Geek Fashion Fix | Cosmetic Corner: The Face Shop x Marvel

How in the world had I gone so long without even hearing about The Face Shop?

Anyone even remotely interested in the world of cosmetics knows that Korean beauty has been in the spotlight for quite some time, notorious for skincare products that will give you the glowy, radiant face of your dreams. It seems these brands have a product for almost everything, and I’ve hardly dipped my toes in the water. I will try any and every sheet mask and can’t live without my brow tint, but my knowledge doesn’t extend past that.

Discovering The Face Shop, however, is going to change the game for my journey through K-beauty, and for one reason in particular: they do the BEST collaborations.

Disney. Dreamworks. The Simpsons. Kakao Friends. MARVEL.

Yes, you heard me: Marvel.

The Face Shop created the superhero-inspired makeup I’d been looking for all my life, and though I was about a year late to the news, I was still able to snatch a handful of products that weren’t sold out: an ink gel pencil eyeliner in Spider-Man Blue, a single eyeshadow jelly in WH01, a Spider-Man Matt Touch Lipstick in OR02, and an Iron Man Metal Lip Color in Coral. The products shipped to me straight from South Korea and I stalked them every step of the way.

While the boxes looked like exactly as I anticipated, with glossy photos of some of our favorite heroes and the Marvel logo stamped everywhere for branding’s sake, the actual product packaging was gorgeous, playing with textures on the caps and primary colors and had a nice weight to it. More often than not, economically priced makeup comes in plastic casings that cheapen the feel of the product, but that wasn’t the case here at all.

Now, none of these colors would have ever been my first choice, so I knew this was going to be a fun experiment. I unexpectedly fell in love with the eyeshadow instantly— one swipe left a gorgeous sheer shimmer on my skin, not unlike my favorite Glossier highlighter, and a few more built up to a gorgeous glittery shade. The liner was lovely as well-- what I thought would be a brighter blue turned out to be a dark shade of navy with a very subtle blue glitter. The lipsticks, while both had nice formulas-- one a buildable gloss and one a pigmented matte, both surprisingly lightweight-- were not at all colors I'd ever think I'd use.

But, I was going to try, for the sake of this experiment, at least. 

The eye makeup was almost too easy to use-- I ended up with two products in two shades that went together perfectly. It didn't need much planning at all.

The lipsticks, unsurprisingly, were the problematic ones. The colors were just too bright for what I'd already done with my eyes-- they would have much better worked with a simpler look in which they could be the main focus. However, still determined to use them, I played around as much as I could. The gloss, even with the smallest swipe, was far too pink. The lipstick, while the orange shade looked too clownish with what I'd already done, turned out to be the winner. While it couldn't stand on its own, it blended surprisingly well with one of my favorite nude lipsticks, giving it a nice pop of color. 

Bonus use: I also dabbed some of the eyeshadow on top of my highlight for extra shimmer and definition. 

The final result? A look I unexpectedly loved, using products branded with some of Earth's mightiest heroes. Double win. 

What are some of your favorite makeup brand collaborations? What brand should I try next? Let me know in the comments below!