Catrice Absolute Nude eyeshadow palette

 

Catrice has added a lot of new things to their collection over the last month, and included is the budget brand's answer to the much praised Naked palette by Urban Decay. The absolute nude eyeshadow palette. A small travel friendly palette with six shimmery nude shades that can be used for a daytime look or a nighttime showstopper.

The palette is made of shiny black plastic with a clear lid, the letters printed on in white. As you can, obviously, tell from the picture up top.

The six shades reign from golden, to champagne to a cool and warm toned browns. All very nude and easily combined to make an eyeshadow look that will have you looking wonderful. The pigmentation on these shades is pretty good, not spectacular like the UD Naked palette, but if you use the right bruhes you can do great things with this palette.

A closer look at the shadows is pictured up top. The back of the palette comes with two set of instructions on how to create different looks with the shadows. A nice detail, but like always, a little on the too simplistic side.

The palette also comes with a double ended applicator. The usual cringeworthy sponge applicator and Catrice's answer to the term 'blending brush'. It does an okay job at applying, but you are much better off with higher quality brushes.

 

How to achieve this daytime smokey eye using the Catrice Absolute Nude palette

1. Apply the third color from the left all over your moving eyelid

2. Then sweep and blend the darkest color into your crease, for a daytime look blend it in a c-shape rather than a V. Which can look a little too dramatic and OTT.

3. Apply the second to last color underneath your eye, make sure not to go further in than about 50%

Finish off the shadows with the champagne color found in the second pan under your lashes

4. Apply a long lasting eye pencil on your lower lash line and slightly smudge it

(Budget: Essence Stays no matter what waterproof eyepencil Bank: Urban Decay eye pencil)

5. Last but definitely not least, lashings of black waterproof mascara on your top and bottom lashes.

Et voila!

The perfect daytime smokey eye.

The Catrice Absolute Nude eyeshadow palette is available now and will cost you €4,99. A total bargain for a nice versatile palette that will get you through many days and nights.

Essence Vintage District Trend Edition

 

'Cool hippy attitude meets bohemian chic and street style' is what the budget cosmetics brand essence says about their new trend edition. Filled with eyeshadows, nail polishes, nail art kits,gel eyeliners and a downright divine blush. This trend edition is one that really makes my blood flow faster. And it hasn't done that for a special collection in a long, long time. 

Hitting the shelves mid-february I knew I had to check out the stores every single day to see if they had stocked the displays with the gorgeous things that this collection was going to offer. I had seen some collection previews over on other Dutch beautyblogs. 

First up are the nail polishes. This collection came with four colors. A dusty old-pink, a grey with a light shimmer, an old peach and a nice vibrant turquoise.

EUR 1,89 each

I bought myself two out of the four polishes. Mostly because I couldn't justify buying two colors that I own really similar colors too. The turquoise/blue color is called 'shopping @ portobello road' and the dirty/murky peach is called 'vintage peach' I can't wait to apply these colors. I think the peach is either going to be super ugly or amazing. I'll have to see it against my skin to judge properly.

Something that has recently been added to the essence collection are special 'nail art kits'. Small zip-loc bags with different kind of glitter, flakes and pearls. In this trend edition the brand put two different nail art sets in.

EUR 2,59 each

Top: Something g-old something new Bottom: designer for a day

These sets have really cute stuff inside. Different kinds of glitter, pearls for a caviar or studded nail art look, gems and even some gold leaf. I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of these kits.  

But the real and total stunner of this collection is the multicolor blush. Oh boy am I in love with this things. It's a gorgeous warm peach color and the gold mixed in provides such a wonderful sheen to your skin. Sadly, the gold is just an overspray, so it will have disappeared after a few swipes of your blush brush. 

EUR 3,39

How incredibly gorgeous is this thing? I am telling you, YOU NEED THIS! Shopaholics of the world unite and make sure that if you can, add this to your collection. Everyone needs a gorgeous blush like this. And for that price!

The essence Vintage District collection is in stores right now, so rush while you can.

L'Oreal Lumi Magique foundation

Every once in a while your makeup routine will shift. Especially with the changing of the seasons. During winter my skin gets dull and grey-ish and I just need all the help I can get in the radiance department. And the quick fix? Is a light infusing radiance boosting foundation. L'Oreal claims they have made such a foundation. They say they have trapped a liquid light technology that infuses skin with a ray of light, illuminating your complexion as if lit-from-within. Big words, huh? But does it live up to those expectations?

The foundation comes in a luxurious glass bottle shaped pretty similar to the L'Oreal True Match foundation. It has a rose gold plastic pump, which works hygienic. It's my favorite type of foundation dispenser just because it's much more clean and it doesn't make a huge mess out of everything.

I got the foundation in the lightest available shade. I go a bit 'ghost-like' during the colder months. There are only about six shades available for this foundation, which I think is crap. There never seems to be a suitable shade for darker skin tones. I thought drugstore brands were supposed to cater to the larger audience, then why only put out six shades?

Anyway shade C2 Rose porcelain would imply that it has a pink undertone, which isn't exactly the case. Distributing it across the back of my hand I was kind of intimidated by the yellow tone, which almost seemed orange.

Never one to judge a book by its cover, I decided to purchase anyway and see how it would work out on my face. I'm pretty iffy about applying foundation testers from drugstores onto my face. 

Below is a picture of my face without any makeup one. As you can see my skin is pretty dull and white with quite a bit of spots and redness poking through. 

I applied the Lumi Magique foundation with my ELF powder brush. The formula is pretty thin and spreads nicely across the skin, making it pretty easy to blend. I was quite surprised that the color actually seemed to match me pretty well. It didn't seem too orange on my skin, and I didn't get any of those horrific mask lines by the side of my face. 

This foundation definitely has medium coverage, but if you were to require more you can definitely build it up to a higher level of coverage. The liquid blends seamlessly into the skin and you are left with a natural complexion that looks healthy and anything but caked on. My skin looked much more alive and healthy, after  applying. I wouldn't say that I looked 'lit-from-within', but we all know how the marketing departments like to exaggerate to persuade us happy consumers.

It also lasted quite a long time. I applied it mid-morning, dashed around town all day running errands and puled a particularly long shift at work and at night removing it I still had a substantial amount come off onto my Bioderma soaked cotton pad. I double cleansed my skin with my trusty Obagi Clenziderm Cream Care Cleanser and called it a night after that.

With foundation.

 (Left other makeup, right sans anything except L'Oreal Lumi Magique in C2 Rose Porcelain)

Overall I am quite pleased with the purchasing of this foundation. I will use it on the days that my skin needs a good boost of radiance and health. 

Pros

- Nice radiant finish, leaves your skin looking healthy and natural

- Medium coverage without mask effect

- Lasts a decent time

Cons

- Costs €17,28 for 30ml. Pricey for a drugstore foundation

- Limited shade range

L'Oreal Lumi Magique foundation is available in drugstores and perfumeries  all across the world right now. My bottle was purchased was at Douglas for €15,55 because I get 10% off with my Douglas member card. 

Inglot Fall/Winter Quad Swatches + Eye of the Day

After successfully passing most of my midterms I decided that I needed to get something for myself to celebrate, a bit like an incentive to do as much as I did this time the next round of midterms. Which are approaching so fast... eek! So I stopped by my favorite counter in the whole wide world and broke my no buy rule for november. I picked up a quad of the most amazing warm fall colors. I seriously couldn't wait to go home and play with those shades. Further down the post are the swatches and the fall makeup look that I have created.

from left to right: 606 Pearl / 605 Pearl AMC Shine 27 / AMC es 54

When I got home I immediately set to work with these shadows to create a fall/winter makeup look suitable for work. Look below for my interpretation of this eyeshadow quad. I absolutely love these colors. They are so warm and gorgeous and I can't wait to do more looks with this quad.

All eyeshadows from the quad, black eyeliner by Rimmel, mascara by Yves Saint Laurent

eBay Beautyblender Review

I used to despise using sponges for my foundation, but my mind has been convinced by this bright pink oddly egg-shaped sponge which I ordered from the depths of eBay. The Beautyblender has been a trend on the cosmetic market for quite some time now. The orignal Beautyblender invented by makeup artist Rea Ann Silva quickly became a staple for makeup artists all over the world, and it has been in a bunch of magazines featured as a best beauty buy. It claimes to flawlessly blend your makeup in a quick and easy way. Sounds like a dream, no?

But with the original beautyblender coming in at a whopping $19,95, you're quick to think 'no way I'm dropping that much money on a sponge'. For all the smart saving people like that there is eBay. After a little search your quick to find hundres of beautyblender dupes. In all kinds of crazy colors and slightly different shapes. I used the words 'egg cosmetic make up blender sponge' in my search bar and wound up with the seller demon99. This seller was selling the slightly differently shaped beautyblender dupes for $1,36 a pop free shipping. I ordered two and waited patiently for my sponges to arrive in the mail. 

Warning, crazy fathers might think these are part of a hot pink Shrek costume and promptly put the two sponges on their heads upon arrival. 

How do you use the sponge? First you run it under warm water. This will make the sponge absorb the water and expand to around twice its original size. Look at the top picture for reference. The sponge absorbing the water will keep it from absorbing too much makeup, what regular sponges tend to do. And the usage of warm water will help your foundation kind of 'melt' upon application which makes it easier to blend. 

After you wet the sponge you apply your foundation in dots over your face. This can be any kind of liquid or dry foundation. I personally only use liquid foundation with light to medium coverage because that gives a more natural look. Take the beauty blender sponge and put your fingers in the indentation, as shown in picture number three. Althought you mostly use the larger flat side, but the picture is just to show you where to hold it. 

Now what your going to do is just dab the sponge over your face, effectively spreading and blending your foundation of choice. For the harder to reach places such as the side of your nose, under your eyes, etc.. use the pointier side. 

This eBay beauty blender dupe does a fantastic job at blending my foundation to make it look nice and natural. The color and coverage is distributed evenly across my features and it doesn't look as if I have product caked on my face.

I try to clean the sponge after every use, because the germ infested sponge idea still creeps me out. But these sponges are easily taking the place of my makeup brushes. It's lovely! I recommend it to everyone who wants a nice tool to blend and apply foundation or concealer with. 

Playing with color: eye makeup

It's no secret I'm a fan of the bold colored lip. Red, orange, pink, coral, you name it and I wear it on my mouth. But my eyes tend to be covered in my same makeup every single day. Either a simple black cat-eye liner or a simple every day smokey eye (on which I will be filming a video soon!).

But today I was super duper bored (read: doing anything I could to avoid studying) and whipped out the new Sleek palette I wrote about a week or so ago. It's the previous post, so go check it out if you are curious to see what's in that palettes! I created two very different and very bold eye makeup looks. Not very wearable, but oh so fun to do. I love the blue look most, what about you?

used for the blue look

Sleek Ultimate Mattes V1: Brights

NYX Jumbo pencil in Milk

Essence Stay all day cream shadow

Gosh liquid liner in blue

Bourjois Volumizer mascara

used for the pink look

Sleek Ultimate Mattes V1: Brights

NYX jumbo pencil in Milk

Gosh eye pencil in purple

Peggy Sage black kohl liner

Bourjois Volumizer mascara

Sleek Ultra Mattes Brights Palette: REVIEW + SWATCHES

I finally jumped onto the Sleek bandwagon and purchased i-Divine palettes. I have seen so many amazing looks made with the affordable and original shades that Sleek makes. Today I am reviewing one of the two palettes I bought. The i-Divine Ultra Mattes Brights palette. Not too long ago Sleek released two new palettes which have all matte colors. 

I tend to enjoy matte shadows a little more, because they blend a little nicer onto the skin and they seem to appear a little more natural. But if you want a natural effect, you probably shouldn't go with this neon colored super bright set of twelve shadows. 

What is in the palette?

12 shadows that are 1.1 grams each. 9 of the shadows are super duper bright and 3 of them are more soft shades, pastel colors even. Swatches of these shadows are below.

from left to right

chill, pout, sugarlite, dragon fly, pucker, bamm!

Pretty damn good pigmentation on each of them. Chill, the light blue color, did need a little more pressure to get these results. But if you use a dense brush and apply it over a light base (for example NYX jumbo pencil in Milk) it will have proper amazing color payoff!

from left to right,

cricket, bolt, strike, floss, crete, pow!

This row was a little less amazing. Cricket, bolt and strike are the shit. I love love love love bolt. What a fantastic electric blue color, I can't wait to use this in a look. But floss, crete and pow! aren't my thing. The color payoff is disappointig. But if you use them over a white base they will be a lot better, still, that shouldn't have to be required.

Overall, an amazeballs palette. Really happy with my purchase. I'm looking forward to using these shadows in looks, and will start to play with them when I have time after tomorrow's last midterm. I purchased this palette from the Dutch website Enchantra for €8,49.

Essence Stay With Me longlasting lipgloss review

I think I have said it countless times, but I am definitely a lipstick girl. That, however, does not stop me from buying lipglosses. I shamefully admit that I have a basket filled with lipglosses. I would like to say they are the colors of the rainbow… but they’re mostly pink. I think it’s the displays in the shops. Where all the colorful tubes are lined up under warm fluorescent lights, they just tempt me, lure me in. Oh boy, I really am pathetic when it comes to having self-control, right?

Enough chit chat, let’s get down to business. Today I bring you a review of the Essence ‘Stay With Me’ Long lasting lipgloss. Essence is a brand that has been growing on me lately. Their nail polishes have time and time again proven to be great. I own about four of their gel eyeliner brushes because they are perfect for.. well, gel eyeliner. But they work like an ABSOLUTE charm on my brows. And let’s not forget to mention that their limited editions are often adorable and introduce us to brand new products and interesting colors. But the most important part…

IT’S ALL DIRT CHEAP!

So, the fact that I hardly wear these glosses and will probably never finish them before they go dodgy, is slightly less shameful knowing I only paid a tiny amount of money for them…

And now for the actual review…

This is what essence says about these lipsticks.

“The name of this lipgloss could not be more appropriate: if you try it once, you'll never want to give it up again! the color-intensive texture is so wonderfully creamy and durable – without leaving a sticky feeling behind, that it's simply irresistible. the special shape of the precision applicator allows an effortless application. Six trendy colors are waiting to awaken those spring feelings and invite you to a creative styling session!”

Do I agree? Yes and no. They are alright when it comes to color, as you can see on the swatches below. And the applicator allowing effortless application… effortless maybe not, but it certainly isn’t difficult. It works better on your bottom lip than your upper, but it’s certainly a nice change to your usual doe-foot applicator.

Me and My Icecream | My favorite milkshake

Bare lips

Me and My Icecream

My Favorite Milkshake

But the formula not being sticky, wonderfully creamy and last but definitely not least when a lipgloss is labeled ‘long lasting’ durable. I’m not so sure. Well actually, I am sure. They’re just not.

They aren’t creamy, they are sticky. Like regular sticky lipglosses. And while sticky lipglosses do tend to last longer on lips, this is going to need reapplying after you have a drink or a bite to eat. God forbid, a kiss from your boyfriend. Though I have yet to meet the man that doesn’t mind a lipgloss kiss. They also have a quite artificial sweet smell, but if you don’t mind flavors and scents added to products, then that shouldn’t be a downside.

If you don’t mind the feeling and stickiness of lipgloss, then these ‘Stay With Me’ lipglosses are perfect for you. I will store these little tubes in my lipgloss basket and whip them out when they are appropriate for the look I am wearing. Probably just tutorials, or looks of the day.

Essence Stay With Me Long Lasting Lipgloss comes in a 4ml tube and it’s recommended retail price is €1,99.

Lady in Red

Sunday, the day that I do absolutely nohing except browse online, watch a movie, deep condition my hair. Except when I leave my laptop at my man's house. Then suddenly sunday turns into the day where I take way too many pictures of myself, color coordinate my closet, clean every surface of my bedroom. I should get rid of my laptop more often.

Two days ago I blogged about my pink lipstick collection and today we are focusing on my red lipsticks. Red is a statement color, there are many ladies that are too afraid to wear it. I say don't! Don't be afraid. Red lipstick gives you a certain flair, a spring in your step. Wear it with confidence and you'll be able to take on the world.

fltr: Catrice After Dinner Wine, Catrice My Red Card, Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate 01, Maybelline color sensational Lady Red and Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet 38 La Fascinante

Catrice After Dinner Wine

Catrice My Red Card

Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate 01

Maybelline Color Sensational Lady Red

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet 38 La Fascinante

pink lips collection

I am one hundred percent a lipstick kind of girl. There is something empowering about rocking a bold color on your lips. Or being in public and whipping out your tube of color and a small pocket mirror to reapply that gorgeous shine on your lips.

It is statiscally proven that men are more attracted to girls with lipstick on than girls who chose to skip that part of their makeup routine. Lipstick is my weakness, whenever I enter a drugstore I cannot withhold myself from purchasing some sort of lip product.

My favorite color is probably pink. It’s feminine and bold enough to make a statement, but it isn’t as ‘over the top’ as a bright red. Because red is for special days, when you really want to feel like a knockout. My collection of reds is coming soon, but today I bring you my collection of pink lipsticks.

fltr

chanel rouge coco in Jersey Rose, catrice frozen rose, NYC blue rose, loreal intense fuchsia, NYX matte lipstick shocking pink, MAC pink nouveau, rimmel lasting finish by kate moss 05, rimmel color showoff pink gossip, maybelline color sensational feel pink, 2be lipstick in 02

WARNING! MAJOR LIP OVERLOAD!

Chanel Rouge Coco in Jersey Rose. My first Chanel lipstick. It's the perfect pinky my lips but better color. I wear it whenever I feel like wearing lipstick, but don't want something super bright.

Catrice Absolute Color in Frozen Rose. Not sure about this color. Not even sure if I ever wore it outside of the house. I feel like it's too light on me. Maybe with the right eye look? Who knows, will give this a try soon enough.

NYC lipstick in blue rose. Did I blog about this one? I forgot. I do remember taking pictures of it and writing a post, but I forgot if I ever published it. If I didn't. If you layer this on, it's a pretty good MAC show orchid dupe.

L'Oreal lipstick in Intense Fuchsia. Love the color, hate the formula. No matter how primed, exfoliated, moisturized or baby-bottomed my lips are, this ALWAYS looks dry. And not to mention what it does to my lips. Ten minutes of wearing this and they are like a dessert.

NYX Matte Lipstick, I'm really sure that I blogged about this one when I first got it. Still in love with it. Really should wear it more often. It's such a gorgeous cool toned pink. And the matte formula, wonderfully, doesn't dry my lips out too much. It does transfer like a mofo, though. Which is always fun when you drink from white starbucks cups...

MAC pink nouveau. Blogged about this one a few weeks back. Still love it. Wear it at least twice a week. It has become somewhat of my signature color.

Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Moss lipstick in 05. This one was a little disappointing. I love the finish and the formula of this one. But the color is a little meh. It looks much richer and prettier in the tube. But the moisturizing glossy finish that it gives more than makes up for the disappointing color payoff.

Rimmel Color Showoff in Pink Gossip. This was one of my first brighter colors. Think I wore it three times. Shame on me.

Maybelline Color Sensational in Feel Pink. A nice pinky nude. Perfect with a heavier dark smokey eye

Ugh. Frosty. Way too light. Did I mention this was less than a euro? I bought this way back when I still spent 10 euros a month on makeup. Oh the times....

That's it for my pink lipstick collection. I'm now quite excited for the red collection? It will of probably be posted somewhere along the course of the week. Because when I think about having to swatch and photograph all of those... Oh the stains.

Oh, and just to give an impression of the mess I made while preparing for this post.... I present to you. My desk.