Radiant Lift is Max Factor's latest foundation that promises a radiant finish and all day hydration. I was sent two of the darkest shades we have in our drugstores, which I couldn't test, but since there was some interest expressed on my Instagram about how I like this formula, I went to the drugstore and got myself a sample of shade 45, the lightest available here. The latter is again much too dark for me, but I can at least lighten it with The Body Shop Drops - something I couldn't do with the other two shades. It's worth mentioning that this exists in 18 shades, but I guess our market (and surprisingly German too I hear) isn't worthy of the lightest shades. Rant aside I like this formula and if a pale enough shade exists and it didn't break me out, I'd definitely be adding this to my collection.

Texture: Formula is creamy and not very liquid, but I had no issues blending this and it works with all methods. It’s one of the nicest foundations on the skin I’ve tried so far, it reminds me of Milani’s Conceal + Perfect in how well it looks and wears. It doesn’t slip into lines or pores and doesn’t go cakey. Unfortunately it appears this formula breaks me out, which is a shame, but obviously, this a problem specific to my skin and don't think the same will happen to most of you.

Coverage and finish: Coverage is a good medium. It covers enough for me, but some extra concealer is needed on dark circles and spots as is usual for most such foundations. Finish is somewhat satin, but it does have this non-dewy/wet glow that isn’t sparkly or super strong despite the gold shimmer in the formula.

Shade: I have three shades to compare, on the pictures I'm wearing 45 Warm Almond mixed with TBS Adjusting Drops. 45 is a light-medium shade with quite an orange tone to it, which is especially apparent when you compare it to Catrice's HD Liquid Foundation 010. 75 Golden Honey is quite a deep medium shade with a strong yellow tone and 79 Honey Beige is even darker with a much more neutral undertone. Shade selection in Slovenia is absolutely terrible with only 5 medium toned colours and as I said 18 in total exist shades. Why they didn't include something lighter, I don't know and don’t really care, as by now there’s enough good competition that I can simply buy a foundation from another brand (like Milani's Conceal + Perfect which is cheaper and comes in a perfect shade for me). 

Staying Power: This is another one of those foundations that fades nicely on the skin. I haven't noticed any patchiness or dryness (my skin is normal-dry at the moment). The promise is for all day hydration which I think stands, since my skin didn't get drier with this, while in terms of how well it stays on the skin, on me it's quite good, at least 8h+.

Scent: This is one of the most fragranced foundations which can be a problem for some. It's got a strong orange medicine scent.

Packaging: I'm a fan of the packaging. It's a nice glass bottle with a pump which works as it should. Overall it's a pretty looking foundation.

Price and availability: These are available in most drugstores. The price in Slovenia is 15.39 € (Müller).

This is worth checking out if you're looking for a nice drugstore foundation, but be aware that the shade range is poor here. It's a good medium coverage foundation with a natural finish and a formula that's doesn't emphasise pores or lines. Such s shame it breaks me out and about the shade range.

Have a great day!

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These lipsticks have existed for a while, at least a formula with this name, but a different packaging and mostly different shades. This current version exists in 24 shades, which Oriflame arranged based on their suitability for cool, warm and neutral skin tone in their catalogue. I was offered a set of these based on my undertone and since I'm neutral I got these five out of seven they grouped together (if you don't know your undertone, I have a guide type of post here). Lipstick is described as a 5-in-1 with intense pigmentation, a creamy finish, moisturising, nourishing and long-lasting formula.

Formula: All have an intense pigmentation, but in all the rest categories they differ so much that I could describe them as different formulas. All are thick, overall much thicker than the average lipstick formula, however, like I said they are not all the same. When I used them for the first time, I struggled to drag them on the lips, but once the top layer was gone, they got smoother. Still Sunset Show remains very thick, while Coral Ideal, Cranberry Blush and Pink Flair are still thicker than average, but they glide on the lips much easier. Trendy Cocoa is a whole different story and it's by far the creamiest and easy to apply. Finishes of four shades are semi-matte, while Trendy Cocoa has the classic shiny creamy one. I feel saver with the other four because they smudge much less and stay in place. 

Shades: My five shades they picked for a neutral undertone are not entirely what I'd pick based on how well I know what suits me, but to be fair considering my skin tone is neutral, most shades in general don't clash with me often, so what I think suits me is more based on my preferences. 

Pink Flair

Cranberry Blush

Cranberry Blush is a medium muted berry shade that unlike most similar shades doesn't lean to cool tones and it's another is another fantastic shade for a neutral undertone. I have nothing similar in my collection that I could compare it to.

 Coral Ideal

Coral Ideal is a medium orange coral, but a less punchy orange I've seen in most ranges. It's a typical shade for a warm undertone and I'm not a fan of orange shades on me. 

Sunset Show

Sunset Show is a vibrant warm red. Personally I prefer more classic, mostly cool toned reds, but this one is excellent for warm skin tones.

Trendy Cocoa

Trendy Cocoa is a deep neutral-warm brown. I think it would it would fit deep neutral skin tones well, but the shade is not for me.

Staying power: Again differs so much for this range, Pink Flair is weakest and gone in a few hours, Cranberry, Coral and Cocoa last averagely well, maybe 5-6 hours, but the stand out shade is Sunset Show. The latter has an insane staying power for a classic lipstick. It survives eating intact and I got 9h with it before I took it off, at that point it was evenly faded and still vibrant.

Scent: These have a vanilla sweet scent.

Packaging: These come in a plastic tube and a metal insert. Though they work perfectly fine, they feel a bit cheap.

Price and availability: Regular price is 11.90 €, but as is usual from Oriflame these should be on offer often.

Though these are nice lipsticks, what struck me first is just how different they all are. The main thing about these in inconsistency when it comes to thickness of the formula, the finish and staying power, however, they all share intense pigmentation. The stand out shade in terms of quality is Sunset show which has an amazing staying power. The rest are fairly average, but on the good side of average, with a notable exception of Pink Flair whose staying power I find disappointing, yet it's still the shade I wear the most. All are thicker than average creamy lipsticks and don't have that classic slightly shiny finish and a moisturising feeling on the lips, but that actually suits me a lot more and it was the thing that made me like these. They stick much better in place than regular creamy formulas and they smudge less too. The overall selection of shades for a neutral skin tone could be better in my opinion, but you don't have to stick to these shades of course. Shade Pink Flair and Cranberry Blush are the stands out that I think they just nailed for neutral skin tone.

Have a great day!

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I'm kind of over the Colourpop craze and these were the last products that I wanted to try. I love their Matte X lippie stix formula, while the rest I've tried excluding these eyeshadows and highlighter is more average in terms of quality, but I like their products nonetheless, especially due to affordable prices. In all honestly shipping and customs fees make me not want to explore this brand as much as I might want to or at least as much as wanted to in the past. If they were smart enough they'd set up a warehouse in Europe long ago or at least allow their products being sold in one of the Europe based online shops, but since they are still only based in the US, I've only done a couple of orders so far. 

Super Shock Shadows 

Formula: These eyeshadows are seriously hyped-up in the beauty community, unfortunately they did not turn out as pigmented as I hoped, but one thing that I noticed about these is that it took about a week to get to the really pigmented layer. I don't know why such creamy formula would be so inconsistent, but these did not impress me with the first few uses. Pigmentation differs from shade to shade, but formulas are all very soft and creamy, similar to play-doh, so they get a dent when you swatch them with fingers and it's almost impossible to pick them up with a brush. The matte shade is less creamy than the ultra glitters, regardless I'm still having trouble picking it up with a brush. I apply these with fingers and blend the edges with a fluffy brush.

 So Quiche (Ultra-glitter)

This is one of my most unique shades. It's a taupe mixed with green-gold and as a complete juxtaposition it has violet shimmer which I'm still deciding if it really works here (gold would be better). The shimmer is difficult to pick up with a camera, but it's very obvious on the eyes and it's quite large shimmer particles. Pigmentation is medium and it needs to be build up, which is the main source of my disappointment, but I can get a fully opaque look with a few heavy layers. It's the shade I wear often because I love such colours, however, I'd prefer if it didn't have glitter.

Nillionare (Ultra-glitter)

This was disappointing from the start because it swatched sheer on my eyes with large shimmer particles, but on day 7 after stating using this, it became the most pigmented out of the three. It's a classic bronze shade with large shimmer particles (larger than in So Quiche), so this is more of a shade for special occasions than an every day colour. 

Hanky Panky (Matte)

Hanky Panky is a matte warm light-medium brown. I expected this to look a cool brown that I could use in the crease, unfortunately it's too peachy brown for my colouring. The formula is very smooth, but with the weakest pigmentation out of the three. I don't use this one at all because it's too warm. I tried to find a cool taupe shade in Colourpops range, however, a majority of their neutral colours are warm which is not to my taste. 

Staying power of these is great even without a base. Formula is overall very similar to Essence's Melted Chrome, yet these outlast them by a mile. When I swatched these on the hand, I could not wipe off all the colour which is impressive. On the eyes they stay vibrant for hours and don't fade quickly. On my non-oily eyelids they don't crease so 8h later they would still look very decent if the weren't for the ton of glitter than collects under my eyes. 

The packaging is bulky for the amount stored inside and I'm not loving the screw off lids. Due to a very creamy formula you hit the pan very fast. I was using Nillionare for about two weeks when I hit bottom which hasn't happened to me with any eyeshadow so far, but I use so Quiche a lot more and I haven't hit the pan, so I don't know what that's about. 

COLOURPOP Super Shock Cheek

Flexiterian

For years I haven't been a lip gloss girl, but since I got Max Factor's Honey Lacquer, that's changed and now I got to try their classic Colour Elixir formula, which impressed me again. Max Factor has always done impressive lip gloss formulas, as many years ago I loved their Silk Gloss formula and this one is very similar.

Texture: Max Factor has some of the best lip gloss formulas in my opinion. It's never too thick or too thin and they have a similar cushiony, super comfortable formula that's similar to Catrice Dewy-full and Clarins Lip Perfector, so it's like a lip gloss and lip balm hybrid. Honey Lacquers are a bit more thick than this and have more pigmentation, while this one has a more sheer finish.

Colour: 25 Enchanting Coral is a cute pinky-peachy shade that just brightens up the face, especially when worn in combination with a pink or peachy blush.

Staying power: It's a regular gloss, meaning it doesn't last long and it doesn't survive eating or drinking. Honey Lacquer is bit better choice if you want a longer staying power, but it's again just a gloss. 

Scent: They still have that lovely vanilla scent they had in their Silk glosses.

Packaging: A regular slim, square tube with a doe foot applicator that's nothing special and works fine.

Price and availability: It's available in drugstores and I think the price is about 10 €. I bought my Honey Lacquer online for half the price and I think you can get this one much cheaper too.

This became one of my most worn lip products since I got it. Because of the comfortable formula I wear it instead of a lip balm and this shade is great too. The only bad side is poor staying power, but it's standard for a lip gloss. 

Have a great day!

*PR product