Maychiri's Thoughts

Reviews from the past

Reviews From the Past - Part 30

September 14, 2023

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Malibu Vibes

Trend it Up Malibu Vibes Nail Polish [040] Review

September 08, 2023

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Malibu Vibes

Reviews From the Past - Part 29

September 08, 2023

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Anti-wrinkle

Ziaja Med Dermatological Formula with Vitamin C + HA-P Deeply Regenerating Night Cream Review

August 30, 2023

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Max Factor

New Stuff - Part 17

August 30, 2023

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Ebelin

Reviews From the Past - Part 28

August 23, 2023

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Blush Brush

Ebelin Team Bride Multibrush Pinsel Review

August 23, 2023

Here’s a small, cute brush for this week! This is the Ebelin Team Bride Multibrush Pinsel.

Ebelin had this limited edition set of products that would be useful to brides-to-be, called Team Bride. There was a good variety of products: blotting paper, fan, eyebrow set, cosmetics bag... and then there was also this small, cute brush. I bought it because it is so cute! And also because I know that Ebelin usually makes great quality brushes, so I had high hopes for this little one! Let’s see if it met my expectations or fell short of them!

Packaging: this brush came in a cardboard packaging with a plastic sleeve that prevented anyone from touching the hairs. Good design! Although you have to cut the sleeve to get the brush out of the packaging, which is a shame. The rest of the packaging is pretty basic, though there is a golden engagement ring illustration!

The brush itself is quite elegant in its own right. It’s got a white handle that’s got this satin or pearly effect. It’s beautiful! The ferrule is gold and quite large for the size of the brush. The hairs are synthetic and have a really pretty gradient, going from muted gray to white at the tips. I really like this particular shade of gray they picked, it’s a kinda mink gray, very pretty. The hairs aren’t very shiny at all. The size of the brush is perfect for any small makeup bag; I think it’s quite cute how small it is!

This little brush applies powder pigments wonderfully! It applies them evenly and pretty thickly. The shape of the brush is ideal for blushes, though it is also quite good for contouring, even if it doesn’t seem like it. It’s precise enough to apply contour powder sharply and the angled shape makes it easy to apply it perfectly each time. This angled shape is also ideal for blushes; it’s so easy to get perfectly ruddy cheeks in no time at all! You could also use it for setting powder, though it is a bit small for that. It’s not a good shape for highlighters. This brush blends like a champ! It is relatively dense, but it actually blends so well that powders always end up being perfectly blended out. It’s just wonderful to use!

This brush is really easy to wash as it doesn’t absorb a lot of shampoo. It dries pretty fast, too.

Conclusion: this little brush is full of wonders! It applies powders superbly, fantastically evenly and thickly, and it is precise enough to be used for contouring. But its primary use is to apply blushes, and it does that exceptionally well! Blush always looks fantastic, perfectly even and natural! And it also blends extremely well! It’s so good at blending that you can easily over-blend pigments, if you keep blending them. So you get natural results every time. A real practical, multipurpose brush that is of fantastic quality! Another score for Ebelin brushes! Too bad that it’s LE... well, if it were still available, I would definitely recommend it, I just love it so much!

Rating: 9/10

Would buy again? YES

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Catrice

Catrice My Little Pony Nail Lacquer [C03 - Happy Skydancer] Review

August 16, 2023

After the glamorous nail polish, let’s take a look at one that is much more cute and girly! This is the Catrice My Little Pony Nail Lacquer, shade C03/Happy Skydancer!

Catrice had an MLP limited edition... ugh! I literally rolled my eyes and groaned when I first saw it. I am not a brony, never have been, not even as a little kid. I liked the ponies but I never considered myself to be a fan, hell, I never even watched any of the cartoons! So, to me, this was bit of a ~~dumb~~ weird collection – but hey, if Revolution can have a PowerPuff Girls collection, I guess Catrice can have a My Little Pony one, too! Despite all that, I still kinda liked the colours so I figured I might as well buy one of them – this light blue colour seemed the best to me. So let's see how good this MLP polish is...

Packaging: standard Catrice nail polish type of packaging with two caps, one decorative and one functional. The functional cap is ribbed, and can be quite difficult to open! The bottle is clear and rectangular, as usual with Catrice nail polishes. It’s just as heavy as most Catrice nail polishes, too. But what sets this nail polish apart from others is the My Little Pony details! Aside from the logo on the front of the bottle, there’s also an illustration of Skydancer (right??) on the cap. Oh it’s all very girly and cute! And the white caps are perfect with the almost pastel light blue! Just wonderful!

Source: catrice.eu

Ingredients: acaí (Euterpe oleracea) fruit oil for nourishment. Nothing harmful (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). The scent is like most nail polishes, really. The expiration date is 36 months after opening.

Brush: a large flat brush, standard with Catrice nail polishes. It is large enough to coat my nails evenly with only a stroke or two. And it’s also precise enough to paint the sides of the nails without making too much of a mess. The brush picks up a ton of pigment, waaayyy more than you need for one nail. Which might pose a bigger problem than usual with such a thick, creamy formula. The brush does its best to spread the polish evenly across the nails, and it manages to do that with a lot of success! As usual, another great nail polish brush from Catrice!

This is a wonderful colour, I must confess! It’s perfectly girly and pretty and just perfect for spring! This is a very light blue with pastel tones. It’s like the clearest skies! For some reason, it also reminds me of jelly beans! It’s such a cute colour, ahh! And it looks great on pale skin! It’s just such a vibrant, yet gentle colour that really pops on skin as pale as mine! Only... isn’t Skydancer yellow?? The only part on that pony that is light blue is one band of its rainbow-coloured mane/tail. So wouldn’t a pale lemon yellow be a better fit for this particular pony? Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely love this colour – but it fits Rainbow Dash much, much better. Ah well, nit-picking. (Also, before you @ me, no I didn't know what colours the ponies were, I had to Google it)

The formula is very thick, but it’s also quite easy and comfortable to use. It’s a nice formula, although I would like it more if it was thinner; this is a bit too thick, which makes it difficult to apply thin coats, which will cause problems. Despite being so thick, it’s not too heavy and looks nice be it with one coat, be it with two. The formula is perfectly even and isn’t one bit runny. It’s also very gelly, but there is a lot of creaminess to it, too. Much more creamy than most Catrice nail polishes, I actually like it! Now, if only it were a bit thinner...

Given the thick formula, it’s not a surprise that one coat is already pretty much opaque. Two coats doesn’t help with how opaque it is, as there isn’t much more it can do at that point, but it seems to cause air bubbles to form. So I highly suggest not making my mistake and staying with one coat. However, it doesn’t look too thick with two coats; in fact, it looks pleasantly gelly and glossy. It even reminds me of a jelly bean for some reason! The texture is very glossy, but the bubbles do hurt it a tiny bit.

Oh god, more air bubbles. Fortunately, these ones are tiny, but there’s a lot of them. Thing is, this formula is quite thick by nature, so it is extremely difficult to get thin layers, and thick layers are most likely to bubble. To be fair, maybe I should’ve stopped at just one coat like I was considering, but no, my brain had to be dumb and go “oh sure, never mind that it’s thick, two coats will be grand!”. Anyways, the longevity in general is actually excellent! Over the course of 4 days, it had barely any chipped parts! Nothing that I did caused it to chip significantly – and yes, that includes washing my hair! That caused only 2 or 3 of the smallest chips, that are so minor you can barely even see them!

It’s still very glossy, too, despite getting scratched to bits. So, yeah, I would suggest applying a top coat, but if you don’t, no biggie! It still functions perfectly well without one! If I disregard the bubbles, this has got to be one of the most long lasting Catrice nail polishes that I have used, so far, and I have used plenty of them! Fantastic!

It’s pretty easy to remove, although I did have to rub more than usual to remove it completely (and that’s with the exceptional Ebelin Express Remover!). It was a bit stubborn on the sides of nails, I must admit. And my nails did seem a bit more yellow afterwards. Hmm, despite being such a light colour it still caused some yellowing. Not good.

All in all, it’s actually pretty good, which, to be fair, is what most Catrice nail polishes are, at the very least. This one has a really rich, thick and quite creamy formula that is super easy to use because it always ends up being perfectly even. And, because it’s so thick, you really need only one coat. This is where I made a mistake, as I had plenty of bubbles that started appearing after I applied a second coat. I really should’ve stopped at one coat because it’s already opaque then. If the formula were just a smidge thinner I would be able to apply two thin coats and prevent air bubbles (thicker coats are most likely to cause air bubbles). But it’s just a bit too thick for that. Eh, I guess I can live with only one coat – I used only one coat with the AURA nail polish that I reviewed alongside this one (and that was problematic, but that formula couldn’t be any more different). The colour is actually super adorable, such a lovely light blue! It somehow looks great on my pale skin, and here I thought it wouldn’t be good! It’s such a springtime colour! I think that this is definitely the best of the available colours, at least on my skin! The nail polish has surprisingly great longevity, as it had almost no chipped parts after 4 days! Even a hair wash didn’t cause it to chip significantly! Okay, there were some tiny chipped off parts but they were barely noticeable. Although, I would highly recommend applying a top coat, this nail polish gets scratched way too easily, which, while it doesn’t ruin the glossy finish, is still not a pretty sight to see. So, something good, something bad. The only thing that makes it worse than your average Catrice nail polish is the presence of air bubbles, in all other regards it as good – or even better – than most Catrice nail polishes. With the added cuteness factor that My Little Pony provided! I am happy with it, more or less (bubblessss), so I will recommend it, in spite of its flaws! And that’s coming from somebody who doesn’t like MLP much!

Rating: 7/10

Would buy again? NO (air bubbles again argh)

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AURA

Reviews From the Past - Part 27

August 16, 2023

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AURA

AURA Like a Pro! Nail Polish [151 - For Gold Times] Review

August 16, 2023

Certainly the flashier of the two nail polishes for today, this is the AURA Like a Pro! Nail Polish, shade 151/For Gold Times!

This is one nail polish that I had been thinking about since December 2022. It was released then as part of a mini limited edition of holiday-themed product variants; it was all the same products as before, just a few new shades. The Like a Pro! nail polish received some interesting colours, from deep emerald green, to various shades of gold, to glittery silver and such. I couldn’t decide whether I like 151/For Gold Times or 153/Liquid Gold more, but in person they look almost identical. I do like metallic gold nail polishes, especially once December rolls in, so I knew I’d be picking one of the gold shades, not the glitters. You know what? 151/For Gold Times seems really pretty, so let’s go with that one! I also love the name, nice pun! It’s also fitting that I chose 151; as someone who loves Pokémon, #151 holds special meaning (Mew, in case you didn’t figure it out) so of course I’d go with that over, say, 153. So, is this nail polish really as good as pro nail polishes, given the name? And is it fitting for the glitzy holiday season? Let’s see!

Packaging: I love the thin rectangular shape! This is a very elegant bottle, and it also feels heavy for its size. The cap is black and closes very, very securely; I really have to try hard to open it sometimes. I like the black text on the gold colour, it really pops! However, the white text in the back isn’t doing it any favours; what’s worse, that’s where the ingredients list is, and I cannot read it to save my life because of how poorly visible the white text is. Seriously, why not use black like in the front? Also, if you weren’t certain, this is a limited colour, the cap spells it out for you just in case!

Source: aura.co.rs

Ingredients: nothing nourishing. Also, nothing harmful (such as DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). The scent is pretty much like any other nail polish. The expiration date is 24 months after opening.

Brush: relatively short and wide, this is a flat brush that picks up more pigment than you truly need for one nail. It’s just the right size for my nails and is more precise than you might think, which makes it easy to apply polish on the sides of nails without spilling too much onto the skin. It also spreads the polish perfectly evenly, ensuring that you get a flawless finish every time. It’s a phenomenal brush, in short!

The colour is called ‘For Gold Times’ but it’s not really gold the way you’d think. It is ‘gold’, but it’s a very pale, almost silvery type of gold, not the yellow gold that is commonly associated with the name. Compared to my 14K (I think) gold bracelet, it is noticeably more greenish and pale. In fact, from the very first moment it reminded me more of brass than gold, although it seems to be much closer to ‘gilver’, a mix of silver and gold. It’s honestly a baffling colour when you try and explain it. It looks amazing, though, nevertheless! Whether it is gold or gilver, it still shines like molten metal, beautiful on pale skin (although I am sure it would be even better on either very dark skin or light skin)! Even though it is not truly gold, I still love this colour! It’s perfect for any celebration!

Omg, the formula! It’s relatively thick but not at all goopy or gelly, it feels so luxurious and creamy! It feels high-end. And because it is so luxuriously soft, it is also extremely easy to use, as it spreads across nails perfectly evenly every single time. It is not at all runny, which makes it even better to use! For some reason, it actually reminds me of molten metal! Yeah, like molten brass or something! Fitting, given the colour and texture, no? Speaking of, the texture is very metallic and shiny. You can see some graininess in the formula but that only makes it shine even more and look even more metallic. It’s not reflective enough to be a mirror, but it is hella metallic! Perfectly opulent for the holidays!

It’s completely opaque with only one coat, and it looks fairly professional. Talk about a perfectly thick formula! I only applied that one coat as I saw no reason why I should go for another, especially as it already looks so gorgeous and I didn’t want to risk ruining it.

It’s tragic. The formula may look and feel stunning, but the longevity is horrendous. It started chipping off slightly by day 3, and had some tip wear, which would be kinda acceptable if that’s where it stopped. But no, it got so much worse. From the middle of day 3 onward it began to chip off extremely, with larger chunks chipping off easily. And it’s not like I was doing anything particularly extremely damaging, even a slight bump would result in a part of the polish chipping off. It only got worse on day 4, with the nail polish looking atrocious, all chipped off unevenly. So no surprise then, when I say that a hair wash damaged it even further. By the end of day 5 it was in disastrous condition, and really looked horrible.

This is such a bloody shame, as the formula seemed to be high quality and thick enough to prevent excess chipping. It all seemed so promising on the first two days, but it all came crashing down suddenly. I cannot even express how immensely disappointed I am. Such a beautiful colour, yet it doesn’t last 3 full days... sigh. What makes it an even bigger problem is that this is a metallic nail polish, so if I apply a top coat, it will just look generic glossy. The only solution is to have a great base coat under it, then.

It’s surprisingly easy to remove given that it’s a metallic nail polish. I didn’t have to rub a lot to remove it completely – my nails are thankful for that. It doesn’t leave any residual shimmer or anything, and my nails weren’t stained.

Overall, what seemed like a stunning, high quality nail polish turned out to be just average, sadly. I had such high hopes for it; I mean, I had it on my wishlist for literally 6 months so obviously I was really interested in it. And when I saw how amazingly creamy and luxe the formula is, and how perfectly it looked after just one cost, I was left speechless! I was convinced that this would be the perfect gold nail polish for December! Sadly, that was not meant to be. The polish looks gorgeous, but it has pitiful longevity. It starts chipping within a few days, and once it does, it really does. I am talking huge pieces chipping off, leaving your nails looking ugly and unkempt. This really made me sad, like, for real. It was so promising. Yet it’s just another let-down... sigh. It’s sad to think how close it was to truly being like a professional nail polish, like the name would imply. As it is, though, I simply cannot recommend it, no matter how gorgeous it is. ‘Tis a tragedy, but ah well...

Rating: 5/10

Would buy again? Sadly, NO

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Reviews From the Past - Part 30

Trend it Up Malibu Vibes Nail Polish [040] Review

Reviews From the Past - Part 29

Ziaja Med Dermatological Formula with Vitamin C + HA-P Deeply Regenerating Night Cream Review

New Stuff - Part 17

Reviews From the Past - Part 28

Ebelin Team Bride Multibrush Pinsel Review

Catrice My Little Pony Nail Lacquer [C03 - Happy Skydancer] Review

Reviews From the Past - Part 27

AURA Like a Pro! Nail Polish [151 - For Gold Times] Review

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