Hello, this week I will be reviewing the St. Nicholas day present
my mum bought me: Magic Studio Mixed Nude Gift Set.
This is the first Magic Studio product that I own; I had
heard about the brand before and saw other Magic Studio gift sets on the
shelves in DM, but I had reservations about the quality of the make up due to
the really low price. So then my mum went and got it for me for St. Nicholas
day.
So let’s see, was I right to worry about the quality or is it way better
than I thought?
To start, this set includes three items: an eyeshadow quad,
a lipgloss, and a nail polish.
Let’s start with the eyeshadow.
It’s a tiny eyeshadow quad that comes in plastic packaging
with a clear removable lid. The packaging feels cheap, and the lid is quite
difficult to remove unless you don’t close it tightly, but then that isn’t
really good for the eyeshadows because there is always going to be some air
that’s getting in. There is also an included sponge applicator, but more on
that in a minute.
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| Magic Studio Eyeshadow - Wearing all 4 shades |
There are two matte shades and two shimmery shades. The
pigmentation is good, in general. The matte shades aren’t richly pigmented; the
light pink shade in particular is literally barely visible on my skin, the ivory
shade fares a bit better, but it is still not pigmented enough. At least the
shimmers make up for the lack of pigmentation of the mattes. The cool brown
shade is nicely pigmented but could be more pigmented. By far the best shade in
terms of pigmentation is the warm brown; its pigmentation is excellent.
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| Wearing: Magic Studio Eyeshadow, Magic Studio Lip Gloss |
The textures are matte and shimmery, as already mentioned.
The application is easy, and all shades blend really well. There is a fair bit
of fallout though, whether I am using the included applicator or a brush. All
shades feel soft on my lids. I also have to mention that I like the choice of
colours, it allows for a nice, subtle smoky eye.
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| Wearing: Magic Studio Eyeshadow, Magic Studio Lip Gloss |
In terms of staying power, ehh, it’s alright. Even though it
manages to last through a whole day of wearing it, I had a ton of creasing, way
more than I usually have with other eyeshadows. Now, my oily lids will make
most eyeshadows crease when I use them without a primer, but this was an
unacceptable amount of creasing. Removal is super easy, as one might expect.
Let’s talk about the applicator, because, in all honesty, I
was pleasantly surprised by how good it is. That is not to say that it is
amazing, but at least it is not awful. It’s quite soft and applies pigment nicely,
even though it’s not as precise as I would like it to be.
So, all in all, this an average-quality eyeshadow. The postives:
pigmentation is generally good, there are no parabens, and the applicator is
alright. But there are more negatives than postives; the fallout, and
especially just how bad the staying power is, with it creasing like mad, are
huge negatives. Even with all that said, this is the best part of the whole
set, which is kind of sad when you realise that the other two products are only
going to get worse.
The second item is the lipgloss.
The lipgloss comes in a small clear plastic tube that is
small enough to fit in most pockets. I think it’s alright. The cap fits
securely. Since the tube is transparent and clear, you can easily see the
colour of the gloss, which makes for easy swatching.
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| Wearing just this lipgloss |
Pigmentation: it’s relatively intense; seeing how it’s mostly
clear pigment with just a touch of pink, this is not surprising. Still, my lips
do look a bit lighter after applying the gloss. The formula, oh man is it
thick. And that extremely thick, gel-like formula really bothers me. More on
how comfortable it is in a bit. As there is no applicator, you’ll have to apply
it either directly from the tube or squeeze out a small amount onto your finger
or something like that. I tried to apply it directly from the tube and I was again
pleasantly surprised; the tip of the tube is precise enough while also
squeezing out a generous amount of lipgloss, more than enough for upper and
lower lips.
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| Wearing just this lipgloss |
Texture: I’d say ultra glossy, I really love how glossy it
is! This was a positive thing so, naturally, there must also be a negative thing,
and there is: it feels horribly heavy on my lips, and it is also quite tacky,
both immediately after application and for as long as you wear it. This makes
it very uncomfortable to wear, because I kept trying to get rid of the parts
that stuck together and it formed little clumps on the inside of my mouth, which was without a doubt caused by the entirely too thick formula. At least it is
non-drying, in spite of not having any hydrating ingredients.
Staying power: good enough for a lipgloss. Like most
lipglosses, it doesn’t tolerate greasy food, or any food or drinks at all,
actually. I had to reapply it after eating, but that was no surprise. And
removing it is a piece of cake.
All in all, this lipgloss is okay. I love its glossiness and
how it’s long-lasting enough, at least for a lipgloss. But, again, the
negatives outweigh the positives; it’s so incredibly thick that it feels
literally heavy on my lips and it’s just uncomfortable to wear. It’s a shame,
since I thought that this would be the best item out of the three. But the
worst is yet to come.
The third, and final, item is the nail polish.
The polish comes in a tiny bottle with a cap that fits very securely.
The ingredients don’t include anything nourishing, there are also no parabens
or any other harmful ingredients. The expiration date is 12 months after
opening.
The colour is a medium brownish-red with gold glitter, I
think it’s a beautiful shade.
The scent is very peculiar, it doesn’t smell at all like
nail polish usually does. I find it unpleasant and it smells like really cheap plastic. I am not
sure why it smells like this, whether it has already gone bad before even being
bought or whether it’s something else.
The brush is horrible; it was frayed since I first opened
the bottle, which makes it apply polish slightly unevenly and it’s hard to be
precise with it.
The formula of the polish is quite thin even though it’s
very nicely pigmented and one coat is enough coverage (at least for me). It’s really puzzling
because it seems illogical that it’s so pigmented if it’s so thin, like I couldn’t
see the tips of my nails after just one coat even though it felt so thin. The
texture is glittery but smooth, so you can’t feel the glitter.Staying power: awful; it started to chip after only a couple
of hours. And even worse, if I touched it after it had enough time to dry, it
would start to flake. Now, yes, I intentionally didn’t apply a base coat,
because I wanted to see how it would do on its own, so that of course didn’t
help matters, but this is the first nail polish that acts this way without a
base coat.
Things only got worse when I went to remove it. Since it’s a
glittery nail polish, the glitter stays on my nails even after vigorously
rubbing it with remover. And I couldn’t remove it easily either, I had to
either:
- scrub my nails with remover for more than half an hour, at which point they’d become weak and brittle
or
- soak my nails in polish remover for a couple of minutes each and then scrub some more, which, again, made my nails brittle and thin
And then, to completely remove
the glitter I have to buff my nails, which isn’t the best thing to do when they
have already been weakened so much.
So, because it’s staying power is
lousy, I removed it after chipping it and flaking it the same day, then
reapplied it again the next day. Then it started to flake again, which made it
really ugly to look at, so I removed it again.
Now why I am I saying all this?
Because of the rubbish formula I now have nails that are so thin that it’s
uncomfortable, and I will have to spend days intensely nourishing them with
oils and creams just to get them to where they were before using this nail polish.
All in all, the nail polish is
easily the worst of the three items, by far. Even though the colour is
gorgeous, that doesn’t excuse how horrible its performance is because I would
have to keep reapplying it day after day just to keep it looking neat. It chips
way too easily and, for some reason, starts flaking only hours after applying
it. The glitter makes it difficult to remove. So, really, the only good thing
is the colour, and everything else is bad, or worse.
And that’s a crying shame,
because I was most looking forward to this polish. Not the eyeshadow, not the
lipgloss, but the polish, and it disappointed me the most. At least it’s a tiny
bottle so I will use it up quickly.
To sum up the whole package: it’s
average, at best. Now, I don’t feel terribly disappointed by the set in itself
because I knew that it wouldn’t be spectacularly good. I was expecting
mediocrity, and that’s exactly what I got. The eyeshadow is the best item, and
the worst item is the nail polish, but when everything is average that isn’t
saying much, really. The only let down was the nail polish, which I was really
hoping would be great, as I only had good experiences with polishes so far.
So,
were this not a present, would I buy it? Definitely not, unless it was like 50%
off its already low price, at which point I would just say, “sod it, might as
well try it”.
No recommendations on my part for
this one, unfortunately.
Rating (overall): 4.5/10
6/10 (eyeshadow)
4/10 (lipgloss)
2.5/10 (nail polish)
Would buy again? NO
| Price at time of first purchase: |
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