Lisa Eldridge has a way of making everything she releases from her brand sound so exciting! I got swept up as usual, and that’s not to say it wasn’t worth it. I just don’t consider myself a lipstick aficionado, so I really don’t think I should have as large of a lip collection as I do! However, I can’t deny that she makes excellent products, which is why it’s always so hard to resist!
For those wondering, I have purchased her newest product, the Pinpoint Concealing Micro Correcting Pencil, but it hasn’t shipped yet. A review for it, and other unreviewed Lisa Eldridge products, will come in the future. Today’s post is just about the brand’s recent lipstick launch.
In November, I decided as a birthday gift to myself that I would take part in the full rouge experience:
First, I decided which lipstick shade I would buy pre-filled in the case.
Then, I clicked the engraving option and typed my initials before selecting “Add to Bag.”
Next, I added two lipstick refills to my cart as well.
Lastly, I added the beautiful Cherry Chocolate Velvet Makeup Bag to my cart before checking out!
Some important things to note is that the makeup bag costs $19/£19/€23. I got mine for free because the total amount in my cart exceeded the $105/£85/€102 price minimum. The bag did not get added to the cart automatically like it used to in the past. So, don’t forget to add it and potentially miss out!*
*Note: I worked on this post between November and December 2024. The Chocolate Cherry colored bag I referenced is no longer an option, but currently the one on offer is the Pinpoint Pencil Case in Olive Green.
There is an ongoing deal on the website that if you are already buying a complete Rouge Experience lipstick (lipstick plus case), adding one refill will drop the price of the refill by 15% and adding a second refill will drop the prices of the refills by 20%. This discount only applies to the refills. Trying to add 1 or more refills to the shopping cart will not trigger a discount if a complete Rouge Experience lipstick isn’t in the order too.
The engraving currently costs $4/£3/€4.
The qualifications for free shipping was met, so I was able to select the option for free standard international delivery. The expedited shipping fee to Germany is €10 via DHL. The free shipping option for me in the past had been via DPD. This time, it was through FedEx to Hermes.
If you signed up to be part of the Lisa & Me rewards program and accrued 300 or more points, you can redeem a code for 5% off your order total, which is what I did. I wish the brand offered additional redemption options, but it’s better than nothing.
183 Ashes of Roses
Even though Ashes of Roses looks different from Painterly in the tube, those two look quite similar on my skin, though different again on the lips. I just found that to be interesting.
Ashes of Roses is the color I thought I’d like the most, but it’s lighter on my lips than I expected. I can somewhat pull off wearing it without a lip liner, but I couldn’t help but still be disappointed. Using a brown or other colored liner darker than the lipstick is a great way to make an unflattering color work, but it’s honestly a hassle for me. There are many times that I grab my lip product to apply on-the-go. I can’t do that as easily if I need to put on lip liner first.
178 Lisa
I thought this might be an iffy color for me to buy since I tend to only like warm pinks. This shade is neutral, but it looks cool-toned against my natural lip color. For that reason, I only like this if I’m doing a full pink monochrome look.
The color Lisa is also a brighter shade than I expected. I have to use lip liners to try and mute it to something less vibrant, but it’s not as easy to do with my current collection of liners.
182 Simone
I was quite surprised that this color looked the best on me! It gives off a little bit of the “concealer lips” look. I think I could almost get away with using it without a lip liner too, but pairing it with one results in exactly the kind of look I was going for. So, this shade is more of a successful purchase.
Regarding how these feel on the lips, they’re not quite balmy, but also not fully waxy. This has a very nice glide in the application. It takes two layers to get full opacity, but I have to pass over the pigmented spots on my lips one additional time to fully cover where my lips are naturally darker.
I wouldn’t go as far as to call this sticky, but it has a slight tack feeling as if a layer is trying to grip onto my lips to help in making it long wearing. Lisa described this formula as something between the True Velvets and Luxuriously Lucent Lips, but this actually reminds me of her liquid lipstick formula as well. It had this slight gripping tack feeling too.
Based on my first impression, I was concerned about the discomfort level I felt at the end of the night after having worn it all day. However, every subsequent instance after that wasn’t nearly as dramatic regarding the dryness. This is why I try spend so much time doing wear tests for my reviews. On that first try, it’s easy to overlook other circumstances that affected the results. I will post my first impression notes, but also follow up with my findings after having worn these lipsticks on and off for a few weeks.
FIRST IMPRESSION NOTES: I started off with very well conditioned (for me) lips and put it on after breakfast. After having lunch, barely anything was missing. I had a very light imprint on my drinking glass, so I did not touch it up. By 4:30 pm (5.5 hours worn), I felt dryness in the outer corners of my mouth, but it was mostly fine. By 7:35 pm (8.5 hrs worn), I reapplied it because it felt significantly drier and started to be uncomfortable even though my lips didn’t look dry. It felt good at first because a tiny bit of moisture was added back, but after another hour (9.5 hours worn) my lips felt uncomfortable again and didn’t look nice and smooth like at the start of the day. My lips didn’t look crusty or peeled, but still felt a tad parched. It essentially still looked better than it felt. By 9:36 (10.5 hours worn), I ended the wear test and put on a Lisa Eldridge Baume Embrace. I could see the chapping by that point as I removed the remaining lipstick after dinner (which this time the meal was oilier so I had barely any lipstick left).
FINAL ANALYSIS AFTER MULTIPLE WEAR TESTS: I still believe that whatever ingredient helps to make Lisa’s liquid lipsticks long-lasting is partly present in these. I don’t have to touch up as frequently as I would have expected. As to what happened the first time I wore the lipsticks, I had just come off a two week trial run of conditioning lip balms and lip oils, so my lips had gotten used to be over-saturated with moisture. Suddenly switching to a soft matte lipstick was uncomfortable in comparison. I gave it a week before starting to test the lipsticks again and I had no problems with discomfort despite wearing them in 8-12 hour time frames. My lips did get a little chapped in spots, but how frequently that happened depended on how well conditioned or not my lips were at the start of the day or over the course of several days. Essentially, if my lips were in a hydrated enough condition, my lips weren’t effected at the end of the day. If my lips were in bad shape, there was only minor chapping. The first impression was the only negative experience, and even that wasn’t really that bad. So, I’m pleased with the formula of this product!
I love the packaging. The formula is nice enough (I still very much prefer the Luxuriously Lucent Lip Colours). It’s essentially the shade range that I’m less enthused about. I was motivated to keep reaching for the Rouge Experience lipsticks because I wanted to be able to review them properly. After this is posted, I honestly don’t think I’ll be reaching for them again, except perhaps Simone since I don’t have a shade like that in my collection and might feel in the mood for a concealer lips type of look. Otherwise, I’ll keep wearing the Lucents and Baume Embraces every time. Lisa Eldridge mentioned that there will be many more shades and formulas to come, so it’s possible I’ll get another color if any actually excite me. However, I actually just hope she’ll put the Lucents into refill packaging so I can use that line in my special lipstick case instead.
That’s everything for today! Thanks for stopping by!
Anyone who read my post containing the LH Cosmetics Bronzer will recognize why I was attracted to this bronzer. This type of embossing is my kryptonite! It was already in my possession before I realized why I felt so compelled to own it. Plus, the packaging was stunning! I never tried By Terry products before (excluding lip product samples), so that was an extra incentive to buy this. I was lucky enough to catch a sale not too long after launch and could purchase it for 44 Euros via the retailer Niche Beauty.
The color 4 Deep Bronze is a red toned bronzer that is quite a few shades darker than my skin tone, but it blends into my skin quite well, especially since I use my sheerer brushes with it. I have a bit more red in my skin right now after getting more time in the sun this summer, but this shade of bronzer might be too red for me by the time it’s spring. We shall see.
This bronzer is super soft to the touch and feels somewhat buttery for a powder (though not quite to the level of the Westman Atelier Butter Bronzer. I’m impressed with the quality, as it is very refined. I’m happy to know the high price tag wasn’t just for the pretty packaging. The finish isn’t flat matte. It has the tiniest bit of sheen that gives a healthy-skin type of appearance, but I wouldn’t call it luminous.
There are two reasons it makes my top 15, but not my top 10. The first is because this is heavily fragranced. The smell reminds me of Irish Spring bar soap. It’s not an offensive smell and it doesn’t linger on the skin after it’s applied, but I’d rather not have that wafting in the air every time I go to use it. The second reason is just the color. I wish there was a golden orange-yellow-brown color available and not just deep red-brown. It has a great formula, but if it’s not a color I love then there isn’t much reason to use it over everything else I own and prefer. To a luxury lover, I would recommend giving this a try, provided one can find a good shade match.
Because I like the formula of this product, I was tempted to get the Starlight Glow CC Highlighter, but I heard it has visible shimmer particles, so I skipped it.
2024 Bronzer Collection Ranking
This list does not include every bronzer I’ve ever tried or owned. I did not include bronzers from face palettes, unless the brand sells the item individually as well. Not included in this ranking, despite my owning them or having owned them in the past, are the Huda Tantour, Glossier Cloud Paint Bronzer, and Benefit Hoola. Huda’s and Glossier’s are unranked because they were shipped to the US (so I haven’t used them yet). I did not include Benefit’s bronzer because it has been so long since I used it that I don’t think I can accurately compare them to the others. Plus, I need a shade from Benefit that’s between Caramel and Toasted. That’s why I never repurchased it.
The names in bold lettering were added to the ongoing ranking list in 2024. Last year’s Bronzer Ranking/Declutter and 2023 Bronzer Review Mega Post can be found HERE and HERE.
Hermès Plein Air H Trio Healthy Glow Mineral Powder
Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Sun-Kissed Glow Bronzer (cream)
Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Bronzer (powder)
Kosas The Sun Show Bronzer (old version/discontinued)
Victoria Beckham Matte Bronzing Brick
Rare Beauty Warm Wishes Effortless Bronzer Stick
Glowish by Huda Beauty Bronzer (discontinued)
Anastasia Beverly Hills Cream Cream Bronzer
Hatice Schmidt Labs Bronzer
Colourpop Super Shock Bronzer
Gucci Bronzing Powder
Dior Forever Natural Bronzer
Vieve Modern Bronzer Duo
Westman Atelier Butter Powder Bronzer
By Terry Tea to Tan Sun Powder
Armani Luminous Silk Bronzing Powder
Mented Bronzer
Nars Laguna Talc-Free Bronzing Powders
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer
Pat Mcgrath Divine Powder Bronzers
MAC Sunstruck Bronzer (Matte)
Covergirl Trublend Bronzer
Nars Laguna Cream Bronzer
Nabla Skin Bronzing
Nars Powder Bronzer (old version/discontinued)
Armani Luminous Silk Bronzer Drops
Rose Inc Cream Bronzer
Glossier Solar Paint (might be discontinued in favor of the Cloud Paint Bronzers)
Danessa Myricks Power Bronzer
MAC Sunstruck Bronzer (Radiant)
Melt Contour/Bronzer Stack
Jaclyn Hill Sun Bathe Pressed Bronzers (discontinued)
Kosas The Sun Show Bronzer (Current Version)
Kaleidos Contour Trio
LH Cosmetics Infinty Bronzer
I Heart Revolution Tasty Coffee Bronzer
r.e.m. Hypernova Bronzer
Fenty Sunstlk’r Instant Warmth Bronzer
The Makeup by Mario Perfector
Coloured Raine Powder Bronzers
Makeup Revolution Glow Splendour
Milk Makeup Matte Bronzer Stick
I still get the desire to use everything in my top 30. However, the bronzers I use the most are the ones I still have with me within the top 11.
That’s everything! Thanks for reading this final post for 2024. I hope you’ll return in 2025. Happy New Year!
I’ve made it no secret here that I don’t enjoy reviewing perfumes because of how subjective this sort of thing is. So, for me to be interested enough to post about Kayali’s Yum Boujee Marshmallow is very telling! Then, I thought about the additional nine unreviewed Kayali perfumes I tried since my previous ranking…but I still don’t want to review them!
At least not in the traditional sense.
If this is your first time visiting this blog, Welcome! I am fully disclosing that I am not affiliated with this brand. The Kayali and Mona Kattan accounts on social media are very active, so I’ve gotten likes and/or comments on my Kayali related Instagram posts, but that’s the extent of any communication I have with them. All of my Kayali and Huda Beauty products have been purchased by me with my own money and all opinions are my own.
In order to make perfume reviews a bit more fun to write, I try to inject a little more humor (no matter how corny) and try not to worry so much about objectivity while still being thorough.
Kayali Yum Boujee Marshmallow | 81
The key notes for this fragrance are “Strawberry, Pink Marshmallow, [and] Whipped Vanilla.” Anyone who doesn’t like one or more of those notes will not enjoy this perfume because everything else takes a backseat. My first thought when I sprayed this was that it smells like a Strawberry Cheesecake Blizzard, my favorite ice cream from Dairy Queen!
I instantly get the strawberry and sweet creamy vanilla notes. It isn’t until a few hours in that I can actually smell marshmallow. Real marshmallows don’t have a strong scent to begin with, so the fact that it ever registers as something more than just generally sweet is impressive. I understand why it took the brand 81 iterations to nail!
So, in the opening it’s a strawberry candy, light baked vanilla dessert, and ice cream kind of smell. The strawberry only lasts a short time, which is unfortunate because it’s delicious. Hours in, it morphs into more of that marshmallow and toasted coconut kind of smell. For the rest of the day, I’m a walking vanilla milkshake! This fragrance is supposed to have the fruit notes “Pink Lady Apple and Italian Lemon,” as well as floral notes of “Freesia, Nectarine Blossom, and Orange Blossom Water.” However, I can’t detect any of that. Perhaps they’re in the background adding to the overall sweetness, but this scent is purely a gourmand dream on my skin! To me, it’s never heavy or sweet to the point of being sickly. I think that’s the “fluffiness” people keep referring to, with it smelling more like a whipped cream less like a fondant.
This is so close to being my favorite Kayali perfume, but Yum Pistachio remains the queen. That fragrance is so different from anything else I’ve ever owned. The soapy and powdery aspects add a little more complexity. I think people who might normally not like gourmands could be swayed over by Yum Pistachio. However, Yum Marshmallow is for the people who want to smell like they belong on the counter of an upscale bakery. Yum Boujee Marshmallow brings all the boys to the yard!
Regarding the sillage, I need to give myself at least three spritzes in order to continue smelling this on myself all day long, and it stays within my bubble. The only time someone can smell it is if I’m in hugging range. This is unlike my other top 9 Kayali fragrances that have a wider projection area from just 1-2 sprays for several hours before it becomes a skin scent. I prefer having the shorter waft range in exchange for having it last until I’m ready to shower at the end of the night. My husband is quite sensitive to smells, to the point that he finds Yum Pistachio and other Kayali favorites to be too overpowering in the first 1-2 hours. It’s the “cloud of sweetness” as he refers to them from just one spritz. One time I literally had to put my sweater in another room when I was with his family because I had sprayed it (just once) 45 minutes prior with Yum Pistachio and it was too strong for his family to handle. With Yum Marshmallow though, my husband still finds the three sprays to be strong, but not overwhelming. The reason this is important is because I’ve seen people online practically bathing in their perfumes, spraying at least six times every few hours. If this perfume requires me to use double or triple the amount I usually do, I’m not sure if it’s going to be strong enough to satisfy heavy perfume wearers. Although my bottle is frosted, I can see that I’ve already used as much of Yum Marshmallow in a week as I’ve used of Eden Sparkling Lychee and Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar over the course of months. This doesn’t bother me because I can’t ever finish a perfume before it goes bad (which is the whole reason I only buy travel sizes anymore), so I don’t mind the idea of making a repurchase for once if needed. However, I acknowledge that’s not everyone’s situation, so it was important to note here.
Also, I just wanted to add that the only layering I’ve done is pairing both Yum fragrances together. Pistachio with a single spritz still overpowers Marshmallow and is admittedly too potent of a combo for me.
Eden Sparkling Lychee | 39
Prior to Yum Boujee Marshmallow, this was my short-lived second favorite Kayali Fragrance. Dessert-like gourmands are my favorite smells, but then next in line would be fruits. Of the fruity notes, I don’t really pick up anything specific. I can smell tartness (perhaps from the black current and lemon) and candy-like sweetness, which register sensorially as “juiciness.” I’m not sure if it’s that juiciness, tartness, or the actual red apple note that puts this within the Eden scent family, or if it’s all of the above.
Even more than the fruits, is the overpowering sugared violets smell. Thankfully, I love the smell of violets, so I think this is my favorite part of the perfume. The only disappointing bit is that is has lychee in the name, yet I can’t detect it. The rose adds a nice brightness to the perfume. The overall scent makes me think of a Girls’ trip or vacation.
One spray is plenty for me. It can’t be smelled across the room, but it’s enough to smell across a table for at least three hours. It fades a little, to the point that it requires someone to be within a foot of me to detect it for an additional six to seven hours. After that, I can smell it on myself for a few hours more before it’s gone.
Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar | 42
I was a lot more into this fragrance when I first got it, but as I started comparing it to other scents from the brand, it dropped lower for me. I obviously love the sweetness. I can smell the pear, vanilla, and unidentifiable florals (likely ylang ylang and jasmine). There’s a milder violet smell than what is present in Eden Sparkling Lychee. In the beginning hours, instead of rum, this smells a bit like an aging perfume type of alcohol smell. Thankfully, that doesn’t last the whole time. It unfortunately also has patchouli, which on the rare occasion I can tolerate, but in this fragrance I can tell it’s there. Luckily for me, the sugary aspects mostly overshadow it, which is why I continue to give it a chance and wear it on occasion. Essentially, parts of the day I love it because of the fruity-sugary drink vibes, and some parts of the day I wish I wore something different. However, most of the negatives aren’t as much of a factor if I layer it with something else. I try to judge perfumes based on how they work as a standalone product. I will also say that this is something better sprayed onto my clothes instead of my skin because then I don’t have to deal with my body chemistry tainting the patchouli. Times I spray it on my clothes is when I have the best experiences with it.
One of the biggest positives Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar has going for it though is that it’s quite long lasting on me, and it’ll fill a room for several hours before becoming something only I can smell on myself.
Vacay in a Bottle Discovery Set
Marrakesh in a Bottle Orange Blossom | 24
Capri in a Bottle Lemon Sugar | 14
Maui in a Bottle Sweet Banana | 37
Maldives in a Bottle Ylang Coco | 20
Right off the bat, all of these are personal/skin scents with very little sillage and lasting power on me. I fell in love with Capri Lemon Sugar, but even after three sprays it’s just gone within several hours. It doesn’t matter if it’s on my skin or clothes, this just doesn’t want to last and I’ll never be the person who carries perfume in her purse to do touch ups. The travel size set was too expensive for me, so I was glad when they released them individually, but even more glad the discovery set tester pack was an option. I would have been so disappointed otherwise!
Capri smells just as I would expect from the name. It’s a better lemon sugar for me than Fresh’s Sugar Lemon perfume. The only thing that matters regarding spraying my skin versus clothing is that this smells amazing on my clothes from start to finish, like vanilla–lemon cupcakes. On my skin, it reminds me too much of antiseptic and takes a couple of hours to start smelling better, which is unfortunately a few hours before it ends up disappearing. If this had better longevity, it would have been a winner.
I expected to hate Maui because I’m really not into banana scented things, but it is surprisingly nice! I get a bit more of the coconut cream and vanilla though than banana. It’s lightly sweet and a tiny bit floral, but then disappears into nothing. This is one that only smells good on my clothing. On my skin, it smells way too grown for me. Like…geriatric.
I like the orange smell from Marrakesh, but it disappears quickly. If I reach for a citrus scent, I want to be able to smell it for at least a few hours, not minutes. I also like the spiced peppery exotic smell from the rest of the notes, but the perfume is overall too floral for me and the smell vanishes the quickest of these four. On my bare skin, it especially takes on a more herbal-green scent from the mix of pink pepper and cedarwood rather than sweet-floral from the Turkish Rose that I can only smell if it’s sprayed on my clothes. So, I prefer this scent on my clothing too, but I’d rather just not wear it at all because it’s not a “me” type of fragrance.
Maldives Ylang Coco was the one I was most concerned by because I feared it would be a repeat experience of Utopia Vanilla Coco (that so many people love and I despise). On my clothes, it’s better than I expected, but I don’t appreciate the herbal nature that it turns into on my skin, and I can only smell fruits (starfruit and lemon) in the beginning. I like the smell of rosemary, but it’s awful on me. Maldives Ylang Coco has a slight sweetness throughout (probably from the coconut milk), but this one just isn’t my kind of perfume.
Something about these vacation fragrances mingling with my body chemistry just…goes wrong. The best of the bunch for me is Capri, which is miles above the others.
Kayali Velvet Santal is quite the departure from the primarily feminine fragrances. I sometimes enjoy a unisex or masculine fragrance, like Replica’s Jazz Club. However, this one is just not for me. It has some pleasant notes like jasmine and white musk, but it’s strongly leathery, which I assume is from the benzoin. I don’t mind leather, but it’s a bit much. I can also smell the woody notes, but the website described it as a “creamy sandalwood” with warm cedarwood. I was expecting it to make me think of taking a pleasant walk through a forest…not stumbling through a lumbar yard.
I wouldn’t call this bad, but it’s just really not my style. I’m glad I only bought the trial vial, but based on the notes, chances were low that I’d like it anyway. I figured I could give it to my husband (then-boyfriend), but he’s not into it either.
The photo above is the best interpretation I could find of the feeling Velvet Santal envokes. It’s not light enough to be what I consider a “clean” fragrance, but there’s something smooth and streamlined about it. It’s simplistic. It smells like an object. It’s like I spent too much time in someone’s woodworking and leather-working studio (the cleanest one in existence), and the smells from there naturally rubbed onto me, not due to a perfume. There’s not much projection and not much longevity either.
Moving along…
According to reviewers I saw prior to the launch, they called Silk Santal a mixture of Vanilla 28 and Deja Vu. I wanted to love 28, but the patchouli ruined it, and I liked Deja Vu, but not enough to want a travel size. So, the fact that this doesn’t have patchouli and Silk Santal is like a combination of the other perfumes I wanted, I was sold! I took the chance on the 10ml bottle.
On the bright side, this smells alright, but I certainly wanted more out of it. It has a tame sweetness mixed with florals. It’s an unoffending vanilla-floral, which feels “safe” and a bit boring. It’s more of a skin scent for me, but it lasts between six and eight hours. I can’t recall if I just didn’t bring it with me or if I actually gave it away. It’s good enough that I don’t mind owning it, but how could I ever reach for it when I have the Yum ones in my collection that make me way more excited to put it on and bring me much more joy?
Mona and her husband mentioned that these fragrances represented them, which is why it’s totally fine that it’s not really for me or my mister! Silk Santal is more of a spring-summer kind of scent, which is quite far from the vibes of the chilly winter wedding I had!
I can’t remember what I wore on my wedding day, but my best guess is a combination of Yum Pistachio Gelato and Lovefest Burning Cherry because that’s my favorite. The only other possibility is Invite Only, because my husband was more into that one at the time and I don’t know if I picked that to be safer. It’s actually possible that I wore Invite Only on the second day instead when we took additional photos at a different location.
Elixir | 11
I waited so long to try and get a mini or travel size of this in the US, but it had been out of stock for well over a year. When I moved to Germany, I was excited to see it was actually available! Neither the US nor Deutschland had the trial samples in stock, but I was too curious not to take a chance. So, I got the 10ml travel size!
I don’t know if this will be discontinued, so I’ll list all the notes from the website: Red Apple, Rose de Mai Absolute, Jasmine Sambac Absolute, Patchouli, Vanilla, and according to the website images, there is also musk. I never thought of myself as a rose fan, but however the perfumers concocted or extracted it is just wonderful! Apparently Rose de Mai is supposed to be quite special in itself. The combination of the apple with the rose and jasmine somehow registers to my brain as citrus-like, which I love (some people say they smell grape instead)! Perhaps what I’m actually smelling is a certain kind of patchouli that when balanced with the rose is having that effect. It is easier to say I hate patchouli because 90% of the time it ruins a fragrance for me. I’m a perfume novice, so I don’t know a lot of specifics, but apparently there are many things that effect how patchouli will smell and most especially what it’s paired with. I think nearly all are bad on my body, but the ones that work were formulated a different way or the combination of other things changes it enough that I won’t mind it.
Musk can be an iffy note for me too, but the musks from Kayali are great. So, the combination of everything in Elixir just works for me (at least in the beginning). It’s got a depth/richness to it. It’s sexy and dark. The florals keep it from leaning too masculine and too heavy. If you’re more interested in the apple though, just know that it creates a synergy with the other notes and doesn’t stand out as distinctly apple on its own. To help the apple stand out or to smell fruitier overall, I would suggest pairing it with Juicy Apple.
One spritz keeps Elixir within a more intimate cloud around me. Unfortunately for me, after an hour, most of the sweetness disappears and I’m left with more of the musky-earthy kind of smell. I’m grateful for the vanilla to help it along. At this point it’s still not bad, but it’s a lot less intoxicating than how it starts.
By two hours, I can only smell this if my nose is pressed up right to my skin. This perfume is supposed to be incredibly long lasting, but only the patchouli lasts all day. Four hours in, every other note is undetectable.
The photo below shows how much of my perfumes were used prior to starting this review. I like Elixir, but I almost never use it! However, I think with this scent profile combination, it was intended to be layered with other fragrances. For example, there’s vanilla in here, but it’s not as pronounced of a note as it is in other Kayali fragrances. I assume it’s there to help branch Elixir with other Kayali perfumes together without being overpowering. So, I expect to have a much bigger dent in it this year.
S tier essentially means that I would repurchase it if I ran out and might even consider buying a larger size bottle if my fragrance collection was smaller.
A tier is for the perfumes that I like enough to be happy if I was gifted a bottle, but not enough to repurchase myself (purely because I would want to use up the S tier ones instead).
B tier has the scents I like when I’m in a particular mood. They aren’t scent profiles I wear that often, but I will still enjoy them while I have them.
C tier falls into two groups: the perfumes that are nice yet boring or the perfumes that don’t contain enough good notes to outweigh the ones that either do nothing for me or I even dislike.
D tier is for the perfumes that I really don’t like. It might start off nice but dries down to something I despise. It’s more common for me to come across a D tier fragrance as a free gift with purchase sample that I didn’t choose. Usually, if the notes are to my liking, the worst it ends up at is C tier. Utopia Vanilla Coco is the rare unexpected disappointment.
F tier is for the perfumes that I find to be vile. It would be something I’d have to immediately wash off my skin or to change my clothes. Since I always look at notes before I buy I perfume, it’s likely I expected an F tier fragrance to work for me, but it somehow didn’t. In this case, chances are high that it just didn’t mix well with my body chemistry and is unlikely to be universally disliked by everyone. A perfume rarely gets into F tier for me, but an example is every Juicy Couture fragrance. I tried at least five and they always smelled amazing on my friend, but terrible on me.
Over time, my preferences have slightly changed. My perfumes have had time to mature. Seasons change. New memories and scent associations have occurred. So, it’s only natural that the order of my Kayali perfume favorites shifted a bit.
On a final note, I just wanted to share that for the Huda Cyber Craze event this year, I bought a notebook and the fragrance case that is supposed to hold three 100 ml bottles. It’s listed as rose gold, but to me it’s more like a rosy bronze. It makes for a very secure makeup bag with the two dividers inside. Naturally, it’s way bigger than the Yum Pistachio Gelato Fragrance case that I’m using a bit more as intended by holding all my trial and travel size perfumes. I just wanted to share pictures and comparisons in case anyone has been interested in getting those from the website. I tend to like Huda’s non-makeup merch too.
I was not the only person confused when I was scrolling through the GlamJunkiescom Instagram page thinking I just saw a newly launched collection of Pat Mcgrath 5-pan palettes, only to read the description and realize it’s a collaboration trio of palettes between Kiko Milano and Sara Sampaio!
I haven’t purchased a single thing from Pat Mcgrath in 2023, which is wild considering what a huge fan I am of the brand. The color stories just didn’t entice me enough. However, the Kiko Milano Dazzling Drama palette seemed practically made for me, so I bought it. In the collection, there is also Dazzling Sunset and Dazzling Daydream, but I didn’t get them because they had colors too similar to what I own from Pat Mcgrath. I just wanted to see if Kiko managed to recreate the look and performance of PML’s shadows for less money. If you’re curious, please continue reading! Also, I’ve included a few bonus reviews at the end of this post!
The palette sizes, unicartons, and packaging materials are identical. The texture of the shimmers and press/ribbon pattern on the non-shimmer shades look just like the 5 pans from Pat Mcgrath. Visually, the only identifiable difference is that Kiko’s pans are smaller.
The palettes from both brands are made in Italy. From what I can see, the ingredients are the same too, just in different amounts/order. The biggest discrepancy is that the “mattes” from Kiko have silica and kaolin as the final ingredients. Bold Bordeaux looks like a matte shadow in the pan, but it’s a satin. It’s smoother than Purple Passion, which is the actual matte. Despite having such similar ingredients, Purple Passion doesn’t have the same creamish-powder feel that made me fall in love with Pat Mcgrath’s cream-powder formula from her quints. Kiko’s feel stiffer, less creamy, and not as smooth or easy to pick up, but the finish manages to look the same.
I would be fine with the “mattes” feeling different, as long as they performed as well. Unfortunately though, these two shades end up looking identical on the eyes because the vibrant color (Purple Passion) darkens and Bold Bordeaux turns smokey dark grey-purple when blended. It’s like there’s a dark base in them that’s used to create the illusion of opacity, but when I attempt to blend the shadows on my eyes, the purple tones get blended away and I’m just left with the darkness.
In the first eye look, Purple Passion is in the inner half of the crease with Bold Bordeaux on the outer half. In the second eye look, I used Purple Passion in the crease alone and tried my best to not blend it as much, yet it still darkened. I’ve tried different eyeshadow bases and using no base at all and it didn’t change the outcome.
I used Jade Journey on the lower lash line in the first look and all over the lid in the second look. In that second look, I put Illuminating Nude in the center of the lid and inner corner too. Radiant Plum is the lid shade in the first eye look.
The Kiko palette swatches beautifully. If I saw these swatches alone, I would have thought the quality of this palette was the same as Pat Mcgrath’s, but it’s only a match for the shimmers. I was able to show the vibrancy of Purple Passion because I didn’t have to swipe or blend back and forth on my arm, which would have caused it to darken. I am most disappointed by those, but the shimmers are great. Kiko’s shimmers don’t feel as wet, but they have nearly the same pigment level and sparkle as Pat’s quint formula.
I love the green shade! It is pretty much a dupe of Galactic Conquest from Pat’s Sith Seduction palette that I skipped buying because I only wanted that green. Now, I don’t feel FOMO since I have a decent substitute!
Radiant Plum and Illuminating Nude are the kinds of colors I see from all brands and I have similar enough shades from PML too, so they aren’t as special even though they perform well. In fact, this whole color story reminds me of Viseart’s London Etoile. Ever since making that comparison, I became less excited about this palette and just wished to have access to that one again. In some countries, that palette ranges from 24 to 28 Euros compared to Dazzling Drama costing 26 Euros. I would recommend the Viseart palette over this one.
Compared to Pat Mcgrath, Kiko’s eyeshadow is 7.7 Euro per gram vs 9 Euro per gram, so I see the price savings. It’s a collab product, so it should technically be cheaper if it wasn’t tied to a celebrity. However, is it really saving money if I only use the shimmers? With Pat Mcgrath, I normally don’t have to worry about shadows not being true to color. For me, I’ll stick with PML.
As promised, here are some bonus reviews. Since Kiko is on the more affordable side of makeup, I thought I would include some of my previously unreviewed drugstore purchases from this year.
Nyx the Marshmellow Setting Spray
This has the same smell as the brand’s Marshmellow primer, which I like, but the scent is strong. I can still smell it for several hours after putting it on, which is why I count this as a negative aspect.
It’s a mattifying setting spray, but it’s only semi-effective. I don’t know how well this would hold up on someone with oily skin. It doesn’t feel like it dries out my skin and it doesn’t leave it feeling tight or uncomfortable. It prohibits my dry skin from letting moisture break through if I pair it with a foundation that essentially does the same thing, but if I’m using a dewy foundation, then my face will continue to glow (just less than usual). It basically helps low transfer makeup to improve on the transfer resistance, but it’s not tough enough to make an easily transferring foundation become transfer proof.
I decided to put my theory to the test and use the same foundation all over by face, but only spray one half of it. I waited four hours and then pressed a napkin to my face. The left half (the side with no spray) has slightly more transfer than the right half that was sprayed. However, the difference isn’t enough to make me want to use this product and I am content with just skipping the setting spray step altogether. If there’s a time when I need my makeup to be locked into place, I’m going to reach for others first.
My only other complaint about this product is the sprayer. A lot comes out, and forcefully at that. I wish it would spray like a mist, but I’m considering transferring the liquid into a different bottle so it will be more enjoyable to use.
Essence Call Me Queen Mascara and Essence Lash Without Limits Extreme Lengthening & Volume Mascara
Both of these mascaras gave me an initially bad impression. I discovered that opening and closing them, then setting them aside for at least a week was the trick to getting a better outcome. When I first opened the tubes, they were too wet. The formulas had a hard time building on my eyelashes. Two weeks is the sweet spot for the mascaras to thicken, which is enough to get at least satisfactory results. Unfortunately, within a month of opening each, they both started to form clumps and started to be a bit too thick. It takes me five minutes to get them looking nice per eye. Ten full minutes to apply mascara is too long for me, especially when I can get it done much quicker with my favorite Essence mascara: Volume Stylist 18h Lash Extension Mascara.
Lash Without Limits gives me a little more volume and a fluffy look to my lashes. Call Me Queen still gives volume, while also adding the tiniest bit more length, but the shape of the applicator makes it slightly harder to apply mascara to my innermost lashes.
I would consider the amount I used in the photos to be two coats, even though I repeatedly went over the lashes so many times. Because these mascaras are so wet, they are both prone to smudge onto my lid/lash line if I squeeze my eyes shut too tightly before the mascara has time to dry. I don’t notice flaking, but any clumps that stick to tips of my lashes have the potential to fall on my face later in the day.
My preference between the two is the Lash Without Limits, but I would not repurchase either of them purely because of how long it takes to get them to look separated, as clump-free as possible, and with enough length and thickness built up.
That’s all I’ve got for today! I hope you’ll return next week to check out another new post!
The retailer Purish was having a birthday sale in July. I didn’t know anything about the Berlin based company until this year when I realized I could get some harder to find indie products on their website. Along with some Danessa Myricks products I plan to review at some point in the future, I bought items from Nabla and LH Cosmetics that I’ve been eying for a long time while in the US, but didn’t want to deal with the shipping costs. I’ll be discussing them in the order that I tried them, rather than grouping by brand. I hope you’ll find these reviews interesting and helpful!
Nabla Close-Up Blurring Blush in Satisfaction
I love Nabla’s Skin Glazing blushes and have long wished for a shade extension. So, even though these new blushes are a matte formula, I felt compelled to try at least one of them. The shade I chose can be iffy as to whether it will work for me or not. The color reminded me of Too Faced’s Cloud Blurring Blush in Velvet Crush, Tarte’s Amazonian Clay Blush in Exposed, and Sephora’s Duo Matte Blush in English Rose. It might even be similar to MAC’s Gingerly, but I would need to see it again to know for sure. In any case, some of the above work for me all the time or just in winter, so I took the chance. The only one I have with me to compare in swatches is Sephora’s English Rose. I intentionally mixed the two split pan colors together to get as close to Nabla’s Satisfaction as possible. English Rose can look completely different if I use more of the pink within the duo.
If I just use Satisfaction on my bare cheeks, it’s a little ashy looking, especially because it’s a matte formula and I have dry skin. However, when it blends into my foundation, the color warms up further and looks just as I hoped. I like vibrant poppy blushes, but sometimes I like having just a flush of pink. Sometimes, I want light pink cheeks like an anime character. It all depends on my mood! In order to get as much payoff as it looks in the photo below, I had to really pack it on my cheeks. A normal amount is very subtle.
I have no blending issues or longevity issues with this. The part I dislike is actually the smell. It smells like a mix between chalk and chemicals, though not as strongly as the MAC Bronzer issue when those launched last year. I used to smell it only when I first opened the compact and then it would dissipate in the air. I noticed a similar thing with the LH palette that’s being reviewed next. What a strange coincidence! By now though, after many months, I only get a slight whiff of the chemical smell if I put it right up to my nose.
I like the color of this blush, but I have to admit that after comparing it to the Sephora duo, I like Sephora’s more. The Nabla blush is supposed to be blurring, but I don’t find that to be the case. Sephora’s is a soft matte, which is a more flattering finish for my skin type as well. Plus, with English Rose, I can tailor the color to be similar to Satisfaction or more vibrant if I’m in the mood for more of a punch. The times I don’t feel like mixing is when I’m most likely to use this. I don’t foresee myself buying additional shades.
LH Cosmetics Reload Palette
There are elements that I really like about this palette, but I’ll start with the issues first. I love how Flow and Silence look in the pan, but if you keep blending those shades back and forth, they turn much darker. Flow becomes a dark purple and Silence turns dark grey. I even used it as an outer corner deepening/smoking shade in the fourth eye look below. It doesn’t matter whether I use primer or not, it stays the pan color when first placed and patted on (which is how I could get them to look alright in swatches), but the moment I blend, Silence turns grey. It’s not an issue of dirty brushes either. I literally tried it with a brand new brush. Considering I already have Offline to deepen eye looks, and I don’t really have much in the way of mid tone mattes since Flow and Silence don’t count, I’m unable to create the kind of looks I intended without reaching for other palettes. The eyeshadows are still pretty, but more dramatic than anticipated.
Thankfully, I have no issues with the colors of the other mattes. I was also able to use three different bases for the eyeshadows and the performance didn’t change. The shadows are pigmented and require a bit more time to blend than I’ve been used to lately, but the final result is worth the effort. At least, that’s what I thought in the beginning, but I’ve only used this palette one or two more times after my initial rounds of testing were completed.
The shimmers are on the thicker side, but I suspect it’s for adherence purposes. I don’t feel the need to apply them damp to increase intensity on the lids, nor to keep them together. I don’t have any fallout issues with these. I also like that there is a warm toned option with Reset and an option to go with the pinks with Energy. The shimmers pick up easily on a brush, spread and blend nicely, and they don’t have enough slip to them to cause creasing on me.
The color story allows one to take the color scheme in different directions: monochrome pink look, neutral, neutral plus one color, blue-green, warm or cool, etc. It’s just a shame that the variety is lessened by Silence and Flow. I would have loved to put a true olive green in the crease, have Moss on the lid, and deepen it with Offline. I’m not disappointed by the performance, only let down by the shades because this could have been a palette I reached for quite a bit due to the convenience of having colors I love all in one palette. Because I have to pair it with something else, the reality is that I use it less than I’d like.
I also need to mention that these have a bit of a chalky smell. This palette is not cheap (even though I bought it at half price) and the eyeshadows are made in Italy, so I don’t think this was cheap to produce. However, that’s what I associate with this type of smell. I only smell it when I first open the palette and the kickup flies through the air. So, it’s not a big problem, but an aspect I don’t like. Especially when I think about Huda Beauty 9-pan palettes that are a similar size, and cost 29 Euros at full price, compared to the Reload palette that’s 49 Euros at full price. The formulas are completely different, but I like quite a few of Huda’s Obsessions palettes and if both brands had a palette comprising of similar colors, I would choose Huda’s.
Nabla Cupid’s Arrow Longwear Full Colour Stylo in Arrow #12 Khaki and Arrow #13 Mauve
These weren’t on my radar until I saw Angelica Nyqvist using them more frequently in her videos during the summer. Since they were on sale and I realized the colors I wanted would compliment what I was missing from the LH Reload palette, I figured I may as well try them.
For starters, the experience is slightly different depending on whether or not an eyeshadow primer was used underneath everything or not. What is the same for both is that liquid eyeshadow goes on top of the Nabla stylos well when used as an eyeshadow base. When this product is used as an eyeliner, it holds onto the skin very well. It’s budge-resistant and water-resistant. When I first apply it, I try to keep my eyelids closed to allow it to set and try to avoid creasing. It only takes a minute to set on an un-primed eye. In one instance on a primed eye when I had to scratch around my lashes, I placed my thumb near the lid to hold it steady and got transfer on finger. Essentially, the more emollient a primer is, the longer it takes to set. In this instance, it was closer to 10 minutes.
On a primed eye, Khaki essentially looked the same, but Mauve was warmer and leaned pink (as opposed to no base where it looks cooler toned purple-mauve. I can draw the stylos on smoothly to apply them without needing primer, but if I want to blend the edges or smooth it out with a finger, it takes too much product off and I can see my skin discoloration underneath. On a primed eye, it’s easier to draw smoothly, but blending the edge also removes the primer with it and I can see bald patches left behind. So, it’s best if I draw product on, but use a lighter powder to blend out the edges.
On a non-primed eye, applying the Nabla Stylo and adding another powder eyeshadow on top doesn’t result in as much creasing, but over a primed eye it settles in my deepest eye crease. The bottom line is that I prefer to use this product as a creamy easy-to-glide-on eyeliner, and perhaps as an eyeshadow base in areas that I don’t have lines yet, such as the mobile lid. To use this as a standalone eyeshadow is too finicky for me. It’s easier to use a powder or more traditional form of cream and liquid shadows.
LH Infinity Bronzer in Forever
This purchase was made specifically because of Kackie Reviews Beauty. She took my curiosity and tripled it with her gushing about how great it is in multiple videos. With only four options available, I chose the darkest one. The shade Forever has enough depth for me, but will not work on someone with a rich skintone. It’s debatable how well it would suit someone within the deep category. My other concern was whether or not the color would be too warm of an orange, but I was compelled. The stars had aligned and now seemed like the time to get it.
It’s a bit silly, but I will admit that there was something visually drawing me in too. There was some reason I couldn’t stop wanting this product from the moment it launched. It wasn’t until I finally bought it that it clicked. The pattern in the pan is similar to the limited edition version of Becca Shimmering Skin Perfectors! In my review, I talked about how I experienced regrets for over a year because Champagne Gold was discontinued, and how I immediately bought it when it popped up on the Hautelook/Nordstrom Rack website.
I don’t think I ever made that review comparing and discussing the situation between Lunar Beauty’s Moon Prism highlighter and the Makeup Revolution highlighter packaging debacle, but this crystal pattern I’m apparently obsessed with is on the outside of both compacts and I bought those back then despite never using the highlighters inside! And now, I believe I have solved the question why my inner makeup goblin couldn’t let the LH bronzer clear out of my mind. I think that experience of FOMO from the Becca days has continued, and now when I see makeup with that pattern I feel like I am missing out if I don’t get it. I’m finally aware of the psychology behind it, so I hope I’ll be better equipped to not let that be a factor in the future! As I’ve got the product now, let’s chat about it!
This bronzer feels very smooth to the touch. It isn’t as buttery as the Westman Atelier one, nor as creamy clay-like as the Glowish bronzer. The closest comparison I have is to the Kaleidos Symphony Contour Trios, which in turn feels like a lighter pressed version of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting powders. The LH bronzer has medium-buildable pigmentation and lasts all day.
Whether I get a smooth and diffused application or an uneven concentration depends entirely on my brushes. Because the surface of the bronzer has mounds and divots from the pan design, if the brush I choose doesn’t pick up an even layer (or I don’t swirl or sweep it around to coat it evenly), it will stick to my skin unevenly when I apply it and require me to spend a bit of time buffing. I tested a lot of new brushes with this bronzer specifically, so I was able to see that the density of the brush doesn’t matter as much as the even coating. I can use a dense brush for a strong yet blended look, or a fluffier brush to look seamless with the skin. In the photo below, I built up the bronzer so it would be more obvious on camera. It can also be built up to look smoother than I depicted, as I hadn’t learned the brush trick at the time I took the photo.
Because of how warm the color is, it’s harder to be able to tell I’m wearing bronzer, as it blends into my warm colored blushes (as seen in the right photo above).
Even when I use my best bronzer brush with this though, and even though I can get it to look smoother, it’s still doesn’t look as seamless as some of my other bronzer favorites.
This photo was taken a month later in the peak of summer, so I’m a little darker. The bronzer color matches better after having gotten some sun, and I used my best brush with it. A tiny bit of foundation, concealer, and the bronzer are all that’s on my face.
This is described as a luminous bronzer, but it doesn’t have much of a glow. I consider it slightly more radiant than a soft matte bronzer. There aren’t traditional shimmer particles that I can see, just sheen from the mica. It has even less of a sheen than some of my semi-glowy favorites.
To show the undertone compared to other orange bronzers, I have swatches of Kosas, a true luminous bronzer, and Armani’s Luminous Silk Bronzing Powder that has some shimmer particles as well as the mica-like sheen. “Forever” is the darkest option from LH, but Kosas and Armani both have a deeper option in their lines. Just something interesting to note.
I like this bronzer, particularly at the discounted price I paid. However, there are tons of bronzers I like. I estimate this would rank no higher than top 30’s or 40’s among my collection. It’s good, but didn’t quite live up to the hype for me. The sheeny finish isn’t strong enough on my face for me.
Nabla Beyond Jelly Lipstick in Ardor
Among the YouTubers I watch that review Nabla products, this particular formula has always been highly rated. So, getting it at half price was more than enough of a reason for me to buy it!
The lipstick component has a beautiful design with clear elements and black and gold touches that makes me think of timeless elegance. In the hand though, it feels like acrylic plastic, which I haven’t decided if I like or not. The fragrance used is an incredibly strong combination of fruit and florals. It’s pleasant, but also distracting. In the beginning, I didn’t like the fact that I could still smell it on my lips for hours after applying it. Thankfully, the smell goes away over time and is no longer an issue.
Its formula reminds me of the YSL Candy Glazes and Fenty Gloss Bomb Stix. It has a comfortable gel-like consistency that feels moisturizing on the lips and has sheer color that can be built up to medium coverage. Of the three lipsticks I mentioned, the one from Nabla feels the stickiest. It can last through a meal (depending on what someone eats), but it definitely needs a touchup after a second meal. When my lips are in a drier state prior to putting this on, within a few hours (even if I don’t eat) my lips will absorb some of the moisture it provides and I will have to reapply, despite still feeling the presence of the sticky layer on my lips. This has a few ingredients that my lips like, and my lips feel softer even after the lipstick has been removed, and that softness lasts until the next morning. So, this formula is hydrating and moisturizing, but I have balmy lip color products that are more nourishing. The reason I love this product though is for the color and how the jelly texture smooths out any dry or peeled looking skin on my lips. The retail price is 23 Euros, but I’ve seen it for 16-18 Euros on multiple websites for at least half a year. So, it’s a product I’d recommend to anyone who wants a less expensive option for a jelly or melty type of lipstick. In fact, of all the products I’ve reviewed in this post, this one is my favorite.
Nabla Skin Realist Tinted Balm in Shade 6 Dark
I had only seen three reviews for this product since 2021, and it was enough to make me want it, yet not enough to want to buy it without a discount. My reasons for that were the lack of reviews available and I felt very uncertain about the shade options. At the beginning of the post, I mentioned buying all these products during the Birthday Sale, but this one is from the Purish Black Friday sale when it was half off. Considering we’re in winter and I’m at my driest, now seemed like the perfect time to finally try it out!
In the photo above, I have the skin tint on in the left side of the yellow line and the Dior Powder no Powder on the right side with no foundation underneath. For me, I barely see a difference. This “tinted balm” only looks better compared to my bare face, so it doesn’t get any accolades for that. The name of the product implies that it will offer low coverage, but in the world of the Fenty Eaze Drops, Danessa Myricks Serum Foundation, and even Lisa Eldridge Skin Tint, the ones I buy usually have more coverage than I expect. This isn’t a deal-breaker though, considering it has similar coverage to the Givenchy Prisme Libre Skin-Caring Glow Foundation and I made that one work. My issue is that it fails to deliver on the radiance in multiple ways.
Another look of the Tinted Balm. In this photo, I’m not wearing a highlighter, but I do have on a satin blush.
The Skin Realist isn’t matte, but it doesn’t give me nearly enough glow, even though I leave it unpowdered. This contains hyaluronic acid, which essentially does nothing for me in this region of Germany that isn’t that humid. The only time I get this to look to the glow level I want is if I fully prep my skin beforehand and use a ton of this balm. Then, it looks closer to a natural finish foundation, but it still takes six hours before my skin starts producing oil and looking luminous. Unfortunately, by that point it also starts to look like “end of the night” makeup, even on days when I’ve done nothing strenuous. If I actually do laborious housework or go for a long enough walk to start sweating, it makes everything on my face start to fade and break apart. This really isn’t a longwear product. When I try to counter this by using a setting spray, I lose the benefits of prepping my skin and the most I can get is a soft matte look again. I feel this product requires too much effort for a skin tint (and especially one that touts being a makeup-skincare hybrid product).
On the Nabla side in the picture above, I used at least double the amount of product as the Danessa Myricks Yummy Skin Serum Foundation side. Danessa’s product looks more skin-like while still offering more coverage (which is easier to see by looking at both sides of my mouth). Considering I actually have more hyperpigmentation on the “DM” side, Nabla’s should look better, but to me it does not.
I was relieved to discover that this had low transfer despite the “balm” name. It fully dried down on my skin. However, this product just isn’t suited to my preferences in a complexion product. I have several low coverage foundations and skin tints that give me a prettier finish on the skin, fully set, and have better lasting power. I wouldn’t call this bad; it just couldn’t compete with what I already own.
I didn’t have the most success with these newest additions to my collection from Nabla, but I continue to recommend the brand’s Skin Glazing line, lip products, and their face brushes are pretty nice despite being synthetic.
I’ve always been a fan of Fenty’s original Gloss Bomb formula, but I had so many and could never get through finishing any of them. I eventually decluttered them because of how old they were and planned to repurchase a single one to keep in my collection. When I thought about the glossy products that I preferred from several other brands because of the level of nourishment they brought to my lips, I decided not to make that purchase. However, when Fenty released the Gloss Bomb Oil and High-Shine Gloss Stix, I had to see for myself how the newbies measured up to the standard.
Starting with the Gloss Bomb Oil, it does feel exactly like a cosmetic chemist took a Gloss Bomb and mixed in some oil to make it slightly less thick, less sticky, and more emollient. The downside is that this change also made it harder to adhere to my lips, so it absolutely cannot last through a meal and comes off very easily when drinking. They succeeded in making this feel more hydrating than the regular Gloss Bomb, but because it’s not long lasting and I often forget to reapply lip products, I’m without that moisture for longer and then end up with dry lips anyway.
As a makeup product, Coppa Cookie is a bit nostalgic because I remember as a kid borrowing a metallic copper/warm brown lipstick color like this from my sister and loving it. Admittedly, this kind of finish isn’t my style anymore. It’s only coppery-pink when built up to the max, and the color isn’t opaque even then and has a bit of trouble looking evenly spread the same way the Fenty Gloss Bomb Cream formula was like on my lips (but not quite as bad as that). To get the kind of color in the first picture in the trio above, is an amount I would not want to wear regularly because it’s uncomfortably heavy with too much product on the lips anyway. In a normal amount I want to wear, my natural lip color absolutely peeks through underneath and looks like the kind of pigmentation level of a normal Gloss Bomb.
I might have still been tempted to buy a non-metallic shade of this in the future if not for the Gloss Bomb Stix, which is my new favorite!
To me, Fenty finally topped their original Gloss Bombs! For starters, this isn’t quite as sticky and is slightly less thick, yet it adheres just as well! I wouldn’t call it a lightweight product, but it’s tolerable because of how moisturizing it feels with a bit of extra hydration. The color is very even and the product looks smoothing on my lips. I was curious why this one felt the most comfortable and compared the three ingredient lists. All of them have the shea butter my lips like, but this one has sunflower seed oil too, which my lips love! My lips remain soft all day and are in better condition the next day. Ami Cole’s Lip Oil/Gloss Treatment is still more effective as lip care, but I’m still very happy with this formula, especially considering the makeup aspect.
As a lip color product, I love this Spice Cold shade! I bought it because it looked like a pink-brown. In the bullet, I can see it has a little purple tone to it, but on my lips it still ends up pink brown with the tiniest hint of mauve. The brand has a lot more shades with stronger purple tones available for those who actually want that kind of color. I like the tones of the lippies like Fenty Glow and Sorta Selfi$h, but I wanted a gloss stick dark enough that I could wear it without needing a lip liner. The nude shades being so light is the only thing keeping me from buying more, but I expect to see the brand eventually expand the range.
I have to add that this product reminds me a lot of the YSL Candy Glaze. Fenty’s is more pigmented and YSL’s is slightly shinier, but the gel-like feel and moisture level is so similar! Fenty’s is the tiniest bit more hydrating for me and I like the packaging and the scent (though it’s starting to fade a few months in), but YSL’s smells even yummier and the packaging is more luxurious. YSL’s price is easier to absorb when on sale for just a few bucks more than Fenty’s full retail price, but Fenty is at least more affordable (by comparison) all year round. They both have totally different ingredients, but to me, this is a good alternative for someone who doesn’t care about packaging and would like a similar-enough product for less money.
Another product I’ve found that is similar to Fenty’s is the Nabla Beyond Jelly Sheer Lipstick. It has a similar texture, but Nabla’s is even stickier and a little sheerer!
That’s everything for today! I hope to see you next week!
I have previously used Gucci’s foundations, bronzers, blushes, and face powder. Today is the continuation of my exploration of the brand, having added their eyeshadows and powder highlighter to my collection. Prior to these new additions, the standout products for me have been the bronzers and blushes, so I was curious to see if the others could live up to their hype!
I was never attracted to the color stories, layout, pan shape, and packaging for Gucci’s eyeshadow quads in their permanent range, so I was shocked by how drawn I was to this holiday release. I like the red elements on the outer packaging and was enchanted by the Fiery Coral and Royal Bronze shades specifically. The retailer Douglas dropped the price for these by 20% within days of launching, so I was sold!
Pink Glow and Fiery Coral are both considered toppers, but only Pink Glow has a translucent base with iridescent pink shimmer. Fiery Coral has a subtle coral base color with gold shimmer. I can see this when I pack the eyeshadow onto my lid with my finger (4th eye look), but it’s especially visible when I apply it with a damp brush (2nd eye look). Pink Glow is absolutely not a unique color, but it’s useful to have as an inner corner highlighting shade and to pair with Soft Burgundy.
Soft Burgundy is a satin-matte, with a soft creamy texture that looks very smooth around the eyes and pairs well with the pinky-orange coral tones of Fiery Coral. Because Fiery Coral comprises heavily of gold shimmer, it can look very similar to Royal Bronze when Royal Bronze isn’t applied damp. However, I love the pairing the two together anyway, since Fiery Coral gives Royal Bronze a boost of extra sparkle.
These eyeshadows are all thin, but buildable to an extent. Pink Glow is a true topper, so I can’t get an opaque look out of it. Soft Burgundy is dark enough to provide contrast for the other colors, but I don’t consider it a depth creating shade on my complexion. These are some elements that prevent me from being fully in love with this quad, but I still like it a lot.
One of the aspects that can be challenging to use this quad is picking up color. The eyeshadows are firmly pressed into the compact and I get too impatient to build up color with a brush, so I often use my finger for everything, except the inner corner that requires more precision. I also prefer to increase the intensity and opacity by spraying my brush. Going in for second and third dips with the same brush has caused the surface to look a bit off-putting over time, as seen in the photo below.
This pricepoint puts it on par with Guerlain and YSL quads, but in my opinion those brands have a better eyeshadow quality than Gucci. What Gucci has going for it is this color story that is quite bold within the luxury beauty sphere. I applaud them for taking a risk with something so colorful and not leaning on neutrals. This is the most festive launch I’ve seen from a luxury brand this year, and I’m glad to have it, even if I don’t end up getting the most use out of it.
Gucci Glow Highlighter in 03 Warm Gold
It seemed like nearly everyone I watch on YouTube fell in love with this highlighter. I was fully planning to skip getting it because I’d already purchased two other high end highlighters, but Douglas’ 20% off got me again!
My friend and blogger Nikki shared photos with me of the Gucci highlighters, and those are what helped me initially decide not to get them. I even commented that on her page! The discount and all the hype made me forget my reservations about the visible particles, but I wish I remembered because that’s what is keeping me from liking this highlighter. YouTube influencers were hyping up the uncommon gel texture, but being different doesn’t make it automatically better (plus Natasha Denona’s Hy-Gen highlighter is even more unique feeling). It’s beautiful with a wet looking shine, but I don’t like that I can see the individual shimmers. When I watched TrillxLauren‘s video on YouTube, she mentioned with repeated use the highlighter texture looked more like how she tried it in store and had hoped it would perform more to her liking. I too had hope. I hated it the first time I used it, but once I wore off the top layer, I liked it a little more. From then on, I made sure to pick up product from the same spot every time I tried it. The result was it always looking pretty in photos, but I was so torn about how it looked in person.
I’ve tried different brushes and application techniques, but the bottom line is I just can’t get over seeing all the shimmer particles. Perhaps if I had a darker color it would blend more into my skin and then I would love it. This isn’t unheard of since I had a similar experience disliking Gucci’s Bronzer until I got the lighter shade. In this instance, I think Warm Bronze would be too dark and there isn’t anything else more suitable in-between (Opal Pink would look too icy for me). So, unfortunately this was a purchase I should have skipped.
As a further example of what I mean, below is a comparison between Gucci on the left and Gxve Beauty on the right. The one on the right still has a visible glow and I can see shimmer still, but they’re much smaller. As pretty as Gucci’s looks in the picture, the texture is amplified when I view it from my own mirror. Gxve Beauty doesn’t have a unique formula, but it’s beautiful and it works. The retail price is $30 and I bought it during a half off sale. So, compared to Gucci’s $59 retail price, I regret giving into my impulses.
At least the quad was a win!
In the photo on the left above, I’m wearing the Gucci bronzer, blush (Warm Berry), eyeshadows, and highlighter. I forgot to use the powder and left behind the foundations. I wanted the new blush in 11 Intense Ruby (it’s called Watermelon in Europe) because of the color and beautiful limited edition packaging, but it bothered me that for some reason Gucci’s blushes cost way more in Germany than in the US. The rest of the makeup is closer to being the same price. Another reason I was hesitant to buy it for a higher price is that it looks like a slightly lighter version of Intense Plum that I decluttered. There’s still a chance that I might like Intense Ruby better, so I ordered it during the Sephora sale from the US site and it’s with my family there. When I eventually go back and try it, if I like it enough, I’ll bring it home with me!
Lastly, I will note that using my r.e.m. beauty Highlighter Topper (which I have called my “fixer highlighter” in the past) does help improve the look of the Gucci highlighter, but I’m not interested anymore in trying to make this work when I have so many others I can use by themselves to achieve the kind of glow I want.
That’s everything! Thank you for checking out this week’s post!
The YSL Rouge Volupté have been raved about for over a decade. I’ve always been a basic gloss kind of gal, so I couldn’t justify the $45 to try them out. When the Candy Glazes (Loveshine Candy Glaze Lip Gloss Stick) launched in 2023, there was a resurgence of interest for myself and other beauty lovers, but the price continued to hold me back. It wasn’t until I realized the brand’s website had these frequently on sale between $22-30 that I really started to pay attention. By then, they also had the High-Shine Caring Lipsticks (Lip Oil Stick) and Candy Glow Tinted Butter Balms (aka Sheer-Shine Colour & Care Lip Balms aka Candy Glow Lip Balms). All of them had “Loveshine” in the names and were used interchangeably on social media. The names themselves vary by country. I had no idea what the difference was between “candy glow” and “candy glaze” and which colors of components went with which formula. With such similarities, I was deeply confused and had to spend a lot of time researching. Today, I’m going to share my thoughts on the formulas and all the relevant information I can find. If anyone else was just as confused as me, I hope this post will help.
YSL Rouge Volupté Shine Oil-In-Stick Lipstick in 122 Burnt Zellige
To start with, this is the first YSL lip product I ever purchased. I was so happy when I bought this because it was on sale and has stunning packaging that I was able to personalize for only $5 extra. Seeing my name engraved on the lipstick makes it feel so much more special. I have another one (87 Rose Afrique) that was delivered to the US just before I left, so I haven’t seen that shade yet in person.
The main benefit to purchasing from the YSL-US website is the ability to engrave any lipstick from among their permanent ranges. On the YSL-DE site, I’ve been unable to find any engraving options and haven’t seen the same kind of discounts. Instead, all their retail partners frequently have sales on these lip products within the 25 Euro range. There are of course less shade options. Anyway, I purchased this warm red-brown color.
This lives up to the description of being an oil-in-stick. It’s not as shiny as a lip gloss, but it feels slightly more substantial than a pure form of lip oil. The color spreads nicely across the lips. It takes about two layers to get high-medium pigmentation. Going over the lips more than three times increases the frequency in which the product will spread to the outer edges of my lips and start to feel like too much was applied. I don’t know if it’s just this color, but it has a light staining effect. I can get through a light meal where the emollient layer is gone, but slight color is left behind. However, this can’t last through a second meal without needing to be reapplied. This isn’t a long-wear type of product, but while it’s on my lips they feel nicely moisturized and fairly hydrated considering I have a lot of problems with lip care products that have an opposite effect if colorants are used. I definitely like this formula, but I don’t think these would be worth the full price if not for the brand name and luxury packaging. At the discounted price I paid though, I’m quite happy.
According to some sources, the Loveshine High-Shine Caring Lipsticks are just new packaging for the Rouge Voluptés, but according to YSL’s own website, it’s called an “upgraded” formula. I notice a difference and will discuss that in the next section. I cannot find any Rouge Voluptés on their DE website (and they’re only available in select colors at retailers), but they are still being sold readily within the US. So, I don’t know for certain if the Rouge Voluptés are officially discontinued or how long it will take before they are gone for good.
I can keep my engraved cap long after the lipstick expires and put it on a newer YSL lipstick, but it would look a bit strange pairing a silver base and gold cap!
YSL LoveshineHigh-Shine Caring Lipstick in Limited Edition 209 Pink Desire, 122 Caramel Swirl, and 202 Peachy Glow
I already reviewed the glittery version of Pink Desire in my 2024 YSL Holiday post, so I will focus on the others. I have to say though that I noticed the limited edition Pink Desire feels balmier. The feeling of the limited edition version is the whole reason I wanted a more of these in wearable shades. I didn’t want to buy YSL’s Loveshine Balm because I heard of that one’s lack of pigmentation and the PH adjusting properties that I’m not interested in (though I will most likely try the formula next year in the limited edition ombre pastel pink and blue packaging that has been sneak peeked for at least four months). *
*Edit: I did buy it! Review for the Loveshine Balm is HERE.
Between Pink Desire and Caramel Swirl, the ingredients of the two shades are nearly identical, but the 5th and 6th ingredients swapped positions and the lower middle section has a few more in a different order. So, perhaps those minuscule changes still had an impact. The feeling of the limited edition version of Pink Desire would make it absolutely worth buying more (in different color options) if I could guarantee I’d get that same kind of texture/finish. Caramel Swirl feels more slippery. Peachy Glow feels like a true middle-ground because it’s balmier than Caramel Swirl, but feels oilier than the limited edition Pink Desire. I cannot account for why that is, considering the only ingredient differences I see between Caramel Swirl and Peachy Glow are the ones that effect the color. “Collector” Pink Desire is more different than Caramel Swirl and Peachy Glow are to each other, so I will go out on a limb and guess that if someone buys a Loveshine without shimmer specks it’s going to feel like the rest of the permanent range.
I will refer to this formula from now on as simply “Loveshine” because that seems to be what most people shorten the name to instead of High-Shine Caring Lipsticks or Lip Oil Sticks. Based on the permanent shades, Loveshines are moisturizing, but not equally as hydrating. It’s occlusive, forming a barrier keeping moisture on the surface, but I don’t feel like it conditions my lips over time as well as some colorful lippies I own from other brands. For example, I like Lisa Eldridge Lucents more for the color choices and way they feel on the lips. I also prefer the Lisa Eldridge Baume Embraces because they’re more lightweight, yet have a stronger grip on the surface of my lips. With the Loveshines, I get this needy sensation to keep rubbing my lips together. I can feel it and am aware of it all day, unlike the Rouge Volupté. The color sinks a bit into chapped spots, but since I spend so much time rubbing my lips, it smooths the color back out. The smell is lovely (candy-fruity) and I’m still pleased with this as a moisturizing product and adding color to the lips. As the day goes on, after the emollient layer eventually wears off and colorant is still lingering, that’s when my lips start to turn dry and look drier than when my day started. That might be a me thing and my problems with some pigments/dyes. However, this doesn’t happen with the Rouge Volupté and I own the same color for one of them!
When I bought Caramel Swirl, I thought the number for it sounded familiar, but I made the mistake of only checking for a duplicate name. Because my first one was called Burnt Zellige, I thought they would be different. Technically, if I really stare hard at the color on my lips and in swatches, Burnt Zellige has the tiniest bit more red in the red-brown with Caramel Swirl being slightly more pink-red-brown, but I highly doubt anyone would notice if I put one on one half of my lips and put the other on the other half. The tiniest difference in color is as small as what can occur between different batches of the same lipstick. I can see it, but I asked my husband and he could not. What type of lighting I’m under also plays a factor. So, I will acknowledge they’re the same shades in different formulas.
In essence, the differences I can detect between this Rouge Volupté and the same shade of Loveshine is that the Rouge Volupté is more pigmented (took 2 swipes in the photo above versus 3 swipes of the Loveshine), oilier and more hydrating, but that oil keeps it from lingering on the lips as well as the Loveshines. I also get a staining effect with the Rouge Volupté, but not with the Loveshine.
I have to address another part that is tricky regarding these lipsticks. The color in the tube isn’t necessarily the color one will end up with on the lips. Also, I’m not sure why 202 was named Peachy Glow when it’s not a peachy color. It looks like a nude pink on me and I’ve seen it look medium-dark cool mauve on other people. Neither of those shades match the pinky brown that it looks like in the tube. I feel catfished by a lipstick! Thankfully, it’s still pretty, though a bit pale on me. I don’t recommend purchasing these based on the tube color, but judging off swatches is a risk too!
I think this is a nice product and most people that love the Voluptés will love the Loveshines. I have such picky lips that if I wanted to use it as a “caring” treatment type of product, this wouldn’t be worth the price (unlike on other people with less lip sensitivities who would have zero issues with this). However, as a makeup product and just wanting to have something comfortable enough to wear in a pretty color and with packaging that feels luxurious and indulgent, this succeeds in that.
YSL Loveshine Candy Glaze Lip Gloss Stick in 14 Scenic Brown and 15 Showcasing Nude
Figuring out the differences between these lipsticks was confusing enough, but I also realized some shades exist in multiple formulas! There is a 14 Scenic Brown in this Candy Glaze, as well as a 207 Scenic Brown of the Loveshine Lip Oil Stick (High-Shine Caring Lipstick). So, if someone requests a YSL lippie in Scenic Brown for Christmas, a birthday, or some other event…be sure to find out which formula they prefer!
The Candy Glaze feels more like a gloss than a lipstick, so now I understand why it’s considered to have a jelly texture. It feels both moisturizing and decently hydrating. To me, this is like a thinner version of Fenty’s Gloss Bombs and I would even go as far as to say Fenty might have duped this with their Gloss Bomb Stix. Another similar product are the Nabla Beyond Jelly Sheer Lipsticks. The downside to both Fenty and Nabla’s lines is that there aren’t additional shades from them that I would want to buy over the single ones I currently own. I’d be interested in shade extensions for both.
This feels stickier and therefore has more grip on the lips than the Loveshine, but that’s not a bad thing. Among all glosses on the market, this is on the lower medium spectrum of stickiness. I can sometimes forget I’m wearing it because it doesn’t move around as much on the lips, but I’d still consider it medium-weight instead of lightweight. Multiple layers can build up a tiny bit more opacity, but I don’t recommend swiping too much on as it can then become heavier, thicker, stickier, and gather too much in the lip corners. This has a click mechanism for getting product up and back down. It’s meant to discourage anyone from rolling up the Candy Glaze in this soft formula too high and damaging it.
After doing swatches, I noticed Scenic Brown had a slight staining effect on the skin, but Showcasing Nude didn’t. I assume this is due to the colorant used and the darker shades in this formula will do it, but not all of them. It’s just interesting because I heard the Candy Glazes were supposed to have the most color payoff, but both of my shades look way sheerer than was represented in the many photos I saw online from the brand and beauty influencers. At the same time, if I build up the color specifically on the dark pigmented spots on my lips, it gets covered fairly well. So, I guess I don’t need it to be a more pigmented formula.
I’ve mentioned the difficulties being able to tell what the shades actually look like in person. There is yet another element of trouble, which is distinguishing between similarities among all the formulas. On me, Showcasing Nude and Peachy Glow look pretty similar. Showcasing Nude is paler, so I prefer the look of Peachy Glow on myself even though I prefer the Candy Glaze formula. With the numbering system being different, I haven’t been able to figure out an easy way to compare shades across formulas.
In playing around with different lip products in my collection, I found out that if I take a little bit of my Rabanne Lovebalm in Bloody Kiss and lightly press it onto my lips to get some of that deep color, then apply Showcasing Nude on top, the lip look becomes a wearable cool-leaning medium pink. It’s such a pretty combination!
My Candy Glazes have a scent, but it’s not as strong as the Loveshines or Rouge Volupté. I get the barest whiff of sweetness, but they don’t have as distinct of a fruity candy-like smell as the others. I bought them in October, so it can’t be due to being too old.
Of all the YSL lip products I tried, I like the Candy Glaze formula the most. However, I can’t ignore how much this reminds me of the Fenty Gloss Bomb Stix and those are 23 Euros ($25 USD) at full price versus a maximum discounted price of 26-29 Euros for the Candy Glaze.
Based on everything I’ve tried, I understand the hype for YSL Lip Products and do feel that it’s warranted. However, I recommend waiting for a sale. Perhaps 10 years ago these were more unique, but other brands are catching up and matching formulas. I’m thrilled that I’ve been able to find colored lip products that look beautiful and are also capable of nourishing my lips. However, I do have more options than just YSL. There is admittedly something about the packaging that is alluring enough to make me want to buy more. So, no judgements to anyone who buys these at full price (my limited edition one was full price). We’re still getting a quality product and I can’t say that I wouldn’t buy more in the future. One of the biggest deterrents though is that I don’t shop for makeup in person and even when I try to make sure I’m not getting the same colors within the same formula, it ends up nearly matching the color of another formula of YSL lippie. These are too expensive for me to want to keep getting duplicates!
That’s all for today! Consider clicking follow if you’d like to be emailed whenever a new post is out!
Richer Rose is in MAC’s Sheertone Powder Blush formula, which is great. The shade is like a softer slightly muted version of MAC’s Frankly Scarlet, so I love the color. It still builds up pigment quickly for a “sheertone” blush, so I recommend using a non dense buffing brush or any shape that’s airy.
Glutton for Gold is in the brand’s Extra Dimension Skinfinish Highlighter formula. This particular shade is a duochrome gold to pink, though it just looks pink on my skin tone. It’s a smooth formula, but the shimmer particles are reflective enough and large enough to look borderline glittery on my cheeks. I like it best when used sparingly and really worked into my skin, because then it’s more wearable for me (and especially acceptable for the holidays).
These two colors pair very well together. In terms of performance, it’s the same great quality one can expect from MAC. There are no blending or longevity issues. It all comes down to color and intensity preferences.
In the last two years, I’ve been observing the timeline of what’s available from MAC by region (Asia and Australia vs Europe vs North American markets), available online vs in-store, which things to go their US and EU retailers, and what ends up at the CCO/CCS. It’s not unheard of for MAC to have specific products that are only sold to one sector, and that seems to be the case with these Golden Hour Glow Face Palettes. At the time that I’m writing this, the only colorway available in Germany is Medium. In Australia, I see that they have Medium and Deep (with Deep containing the Maraschino Ruby blush and Crushed Copper highlighter). This packaging is a more decorative version of the Sculpt & Glow duos and Pro Set & Blur Pressed Powder Duo MAC only offers online to their Asian and Australian markets thus far.
I haven’t seen a light version of a Golden Hour Glow Face Palette, but I would not be surprised if one gets found some way somewhere in the future.
I am very happy that I got this product at a 28% discount via a promo code. I’m not saying that it isn’t worth full-price, but since MAC always has 30-50% sales at some point and the holiday items rarely sell out before Christmas, I recommend waiting for some kind of deal for those wanting to purchase this.
For anyone curious, this is very likely to be my only MAC holiday purchase this year. I could be tempted into getting the MAC Skinfinish Metallic Cream Blush in Coveted Coral if I ever find it for under 25 Euros.
Natasha Denona Hy-Gen Skincare Infused Glow Beautifier in 03 Dark
I had no intentions to buy this because of the price and me being on a highlighter low-buy, but I kept hearing so many beauty creators continually talk about loving this highlighter and it having a unique texture. When it was on sale at Sephora’s DE website over a month ago, I could no longer resist.
I’m going to get the worst part out of the way; I hate how this smells! I was shocked to see that parfum was listed in the ingredients, because that means it was actually intended to smell like a mix of shea butter, baby oil, and something else I can’t quite determine. It’s objectively not repulsive, but the fact that it instantly brings to mind the ORS Olive Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion is something I don’t like. It makes it feel wrong to put this product on my face!
Trying to pick up this product on a brush isn’t difficult, but I don’t like how it applies. With a natural hair brush, the particles get spread out on my cheeks and has that scattered sparkles look that I don’t like. If I apply it with my fingers the particles are packed together and then form one smooth looking surface. However, I then have the issue of trying to blend out the edges to avoid having a stripe, which becomes more sparkly on the perimeter from having been dispersed/thinned back out. Because it’s not a traditional powder formula and acts like a liquid highlighter, it takes some force to blend out the finger application because it doesn’t actually sink into the skin the way a cream would. The best method of application I could find was using the Sonia G Jumbo Worker brush. It’s a mix of synthetic and natural hair, is dense to pack on the product, but around the edges is slightly looser and partly fanned out to help diffuse. A fully synthetic option that’s nearly as well performing as the Sonia G brush with this particular product is the Fenty 120 Highlight Brush because of the spot product gets packed onto and the shape of the brush hugging the contours of the cheek. It’s perhaps less successful in other spots to highlight on the face.
Unfortunately, this product just isn’t for me. I love the feel of it, the shade options, and how it can look wet on the skin, but the cons don’t outweigh the pros for me. The functions of this highlighter is more easily accomplished for me by Charlotte Tilbury’s Unreal Skin Sheer Glow Foundation Tint. The CT product is a bit too light for me right now (and I’m not going to buy a darker one), and Charlotte’s is nowhere near as shimmery, but that’s why it’s better suited to my preferences and what I wanted to achieve with this kind of wet looking highlighter.
Spraying my face first before applying the Natasha Denona highlighter also helps it to look smoother, but when I’ve seen this highlighter under different lights I saw that it can appear ultra sparkly, so I really don’t like that. I found this out when I saw myself in the mirror before leaving home, versus what my highlighter looked like in the bathroom of my in-laws. I don’t know what kind of bulbs they have, but I’d rather not look like that again.
Below is a photo using some elements of everything I reviewed today. The highlighter on the cheeks is the Natasha Denona one.
If this kind of highlighter is to someone’s taste, I feel jealous of that person because I really wanted this to work. I paid for it, so of course I hoped to love it (and I can’t return it in the EU). The packaging feels so luxe to me. It looks like it could be a mini porcelain soap dish the way it has the indent at the top and feels weirdly cold on the outside. I also like the rose gold around the rim. The compact has the right amount of plastic to feel like I’m holding something substantial without it actually being heavy. In the future, I’m likely to either depot it (and put a pan of something else inside) or sell it.
Dior Forever Rouge Blush Contour & Glow in 200 Diorama
For several years, I’ve been using either deep bronzers (for brontouring) or the Hindash Beautopsy Palette for contouring purposes. Today, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the first actual contour I’ve purchased in so long (and the highlighter that comes with it).
Dior released many blush and highlighter duos this year, but I decided to go for this product instead because there’s a bigger void for it in my collection. The texture reminded me of the Dior Powder No Powder, so I had high hopes for it being a smoothing and blurring contour. I was surprised to find that this is a little too dark and pigmented for me. I can’t use a wispy brush because it needs to be strong enough to pick up the product on the bristles, but at the same time a dense brush packs on a lot of product. A brush too wide is hard to blend out and can make my blush look muddy when some of it goes on top. A brush too thin concentrates the product even more to create a stripe. It can look patchy if not evenly applied and blended out. It’s hard to fix once it’s overapplied because the pigment is so intense. So, the Patrick Ta contour brush has been the best option I’ve found thus far. This product is finicky primarily because of the color.
The highlighter is quite pretty and fairly smooth. It reminds me of Bobbi Brown’s Copper Glow, without the random larger shimmer specks. I have highlighters with shimmer more refined than this, but this is still very nice. I’m happy with it and with my purchase overall. Don’t be surprised if you hear I’ve gone back to contouring with the Beautopsy Palette though!
I also feel compelled to add that I wish Dior would make deeper highlighter options. I don’t follow the brand super closely, but I follow them enough to feel confident in saying this is the darkest* powder highlighter they’ve ever made and it’s right on the cusp of being too light for me post-summer. *Based on online photos, the highlighter in the 757 Wild Dior duo looks to be the exact same depth and just be slightly more pink in tone.
Every time they release a highlighter, I’m drawn to it, but they’re always too light in the way they reflect. Without there being much base color, yes, the highlighters can stretch across many more skin tones. However, the reflect looking pearly white on me isn’t flattering, even if there’s a warmer base or one that’s deep enough for me. That’s why I was too afraid to buy either of the holiday highlighters this year, despite it looking pretty on someone darker than me (who doesn’t mind an icy highlighter). I would love an option that I don’t just wear in the winter-spring time when I’m lighter. Something comfortably dark enough.
I took a long break from the Natasha Denona brand (since December 2022), but after purchasing the Yucca palette for half off, I wanted to continue my series of ranking all the eyeshadows from the brands whose palettes I own the most of in my collection. I’ve covered Pat Mcgrath Palettes, Huda Beauty Palettes, Oden’s Eye Palettes, and Viseart Palettes so far. Just like with Viseart, I’ve rearranged most of the palettes with removable eyeshadow pans. However, I’m familiar enough with them to be able to remember what they were like and rank them as they were originally intended.
Ranking List of All the Natasha Denona Palettes I Ever Owned:
Before we get into the rankings, I wanted to show the eyeshadow singles I got as gift-with-purchase freebies I got from Sephora. I wish they weren’t glued down so I could put them in a custom magnetic palette to save some space when I moved. Because I couldn’t without using my Z-Potter, I left them behind.
I didn’t own any of these shades already because they all come from palettes I was uninterested in buying.
Mini Gold Palette
This is very much my type of color story! The beige shade doesn’t show very well on my skin tone, but I still use it along the brow bone. This palette is cohesive and the look I created in the photo above is my default combination for daytime. For night-time, I use a lot more of the deep brown. For so few shades in this small palette, I don’t feel limited by the available choices. They all still perform beautifully, even though this is five years old. The mattes blend well, Dark Sepia and Antheia are very smooth, and D’or pumps up the intensity from satin to sparkly when added to the look. I don’t need to apply any of them with a damp brush. The Natasha Denona formula has gone through its changes over the years, and the ones used in this palette is my favorite performing type from the brand. I also love that it’s small because it makes me feel like I could actually use this up one day. It doesn’t take up much space and is easy to travel with, which I have done several times. Other than making Lodge slightly lighter, the fact that I wouldn’t want to change this palette is why it’s number one!
Metropolis Palette
The first picture has all the Metropolis shades, just not in the right order. The second picture is how I keep this palette with Metropolis and Bronze palette colors.
Other than Mini Gold, this is my next favorite color story from the brand. I have so many options, but I do end up with my favorite go-to looks as well. Although I replaced six of the shadows with ones from the Bronze palette, all that really did was give myself deeper orange and red shades. I essentially turned the Metropolis palette into something better suited for my skin tone.
This was the palette that ND seemed to have perfected the cream-to-powder shadows and my love for them really took off. They’re a few months short of five years old and still haven’t fully dried out. My lighter green and a brown shade require me to use my finger to get them out of the pan since they don’t pick up as well on most of my brushes, and one of the blues is nearly dry, but I still love this formula. I love the way it blends and looks on the eyes. It has a satin effect from sheen and not shimmer. The mattes and shimmers are perfect performers for my style. They’re pigmented, but still blendable. They’re smooth and nearly buttery feeling. They layer well on each other. The shimmers are impactful. They last all day. I don’t have creasing issues. To me, this is Natasha Denona’s best performing palette. The fact that I replaced some shades, and it doesn’t have something like Dark Sepia and Antheia (two of my all-time favorite colors from the brand), are the only reasons this ranks number 2. Realistically, it’s tied for the top spot.
Glam Face Palette
Even though this isn’t strictly an eyeshadow palette, I had to include this in the rankings because I really enjoy these eyeshadows. The only reason I left this behind in the US, which I regret, is the fact that the pans are glued in so I couldn’t have the eyeshadows without the blush and highlighter. I don’t mind the blush, but I hate that highlighter, and I kept forgetting to use this because I didn’t keep this palette with the rest of my eyeshadows. If the eyeshadows were in their own separate palette, it would probably look as used as Mini Gold considering how much more often I’m reaching for neutral eyeshadows.
The formula of these is good, but different from Metropolis and Mini Gold. There are no cream to powders. The shimmers are intense, but slightly less smooth with larger size shimmer particles. They’ve got more slip, so I get a little bit of creasing, but not too much. The mattes are pigmented, but a little less easy to blend. They don’t require a lot of effort, just more than their best performing ones. The end result though is gorgeous, which is why I still consider this a favorite.
Gold Palette
The shades I kept with me from the Gold palette are Dijon, Varis, Log, Lime Chrome, and Brass. I liked more colors from the Gold palette, but I had similar enough yellows, golds, and browns from other ND palettes that they felt less necessary to bring along. Lime Chrome is another of my absolute favorite shades from Natasha Denona, Log was used on my wedding day, plus Dijon and Varis are shadows I use at least once a month. So, it’s not surprising that I hold the Gold palette in high regard. The brand’s new Golden Palette is meant to replace this one and has 9 repeat shades, yet only Varis and Log out of the ones I saved are in there. I clearly didn’t mind going without the blues, but Lime Chrome was the single most important shade for me in that palette and it’s not in the new one. So, even if I hadn’t pumped the brakes on buying new things from the brand, I would have skipped getting it (even though it’s admittedly pretty to look at).
I believe Python, the deep blue, was the brand’s first creamy-matte or cream to powder eyeshadow. It still needed some work, as I felt it remained too wet. It didn’t blend as easily or smoothly either. The ones from Metropolis were such a step up.
The Gold Palette colors were a bit repetitive, but condensing it down to favorites made it worth having in my collection.
Bronze Palette
I was using this palette quite a bit, until I decided to swap around six shadows into the Metropolis palette. I feel like my changes still improved upon the Bronze palette, but it could have benefited from being condensed down. Unlike purples and greens which I could own plenty of in a single palette and be content with the various nuances, the subtleties of bronze and oranges and everything in-between couldn’t hold my attention. This palette is so visually appealing that I couldn’t bear to leave it behind, but I don’t love it enough to actually use it as often as I should.
The mattes are less creamy/buttery and more along the lines of smooth, soft, and powdery. I like the cream to powder, though the slight purplish color of it is an interesting choice. The shimmers are impactful, smooth, and opaque though, just how I like them. So, the quality overall isn’t perfect, but quite good.
My Dream Palette
Shortly after I bought this palette, I went on my brand strike. So, I didn’t have the chance to review it. Considering I took 8 of the 15 shades with me, one could assume I really love this palette. However, I mostly just wanted to be able to continue testing the palette with shades I might actually reach for when doing my makeup.
What drew me to this palette in the first place were the additional cream to powders, the purple heavy color story, Vision as a multichrome, and Invention as the stunning fiery orange. I like having smoky options like Blackest Black and Familia, although I left Familia behind since I was taking Log. Some of the colors I abandoned were because even though they looked different in the pan, they looked too similar to each other on my skin. The mattes performed similarly to Bronze’s mattes (so good, but not the ultimate from ND), and the shimmers were either the same or in some cases even more sparkly. Vision is pretty, but doesn’t has as strong of a color shift as I’m used to from indie brands. Blackest Black takes a bit more effort to avoid overapplying or not sticking to the skin well enough and looking patchy. Invention also didn’t look the way on my eyes that I envisioned. This doesn’t count against it, but I have to point out that the misspelling of spontaneous as Spontaneuos is a bit comical.
The pros for this palette put it slightly ahead of Bronze, put the cons count slightly more against this palette as well. The overall performance is most important, and because of slightly more technical flaws, this palette got nudged out of the top five.
Love Palette
The palette has a cohesive color story, but I took my top favorite shades with me, and unfortunately that combination doesn’t look nice together all in one look. The cream to powder in this one is on the drier side now, which is interesting since it’s one of the second to last ND palettes I bought. It’s always been on the sheerer side, but getting product out is tougher now. The mattes feel similar to the ones from the Bronze palette. The shimmers are beautiful as always. Based on the amount of eyeshadows I saved and how much I liked the Love palette as a whole, I couldn’t put this palette any lower. However, I have a lot of pink and purple palettes I prefer over this one (from other brands). Some of those were custom palettes I made myself using individual eyeshadow singles from other brands. So, I couldn’t put this higher either. Considering how pink and red heavy this palette is, it’s shocking enough that I decided to place it above Natasha’s other purple palettes. Purples are among my favorite eyeshadow colors, but the quality differences were too big to overlook.
My disinterest in most pink palettes is the reason I am not planning to buy the Roxa palette. I would love to try the new matte formula in that one, but there are too many light shades and pinks for my taste. The palette would have to go on sale for nearly 50% off for it to be worth it for me to purchase (beyond financial reasons is the lack of space in my home and not wanting to be wasteful).
Yucca Palette
My first thought when I saw this palette was that the color story was pretty, but I didn’t need it since I still owned the Colored Raine Safari palette (which is honestly even prettier). I also said if I ever was to buy it, it should not be at full price since I was unsure how much this could bring to the table over Metropolis, which I assert has a better color story and formula, over this one.
At some point the mattes from Natasha Denona strayed further away from the creamy ones I loved, to a silky drier one. It’s similar to the mattes in the Bronze, Love, and My Dream palettes except these don’t spread as easily. If we look back at my past posts, ND’s eyeshadows used to go on and on in a long pigmented opaque swatch. These mattes are still pigmented, but when I was trying to swatch them, they kept having gaps of no color. I had to swipe at least three times for all of them to get a complete line to show across my arm from left to right. Willow still looks terrible. The swatches don’t look that great in general even though I built them up a lot more than usual. Of course, swatches don’t tell the whole story, and it’s more important how the performance is on the eyes. Honestly, they blended fine, but it was far from effortless. They’re not bad, but something is just off in comparison to the quality from the brand I’m used to.
There are two cream-powder mattes in here. For some reason, Fushi is thicker in texture and Calathea has more slip. I prefer Fushi because it’s much easier to get the product onto my brush and smoothed onto my eyes. Calathea required more packing and effort. It’s also a different color on my skin than I expected by looking at it in the pan. I wanted a deeper and less muted shade, but I admittedly already have that in the Metropolis palette. So, I understand the brand wanting to offer something different.
The shimmers are the best aspects of this palette, aside from Fushi. They give impact. They have sparkle to them. They don’t fade. They have minimal fallout and don’t require being applied dampened. However, I noticed that these are sheerer than I’m also used to. I can see my skin underneath, which makes them not look the same way as I envisioned. For example, Plantasia looks like an orange-reddish-bronze in the pan, but I see more golden-yellow on my lids. In order to get a warmer tone, I have to fake it by putting an orange matte underneath so that color is what shows instead of the brown of my skin. The same goes for Makia that I expected to be antique gold-olive, but looks more lemon-lime. For more green, I have to put a green shadow underneath. Those two were the shadows I was most excited to have, besides the cream-powder ones, so I was admittedly a bit disappointed.
A surprise favorite ended up being Camu Camu for its near neon brightness. On the flip side, one of the biggest disappointments was Flax because it just isn’t deep enough to give me the depth level I require for my skin tone.
Despite this palette consisting of colors I typically enjoy, this ranked much lower because it’s as I feared. It doesn’t give me much different than I could get from Metropolis, plus the formula is less to my liking. It’s further away from my preference, which doesn’t make it necessarily a bad palette. Or at least, it wouldn’t be considered that bad if the blending time wasn’t longer.
I expect to continue using Ixia (it’s a wonderful orange), Fushi, Makia, Citrine, Camu Camu, Plantasia, and perhaps even Calathea. That’s slightly less than half of the palette, so the 24 Euros I paid via Selfridges is still alright with me.
Lila Palette
From this point and onward, I don’t have any of the palettes with me.
I thought for certain that this was going to be my most beloved palette. The shades on my skin didn’t look how I expected them to though, which is ultimately when I had the idea to swap some colors around. That unfortunately didn’t cause me to use this palette any more often because the matte quality was not as great back then. The older ND formula had some that blended quite well, some that were slow builders, and some that were straight up duds. They were rougher in texture too. The shimmers were more like satins because they weren’t as reflective as I prefer. I think this was more of a makeup artist driven formula than consumer-friendly one where shadows were easier to blend with color stories that were more intuitive for putting together.
This palette holds a place in my heart for nostalgic reasons and appealing to my purple lover side, but it wasn’t the brand’s best by far.
28 Purple Blue Palette
This palette is also nostalgic because I got it in one of Beautylish’s Lucky Bags. The euphoric feeling I got from taking the chance on spending a lot of money and “winning big” on such an expensive palette was quite the rush. The reality is that I’m really not a fan of blues, so this palette was half wasted on me. Influencers really hyped up this palette when the brand first came to Sephora US, and it was very good at the time, but not $200+ good. The mattes had that stiffer formula I mentioned in the Lila section. They were pigmented and required some effort to blend, though they were still fairly good. The shimmers were crazy pigmented, but didn’t have the sparkle intensity I love. It wasn’t bad, just not to my preference. I basically turned this into the “discard” palette of all the larger pan Natasha Denona eyeshadows I would never use (mainly cool tones, blues, and unneeded browns). By the time I decided I should probably sell it or give it away, the shadow quality just wasn’t good enough. So, I only kept it for nostalgia reasons.
Mini Lila Palette
I got this in August 2018. It’s definitely one of the weakest performing ND palettes of all time compared to the rest of the brand’s eyeshadows. However, it was still a decent performing palette compared to everything on the market. Even when I felt like I outgrew the palette, I couldn’t fathom giving it up because of that Blue Dahlia shade, which was such an uncommon color at the time. I have to give this brand credit for having specific colors that stand out to the point that I know them by name. Even among my favorites out of my entire eyeshadow collection, I have some palettes I love for the quality and color combinations available. Some of my favorites I still reach for a Clionadh shadow to add something special on top. However, Natasha Denona’s brand does have some special shades within their palettes.
For quality reasons and the one direction this palette can take me, it’s nearly at the bottom of this ranking.
04 Five Pan Palette
This was my first ever Natasha Denona palette, back in February 2016. I don’t know how many people even remember when she used to put her large sized eyeshadows in these 5-pan palettes for nearly $50. This was so similar to Viseart’s Minx palette, but Viseart did it better which is why I ended up selling mine on Mercari. I basically just wanted to try the formula and see what the hype was about. The only matte shade in here was an absolute dud. In fact, it was supposed to be a satin like the others, but mine had not a single bit of shimmer in there and trying to get it on a brush and get it to not look patchy was too great a task. The other colors performed the way all her older shimmers did, which was nice, but not my cup of tea. I think the brand made a much smarter choice when they switched to minis. People could talk about crushed pearls and diamond powder all they wanted, but if the customer isn’t over the moon about the end result, the price tag still won’t be worth it.
So, that is every palette I owned from Natasha Denona ranked! The way it currently is today, I consider this brand a maker of one of my favorite formulas for both mattes (older formula and cream powder ones) and shimmers, which is not something I can say often about the brands I use. Metropolis and Mini Gold would for sure in the top 20 eyeshadow palettes in my collection (if a list were to exist) out of the several hundred I’ve owned.
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