Catrice Luminice Highlight & Bronze Glow Palette

catrice Highlighter

Catrice Luminice Highlight & Bronze Glow Palette

Admin   September 11, 2019   Comment  

Catrice released two highlighter palettes, though this one claims to be also a bronzer palette, but the last shade is more of a blush than a bronzer. It's similar to L.O.V.s GLOWrious Deep Metallic Highlighter Palette, but none of the shades are the same and L.O.V.'s texture is creamier, with a more high-end feel.

Texture: Unlike the L.O.V. palette, at which I needed to break through the top layer to get to the pigmented stuff, Luminice is a top performer from the start and very pigmented from the first brush stroke. All three shades great, even the first one which looks matte in the palette, however, compared to L.O.V. they feel drier which doesn't really affect the performance on the skin.

Shades: Two versions of this palette exist, I have the gold version called 020 Feel Gold.

Shade 1

The first shade is my favourite because despite its deceiving appearances it gives a good amount of glow and it's the most neutral "iced gold" shade in the palette which suits my neutral skin tone. It's also got the finest shimmer which makes it look most natural. It think this is one of Cosnova's best highlighters they've made so far.

Shade 2

Second shade is a gold champagne shade, another wearable one with a stronger glow than the first as well as bigger shimmer particles. Compared to the gold shade in L.O.V. palette, it's more yellow.

Shade 3

The last is very pigmented, dark and not suitable for my skin tone. It's an orange toned bronze shade that looks more like an glowy orange blush on me than a bronzer. On the picture it's a combination of shade 2 & 3.

Packaging: Mine cardboard packaging has a problem staying closed. I don't know if it's just mine, but for the most part it works.

Price and availability: It costs 7.29 € in drugstores.

Again like at L.O.V. I can use 2 out of 3 shades, but the first highlighter wins for me because apart from Colourpop Flexiterian, I don't know of any other highlighter with such tiny shimmer that would look so natural. Flexiterian is of course much stronger, but this is a more subtle version that still has an impact. It's a palette with a combination of a natural highlight, very strong golden shade and an glowy orange-ish blush/bronzer shade.

Have a great day!

*PR product

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips All-in-1 Custom Nude Palette Warm Nude

blush Bronzer eyeshadow Highlighter Physicians Formula

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips All-in-1 Custom Nude Palette Warm Nude

Admin   May 15, 2019   Comment  

I got this as a birthday gift from my cousin after it's been on my wishlist for years. There are two versions of these Shimmer Strips palettes, one is called Natural Nude and mine is a Warm one, though both look warm to me. It's a combination of 12 shimmery-satin shades that can be used in many ways making it an all-in-one product. 

Texture: These are mostly fairly light shades with a good pigmentation. The deepest shades in the bottom right corner are so dark I can only use as an eyeshadow. It’s meant to be an all-in-one product so most of the shades are so pale that they can be used as a setting/finishing powder, but you have to use a very fluffy blush.

Shade: The three top shades are golden, the next three are rosy, then it's a mix of taupes and copper and the bottom row are warm browns. This palette can be used:

- as an eyeshadow palette: it works, but it’s subtler than other palettes. I tend to use one of the shades from the third row on the lids and the deepest brown in the outer corner.

- as a highlighter: using 1st and partly 2nd row. It works well with a medium strong glow. This is my favourite way to use this palette.

- as a blush: using partly 2nd row. It gives a peachy flush, but it's only for pale skin tones as only one shade is a proper blush colour. 

- as a bronzer/contour: using the bottom two rows. It’s a glowy bronzer, so not for contouring as they recommend. It's a warm shade that’s best for pale skin tones with a warm undertone, though the last shade is already quite deep.

- as an all over powder with all shades: using only with a very fluffy brush and avoiding the bottom right shades. It works, but it’s like applying a highlighter in a sheer coat, so not for everyone’s taste. Mixing all shades together makes a pale peachy shade.

Lipstick: Bourjois Rouge Fabuleux 07 Perlimpinpink. Uhani: Fatalka.si

Staying power: I noticed nothing exceptional and neither bad when it comes to staying power. These last averagely on me in any way I use these shades. On my eyelids I get no creasing.

Packaging: It comes in a typical big Physicians Formula box packaging that has two sides. In the back there's an extra compartment with a mirror and two brushes. A bigger thin face brush is surprisingly good because it picks up just enough, the size fits stripes well and it blends ok. The small eyeshadow sponge applicator isn't all that helpful and these shades work much better with eyeshadow brushes.

Price and availability: It's sold on iHerb for $10.44.

Overall I'm happy with this. It is very close to a proper all-in-one product. I tend to use it as an eyeshadow palette, a highlighter and occasionally as a blush, but as I said it's too light for any significant flush. It's nice palette especially for carrying in the bag or for travelling because you can get so much from it. 

Have a great day!

L.O.V. the GLOWrious Deep Metallic Highlighting Palette

Highlighter L.O.V.

L.O.V. the GLOWrious Deep Metallic Highlighting Palette

Admin   May 11, 2019   Comment  

As pretty as this looks it was far from love at first try. In fact we went through a rough patch from the start, but things turned for the better and now I find it one of the nicest highlighters in my collection. The palette consists of three shades, two are warm and one is warm neutral. 

Texture: These all appeared to have a very poor pigmentation when I first tried them and it was only after I broke though the top layer after some heavy duty swatching and using it for a week or two that the first two shades became good. Both are now very pigmented and only one swirl with a dense small brush in the pan is needed for a nice level of glow. The shimmer in both shades is very fine, though not quite as fine as shimmer in Flexiterian by Colourpop which gives the most "smooth" glowy effect, but L.O.V. shades look good too with no large glitter bits. The last shade Prismatic is a complete disappointment. Pigmentation is weak, even after swatching is thoroughly and it's got almost no shimmer, instead it's more of a satin finish. 

Shades:

Metal Glow

Metal Glow is a classic champagne gold shade. It's not too yellow-toned like for example theBalm Mary Lou-Manizer, which I appreciate a lot. It's not unique, but a shade I like to wear.

Rosy Radiance

Rosy Radiance is a pale rose gold shade and one of my favourite shades ever. I feel it just fits my neutral skin tone so well. In terms of quality and strength of glow Metallic Glow and Rosy Radiance are the same.

Prismatic

Prismatic is a pale peach with weak pigmentation and a shade that doesn't apply evenly. It's a waste of space in this palette.

Staying power: These last well on my cheeks, though by the end of the day shimmer is lower on cheeks (but I'm someone who touches her face a lot).

Packaging: This comes in a cardboard box that feels very premium due to the leather imitation pattern. It's got a magnetic closing system and a mirror.

Price and availability: Price of the palette is 16.99 €. It's sold on online only on Ličila.si (Pink Panda), L.O.V.s official site, which ships only to Germany and on kosmetic4less.de, which ships worldwide.

The first two shades in this are lovely and I especially like shade Rosy Radiance, which is one of the rare such colours in my collection. It needs a dense small brush to get a good glow going and you need to get through the top layer, but the tiny shimmer in this gives the cheeks a good glow. 

Have a great day!

*PR product.

Colourpop Super Shock Shadows and Flexiterian Highlighter

Coloupop eyeshadow Highlighter

Colourpop Super Shock Shadows and Flexiterian Highlighter

Admin   April 13, 2019   Comment  

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. 

These cost $5 on Colourpop's website.

COLOURPOP Super Shock Cheek

Flexiterian

Formula and shade: I did not get along with this at all from the start because of its unique texture that is like at eyeshadows something between a cream and a powder. I can't pick this up with brush, so I have to apply it with fingers and because my skin is currently dry, I could not get this too apply smoothly and it just looked a mess and half of it ended up all over the cheeks through the day. But as soon as I switched my foundation for a more moisturising one, I got a successful application and what a pretty highlight this is. It's one of the most reflective highlighters with the finest shimmer I've seen and a lovely champagne warm glow. I've been wearing every day for months and it's only because I'm currently testing something new that I made a switch, but I'm going back to it soon.

Staying power depends mostly on the base. At times it lasts nicely all day and then some other times I'm left with shimmer down my cheeks. Powder tends to stick on the skin better than more creamy formulas, but this looks a lot more natural than a powder so I forgive it on those odd days.

But one thing this makes me angry - the stupid packaging. The product fell out twice, the second time it came apart in so many pieces that I had to press it all back in and now it looks terrible. But it didn't ruin the product and it could be fixed much faster than if it were a powder. The screw off lid bothers me even more here because I use it every day. 

Colourpop can be bought on their official website. Shipping is about 10 € to Slovenia and once in a blue moon they have special offers with free shipping, but unless you're adamant you want to pay a 22.5% tax plus the useless 5 € extra charge, I suggest you keep your purchases under 22 € (information for Slovenia of course) and if you're getting anything at all, get the Flexiterian, you won't regret it. Oh, and Cami Lippie Stix too.

Have a great day!

Wet n Wild Megaglo Highlighting Powder Blossom Glow

Highlighter Wet n Wild

Wet n Wild Megaglo Highlighting Powder Blossom Glow

Admin   March 03, 2019   Comment  

Wet n Wild highlighter became crazy popular since they released a LE with Precious Petals and Crown of my Canopy, especially the first one was highly praised and dubbed a dupe for Becca's Opal. They've since made them permanent and added new shade, Blossom Glow included. The latter is the lightest in the bunch and best suited for fair skin tones.

Texture: I was so disappointed when I first tried it because I got almost no colour on my densest highlighter brush and the second try didn't inspire confidence wither. However, I then swatched it, so I broke through the top layer and what lay beneath it is a very pigmented, metallic highlighter with smooth texture. I've gone through reviews and no one reports they had the same problem like me, instead they had that smooth, pigmented texture from the start.

Shade: Blossom glow is an off-white highlighter with an intense metallic glow and a warm pink-peachy reflect. Shimmer in it is very fine, there is no chunky glitter and the glow on the skin can be pretty strong without layering it on a lot. It applies nicely with no patchiness and can be applied with fingers for a very intense look.

The packaging is a not the best. Mine can't close like the closing system isn't there, but the hinges are very strong so it doesn't open on its own.

Price and availability: Highlighter is available on Click2Chic for 5.99 €, international readers can get on Beauty Bay for the same price.

Despite the initial disappointment this formula proved to be just as good as everyone say. It's a strong highlighter with fine shimmer and the formula is smooth, so if you're looking for a great drugstore buy, this is definitely worth it. This formula has overwhelmingly positive reviews and I'm just one more person confirming them.

Have a great day!

*PR product.