I wanted these for the longest time, not just because they are pretty, but because Zoeva brushes have such a high rating everywhere and are often cited as some of the best brushes around. They are very expensive, though. Some might disagree with me, but 75 € for a set of brushes is an unreasonable price as far as I'm concerned. However, since most of my brushes are budget versions and a lot are not the best shape for my eyes, not to mention very old, I decided to take the plunge and invest in these. I'm very happy I got these and some of the brushes became an instant favourite, however, there are a few that aren't as good or the best shape for me. They started selling these individually, so I could have got them cheaper if I just got the brushes I now know are indispensable to me. There are twelve brushes in the set, the blending ones are simply outstanding and you basically have every brush you could wish for an eye makeup application, but I would switch some with my old ones. Included is also a rose gold bag that's well-made and soft.

Rose Gold is the centre of attention here, or the coppery shade of gold that the ferules are made of. The base of the brushes is a pale peachy colour and all the brushes have these two minor details that make them even more special - an oriental pattern engraving on the metal part and the name of the collection on the end of the brush. Every brush has a name printed on them, unfortunately placed exactly where you hold them, so they are bound to wipe off, just like off Mac's brushes.

You'll find everything you need for simple as well as more intricate eye makeups, but a big emphasis was made in the blending department and that is something I really appreciate. These are a mix of natural and  synthetic taklon hair (142 Concealer Buffer, 235 Contour Shader, 310 Spot Liner and 322 Brow Line).

By the way, the makeup bellow was created using I <3 Makeup Naked Chocolate palette, shades Dipped and Wonka.

142 Concealer Buffer

A large, dense, rounded brush that works great for blending concealer both under the eyes and on spots. Though it's dense, it's still soft enough not to merely shift the product, but actually buffing it into the skin. It's not unique as I found a dupe among my cheap Jessup brushes. Individual price 10.50 €

Jessup brush from the 5pc set and 142 Concealer Buffer. In my eyes, these are dupes. The material feels the same, they are equally dense and same in size as well as shape. You can get almost 10 of Jessup brushes for the price of one this one.

221 Luxe Soft Crease

A fluffy, relatively narrow blending brush. The bristles are longer than at 227 and it's overall wider because it's not flattened like that one. It does an excellent job at blending, even on my small eyes. None of my brushes are dupes for it, some are similar, but bigger. I have a picture with a comparisons with my other blending brushes bellow. Individual price 9.50 €.

227 Luxe Soft Definer

A flat, fluffy blending brush. This is the one brush that is closest to Mac's 217. It's a bit less rounded at the top, but the size and fluffiness is about the same, though since my 217 is over six years old, it's hard to compare. Really love this one. Individual price 9.50 €.

228 Luxe Crease

A large, fluffy tapped blush. This is basically just a bigger version of the 231 Luxe Petite Crease brush, but it's a lot fluffier than that one. I really love this one for of this one for blending and softening colour. I have nothing similar among my other brushes. Individual price 9.50 €.

221 Luxe Soft Crease, 227 Luxe Soft Definer, 228 Luxe Crease and 231 Luxe Petite Crease.

230 Luxe Pencil

A simple pencil brush, so a stiff, small brush meant for applying and blending colour under the lower lash line and in the inner corner. Mac 219 is a perfect dupe for it and I see zero differences between the two. Individual price 9.50 €.

Essence Precision Brush (TE), Zoeva 230 Luxe Pencil and MAC 219. The last two are complete dupes.

231 Luxe Petite Crease

A medium, tapered, semi-fluffy brush. My word has changed with the discovery of this brush, it is outstanding. I've been using Coastal Scents Italian Round Crease brush for the job, but this is a gazillion times better. The tip picks up the colour, while the rest blends. It's available individually and I highly recommend you get one of these. I have nothing like it among my old brushes. Individual price 9.50 €.

Nanshy Tapered Crease, Nanshy Eye Crease, Zoeva 231 Luxe Petite Crease, Makeup Revolution Ultra Metallic Crease, Coastal Scents Italian blending brush, Ebeline Blender Pinsel, Zoeva 228 Luxe Crease, MAC 217, Zoeva 227 Luxe Soft Definer, Nashy Blending eyeshadow, eBay metallic crease brush and 221 Luxe soft crease.

232 Luxe Classic Shader

A flat, stiff shader blush. While it does the job well of packing on the colour, I'm not completely pleased with this one. It's quite big for the job and I much prefer the good old classic Mac's 239 because my eyes are small. I think 234 Luxe Smoky Shader would have probably been a much better choice for the set. Individual price of both is 9.50 €.

MAC 239, Zoeva 23 Luxe Classic Shader brush and Essence eyeshadow brush.

235 Contour Shader

A diagonally cut flat, stiff brush. This is another brush that rocked my word - it is so perfect. It's excellent for applying a dark shade in the outer V and can also be used in the crease. For years I've been using Ecotools eyeliner brush, which is way too stiff for the job and I had no idea such a brush even existed. Another brush I highly recommend. Individual price 9.50 €.

238 Luxe Precise Shader

A precise, flat, stiff shader brush. Its only use that I can think of it for the inner corner. I wouldn't miss it, since I use 230 Luxe Pencil for that. Individual price 9.50 €.

310 Spot Liner

A tiny, stiff, square cute brush. Not a fan of this one because it made my gel eyeliner look patchy (not the one of the picture, that's Stila Stay all Day). It's just too small for the job in my opinion, but I'm sure I'll find use for it. Individual price 8.50 €.

322 Brow Line

A diagonally cut, flat, stiff brush. I don't do brows, so I use it instead for defining my lower lash line. It doesn't pick up much colour that's my main complaint and I prefer my other such brushes. I tried it on the brows once and again I felt like it isn't applying enough colour. Individual price 8.50 €.

eBay metallic liner brush, Nanshy Angled Detailer Brush, Essence Liner brush (old), Zoeva 322 Brow Line, Ecotools Angled Eyeliner brush, Costal Scent Black on Black Taklon Angle Liner brush.

325 Luxe Brow Light

A large, flat, stiff shader brush. I don't see much purpose in this one, since I don't have enough space under my brows, but it's meant to apply highlighter under the brows. The only similar brush I own is Nanshy Large Shader brush, which I also don't use, but Zoeva's is even wider, slightly shorter and thinner. Individual price 9.50 €.

325 Luxe Brow Light and Nanshy Large Shader Brush.

The bag is soft and well-made, a love that so much attention was given to the details - the satin-like lining with an inscription and the metal zipper with an oriental design. Such a lovely bag.

I got these for the eye-watering price 75 € + shipping which wasn't cheap either. I ordered from the official website and it arrived really fast, I believe it was three days, but it is from Germany, so not that far. These are also sold on Beauty Bay, but for some reason they don't ship these in Slovenia (because god forbid we'd get free shipping with these). They are also sold in Austrian Douglas shop, I'm just no sure it's sets as well because I hear they don't have palettes. I also hear that Zoeva keeps raising their prices which is very unjust to their customers and it almost made me not order from them.

Do I think this is the perfect set? No. But, it's close. The blending brushes are outstanding and that 235 Contour Shader  as well as 231 Luxe Petite Crease deserve all the praise, but I prefer Mac's 239 for a classic shader brush to Zoeva's 232 Luxe Classic Shader, my Alverde bent eyeliner brush to 310 Spot Eyeliner and my other cut eyeliner brushes to 322 Brow Line. I would build a different set from all the brushes they have available and though you could do that by buying brushes individually, it would exceed the price of the set by a large margin. I've found two dupes: Zoeva's 230 Luxe Pencil and MAC's 219 as well as Jessup's brush from the 5pc set and Zoeva's 142 Concealer Buffer. Some brushes I know I won't use much, but there are some that are absolutely fantastic and have already become my all-time favourites. If you plan to buy any of the individually, I highly recommend 231 Luxe Petite Crease brush, 228 Luxe Crease, 235 Contour Shader and 227 Luxe Soft Definer.

Have a great day!

ZOEVA Rose Golden Complete Eye Set Vol. 2

I finally have these! My wallet is still crying, but I've reached a point when most of my trusted brushes are too scratchy, so I thought it's high time I invest into a good quality set of brushes. The fact that they are pretty and that everyone who got this set raves about it, contributed to my purchase of course. There are twelve brushes in the set, very few of these are actually brush shapes I own from before, but I found one dupe. I'll have all the comparison pictures with my other brushes in the review. I am completely, utterly besotted with two brushes - Luxe Petit Crease and Contour Shader (also available individually). Both made me realize that I've been using the wrong brushes since forever. All of the blending brushes are outstanding and I love there are so many, but on the other hand I'm slightly disappointed with the Classic Shader brush because it's much bigger and thinner than Mac's 239, which is perfect in my eyes. There are also a few brushes that I'm not sure I'll get to use a lot, but on a whole I'm very pleased with these and the bag is super pretty too.

Zoeva, 75 € + shipping.

MILANI Color Statement Moisture Matte Lipstick

Flirty

I wanted this shade so much ever since new colours were released (I still want Love). I own Darling from before, it's the shade I got as a part of my blogging for an online shop and I fell in love with the formula, so I wanted to get my hands on more of these. Flirty looked most like my type of shade, which is anything that looks like Mac's D for Danger and Milani's Amore in Gorgeous. It is indeed such a shade, even though in the tube it looks very dark, pretty much vampy, but on the lips it's lighter. The formula is slightly different than at Darling. It's a bit more "moisturising creamy", instead of "silicone creamy" and it's less matte, but still very similar and it has the same vanilla scent. These are definitely my favourite classic lipsticks so far.

Beauty Joint, 5.99 $, also on Click2Chic.

MILANI Powder Blush

Blossomtime Rose

I probably sounded like a broken record when I talked about these in my wishlists. Shade Romantic Rose is my all-time favourite shade and I really wanted to get my hands on more of these, not just because of the gorgeous design, but also because I love the quality. Blossomtime Rose is a limited edition shade, I don't know how long it will be available, but I believe it's been almost a year and I hope they keep them because unlike the original ones, these have some shimmer in them. Blossomtime Rose is a peachy pink blush with a proper golden highlight glow and it's in the same colour family as the cult favourite Nars Orgasm. I swatched them side by side and Blossomtime is more coral-golden, but not as much as Coralista. I need Awakening Rose next.

Beauty Joint, 9.99 $, also on Click2Chic.

*I HEART MAKEUP Naked Chocolate Palette

Again something to finally cross from my wishlist, this really was a month of getting products I actually really wanted for a while. Regular readers might remember I put this in a couple of wishlist posts and a lot of you encouraged me to get it because you love the quality. Ličila.si saw that I really covet it and surprised me with it out of the blue. There was some happy jumping involved. Considering it's kind of trying to rip off Too Faced Chocolate Bar palettes, the shade range is actually very different from the original one I own, in fact there are almost no dupe shades in it. There are 16 colours in this palette, mostly chocolate inspired and very warm, but there are also two taupes and a more golden shade. Some shades are very similar on the eyelids, but I'm not bothered by that much - having a double or triple amount of a shade I like, really isn't a bad thing. I like all the shades in the palette, all are very wearable, but when it comes to quality, there is a gap between high-end eyeshadows and this budget palette. The colours do build up without any sort of base, but staying power is not as good as other palettes, also the texture is drier, not as creamy. With a cream eyeshadow as a base, these work brilliantly and last all day. Pretty happy with it considering it's a budget palette.

Ličila.si, 10.95 €

Za brezplačno poštnino pri nakupu nad 10 € do konca maja uporabi kodo POMLADNA-POSTNINA

*FREEDOM MAKEUP ProStudio Strobe Cream

This is a new product to me, as I sort of missed the new strobing products that have been launched recently. I'm a big fan of natural looking, cream highlighters and this one is definitely something special. It's weak compared to L'Oreal's Magic Lumi primer, but I mean that in a good way. It's a "healthy glow" faker. It behaves like a rich moisturiser at application, but then is set in record time, so you don't have a ton of time to work with it and the effect is a subtle, glowy healthy skin finish with no visible shimmer particles. Naturally, I love it. You can apply it before foundation, after or mix it with the foundation, I prefer to apply it after for best effect. 

However, I gave to my friend to try and she was really disappointed in it. Granted, I don't think she actually got the idea of the product and I personally wouldn't want a ton of shimmer in a product that is meant to be applied on larger areas of the face, but she say she noticed absolutely no difference when she used it. It's all a matter of preferences, so if you like more glow, they have another product called Ultra Strobe Cream.

Ličila.si, 11.95 €

*MAKEUP REVOLUTION  Ultra Metals Pointed Crease Eyeshadow E301

I got this a couple of weeks before Zoeva brushes, so I had plenty of time to test it on its own before I became completely besotted with that set. I had my eye on these ever since they launched, as rose gold is a big trend at the moment, but as you may remember I got a cheaper set of such brushes. This is the type of brush I use the most for my eye makeup (or at least I did). It's a small domed shape brush, this one is synthetic and soft, but despite being slightly more smooth "plastic" feeling, it picks up the colour well. It blends great like most brushes from such material of bristles. The design is very high-end looking, but for that price I expect nothing less. I like it, but it is expensive, still pretty much all similar brushes I bought so far did not feel as comfortable as this one, Essence ones for example are much denser and harsh.

Makeup Revolution Crease brush compared to Nanshy Eye Crease Brush, Essence Smokey Eye and Coastal Scents Italian Round Crease Brush.

 Ličila.si, 9.99 €

ESSIE Apricot Cuticle Oil

I had this on my wishlist for years, but since it's quite expensive I only got it recently, when I decided to finally clear out my wishlist. It's an apricot oil that comes in a regular nail polish bottle and it's very easy to apply on the cuticles with the brush. It does smell like apricots - well it's more of an apricot-peachy scent, but not in a candy way and not plastic, it's just a nice scent and it makes me want to use it more, even though there's the whole greasy fingers tips problem later. So far I can't say it's fixed my cuticles much. I still get some hangnails and they feel harsh, but maybe with longer use things will improve.

Ingredients.

DM, 10.99 €

ESTEE LAUDER Advanced Night Repair Synchronised Recovery Complex II

Told you've been clearing my wishlist. I had this about four or five years ago and I adored it because it's a skin care product that you can rely on. It's super expensive, so I have been delaying repurchasing it for a really long time and stuck only to my other favourite Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse, but recently was sent to test some skin care products and despite my general disagreement with testing skin care, I used those products. Guess what, it messed up my skin so bad that I immediately ordered what is now the most expensive product I own. Advance Night Repair is a cult favourite serum that manages to fix the skin quite fast. It helps the blemishes to heal faster, the skin becomes more hydrated and healthy looking - it's just a general all-rounder, an addition to the skin care routine that's reliable. The packaging comes with a pipette that dispenses the desired amount and the serum itself is light, like most such products and it sinks in fast. It has a pharmacy scent that some people don't like, but I've grown to love.

Ingredients.

Look Fantastic, 60 € (price in Müller 83 €)

ESSENCE I <3 Extremes Waterproof Mascara

I recently raved about this mascara again, but it deserves all the praise, as this is my favourite budget mascara. Since mine dried up, I immediately went to repurchase it. It's super volumising, lengthening, doesn't smudge, flake, the brush isn't as clumsy, it's cheap and it keeps the eyelashes curled all day. Love this stuff.

DM, 2.99 €

BALEA Clear-up Strips

Originally I was going to repurchase the Balea Young version, which are so far the only ones I actually liked, but then I saw in Simona's haul that these are supposedly the best ones she found, so I'm giving these ones a try instead. Something is really perplexing at these patches. As you can see on the box, it's clearly pictured there are supposed to be three versions of patches: for the nose, forehead and chin, however, there is no description on the actual individual packs what's inside and both I opened had a nose strip. I'm miffed about that since I bought them precisely because I wanted all three types of patches and Balea Young has them individually. There are six patches inside, which if I remember correctly is twice as much as in Balea Young, but the price difference is only a euro. I do not find these are effective as Balea Young. They do pull out the blackheads, but not as many. So far I've only used them once (I cut one into two parts for the chin and forehead) and I didn't feel the strips properly dried (I was in a steamy bathroom), so that could be the reason why the didn't work as well.

DM, 2.99 €

*JORDANA Made to Last Liquid Eyeshadow

04 Uphold Gold

This is a very liquid eyeshadow that comes in a doe foot design tube. There is a lot of product on the applicator and I wish that the stopper would a be bit smaller because without wiping the product off, you can't apply this directly to the lids or use the applicator to semi-blend it. I tend to apply a dot of the product on the lids and spread it with fingers. First layer is a bit sheer, but very, very shimmery - these are by far the most shimmery eyeshadows I own. You should wait a bit before applying the second layer and then you get a properly metallic finish, but the shimmer is still the main focus and it looks very glamorous, so I wouldn't wear these for every day. Once it sets, it doesn't budge and it lasts pretty much all day on my normal lids, though the colour can start gathering around the big shimmer particles, but it's still very decent. My shade 04 Uphold Gold is a coppery gold brown, a very warm shade with a ton of gold shimmer and granted a shade I wouldn't pick myself, since these type of shades tend to look a bit orangey on me, but it'll be perfect on darker skin tones.

Review in Slovene with swatches and product shown on my face here.

Click2Chic, 5.81 €

*JORDANA Blush Powder

45 Apple Cheeks

I read about these when I was researching Jordana's products and these have a very high rating. I got one of the darkest shades and boy is it pigmented! I apply the tinniest amount on my cheek, taking a lot of the product off on the back of hand so I don't over apply and I get the cutest warm pink "Snow White" flush on the cheeks. It blends ok despite the strong pigmentation providing of course the base it's wet or tacky and it really gives me that very believable flush. Cute product.

Review in Slovene with swatches and product shown on my face here.

Click2Chic, 3.79 €

*JORDANA Sweet Matte Liquid Lip Colour

06 Cherry Cobbler

Yay, a new matte lip cream! This one is very deceiving because it looks a simple warm red in the tube, but on the lips it's a bright, hot red that demands attention. It's similar to Milani's in terms of finish and it takes mere second to set to a perfect matte look. After that is doesn't transfer one bit. It does feel like a layer, just like Milani's, so for some it will feel drying, but it's fine to me. It's slightly thicker than most lip creams I tried and it's also a touch sheer, which means that the first coat is an even pinker shade, while the second makes it redder and warmer. Staying power is amazing and you worry more about how you're going to take it off (though this happens at a lot of these types of pink).

Review in Slovene with swatches and product shown on my face here.

Click2Chic, 5.00 €

BALEA Rasier Gel

Coconut Kiss

I think this is quite new, at least I've seen it for the first time. Currently I have the grapefruit version, which has a nice, kind of bitter, refreshing scent. Coconut Kiss is slightly different than the rest. The gel is a clear "pee yellow" shade, but it transforms into the usual foam, yet I think it's slightly thinner than usually. The scent is a bit disappointing. It's a very fake coconut scent, a bit plastic and not sweet. Not my favourite edition to be honest.

DM, 1.99 €

AVON Bubble Bath

Juicy Mango

So many people rate Avon's bubble baths very highly and I always planned to getting one, but their ordering system irks me. I scored this bottle of Salma in a scent that I assumed will me most to my taste, since I love tropical fragrances. The scent is more on the boring side because it's a soapy mango instead of a juicy or candy mango, plus once it's in the bath, it's not really noticeable. Reviews promised mountains of bubbles, but I poured a quarter of a bottle and the effects were kind of underwhelming. There were bubbles, maybe about 10 cm thick cover of them, but that's not a mountain of bubbles. In fact, those Lidl/Hoffer baths produce more of them. I expected more considering the raves.

Salma, 2.90 €

SILISS Depilating wax with no strips

I kind of swore myself I'll won't buy these types of products because they aren't effective enough. I've only tried one so far from Nair that I also got in Leclerc and it's a complicated thing to use and as I said in that review it only removes half of the hair, but it's almost painless. It's a wax that doesn't require any strips, instead you warm it up in a microwave, apply it on the skin, it hardens in seconds and you pull it off, which is so satisfying because it's like those nose strips. Ridiculous I know. This one again only did half of the job and it had a really strong, plastic scent. I used up 3/4 of the pot for both shins and I still had to finish the job with the epilator. Too expensive considering the results. This is a brand I've only seen in Leclerc and for some reason the only useful instructions were in French. Luckily I understood enough, but still, this is EU, there should be ones in Slovene.

E.Leclerc, 6.70 €

*James Bond 007 for Women Body Lotion (Eon Productions)

A few weeks ago, I got one of the strangest parcels so far. It contained a proper cocktail shaker with the recipe for Bond's martini in the back of the box, but what important for this post is what was inside the shaker - a mini body lotion that was launched alongside the new James Bond fragrance. I tried the fragrance in the shop before I got this and it was the gorgeous bottle that got me. I liked it, but not enough to want to buy it, though that bottle could sway me to purchase if there was a nice discount. It's what I consider a sexy scent - fruity, sweet, but deeper, peppery, vanillary and more of a night time fragrance. The only similar scent I know of is Cacharel Amor Amor which is a similar mix of berries and vanilla. The body lotion is light and has a very intense scent, so can easily be a replacement for a fragrance and it will prolong the scent of the proper fragrance when layered over it.

Notes of the fragrance:

Top: pink pepper, pink freesia, raspberry and pink champagne.

Heart: blackberry, gardenia, pink oleander and black baccarat rose

Base: musk, vanilla, cedar, sandalwood and leather.

*NAOMI CAMPBELL Bohemian Garden

Sample

Generic, fancy shampoo or shower gel scent, mostly due to the jasmine note, so best words to describe it are floral, creamy and woody. It smells old school and it's more of a scent you might encounter on someone older. Likeable in a very classic way, but nothing exciting or innovative.

Notes:

Top: lemon, green pear and peach blossom

Heart: jasmine, lily of the valley, cotton flower, orange blossom and elegant rose

Base: musk, vanilla, green moss, sandalwood and cedar

*Silver Arrow Necklace from Happiness Boutique

This is the necklace in the picture with the Jordana liquid lipstick above. I usually don't accept PR products that aren't beauty related and I didn't agree to making a post about it, merely to very loose terms because I hate this kind of "advertisement" that I'm doing now, but when they first send the necklace it got lost and they really made sure I still got it by sending me another, so due to that great customer service, I felt it deserves a proper place here. I choose quite a simple, more dainty piece for a statement necklace, as I've been wanting an arrow necklace for quite some time, though two more pieces still haunt me why I didn't pick them, 1 & 2 because they look awesome. The arrow necklace is a bit long for my neck and it ends lower than on my picture, but I'm very petite.

Happiness Boutique, 14.90 €

Have a great day!