I have another product in my AliExpress beauty bargains series today, and from a brand I’ve never tried before; CmaaDu. I’ve not seen CmaaDu feature on any blogs or YouTube channels before so I wasn’t entirely sure they were worth trying, but when I saw the CmaaDu Shimmer Highlighter for just £1.87, with free delivery, I decided to give it a try especially as there are many different shades to choose from.
CmaaDu Cosmetics are a Chinese makeup brand which you can purchase on both AliExpress and eBay. They do have a website but they only sell a few of the CmaaDu products so I’m not entirely sure how genuine the website is.
Some of the spelling on the box of the CmaaDu Shimmer Highlighter isn’t the greatest but it could just be a translation thing. The AliExpress store I purchased from is called ‘Personality Art Store’ which I haven’t ever purchased from before, but my order arrived within ten days.
The CmaaDu Shimmer Highlighter is available in eight different shades which is pretty generous for such a budget brand. I wasn’t sure which shade to go for as I couldn’t find any swatches online, but there are four very pale shades each with a different coloured shift.
The highlighter shades remind me of the MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighters which have some duochrome shades, and I chose shade 01 which looked to have a blue undertone, whilst 02 has a golden shift, 05 has a lilac shift, 06 has a peach shift and 07 has a pink shift.
The CmaaDu Shimmer Highlighter has quite a rough texture and is really quite dusty too. I know this swatch photo doesn’t show the blue shift very well, but it really does look more noticeable on the skin.
However the dusty finish looks awful on the skin, and you can see how it’s clung to the microscopic lines in my skin on the back of my hand so hopefully you can imagine what it looks like on the face.
It clings to lines you never thought existed, emphasises peach fuzz and looks like you’ve used talcum powder all over the face instead of highlighter. Whilst it is only £1.87, it’s only a bargain if it’s any good which sadly it isn’t.
It could just be this one shade that performs like this but I wouldn’t recommend trying them just in case they are as bad as this one. The MUA highlighters are only £3 and they look beautiful on the skin plus their Pearlescent Sheen shade has an amazing blue shift so would be a better option full stop.
Something else which is a little strange is that the AliExpress listing says the highlighter contains 44 grams of product, but it doesn’t. It contains only 8 grams so it’s weird that they’d lie about the weight by so much. I’ve found so many amazing AliExpress beauty bargains over the last couple of years, but sadly the CmaaDu Shimmer Highlighter is not one of those.
If you did want to purchase the CmaaDu Shimmer Highlighter, you can purchase it from here.
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Hi, my name is Gemma, and I’m the writer behind GemmaEtc.com. I’m a true beauty obsessive, and love writing about anything to do with beauty. In addition to Gemma Etc., I also own MakeupMuddle.com, and love sharing my thoughts and feelings about beauty and lifestyle products.
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