REVLON Colorstay Suede Ink Lipstick
001 Gut Instinct, 002 No Rules, 005 Hot Girl, 008 That Girl, 009 in Charge, 010 Tunnel Vision and 014 Spit Fire
I’ve already spoken about these in one of the monthly favourites and I consider these my favourite lipsticks, beating Oriflame’s The One Unlimited Ultra Fix Lipstick formula, which is actually very similar, but Revlon’s lipsticks are more opaque and available in prettier shades. They are a one-swipe lip colour and once they set on the lips, which is quick, they don’t wipe off or smudge, they just stay in their place like a liquid matte lipstick. Formula is thin and matte, so don’t expect any nourishment from these. I can handle them fine and don’t find them drying, but some may want to use a lip balm under or over them. I admire not just their amazing staying power, but also the shades. I’m a big fan of 001 Gut Instinct, which is a colour similar to my natural lips. It looks more peachy in the tube, but on the lips it’s more neutral. I also really like 002 No Rules, which is a deeper nude and 008 That Girl, a light pink shade. 005 Hot Girl is also a nice shade, despite looking so warm in the tube. 014 Spit Fire feels more of a miss for me, as it’s quite a muted, dirty warm red. I’d pick one of the other reds in this collection. These need an oil remover to get off.
MAX FACTOR Facefinity All Day Flawless 3 in 1 Primer, Concealer & Foundation
C40 Light Ivory, N55 Beige and N75 Golden
MAX FACTOR Facefinity Universal Primer
This promises a lot and a Max Factor describes it as “a mattifying, long-lasting makeup primer that minimises the appearance of pores, giving your skin an airbrush finish. Imperfections are blurred & smoothed with the ultra-lightweight, silky-to-powder texture that blends effortlessly and keeps skin feeling hydrated”. At such a description, I expected a completely different primer, namely one of those thick, silicone primers that fill the pores and leaves a dry-to-the-touch velvety finish. But this is more like a smoothing hydrating primer. It’s not dry-to-the-touch, it doesn’t hide pores and even on my skin I don’t find it properly mattifying. Precisely because of that, this works on my dry skin and it helps prevent mat foundations be too draining on me. Aside from that the other effect I noticed is that it prolongs the staying power of makeup well – I tested it with one side of the face with a primer and the other without, the side with looked better at the end of the day.
REAL TECHNIQUES Miracle Complexion Sponge
ESSENCE Baby Got Blush
01 Tickle me pink
ESSENCE 8h Matte Liquid Lipstick
05 Pink blush
BOURJOIS Velvet The Pencil
01 Nudifull, 02 Amou-Rose, 03 In Mauve Again, 06 Framboise Griffée and 07 Rouge Es-Carmin
I had my eye on these ever since they launched and I like all of the shades available here, so you can imagine the how delighted I was to get these in the mail. Bourjois had such pencils before, but I don’t know if they are the same just with a different writing/packaging or an improved formula. Claims mention them being waterproof, transfer-proof, matte, comfortable, easy to use and precise. These have a great pigmentation, are very creamy and don’t drag on the lips. They are matte, but not dry/fully matte, so they feel comfortable, but they aren’t nourishing/moisturising. I wouldn’t say they are transfer-proof, but they last on the lips well. 01 Nudifull, 02 Amou-Rose and 03 In Mauve Again are about the same depth, the difference is in the undertones: 01 is a warm beige, 02 a warm light pink and 03 a mauve light rose. I in particular love shade 03, as it end up most neutral on my lips. 06 Framboise Griffée is a surprise, as the tube shows a much more subdued rosy-red shade, but it packs a punch, as it’s a very vibrant warm magenta. It’s formula is also the most matte one. 07 Rouge Es-Carmin is a neutral, classic red. Though they are pencils, I can’t say they are so precise you could use them as a lip liner, unless you manage to wear them down to a finer tip. I miss a sharpener like at the Revlon’s Crayons for sharpening the tip. These have a wind up mechanism.
BOURJOIS Twist Up Multiplied Lashes Mascara
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REVLON Colorstay Matte Lite Crayon
002 Clear the Air, 004 Take Flight, 006 Lift off 008 She’s Fly, 009 Ruffled Feathers and 010 Air Kiss
PUPA Vamp! Mascara
100 Extra Black, 301 Electric Blue, 400 Amethyst Violet, 500 Emerald Green, 504 Military Green
MILANI COSMETICS Highly Rated Lash Extensions Mascara
This is a tubing mascara, which means it can be removed just with warm water. It’s interesting to see how the whole coat / tube comes off in a single piece of the lashes when removing it, but I like to follow up with a cleanser, even though water gets pretty much all of it off. This is a great mascara for adding length. As far as volume goes it’s ok, but it fails at definition, as it starts to stick lashes together. It’s best to keep a separate clean brush at hand, but I expect this mascara with become thicker and hopefully more defining in time. It’s a regular formula, so it doesn’t hold my lashes curled.
MILANI COSMETICS Stay Put Eyeliner
MILANI COSMETICS Make it Last Setting Spray
MILANI COSMETICS Baked Highlighter
120 Champagne d’Oro
A very pigmented highlighter that looks a lot more beige-champagne in the pan than on my cheeks. It’s quite gold and I don’t find it suits my skin tone, but on warmer, deeper tones than mine, it should look great. It’s intense quickly on the cheeks and the shimmer is more on the larger side compared to my other highlighters, but it’s not chunky.
MILANI COSMETICS Baked Powder Blush
05 Luminoso
MILANI COSMETICS Fruit Fetish Lip Oil
Passion Fruit Coconut and Raspberry Peach
MILANI COSMETICS Stay Put Liquid Lip Longwear Lipstick
120 10/10 and 150 Snatched
S-HE Gel-Like’n Ultra Stay Nail Polish
245 and 310
EBELIN Eye Pads
Augenpads
I had this on my list to pick up since the launch, but they aren’t worth it. They are meant to be a replacement for hydrogel gel pads and can be combined with any (eye) cream/serum/lotion. They stick well even over a large amount of eye cream, however, they don’t feel at all refreshing like hydrogels. They feel hot and almost suffocating – maybe they are better if they were kept in the fridge, but I think they may warm up quickly and they don’t let the skin breathe. They are being discontinued anyway.
ESSENCE Gel Nail Colour
47 Pink Ink
I got this from the stand when they were discontinuing Essence products, so it’s likely already gone. But’s it’s a pretty medium warm-neutral pink and the formula is nicely smooth. Shame they are letting this one go.
NEUTROGENA Bright Boost Serum
MAYBELLINE Eye Makeup Remover
Augen Makeup Entferner
LAZARTIGUE Huile de Reves
A repurchase. It’s quite unique, as it’s very light for an oil that contains just proper oils and no silicones, and it has an effect that resembles silicone oils. It’s got a dry oil texture and it’s the lightest such oil I’ve tried, so I can use more often than other regular oils before my hair starts feeling like it needs a wash. It also doesn’t it start smelling rancid on the hair in the following days like some other oils do (like coconut). I either use this as an overnight treatment or in the morning to tame nourish dry hair and tame the frizz. It’s so expensive, but I’ve grown to really love it in the years I’ve been using it and I use it several times a week.
URIAGE Depiderm Anti-Brown Spot Daytime Care SPF 50
This was a generous gift with purchase. Formula looks thin and light, but this is a very shiny SPF. Luckily I haven’t experienced it slipping into my eyes and it protects me well. It’s an SPF I’d only wear at home or on the beach, as it’s otherwise too shiny. It promises to prevent and correct brown spots. It contains Cx Complex that consists of Enoxolone, Pea Extract, Sucrose, Uriage Thermal Water and Vitamin C. It acts on different stages of the hyperpigmentation process and helps prevent the formation and reappearance of dark spots. Sunscreen filters used are Tinosorb S, Uvinul A Plus and Uvinul T 150.
SVR Topialyse Huile Lavante
Anti-irritation lipid-restoring Anti-itching cleansing gel
I liked this the moment I tried it. I didn’t expect it to be an actual oil, as I’ve tried a few such shower gel oils and they are all regular gels, but this one is a lot more like an oil and turns into a milky emulsion with water. It’s not as rich as L’Occitane’s, but better than the thin Balea shower oil. It’s designed for sensitive, itchy, dry skin and can be used for anything. I love it for the body, it’s nice on the face too (but it doesn’t take off makeup and it’s not as kind to the eyes as I’d expect from a product like this), while for the hair I surprisingly find it makes my hair too squeaky clean. It’s nourishing on the skin, but for my hair it’s too stripping – odd. It’s fragranced with a gentle warm clean scent (I’m guessing the fragrance they used is hypoallergenic). I don’t know if it helps with itching, but the skin feels comfortable after washing.
LA ROCHE POSAY Lipicar Baume AP+M
I didn’t buy this for me, but for someone who has problems with itchy skin. I only gave it a quick try and I loved the texture of it. It’s nicely creamy and absorbs quickly enough. It felt soothing and it’s fragrance free. It contains shea butter, niancinamide and something called aqua posae filiformis, which rebalances the skin microbiome. Its designed for skin that suffers from eczema.
I saw the tube is by now basically empty, so it looks like it helps.
URIAGE Pruriced Soothing Gel
Another anti-itching product I bought for someone else. This one contains calamine. I borrowed it a few times to treat mosquito bites and its work ok, but it leaves white marks.
REDKEN Acidic Bonding Concentrate Shampoo
K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair
Try number two. I already had the 5 ml mini and I wasn’t impressed, but then I realised I wasn’t using it right after watching some videos. It wasn’t my fault, since there are no proper instructions on the bottle or the box and it’s a pretty big thing to omit from the instructions that this needs to be emulsified between the palms of the hands for several seconds, so you get a dense milky emulsion. I think I even heard it’s only activated after that, but I could have misheard. They also recommend to do 4-6 course treatments to see results. It contains a peptide that strengthens bonds. It’s supposed to be used on clean hair as a leave-in, left for 4 minutes and then you can use other leave-in care and styling, but no conditioner or mask. The latter part is a problem for me, as my hair is very dry and leave-ins can’t do the hydrating/nourishing job as well as masks, so my hair gets dry very fast after washing my hair and using this treatment, and dry hair means breakage. You need to use a small amount of this, as it can have an opposite effect otherwise. I use about 3 ml per use, that’s 9 pumps on this 15 ml version (50 ml version dispenses 1 ml per pump). 15 ml lasted me 6 treatments and I think there is still some left. After six uses, honestly, I’m still disappointed by this. It doesn’t compare to the Olaplex n.0 + n.3 + n.8 regime or Joico K-Pack or Moroccanoil. My hair isn’t smoother, I don’t think it looks healthier, it doesn’t break any less and during the treatments, I really missed nourishment and silkyness that I get from some masks, though I understand this is a repairing treatment. I know it’s hailed as a miracle for bleached hair, but it didn’t do the job on me.
MOROCCANOIL Color Deposing Mask
Cocoa
I’m still dyeing my blonde hair with temporary brown colours. I always use Subrina or Wella, but this time I treated myself to Moroccanoil because honestly, I really dislike how unnourished and hard those two formulas leave my hair (as much as everyone praise how soft they leave their hair, me and my thick hair texture are not so lucky). This was so worth the high price. My hair feels so soft and silky, it’s shiny and manageable – truly Moroccanoil is a brand I can rely on and is worth splurging on. Colour is somewhere between Wella’s dark brown and Subrina’s Warm Brown reddish brown, so warmer/more reddish than my natural hair colour, but the depth is close, meaning this is quite a deep brown and if you’re medium brown, you may need to mix it with shade Champagne to avoid it looking too dark. Again like at Wella the colour looks a bit flat because I apply it over blonde hair with removed underlying undertones. It washed off first purple and then grey. It took about 6 washes to get most of it off, but due to grey tones, I was itching to dye it again after a third wash. At my next use I mixed in Subrina’s Orange shade of Colour Refresh, so I might avoid it washing off grey again on blonde hair.
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Just Cocoa. Also used is Frizz Shield Spray.
MOROCCANOIL Frizz Shield Spray
L’OREAL ELVITAL Bond Repair Rescue Pre-Shampoo
I waited for this to appear in our drugstores, but for months we only had the conditioner. I only picked this out of 4 products, as it’s the most unique one, but buying all would be too expensive (it’s a shame they don’t have sample sizes). However, I realised at home, it’s not much different than the conditioner, as it need to be applied on damp hair and I need to wash it regardless, since I use a lot leave-ins between washings and I think this won’t be as effective if the hair isn’t somewhat clean, so I end up washing it twice. Results were underwhelming. It didn’t help the hair be less brittle for a while (Joico, Redken, Olaplex do have that effect) and on the second day my hair was already so dry, it was breaking and I had to wash my hair again. It didn’t look any sleeker, better or less damaged after use, so I’m not impressed.
SCHWARZKOPF GLISS KUR Total Repair Shine Tonic
Glanz-Tonic
Aa very light mist, suitable for probably all hair types and it contains hydrolysed keratin. It adds such an amazing amount of non-greasy looking shine on my natural hair, though on my dyed lengths don’t look quite as glossy. It’s one of those products with which you can “fake” shiny healthy looking hair for a while, which comes especially handy when you’re taking pictures.
NIVEA Care Shower
Apricot & Apricot Seed Oil and Crème Protect & Dexpanthenol
Apricot is my frequent repurchase as it smells like the name says. The Protect and Dexpanthenol version is new to me and it contains panthenol. It’s more heavily fragranced than the apricot one, so it won’t be every ones cup of tea, but it’s a nice cream scent. Formulas are the same, creamy, but not as much as Dove’s.
NIVEA Anti-Perspirant Pearl & Beauty
A repurchase. I’ve long been a fan of the Pearl & Beauty scent, but the stick deodorant disappeared for a while. It’s nice to see it back in the shops. It’s different than the old one, as it feels somewhat wet at application. It protects me well and smells powdery. Like all such stick deodorants it leaves white marks.
