New in #47 and Mateja's Beauty Blogs Turns 6

CATRICE HD Liquid Coverage Foundation

010 Light Beige

I've heard a lot of positive reviews about this, so I couldn't resist not getting it even though I was slightly concerned about the shade (I mostly got it because of Sara's and Le Makeup Freak's recommendations. I linked you a before/after of the latter). It's a very thin, watery foundation, similar to L'Oreal eau de Teint that I had before and when I tried it the first time on the back of my hand, it set to a powdery matte finish fast on the skin. However, you have more time for work with when it's on the face if you use a fluffy brush and it blends with ease that way. It has quite a high coverage, I think more than a medium and you can easily layer it for more coverage, but though it blends really nice into the skin without any visible edges, it has good days and not as impressive ones, when there is something about it that makes me think of it as just average and not amazing. It's just the way it looks on the skin sometimes. The finish looks powdery from the start, already something I'm not a fan of, but it gets more skin-like in time, yet it doesn't hold oil well plus it starts looking odd around the pores. The packaging is completely high-end looking, it's a matte glass bottle, so quite heavy and comes with a pipette like Armani's Maestro foundation. So far I'm not in love with it, but it's pretty nice and the coverage is really good, especially for such a lightweight formula. I gave it to my cousin to try and she loved it immediately.

Müller, 7.29 €

ESSENCE get picture ready! brightening concealer 

10 ivory

Anything that looks even remotely like my all-time favourite Maybelline's the Eraser gets me excited, so this was on the top of the list to buy. Well, this might just have the worst applicator in history. The sponge is completely stiff, doesn't even bounce a tiny bit, even though the material is similar to makeup sponges and it doesn't blend at all, only shifts the product around and absorbs a part of it. As much as I dislike the packaging, which also always dispenses too much product and occasionally squirts (ruined two of my freshly washed shirts), the formula isn't terrible, but it's also nothing special. It reminds me a lot of BB creams, as it's has a thick, but creamy texture and a medium coverage. It's not the best concealer, but it does work as a light foundation that looks natural on the skin and is made more for normal-dry skin. The shade is seriously lovely for pale skins and it has a neutral-pink undertone, I compared it to my other concealers and it's lighter than for example Collection's Fair and a lot lighter than Bourjois' Radiance Reveal in 01. I'll throw it in my bag as an simple emergency foundation, but as a proper concealer, it lacks coverage (it has less coverage than the Catrice foundation). They should repackage this into a light foundation format.

Müller, 3.29 €

CATRICE Glam & Doll Super Black Liner

I was originally going to pick up L.O.V. Royaliner, but since that brand wasn't available in my local shop yet, I picked this one instead, which caught my eye anyway due to the spear design of the nib, so it reminds me of a much smaller version of L'Oreal's Superstar eyeliner. That one is one of the best liners to draw flicks with, however, it's chunky, so it performs better at bolder and thicker lines. I'm not happy with this Catrice version. The formula feels almost diluted when I'm applying it, even though when I swatch it on the back of my hand, it's ok. The nib isn't the best and hard to use for both the main line and the flick. I used L'Oreal's and Catrice's on each eye and the difference in staying power was massive. I regret buying it, but Royaliner looked grey in the shop, so I didn't get that one at all.

Müller, 3.29 €

CATRICE Prime and Fine Contouring Stick

Lighter Skin

These creamy stick type of contours became very popular recently and when I swatched both sides, they both looked nice for my skin tone, especially the contour looked like a nice taupe-brown shade. I was very impressed by this in the shop and I knew I had to get it, however. at home it didn't make me terribly happy at first. Both sides are very creamy, pigmented and simple to apply, they blend very easy with a brush, while with fingers the contour is just a mess. Once blended the contour side looks a bit too warm for my skin tone, but on the pictures it actually does make my face a bit more sculpted. I like the the highlighter, since it reminds me of Jemma Kidd cream highlighter in Ice gold, so a it's champagne shade with a great glow. The sticks are actually quite small, which is a bit of a bummer. 

Müller, 4.69 €

L.O.V. THE Glacious Stylo Eyeshadow

910 Bronze Leaf

As I fan of cream eyeshadows I had to give at least one of these a try, even though they are expensive, but I just loved the look of the shade Bronze Leaf because these types of hues are some of my favourites, yet they are quite difficult to find. The texture is odd to the touch, it feels cooling and wet when applied, but even though the pigmentation is ok, it's not amazing as it needs to be layered for a proper metallic effect, plus can be uneven. I find it works best with a primer under it, I use WnW's. Bronze Leaf is a greenish-gold-bronze shade with some gold shimmer, which is a less green version of L'Oreal's Bronze Goddess and a lighter, more gold version of UD's 24/7 Eyeliner in Stash. This shade is just so gorgeous on the eyes with a metallic look if you get it to a decent opacity, otherwise it looks like a greenish-taupe when blended. It's more of an eyeshadows I'd use as a base because on its own it can get creasy after a while without a primer. Not the best cream eyeshadow and it's expensive (both Essence's and Catrice's work better for me), but the shade is gorgeous.

Müller, 9.99 €

ESSENCE Longlasting Lipliner 

05 Lovely Frappuccino

A repurchase, since I saw mine is running very low and I really love this shade. It's a rosy, brownish-mauve shade on me, so the typical 90's shade and also dubbed as an alleged dupe for Mac's Soar. The formula of these is lovely, as it's nicely creamy, but not too soft, so it's like a comfortable, good quality lipstick (ironically better than any proper lipstick by Essence).

Müller, 1.59 €

ESSENCE Mat Mat Mat! Lipstick 

03 Wow Effect

I heard good things about these, but I only bought one to try. I picked shade 03, which looks like a muted rosy shade in the bullet, but on my lips looks a muted berry shade, which I'm not that into at the moment. Essence just always disappoints me when it comes to their lip products and this one, though it's one of their better ones, isn't knocking my socks off either. The formula is indeed nicely matte, but it a bit on the thick side and needs to be layered for a full opacity. It's not bad, just sheerer than expected. Still, I heard only good things about this, so don't focus just on my opinion and here are some comparison swatched with Mac lipsticks that Sara made. It has a berry type of scent that some of Essence's limited edition products have. 

Müller, 2.49 €

ESSENCE secret stories nail polish

01 can you keep my secret

This line of nail polishes looks more like it's a apart of a limited edition and it's a bit out of place in the regular line, but I have to say it's super cute. The shade selection is lovely, but I picked up just one to try and I got the lightest shade which is actually not that light, but it's pretty special, as such medium, muted powdery pinks are only starting to be more common in the drugstores. It's a one coater and I wear it that way because second coat looks a bit off. The formula is not that different than Essence's The Gel Nail Polish and it really behaves like a gel formula, except for the shine, which is lacking in my opinion.

Müller, 1.99 €

L.O.V. LOVinity Long Lasting Nail Lacquer

210 Alluring Amethyst

Love this! First of the packaging is obviously very beautiful, but the product is lovely as well. I picked my type of shade, a deep pink-purple 210 and it applies nicely on the nails, however, the winner for me is the brush which fits my nails perfectly, so I can apply it with almost no mess, which never happens with my narrow nails. I applied it without a top coat and even though I vigorously washed my hair, even the tips had only minimal wear. I'll be buying more of these and I have my heart set on a grey, deep red and possibly a minky grey shade.

Műller, 5.99 €

HUGO BOSS The Scent for Her

eau de parfum
This is new on the market meaning the prices are still very exorbitant everywhere, but as luck would have it, Müller had a two day offer of -30% discount on all Hugo Boss fragrances, so I didn't hesitate to buy it. This was one of those love-at-first-spray fragrances for me, just like Boss' Ma Vie and Olympea, and the reason I love it so much is because it has a very prominent peach note. It's not the typical, juicy-refreshing note, but more of a sweet one wrapped in a bouquet of white flowers and surprisingly cocoa - I have to say I've never seen such a combination of notes, but it works. To me it is an elegant scent, but I can see some people comparing it to a peach scented shampoos, however, it's definitely not an Escada or girly type of fragrance. Just like basically all Boss' creations, it's a scent that's very office appropriate. The bottle is a stunning creation and looks very glamorous. 

Müller, full price for 30 ml 61 €

BALEA Duche & Creme 

Mango

This is one of the newest versions of Balea shower gels and if you tried any other their summer limited editions in the past years, you'll find this scent very familiar. It's again a candy mango scent, but a bit fresher than usual. The gel tinted orange and quite strongly, so expect orange water run-off.

DM, 0.99 €

SUBRINA Shower Gel

Cuba Libre 

A repurchase, since it's not often that everyone likes the same shower product (only happened with Dove so far), so I bought it again due to a popular demand. It really nothing special, but it smells like Haribo Coca-cola gummy sweets.

Interspar, 1.79 €

SILISS Créme Dépilatoire

Depilatory Cream

I don't know what possessed me to get this. When I was twelve I got my first Veet cream and I used those for years because I was terrified of razors (in fact I started using epilators years before trying a razor for the first time in my life), but the fact is that depilatory creams still suck. This one doesn't remove all the hair and it takes longer together with application, waiting period (3 minutes) and removal than using a razor, and the result isn't smooth at all. But my biggest gripe is that this tube lasts 2-3 applications at most. Oh, well, at least I had a bit of a nostalgia moment.

E.Leclerc, 1-2 €

BALEA MEN Revolution 5.1 

I've been using Gillette's Proglide for many years, but the spare blades are bloody expensive, so I use one way, way too long. I've always been buying men's razors because what's good for the face, must be better than female razors designed for just legs, a fact that proved itself right several times (why are female razors so bulky with useless strips?). I remember someone once saying to me Balea's razors are ok, so I just risked it and I'm happy with it. So far it behaves the same as Proglide which is much more expensive and it has the same design with five blades plus a trimmer on the back.

DM, 5.89 €

It's my blog's 6. birthday today!

I'm still here babbling about makeup six years later. It's been a crazy hectic year, since I was dealing with two blogs, but it's easier now. There's been a couple of changes this year - I changed the template in August and recently probably the biggest change happened, but people I actually bought a real camera. Yup, after three camera phones, which all served me very well, in fact Samsung Galaxy S5 will still be a part of my blogging routine, I bought my first proper camera - Olympus PEN E-PL7. I was actually set on not getting a real camera at least for a while, but my friend lent me her Nikon D3300 and since then I kept thinking that I should really start acting a bit more professional and less stubborn when it comes to blogging. 

The flip down screen and touch function in action for one of my upcoming reviews of a Beauty UK contour kit (not yet featured in this post). Actually in practice it turned out that having a screen above would be better, so I tend to flip the camera around.

One of the perks of the camera is the remote shutter function via smartphone, though it could be improved. The reason why there's only a half of picture here is because I just took a photo.

The flip screen is the real MPV and it really helps as taking pictures from high or strange angles. 

So far I'm still learning, especially when it comes to selfies because that camera makes my hair pitch black and me terribly pale indoors, but I'll learn, however, all the pictures in this post, apart from the camera pictures obviously, were already taken with my new camera. It's not that much of a difference, it's just that Olympus is a much more practical camera to use because of the remote shutter function and a flip screen, plus in some cases it cut down my editing time, as for example these two images bellow were uploaded basically straight on Instagram with no edits, while with my phone it would take me about fifteen minutes for the same result, but certain pictures still need a lot of editing, as it's not as colour accurate as I hoped it would be (it really hates shades like theBalm's Committed), but I'm a perfectionist when it comes to pictures.

The creepy portrait retouch function that makes me worry for the future of humanity. Plus today's FOTD (theBalm Committed on the lips).

Thank you for your support in these past years, you're all such amazing people that make me feel like I should never stop blogging and I love sharing my love for makeup with you. Thank you for every subscription, comment, like, pin, just for reading my posts - thank you for everything. It's been a fantastic six years with all of you <3.

Have a great day!

Posted in: Skincare