Maychiri's Thoughts: Ebelin

Ebelin Merry Christmas Make-Up-Eier Set Review

July 27, 2025

Unlike the previous makeup sponge that I reviewed today, this one is a set of three sponges! This is the Ebelin Merry Christmas Make-Up-Eier Set!

So, this was part of the Christmas 2022 line-up DM had. Among all the lovely products, they had the brilliant idea to make a makeup egg set that looks like reindeer! That’s... that’s fabulous! Genius, even! As soon as I saw it on the German DM webshop, I knew I wanted needed to have this set! So I waited patiently (but excitedly) for it to arrive to our DMs! Once it finally arrived I went to not one, but two DMs just to decide which of the two versions of this set I really wanted. I decided to go for the lighter brown reindeer because it looked so peaceful and happy. And then I packaged it with some other makeup sponges and left it until Christmas, when I would finally open it! Now that I have opened it and had enough time with it to form opinions, I shall give you said opinions! Let’s see what this set is really like!

Packaging: this sponge set has the cutest packaging, perfect for Christmas! The three sponges were packaged in a cardboard/plastic case that looked like a house with one side being transparent so that you can see the sponges inside. The pale green colour and the cute white pine trees print is a perfect match for the reindeer-shaped sponges. Oh yeah – the three sponges are arranged in a way that they look like a reindeer with baubles hanging off its antlers! Of course, it’s all an Illusion; the face, antlers, and decorations are all printed on the transparent plastic, it’s not like the sponges are coloured like a reindeer head. But it’s so adorable, isn’t it?? A content, calm reindeer ready for Christmas! Merry Christmas, indeed! Information about this set is in the back.

The sponges were secured inside the case extremely tightly – so much, in fact, that the large sponge ended up having deeply set creases all over it! The smaller sponges had some creases on the sides, but they aren’t as bad as what the large one has. While I guess it is good they don’t bounce around, perhaps this is way too tight. I mean, it definitely is because it damaged one of the sponges! All in all, a brilliant idea for a Christmas makeup sponge set – perfectly festive and creative, and above all, cute! I love it!

The three sponges are all made of exactly the same material. They are light brown. The two smaller sponges are tiny, much too tiny for most of the face, although it is a good size for the undereye or the sides of the nose. The bigger sponge is fairly average-sized as far as makeup eggs go. I think that this is a good size for a makeup egg; it is big enough to easily blend products on the forehead and the cheeks. The tips of the eggs are pointy enough for precise work, making it easy to fix smaller mistakes. There are no details on any of the sponges, they are just plain brown makeup eggs. The sponges are finely textured, making them smooth and soft on the skin.

But there is one problem: the large sponge was squished inside the cardboard packaging, which has left it with permanent creases. They don’t seem to affect its usage, like, it doesn’t make it blend any worse than other sponges I’d used, but I simply hate it. It’s damaged, and there was no avoiding it because it was just too tight inside the cardboard box. Such a shame!

It feels soft both when dry and when wet. It doesn’t feel very rubbery or synthetic, it’s naturally soft.

Unlike some other sponges I had used in the past, the larger one doesn’t really feel bouncy. It feels soft and smooth, and gentle on the skin, even if you are tapping harder with it. The smaller sponges are a tiny bit firmer, but they are still plenty soft. Just like the large sponge, the small ones are not bouncy, either. However, this soft, finely textured material does tend to absorb product. It doesn’t absorb a whole lot of it, but it is noticeable.

As with most sponges, these three are best used wet. That’s when they blend the best. When they are dry, they tend to blend relatively poorly, which isn’t something odd. These sponges don’t requite a whole lot of water to get them ready; they become huge after you submerge them in enough water, like 2 times their dry size. I honestly had no expectations in terms of how good they would blend; I just wanted them to be fairly good and that’s it. But they are so much more than just good! These sponges easily blend products, be it cream or liquid ones, without any streaking. Yup, even the large one doesn’t leave any streaks on the face, in spite of all the deep creases on it! The smaller sponges blend slightly less well, but they are still very good at blending, especially precise, spot blending.

They aren’t the very best sponges to blend with, as it can sometimes take some time for products to be perfectly blended out, but it is usually very easy. All three sponges can cause some very slight pilling sometimes, although I do reckon most of that is on the foundation itself. I love how easy to use these sponges are, even if the two small ones are almost too small even for my tiny hands. Almost always I am able to blend products out flawlessly, so that it looks completely natural and lived in on the skin. Just remember to keep the sponges moist; this shouldn’t be a huge problem as they stay wet for a long time. I love the finished result as it is always so natural, even though the coverage usually ends up being very sheer. I prefer more coverage but this definitely looks more natural and healthy.

The durability of these sponges is pretty good. I have been using them super often, washing them with antibacterial soap after every use, and they are still in remarkably good condition 2 months later. The smaller sponges will deteriorate sooner, simply due to being so small, but they, too, stay in good condition for a long time. There are some damaged areas, small nicks and stuff like that, but it is pretty minor, honestly. The bad thing is that the creases in the large sponge are still as deep as on the first day.

The sponges are pretty easy to wash. The small sponges are much easier to wash than the large one. The large sponge can take some time sometimes to wash properly; it can absorb products deeply, which means that you need to wash it thoroughly multiple times before it is clean. And even then, I am struggling to get it to be 100% clean. It stays very soft and squishy for a long time, so be careful how you handle it! I’d say that it’s only marginally more difficult to wash compared to most sponges. I don’t mind that it becomes this soft during a wash, it makes it easier to get to the deep set stains compared to those sponges that stay firm and bouncy. Oh and it will take a whole night for it to dry, although this is, more-or-less, not unusual. Naturally, the small sponges dry much quicker.

Overall, these sponges are actually pretty good! Not the best, but they are so much better than I ever thought they would be! I thought they would be mediocre, like, you know, just good enough to be passable. But they all blend fascinatingly well and are super soft and squishy like memory foam. I do like bounciness in makeup sponges, but there is something about this softness that is really pleasant and relaxing. It spreads pigment evenly and, even though it tanks the coverage, I still love how natural it all looks in the end. And they stay moist for quite some time, so you needn’t hurry with foundation and concealer. Just take your time – no stress. The small sponges are much too small to be used anywhere other than in the undereye area, or the cupids bow, or the sides of the nose. Forget about trying to blend out products on the cheeks or forehead with them! That is why there is a large sponge included! This makes the set a well-rounded one; need a sponge for general-purpose blending? Got one! Need small sponges for detail work? Got two! Perfect for anyone – especially for those who don’t yet have a large collection of makeup sponges and prefer them to foundation brushes. And it makes for a heck of a Christmas present – just look how perfect the packaging is already! I am so glad I managed to buy this set before it was sold out (and it sold out in a couple of days!). I honestly would recommend it, it is a very good set!

Rating: 8/10

Would buy again? NO (creasing + tiny sponges)

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Catrice

Reviews From the Past - Part 66

July 27, 2025

Well, hello there!

This week we will be taking a trip to the past. Yes, the items I am going to review today were bought near Christmas - yes, one of them is a Christmas-themed product and it's July now. This is how things go sometimes, okay? Consider this a Christmas in July, if you will.

Also, don't mind the Bulbasaur PEZ dispenser - I am a huge Pokémon fan and when I saw these dispensers, I knew I had to buy all 4 eventually, starting with #0001 itself: Bulbasaur! Don't worry - I collected the remaining 3 since then (Charmander, Squirtle and that annoying rat, 025/Pikachu).

I also got myself a really pretty canvas tote for shopping, with a bullfinch on it! I vastly prefer to use canvas totes to plastic bags; they are more robust, comfier to hold and, of course, much, MUCH better for our poor planet that is suffocating in plastics. Plus - if it gets damaged, I can just patch it up!

But now, the two products for today; as you can see, both are makeup sponges. When these two were bought, I was still predominantly using foundation brushes, which has changed since then. Nowadays, I actually prefer sponges because they are most of the time simpler to use. But back then, I was still experimenting with sponges, trying to see if I could get good results with them. Ergo, these two sponges!

The entire It Pieces Even Better LE
Source: www.catrice.eu

The Catrice sponge was part of a limited edition called It Pieces Even Better, which was a tiny LE launched at the start of 2022. It contained just 4 products: two brushes, a makeup sponge and a face cleansing bar. I ended up getting everything bar the face cleansing bar in the end, and this sponge was the final piece that I wanted. Tbh, this LE wasn't good. The quality was really not 'it'. But I thought "might as well try out the sponge to see if it is just as bad as the brushes". Besides, it was 50% off! I have no idea from where DM got this sponge at the end of the year... must have been buried somewhere!

The two Christmas-themed makeup sponge sets
Source: www.dm.hr

The second item is this set of makeup sponges from Ebelin. A Christmas set! I saw this on the German DM webshop and I knew I needed to buy this as soon as it arrived here; it's so adorable! A cardboard box that makes the sponges look like a reindeer? How perfectly Christmassy! But there was also another variant, that makes the sponges look more like a fallow deer. I like the reindeer one more. The two smaller sponges are practically tiny, but you do also get one 'normal' sized sponge. This makes for a great Christmas gift - and it seems to return year after year to DM!

Here are the two reviews for today:

See you soon!

Maja

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Acetone-free

Ebelin Nagellackentferner Express Acetonfrei Review

March 09, 2025

Oh, I am happy to finally review this! This is the Ebelin Nagellackentferner Express Acetonfrei!

This is the OG Ebelin Express Remover, that they have by and large replaced with the one with White Flower Scent. The first time I bought this remover it was because I liked the idea of just dipping your finger into the bottle and the nail polish (seemingly) magically disappearing! Of course, it’s not magic, just very clever design, but it still sounded brilliant. Now, let’s finally get cracking, and see what this remover is all about!

Packaging: rounded plastic bottle that is quite large. The bottle is a deep fuchsia colour, which goes great with the black. There’s a sticker that has all the information about this remover and a helpful pictogram so you know how to use it. The cap is black and closes really very tightly, so that it doesn’t accidentally spill out. This also keeps the liquid from going bad too soon. Really good looking packaging, overall!

Ingredients: glycerine and rice (Oryza sativa) bran oil for nourishment. Nothing harmful is present in this remover. Very nice that they included some nourishing ingredients! This will help the nails stay hydrated instead of being dried out and brittle, like with many other removers. This remover is acetone free; the replacement for it is ethyl acetate, which is standard stuff. Ethyl acetate is no less effective at removing nail polishes compared to acetone, but it is gentler on the nails. It doesn’t appear to have any specific scent to it, it just smells perfumey. It’s a very gentle floral scent that is very easy on the nose, although it does smell like ethyl acetate at first, before it evaporates. The expiration date is 12 months after opening.

The liquid is colourless, and it evaporates very quickly on the nails. But, inside the bottle, it stays liquid, below and all around the sponge.

I mentioned there being a sponge... indeed, that is this remover’s special feature! The sponge sits inside the bottle, permanently soaked in remover, so it always feels moist. And it stays soaked for literally months, until you start to use up some of the remover. The sponge is super soft, which makes it suitable for even the most sensitive of nails. Because it is so soft, there isn’t a lot of friction that could cause splitting on the nails. The right way to use it is to simply dip your finger inside and then swirl around for a while, and presto! The nail polish is removed almost instantly because of the gentle friction created between the fingernail and the sponge. See what I said about it sounding like magic? It’s a truly ingenious system yet one so deceptively simple!

Source: www.dm.hr

And indeed, the name “Express Remover” is more than apt; this nail polish remover is extremely good at removing nail polishes of all kinds! If it’s a typical glossy nail polish, all you have yo do is swirl around with your finger inside for a few seconds and it will be completely removed, from both the nail and the sides and the cuticles! If it’s a more shimmery nail polish, though, you will have to use a bit more elbow grease, but they, too, typically are removed within 30 seconds, which is still a ton easier than what a standard remover would offer. Glittery nail polishes are the hardest to remove in general, but even they don’t stand a chance to this powerful remover! Although they certainly require more time and effort to remove, but again, it much easier and quicker compared to a standard remover. This is true magic in a bottle! Miracle! It simplifies the whole process so much that it becomes child’s play, and it’s actually fun swirling my fingers inside the bottle, hearing the liquid sloshing about!

And best thing? My nails never feel dried out or brittle after removing nail polishes with this remover! Partly, that's thanks to there not being acetone in the remover, but remember, this is enriched with rice bran oil. I do believe that this is the secret ingredient responsible for caring for the nails. Oh, and don't worry, this oil doesn't get in the way of applying nail polishes since it evaporates quickly. I still wash my hands after using the remover anyways, just in case.

I will say, though, that the sponge begins to suffer the less remover there is in the bottle. If it dries out, it is prone to crumbling, but this doesn’t typically happen until at least a few months into using this remover. But once it does start, the sponge slowly crumbles, bit by bit, becoming in the end too thin to effectively use. This is a sign it’s time to replace the remover.

Pro tip: if a nail polish is being particularly stubborn and doesn’t want to be removed, you can just take the sponge out of the bottle and manually press it against the nails to remove nail polish! This is a simple and effective way to remove, eg, glittery nail polishes without damaging the nails too much!

Overall, a truly wondrous nail polish remover that I, so far, haven’t found a match for! It’s just that brilliant and fantastic and... use whatever superlative you can imagine, it is that! The system of a sponge placed inside the bottle with a hole in the centre, which is permanently soaked in remover is an ingenious one! So simple, yet so effective! The sponge is what creates friction between your nails and the remover, but it is so gentle that nails stay in great condition after removing polish with it. Never before have I had a nail polish remover be so gentle, yet so powerful like this one is! No nail polish can survive this remover; some may try to resist, but a couple more swirls and they too, fall. It makes short work of even the most glittery of nail polishes, so now I don’t have to feel anxious wearing shimmery/glittery nail polish for fear of my nails suffering when it’s time to remove it. And not only does it remove nail polish expressly, it also hydrates the nails, because it has both glycerine and rice bran oil. I cannot stress this enough – this nail polish remover is literally perfect! Perfect in every meaning of the word! It’s my go-to remover, one that I keep coming back to for years now. However, it has been replaced with a newer version; check out how good that one is here! This nail polish remover gets my top recommendation – it’s a superhero among removers so it more than deserves this! S+ tier!

Rating: 10/10

Would buy again? Absolutely YES (shame they have replaced it with the newer one)

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Balea

Reviews From the Past - Part 60

March 09, 2025

Hiya!

Hope everyone's had a good week (~~I know I haven't~~); how about we end this week with some interesting gems from the past, for a change?

Well, as you can see, there's a LOT of ground to cover today, so let's get to it!

I think it's pretty obvious this is a DM haul, haha! I had a commitment that day, but, as I always arrive way too early, I decided to spend that extra time buying the stuff that I had put on my wishlist earlier. Might as well spend the time productively, right? So I went to DM and, as usual, bought these limited editions shower gels - they are always amazing! Seriously, this is one thing Balea never does wrong! Also, I will point you towards this sheet mask that is part of the same collection as the shower gel and the foot cream.

Now, with shower stuff, settled, I needed to get some things for my body; the focus? Feet. I neglected my poor feetsies for far too long, thinking that the skin there doesn't need much care, but, when you think about it, that part of the skin may be one most deserving of extras TLC. Feet keep us up the whole day and have to carry the weight of the body and whatever you're carrying, and also put up with whatever footwear you are wearing or terrain you are walking on. So I decided to finally try out foot creams, see if they are worth putting up with the gross feeling of creams on my feet. I gravitated towards a tea tree-containing one naturally, as I use (and used back then) a whole bunch of skincare with tea tree, tea plant, and Centella. And then also the LE one because I wanted to have a s et with the shower gel!

Both variants of the Pflegecreme
🐢🐢🐢

That's feet and shower covered, now some care for the hands, in the form of an adorable little cream. It's a tradition of mine to keep buying these little creams; yeah, they usually aren't too good, but the pot is so irresistibly adorable every single time! And they are super affordable, so why not buy them? The the newest release had not one, but two little creams to choose from! Would you like a sweet little turtle or a lovable pair of sea otters? It might seem odd that I would go for the otters first, but that's only because our DMs got the otters a few months before the turtles.

The Cocos & Pitaya collection

After all that, it's time to focus on the face. The Garnier lip patch is god-tier, it heals the lips so incredibly well that I knew from the first time I would keep coming back to it - and I did go back to it, as you can see! The face mask is another tradition of mine; I keep buying these little two-use masks from Balea again and again, despite never being trilled with them. That's exactly why I bought it then as well. I just loved the pitaya/coconut design so I bought it. It's affordable enough so why not try it out? Even if I knew deep down that it probably wouldn't be that good. Also, it seems to have had a matching lip balm... I wouldn't know, I don't use these chapstick-like balms often.

Both versions of the cleansing pads

Eh, now, those weird cotton pads. This was a time when I hadn't yet found a good, reliable routine to cleanse the face and remove makeup. My old trusty remover was discontinued so I tried all sorts of alternatives to try and find something that would be able to remove makeup easily, since my sensitive skin doesn't tolerate being rubbed harshly. Ergo, the cotton pads supposedly "enriched wit argan oil". I had two variants to pick from - argan oil and Aloe vera - and I picked argan oil for whatever reason. I still don't know why - I don't have dry skin, and Aloe would be better for sensitive skin anyways. This is absolutely a gimmick product, I am sure, but I was too confused by the way it should work so I bought it to see whether it works at all.

That nail polish remover right there is one of the best products I have ever used, so I bought another one to replace the older one after that bottle was empty. Seriously, if you haven't tried this out yet - try it!

Some of the products that are part of the Lash Obsessed LE
Source: www.catrice.com

And now finally... some makeup! First, the eyeliner... oh, but this isn't any old eyeliner, mind you! This is eyeliner and lash glue all in one! This was a new product then, part of Catrice's Lash Obsessed LE that I mostly ended up ignoring. And I regret that, because my now favourite falsies came from that collection and I cannot buy them anymore :( . Anyways, as the name implies, this was a lash-focused LE, with a few different kinds of false eyelashes and, even though they all come with glue, an eyeliner/lash glue hybrid, as well! Very, very useful! Especially if you love to do winged eyeliner! Now, I wasn't too confident in my cat-eye skills back then, so I bought this mostly for the novelty of having an eyeliner/glue all-in-one. This kind of product is 'normal' now, but it was innovative then. And I figured I would use it on the once-in-a-blue-moon occasion that I would wear falsies, because I was very... afraid... no, uh, I was in awe of them.

Speaking of the devil... look, there's also falsies! Again, I wasn't a frequent wearer of false eyelashes because I thought that my eyes were far too sensitive for them. But goddamn it, there were just so many beautiful designs out there! I picked these falsies because I felt like I could use some mega volume, although I would go for... a long time... before I would actually try them out. Nowadays, I probably wouldn't buy such a style, but I was obviously in an experimentative mood. At least I had the foresight of buying false eyelashes to go with the eyeliner glue!

Phew... that's all! I did say there was a lot of ground to cover, didn't I? Now, all that's left of me is to show you the way towards these fine reviews and take some time to relax, then work out.

So, without further ado, the many reviews for today:

See you soon!

Maja

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Acetone-free

Ebelin Nagellackentferner Aceton-Frei [Aloe Vera Duft] Review

August 22, 2024

Another nail polish remover since I am in the mood for some nail care! This is the Ebelin Nagellackentferner Aceton-Frei, variant Aloe Vera Duft! Or, in English, “Acetone Free Nail Polish Remover, variant Aloe Vera Scent”.

This week is nails week, and one necessary part of caring for your nails is having a way to safely remove nail polish. Ebelin nail polish removers have been pretty good thus far, so I keep coming back to them often, as soon as I see a new variant. This was a new variant at the time I bought it, it says that it’s for weak nails... my nails are pretty sensitive, so this sounds good! And Aloe is always good! Now, let’s see how good this nail polish remover actually is!

Packaging: relatively large plastic bottle. I really like the pink theme going on here! The bottle is light pink, while the sticker in the front has various different shades of pink. Information is in the back. The cap is black... missed opportunity for it to be dark magenta. Anyways, it closes very securely, so don’t worry about the remover spilling. Fairly simple design, but I like it!

Ingredients: almond (Prunus amygdalus dulcis) oil for nourishment. 3-free and no parabens. Oh, wait... it doesn’t actually have Aloe vera... I know that it’s called “Aloe Vera Scent”, but I thought it would have Aloe. Anyways, the scent is, at first, like ethyl acetate. Then, after that evaporates, it becomes gentle and softly sweet. Would I say that this is Aloe vera? Probably not, it just smells juicy and fresh, and somewhat sweet. Still, it’s a nice, not too overpowering scent! The expiration date is 12 months after opening.

Ethyl acetate is the solvent used in place of acetone. Ethyl acetate tends to be gentler on the nail bed, less drying, and causes fewer splinters. However, it is just as dangerous for plastic and metal. It etches plastics, and corrodes metals, which I learned the hard way when I had a mishap and some acetone-free remover got into the charging port of one of my phones and nearly caused it to permanently be unable to charge. Be careful how you use this!

The liquid is colourless. It evaporates quickly on nails but stays moist for quite some time in a cotton pad.

I am satisfied with how this remover removes nail polish. I like to really soak a cotton pad, to make sure I have enough remover, and then remove nail polish. This remover removes glossy nail polish easily, most times, without needing to rub the nails excessively. It works even better if I soak my nail in it for a few seconds. However, shimmery nail polishes can be a pain to remove, requiring multiple passes until my nail is clean. And the shimmer is likely to explode everywhere, but that’s not a problem of this remover. It still isn’t that hard to remove them, unlike glittery nail polishes. That’s where this remover truly struggles. It can take like half an hour just to remove glittery nail polish from a few nails! And a whole lot of rubbing! And, even though it has almond oil to nourish the nail bed, that doesn’t prevent mechanical damage from excessive rubbing. Still, I am happy with this nail polish remover, it removes most nail polishes easily enough.

And, thanks to the almond oil inside, it doesn’t dry out my nails as much as other acetone-free removers. Of course, all removers will dry out nails to some degree, but I found that the almond oil really helped a lot! My nails don’t look as dry or brittle with this remover.

All in all, this is a good nail polish remover that is gentler on the nails than acetone remover. It removes most types of nail polish easily, as long as it is not very shimmery or glittery. Glossy nail polishes usually come off pretty easily, without too much rubbing, which is good for my sensitive nails. Shimmery and glittery polishes take a fair bit more effort and rubbing to remove, and this does take a toll on my nails as they feel dried out afterwards. However, they don’t feel as dry as some removers make them, this is likely thanks to the almond oil inside. It helps hydrate the nail bed and prevents splitting. And the scent is quite nice, it’s very relaxing! It smells fresh and juicy and subtly sweet. Is this an Aloe vera scent? I honestly don’t know, but I like it nonetheless. I really like this nail polish remover, plus, it is a bargain and a half! Just look at the price, barely more than a euro and you get 125 mL, which lasts a very long time, even if you apply/remove nail polishes often. So yes, I will recommend this remover, it’s quite good.

Rating: 7.5/10

Would buy again? YES

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Acetone-free

Ebelin Nagellackentferner-Tücher Acetonfrei [Grün Tee Duft] Review

August 22, 2024

The first review for today, and we are starting off with something quite interesting! This is the Ebelin Nagellackentferner-Tücher Acetonfrei, variant Grün Tee Duft, in English: Nail Polish Remover Tissues, variant Green Tea Scent.

Ebelin's “normal” nail polish removers are pretty good most of the time, but they sometimes decide to make something entirely new, like this product. These are tissues presoaked in remover that should, in theory, be able to remove nail polishes easily. And they’re good for when you are travelling somewhere, because you don’t need a separate nail polish remover and cotton pads, since it’s both of those at once. Sounds quite interesting. But how good is this actually? I am really interested to find out, so let’s see!

Packaging: cardboard box with a green/black design. It’s regular old cardboard, so it is not very sturdy at all. But that doesn’t matter because the tissues are kept inside a plastic sachet, think the kind eyeglasses cleaning tissues come in. Anyways, the outer packaging is light on details, opting instead to have a bunch of text on all sides. The sachet of the tissues shares the same design as the outer packaging, it’s literally the same green/black design. Could this be packaged more safely? Absolutely.

Source: www.dm.hr

The tissues are pure white. They look like little squares that are big enough for a few nails, or at least, should be. They are perforated with a mesh throughout, I am unsure why it has this when this could cause the remover inside the tissues to evaporate more easily. The material is soft enough, but it is thick and robust, so they don’t tear easily. I would like it to be slightly softer, though. It might be the mesh that’s causing it to feel slightly abrasive.

Ingredients: glycerine, Aloe barbadensis leaf juice for nourishment. No parabens and 3-free (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). This is acetone-free, so the solvent is the next closest thing to acetone, ethyl acetate. Ethyl acetate is typically just as effective at removing nail polishes as acetone, but it is gentler on the nails. However, it also has alcohol, so I’m worried it might be drying. I hope the Aloe is enough to prevent this. The scent is medicinal, it smells like... like, herbal and fresh and distinctly like a pharmacy. Green tea does have a sort of medicinal scent to it, but not nearly as strong as it is here.

It’s quite a harsh scent, especially at first, before the ethyl acetate evaporates. The expiration date is not listed anywhere... I guess they assume people will buy this and immediately start using it. What’s interesting is that they listed the manufacturing date, and not the PAO or expiration date.

Ethyl acetate etches plastics and corrodes metal! Be careful you don’t place these tissues on like your phone or your keyboard or something. It will remove the oleophobic coating on phone screens and it will strip plastic. And be doubly sure that it doesn’t get into contact with any golden connectors such as USB cables or charging ports! This is less of a problem with these tissues as the remover evaporates rather quickly, but still!

The remover is completely absorbed into the tissue, so I cannot say what it looks like. I suppose it’s colourless and completely liquid like most nail polish removers. I will say that the remover stays on the tissues for quite some time, so there’s no need to hurry. Although it does evaporate faster than the standard removers when applied to a cotton pad.

These tissues are used in much the same way you’d use wet tissues to clean glasses. Tear open the sachet and take the tissue out and then just rub it against the nails until the nail polish comes off. This is the idea, at least. In practice, it doesn’t really work that well. I find that there is just not enough remover on one pad, so I have to use multiple just to remove polish off of all my nails. And since this contains only 10 pieces, they get used up very quickly. I usually need 2-3, sometimes 4, for all my nails. As you can imagine, this means that one box lasts me approximately one week, like this.

Anyways, the tissues work best when you press down on the nail and then hold for a few seconds, before rubbing the nail with them. But even so, I need to rub my nails a lot just to break through the polish, and then rub some more to completely remove it. This is not at all good for my nails as it mechanically damages them, all that rubbing back and forth can cause the layers of keratin in the nail to split. And this is with glossy nail polishes! As you can imagine, these tissues are just not capable of removing anything shimmery or glittery. At least, not without causing massive damage. While they are not useless, ‘normal’ removers are far better.

My nails felt dry after I removed nail polish with these pads. I believe that this is not so much the ethyl acetate + alcohol causing the dryness, as much as it’s the excessive rubbing. The Aloe really helps here! I fear that my nails would be terribly split and brittle without the Aloe. But it manages to salvage the situation to some extent. Still, a nail oil is more than recommended because these tissues are not gentle on the nails.

In conclusion, eh, an interesting concept. But it doesn’t work quite as good in practice. The tissues come presoaked in remover, but there simply isn’t enough remover for me. And the mesh fabric of the tissue means it evaporates more quickly. The tissues themselves aren’t too abrasive against my nails, they are soft enough. But they also feel firm, which is good! This means that they rarely – if ever – tear. I’d say that the quality of the tissues themselves is better than how they perform. The only kind of nail polish they can remove is glossy nail polish, everything else is an exercise in futility. The only thing you will accomplish is damage your nails so much you’ll need days of intense treatment just to get them back to feeling okay again. And even with glossy nail polishes, I need to use multiple tissues for both of my hands. This isn’t economic nor good for my already sensitive nails. So, like, this isn’t the worst idea ever, it works... kinda... but it should work much, much better. As it is, I won’t give it a recommendation as it just damages nails too much because it requires too much rubbing to remove nail polish. Eh.

Rating: 4/10

Would buy again? NO (I’ll go back to normal removers)

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Balea

Reviews From the Past - Part 53

August 22, 2024

Hiya!

There's no more Eras Tour at the moment, sadly, but that give me more time to focus on self-care and... nail care?

That's right, this weeks is all about the nails that are so often taken for granted! But they do so much, so it's only fair to give them some extra TLC every now and again. As you can see, most of the products we will be testing out today are nail products, mostly nail polish removers (since I use a toooon of nail polishes), but also a nail conditioner to care for the nails after all that rubbing trying to remove stubborn nail polishes.

I like to try new and interesting stuff, so that's why I decided to try out the nail polish remover pads and the nail treatment. I figured that, without trying them, I would never know how good/bad they really are, and, besides, they weren't expensive, so I felt like experimenting. Removing nail polishes twice a week can take a toll on my nails, and they can become brittle and their surface often becomes uneven. Never mind the vertical ridging that seems to have become worse the older I am getting. So I think I'm a good candidate to see results with this conditioner.

The bath salts I already reviewed (in brief) before. So, instead of repeating myself, I will just link the review here!

Source: www.dm.at

Now, the last remaining item on the list is the Balea You Are Sweet Like Melon! shower scrub. Aw, thanks ~so sweet, then I get a little angry, yeah~! I didn't buy this randomly; I need scrubs because my shaving doesn't feel as close or clean if I don't exfoliate my legs beforehand. I use them twice a week, so, as you can imagine, I go through them pretty quickly - thus, this shower scrub! And it, apparently, also smells like the juiciest watermelons - how delicious is that?? This should hit the spot during the sweltering summer evenings... right? Well, yes and no. It does smell like real watermelons but there is a backdrop of something synthetic and plasticy. But that's not what bothers me, it's the fact that the scrub particles are just not abrasive enough. It feels gentle on the skin, only slightly scratchy, which is not nearly enough to actually slough off dead skin cells. So what's the point, in the end? It doesn't really hydrate the skin, nor does it ensure that the skin is a perfectly even surface for shaving. It just feels pointless, unfortunately. Yeah... I'll go back to my trusty ol' Organic Shop scrubs...

Now, the items for today:

See you soon!

Maja

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Ebelin

Ebelin Naturally Beautiful Make-up-Korrekturstäbchen Review

December 27, 2023

The penultimate review for today is something small and humble, but very practical! These are the Ebelin Naturally Beautiful Make-up-Korrekturstäbhen (Make up correction sticks, in English)!

I did not originally plan on buying these, but they were 50% off and I never had any reusable swabs prior to these, so why the hell not! They cost less than a euro and I wanted to finish the set as much as I could anyways so I bought them. I’m sure they’ll be useful... at some point. Now, let’s see if they are any good!

Packaging: simple and rustic, like the rest of this LE. The packaging definitely looks like it’s been recycled. The swabs come in a (~~recycled?~~ Yup, says so in the back haha) paper sleeve with a cutout in the front so that you can touch the swabs to see how the feel. Not hygienic at all! Who knows how many people touched them already... oh well, they are washable so it doesn’t really matter in the end!

The swabs look very rustic, just like the rest of this LE! They have a light rosy handle that looks like it is sprinkled; recycled materials, especially paper, usually look like this, so I’d be inclined to believe them when they say that it was made with 50% recycled wheat.

The tip of the swab is pure white, which is very pretty, but it will very quickly become stained, especially if you use it to perfect the shape of say, red lipstick or deep black eyeliner. I love how rustic and vintage they look!

The tips are relatively flexible, but don’t bend them too much or they will snap off. I like that they have some flexibility to them, makes them easier to use. The tips are made of this super soft plush material that feels only slightly hard. It’s not the type of plush you’d find in reusable makeup remover pads, it’s a stiffer, slightly harder type of plush. But it still feels wonderful on the skin. It’s just hard enough for you to be able to press down if you need more force to remove products.

Speaking of usability, these are incredibly easy to use. Thanks to both the flexibility of the head, and the rigid centre of the head. And because they have a doe-foot shape, this makes them very precise. Of course, a pointed tip would be better, but a doe-foot gives you a flat surface that you can use if you need to fix larger areas. This allows you to really precisely fine-tune the shape of your lipstick or a cat-eye, or anything else, really. You don’t even need to (strictly speaking) use makeup remover with them; you can use them dry, or wet or with a makeup remover. Of course, it’ll be easier to fix mistakes if you drop a few drops of micellar water onto the swabs, just make sure not to apply so much that they are soaked.

And, because they are reusable, you can just wash them and use them again later! They can safely be washed with hand soap, it won’t ruin the plush material. So just wash them as you would anything else, no need to be extra gentle either, as these swabs are pretty robust. Of course, if you used the swabs on a very intense colour, particularly anything in the red part of the spectrum, expect to have a lot of trouble removing it fully.

I used one swab with a red lipstick and was unable to fully remove the red colour from the swab. This doesn’t affect the swabs negatively, but it ruins the pristine white colour of the tips.

All in all, I am pretty happy with these! These were my first foray into reusable swabs, because I was kinda tired of wasting a ton of swabs just to fix small mistakes, and it’s not at all eco-friendly either. These are eco-friendly because you can reuse them many times before the material deteriorates too much. The tips are soft but relatively hard, which is good because that allows you to press harder with the swab if you have something that it really stubborn and doesn’t want to come off. They are also relatively flexible! The doe-foot shape allows you to really get into the smallest nooks and crannies and fine-tune the shape of eyeliner, or lipstick, or eye pencil or, well, anything! They are also pretty easy to wash, and you don’t need to be super careful washing them because they are robust. Hand soap cleans them nicely. Now, is this some genius, never-seen-before invention? No, but it is hella useful and practical! I mostly bought it out of curiosity, but I really like them! They’re also surprisingly high quality! So yeah, eco-friendly and high quality! I would recommend them, they are awesome! But sadly, as all Ebelin LEs, they were gone less than a month after they arrived... shame, I would like to have another package.

Rating: 8.5/10

Would buy again? YES

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Ebelin Merry Christmas Make-Up-Eier Set Review

Reviews From the Past - Part 66

Ebelin Nagellackentferner Express Acetonfrei Review

Reviews From the Past - Part 60

Ebelin Nagellackentferner Aceton-Frei [Aloe Vera Duft] Review

Ebelin Nagellackentferner-Tücher Acetonfrei [Grün Tee Duft] Review

Reviews From the Past - Part 53

Ebelin Naturally Beautiful Make-up-Korrekturstäbchen Review

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Maja Sekulić

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