January favourites and wishlist – Mateja’s Beauty Blog

L’OREAL PARIS Colour Riche Les Nus Intense Lipstick
173 Nu Impertinent
One of my favourite everyday shades. It’s not just the colour, but also the quality of the formula. It feels high-end. It’s comfortable, smooth and has great pigmentation. 173 Nu Impertinent is a light nude shade with some peachy and pink tones, which makes it a good colour for defining the lips and for a non-makeup makeup look (on my pale skin tone). I heard recently Nu Impertinent mentioned as a dupe for Pillow Talk, but I can’t confirm that myself. Finish is satin-creamy and this formula suits dry lips as well.

CATRICE Glow Lover Oil-Infused Highlighter
010 Glowing Peony
I mentioned how good the Glow Lover blusher is in the Best Beauty Finds in 2023 post. This highlighter has been on the shelves longer and it’s long been one of my favourites. Shimmer in this is very fine and it’s subtle, in fact, in a light coat it even works as an all-over luminous powder. The glow it creates is natural-looking and it doesn’t emphasize pores. Shade is neither too cool or too warm, but it is light.

LANEIGE Lip Sleeping Mask
Berry
My skin is very dry at the moment and that includes the lips. I’ve been using mostly lip oils in the last year, but this mask is an old favourite. It’s one of rare lip balms that has the ability to stay on the lips for a long time, in traces I can feel it even in the morning. It does the job so well.

FILORGA Neocica Moisturising Repairing Care
Like I said my skin is currently very dry and this is the only moisturiser in my drawer that is helping. It’s described as a repairing cream, Filorga says it’s suitable for use after treatments (laser, peels, injections), on burns and irritated skin (like after shaving). It feels like a nice balm on the skin and creates this protective layer that stays on for a while, which considering my skin is currently absorbing everything with insane speed, is a very good thing. But when it runs out I’ll have to find a cheaper alternative, thought this one has a ton of great ingredients.

ALVERDE Pflege-ől All-in-One
My scalp is also dry, so I’ve been using oils before washing my hair. I’ve been doing this for many years, but this time I got an oil with a dropper so I can get close to the scalp and not just focus on the lengths. I picked this one because its main ingredient is canola oil, the same as in my fave Palmer’s oil that I have to order online (and have been unable to repurchase it). Apart from canola oil, it also has shea butter ethyl esters (my hair
loves shea), vitamin E, coconut oil, sunflower oil and almond oil + some
fragrances. It’s not very heavy, but it’s not like a dry oil. I’ve used it for body and it’s ok as it’s not overly greasy. Compared to Lazartigue hair oil, this is heavier, so not something I’d use a lot of on my ends when they are dry, but as a pre-wash treatment it’s nice. It has a gentle, sort of vanillary scent, but it’s more bland than that.

 

TANGLE TEEZER The Scalp Exfoliator and Massager
I pair this with the oil, but I use when my scalp is itchy too. It’s not a brush that you’d use for combing, at least it’s not as effective as their classic brushes, as the bristles are designed and placed in a way you can massage the scalp. I don’t see it as a great exfoliator, I prefer Subrina Professional Detox Scrub for that, but it feels nice to use and it should it theory boost blood circulation. The only thing I’m not sold on is the hold, since I have small hands and it’s not a tight fit for my size.

SCHWARZKOPF Brilliance Gloss Treatment
Schoko Braun
I got this in December and I should have included it in the best beauty finds, but I felt it was too soon. Now I can say I really like this. It matches my dark brown colour so well I don’t even know where my roots and coloured hair begin. It’s washing off the slowest out of all masks I’ve tried, so I’ve had no awkward phases with my semi-washed colour in various cool or warm shades. It’s a nicer formula for my hair than Wella’s mask which is not nourishing or softening enough. The fact it matches me so well, since most masks are lighter, means the most to me. But this does mean if you use this shade to refresh a chocolate brown colour depth 6-5, this will turn your hair almost black.

MOROCCANOIL Dry Shampoo
I use dry shampoos very occasionally since I don’t get greasy hair, I get drier hair the longer I don’t wash it. So I’m in general not a fan of dry shampoos because they leave that powdery residue that just make me want to wash the hair, but Moroccanoil is the best formula I’ve tried. The powder in this is so fine and silky, it genuinely makes my hair feels almost like freshly washed, light and refreshed. The fragrance is also amazing, this is worth as a hair perfume on its own. I have both versions: Light Tones (a very light lavender that should fight yellow tones) and Dark Tones (a more of a medium to dark blonde, not a true brown), but it doesn’t matter because when you comb the hair, the tint goes away.

No heat curls headband
In my review of Nivea Care & Hold Soft Touch Mousse I mentioned I now do heatless curls all the time. After so many years of trying different methods I finally found one that has the best results and it’s the most comfortable to sleep with. I got this velvet rope/headband on Aliexpress, but I’m sure it’s available in many places. It’s more comfortable than those thick round satin ones I also have, but it produces very similar results (thick satin one is a bit better, but I prefer comfort). I wrap my hair around it every night, usually without wetting it with a leave-in conditioner, as the mousse does the job even in latter days. Curls look nice and they last all day.

WISHLIST AND WHAT’S NEW

 

CATRICE Blush Affair Liquid Blush and ESSENCE Baby Got Blush/Glow liquid blush/highlighter – like every year in February Catrice and Essence have new products. Hopefully the formula blends evenly at both versions. I’ve got my eye on shade 010 Pink Feelings and maybe 030 at Catrice, while for Essence I don’t know the names of the colours yet, but I am looking for a new liquid highlighter, since my Oriflame one dried up and I can’t repurchase it. I just hope we get some of the new products here, as Essence stand looks like it’s been raided and it’s got less than a 1/2 of the products every time I get there for the past year. I haven’t even seen all the products from the last update and I had to wait to find one stick blush for months. Clearly there’s some major supply issues.

ESSENCE Magic Filter Glow Booster – this looks like Essence’s version of Catrice’s Soft Glam Filter or CT’s Hollywood Filter, so a glowy primer with some possible coverage. I’ve tested Catrice vs. Charlotte Tilbury and while they are similar, CT is nicer on the skin and is a more high quality formula.  

ESSENCE Glossy Jelly Nail Polish – scented nail polishes, but I don’t know what the formula or coverage is like. I love scented nail polishes, I don’t know why this isn’t a bigger thing, but my favourites are from Pupa. 

CHARLOTTE TILBURY Airbrush Flawless Finish – I blame this one of Petra from Adjusting Beauty. She says it’s worth the price and that it looks great under the eyes. Very few powders look decent on me, as most turn my foundation cakey and just make the situation worse. But it’s so expensive and after I was disappointed by Hourglass Ambient powder (and CT Hollywood Filter), I have trust issues with popular HE makeup.  

CATRICE Drunk’n Diamonds Plumping Lip Balm 050 Bury me in Rubies – this looks like Catrice is trying to possibly dupe the popular Black Honey from Clinique. It’s a similar blackened burgundy in a sheer version, but this one has glitter. I’m perfectly happy with my “dupe” Labello/Nivea Blackberry, but it may be an interesting shade to some. I got this formula in a PR parcel when it first launched (a pale frosty shade) and it’s nothing special in terms of nourishment.   

CATRICE Lip Lacquer Shine Bomb – fully opaque shiny liquid lipsticks like Revlon’s Satin Ink. I wonder if these are as long lasting as Revlon’s. I’ve already seen these in Müller as a part of the preview for the new products.

CATRICE Dream In Holo Blast Nail Polish – it’s been a long time since I had a holo nail polish. Essence has a few, including a similar silver one I spotted for the first time last time I was in Múller. I wonder if they will even differ between Catrice’s.

CATRICE Skin Glaze Hydrating Serum Primer – this promises a skin glass effect. Catrice had a great glowy primer in the past, but they discontinued it. Maybe this is similar.

SKIN1004 Madagascar Centella Ampoule – after reading Petra’s (Adjusting Beauty) favourites in 2023, several skin care products ended up on my wishlist, not just this one. This brand has lots of products with centella asiatica, one of my favourite ingredients. This ampoule is a 100% Centella Asiatica Extract, but I’m also interested in the cleansing oil and SPF.  

BALEA Haar Parfum golden Liberty – this might be interesting providing it smells nice. It claims to have some Freshplex technology that neutralises smells. I actually already have a similar product from Aussie and it works a treat.  

TREACLEMOON  Brazilian Love Duschcreme – I hear this smells like Sol De Janeiro Brazillian Bum Bum Cream (Brazilian Crush Cheirosa 62), which I’m a fan off. I’ll have to check out if it’s true.

GARNIER SkinActive Fluid Vitamin C Daily UV – Garnier added some more products to their vitamin C line. I’m currently using the night serum or trying to as often as I can, though the “selftan” scent that develops at high concentrations of ascorbic acid is so annoying. This has an SPF 50, a peptide, hyaluronic acid, adenoside and low on the list Ascorbyl Glucoside, a stable version of vitamin C.