Review - MAC Studio Waterweight Foundation

Hi lovelies,
How are you? Long time no see.
For a while now I haven't been inspired to blog and kind of gave up on it but inspiration struck today when I was doing my make-up. I have developed very strong feelings about my current foundation so I'm sharing those today.

Skintype

First I shall describe my skin so you'll have an idea if my review can be useful for you. I have very dry skin especially round my nose, around my eyes, middle of my forehead and cheeks. Recently I've noticed little bumps on my skin that aren't pimples but more texture, if you will. Lastly my undereyes are almost transparent and plain purple so difficult to cover up.

I have been using the MAC Studio Waterweight foundation on and off for a year. I use the shade NC20. From the couple foundations that I own that is the one that's closest to my shade so I'm currently back to using it. Initially, a year ago, I was really happy with this foundation. I'm not sure what changed but lately I'm really disappointed by it. The last few weeks that I've been using the foundation it has looked shitty on my skin. I don't wear foundation everyday so I kept on trying to use it but I gave up on it today. Here are my thoughts and concerns.

Review

The MAC Studio Waterweight foundation clings to my dry patches like no other but the absolutely worst part is how it bunches up around my nose/nostril area where it just looks crusty, yes that's a disgusting way to describe it but it's true and nobody want to look crusty, okay?! It also emphasizes my texture.
It has a medium coverage which is fine but it does absolutely nothing for my undereyes. It needs concealer to help with the situation but for some reason the concealer doesn't look good on top of it. Besides that it's streaky when you use a buffing brush so you'd think a beautyblender-type sponge will help but no! that soaks up so much product because the formula is so watery because it's a waterbased foundation (it does blend better though!!!) so I have a lot of issues putting it on properly. I can also say you'll go through a bottle really fast comparing to my other foundations! On the skin it leaves not really a tacky feeling but a greasy feeling. Lately it has also not been my perfect colour so I'm just done with it.

I'm sure this is a lovely foundation when you have a more normal skintype but for my dry skin it does nothing. My skin looks better without it but also note that not many foundations look good on me at the moment.

If you have any foundation recommendations for dry-skinned-gals, PLEASE let me know.

Goodbyeeeee

- Nikki

Lóreal - La Palette Glam REVIEW

Hi babes,
Today I'm going to review La Palette Glam by Lóreal Paris. The reason I bought this is because I wanted to do a Harley Quinn make-up look. I didn't have a bright red or blue eyeshadow so drugstore-make-up-hunting I went. Let me say one thing the drugstore has no bright eyeshadows. Everything is nude!!! Luckily I found one eyeshadowpalette that had bright colours so I picked it up without even thinking about it.

First of all for being drugstore this was quite expensive at 21 EUR. Clearly Lóreal makes a unique product for the drugstore market which the price represents if you ask me. There is literally NO competition for this kind of product. So good job L'oreal for coming up with this palette.

First the positives : This palette is the only one of it's kind so it's special. The packaging is gorgeous, There's a decent amount of shades. At first glance the shades are beautiful with both mattes and shimmer finishes.

Sadly that's where the positives end for me. I was so disappointed in this product. One of my shadows arrived broken but that's not the worst part. The shadows have nearly no colour pay-off. The shadows kick up a lot of powder when you dip your brush in the palette. Which means you''ll have to deal with lots of fall-out under your eyes. There are a few eyeshadows that show up decently on the eye when used with a wet brush like the pink, brown and the red one but all the others are pretty poor quality. The purple shadow is just a disgrace in itself and doesn't show up at all.

To round this review up; I'm disappointed, the shadows are definitely not worth the money.
It's quite sad when a review turns out this bad but at least you don't have to waste your money on it :(
If this product did work out for you let me know!

Goodbyeeee

- Nikki

Review - MakeupGeek Eyeshadows

Hi babes,
By now you'd probably all have heard about Make-upGeek. She has a Youtube-channel and her own make-up line. It has been out for a while but it isn't all that easily available here in Belgium. I finally (praise the lord) managed to find a website that ships to Belgium so I've made an order quite awhile ago to try some of the MakeupGeek eyeshadows. I've heard a lot of good things about them and was very excited to try them out. I've started out by buying my first Z palette and 8 basic shadows of my liking.

Purchases 
- Peach Smoothie
- Frappe
- Cocoa Bear
- Grand stand (foiled shadow)
- Dirty Martini
- Enchanted Forest
- Burlesque'
- Corrupt

Review
Well to be quite honest, I am completely amazed. These shadows are one by one exquisite. The only 'bad' thing I can say about this is that the foiled shadow came broken. When I turned it upside down the shadow all fell out of the tin even though everything looked fine. There is obviously nothing MakeupGeek could have done about this is was packaged with care but shadow tends to be fragile. Luckily I could press the shadow back into the tin without any real trouble.

I especially wanted to buy a few warm shades because I tend to buy cooler shades because of the pink undertones of my skin but I was becoming so sick of those. After watching nearly every Jaclyn Hill tutorial she got me excited to wear colour and more warm tones so I watched every one of her MakeupGeek recommendation videos and made my pick.

I went for shades I definitely lacked in my collection and some basics to try the brand for the first time. I went for a few warm transition shades like 'Peach Smoothie' and 'Frappe'. I got 'Cocoa bear' because who doesn't need a warm brown to put in the outer corner. I got 'Grandstand' which is an amazing glittery shade that is warm and bronze. After searching high and low for a great khaki shade I've settled for 'Dirty Martini' and 'Enchanted Forest' to finish that look off. Both are amazing and don't swatch as great as they are in person. I've never liked green eyeshadow more. I also love a good shimmery burgundy which I found in 'Burlesque'. To finish things off I got a great black shadow which is more pigmented than I've ever seen in a black eyeshadow.

After trying these shadows over and over I'm swept of my feet and will buy many more as soon as I can. Maybe some blues or turquoise? A darker brown? other fun colours? I honestly just want them all.

Overall
Not all these pictures are true to colour. Especially 'Cocoa Bear' doesn't seem quite right. The shadows are amazing. Definitely worth recommending. The shadows are as you probably know pretty cheap at 6.20 euros per pan. I ordered them from beautybay. I didn't have to pay any customs but that could be a coincidence.

From top to bottom, left to right these are the same as listed above. They are listed light to dark.

Have you tried the MakeupGeek brand before? Do you have any recommendations? 

Goodbyeeeee

- Nikki 

Review - Zoeva Retrofuture Eyeshadowpalette

Hi babes,
It's been awhile since I did anything beautywise; Let's switch things up I still absolutely love anything beauty especially make-up so let's do a review. Today I'm talking about the Retrofuture eyeshadow palette by Zoeva.

I've been loving this palette for over a year or maybe two now so I feel like I can give a good review by now. It's a palette with very bright colours that aren't really everyday shadows for the most part so it takes awhile to get the know this palette considering I use it so sparingly. I've did blogposts using this palette before here, here and here. I've did swatches below but they aren't as vibrant as they are in reality, these are made with only one swipe of product.

I mostly use the bottom row but my absolute favorite shade is the orange copper shade in the top row. That one can be worn daily as a grungy shade allover the lid and a brown in the crease. Amazing. The light brown next to that is also a very nice everyday shade. The rest of the shadows pack a serious punch. All the shadows are soft and buttery in texture, blend easily and are very vibrant which can be intensified if you use a wet brush. Most shades are shimmery except the white, blue and lavender shade. If you see yourself wear colourful eyeshadow this palette really is a good one. You won't find one equally as good in the Belgian drugstores that features such beautiful colours.

The palette is for sale on the Zoeva website but also on the douglas website for 17.50EUR.

 Goodbyeeeee

- Nikki

Review NYC Waterproof Eyeliner Pencil

Hi lovelies,

My search for the perfect black kohl liner continues. Finding a decent one seems to be harder than you'd think. There are a couple of boxes that need to be ticked : 

                                              - cheap / drugstore prices

                                              - readily available aka in my local Kruidvat

                                              - smudgeproof

                                              - doesn't crumble during the day

                                              - doesn't get in lines

                                              - lasts all day

                                              - needs to be pigmented 

                                              - needs to be soft to apply

Me picky? Nooooooooooooo?!

 Contestant of choice : NYC waterproof eyeliner pencil. You may now enter the ring. Let's see how it will do. Let's start with the good : The pigmentation is great, is has a a great deep black velvet finish. It looks gorgeous when swatched and on the eyes. It's soft to apply and the price is great, 2.99€ a piece in my local Kruidvat. Meaning that it also ticks the box of being readily available. Sadly that's were the good part ends.

 Onto the bad part: It starts as soon as you apply. I started my eyemake up with a light layer of the maybelline color tattoo in permanent taupe as a base. After that I applied the eyeliner around my eyes but when i looked up to do the waterline, the liner on the upper lashline had already left a black line in the crease which turned out to be incredibly hard to remove. Micellair water just doesn't cut it, which makes it hard to remove any smears during the day or at night when you remove your make-up. My eyes were still black the next morning.

When I came home at the end of my school day and looked in the mirror I was horrified. I looked like a panda. Black smears everywhere, my entire under eye area was one black stain. The picture below doesn't even show how badly it really was. The kohl crumbled in some places, smeared on other. It definitely isn't waterproof or stays all day. It managed to get into every fine line it could possibly find. It looked horrendous, let's be honest. It was so disappointing especially because it swatched beautifully and was completely smudgeproof on my hands.

As illustrated by the photos above it will probably be clear that my search for the perfect kohl pencil continous. Any recomendiations?

Goodbyeeee

- Nikki

Review - Catrice Ultimate Colour Lipsticks - Oh juicy!, Matt about Pink, Princess Peach

Hi lovelies,

A couple of weeks ago I bought a new lipstick. The lipstick in question is the Catrice Ultimate Colour in the shade Princess Peach. I saw the name and just had to have it. That purchase means that I now have 3 lipsticks of the line and that deserves a blogpost, don't you think? 

These are the shades I own. Oh Juicy! which is a bright orange, Matt About Pink aka a lovely bright matte pink and the newest one Princess Peach which is obviously a peach shade. 

On the swatches you can see that the pigment is really good for a budgetproof lipstick. Swatches go from Princess Peach to Matt About Pink to Oh Juicy! They are really easy to apply, don't have a very noticeable taste/smell, are cheap and have gorgeous packaging.

The shaderange is pretty big, from nudes to brights to reds. The only downside is that you can't really tell which finish you're going to get because there are mattes and creamy finishes in the Ultimate Colour lipsticks.

The sleek black packaging. I love how classy these look even though they only cost 3.99€.

As you can see you don't get a lot of product but for that price it seems more than reasonable.

I really love these. Try them out.

Goodbyeeee

- Nikki

Review - YSL Kiss & Blush

Hi lovelies, 

It's about time I did another review, right? I'm going to give it away at the start... I love this product and so will you. I'm talking about the new-ish Kiss and Blush lipstick/cheek stain from YSL. For starters I love multitasking products that can be used in different ways and for different purposes. This product works great on the lips and on the cheeks as a blush. I've read a lot of reviews about the Kiss & Blushes before I purchased mine because Yves Saint Laurent is expensive. The Kiss & Blushes costs 31.95€ a piece in Belgium. You better decide first if the product will be worth it before you purchase it because it's pricey. So after reading countless reviews and trying it on about 4 times in the store to make sure I like the colour I bought mine in shade 7 which is the muted down orange-peachy shade. 

I've already talked about the fact that I've read a lot of reviews and a lot of them mentioned that they loved how the product worked on the lips but hated it on the cheeks. I was told it would stain in weird patches but I've tried it every day now for 2 weeks and it didn't stain my cheeks weird once. In fact it works perfectly for me. I just dot a couple of dots on my cheeks and blend it with my fingers and I proceed with the next cheek. That way it will look perfect. I completely agree that it looks gorgeous on the lips. When you first apply it, it looks a bit weird but the more you smootch your lips together and spread the product, it will look better and better. It takes a couple of minutes but once it sets it's perfect. I really love the velvet matte finish. I also really love the colour I chose, it's the perfect peach that looks special yet so natural. The peachy shade also looks pretty on the cheeks. Especially for Summer I love a peachy cheek combined with a bit of bronzer. I usually wear this colour on the lips and cheeks at the same time because it pairs so well. 

So what's left to talk about besides the packaging? I really like how chique it looks, it looks like a fancy nailpolish but I like it because you can easily fool people when you put it near you lips ( I think that's funny) but I love that it's just different from all the other products. The applicator is fine. I'm not wowed but don't hate it either

I really like this product and am seriously thinking about buying other colours if I find another colour that I like. Have you tried it? 

Goodbyeeee

- Nikki 

Review - Bourjois Rouge Velvet Edition Lipstick

Hi lovelies,

Today I wanted to review a new lipstick launch. I'm talking about the Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks by Bourjois. I'm completely blown away by this lipproduct. This is a liquid lipstick that dries matt. When you first apply it it has a creamy, velvet (I see what they did there) consistency and after a while it dries to a completely matt finish. The best thing about it is that when they dry, it feels like you have nothing on your lips. This product also happens to be very longlasting without being drying on the lips. Another big plus is that the colour doesn't transfer when you kiss your boyfriend/girlfriend.The packaging is pretty and handy due to the doe-foot applicator. The colourrange is gorgeous and I actually wanted all the colours. The only colour I miss is a real nude colour because I've bought the most nude shade but it's still really pink. The price is decent at 13.99 euros. It's a bit pricey but worth every penny.

I got these 2 colours, Frambourjoise and Nude-ist. It's the pink-reddish shade and the most nude, old pink shade. I also really wanted the dark red colour(Grand Cry) but out of all the colour swatches I did in store, this one was the least smooth so I was a bit hesitant to buy that one but I probably will buy it at one point...

Yes that's the cat as my background...

As a little tip I would say that's best to let them dry before you rub your lips together because the colour can move a bit and than it doesn't look as opaque as it would otherwise. Because they really are opaque in one coat, even though that doesn't come across on the swatches above.

I'm wearing Nude-ist on this picture.

This one is Frambourjoise, also a gorgeous shade.

To conclude, I really love this line. I owe Bourjois a big thank you because I love matt lipsticks but they are impossible to find on the drugstore market. Not only matt but also non-drying which seemed to be impossible before this launch. I think this is the best liplaunch of the year, for me at least. What do you think about them? Have you tried any of the shades?

Goodbyeeee

- Nikki 

Comparison review - Rimmel Wake me up foundation // Catrice All matt plus foundation

Hi lovelies, 

A little while ago I got my first e-mail from a reader. She told me she was searching for a new foundation and asked me if I could swatch my Rimmel wake me up foundation and my Catrice all matt plus foundation in the sunlight. So that's what we're going to do today, I'll also add a review to my swatches.

Packaging : 

Both are very pretty, let's just agree on that. The Rimmel foundation looks so cheerful and colourful. Compared to the Catrice all matt plus I do find that this one looks a little more timeless and classy. Both are glass bottles, contain a fluid ounce of product and have a pump.

I'm going to putt this out there... It took me months to figure out that my Catrice foundation has a pump. I always turned the cap and then ended up with something that looks like a spatula. This is NOT what you want to do. You have to PULL the cap, not TWIST. Otherwise you just screw the pump right off. When I both it I even showed it to my girlfriend. I was like 'What the hell is this?' She tried to open it and neither of us figured out that you had to pull. So if any of you didn't figure it out yet... that's the trick.

Colour : 

I have the Rimmel Wake Me Up in 100 Ivory and the Catrice All Matt Plus in 010l Light Beige. These are both the lightest shades in the range, at least in Belgium. As you can see there is a huge difference in colour. The Rimmel foundation is a lot darker. It has a pinkish undertone, it looks slightly orange in the pictures but I always wear my face make up natural, so I wouldn't use it if it looked as orange on my face. My girlfriend wouldn't let me either, nobody likes looking orange. Concluding I can safely say that it has a pink undertone, or at least on my skin. The Catrice foundation on the other hand is a lot paler and more neutral. It looks yellow in comparison but a truly yellow undertoned foundation would look horrible on my skintone so I guess this must be neutral as it does look natural on me. 

The Catrice is lighter so this probably suits pale girls better. I wore the Rimmel shade in summer and it looked so pretty but it's a little to dark for me now. 

Coverage : 

Both are medium coverage but I guess you could build it but I have never tried it. I'm too scared from cakey make-up to even try putting more than a pump on my face. I like my make-up sheer and natural so I only use a little foundation and make sure you can still see my freckles. I'm not the best person to take advice from if you want a full coverage foundation but if you do like a natural look I can tell you it is possible with these ones.

Formula : 

They both feel smooth, sink in relatively quickly,... The Rimmel foundation offers SPF 15, the Catrice one does not have SPF. The Rimmel foundation promises a wake up effect and the Catrice all matt plus goes for the obvious matt approach. These are the 2 complete opposites in foundation. 

I always heard that if you had an oily skintype you should go for matt, my skin is not overly oily. Normal to oily I would say (I'm just winging it here) but I love both finishes. The all matt plus is a matt foundation but it doesn't look powdery or cakey. Always a win. The wake me up foundation goes for a glow and boy does it glow. In the right (or wrong depends on if you like it) lighting and in the sunlight will there be a big chance you can look like Edward Cullen in broad daylight. I often catched myself looking in my reflection in the bus window and saw my face glitter. If I applied my foundation with my hands, my whole hands would be covered in glitter as soon as the sun strikes. It's obvious but oooh so gorgeous. I don't know why but I really like this effect, even though that kinda gives away that you're wearing make up. It does really offer a pick me up in the morning and makes you seem more awake and alive.

Ah the obvious sheen on the skin when wearing Rimmel.

Lastly onto price point : 

The Rimmel wake me up foundation comes it at 12.99€ whilst the Catrice all matt plus foundation costs 6.59€. 

Look glitter!!! this picture was taken in the bathroom under yellow lighting.

I hope I could help any of you, did you like this review? Any tips?

Goodbyeeee

- Nikki

Review - Catrice longlasting eye pencil waterproof

Hi lovelies, 

I'm here to give a little review about the Catrice longlasting eyeliner. I bought this at the end of November. You can see it in this post. So let's start with the good. It gives a dark black line when you apply it. I stays on for a really long time even when you sweat. It goes off with just a micellair water so it isn't a bitch to remove. I hate it when make up doesn't come off in the evening because I just want to go to sleep instead of rubbing my eyes for half an hour. I also have the same eyeliner in blue and I absolutely love it. Also a plus is the price, it's only 2.39€

Now for the bad. I opened this in the beginning of January in the morning because you know I wanted eyeliner on my eyes for a change. When I opened it and turned to get the kohl out, nothing came out. I was so confused because it couldn't be finished already. I shook the lid and there it was my little piece of kohl. I was a bit bummed but I thought no worries Nikki, you can put it back in. So I did and turned it back up and tried to apply it but by then it had all dried out. I can't use it anymore and it makes me really sad. For the price it isn't that bad, you can just by a new one but it's about the principal. An eyeliner should be able to live longer than 2 months. As I said I also have the blue one and that didn't have the same problem. It's still going strong and I've had it since summer. Another small thing is that if you rub your eyes a lot, which I do, it can crumble a little bit but I've noticed on days that I don't rub my eyes as much I don't have that problem at all and it stays put absolutely fine.

As a conclusion, it's certainly not a bad product I would still buy it but keep in mind that accidents like these can happen. It still disappointed me but because my other one didn't dry out I can't give it a bad review. I suppose I just had a bad one.

Did anyone had the same problem?

Goodbyeeee lovelies

- Nikki

Review - Rexona Maximum Protection Sensitive Dry

Hi lovelies,

It's finally there, the moment I have found the courage to write my own review. It might seem like a boring subject but I'm reviewing a deodorant. More specificly the Rexona maximum protection sensitive dry deodorant for excessive transpiration. This deodorant is extra-ordinary. It blew my mind really. I've tried many deodorant over the years, but none did the job as well as I hoped. I always thought I smelled a hint of stinkieness and it drove me crazy because I was afraid other people smelled that too. It made me feel really uncomfortable and insecure. When my previous deodorant ran out I decided to try this one. It is meant for people who sweat excessively and I don't sweat extremely much but still. But it does the trick, no hint of stinkieness anymore, no wet spots under my arms on the fabric of my clothes,...

It's a cream deodorant wich you can best use after you wash in the evening because your body would pick it up better because your sweat glands are less active at night. You can use it again in the morning if you think that's necessary. I personally just use it after I wash myself in the morning and that's enough for me. The only negative side to this deodorant is that when you dress right afterwards it can give white streaks on your clothing and if you don't rub it out well if leaves a white residu under your arms but if you use it with care it works perfect. Besides that is a small price to pay for smelling absolutely devine. I use the purple one wich compliments my natural scent according to my girlfriend.

This line has a couple of scents:
- Pink : confidence
- Purple : sensitive
- Blue : clean
- Green : everyday fresh

The price varies over scents but is between 7 and 8 euros.

I recommand this highly and hope this review was helpfull for you, thoughts can be left at the comments.

Goodbyeee

- Nikki