China Glaze Ruby Pumps

If I would have to choose just one nail polish that perfectly describes Christmas and Christmas holidays, I would say Ruby Pumps by China Glaze.

 It is also the nail polish that I wear most frequently around Christmas and New Year. It has tiny red glitter in a red base. One coat leans more towards pink side, but with two coats it becomes the perfect sparky red.

 The application is ok, no problems with it whatsoever, here I applied it over the peel off base, because the removal can be a problem with all the glitter. I also put a top coat over for a shinier effect, without the top coat it becomes somehow dull.

 Just look at it, perfect Christmassy nail polish :)

 Have a great day and happy hollidays!

Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink in 50 Voyager

Here it is the new addition in my liquid lipstick collection. It is also the newest addition in the Maybelline range of liquid lipsticks, at least in Slovenia. This is what is says on their website:

Ink with Attitude. Maybelline introduces SuperStay Matte Ink, an intense ink colour concentration, ultra-chic matte finish and flawless, 12 hour wear. With a precise arrow applicator for a smooth matte, second-skin effect in just one stroke. Statement, inked lips that last.

I have the deep red shade with the name Voyager. On my lips is quite dark, I would prefer it to be just a little lighter. Because it' so dark you must be careful with the application, but it's true that the arrow applicator helps with the application. I struggle a little, but it's manageable and if you have a steady hand it can be also precise. 

When on the lips it became completely matte in a couple of minutes and the feel on the lips is not the most comfortable, you can feel the lipstick on the lips, it's like you have a filter over your lips, but at least it's not like you have glue on your lips. 

Now, the wear is really long-lasting, I had this liquid lipstick for New Year’s Eve and it lasted well. At the end of the night (with all the eating, drinking, partying) it looked decent. You could see that it was not perfect, but without any touch ups it looked well enough.

The removal on the other hand is a complete nightmare, if you don't have an oil based remover. The micellar water is not enough. It removes the lipstick from the lips, but then you look like a clown, red all over the mouth, so oil based remover is recommended and all the way a better choice.

Close up / swatch with flash / swatch without flash

To conclude I would say that is one of the best lasting liquid lipsticks in my collection, so it was a good choice to have it on New Year’s Eve. 

Have a great day!

Catrice ICONails Gel Lacquer in 07 Meet Me At Coral Island

Autumn is just around the corner, I can feel it in the air already for a while now, but at least on the calendar summer is still here, so today I have for you a very summery nail polish.

The ICONails are no longer a novelty in Catrice assortment, but this is my first ICONails nail polish. I admired them in the shop, but I just couldn't decide which colour should I pick. I just don't want any dupes in my collection. This one was a birthday gift, and I'm happy for that, as I believe I couldn't pick a colour. The colour I have is Meet Me At Coral Island.

This is what Catrice says: Lasts up to 7 days – without a top coat! The innovative nail polish formula ensures a perfect gel-shine finish and maximum durability on the nails. Thanks to the GLOSS SEAL’RTM technology, the nail polishes have a spectacular high-shine finish. The shock-shield complex offers a perfect balance of elasticity and stability for optimal resistance against chipping and a long durability of up to 7 days. The ICONails Gel Lacquers are enriched with acai oil, which provides pampering care for the natural nails in addition to intensive colour – Colour & Care at its best!

The square cap of the brush is removable, so you can hold it easily while applying it. The application is ok, the brush is quite big, but fortunately not too thick.

About the claim that it last up to 7 days. On me it last just about any other nail polish, so one, maximum two days, with this one I didn't see any difference. But it's ok, I'm used to short wear time, unfortunately.

All in all, it's a nice nail polish and I will definitely buy some other colours.

Have a great day!

Essence Glow & Care luminous nail polish in 06 berry caring

I have here a nail polish from the new Essence line. It came in the regular assortment with the latest product update. 

This new nail polish line is supposed to strengthen and protect the nails. It creates a soft glow with light shimmer effect and contains kukui oil.

I don't believe in effects of strengthening, I usually buy nail polishes because of the colour, but if this kukui oil actually works, then so much better.

The nail polish has a big brush, like all the essence nail polishes and I'm used to it, but somehow the application wasn't as smooth as I expected. I didn't have the control over the brush and I couldn’t make straight lines. But maybe it was just a bad day to colour my nails.

The colour is (oh, I'm so bad at describing colours) a violet with tiny pink shimmer. On the nails is fairly dark.

About the longevity I can't tell you much. It last one day on me without chipping, just like any other nail polish. 

Have a great day!

L.O.V nailpolish in 200 Beautiful Berry

There is a new makeup brand on the market and you can also find it in Slovenia. Cosnova launched a new brand, that is targeting a more mature consumer, so the packaging is more elegant and classic and the prices are in the range of Bourjois for example.

The packaging is indeed beautiful and the minute I saw the pictures of nail polishes I knew that if I would buy just one thing from the brand it would be a nail polish. The colour selection is classic, no crazy colours there, but nonetheless the choice wasn't easy, so I chose I colour that I don't have in my stash.

The colour is a dusty darker pink or vintage pink and on the nails is darker than what it looks like in the bottle. On the nails is indeed a berry (although light) shade. Just right for autumn.

The application is easy, the brush is perfect dor my nails and the cute lid is removable so the application is even easier. I have nothing bad to say about this nail polish really. Well there is the price, for 11 ml you pay 5,99 €, so not the cheapest, but that is to be expected due to the target consumer of the brand L.O.V.

Have a great day :)

Essence colour & care strengthening nail polish in the colour 04 Lean on me

Colour & care is supposed to be 2 in 1 nail polish, meaning that you get healthy looking nails & trendy colour. On the bottle it says that it strengthens and protects the nail surface from daily stress, contains natural ingredients. 

This line was made permanent with last Essence update. I don't mind what it says on the bottle, as I bought it because of the colour. But I have to say I find the bottle cute and I noticed that is has mixing balls inside, which never happened with Essence nail polishes before. 

The brush is really wide and flat so I had to be careful that it didn't go over my nails during the application. Other than that I haven't had any problems with it. Two coats were enough and when you get a hold on the brush the application is easy. 

I like the colour a lot. It's a pastel yellow shade. I was a bit worried that the colour would look almost white, but you can see that they are yellow. I think this shade is great for summer days, when the hands will be a little bit more tanned. 

As for the staying power I can't say much, with my nails I will be lucky if they last a whole day on me. 

Have a great day :)

Essence longlasting lipstick Velvet Matt 23 and swatches of other nudes in my collection

A couple of weeks ago I bought myself a lipstick from Essence, it was a new addition to their regular assortment. So I thought to myself why not show you the swatches of it and in the meantime compare it to other nude shades that I have in my collection.

The lipstick is from the longlasting line with the name Velvet Matt 23. It seems like Essence couldn't be bothered coming up with names anymore, because we have also a lipstick called Velvet Matt 24. If all the other lipsticks have also different names with numbers, why stop now? Number 23 is indeed matte, but if you have dry lips the lipstick will emphasise dry patches. The lipstick barely has any smell and this is good, because the smell of other longlasting essence lipstick is not plerasant, artificial smell of crayons, who likes that? On the swatches you will see that is most similar to the discontinued essence stay matt lip cream in the colour Velvet Rose.

1. Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick 180 Vintage Pink is the darkest of the lipsticks and even if the name suggests that is pink it has violet undertones. It's creamy and moisturising, but I'm not too fond of the smell, since it's again very artificial.

2. Essence lipliner 06 Satin Mauve is very similar to Rimmel one, but a little bit darker and matt. This was my first lipliner ever and I bought it long before the 90's trend. Then I was, oh, I got this one, I should use it more. You can clearly see the violet undertones when on my lips, but I like it (and can you actually believe that Essence didn’t discontinue this colour for this long, like 6 years or more?).

3. Catrice Ultimate Shine 190 Gentle nude is Back (but not anymore- discontinued, the whole range actually) is very creamy and it feels nice on the lips. The longevity is not the best since it's so creamy. And it’s definitely on the cooler side.

4. Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet 07 Nude-ist with the perfect name for this post, but it stands out the most. Even on my lips it doesn’t look nude, but it is a rose colour. I like the formula, it's the most longlasting and matt and the application is easy and it feels nice on the lips. It has a slight artificial smell but once on the lips you can't smell it anymore.

5. Essence longlasting lipstick 05 Cool Nude is similar to Catrice one but is not so cool, it's on the warmer side, even if the name says differently. It is creamy, but not like Catrice one and it is a little bit darker. The smell is horrible, the artificial smell, that some compare it to crayons.

6. Essence stay matt lip cream 01 Velvet Rose (discontinued) is on pinker side, like the name says it's matt, but the lip creams that are now in circulations have better formulas, which means that are more matte and really longlasting, and this one is not longlasting. But then again I think everyone was sad when Essence decided to discontinue this range. They could add more colours to the range, but no, let's discontinue them. The smell is really good. It smells like candy.

7. Essence lipliner 01 Soft Rose (discontinued) is a true nude in my opinion; it's a little lighter than my lips, so it shows on the lips. These Essence lipliner are very soft and a lot of people like them, but be careful, all my lipliners have grey caps, but the new one have coloured caps and some say that the formula has also changed, not just the caps. Actually I have one coloured cap and I think that is really a bit harder than the grey cap ones.

8. Essence longlasting lipstick velvet matt 23

9. Essence longlasting lipliner 05 Lovely Frappuccino is the true 90's colour on me. It is brown, very brown. And if I recommend just one formula of all of these I would say get yourself one f these ones. The formula is great, it applies nicely because is soft enough, but on the lips is matte and even if I had a little bit dry lips it didn't show one bit. Just perfect. I would like to have more colours of the longlasting lipliner shade.

The swatches on the lips together:

So this is my nudes’ collection. I hope there was some useful information for you. I’m still not good at describing colours and all, but at least you can see swatches ;)

Have a great day :)

Highlighters galore

Since there are some new additions in my highlighters family I decided that I want to swatch them and see the diferences between them. 

Highlighters are:

1. Too Faced Flush Luminazer (from Le Grand Palais De Too Faced) powder

2. Essence my base Illuminating Make-up base (discontinued) liquid

3. Catrice Prime and Fine Professional Contouring Palette - 010 Ashy Radiance powder

4. Essence soo glow! cream to powder highlighter - 20 bright up your life cream

5. Essence eyeshadow - 43 mystic lemon (discontinued) powder

6. Essence highlighting powder Merry berry TE  - 01 i love my golden pumps powder

7. Catrice Prime and Fine Highlighting Powder - 010 Fairy Dust (discontinued) powder

Golden highlighters

First we have here the highlighters with golden shine. All of them are powder ones, the one from Catrice Prime and Fine Professional Contouring Palette is very subtle and compared to other two almost doesn't look like a highlighter. Essence highlighting powder from Merry berry TE is a lot more shimmery and the colour is champagne gold. Flush highlighter is also shimmery but a lot more darker that the Essence one, a true gold I would say.

Essence Merry berry, Catrice Contouring palette, Too Faced Flush

Pearl highlighters

Then we have pearl highlighters. Essence my base Illuminating Make-up base is my first highlighter and I like it very much, too bad Essence discontinued it. Because I will soon run out of it I bought Essence soo glow! cream to powder highlighter. The colour is almost the same, just the constitution is different. As a constitution I think I prefer the liquid one, but it is true that I actually never used the second one, I want first use up the liquid one. The last one is Catrice Prime and Fine Highlighting Powder and it is very subtle. As you can see from the swatches it is almost gold rose. I don't know why I don't use this more often because it's very beautiful and not so "in your face" highlighter.

Catrice Prime and Fine, Essence so glow!, Essence Illuminating Make up-base

The "changed purpose" one

Technically I think this is my first highlighter. A couple of years ago when Essence released this eyeshadow 43 Mystic lemon, there were speculations on some blogs that this is similar to the Nars Albatross highlighter (that was sooo popular at that time, where is it now with all the highlighter craze?) so I tought why not buy it, it just a couple of € anyway. To be completely fair I didn't use it very often, but maybe the now is the time :) I don't know how to describe this colour, but it is a duochrome, it changes from simple white pearl colour to  more champagneygold colour.

Essence eyeshadow Mystic lemon

So this are my highlighters. I know this post is not very useful since you can't get most of them anymore. But maybe will you remember some of your highlighters that you don't use so often but are good nontheless. I did remember some of my highlighters that deserve more love than they get :) 

Writing this post got me thinking about my ability to write reviews. Yes, I love beauty products, I like reading reviews about them but when it comes to describing them on my blog I don't think that I do a decent job. I'm wondering does writing good reviews come with experience or it is just something that you have or not? I will try some more, it would be good if the products are still availabe, so I must go on a shopping spree :) Just kidding.. maybe.

Have a great day! :)