August favourites and wishlist

ESSENCE Gel Nail Colour

10 Did you mist me?

This is one of the newly updated Essence nail polish formulas, even though Essence kept the shape of the bottle. I was concerned it might be a miss, as reviews are pretty bad on their website, but it must be just some shades that are terrible, as this one applies like their previous formula. It's a typical thick gel formula that applies evenly with one coat and evens its self out, so there's not streaks. It's mostly opaque in one coat. It has a minus though, as even with ultra fast drying top coat wonder Seche Vite, this isn't completely dry after 5-10 minutes and there can be some dings if you're not careful (I haven't tried it without SV to tell you how slow it dries). But I can deal with waiting a bit longer, as the colour is truly a beautiful nude. It's more pink than their discontinued Pure Beauty shade I still adore, but similar in depth, so a muted pink nude shade.  

MAX FACTOR Miracle Pure Nail Polish

840 Moonstone Blue

It's been a while since I've worn a mint green shade, even though it is one of my favourite colours, but Essie's Mint Candy Apple is useless and my only decent such shade (formula-wise), Kiko's, is too green for my taste. This shade is just what I wanted, a mint green that leans more to blue than green. It's been on my nails for most of the month. It's maybe unusually for a new release not a gel formula, but though the formula isn't as smooth as those, three coats get me an even application that isn't streaky or looking too thick. 

REVLON Colorstay Overtime Lipcolor

Unlimited Mulberry

This is the most long lasting lip product in my collection, so it's my pick for occasions when I need my lip colour to last without the need to fix it during the day. I can apply this in the morning and at the end of the day it pretty much looks the same on the lips, only the shine is gone. This can survive so much. It's in two parts: the colour part is more like a stain with one coat and the finish of it is matte (with two it's a fully opaque, but then you can feel it on the lips as a layer). The glossy part seals the colour and it stays shiny for quite a while. The colour part doesn't wipe off on anything, only the glossy one comes off. Unlimited Mulberry is a light-medium pinky mauve that is a nice neutral which goes with anything. 

MAYBELLINE Color Sensational Shaping Lip Liner

Dusty Rose

One of my favourite ever lip colours, so I use it all over on its own. It's a perfect natural warm pink shade that almost matches my natural lip colour, but it's much nicer. Formula soft and easy to apply all over the lips, plus you get a sharpener on the other side so you can keep it always precise. 

LIP SMACKER Lippy Pal Lip Balm

Unicorn Magic

How cute is this packaging? I've been eyeing for a while, but I only recently decided to finally buy something so super girly. I've always liked Lip Smacker formulas, they are great for dry lips and aren't too waxy feeling. All are also very sweet smelling and have a candy taste, so more for a younger crowd. This one has a berry type of scent that is very similar to one of their Frozen balms, I believe it was Sven, so they tend to repeat they scents. This is also available in a panda packaging in DM, which I have my eye on too.

BALEA Niacinamide Day Cream SPF 30

Niacinamide Tages Crème

I got this a couple of months ago and I realised I haven't properly praised it, but I use it almost every day in my morning routine. It combines two things I want in my skin care - 10% of niacinamide and the added bonus of an SPF, which is quite high. I either use it on its own or under an extra SPF 50, but when I've worn it alone, it never failed to protect me. It's kind of a typical cream that sits on the skin for a while, but it's not a heavy, rich moisturiser, nor does it feel "sunscreen greasy". It's nicely hydrating, I can wear it under makeup, it doesn't peel and it doesn't irritate my eyes. I've down the last 1/3 of the tube and I will repurchase.  

NEUTROGENA Bright Boost Illuminating Serum

Another thing I've been using daily in my night routine and I also haven't sung it praise. It contains Neoglucosamine, a brightening and anti-ageing ingredient, as well as tiny shimmer, but the latter doesn't matter to me, since I use it in my night routine, though it creates an instant illuminating effect, so it's like one of those glowy primers, but very subtle. It's light, easy to layer and include in a routine, and my skin likes it. I use too many other brightening products to claim this is solely the reason for the nice condition of my skin, but I like using it. 

NIVEA Care Nourishing Cream

I'm a huge fan of Nivea's Souffle formula, but I don't love either of the scents they offer (coconut/tiare and cherry blossom). I got this in the hopes it's similar and it is. It's another rich formula that absorbs quickly and feels properly nourishing. I trust Nivea most for the best lasting hydration effect. Scent is the typical Nivea cream one, which I really like. I got two pots. 

LA CROA Argan Keratin Repair Conditioner

I’m a fan of the Repair mask, which unfortunately is sold only in small tester-size bags in my local Müller, so I bought this conditioner to see if it's good - I’m happy to report this is a great formula for very dry hair. It’s much thinner than the mask, yet it manages to nourish my dry, bleached hair well. An excellent offering for dry hair in the drugstores and the ingredients list is great. 

  

WISHLIST

This is not an actually wishlist with exception of Paco Rabanne fragrance, but it's some products that have just launched and I find interesting, plus a part of the new Catrice product update. There's already a sale of Catrice's discontinued products, so I'm thinking these may be available in September. You can see more new products on their international website. 

CATRICE Airblush Glow and Airblush matt blushes - Catrice has so far done some nice blush offerings, so I think these will be interesting too. There are 3 shades in both ranges. 

CATRICE Aloe Vera Eyeshadow Stick - it's been a while, since they had stick eyeshadows. I recently found the old ones in my stash and they weren't bad, so I'm hoping these will be similar or better. Their liquid version I recently got was a disappointment.

CATRICE Lift up Volume & Lift Mascara Power Hold Waterproof - since it's waterproof I'd obviously like to try it, but I fear it's as annoying to remove as their Doll mascara. Essence is more reliable when it comes to wp formulas. 

CATRICE Lip Jam Hydrating Lip Gloss - I'm still hoping Catrice makes a worthy successor to the Dewy-full glosses. Lip Jam sounds something new and interesting, we'll see what they managed to come up with. 

BALEA Beauty Expert Tages Crème 3% Peptid-Solution + 1% Ectoin - a calming anti-ageing formula, sounds interesting enough, though it could have more ingredients like niacinamide, ceramides, some stable vitamin C, but it has plenty of panthenol and squalane. 

BALEA Beauty Expert Calming Serum - this has a lot of Linoleic acid, which strengthens the skin's barrier, a prebiotic inulin and 0,3% of ceramides. Sounds lovely for any type of skin. 

CATRICE The Glowifier Illuminating Primer - Catrice used to have this amazing glowy primer that was even better than Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Filter, so obviously they discontinued it. I still use it, though my bottle is old and I'm hoping this is a worthy successor to that one. 

CATRICE Under Eye Brightener - I'm not sure this is meant more as makeup or skin care or something in between, but it sounds interesting. It promises to instantly make the area under the eye more rested.

MIXA Ceramide Deep Moisture Crème - I've been waiting for ages for the new Mixa products to get here. This is an all-over moisturiser with shea butter and 10% of glycerine + squalane + ceramides. 

CATRICE Melting Kiss Gloss Stick - They discontinued a bunch of glossy lipstick and I guess these are a replacement. If there's a nice nude shade, I might give them a go.

CATRICE Lip Lovin' Nourishing Lip Balm - not sure how different this formula is compared to Drunk'n Diamonds Plumping Lip Balm, but it's not like Catrice is often original nowadays.

PACO RABANNE Pure XS - I didn't found this particularly interesting the first time I tried, but now I really like it. It's got a nice salty popcorn note form the start which to me smells summery and beachy. It then becomes like a better Olympea without the jasmine note, which I'm not too fond off in the original. 

Posted in: Skincare