August favourites and wishlist

sobota, avgust 31, 2024


BOURJOIS Healthy Mix Serum Roll-on Concealer
49 Ivory
I wasn't too keen on this formula when I first got it, but it grew on me. It has to do with the changes in my skin, as when I got it in winter, my skin was drier, so this ended up looking very flat and matte - something that surprised me given how nicely hydrating Healthy Mix formulas are. Now it's behaving much better and looks fresh on the skin. The finish is still not that I would describe as radiant, but it has a good level of coverage (medium, or medium/full with layering) and looks natural. Shade 49 Ivory fits me well. The applicator is unique, but I end up blending the concealer with a sponge or a brush, as the rolling metal applicator is only nicely cooling, but not effective at blending or spreading the concealer evenly.

ESSENCE Blush Crush!
50 Pink Pop
I already have four of these and I wear 40 Strawberry Flush very often, since it's such an uplifting peachy pink. This one is a baby doll pink with lots of silver shimmer/frost, so it's a mix between a highlighter and blush - a blushlighter. It's the most glowy in the selection I got. Formula is creamier than 40 Strawberry Flush, which is the driest, least smooth in the bunch, but it the same as the matte shade 60 Lovely Lilac.



REVLON ColorStay Limitless Matte Liquid Lipstick
Beauty Sleep (001), Poster Child (002), Strut (005), Manifest (006), Icon Era (007), Hot Take (009) and Fire Off (011)
These are a new launch here and are Revlon's newest matte liquid lipsticks. As always Revlon delivers when it comes to lip products and I have yet to be disappointed. I've tried a lot of such liquid matte formulas and these feel great at application, almost buttery creamy. The applicator has a good shape and allows a lot of precision with its tip. It takes about a minute to dry and then I don't feel these on the lips (most of the time). They don't feel drying to me, are very lightweight and last well on the lips (like all such matte formulas do). Shade range is a bit meh to me, especially compared to the awesome Suede Ink, but I find myself reaching for Poster Child and Manifest most.



BALEA Niacinamide AHA Peeling
I got this a long time ago, just planning to try it out of curiosity and then pass it on to a family member with problematic skin. And yet, I'd almost at the end of the bottle. I use it when I have a breakout because it has a combination of (weak) AHAs and niacinamide (5% of the latter with a 6 % of combination of glycolic and mandelic acid). I don't do what the instructions say and wash it off, I use it as the first step after cleansing. If I use it regularly, I don't see results from it in terms of brighter, smoother skin, but when I have spots, this helps to heal them faster.


JOICO K-Pak Liquid Reconstructor
I've been using this for years and never saw an immediate difference in the condition of the hair, but my hair did get more prone to snapping/breaking when I didn't use it for a while, so I kept on using as type of ends maintainer until I switched to Redken's Acidic Bonding Leave in (which also does nothing visible apart from maybe also fight off potential damage). But I started using this again this month, really saturating the damaged, bleached part of my hair and it helps so much to make it look better. It's not like the combination of K-Pak Reconstructor and Hydrator, but my ends feel a lot less stiff with it.

L'OREAL Paris Elseve Glycolic Gloss Leave-in Serum
I found the whole collection here and bought this after I saw it's a proper serum, not a water based leave-in. I already like the 5-Minute Shine Treatment and this was next on my list. It has shimmer in it, which is what I wanted. Plenty of shine sprays and silicone-oil serums make the hair shiny, but on my dry hair, the shine is gone quickly, since it absorbs so much. This adds a nice amount of glossy shine, plus it's a type of serum that can be used anytime, so on dry or damp hair.


SABRINA CARPENTER Sweet Tooth eau de parfum and Body Mist
This was bound to end up here, even though it's to me a winter/autumn scent. It reminds me of one of my favourite fragrances that was discontinued a long time ago, L'Occitane's Vanilla that combined vanilla with orchid. This has top notes of Chocolate Marshmallow, Candied Ginger and Sparkling Bergamot; middle notes are Madagascar Vanilla, Coconut Milk and Jasmine Petals; base notes are Chantilly Cream, Sugared Musks and Cashmere Wood. There's a lot of sugar in it, but there's also something that makes it smell a bit almost soapy and the candied ginger that gives it a bit of a spicy kick. There's lots of vanilla & marshmallow, I don't get much chocolate or coconut, but there is some noticeable jasmine that adds a floral aspect to it. If it weren't packaged in a pink chocolate bar, it may just pass as something a bit more mature, but as such it's destined to be a teen fragrance, though to me the woods and ginger add some depth to it.


SUBRINA Colour Refresh Mask
Chocolate
Three new shades were added to the range, among them Chocolate. It's actually replacing shade Warm Brown and now that I've tried both I can say they are very similar reddish browns. I've tried most shades as you might know (Magenta, Red, Violet (on medium blonde hair), Violet again (on light blonde hair), Rex mixed with Warm Brown, Magenta as a pastel, Orange mixed with Red and Warm Brown and Orange on its own). These are tinted hair masks for either refreshing faded hair colour or creating a temporary new look. They eventually wash off. I still have about a third length bleached blonde hair, which I've been "hiding" with various tinted masks to avoid using a permanent colour over it. This shade isn't the best match for my naturally darker, much cooler hair colour, instead it's like a warmer, light brown ombre. If you're using dark blonde or light brown warm shades, this is a good match for refreshing the colour, as it's the lightest brown tinted mask I've tried (Wella Chocolate Touch, Moroccanoil Cocoa and especially Schwarzkopf Chocolate Brown are darker).

WISHLIST and WHAT'S NEW


ESSENCE Correct & Conceal Under Eye Brightening Concealer Light - In my review of the brightening under eye stick I expressed my wish for a liquid version, as the stick is not natural looking under my eyes and it looks like this is it: a pale pink under eye brightener. I hope it's the same shade as the stick and not darker like other such products.

ESSENCE 16h Cover & Last Powder Foundation 10 - depending on how much coverage this has, it could be interesting. Something similar like my Gosh Mineral foundation, but in a compact form.

ESSENCE Flawless Skin Trio Loose Setting Powder - this contains three different loose powders: a pink and peach one for under eye brightening, and a lilac one for correcting yellow undertones. Sounds a bit like Guerlain Meteorites powder without the green.

ESSENCE Matte Liquid Eyeshadow 01 Bare Bliss - this pinky-mauve colour appeals to me, as they had a similar powder shades in one of the palettes and it suited me. Hopefully the creamy texture is smooth and not overly see-through when blended out.

CATRICE Invisible Cover Foundation 002N - a new foundation that promises medium coverage and a natural matte finish. Since they discontinued their Nude Illusion foundation, I haven't had much luck with Catrice foundations, but it's worth a try, especially since their 002N shade works for me.

CATRICE Blush Affair Cream and Powder 010 Stunning Strawberry - they discontinued their blush-highlighter duo palettes and they are launching the creamy-powder blush versions. There are four and this one is the classic peachy pink that appeal to me the most, but only if in RL it's as pink as the pictures show, not overly peachy.

CATRICE Loose Powder Bright & Blur 010 Soft Pink - the name says it all. It promises a soft matte finish with a balance of warm and cool tones.

CATRICE The Protector Hydrate & SPF Primer - I'm interested in this purely for the SPF 30. It just promises hydration, none of the blurring or mattifying.

CATRICE Caffeine Kick Under Eye Serum - this has three mini metal balls as the applicator. Ingredients are nice: ferments, caffeine, niacinamide, avocado oil, apricot oil, squalane and hyaluronic acid.

CATRICE Creamy Nudes Lip Pen 040 Cinnamon Spice

ALVERDE Naturkosmetik Sensitiv Reinigungsoel Bio Kamille Bio Traubenkernoel - an new inexpensive cleansing oil. I don't like the Balea nor CV (Müller) one. Maybe this one is better.

BALEA Toner Beauty Expert Calming - yet another new Beauty Expert product. This one has 2.5% aminoacids (arganine) and 0.3% ceramides. But those two are in so many other products, why don't they just make something that has a lot of things, like K Beauty stuff?

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1 comments

  1. Thank you for all the work you put into this blog and the swatches! I don't read a lot of beauty blogs anymore, because many have disappeared over the years, but yours is a staple for me.

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