Products I regret buying: Catrice Longlasting Eye Pencil Waterproof

 QUICK FACTS

Price: ~ 2,25 Euros

Range: 8 shades

Available at: Drugstore

CATRICE SAYS:

“Long-lasting and waterproof. Highly pigmented, colour intense and with different effects, the Long Lasting Eye Pencil Waterproof is sure to make your eyes stand out from the crowd. Its smooth texture is particularly simple and accurate to apply. Easy to remove using eye make-up remover. Automatic pencil with a twist mechanism for the mine, includes a sharpener at the end of the pencil.”

MY OPINION:

I went kind of crazy in front of the CATRICE counter when I bought these 5 shades not too long ago. I made you guys some swatches below. Oh and in case you were wondering… Yes, I inserted the right pictures below. You can’t see anything? Don’t worry, me either. That’s because all of my eyeliners completely dried up and got loose from the base after only two months of purchase. I am so disappointed! I have mentioned in the past, how much I love the brand but these are just a complete and total fail! (and it´s been a while since I have been really upset about a product performance!)

According to the packaging they are supposed to have a shelf life of about 6 months, which unfortunately I can´t confirm (not even if I wanted to). I also can´t confirm that they had a smooth texture, mine felt quite harsh to apply compared to the CATRICE XXXXX which were very creamy and now unfortunately discontinued. It such a shame to see that although they do have a beautiful color range (especially the blue, lilac and green shades fascinated me) they basically become unusable after such a short period of time. I personally feel that this product is just money down the drain, no matter how pretty the shades are. Honestly what’s the point of buying something you will end up throwing away 8 weeks later because it´s unusable?

ALL HOPE LOST?

Luckily, no. Although the “Longlasting Eye Pencils Waterproof” were a big fail the “Liquid Metal Gel Eye Pencils” seem to perform way better. They are a bit more expensive (~3,29 compared to 2,25 Euros) but they are a thousand times smoother, creamier and also offer a very nice range of colors. I have recently purchased one (click here if you want to see my "Catrice" HAUL) and I am still testing it out. So far so good :-)

Do you have any products you regret buying?

 xoxo, 

Christina 

BUY or SKIP? The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil

QUICK FACTS

Price: £10/$18/€12 

Content: 200ml

 Available at: The Body Shop (online or in-store)

  

BUY or SKIP ?

Are you looking for a waterproof make-up remover that is not only effective but also gentle to your skin then definitely give this one a try! (BUY)

If you want to be able to control how much product exactly comes out the bottle you might want to SKIP this product as it´s quite hard to get only little product out. If however you are planning to use 1 or 2 full pumps anyway…BUY!

Panda eyes hater? Skip! However stay assured that once you rinse the product off with some water and carefully wipe off whatever might be left with a tissue/make-up/baby wipe your skin will be completely clean. 

If you are looking for a cheap make-up remover, you might want to SKIP this one. Let’s face it 12 pounds/euro is not exactly cheap. However compared to other cleaning oils out three it is definitely more wallet friendly, plus mine latest my about 6 months! (BUY)

OTHERS

After years of using make-up wipes to remove my make-up I switch to cleaning oils and I have not regret this decision whatsoever. The make-up removing wipes always felt quite harsh on my skin (especially around the eye area) no matter how careful I was or what brand I was using. In my opinion Neutrogena still has the best ones out there but cleansing oils have made a big difference in my daily routine. Why? Because it just feels so much softer and even moisturizing on my skin than wipes and they take off my waterproof mascara without any hassle. Honestly go give them a try, if you haven’t yet!  

Hope this helps you on your decision whether to BUY or SKIP this cleansing oil!

  

 xoxo, 

Christina 

NotW: My french manicure secret

  

I have mentioned in the past how much I like a French manicure because it is a very elegant and classy look that is perfect for every occasion. Although the design looks quite simple, creating that crisp white line is pretty much a hit or miss affair.

The secret behind every nail polish design: practice, practice, practice! Yes, you heard me. It took me a few nail polish bottles and a lot of practice and patience to achieve a result I was happy with. Whenever you might get frustrated just remember: practice makes perfect.

There is one trick in particular I really like because it doesn´t require you to be super neat yet achieves a pretty much flawless manicure. All you need is nail polish remover and an angled brush.

How to recreate this design:

1. Take your white nail polish and paint the upper third of your nail (tip). You can be as sloppy or neat as you want, just make sure to paint your tip a bit thicker as you want it to look like in the end.

2. Take your angled brush (any angled eye shadow brush will do – just for reference I used the Essence one for my manicure) and dip it in nail polish remover. Pad off the excess and carefully start “erasing” the white nail polish creating a half moon shape. The white nail polish can be still wet or dry as long as you pad off the excess nail polish remover before “erasing” the white polish. You can dip the brush as many times in nail polish remover and erase wherever the white nail polish might have gotten.

3. Once you are satisfied with your result take a sheer rose or transparent nail polish color and you over the entire nail with it. That´s it!

If you still feel this sounds very complicated why not try an ombre French manicure? Here is some inspiration for that design as well.

 Have a great week!

 xoxo, 

Christina

Germany Haul aka Catrice Haul

A couple of days ago I went to visit some friends in Germany and of course I had to stop by the drugstore and check out one of my favorite make-up brands: "Catrice".

About an hour later my basket was full and my wallet empty, but I don´t regret it. I haven’t purchased in a while and unfortunately I don´t have a Catrice counter nearby, so I indulged myself during this trip. Anyway let me show you what I ended up getting.

What did I purchase?

Ultimate Stay Lipstick "Plum and Base" (4,99€)

Finally I can call this beautiful lipstick mine! I have wanted to try it, ever since it came out months ago. I absolutely love the design of the packaging, it´s a timeless sleek matt black tube, which just looks very elegant. The lipstick color is a relative dark blue toned berry color with a satin matt finish that lasts easily 3-4 hours on my lips. I am still on the “trying out” process but so far I love it!

All Matt Plus foundation in "010 Light Beige" (6,49€)

This was more or less an impulse buy but the color matches my skin and the price my wallet. My first impression is good. It definitely has a matt finish and stays on your face for around 6-8hs. We will see want the long-run test says.

Lash/Brow definer (2,99€)

I needed a new brow gel and decided to give this one a try. Let´s see how it works!

Liquid metal eye shadow "Gold leaf me" (3,95€)

“Gold leaf me” is a beautiful metallic olive green shade which to me was reason enough to buy it. If it applies as nice as it swatches I will be super happy with my purchase.

Liquid metal eye shadow "Gold n´roses" (3,95€)

This is another product I wanted to try out for a while and now I finally got it. “Gold n´roses” is a rose-gold shade I cannot wait to play around with it.

Limited Edition Baked eye shadow "Lovely Lace" (3,95€)

A dirty golden greenish color and and definitly an impulse buy. So far though, no regrets.

Liquid Metal Gel Eye Pencil "Blingo Starr" (3,29€)

I must say that this gel eyeliner has a super smooth consistency and the color just impressed me so much in store. It is a silver-gold shade which is quite unique if you ask me. I plan to use in the inner corner or even as a base all over the lid.

Liquid Liner Waterproof (3,79€)

The non-waterproof version is my favorite liquid liner so I wanted to give the waterproof version a try and see which one I like the most.

Ultimate Stay Lip liner "Boysenberry" (2,25€)

I bought this lip liner to go along with some of my raspberry lipstick shades. So far I am kind of disappointed because the pencil just feels really dry and I have to press quite hard on it to get it to show up on my lips.

Re-Touch Light Reflecting concealer "005" (3,99€)

What can I say... you can never have enough concealer and I love trying them out. Although 3,99 for only 1,5ml is quite expensive...

Limited Edition Lose Sparkles in "Soft Shimmer" (3,75€)
Super fine shimmer particles that I am not quite sure yet how I will use, but I liked them in store and I am sure I will find a purpose for them.

Have you purchased anything from "Catrice" lately?

xoxo, 

Christina 

Nail Designs in 2014

Looking for some nail design inspirations?

I just finished a collage with all the nail designs I created in 2014. If you are intrested in reacreating any of these designs just click on the links below and they will redirect you to the according blog post.

PS: the pictures above are in cronological order just in case you were wondering.

Nail of the week #1: here
Nail of the week #2: here
Nail of the week #3: here
Nail of the week #4: here
Nail of the week #5: here
Nail of the week #6: here
Nail of the week #7: here
Nail of the week #8: here 

xoxo, 

Christina 

Monthly Empties: December 2014

Dove maximum protection deodorant // 45ml // ~£5
I really like the Dove "pomegranate verbena" shower gel which was one of the reasons why I decided to try this deodorant. While I liked the protection (white stains alert!) I wish the scent would have been more predominant. The scent was very subtle, almost too subtle if you ask me.

Lee Stafford hair treatment // 200ml //~£8

I am not sure if this treatment did anything to my hair. You are supposed to use it in between shampoo and conditioner, which I honestly find quite a hassle. My hair didn´t grow any faster and I think I prefer putting on a hair mask and skipping this additional step in the shower. No repurchase from my side.

Naked rescue conditioner // 250ml // ~£5

I liked this conditioner under the shower. It has a quite thick consistency and a very nice almond (+coconut?) smell. Once I rinsed this off my hair and stepped out of the shower my hair didn´t feel as nice as it normally does with other conditioners. I might give this conditioner another shot in the future but right now I don´t think I will repurchase it.

VO5 Gloss me smoothly shampoo // 500ml // ~£2-4

A solid shampoo, that lasted me a lifetime. This bottle has been in my shower for about a year and I can´t deny that I am happy it is gone. Won´t repurchase it anytime soon but that´s because I want to try out other shampoos not because I didn´t like it.

Rituals foot lotion (sample size, 50ml)
The foot lotion definitely smelled minty and I could feel a sort of cooling effect on my skin which was particularly nice during the warmer months.  Would I repurchase a full size? Probably not, because of the price.

Rituals body cream (sample size, 50ml)

This was a really nice body lotion. It provided enough moisture and had a nice fresh scent. Again, because of the price I don´t know whether I would repurchase it or spend my money on a Soap and Glory body butter instead. Perhaps I might splurge on this body cream in the future and get the full size, but for now I am good.

Rituals foaming shower gel (sample size, 50ml)

I know a lot of people that rave about the rituals foaming shower gels. After having tried this one, I must say I prefer the Foamburst ones.
The product comes out as a liquid and you need to start rubbing it onto your Skin in order for it to foam up. I felt that I was wasting product because the liquid went everywhere... Foamburst shower gels come out as a gel and foam up almost immediately, kind of like shaving gel. Would I repurchase it? I can’t justify spending around 7 pounds for a full size bottle, although the smell was divine.

 Did you finish some beauty products recently?

 xoxo, 

Christina