HEMA - the cutest store I'd never heard of

I was initially pulled into the store by the unicorns and rainbows on display. Only intending to browse the shelves and then continue my commute. But I was soon engulfed in the displays of stationery and cookware and as I was about to make my way to the tills with just some jellybeans and Milk Banoffee chocolate, I saw it. The makeup display. And that’s the story of how I ended up spending £40 in a Euston station store. 

Prior to today I had never heard of HEMA, it was only by chance that I decided to stop and look. So I decided to do a little research and here’s what I found out. It is a Dutch variety chain store similar to Tiger with equally lovable prices. They supply gifts, homeware, stationery, makeup, cooking items (including dry ingredients), hobby and leisure and clothes for men, women and children. All their makeup is vegan which is good. Like I said, LITTLE research. 

In the store I picked up some Banoffee chocolate bar, jellybeans, a pack of pastel ballpoint pens (was very disappointed when the ink came out blue), a lip gloss, a cream eyeshadow, two lip balms – one of which is tinted, a nail polish and a skinny mascara. All of which I shall now do mini reviews on in the future

I don’t usually go for fancy chocolates, unless Cadburys marvellous creations count. But I have recently gotten into eating bananas again and thought I would really enjoy a chocolate with dried banana chunks and toffee in it. 

I can only explain this purchase as my sweet tooth acting up. Although I was intrigued by the labelling of 'Sweet and sour mix' as the packet didn't have any flavours on it so i couldn't really tell which ones would be sweet and which would be sour.

Again, impulse purchase of a stationer addict. Hence why I didn’t even check the colours. They did have a pack of pastel gel pens but I thought these were coloured ball points. They are, but that colour is blue.

I have always been a polish junkie. From when I was little and my mum would buy me the sets of brightly coloured or pastel polishes from Claire’s and since I have never had bare nails. At one point my collection exceeded 40 bottles of polish but I have since toned it down only possessing 15 bottles max. I wanted to try this polish – not only for its colour but also its staying power, as we all know the joke about how your toe polish could last a lifetime but the polish on your hands is gone by the end of an hour. Also I liked how it was the same colour as the lip balm. 

The Lip balm is more of a moisturising lip crayon than a balm. It has a nice fruity scent to it. 

As someone who doesn’t often wear mascara because my eyelashes are weird and overly curly I have always wanted to try a skinny mascara wand like the Eyeko skinny mascara one and when I saw that the store had what I would call a dupe I decided to pick it up and see if the wand was worth the hype.  

This one got me as it is advertised as a ph changing balm. Similar to the Winky Lux flower balms that everyone was obsessed with back in 2017. I was curious as to how it would show up on my skin tone as it says it will change to your perfect pink shade and I would like to know what that is for me. 

I like the little tube it came in, similar to the lip gloss as I haven't seen a cream eyeshadow come in that kind of packaging before. So you squeeze out the product. When I swatched it instore I found that it was sheer but carried lots of pigment

This bubblegum pink packaging is backed up with a bubblegum scent/flavour too. It says it’s a 3D gloss, so I imagine that means it’s very very shiny. There were a variety of other glosses, but I liked this one as it sort of reminded me of the Glossier balms, in that kind of one block colour and scent/flavour on a white background sort of that way.  

I think I will be going back next time I'm in London to see what else they have to offer.