Careline Rosy Cheek vs EB Rose

(A versus post! I haven't done these in a LOOONG time. This post is LONG OVERDUE too, actually. I've been meaning to write this since 2009!) 

What sort of local drugstore shopper isn't familiar with Careline and Ever Bilena? Both are owned by the same company, and where there's one, you can ALWAYS find the other. When I was an idiot high schooler, I used to look down on these brands because they were "cheap", and not just in the literal sense. Well, not anymore - I know better now! While not all their products are amazing, a lot of them - like their blushes - have decent quality at very wallet friendly prices.

I reviewed several Careline blushes in the early days of this blog because I liked their colors. Their pigmentation was excellent for their price too. I even went as far as calling them the poor man's NARS, but now that I actually own a NARS, they're pretty far off. I still love and use them though. XD

My Careline blushes. Clockwise from left: Starlight Shine,
Rosy Cheek, Peach Glow, Touch of Pink

However, I noticed at the forums that more people were raving about EB blushes. Shades like Raisin and Amethyst come to mind as the colors loved most by other GTalkers. This got me curious. Since they both come from the same company, why do more people seem to use EB?

To answer this, I bought Rose to compare with Rosy Cheek. Rose was the most similar color EB had compared to the Careline blushes I already owned.

Price: P80.00 for Rosy Cheek, P110.00 for Rose
Location Bought: a Watsons store? These have been with me for a long time now, I can't remember!
Approximate Date Bought: 2009

Round One: Value for Money
Rosy Cheek is 5 grams, while Rose is 4 grams. A bit of math, and we have Rosy Cheek clocking in at P16.00 per gram, and Rose at P27.50 per gram.

Click to enlarge!

Round One Winner: Rosy Cheek. I HATE numbers, but they never lie, so yeah. Rosy Cheek is cheaper and has more product!

Round Two: Packaging
Both are made of good quality plastic. Rose comes with a screw-top lid, while Rosy Cheek has a flip-top one. Rosy Cheek comes with a puff, Rose does not.

Round Two Winner: Rosy Cheek. Flip-top lids are easier to handle when in a hurry. The puff, while useless, was a nice effort too.

Round Three: Color and Pigmentation
Both blushes are a nice, bright hot pink in the pan.

When swatched, the color difference between the two shades becomes more evident. Rose leans to the red-fuchsia side of the spectrum, while Rosy Cheek is closer to orange-peach. Both have the same level of pigment.

Left: EB Rose, Right: Careline Rosy Cheek

Round Three Winner: Draw.

Round Four: Formulation
As seen in the swatch above, Rose seems coarser than Rosy Cheek, which applies nicely on my skin. (Almost like Mata Hari perhaps? Hey, maybe my poor man's NARS belief still has some merit after all!) The coarseness is due to the shimmers that Rose contains. Rosy Cheek is completely matte.
Round Four Winner: Rosy Cheek. Smoother powder, easier to blend.

Round Five: The Products in Action
I applied both products with my favorite brush!

This photo has no real relevance to the post. I just wanted to
show that the brush is so dense, I can make cute shapes with it haha!

Rosy Cheek does its name justice and gives me, surprise surprise, a rosy cheek!

Careline Rosy Cheek

Rose is more subtle and makes me look like I have a light flush.

EB Rose

Round Five Winner: Rosy Cheek, because of its consistency in the pan, on my forearm, and on my face. Rose looked constant in the pan and on my forearm, but looked watered down once I put it on.

And the rundown! (Yes, the long post is almost done!)

Value for Money: Rosy Cheek

Packaging: Rosy Cheek

Color and Pigmentation: DRAW

Formulation: Rosy Cheek

In Action: Rosy Cheek

And the overall winner is, CARELINE ROSY CHEEK. 

Wait, what? But why do people talk about EB blushes more? I'm thinking maybe it's personal preference for packaging? EB blush packaging does look more elegant than Careline's, possibly because the former is targeted towards the older crowd while the latter is for teens.