New In #39

SOAP & GLORY Greatest Scrub Of All

Boots finally started shipping Soap & Glory to Slovenia and I didn't hesitate to order a few bits. I haven't had a proper manual face scrub in at least five years if not more and this one has such a high rating on Makeup Alley that I had to include it in my order. It smells like laundry detergent - strange for Soap & Glory to have such a bland scent, but I don't mind. It's a mix of large and very small dense beads that polish the skin rather well, but I wouldn't say my skin is completely smooth. Well, the cheeks definitely are super smooth after use, but it still have some problem areas around the nose, on the chin and in the corner of my eyes (I'm sure you can see that in my mascara pictures). Still, with more frequent use I'm hoping I'll finally get smooth skin again. I'll do a proper review about this in time, but so far I like it more than any manual scrub I've used.   

Boots International, £9.00

SOAP & GLORY Mist You Madly Body Spray 

250 ml

This also has a high rating on Makeup Alley and though I never smelled it in person, I took a risk and ordered it, besides they had a 3 for 2 so it was free. Kind of. I really like the scent. It smells so nice, classy, vintage-y, floral-clean (citrusy) and it has a high-end fragrance vibe. Staying power on the skin is weak, so I prefer to spray this on clothes and hair to make it last longer. The packaging is great because it sprays a very fine mist.

Notes: Bergamot, Blackcurrant, Magnolia, Freesia, Vanilla and Musk.

Boots International, £6.50

SOAP & GLORY Smoothie Star Breakfast Scrub 

300 ml

I love Soap & Glory scrubs, they are seriously so good and Flake Away is my all-time favourite, but I got this one because I wanted to try more of them and I read this one is supposedly the harshest. I'm not loving the scent of this. Is smells like maple syrup, in fact very close to the real deal, but as a European I don't find maple syrup all that amazing and the only thing that is acceptable on pancakes is a mix of Nesquick chocolate syrup and coconut cream. For those who haven't tried maple syrup yet, the scent it closest to toffee candy or if you ever tried those McGriddles they used to have in McDonalds. It's not as harsh as Flake Away, but it's still very, very good and it's so creamy/balmy. This one actually washes off completely and doesn't leave an oily filter behind like Flake Away. I love that the pot is so huge and hopefully I won't save this one till eternity because I really need to use scrubs more.

Boots International, £8.00

SOAP & GLORY Mini Scrub Em And Leave Em Body Buff 

50ml

Breakfast scrub wasn't my favourite in terms of scent, but this one is amazing. The scent is the same as at Mist you Madly spray, so a great one. The scrubby bits again aren't as harsh as at Flake Away, but the formula is so soft and creamy. I should get this one in full size.

Boots International, £2.50

SOAP & GLORY Hand Maid Antibacterial Hand Cleansing Gel

50 ml

Love this! I only had those pharmacy smelling antibacterial gels, but this one smells gorgeous like fruity sweets. I think it smells like 505 s crtom hard candy or it could be some other candy from my childhood. It dries very fast and leaves none of that film or stickiness behind, also it says it's contains some moisturising ingredient, but I don't have dry hands often, so I don't notice a difference.

Boots International, £2.50

BALEA Golden Glamour Verwöhnpeeling

Golden Glamour is the vanilla-patchouli sister of Red Love "spa" line in DM. At the beginning of the year I realized that I really need to stock up on more scrubs so I'll essentially force myself to use them more often and I grabbed this one because it was cheapest, plus I had high hopes that it's rough since it's a sugar scrub. It has such a strange texture that's difficult to describe. It's like a hard jelly with sugar. Closest I can compare it to is those Lush weird jelly shower products that are slippery as hell, but this is easier to grab, though some bits might still fall out of your hands. The sugar particles are quite densely packed, but it's not abrasive. It's a stronger scrub than Garnier's Ultimate Beauty Oil Beauty Scrub, but a lot weaker than my favourite Soap & Glory Flake Away Scrub. I think people with sensitive skin will find it harsh, but most others will love it, while I'd like it a bit harsher. It foams in contact with water and nourishes the skin a touch, though it doesn't leave an oily filter like Soap & Glory's. The scent is a synthetic vanilla that's in car fragrances and home sprays - it's fine, but Red Love is much better (my friend says it smells like cookies, though). I like it, it's not bad and I would repurchase if I needed something quick and inexpensive, but Soap & Glory's are much better. 

Ingredients.

DM, 3.49 €

DOVE Advanced Hair Series Quench Absolute Supreme Crème Serum

In German : Locken Haarpflege Supreme Creme Serum

I already talked a lot about this in my monthly favourites, so I won't repeat myself much. I grabbed this purely because it was 50 % off, but it turned out to be probably the best drugstore hair product I've ever tried. It's a simple creamy serum (with silicones) that you can use on dry and wet hair - it works very well in both ways. I love this on dry hair because it makes the hair so polished, shiny and eliminates frizz. I'm really very happy with this product. 

Ingredients.

Müller, I paid 3.99 €, but I think regular price was around 7 €. I can't remember because it was over a month ago and I haven't been in Müller since.

ESSENCE Studio Nails All in One Complete Care

I'm a simple girl. I see all-in-one on the label of a nail polish and that's all I need to hear. Actually I've been base coat-less for a few months now and I decided it might be time to buy a new one. I didn't check any reviews, it's not a product I would care much about, so I grabbed the cheapest and most multi-tasting one I could find. It promises to act as a ridge-filler (don't have those), base coat, high shine top coat and a colour refresher (that last one is a bit weird. They were probably getting so desperate at how to oversell me a clear nail polish). I don't like this. It's thick and takes forever to dry, especially if you use it as a top coat and it actually doesn't dry completely even after eight hours. I should have paid a euro more for that gel one in the white packaging, now I'm stuck with this one. This is a big miss for me. 

Müller, 1.99 €

CARRÉ HOMME Baume Aprés-rasage

I though I'll let this pass me by, but I heard one too many good thing about Nivea's Aftershave Balm as a primer to ignore it. I'm not the biggest fan of how Nikkie (Nikkie Tutorials) applies her makeup. She's talented all right, but it's all just a little bit too much for me and no one will ever convince me that that much foundation (and highlighter) looks nice in person, and life is not all Instagram and bright studio lights. I've known about the whole glycerine thing for a long time. It's in Mac's Fix+ and a million other products (hand creams have a high content usually), so it not a newly discovered miracle by a long shot, but maybe in this balm form it works. To be fair, I think it has a lot to do with all the silicones in it too. I checked all the shops for Nivea's balm and I could not find it under 7 €, which is frankly way too much for something I may not even like (I swear it was half the price 10 years ago), so me being me, I went to Leclerc and got a 1.5 € alternative. I checked the ingredients side by side and the both have almost the same ones, just a bit mixed up, but glycerine is on the second place as is Cyclopentasiloxane too, so not all that different. I've been using it for over a month, testing with all foundations I have and I can say that yes, with some foundations it works brilliantly. Especially foundations that I don't get along with such as Rimmel's Lasting Finish Nude and Manhattan's Easy Match (by the way, it's being discontinued) which with this balm look pretty much perfect. It definitely helps the foundation to wear off much nicer. So yes, I do like it and it cheap as chips, but I suspect it may be breaking me out a bit as my skin hasn't been completely clear once in this month and that never happens to me. It also smells like a bus driver that's trying too much, so not my favourite scent to be fair. By the way, it's like a light lotion-gel texture and I rub it in until it's slightly sticky, so the foundations sticks on better. 

Ingredients.

E.Leclerc, 1.50 € (I'm sure DM and Müller have their own "dupes" of Nivea's balm too) 

eBay Metallic Brushes

My full set of metallic brushes finally arrived after over a month. I have the contour and blush ones from before and I use them daily, the contour one for foundation because it's dense and blends so well, and the blush one for, well, blush as well as highlighter. The whole set contains seven brushes:

Triangle foundation brush - my least favourite. It's a bit stiff and plastic-feeling, also I don't get the shape, it really isn't the best, but it did apply the foundation well. This one smells very chemical, while the rest don't.

Big fluffy powder blush - such a soft brush that is great for applying a thin veil of powder on the skin. Great brush.

Blush brush - I have two of these. It's a more precise blush brush and very soft, so it performs better with more pigmented blushes, while with others I need to layer the colour, but I've been using it all the time since I bought it back in December.

Contour brush - Also have two of these. I original used this for contouring at which it performs so well, but since I don't contour daily, I started using it as a foundation brush and it's perfect. I love that it's flat, but dense because I can blend around the eyes and nose a lot easier than with other brushes. Great brush.

Eyeshadow blending brush - quite big, but great at blending harsh edges. It's among denser such brushes and also nice for blending concealer.

Dome Crease brush - too big for the crease, but I like it for applying colour on the lid. I thought since it's synthetic it won't pick up colour well, but it works so great with Chocolate Bar palette and blends well too.

Liner brush - pretty standard, but perhaps a bit too thick for a gel eyeliner. I use it for applying colour under the lower lashes and darkening the upper lash line.

eBay, €9.32

 *MILANI Amore Matte Lip Creme 

Gorgeous

I just got this yesterday, so I haven't had much time to play with. These were on my wishlist for quite some time, so when I heard I'll get one to test, I was so excited. These don't come in the shades that were originally launched, that was actually a limited edition, but the permanent ones, which also underwent a formula update, come in a very similar selection of shades. I loved this the moment I opened the package and even more when I applied it. I selected the colour, so it's totally a "me" shade - a magenta red shade that I wholeheartedly adore. The formula is reminiscent of my old, sadly already discontinued favourites, Essence Stay Matte Lip Creams, but so much better. It smells the same (vanilla-fruity), applies the same and it's opaque with one coat, but it dries much faster to a perfect matte finish. 

Click2Chic, 9.96 €

*MILANI Eye Tech Extreme Liquid Eye Liner

01 Blackest Black

I was hoping I'll get a chance to try this one day. I love liquid eyeliners and it will be a great help in making future "job posts". The shape of the nib is very similar to L'Oreal's Perfect Slim. It's a long, felt tip, but precise and well saturated with product. I got it yesterday, so I need some time to properly test it out, but I'm wearing it today and it is indeed very similar to L'Oreal's one, which is still one of my favourites.

Click2Chic, 7.23 €

*BALMI Super Cube Lip Balm

Coconut

Balmi's were also on my wishlist for a while and purely because they look so cute. I got the coconut version, though they sell so many others including a mint green one and rose gold with a berry scent. It smells exactly like Yves Rocher Malayan Coconut Eau de toilette so pretty good. It's not a super sugary version of coconut scent, but fresher, less candy like. It's a creamy type of lip balm, so luckily not waxy (don't like those) and it nourished my lips well, but I need to get used to the application as I've never used such unique forms of lip balm before.

Click2Chic, 6.49 €

*ESSENCE Wake Up, Spring TE March-April 2016

I got a few bits from Essence's spring collection to swatch for Click2Chic. You can see the preview of the whole collection on Polona's blog here.

Eyeliner pen 01 happy first day of spring - a white felt tip eyeliner. It needs to be layered because it's on the sheer side, but lasts very well. It can transfer, so I would set it with an eyeshadow. //2.19 €

Blush 01 hello sunshine! - I adore the packaging of this because it's like those from Physicians Formula as it has and additional compartment underneath and a mirror. 01 hello sunshine! is a classic peach blush with a highlighter-y finish (finely milled pink shimmer that is only visible under direct light). It's on the sheer side, but with layering you can build up the colour just fine.  //3.59 €

Lipstick pen 02 bye-bye winter! - some seriously good quality lipstick in a pen form. Nicely opaque with a creamy finish, but contains a lot of wax and it completely survived meals and drinking. Impressed. The shade is a basic light-medium neutral pink. //2.49 €

*REVLON Ultra Volume Mascara Waterproof

So Revlon did something unprecedented and discontinued ALL of their mascaras. Pretty crazy, right? Kinda glad I didn't have a favourite among them because I know I'd be devastated. So they decided to completely revamped their system of mascaras. The flashy names and tubes are gone, and what rose on their ashes is a collection of simplified mascaras that don't confuse you with elaborate titles. Not sure how this change will bode with their loyal customers, but I like this step back and taking it all on a more simple level. I got the Ultra Volume one to test, waterproof of course, but regular one exists as well with the same brush and packaging. The brush is that evergreen classic, the good old-school brush that is bigger and comparable to Essence's I <3 Extreme. The formula is thin and as usual for waterproof mascaras it's on the dry side. It defines so well, the brush literally catches every lash and it almost gives an effect like your natural lashes looks so great and you're not wearing tons of mascara. It holds the curl all day. I've been enjoying using this in the last couple of weeks, I usually go for big, fake-looking lashes and this one gives me a more natural effect. Reviews and swatches for the products starting from here are already on the Click2Chic blog.

Click2Chic, 10.49 €

*JORDANA Matte Lipstick

47 Nude

I already have four of these and I praised the formula, not just in the review, but also in my Best Buys under 5 € post. These are wonderful matte lipsticks, way better than you would expect considering the price and their packaging, and they rival much more expensive lipsticks with their smooth and very pigmented formula. When I was picking these, I carefully avoided Nude because I was so sure it's an ugly brown shade. I have never been so wrong in my life. It is stunning. Quite possibly the prettiest nude shade in my collection because it's a mix of my favourite Mac's Peach Blossom and Patisserie, but it's closer to the first and it's matte and not at all in that horrible chalky, dry way. Basically it's a light peachy-pink-beige shade. You can find me wearing it here.

Click2Chic, 2.60 €

*MODELS OWN Chrome Nail Polishes

Chrome Copper and Chrome Grey

I'm not into metallic effects, but I do admit these look cool on the nails, the grey one is actually much better looking for my taste. These are like frosty nail polishes, so those that leave streaks and are not the easiest to apply nicely, but they are very pigmented, one coat is enough, though they recommend two-three. I tried applying more than one, but it kind of got messed up and too thick, so I did one coat and it looked really good. These are supposedly excellent for stamping if you're into such things. I only have an old Essence stamping kit, but it worked well. There are several shades of these including silver and gold, but I only have two: Copper with is a rose gold copper shade, so a bit pinker version of copper. It's lighter than the bottle and I wish it were a bit more intense. Chrome grey is beautiful, it has this gun metal effect since it's medium silver-grey. 

Click2Chic, 5.95 €

*MODELS OWN Hypergel Nail Polishes

Cashmere Rose and Robin Red

I got another shade from this line, the beautiful Midsummer Mauve and the formula is no different. These are the two new shades released recently. Cashmere Rose is a light pink shade with a warm undertone that is similar to Essence's Forgive Me nail polish, while Robin Red is an interesting warm red with a retro feel as it's a bit desaturated, almost like you put an picture ageing filter on red. The formula is thick even for a gel inspired formula and it applies smoothly, plus any bumps even themselves out fast after application. The finish is very glossy as at basically all such formulas. 

Click2Chic, 5.95 €

*REVLON Brow Fantasy

Brunette

It may not have escaped your notice that I never speak about brow product and there is a simple reason behind that - I don't do anything to my eyebrows. I don't pluck them, shape them, fill them, draw them or whatever the hell kids are doing these days. I'm not saying my eyebrows are perfect, far from it, but they are fine and I think it's such a silly thing to devote your time to, besides, I never notice anyone's eyebrows anyway. But that's just my opinion. Anyway I got this to review/swatch for Click2Chic and I gave it a try. I found the pencil hard like most such products, but it gives more of an effect of a crayon, so it's a pretty soft type of look. The brow gel is tinted, but the tint doesn't show on my eyebrows. The wand is not the smallest, but works fine, it brushes and tames the hairs nicely without a crunchy feeling. Combination of the pencil and gel held all day. The shade I have brunette is completely wrong for my eyebrows, we decided not to post the before/after because of it, as the shade is too light and too warm for me, which gave me reddish eyebrows and mine are actually very cool brown-black. As I said I don't use brow products, so I gave this to someone else to try who's more into these thing and I thought that the pencil is quite hard, but she says it's softer than most and the wand has a bit too much product on it, but the gel is great because it holds the eyebrows in place really well. Basically she liked it, though the pencil could be a bit harder. The shade fit her very well, she's got medium brown hair with a warm undertone. Brow Fantasy has in general an excellent feedback in most reviews I read, check Makeup Alley for more opinions about it.

Shades Dark Blonde and Dark Brunette also exist.

Click2Chic, 10.96 €

Have a great day!

Best Buys Under 5 € in 2015

At the end of each year I make an overview of all the best product that I got to try that year. I do my monthly favourites where all products are included regardless when I got them and you may have spotted a special page called All Time Favourites, which I regularly update with my absolute favourite product, but these posts are only about new discoveries of the year (links to these yearly posts are at the end of my All Time Favourites page). First up is all the goodies that fit tight budgets and despite their low cost, are truly impressive. 

ESSENCE Matt Touch Blushes

I don't consider Essence being particularly good when it comes to powder products, but they totally nailed these. In the year of illuminating blushes,  Essence decided to go matte against all expectations and did very well. These are so smooth, it's almost like they are not even powder blushes because there is none of that tell-tale powdery finish on the cheeks  so it looks like your cheeks are naturally such colour and staying power is impressive as well. They only made two shades, which is a bummer, since neither of these shades are what I usually wear (I think I'll always be a Catrice I'm Nuts About You kind of girl), but they are the classic peach and pink shades that should suit so many people. 

2.79 €

CATRICE Prime and Fine Professional Contouring Palette

010 Ashy Radiance

We witnessed a miracle in 2015 - we can now walk into a drugstore and pick up a decent contour powder here in Slovenia. Well, at least one that fits us super pale girls. The shade of the contour powder is a nice taupe brown that manages to fake a shadow well, while the highlighter is a subtle champagne shade. I've heard very conflicting opinions about these palettes. Some absolutely hate it, however, I think they are the ones that picked shade 020, but I'm not sure if that is the case for all. I have a review that includes a look with it where you can see how well it shows up on my face, but I also use this on others when I do their makeup and it works just fine.  

4.69 €

ESSENCE I <3 Extreme Waterproof Mascara

I think I just love this mascara more and more. It gives me big lashes with a ton of volume, it doesn't smudge or flake and most importantly it keeps my lashes curled all day. I really love this mascara and just hope that Essence never discontinues it because I plan to repurchase it for eternity. 

2.99 €

JORDANA Matte Lipsticks

Do not be turned off by the cheap looking packaging because the product inside is amazing, especially considering how much you're paying for this lipstick. These are all fully opaque creamy matte lipsticks that are not that different from Mac's Matte finish lipsticks. There is a huge variety of shades available, so they are excellent also for experimenting with colours. 

$1.49 - 2.60 €

GOLDEN ROSE Velvet Matte Lipstick

Golden Rose products are my latest addition on this list, they don't even have their individual reviews yet, but I wanted to include them because I can already say that they are really impressive. Just like Jordana's, these are beautiful matte lipsticks with a lovely creamy formula, though these are slightly harder the first few uses. I tested them on their stall and they have a lot of wearable shades, but I only grabbed shade 12 to try which is a medium muted rose that I've been truly enjoying wearing recently. 

3.90 €

GOLDEN ROSE Matte Lipstick Crayon

Another matte lip product by Golden Rose, but in a different form. I find these are slightly creamier than the lipstick form and they are again another great set of lip products by this brand. I only own the darkest shades in this range - 02 and 03 (05 on the pic isn't mine), but I actually noticed that a lot of the shades are the same as in the Velvet Matte range, so you can pick in which version would you prefer to have your lip colour. These are not as precise as you would expect them to be (unless you intend to sharpen them constantly), but if you prefer the pen design, you may like these more than Velvet Mattes, though both are great.

3.90 €

ESSENCE Longlasting Lipliners

05 Lovely Frappuccino and 03 Yummy Berry

Essence added another line of lip liners, this time retractable ones and with a different formula than their originals. Considering their lip products usually don't wow me, I think they did a great job. The formula is creamy, but still firm enough to be precise and thankfully isn't nearly as fragile as Catrice's retractable lip liners. These can easily be worn on their own or used for lining. I have two shades for now: the stunning cool pink-purple 03 Yummy Berry and the perfect 90's shade for me 05 Lovely Frappuccino. 

1.59 €

KIKO Smart Lip Pencil 

709 Magenta

This was the year when I finally got to try Kiko's products and I ended up being pretty impressed with the brand on a whole. Smart Lip Pencil in Magenta is a stunning bright pink-red shade that is similar to Catrice's lipstick in MATTraction, so a type of shade  I adore. The formula reminds me of a mix between the original Essence and revamped Bourjois pencils, meaning it combines good qualities of both.

2.50 €

KIKO Nail Lacquer 

345 Jade Green

Told you Kiko is an impressive brand. They have a massive selection of nail polish shades and among them I found my favourite mint green shade. Obviously I have a lot of similar mint shades from before, but the reason I love this one is because it has by far the best formula of such a shade. If you ever tried Essie's Mint Green Candy (or Fiji), especially the one with the old formula and thin brush, then I'm so sorry you had to go through that, believe me I feel your pain and I can tell you that this one is miles better. It's so much smoother and needs just two coats for a nice, even finish. Jade Green is a slightly greener, more muted shade of mint green than Mint Candy Apple and I actually find it prettier. 

3.90 €

CATRICE Nail Lacquer 

18 Bloody Mary To Go

I've been wearing nail polish since I was ten, possibly even younger, yet I only got the classic red one this year. A travesty, I know. Bloody Mary to Go is a medium blue toned red that is a type of shade that everyone should own. Since Catrice finally changed the shape of their brushes, their nail polishes are so much easier to use, so they are finally worth buying.

2.59 €

SUN DANCE Selbst Bräunungs Tonik

Self-tanning Toner

Might not be the best idea to include this here because I'm not sure whether is a limited edition or not, though I hope they will release it again next summer and some DM's may have some of these left. Finding a good self-tanning product for the face is incredibly hard, but finding one that is also very budget friendly is impossible. At least it was until Sun Dance made this one. This might be my all-time favourite such product and I find no fault in it. It's like a regular toner that you apply with a cotton pad, it's almost immediately dry to the touch, it's not sticky and I love that its effect is gradual because that means you easily get a very even tan (before and after is in my original New In post). 

However, I have heard from a few people that this burns on their skin. My skin isn't sensitive at all and I find this toner to be very gentle, but if your skin is sensitive or you ever had some sort of a reaction to skin care, this might not work for you. 

3.49 €

BALEA Beauty Effect Power Maske

If your skin is anything like mine and gets dehydrated as well as a bit drier in the colder months, this is a fantastic mask to treat these problems. It's similar to for example Origin's Drink Up intensive - in my humble opinion they work exactly the same, except that this is a lot cheaper. You apply a thick coat of it after cleansing and leave it overnight. By the morning the skin feels so much better. It also has hyaluronic acid in it, which is always a plus. 

about 3.50 €

BALEA Bodybutter Nuss

I've tried a lot of Balea's body butters but this one is by far the best. It has the best texture so far, but it's still very thick and takes a long time to sink it, however, that makes it excellent for really dry skin. The scent of it is amazing, it's exactly like Monte dessert, so a rich chocolate hazelnut scent that just makes you want to eat it. I've seen a few of these in small DM's but I think they are slowly disappearing from the shelves.

2.99 €

BELLES SAISONS Eau de Cologne Lavande

The gods of irony must be laughing that one of the cheapest things on this list is actually a fragrance. Ok, it's a cologne that's actually for men, but it still counts. I discovered it whilst exploring E.Leclerc's beauty section which is a real treasure trove of products that aren't sold anywhere else in Slovenia. I always wanted a lavender fragrance and this one smells so good. It's a eau de cologne, so it won't last all day, but the bottle is truly massive, so you can completely drench yourself in it. I added a spray pump, just to make it easier to use, otherwise it's like any other men cologne just with an opening.

E.Leclerc, 1.51 € (250 ml) 

eBay Metallic Rose Gold Brushes

Blush brush and contour brush

Oh eBay. Sometimes you just blow me away. These brushes are beyond amazing for the price! I only have two so far, but I'll sure be buying some more. They look expensive, though the handle is plastic, which is actually much better to me and the bristles are amazingly soft. The blush brush a classic rounded, but flat design and it's among the smaller such brushes, but I love more precise brushes for blush and it's quite soft, so well suited for very pigmented blushes. The contour blush is very dense, wide on one side and flatter on the other. It's a great brush also for foundation due to the density of the bristles and it of course works well for its original purpose, contouring, as it fits into the hollows of the cheeks perfectly.  

1.66 - £1.70

So that is my selection for best under 5 € this year. Other products will follow in the next days.

Have a great day!

New In #37

ESSENCE All About Nude and All About Bronze Palettes

I never thought much of Essence eyeshadows. The ones I tried were rubbish, so I avoided buying more, but I heard some good things about these palettes and after swatching them in the shop, I put them on my wishlist. To be fair, since I got theBalm Nude'Tude palette I didn't plan on getting any more cheap eyeshadows, but I bought these because I need them for my work and they were the only ones I could just go and buy in the drugstore - stupid reason, but whatever. When I first tried these, they got a double "hmm" from me. That's the sound I make when I'm feeling underwhelmed by the product, basically it's not a good sign when I do this. They are nice... ish. Well nice for drugstore eyeshadows, but based on those swatches I made in the shop I expected a lot more pigment. They are just sheerer than I expected, though the bronze shades are nice. I don't know.. .they're not bad, but  theBalm palette is miles better ( and 8-times more expensive). It could just be the top layer and I do have a feeling they are improving the more I use them. 

You can find a few looks I did with them here. My fellow bloggers already wrote a review about these, you can find them here: Adjusting Beauty and Chunky Cheeks.

Müller, 4.39 €

 GOLDEN ROSE Velvet Matte Lipstick

12

I got my first products from this brand. I've heard about it, but they only recently came to Slovenia. They remind me of Kiko in some ways, with the large selection of products and shades as well as very affordable prices. I was highly recommended to try Velvet Matte Lipsticks and I decided on shade 12 after checking Instagram pics and saw a comparison with Mac's Mehr (they're not dupes just to be clear). I like this. It's a nice matte lipstick, quite creamy once you get through the top slightly harder layer and it reminds me a bit of Maybelline's Matte lipstick. Shade 12 is a medium muted rose, a natural shade, but darker than my lips. It's like a darker Nude-ist and I'm quite liking it at the moment. I did a swatch on the lips bellow, but I hate winter for taking swatches, so it's not completely spot on, but close enough.

Golden Rose, 3.90 €

GOLDEN ROSE Matte Lipstick Crayon

02, 03 and 05

Another product I was recommended to try and heard raves about. I get quite a few e-mails and messages from readers and friends about really dark, plumy shades and the darkest shade I own is Mac's Diva, so I wanted to explore some more affordable and ever darker options. I choose two very deep shades, 02 and 03. The first is a deep red that is similar to Diva and 03 is a deep brownish plum, which I'm not so sure about, it's not terribly pretty, but it very close to some pictures I got sent (from Pinterest obviously, which are all so clearly photoshopped). My cousin also lend me shade 05 which is a deep red. The formula is a bit creamier than of Velvets and it's not that easy to get very precise edges with it, so a lip liner is still a must at such dark shades. I noticed that some shades in the Velvet Matte range and Matte Crayon are basically the same, 02 is 23 in Velvet, 03 is 29 and 07 is 12 (Ajda is wearing Velvet 23 here). These need to be sharpened which I'm not a fan of. 

Not the best swatches, but I wanted to post them now, since I have a feeling it will take me some time to do proper reviews.

 Golden Rose, 3.90 €

GOLDEN ROSE Extreme Sparkle Eyeliner

103

I wanted a gold eyeliner for my holiday look and when I was checking the Golden Rose website before going to the actual shop, I chose Metallic Eyeliner in 02, but when I swatched them, this one looked more special, so I chose glitter over metallic. It looked a bit thin when I swatched it at home again and indeed it is a product that requires two layers, but I love the effect of it. It sparkles so nicely on the eyes, which looks so glamorous. The colour is a very yellow gold, which isn't the best, but I'm pleased with this and would love to get the silver version as well. You'll see it in action in my holiday inspired post (still working on it).

 Golden Rose, 4.50 €

 GOLDEN ROSE Eyeshadow Crayon

14

Since I discovered Kiko's Eyeshadow Sticks, I've been loving these type of creamy products as bases because they make even the cheap eyeshadows work perfectly, not to mention how quick they are to apply. I got the shade 14 which is  a warm hazelnut brown shade with a metallic finish. It's not as good as Kiko's, by that I mean it's not as intensely pigmented, it just means that the products need to be layered and when it comes to eyeshadows that's not the best thing as thick layers are prone to creasing, however, I do really like this. It blends nicely and works well as a base. The one thing I'm not a fan of is that it needs to be sharpened, which is a hassle and you essentially throw away some of product when you do it. 

Golden Rose, 3.30 €

 GOLDEN ROSE Jolly Jewels Nail Lacquer

103

Golden Rose has the most impressive nail polish collection I've ever seen. They truly have an astonishing range of colours and finishes. I wanted a dense gold glitter nail polish, which I actually searched for all over my home town. This one isn't quite it, but it caught my eye because it has an interesting combination of small gold glitter with large copper hexagons. It's not fully opaque even with several coats, instead it's more of a top coat. It sparkles under the artificial light, though when you look at it closely, it's a bit strange, since the base is warm gold and then the hexagonal flakes are copper. The removal process is understandably a nightmare, those copper hexagons stick to the nails so fast you need some ungodly power to get them off. Picture of it on my nails here.

Golden Rose, 3.10 €

 ESSENCE The Gel Nail Polish 

50 i feel good

I got this purely to do some nail art, which failed so miserably. I never owned a green nail polish, frankly it's a weird colour to wear on the nails to me (and the comments I got were hilarious). This one is a dark forest green. The formula is lovely, it's one of those gel formula ones, so it's excellent.  

Müeller, 1.69 €

 eBay Metallic Rose Gold Brushes

Blush brush and contour brush

These are beyond amazing for the price! I got then immediately after seeing them of Petra's Instagram and got only two to try, but I'm getting the whole set for sure or at least the powder one and another set of these two. These look expensive, though the handle is plastic, which is actually much better to me as I would hate to have a heavy brush to handle. The bristles are amazingly soft and these just feel well made. 

 The blush brush fits my cheeks well, some might find it a bit small, but I prefer more precise blush brushes. It's the type of brush I would use with more pigmented blushes as it's not very dense. By the way, the bristles are synthetic. 

The contour brush is dense, just the way I like it and it can work as a great foundation brush. I tried contouring with it which ended up very well. Great brush.

 Petra already wrote an awesome and comprehensive review, so I probably won't write any more than in this New In.

eBay, blusher brush (contour) £1.70, facial brush (blush) £1.66

YVES ROCHER Exfoliating Bubble for Bath 

Spicy Vanilla

Last year I won a shower gel in Yves Rocher's Christmas/December giveaway and I loved it. It was really good, so this year I decided to give their holiday collection a go. These bubbles looked the coolest and when I saw they have three version, all of which mention cinnamon in one way or another, I really wanted one. I checked all of them in the shop, the Orange-Cinnamon version, the Orange-Almond one and this one, Spicy Vanilla, and to be completely honest they all smelled the same, just like Jaffa Cakes. I'm not a fan of the latter, I mean jam with chocolate, where is this world going, but it's kind of a nice scent for Christmas I guess. The gel is thick, which I like and the exfoliating particles aren't just for show, though it's not a proper scrub. The one thing I hate about this bubble is that there is no proper "delivering system", it's just a gaping hole when you open it and it's hard to control the amount you want. Nice, but the packaging needs an update.

Yves Rocher, 5.90 €

YVES ROCHER Perfumed Bath Oil

Spicy Vanilla

This has an even more unfortunate packaging than the Bubble for Bath. It's seriously so stupid. There is a tiny hole through which the product should be delivered, but unless you shake this vigorously, nothing comes out. So you spend a better part of the shower shaking this like a moron for a few drops of the oil. The scent is more vanillary that the Exfoliating bubble, but it's still all about the Jaffa biscuits. It's light oil compared to L'Occitane's, but it emulsified to a thin foam and doesn't dry out the skin. The ingredients are cheap, main is mineral oil, then there is some maze oil plus fragrance. It's nice, but I need to figure out how to fix the packaging problem. It's also a very pretty decoration on the shelf. 

Yves Rocher, 7.5 €

MILANI Powder Blush 

01 Romantic Rose (borrowed)

This isn't mine, but I sure wish it was. These have been on my wishlist for absolutely ages and when my cousin came round enthusiastically waving the new Milani lipstick in Darling she got because of me, she also showed me this and asked me if I'd like to review it. I adore this. It's so good, like HG material. The shade is so lovely, a natural brownish-muted pink-mauve, complicated to describe but something along the lines of Catrice's I'm Nuts About You. It's very pigmented, blends nicely and looks superb on the cheeks. And the design is sooooo pretty! You shall hear a lot of gushing about it here in the future. Basically I want all of these, well the natural shades, I'm not sure I can pull off Coral Cove, it looks very intense.

Milani EU 9.16 €; Milani USA $7.99; Beauty Crowd, £7.20; Moja Drogerija, 14.41 €; Click2Chic, 10.46 €

YANKEE CANDLE Cranberry Pear

When it comes to Yankee Candle, I'm one of those that is mainly unimpressed, but constantly tempted especially at Christmas. I fell in love with this scent instantly. I won't write this poetic description of the scent, I'll just say what it actually smells like and that is wild strawberries and a bit of pine, which actually ends up smelling like picking strawberries in the forest (something I do every year and I just love that smell). I've actually never found any scent that would mimic wild berries, they smells so much nicer that garden ones and taste far better too, so I'm delighted to have found this. The scent it very intense and even unlit/melted it fills the room. But basically it doesn't smell like neither pear nor cranberry. 

Yankee Candle, 1.99 €

YANKEE CANDLE Season of Peace

This one reminds me of my late grandmother, or at least the smell of her house. It's somewhat like Soft Blanket, so a clean and warm scent. It's like a fabric softener, I'm sure my grandma had a laundry detergent or a fabric softener with this scent, so it must be something that was sold here 15 years ago, but I haven't a clue which one she used (maybe Silan. I think I saw a bottle of it in her house). 

Yankee Candle, 2.60 €

YANKEE CANDLE Shea Butter

Another gorgeous scent. Shea butter doesn't smell as nice as this, but I can smell it mixed in the scent. It's warm, creamy and clean. It like a generic body cream in the scent that everyone likes. Love this. 

Yankee Candle, 2.60 €

YANKEE CANDLE Snowflake Cookie

This is pretty much the same as their Christmas Cookie. There's loads of gourmand vanilla and this baked note. It sounds strange I know, but when you bake cookies and you just take them out of the oven, there is this smell of baked. It's kind of a classic candle that you burn when you want to make it appear like you baked something, but were too lazy to do it and you just sneakily bought them in the supermarket.

Yankee Candle, 2.60 €

L'OREAL Elnett Heat Protect Spray - Straight 

Elnett Hitze Styling Sprays 3 Tage Glatt 

A couple of weeks ago I met the lovely Petra from Adjusting Beauty blog, whom I mention a lot on my blog and we even did my first (an only) collaboration a while ago. She surprised me with a set of samples when we were saying goodbye (thanks again <3) and this was among it. This has been on my wishlist for quite a while, but I always have other products to finish, so I'm been putting off purchasing it. It's a very basic heat protectant that is light and simple, so it fits many hair types and I've been enjoying using it precisely because of that. Actually it's no different to me from the Bumble and Bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Heat UV Protective Primer, which is a lot more expensive. If you're looking for something similar, but for a lot cheaper, this is it. I will buy a full size one day. It has a simple, hair care scent.   

I think it's about 7 €

AVON Advance Techniques 360 Nourishment Moroccan Argan Oil Mask

I have this prejudice that Avon't stuff isn't all that impressive when it comes to dealing with very dry hair. I always imagine they have some diluted, super liquid hair masks, but his one is thick and feels like it will do something. It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't quite enough for my hair, however, I could see it working for moderately dry hair. Full size looks like this (also a pic of shampoo)

Avon, regular price 5.70 €

AVON Advanced Techniques Supreme Oils Shampoo

This was a pleasant surprise to me. It didn't leave my hair stripped and that is a sign of a good shampoo to me. If you have dry hair, this is worth trying out. 

Avon, regular price 4.60 €

AVON Planet Spa Sleepy Serenity Pillow Mist

Petra raved about this a while ago and remember being intrigued as I love such scents. It smells very calming, they describe it as a mix of lavender and camomile, but the latter is much more dominant. From the start this is a dead ringer for the Kamagel's scent to me (camomile based ointment made by Slovene pharmaceutical company Krka), but it then switches to a more lavender based scent. Very calming and very lovely. I can't find this in the catalogue, so I don't know how much it costs or if it still exists. Petra's review here. 

EBELINE Nagellack Entferner

Nail polish remover

I got this one because of the packaging. It's one of those where you press the cotton pad at the top and it pumps the product up, soaking the cotton pad. One pump delivers pretty much the perfect amount of product for me, others might be used to more, but it can start spraying/dripping if you're too greedy for the product. It's nothing special when it comes to removing. It's not particularly strong, so I probably won't repurchase.  

DM, 1.39 €

 ESSENCE Quick and easy Sponge Nail Polish Remover

This one is more expensive than the Ebeline one I usually buy, but that one gets dirty so fast, so I'm looking for something better (Bourjois' is excellent, but too expensive. Ombia's is total crap). So far I've only used it with light nail polishes because I don't want to ruin it straight away, but it's ok. It does the job.

Interspar, 2.99 €

ESSENCE Holo Stripes Nail Stickers

I got these to do that design that is on the nail wheel next to Golden Rose 103 above. It kind of failed which isn't a surprise. Anyway, there are three thin strips in the set: a silver one, a dark silver one and violet-pink one all with a metallic look, not really holographic. My picture isn't the best, but it's hard to photograph these with a camera phone. They tend to fall off fast without a good layer of top coat. 

 Interspar, 1.39 €

YUMMY Wild Things Shower Gels

Happy Boost and Sexy Boost 

There are new Yummy shower gels called Wild Things which all feature animal prints. I got the zebra Happy Boosts and the snake Sexy Boost, but there are more: the giraffe Classy Boost, leopard Energy Boost, tiger Power Boost, and peacock Vanity Boost. These are pretty basic shower gels that smell nice. They foam well, clean well and that's it. Happy Boost will appeal to many, at least that my experience when I gave these two to people to sniff. It's a classic girly scent, but a bit more sophisticated. It's candy-vanilla sweet, but a bit floral and woody, so it's gourmand without being properly gourmand.

Sexy Boost won't be for everybody though, at least not for those who like simpler scents. It's a proper unisex scent, almost more masculine than feminine. The best way that I can describe it is if I compare it to Axe (Lynx) scents, not the super douchey Dark Temptation, but those green ones. It smells a lot more masculine in the bottle, but in the shower it's more tame. The base is citrusy, I get lime, though its described as earthy. The sharper note that gives the scent defining character is spice, cardamom in particular. I actually like this scent a bit more than the Happy Boost and I'm not a girl for unisex scents. 

Click2Chic, 4.95 €

Have a great day!