – like the Lasting Perfection Concealer, Lasting Perfection Foundation and Lash Surge Mascara.

But today, we’re putting some of their newest launches to the test to see if they’re as good as their older products.

Keep on reading if you’re interested in this Collection Cosmetics review – or just navigate to a particular section using the table of contents below.

Are Collection Cosmetics cruelty-free and vegan?

According to their website, Collection Cosmetics are cruelty-free. They have never conducted animal testing, neither has any third party acting on their behalf.

Any of the Collection Cosmetics products that have been launched after 2020 are vegan, as are a lot of their older products.

Because some of their older products may not be vegan, it’s worth double-checking the description/ingredients of the products before buying.

Does Superdrug sell Collection?

Yes! You can buy Collection in Superdrug online and in-store. You can also pick up Collection makeup products in Boots.

Collection Cosmetics New Products Review

And now onto the Collection Cosmetics review, featuring 6 of their newest launches that I’ve picked up…

Gorgeous Glow Sticks review

The first of Collection Cosmetic’s new launches that caught my eye were their Gorgeous Glow Sticks, which are cream sticks that come in 3 shades – highlight, blush, and contour.

An obvious issue is the lack of inclusivity in this shade range, especially with the contour shade.

The highlight and blush shade will probably work on most skin tones, however, the contour shade leans on the cool-toned side which makes it only really suitable for people with fairer skin.

These retail for £4.99 each, for 4.5g of product compared to the Fenty Beauty Match Stix which are £21 for 7.1g.

The packaging of these look nice but annoyingly if you have all 3, there’s no way to tell which is which until you take the cap off. There’s no name or colour swatch on the packaging, which I would have liked to see.

The texture of all 3 products is similar, they’re very creamy and easy to blend out to a semi-matte finish. They work well with other products and don’t look thick and patchy.

For £5 I was actually pleasantly surprised by the formula and how easy they were to use.

But let’s talk about the 3 products individually…

Are the Collection Cosmetics Gorgeous Glow Sticks good?

The Collection Gorgeous Glow Sticks are not bad by any means, but I’m not particularly wowed by them – it’s an average makeup product.

Would I recommend you purchase them? If you like the look of the shades and want an affordable creamy product that’s easy to use – then yes. But I really wouldn’t say you need to rush out to get these.

Rating: 2/5

Collection Matte & Metallic Eyeshadow review

Next up from their new launches is the Collection Matte & Metallic Eyeshadow, which intrigued me so much because of how similar it looks to the Huda Beauty Matte & Metal Melted Shadows.

I mean, even the name is super similar! The packaging is also almost identical. The only difference is that the Huda Beauty eyeshadow costs £22 and the Collection eyeshadow is only £4.99. They have some cool-toned shades and some that lean on the warmer side, so really something for everyone.

I don’t know how I feel about products that are blatant copies of another popular product. I’m all for brands bringing out dupes, but when the packaging and name is ripped off of something else – I don’t think it’s a good thing! What do you guys think?

Anyway, regardless of that, the product itself is a double-sided liquid eyeshadow. One end is a matte shade, the other a metallic.

You can wear these by applying the matte shade to the lid first, letting it dry and then putting the metallic shade on top. Or you can wear them separately – you can play around with what works best for you!

I chose the shade Golden Sands & Boujee Beaches (although I think the shades are mixed up on the website, because I thought I was getting the darker bronze shades but it showed the wrong image!).

The 2 shades are a cool-toned nude shade and metallic gold. The nude shade is quite close to my skin colour so it acts as a good base shade for my eyeshadow look, it dries down nicely and doesn’t go patchy or separate.

The metallic gold shade is really pretty! The end comes with an eyeliner type brush instead of the doe foot applicator which the matte end uses.

I think I would have preferred them both to have a doe foot applicator, especially because I used them both all over my lid – it took a bit of time trying to get the gold all over my lid using a skinny eyeliner brush!

Is the Collection Cosmetics Matte & Metallic Eyeshadow good?

This is completely different to any of the other eyeshadows that I have, and I like that it’s a whole eyeshadow look in one product. The shades are pigmented and look great on the eyes, they did start to crease throughout the day but I found that I experience this with most eyeshadows anyway so I wasn’t particularly bothered.

For £4.99, it’s a nice addition to my collection and something that I probably will find myself reaching for. Although I do wish I had got the shade duo that I wanted!

Rating: 3.5/5

Collection Cosmetics incrediBROW Setting Wax review

One of my favourite trends from the past year has been soap brows. I love how it makes my eyebrows look, and how it gets them to stay in place all day long.

The one thing that I didn’t like…

How messy it always is!

This is why I was interested in the incrediBROW Setting Wax as it’s eyebrow wax in a twist-up lipstick container.

You can apply this straight to your brows to sculpt your eyebrows into your preferred shape, while the waxy formula lays the brows down and holds everything in place.

Or so it’s supposed to…

Is the Collection Cosmetics incrediBROW Setting Wax good?

I really wanted to like this product as it seemed perfect for someone like me who loves the look of soap brows, but not all the effort that goes into it. I really liked the idea of having it all in one product, but it just didn’t work for me.

At first, I tried just applying the product to my eyebrows but it was hard to get it to shape my brows, I found that I had to use a spoolie afterwards so that I could really push the hairs up – which defeated the purpose of this product for me.

I also didn’t find that it kept my brows in place at all, after a few minutes they looked as if they had no product in them because the brows weren’t sticking up at all anymore!

This was definitely a disappointment for me, so it’s back to using my favourite soap brow products! (which I spoke about in a previous post)

Rating: 1/5

Collection Lasting Perfection Stretch Concealer review

The final product of the products I tried out is the Lasting Perfection Stretch Concealer – which I mainly picked up as I was surprised at how Collection got away with copying the exact name of the popular Glossier concealer.

This is a high-coverage concealer (and eyeshadow primer) that is supposed to have a natural finish and be super long-lasting.

If you buy this thinking it’s going to be similar to the Glossier concealer, then you’d be pretty disappointed – it’s more similar to the NARS Soft Matte Concealer.

The Glossier Concealer is very creamy and dewy, whereas this is a lot more matte in consistency and finish – and provides way more coverage.

Is the Collection Cosmetics Lasting Perfection Stretch Concealer good?

At last, I have a positive Collection Cosmetics review!

I really like this concealer, it covers up everything easily and has a pretty natural finish – not too matte or too dewy which is perfect for me.

It’s long-wearing and didn’t crease on me too much, even when I wasn’t wearing any powder on top which was impressive.

It works well covering up dark circles, but also for covering up blemishes and redness – it’s a great all-rounder concealer.

I’d really recommend this as it’s super affordable and worked surprisingly well – and it’s only £3.99! You can’t go wrong.

Rating: 4.5/5

Final thoughts

It feels like this was a pretty negative Collection Cosmetics review as I only really loved one of the products from Collection that I tried, which was a shame!

The concealer was really impressive, but everything else was a bit of a let-down and not the kind of products that I’m going to be telling you all to run out and buy.

But don’t think that it means that I don’t like Collection! I’ve used a lot of their products for years and recommend them to everyone!

Hopefully their next launches will be more up my street…