Project Polish

Hello,

it is time for the empty nail polishes and the ones that are past its prime. Today I have three of them and that completes 18 bottles out of my collection and I'm getting closer to the number 100. For this year I set myself a goal to get under 100 bottles of colored nail polish (I'm not counting clear base and top coats).

I'm starting with super old Avon bottle from their nailwear pro line (now this line has a + added at the end and when the bottles still look the same they carry less product, now you get 10 ml). Mine is in the shade Romance. Here on the photo you can't see but it is a duo chrome and shifts from silver to light lavender depending on the light. I used a good third of it and I think I liked it back in the days, anyway now I can't remember when was the last time I used it. I simply just don't want to wear it so I'm gonna declutter it from my life.

Next to it is one of my beloved babies. It is Catrice Dirty Berry and there is nothing dirty about it. Lovely lavender color has been upgraded with small holo glitter. It is not a strong holographic nail polish but it seems to me that they offered this for us who were just getting our toes dipped into the rainbow water and deciding if we like it or not (BTW, I love it and can't wait for new Essence polishes which will be full on holos available in 5 shades). This one also carries a special moment for me. I lend it to my sister for her graduation and just thinking how important this was for her it makes me all warm to know that my little polish was also a part of it.

On the last spot we have Essence Yes, we pop! LE in the Hey Smiley shade. I remember getting this in a giveaway and it is not a shade I would pick myself but I was pleasantly surprised. It is a medium pink color and compared with some other similar shades this one has a touch of berry in it if that makes sense and I think that was the reason why I liked it (I also owned Avon shade Wandering Rose and they were really similar except this one was a bit warmer and berry like. I ended up giving the Avon one to my sister and I kept this one). It is not empty but at the bottom it started to change color, in person it is way more obvious as it is almost white. I decided not to mess with it and discard it.


This was it for this month, I'm quite pleased with myself even though I only finish one bottle but the fact that I'm getting rid of something is big for me. I don't like to admit but I am a hoarder and until something is completely drained out I don't like to let go. Probably just a year ago I would try to use both colors (Romance and Hey Smiley) up despite not liking one color and the other one looking all marbled but not in the good way.




Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Magical Bluelight

Hello,

the red came off and I was browsing through my unused polishes and my eye immediately locked on one of the two Moon Rocks that I own. What kind of Moon Rocks I'm talking about? See below...

Catrice has them, Moon Rocks come in six shades if I'm not mistaken and they are currently on sale. Apparently there was not enough interest in them, who would guessed? I would think that everyone would like a piece of the Moon. I am showing you the whimsical shade called Magical Bluelight. I can't see any blue in it but freedom of speech is something we all have to respect.

This was two easy coats and on the nails it looks a bit more lavender and less grey but it is still a beauty in my opinion. If you take a closer look there is a lot going on. Golden and silver shimmers are fighting for some limelight while the golden bar glitters take most of the attention away. You might expect that it is gritty but it is not, it is actually very smooth for a glitter bomb that it is.
I'm absolutely in love with it and I can't wait to wear the berry shade from the same collection.

P.S. You should better hurry if you want to get your hands on them because they are flying from the shelves.




Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Lip smoothers

Hello,

on my recent trip to the store where I picked up more or less everything that I wanted from Catrice before they completely discontinued some products I also picked up these two guys.

I wanted another shade but it was sold out (in 4 different stores!) so I picked up the other two shades available. They are Catrice Beautifying lip smoothers in Coffee to go and Best mauve ever.

They come in a squeeze tube with 'fuzz' on top. Similar stuff that is on the doe foot applicator sans the long stick. In fact I prefer tubes since they are easier to apply product wile you are on the go and don't have a mirror (long applicator makes it harder to get the lips if you can't see where it is).

When I squeezed them for the first time the product that came out looked very different (I don't mean the color but I focus on the texture). On the Coffee to go shade the product is oilier and on the darker one it is thicker (Best mauve ever shade was released later hence the slight change in the design but I don't know how old each one is). After using the nude shade a couple times it normalized, the product that comes out isn't as oily anymore and it is easier to use but the mauve shade is still a bit harder. The product still comes out in distinct bubbles.

They are both quite sheer but they do carry some pigment. My lips are naturally reddish so the Coffee to go shade acts a little light on me, so probably I will wear it only at home. The other swatch was made with Best mauve ever shade and you can see that it isn't as 'oily' as the first shade but I prefer the color as it matches my natural coloring better and it actually accentuates it but I have to be careful not to apply too much because it can bleed over the lines of my lips and it can turn me into a clown.
I have used them when my lips were really dry and I even had a little crack in the corner which was painful whenever I opened my mouth very wide. It felt like a oily gloss on the lips but after a couple of layers it managed to heal that crack and my lips felt moisturized and ready to be kissed.
These two guys have become my new healers (I still love the Catrice luxury oils but since these two come in a tube I find them easier to reapply but essentially they perform the same, actually I would say that the smoothers stay on for longer then the oils so I like them a bit more but that doesn't help since they are all discontinued).
I'm ready to sign some kind of petition to bring them back, thank god Essence has lip oils in their collection but wait, it would be too good to be true if they would keep them. Yep, they are about to discontinue them as well. I will be buying some of them even though I haven't tried them jet, I'm really into lip oils and I can't believe they are retiring them so fast after bringing them to life.




Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Illuminating face cream gel

Hello,

I have one more Essence product for you to show it. It is not something I would pick it up myself because I'm struggling with an oily skin and this looks pretty glowing while still in the bottle. Will I like it enough to use it or will I pass it to someone else?

This is Essence Illuminating face cream gel with awake effect from their Hip Girls wear Blue Jeans limited collection (in some remote stores they still have a pretty good selection of products).

I think that the awake effect comes from the pearly shimmer that is inside this bottle. The cream color blends in and is not visible, just the shimmer stays. Otherwise the product comes in a nice glass bottle with a convenient pump.

This is it, freshly from the bottle. It is not too liquid-y that it would ruin down your face but the texture is still very light and quite gel like.

When you start rubbing it in the pearl effect really comes to life and the more you blend the more shimmery it is appearing.

This is when it is fully absorbed, thankfully it is not sticky but the shimmer is there. Particles are very small and silver but still very visible on the sun. In my opinion they look very obvious even though they are super small. I'm getting the Vampire vibe with this on my face and is not what I'm looking for.

I even tried to mix it with the foundation to get that 'glowing' look and it was still too shimmery for me. On the third day I tried it as a highlighter, I placed it only on a high points of my cheek bones and I still didn't liked it because when you blend it out all that is left is shimmer and I just don't roll with that.
I was thinking if I know someone who would enjoy that and I couldn't think of anyone and instead I will take this bottle with me on a vacation and use it on my body for some serious glow on the beach. Of course I will use loads of sun cream because I don't think highlighting burns is nice.




Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Cinnamon Candy

Hello,

I feel like every second cheek product knocks my socks off. I'm on a serious roll because I'm buying and receiving so many that my make-up space is getting seriously crowded and still I manage to find real gems that makes my heart skip a beat.

Let me introduce you to this Essence blush ball in the shade Cinnamon Candy (they have two other more pink versions available as well).

It is domed and the brand suggest you to use it straight from the packaging without the help of a brush but I find this to be weird. I'm someone who uses foundation/BB cream everyday and just the thought to apply this powder straight to the face is unsettling. I prefer to use the brush and place it where I want it and blend it effortlessly. The color is everything, I went pass the 'weird' packaging just because of the color.

It is not too dark for my skin tone and it has some sheen to it. It is not a shimmer or glitter, it is way more subtle but it gives your skin that healthy glow. Honestly, whenever I wear it I skip the highlighter (if you love your highlighter to be seen from outer space than you can add some glow otherwise the blush does it for you).

In some light this looks like a bronzer and I'm having a hard time placing it into the right category. Is it a blush or a bronzer? Ether way, I love it and it makes me sad to see it getting discontinued. If you like it you should better hurry because it will soon be gone along with the other two shades.




Thank you for reading and have a nice day

bronzer brush

Hello,

today I will follow with another LE product that I'm absolutely obsessed with. I have to admit that I would never pick it up myself but I'm so glad that they send it to me because I love it.

This brush comes from Essence Hip Girls wear Blue Jeans and it is called face perfector brush, it is meant to apply blush or bronzer but you can use it for whatever you want.

The bristles are super soft and they stayed like that even after three washes plus I haven't seen any hair falling out. I decided to use it for bronzers and I'm loving it. It softly kisses my skin when I'm applying powder and it blends it so effortlessly. The only 'issue' I have experienced is with harder pressed powders. Because the bristles are so soft they can't pick up powders that are pressed super hard. That is the only 'issue' I have and even that one is not a big one. In conclusion, this brush is my favorite one for applying bronzer and if you are looking for a new cheek brush I would highly suggest you to pick this one up, you won't be disappointed.





Thank you for reading and have a nice day

It is T.G.I.F. time

Hello,

today I'm gonna show you one of those neutral eye shadows that we all probably have in various forms. There is nothing exciting about it but somehow your eye look isn't finished if you don't use it.

For me this Essence eye shadow from their Live.Laugh.Celebrate collection in the shade T.G.I.F. (now I finally know what it means and I totally identify with it) is just that. Slightly boring while in the pan but it makes huge difference when it is applied correctly on the the lid.

Like all of their mono's it comes with a plastic lid so you can stash it on its own or buy the palette to make a little family. For starters I only got one shadow but recently I won a giveaway held by Essence and I receive some other products plus the four pan palette.

This color is very neutral brown with a slight grey in it. On the photo above the color is pretty accurate but on the swatches it looks much warmer. On my lids it also shows up warmer than in the pan so I guess that is the beauty of a warm undertone.

Nevertheless, I find this color to be essential in a lot of my looks. I often use it all over the lid blended up in the crease. One eye shadow look has never been more simple but if you know me then you would know that I like a little shimmer (this one has a matte finish but not a chalky dry one). Often I put over something shimmery or I just use it in my crease and it works like a charm.

I compared it to my all time favorite crease shadow which is also from Essence and it is one of the velvets, in the color Taupe secret except that one is cooler. I'm very pleased with the texture which is buttery soft and has a lot of pigment and minimal powder kick off.
I will get a lot of use out of it and a little dent is already starting to show which is a clear sigh that I'm using it non stop.




Thank you for reading and have a nice day