February favourites, updates and wishlist

CATRICE Holiday Skin Bronze & Glow Palette

010 Out of Office

I have to say that this year's Catrice's Spring update is a nice one and this is one of the products that stands out to me. Both powders are great quality - unlike in that Ashy Radiance palette so many for us had for contouring in which the highlighter was useless. The bronzer side is matte, has a great smooth formula that blends out easily and is a good shade that's not orange, so it suits me as a contour (although it's not cool or ashy like popular shades for contouring pale skin). The highlighter is a classic champagne shade with fine shimmer that looks natural enough on the skin. Let's just hope Catrice keeps this in their offering for a while, though we all know how quick they are to discontinue things. 

Review & swatches

ETUDE HOUSE Tear Eye Liner

01 White

This looks so pretty in the inner corners. It's a shimmery liquid eyeliner with a fine brush that I apply just on the lower part of the inner corners to add something extra to the look. I don't need to build it up much, as you get plenty of shimmer with one swipe and it tends to last long, though I'm not very careful about rubbing my eyes and I manage to remove it.

Review & swatches

CATRICE Plump it Up Lip Booster 

040 Prove Me Wrong 

A beautiful my-lips-but-better colour. It doesn't look pretty in the tube, but on the lips it's just lovely. The formula is richer and thicker than average glosses and it manages to last for a while, though the shine disappears quickly, just like at every gloss. It's another one in a long line of Catrice's lip products that has mint, so it has that tingly-cooling feeling on the lips, which I'm not a fan of since I've never been gullible enough to believe in lip plumping by minty tingling, but I got used to it fast since it's not strong.  

Review & swatches

A'PIEU Honey & Milk Lip Oil

A thick lip gloss that isn't sticky nor does it feel heavy on the lips, but that thickness makes it last a long time. It's one of the best products I've found for dry lips as it nourishes and stays on longer than most lip balms.

MAKEUP OBSESSION Tiffany Illumin_arty Kaleidoscopic Dreams Palette

This is not in line with my usual makeup choices, but I had to include this palette here because the quality is brilliant. I was sent a lot of palettes in the past, so even though I don't buy such colourful shades myself, I have some of experience with them and mostly the just aren't that good - natural shades in the palettes tend to be ok, but colours not so much. Especially greens, blues and purples tend to be disappointing, but in this palette every shade is so richly pigmented. And most of the colour stays on the lids when you start to blend. I'm just blown away how good this palette is and for only 11 € I paid for it. Those four big shimmers do suck though, so I won't praise it completely. I'm most happy I finally got a navy blue that is an actual intense navy blue. 

Swatches

ARTDECO eyeshadows

I know I mention these once in a while in monthly favourites, but I have to do it again because they are so nice on the eyelids. Formula is so smooth and looks great even at the end of the day - it's like I just applied it and there's no creasing or fading. I love that I got to build a palette myself, picking shades I'd wear and not have a palette where I use just three colours. But it is expensive, since one costs about 5 €, so a palette of 12 shades ends up costing more than high end palettes.  

Swatches

COSRX Full Fit Toner Propolis Synergy

I'm so glad this didn't turn out to be an average toner, instead it's thicker and feels nicely nourishing. It's richer than the reformulated It's Skin Propolis serum and you get more for the price (this was 5,59 € for 50 ml, which will last me a while), so I'll likely get the full size next time (150 ml). It has 72.6% of Black bee Propolis extract and 10% Honey extract.

MOROCCANOIL Smoothing Lotion

Moroccanoil has the best products for frizzy hair and this is my latest discovery. I'm already a big fan of the Smoothing Hair Mask, Conditioner and Concentrate, and this is another lovely product.  It's a cream product that doesn't feel heavy and it makes my hair feel so silky. Together with the Smoothing conditioner my hair dries frizz free and softer.

UPDATES

CATRICE Invisible Matte Loose Powder

Another nice product from Catrice, though at the moment my skin is too dry for powders, but I can see it has great potential for summer months. It's very fine and silky, more than my other loose powders and I've seen it blur quite nicely. For now I have to stick to Physician's Formula Rose powder, but when my skin becomes more normal in warmer months, this might just become a favourite. We'll see. 

WISHLIST AND WHAT'S NEW AT THE DRUGSTORES

MAX FACTOR Miracle Pure Priyanka Edition Nail Polish 830 Starry Night and 785 Sparkling Light - I have a thing for dark blue nail polishes with shimmer that look like the night sky. The problem is that there aren't any in drugstores, but then I saw this on DM Germany website and I really hope I get my hands on it. The silver one looks nice too. 

MAX FACTOR Miracle Pure Skin-Illuminating Serum - a hydrating serum with golden pearls, niacinamide, vitamin C and hyaluronic acid. It promises an instant glow, so it's likely a shimmery primer/skin care product. I'm semi-interested. 

MAX FACTOR Miracle Pure Infused Cream Blush 01 Radiant Rose and 03 Pure Peony - so nice to see more cream blushes in the drugstores. A few months ago I couldn't find any. I see 4 shades on Notino, but DM Slovenia has 2. Reviews are not encouraging, though…Still, I'm interested.

ESSENCE Baby Got Blush - a stick creamy blush in two shades. I've only seen them on Essence website, so we'll likely have to wait for them to get here, but I'd love to give them a try. 

ESSENCE Multitask Concealer 05 cool porcelain - I'm not sure if this is meant to be like Touche Éclat or a regular concealer or a mix of both. I'm interested regardless.

ESSENCE 8h Matte Liquid Lipstick - I'm sure these are just repackaged and they haven't made big changes to the formula, but maybe they finally improved their staying power. 

ESSENCE Luminous Eye Tint Liquid 02 Gleaming Charm - this is strangely an eyeshadow and not a liquid highlighter. I'm intrigued, but usually liquid eyeshadows don't impress me and I prefer the more reliable creams.

L'ORÉAL PARIS Primer Lab 24h Pore Minimizer - a silicone primer with 1% AHA+ LHA + BHA complex. I'd prefer if it were without the acids, but it's something new. I'm not sure I'll try it, since I love Benefit one, but we'll see if it even gets here. 

EBELIN Makeup Sponge (Abgeschrägtes Maekup-Up-Ei) - this isn't new, but I can't find those Ebelin velvety sponges I love (I've been to two DMs) and since one of mine is starting to fall apart, I'm probably going to give this one a go and hope it's as good. 

ESSENCE Hydro Gel Eye Patches - these have polyglutamic acid and beta-glucan so they are at least very hydrating. Depending on the price I might give them a go if we get them here. There are 30 in a pack. 

BALEA Cream-to-Oil Peeling - I'm not really interested in this because I have no idea how I could include this into a routine, but it's something new. I think it's one of those solid balms/creams that turns into an oil (like some makeup removers), but they added AHA's. It has 5% Lactid acid + Panthenol. 

GARNIER Ambre Solaire Invisible Serum Super UV SPF 50+ - I'm already a big fan of the fluid and I doubt this will top it, but they added ceramides to this formula. Worth a try if it gets here. 

GARNIER Skin Active Micellar Gentle Peeling Water PHA+AHA - Would you use a product with AHAs to remove eye makeup? I'm not sure, but Garnier made another micellar water and added a gentle peeling effect.  

L'ORÉAL PARiS Serum Revitalift Clinical Vitamin C - this might be interesting because it has actual ascorbic acid (12%). It also has adenosine, hyaluronic acid, a peptide and salicylic acid.

L'ORÉAL PARiS Fluid Revitalift Clinical Vitamin C SPF 50+ - Something new with a high SPF. It also has a little bit of vitamin C (not ascorbic acid) and hyaluronic acid. 

L'ORÉAL PARIS Skin Expert Serum Glycolic Bright - a serum with glycolic acid (just 1%, so this should be very gentle), niacinamide, vitamin C, salicylic acid, hyaluronic acid, resorcinol and adenosine. There are two moisturisers in this line too. 

SCHAEBENS Niacinamide Sheet Mask (Niacinamid Tuchmaske) - it has the mentioned niacinamide on 3rd place, but it doesn't mention percentage. It also has allantoin, carnosine (peptide), glycolic acid, malic acid, hyaluronic acid and urea. I plan to try it when we get it here.

NIVEA Anti-Perspirant Pearl & Beauty - this isn't new, though it says that on the packaging, but I used to have this and used it for years. Then it just disappeared. I hope it's the same as before because this scent is one of the best among deodorants. 

L'ORÉAL PARiS ELVITAL Bond Repair Line - I don't know what to think of this except it's another in long line of somewhat deceptive products that make people who don't know ingredients think it's a cheaper Olaplex (looking that you Revox and Balea Professional). This is based on citric acid, which I'm not sure what it's supposed to do (I mean I use it to remove build up and because water is very hard where I live, but I don't know if it does anything for bonds). I might give that pre-wash thingy a go, but I have no major expectations. 

SCHWARZKOPF GLISS 7 Secs Express Repair Treatment Split Ends Miracle - I'm a huge fan of these and this is the latest version. They really work seconds, but comparably to a drugstore conditioner, so my hair doesn't stay hydrated that long. I just love how fast and easy it is to use these. 

SCHWARZKOPF GLISS Night Elixir Ultimate Repair - something new by Gliss. There are three versions of these, the other two being Anti-Split ends one and a hydration version. It's a leave-in cream that you leave on to work overnight, so something like that super expensive Kérastase Magic Serum I got and barely use because it's overhyped. It should completely absorb overnight and leave the hair hydrated, nourished, shiny and smelling lovely. We'll see, though the 7 Secs conditioner pleasantly surprised me and I expected very little from it.

GARNIER FRUCTIS Glowing Lengths Pineapple Hair Drink Liquid Conditioner for Long Dull Hair - just another L'Oreal 8 Seconds water like products. 

L'ORÉAL PARiS ELVITAL Full Resist Anti Loss Serum with 1.5% Aminexil, Caffeine and Arginine - I think Vichy uses Aminexil and it's quite praised among product for hair loss. I don't need it, but it's nice to see something like in the drugstores.  

GARNIER Ultimate Blends Hair Remedy Mask Avocado & Shea (Wahre Schätze Haarkur 1-Minute Avocado-Öl & Sheabutter) - My hair tends to like products with shea butter, so this might be worth a try. Several versions of this exist.

Posted in: Skincare