Face serums reviews – part 2

Let’s continue with other two face serums that I tried past few months. I wrote on Monday about the face serums with natural ingredients and that I expected more from them so let’s see if these two are any better.

Illuminating hydrating care by Corine de Farme

Even though it is not officially a serum I used it instead of serum under my light moisturizer with SPF 30 by Garnier Ambre solaire.

Price: 8,59€ for 50ml at DI drugstore in Belgium.

Scent: it had floral fresh scent that I actually really enjoyed it.

Texture: it had creamy texture with silicone touch to it which made it excellent base under the makeup. It evened out the skin instantly.

My experience: although I didn’t notice any major changes in my skin, it smoothed my skin and got it ready for the makeup application. It also smelled nice, applied and soaked into the skin quite well. It hydrated the skin for about 6-7 hours so I quite liked it. I have other serums to try but if I don’t find anything better for the similar price I may purchase it again.

Retinol Reface serum by Indeed Laboratories

Price: 19,99£ for 30ml in Boots (UK).

Scent: it didn’t have any scent.

Texture: light creamy texture. Easy to apply and it soaked into the skin without problem. The pump was little bit annoying since it would pump different amount of the product every time.

My experience: I was surprised how well the product worked. I used it together with AHA or BHA products, first I applied the acids to clean out the pores and to remove death layer of the skin for better serum penetration. I noticed that my skin got smoother, more even and just nicer. I really liked the serum and I’m totally hooked up on retinol products now. I recently bought Paula’s choice retinol serum as it’s supposed to be the strongest over the counter retinol product on the market. Let’s see if it’s forth 60€. If the result is the same as for this serum by Indeed Labs then I’ll repurchase this one again.

Face serums reviews – part 1

I tried 4 different face serums past 5 months and this is just a short review of what I thought of them. I bought first two at iherb.com and they contain more natural ingredients, other two that I’m going to talk about on Wednesday are not so natural.

CoQ10 Antioxidant serum by Now Foods Solutions

Price: 12,73$ for 30ml at iherb.com

Scent: it has quite an herbal and earthy scent that I wasn’t very fund of.

Texture: it had almost liquid texture, easy to blend and it soaks into the skin instantly.

My experience: I used up the whole bottle and while it did add little bit of moisture to my face I felt like it wasn’t strong enough to change my dry skin and make it look better. To me it was an average serum which I think would be more suitable for normal skin to oily skin.

Vitamin C renewal Vitality serum by Avalon Organics

Price: 19,63$ for 30ml at iherb.com

Scent: it had mixture of orange and cocoa scent which was quite pleasant, it reminded me of Christmas.

Texture: light cream texture, again easy to apply, soaks relatively quickly into the skin.

My experience: I mainly bought it to reduce one sunspot that I have on my right cheek. I gave it a good month and the spot didn’t get lighter. However I noticed that my skin colour looked more unified and that the discoloration, where the pimples were, was gone quite quickly. I think it brightened my skin and it could work even better if the packaging wouldn’t be transparent. When you have a Vitamin C product you have to make sure that it doesn’t come in contact with light before use. Vitamin C is very “photophobic” so I definitely think that this product had even bigger potential. Anyway I think it was good serum and I would repurchase it if I see it on sale.

Naked Smoky palette by Urban Decay

I finally received my 20% off coupon from French Sephora and I immediately jumped from the joy. New Naked Smoky by Urban Decay has been released only recently and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I’m a big fan of Naked palettes, I collect them and love to use them. Let’s see if this one is as good as previous ones.

Price: 49,95€ with 20% off 39,96€.

Texture: all eyeshadows are smooth and blend easily. Most of them are very pigmented, only Radar is little bit less pigmented but it works well to deepen lighter colours so I’m ok with it. The only eyeshadow that the Urban decay could have done better is Armor the eyeshadow with glitter in it. It looks nice on the eyes but the glitter falls off on the face.

Colours: even though it’s called smoky palette, it is very easy to create just everyday look. It has lot of light colours and surprisingly lot of colours with matt finish. It is very versatile and I found myself using it all week without reaching for any extra colour and still creating totally different look. My most favorite colour is High, it is highly pigmented shimmery nude colour that makes your eyes look almost wet.

Longevity: without good primer I noticed that the eyeshadows creased at the end of the day, so I recommend using something underneath them.

Final verdict: definitely worth buying it, especially when you can get it on sale. The sturdy packaging and the brush have good quality and I see myself traveling with it a lot.

Urbaniced lip cream by Essence

When I saw this lip cream on the shelves I immediately thought of Lip tarts by OCC. While these are expensive they are very nice liquid lipsticks. I was very curious to see how these new lip creams by Essence perform and if they are really comparable to OCC.

Price: 2,75€ for lip cream by Essence in German DM drugstore. Lip tarts by OCC cost 18$ in US Sephora (currently on sale for 9$).

Lip tart by OCC (left) and Lip cream by Essence (right)

Scent: lip cream by Essence has nice cocoa scent while the scent of lip tart by OCC reminds me of a paint aroma.

Colours: I’ve seen 2 colours of Essence lip creams, I bought 01 Go for a stroll (bright matt pink). Lip tarts by OCC are sold in several finishes, mine is in matt and this finish is sold in 41 shades.

Pigmentation: I got disappointed very much here. While you need a tiny bit of lip tart by OCC (half a size of brush head that comes with it) you need at least 3 times more of Essence lip cream to get colour everywhere on the lips.

Texture and application: lip cream by Essence has thicker creamy consistency while the lip tart by OCC is liquid. While the texture of Essence lip cream reminds me of dimethicone and is quite smooth on the lips, it forms patches and I had hard time to achieve uniform colour. The OCC tarts while being liquid apply smoothly and evenly on the lips and form one uniform light layer of colour.

Lip tart in colour Hush by OCC (left) and Lip cream in colour 01 Go for stroll by Essence (right)

Longevity: lip tarts by OCC last for 4-5 hours on me, if I don’t eat. Lip cream by Essence stays the same time but it sticks to all dry patches on the lips, soaks into the lines and it doesn’t look good already after half an hour after the application.

Final verdict: apart from the packaging there’s nothing common between the lip cream by Essence and lip tart by OCC. In fact, the lip cream by Essence is so bad that it is going to trash.

Longlasting eye pencils by Essence

Let’s continue with Essence cosmetics today and actually on Friday as well. I bought few products and as you probably read on Monday, I quite liked the new eyeshadow palettes, so let’s see what else is good or not.

Price: 1,55€ in Austrian DM drugstore (how do they make money with that price??).

Longlasting eye pencils by Essence

Colours: I bought 20 Lucky lead which is darker gray (not my favorite, it looks like washed out black) and 02 Hot chocolate which is warm medium brown (makes green eyes look even greener I love it!). On the website they have 8 colours, I’ve seen in the drugstores only 2 that I bought. The pencils are very pigmented and the colours are consistent.

Texture and application: the pencils have creamy texture, creamer than eyeliners by Catrice. They slide on eyes without problems so really easy application. You have some time to blend before they set.

20 Lucky lead (left) and 02 Hot chocolate (right) eye pencils by Essence

Longevity: once they set, they stay on the lid all day even through the work out. I also used them for waterline; there they stayed only for 4 hours so I prefer to use them on upper lid as regular eyeliner.

My verdict: easy to use and very longlasting, that look good on my eyes (especially hot chocolate colour). They are retractable so good for travel and for the price, you can’t beat it. I’m going to look at other colours for sure!

“All about Roses” and “All about nudes” palettes by Essence

I’ve recently seen 5 new palettes by Essence in German drugstore, I swatched them and could not leave them behind. They felt so nice that I had to take with me 2 of them.

Price: 3,95€ in German DM drugstore.

Colours: each palette contains 8 colours. “All about nudes” is a palette with earthy tones (5 matt colours, 2 shimmery colours and 1 matt with micro glitter). “All about roses” is a palette with pinks, mauves and purples (3 matt colours, 5 shimmery colours). They have medium pigmentation, buildable to certain extend.

All about roses eyeshadow palette by Essence

Texture: the eyeshadows are buttery smooth, they blend like a dream. When dipping a brush into them, they have little bit of fallout so tap your brush to remove the excess before applying them onto the eyelids.

Longevity: with just a regular eyeshadow primer they last well except the light colours. Those either fade out completely or crease in the inner part of the eye. If you apply cream eyeshadow underneath them (for example cream eyeshadow pencil by Rimmel, Milani, Bourjois, Astor…), they last all day without creasing or fading.

All about Nudes eyeshadow palette by Essence

Final verdict: east to apply with just enough pigmentation, these palettes are ideal for everyday use, suitable also for beginners. I don’t mind using cream bases underneath the eyeshadows as they look nice. The quality/price ratio is unbeatable so I absolutely recommend trying them.

Weekly self-tanner by Xen-Tan

I tried 3 self-tanners during this summer (2 for body and 1 for face) and this is a review of one of them.

Price: 24,73€ from allbeauty.com ( I bought 2 bottles for 22£ last year when on sale).

What it says on the bottle: quick-drying, with instant colour, olive undertone, vanilla scent and streak-free.

Scent and instant colour: I agree with the scent, the product smells like vanilla during its application. Once the self-tanner starts developing, it has classic self-tanner scent. It has colour indicator as well and that gives you instant colour and helps you to see where you put the self-tanner. It is always very useful to see where you have to blend more to achieve even tan.

Colour: I bought Medium/dark intensity. It gives nice tan with hint of red so your skin looks like freshly suntanned. You get a week-like tan already after 2 applications.

Weekly self-tanner by Xen-Tan

Application: it is easy to apply. It has mousse texture and I used gloves and mitt to apply it. I didn’t get any streaks so I absolutely agree with the claim that it gives non streak tan. It is little bit sticky and takes longer than expected to dry. Plus if you sweat in the sleep or just don’t let it dry completely before putting on clothes, it will stain your pajama and bed sheets.

Longevity: after 2 applications the tan lasted on me 8-10 days, after that it started to fade away in patches. It was hard to remove, so for few days it didn’t look the best (if I didn’t add new self-tan). You can get 10 applications from 1 bottle, so one bottle will last you about 5 weeks.

Final verdict: it is expensive, fades in patches and stains the sheets. It is quite a pity since it lasts long time and looks really nice. I will use up second bottle but won’t repurchase it. Mousse by Saint Tropez wins over it any time.

Blush and glow collection by N.7

I’m always trying cream face products, especially from a drugstore. It is hard to find good one and at the same time I’m thinking why? They are great not only for dry skin to create glow but also for oilier skin girls to use them as a base for powder products for better makeup longevity.

Price: 15£ in Boots drugstore in UK. It was really good value considering that 1 product alone costs 9,95£.

“Pop & glow” blush: it is bright pink (colour “Rose blossom”). It is hard to blend as it moves around and leaves patches behind. If you leave it unblended (so bright pink) it is too bright for my light skin tone, but it may suit darker skin tone in unblended state better. It dries into matt powder finish and doesn’t stay sticky at all. On me it lasts no more than 4 hours.

“Instant radiance” highlighter: it is light shimmery champagne colour that gives soft highlight. It blends quite nicely, not like the blush, so it is also suitable for beginners. I quite like it, I use it when wearing a no makeup look. I use it together with BB cream and the skin looks nice and glowy. As with the blush it doesn’t last longer than 4 hours.

“Instant radiance” bronzing highlighter: it has warm shimmery bronze colour. It blends easily, doesn’t feel sticky and stays on my skin up to 4 -5 hours. It creates beautiful bronzy, sun kissed look on the face, similar to J-Lo effect. It is my favorite from the trio, I used it a lot this past summer to create glowy bronzy look.

Final verdict: I’m getting rid of blush, I’m going to use up champagne highlighter but I wouldn’t repurchase it. On the other hand, I really like bronzing highlighter and I may repurchase it once I use it up completely.

Creme Puff blush by Max Factor – more colours

I’ve already done a post about Crème puff blush by Max Factor and I really liked that one I reviewed. It is comparable to Ambient lighting products by Hourglass and I couldn’t resist buying more colours. They costs normally 12€ but you can buy them for 8,45€ in German DM drugstore so of course I bought other 3 colours. I hope the Max Factor will come out with bronzers and highlighters with this formula as well.

Top row: 25 Alluring Rose and 15 Seductive pink, bottom row; 10 Nude mauve and 30 Gorgeous berries

from left to right: 10 Nude mauve, 25 Alluring rose, 15 Seductive pink and 30 Gorgeous berries

Have you tried these blushes? Let me know!

New in drugstore: in-shower makeup remover by Nivea

I can’t even explain how excited I am! I’ve been using Paula’s choice makeup remover for at least 5 years and till now there was nothing similar on the market that would cost less than Paula’s product. The main strength of the cleanser is that you can use it on the face and eyes comfortably in the shower. Finally, the day has come that I saw the advertisement for new Nivea product and I’m happy as one can be when finding a treasure….

In-shower makeup remover by Nivea vs Cleanser by Paula's Choice

Price: 3,95€ for 150ml in German DM drugstore (Paula’s choice costs 29,90€ for 473ml which would be 9,48€ for 150ml plus shipping of 6,95€).

Consistency and scent: it has creamy consistency, white colour and no scent.

Application: in the shower, preferably with dry hands, take a small size of the cleanser and start with circular motions on the eyes to remove mascara and eye makeup, then massage the rest on the face as well. Simply rinse it all off and voila, the face and eyes are clean.

In-shower makeup remover by Nivea

The main reason I like using this kind of products is that during the application you don’t tag on your delicate skin on and around eyes, the cream glides and removes makeup without tearing up the skin.

Effectiveness: apart from waterproof mascara (or regular Rocket mascara by Maybelline) it removes everything and leaves the skin and eyes makeup free. It doesn’t dry my skin and doesn’t sting my eyes (unless you really try to remove that rocket mascara). In case of stubborn mascara it leaves behind probably 5% of it (it is the same for Paula’s choice cleanser).

My verdict: it is as good as Paula’s choice cleanser, it is cheaper and easier to get. I’m sold!

Master sculpt by Maybelline

Contouring and the highlighting has been quite a craze over last 2 years and lot of high end brands came out with their contouring products. On the other hand it’s been very hard to find a contouring and highlighting product in drugstores. There is not much to choose from at all and you can rarely find something good. Maybelline came out recently with contouring-sculpting powder so I was very excited to try it out.

Master sculpt by Maybelline

Price: 13,49€ in DI drugstore in Belgium.

Colours: I bought Contouring palette n.1 Light/medium. The contouring colour is light neutral brown. It is so light that I cannot imagine using it for medium skin tone by any means. Even when you build it up it is not very intense. Highlighting colour is off white with pearl finish shade with some small glitter here and there. The colour would be visible also on medium skin tone (with intensive application).

Consistency and application: contouring colour is quite smooth and blendable so it is easy to apply. Since it is not intensively pigmented you have less chance to make a mistake. Therefore I think it is very good contouring product for beginners. Highlighting colour is little bit chalky but usable, just tap off excess product before application. It won’t give you an excessive shine but I think it is a good option if you don’t like strong highlighting or if you are a beginner.

Longevity: it doesn’t last as long as some high end products, I noticed that both shades faded away after 4 hours.

Final verdict: if you are a beginner and quite pale, plus on the budget, definitely try this product. If you already have some contouring and highlighting products it is not worth buying. In any case, I’m pleased to see that the drugstore brands are coming out with the contouring palettes.