*ESSENCE Bye Bye Panda Eyes! Smudge-proof, Volumizing & Defining Mascara
I'm not loving this one, but it has one fantastic quality - it's the easiest mascara to remove. It's removed only with warm water, meaning it's a tubing mascara and it doesn't "run/smudge off, rather it disintegrates into small flakes, so there's much less mess at this one than at regular mascaras. However in terms of effect it's very average. The formula is thinner than most, so you don't get a lot of volume. It separates well and it's not a wet, sticky mascara that would clump the lashes quickly, but it has no hold, so it can neither hold my lashes up, not keep them fanned out nicely when I apply more coats because my lashes fall back to their natural position. The brush is a classic one. Maybe this will thicken a bit in some time, but for now compared to my other opened mascaras I have in my drawer, this is the least impressive one in terms of effect.
3.79 €
*ESSENCE 24 Ever Ink Liner Intense Black
This I like a lot more than the mascaras and I've used it every time I've worn makeup since I got it. I've been using Catrice Liquid Eyeliner for many years now, but I used to use these felt tip liners all the time. The tip is small and precise, so excellent for when you want a thin line. When I first got it, I was so used to Catrice' Liquid Eyeliner that I needed some extra time with this one due to it being smaller, but I adapted quickly. It's an excellent liner for beginners because you can do small strokes with it and it's easier to avoid mistakes. Tip is for now well saturated, but we'll see how it performs over time when I use it several times over eyeshadows, because that's precisely the reason I switched to liquid liners - felt ones dry much faster or at least get ruined by eyeshadows. It's nicely black, but not as glossy intense as liquid version. It lasts surprisingly well. It can easily stay all day on my normal eyelids, but I have my doubts about it on oily ones - you're going to have to find some other reviewers to tell you how it lasts. I find this is pretty good.
2.99 €
*ESSENCE Witch Side Eyeshadow Palette
I'm very impressed with the quality of this one. This palette contains 15 eyeshadows, 7 matte and the rest are satin or shimmery. It's divided into a dark and light side just like the front of the packaging, which also changes from eyes closed to opened. Most eyeshadows are soft, smooth and have great pigmentation, even the blue one which is very hard to come by. Only those spotty glitters are weird, though not completely useless. The white spots are duo-chrome shimmer than gives that change the colour of the eyeshadow, but they are too densely packed almost creamy eyeshadows are there's no way you can pick them up with a brush. Satin shimmer shades are most impressive, which makes me happy because I loved shade Haunted the moment I saw it and it's the best one in the palette. They last well, they blend well, I like most of the colours - truly Essence's latest offering is excellent.
10.69 €
*CATRICE Disney LE Minnie & Daisy Eyeshadow Palette
C02 Daisy's Signature
This, however, was a disappointment. It's one the worst performing palettes I've tried in a while. Most eyeshadows are difficult to swatch, the central one Dazzling is so sheer. I still was able to make a nice look out of it, it just required a lot of layering and these do not blend easily. Despite being quite crappy quality, especially compared to the Essence one above, eyeshadow stayed put with no primer all day and didn't crease, so it's not an absolute waste and I like the shades. Not all are equally bad, just predominantly the ones I like, most useful are Lazy, Diva, Cherry and Jolly, with Diva being the best in the palette. Others appear to be more impressed or at least more forgiving to this palette than me, calling it subtle, but I expect more.
9.09 €
*ESSENCE Stay 8h Matte Liquid Lipstick
05 Date Proof
This is pretty much just the repackaged previous formula Colour Boost Mad About Matte Liquid Lipstick and that one was in a better looking packaging and with a better applicator, so this is a downgrade. Formula is one of the thinnest such liquid lipsticks, something like Sleek Matte Me. Just like the previous one is dries to this layer that you can feel on the lips and it's equally less comfortable a lot of similar formulas, including the Catrice one below. I can deal with it just fine, but it might be torture for a lot of you. Staying power is still not amazing for a liquid matte lipstick. Colour is similar to my previous one 05 Dangerously yours, so a medium muted pink.
3.29 €
*CATRICE Pro Ink Non-Transfer Liquid Lipstick
040 Braveness Wins, 070 I am Unique and 080 Dream Big
This is more comfortable formula than Essence. It's still very matte, but it doesn't dry into a uniform layer. Staying power is similar to Essence, so neither are super impressive, with eating being their main nemesis, otherwise they stick on the lips ok. 040 is a peach shade, 070 a light pink, which looks cool lavender pink in the bottle, but it's not as cool on the lips and 080 is a medium rosy shade.
5.09 €
ESSENCE It's Brush Hour LE
Face brush
I needed an extra powder brush and I knew I shouldn't just pick one of Essence ones. They are still the same - cheap feeling synthetic ones that, yes, feel soft, but don't pick up much. It's ok, but there are better ones even on Aliexpress. At least it's pretty.
3.79 €
Foundation buffer brush
I'm not blown away by this one either. It does the job semi-decently, so it's not the worst, but it can leave streaks or blend away too much. It's a dense synthetic brush that isn't super soft, but I don't expect that from such a dense brush. I'll probably use it often, but it's not my favourite. Again I prefer Aliexpress brushes for the job.
3.99 €
Elvital Öl Magique Nährpflege Shampoo
My favourite shampoo, I talk about it all the time. It suits my very dry hair and it's the best I found in the drugstores.
Müller, about 3 €
L'OREAL Elseve Color-Vive Purple Shampoo
I only added this to the cart because it got me free shipping. I have Inebrya Ice Cream No Yellow Shampoo which is pretty strong, has a likeable non-drying formula and I would repurchase it, so I wasn't planning on trying L'Oreal because I kind of assumed it's weaker, but I was proven wrong. This is just as good as Ice Cream, it additionally toned my colour to an even ashier blonde. Formula is also nice, non-dying for my very dry hair and does the job. I'll be buying this one from now because it's a third of the price of Ice Cream in our drugstores (a bit over 3 € and IC is 10 €, though much cheaper online + available in a big packaging too). A masks exists too, which I might try, especially since it's 200 ml.
Notino, 5.51 € (which is more expensive than the drugstores as I learned a day later).
SCHWARZKOPF Blondme Bond Enforcing Premium Lightener 9+
My second box. One lasted me a year and I don't know how many bleaching precisely, but there were quite a few. I only have a 6% and 12% developer, so I mix them to get a kind of a version of 9% and with this mix it lifts my level 3 roots (dark brown) to a level 8-9 (medium-light blonde/canary yellow) in one session. Just with 6% it's a lot weaker and manages only a few levels of lift, on me it was from level 3 to level 5/6 (light brown/orange red), on ends 7 (dark blonde/orange). I haven't used it just with 12% yet because I have concerns about the strength. In all my bleach sessions it never left my hair dry, too damaged, overly processed, stringy or breaking off, so I trust this one completely, but I also use a ton of coconut oil before application and a ton of after care. It contains succinic acid which creates a protective layer around the bonds and it appears to be working. This was literary an instant repurchase, because I ran out of it during the session and I went online straight away to get another.
Notino, 25.50 €
SUBRINA Spectra Demi-Permanent 8/10 Ice Blonde and ILIRIJA Hydrogen Cream 3%
I've already talked a lot about this one in monthly favourites and showed the results. It's a demi-permanent colour just like Schwarzkopf Blondeme Toning shades, this one is similar to Ice. For toning it should be mixed with a 3% developer, though I was considering mixing it with a 6% and the reason for that is that in the US a lot of people use Wella toners, which are also supposed to be mix with a 3%, but I read some mix it with a 6% because it can help lift those darkest still orange/golden parts (Schwarzkopf Blondeme recommend 3% for bleached hair and 6% for natural hair). I wasn't sure this has strong enough purple and blue tones to counteract my mix of levels 10,9,8 (overall canary yellow) and some scarily orange parts which stubbornly don't want to be lightened, but it did a surprisingly good job. My hair wasn't Ice Blonde because it's obviously too dark, but it was a nice ashy blonde with some warmer parts. It's very gentle, so I wasn't worried it's going to cause extra damage on freshly bleached hair, but it is not nourishing at all, so even though I used both Olaplex n.3 and Joico K-Pack duo before, this left my hair coarse, but thanks to my extensive hair care stash I fixed with Matrixes Re-Bond duo and another session of K-Pack. I needed 1 and 1/2 box for my very long, thick hair. This shade is not sold everywhere, but it's definitely in Müller, Leclerc, Drogerija Ilirija and Click2Chic (Interspar doesn't have it, neither DM, while I'm not sure about Tuš Drogerija). Hydrogen Cream is sold in most places.
Müller: Spectra 5 €, Hydrogen Cream 1 €
SUBRINA Colour Refresh Mask
Diamond Blonde
My 5th/6th or more tube, I don't know, but I use this a lot, since I've become a blonde. I have a couple of purple shampoos and Matrixes Brass Off, but this is the best such product I've tried. It's shockingly strong, so those with actual level 10 blonde hair be extremely careful with this and dilute it a lot. I used it when I didn't have enough Spectra the first time, so straight after bleaching on very orange hair that I was hiding on my lower layers. I used it undiluted and left it for 20-30 minutes, I forgot to check the time, but it turned even my golden-orange hair blue (but only to a certain level, as where it was dark orange, it didn't do anything), which was still way better than orange and I didn't mind it, but it’s a product that's where you need to monitor constantly what's happening and try to determine how strong your mix with Clear should be and how long to leave it on. If the hair turns blue, it actually just washes off, at least it does on me, so I'm not super careful myself, but I know some would just freak. This works faster and better than Matrixes Brass off, but it's still purple-blue, while that one is blueberry blue and better suited for counteracting orange, you just have to leave it on for a lot longer than this one. Things that bother me at this one - metal tubes that become hard to squeeze when close to empty and only 60 ml of product. This really should exists in larger versions because I need to keep repurchasing it, so I got two when Müller had 20% off.
Müller, 4.99 €
YVES SAINT LAURENT Black Opium Neon
Eau de parfum
This mentions only three notes: coffee, dragon fruit and orange blossom. I get dragon fruit and tons of vanilla, but no coffee, so that's a bit weird. It's pretty basic, a warm fruity vanilla scent on me, like Viva La Juicy and it doesn't stand out one bit. I'm sure BBW has something similar to a fraction of the price.
Have a great day!
Have a great day!
