Cute as a Duck, But Is It Actually Good Makeup?

Apparently, all it takes to get me to buy makeup is a tiny rubber duck. Do I need a duck-shaped highlighter? Absolutely not. Did I buy one anyway? Obviously.

SHEGLAM’s Bubble Bath Dreams collection is a pastel-coloured assortment of eyeshadows, blush, lip balms, and other bath-inspired beauty products. It’s cute, it’s playful, and it’s exactly the kind of unnecessary novelty sh*t I love.

But cute packaging doesn’t necessarily mean good makeup. So, I put the collection to the test to find out whether these products are actually worth using or just really good at looking adorable.

How I got my Bubble Bath Dreams

I got SHEGLAM’s Bubble Bath Dreams collection while living in Mexico, along with the Twilight and Catwoman collections. Apparently, I have a thing for ridiculous makeup packaging.

Unfortunately, none of the oversized collection boxes made it back to Canada. Cute as they were, I wasn’t sacrificing luggage space for cardboard.

The makeup survived, though, and that’s what we’re here to review.

What’s in the SHEGLAM Bubble Bath Dreams collection?

The SHEGLAM Bubble Bath Dreams collection includes six products, ranging from everyday makeup essentials to a ridiculously cute duck-shaped highlighter.

• Sparkle Splash Palette (approx. $9 CAD) — Eight matte and shimmer eyeshadows.
• Dream Foam Cloud Primer (approx. $5 CAD) — A foaming face primer.
• Bubble Glow Blush Bar (approx. $5 CAD) — A colour-changing cream blush.
• Bubble Kiss Lip Balm (approx. $3 to 6 CAD) — Four tinted balms: Bubble Tea, Gummy, Berries, and Peaches.
• Daydream Dots Blemish Patches (approx $3 CAD) — Decorative pimple patches.
• Lucky Duck 3D Highlighter (approx. $5 CAD) — A duck-shaped shimmer highlighter.

1. Sparkle Splash Palette

The Sparkle Splash Palette is one of those products I thought I’d love until I opened it. The soft, spring-inspired colours are pretty, but something about the palette just doesn’t work for me. Maybe it’s the pastels, maybe it’s the combination. My makeup preferences are all over the place, so who knows?

The marbled blue-and-white shade particularly throws me off. There’s nothing wrong with it, but I’d have preferred a solid colour, even a shimmer.

The white tin packaging is cute, although not particularly exciting. As for performance, SHEGLAM’s mattes generally deliver good pigmentation and blend nicely. The shimmers can have more fallout, but that’s hardly exclusive to budget makeup.

Ultimately, it’s a pretty palette that just doesn’t quite hit the mark for me.

2. Dream Foam Cloud Primer

I don’t know why I expected this primer to smell like bubblegum, but I was a little disappointed when it just smelled like makeup.

The Dream Foam Cloud Primer dispenses as actual foam, which is fun until you realize you’re basically rubbing hand soap onto your face. It’s weird, but I didn’t hate it.

It dried down with a slight tackiness, which I actually like in a primer. I layered it over Pacifica’s Hydro Slime, followed with foundation, and my makeup still looked great after most of the day.

I did notice some pinkish spots inside the clear cap, although that could be related to its travels from Mexico to Canada rather than a product defect.

Overall, it’s an unusual primer that worked surprisingly well. I’d use it again.

3. Bubble Glow Blush Bar

I actually really like the packaging on this one. It’s simple, compact, and probably the most likely piece from this collection to end up in my makeup bag. Apparently, I do appreciate practical makeup occasionally.

The blush looks almost lavender in the container but changes to a pinkish-red shade when applied. It’s a warmer, pinker take on the colour-changing blush from the Catwoman collection.

The cream formula blends nicely, although I’m not entirely sold on the colour for everyday wear.

Cute, practical, and surprisingly normal for a collection that thought putting a rubber duck in a highlighter was a reasonable decision.

4. Bubble Kiss Lip Balm

The Bubble Kiss Lip Balms come in four varieties: Bubble Tea, Gummy, Berries, and Peaches. Cute names, but apparently nobody told the scents.

Peaches smells more like berries, Berries is vaguely berry-ish, and the other two? Your guess is as good as mine. They don’t smell bad, just not particularly like their names suggest.

All four deliver a sheer pinkish tint and felt a little waxy when I swatched them on my hand. To be fair, hands aren’t lips, so I’m not judging the formula too harshly.

They’re cute, but I’m not convinced they’re anything special.

5. Daydream Dots Blemish Patches

I don’t get a lot of pimples, so naturally, I wasn’t expecting to get much use out of these. Then, right at the beginning of filming, I noticed a tiny one on my forehead. Perfect timing, I guess?

I’d never really used pimple patches before, but I slapped one on to see what would happen. And surprisingly, it actually worked.

The Daydream Dots Blemish Patch that I used absorbed the gunk from my pimple, leaving it noticeably less obvious. I’m not sure why I was so surprised, considering that’s literally its job, but here we are.

Cute little patches that actually do something? Approved. Now I’ll have to see how they compare to the e.l.f. blemish patches I’ve also got sitting around.

6. Lucky Duck 3D Highlighter

It’s a cute lil’ duck. Made of highlighter. What the hell was I supposed to do, not buy him?

Unfortunately, the Lucky Duck 3D Highlighter isn’t not particularly practical. A brush barely picked up any product, so I rolled him directly onto my cheek. It worked, and the warm golden shimmer blended nicely, but the container gets in the way. I can’t imagine that’ll improve as he wears down.

Would I put him in my makeup bag? Probably not. Would I display him on my makeup counter? Absolutely.

Practical? Questionable. Cute? Ridiculously.

Putting the Bubble Bath Dreams collection to the test

For my makeup look, I mixed products from the Bubble Bath Dreams, Twilight, and Catwoman collections. Apparently, committing to one collection wasn’t on the agenda.

The Dream Foam Cloud Primer was a pleasant surprise, the blush blended nicely, and the Lucky Duck 3D Highlighter made an appearance alongside the other highlighters.

I wore the finished look for most of the day, and everything held up surprisingly well. I can’t give Bubble Bath Dreams all the credit, but the products I used certainly pulled their weight.

See the collection in action:

Is the SHEGLAM Bubble Bath Dreams collection worth it?

Bubble Bath Dreams is one of those collections I like the idea of more than I actually like using. It’s adorable, but not everything about it is particularly practical.

That said, the products themselves were mostly pleasant surprises. The primer worked well, the blemish patches impressed me, and even that ridiculous little duck delivered a pretty highlighter once I figured out how to use him.

Would I recommend the entire collection? Probably not. But if you’re as easily distracted by adorable packaging as I am, let’s be real, my opinion probably isn’t going to stop you.

Looking for more makeup reviews?

• I also bought the Twilight Saga x SHEGLAM collab
• … and SHEGLAM’s Catwoman collab
• Plus this hella cute mermaid-themed Chula Box