Maychiri's Thoughts

Trend it Up Easy & Speedy Nail Polish [200] Review

May 16, 2024

The second of three tiny nail polishes that I was given by my mother. This one is the Trend it Up Easy & Speedy Nail Polish, in shade 200!

So, sometimes my mother gets these weird ideas and then, when she arrives home, she hands me nail polishes. This polish is the result of such an occurrence. She came home and handed me three mini nail polishes, all from Trend it Up. Now, I have been quite happy with Trend it Up lately, so I didn’t mind it very much, but it was still odd. Especially because this colour is not one I would pick myself. But I guess I shall accept it and try it out – it’s the least I could do, right? Besides, it might just end up being a great nail polish! So, let’s see what it’s like!

Packaging: a tiny little glass bottle that is like a lil cube. It is adorable! I like the curved top edges, it adds some elegance to an otherwise very sharp shape. There isn’t much to say about the bottle: it’s got the Trend it Up logo, Easy & Speedy, and there’s a sticker with information in the back. The text is black to match the cap. Black is nice with this iridescent colour! The cap closes super securely, so no need to worry about the polish drying out! It’s a minimalistic design, but the shape allows it to stand out in its own way. I like it.

Ingredients: vitamin E for nourishment. Zinc sulfate to help keep your nails strong. Also, interestingly, Lithothamnion calcareum extract and diatomaceous earth! 3-free (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene)! The scent is very sharp and acrid, just like it was with shade 250. Definitely more aggressive than most nail polishes. Although, the body of the scent is fairly similar to that ‘standard’ nail polish scent. The expiration date is 24 months after opening.

Hmm, another weird brush; guess all Easy & Speedy polishes are going to be like this. This is a flat brush, but it is so small! A bit too small for me. It’s also really dense. Now, yeah, it does pick up a large amount of polish, much more than will ever realistically need on one nail, but it is a bit finicky to use. It spreads the polish evenly, but it can get messy on the sides. It’s a bit messier than the brush shade 250 had. It’s not the worst brush, but it could certainly be improved by a lot! Not to mention, it is frayed, more than the brush in shade 250. This one is visibly misshapen, which would be problematic usually, but the formula helps make it usable.

Colour: oh wow, that is one super interesting colour! So, it’s iridescent. It’s got a lavender base with a light green, almost seafoam shine. It changes between the two depending on the lighting. The lavender is pale and quite gentle, to allow the seafoam to really shine. And boy does it! The light green shine is super shiny, it is actually the majority of what you’ll see when you look at this nail polish. I am not usually one for these extreme FX nail polishes, but I like what this one looks like. It’s a bit ghastly and a bit alien at the same time! Especially on pale skin – perfect for Halloween if you are going as the Undead Bride or something like that! Very cool for a change!

Speaking of the formula, it is very creamy and smooth. It literally feels like a rich cream! Compared to shade 250, this one feels slightly more creamy and a tiny bit less hard. It is still a relatively hard formula, but it is definitely smoother. It’s also slightly more marbled than 250. This also means that it tends to have some slight streaking when you apply two coats; I don’t mind it here because the finish helps conceal it.

This polish is interesting in terms of opacity. See, one coat gives you about 80% opacity, so you’ll barely see the nails underneath. I would say that it is wearable like this, but the intensity of the colour just isn’t enough. It’s mostly just the light green shine with barely any lavender base visible. It looks a bit sickly green like this, a bit like undead monsters, zombies, stuff like that. Kinda ghastly but excellent for Halloween! If you do what I did and apply a second coat, it looks sooo much better. Now it’s completely opaque and the colours are vibrant like they should be. You can clearly see the iridescence, changing from lavender to light green depending on the lighting. While it does still look a bit sickly, now it’s way more like futuristic, like aliens. Very, very cool!

And it still looks silky smooth and not at all thick even though the formula is plenty thick. The texture is another fascinating thing about this nail polish. It is highly metallic and iridescent, yes, but if you look closely, you’ll also see that it is also very finely marbled and has the finest graininess to it. This isn’t the chunky shimmer shade 250 had, oh no, this one is microscopic, allowing the finish to be this shiny and iridescent. Besides all this, it is also slightly reflective, but much less than 250. Such a fascinating nail polish!

Longevity is sadly not nearly as good as with shade 250. Unlike that one, this shade starts to chip after about 3 days, although it is really minimal. But it got worse, much worse, over the next 2 days. It was already visibly chipped on the last day before I washed my hair, but that hair wash did it in. The amount of chipping was severe, with huge patches of nail polish peeled off on some nails. Such a shame, this is a wicked cool colour... oh well. I will say that it at least doesn’t get scratched up, no matter what you do. So at least it keeps that glossy finish!

Hmm, this isn’t the easiest nail polish to remove, but it is much easier to remove than shade 250. I didn’t have to rub as much to remove this nail polish, and it didn’t leave a stain on my nails. It could definitely be easier to remove, though, as the first pass only removes the purple shimmer. You need go over it a second or third time to fully remove it (although, to be fair, the cotton pads I was using weren’t very good, so that played a part in this as well).

All in all, a pretty good nail polish, although not as good as Easy & Speedy 250. They have different kinds of formulas, so this was to be expected (one is chunky shimmery, other is fine shimmery). But I still like it nonetheless! The formula is very creamy and smooth and literally feels like a rich cream! It’s quite easy to use, too! Although, it does have some slight issues with looking streaky; I don’t find this to be a problem here as the colour and finish help conceal it. Speaking of, the colour is wicked cool! Definitely not a colour I would choose most of the time, but a good change of pace. It’s perfect for Spooktober, as it is a truly ghostly – ghastly, even – colour! It’s a bit sci-fi as well, kinda like aliens (not, not talking about Xenomorphs, but Little Green Men). This is a metallic/duo-chrome kind of colour that changes colour from lavender to a pale seafoam green. Although, the lavender isn’t too visible, you’ll mostly be seeing the green, under most lighting. It’s also slightly marbled, which makes it even more cool! Very peculiar, very eye-catching! But now I have to mention the bad... fortunately, there is not a whole lot bad with this nail polish, but what is bad, is pretty bad. See, unlike shade 250, this one is prone to chipping. From day 3 onwards, it chipped more with each passing day. What started ad small, barely visible chipping turned into half the nails being chipped off. A hair wash was what caused most damage, predictably. This is the critical point for most nail polishes, where you see just how durable they truly are, and this polish failed that test. So, 5 days after painting my nails, they were left in a sorry state, half chipped off. Such a shame, it was all going so well up till then... this really disappointed me and made me sad. Gone is the forever durability of shade 250... but I still like this nail polish. It was a gift, a colour that I probably wouldn’t buy myself, but I am actually happy to have it! But, given the problems with longevity, as well as with the brush (it’s frayed), I cannot recommend it. And that pains me.

Rating: 6.5/10

Would buy again? Probably NO

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Easy & Speedy

Trend it Up Easy & Speedy Nail Polish [250] Review

May 16, 2024

The first of three mini nail polishes for today, all gifts! This one is the Trend it Up Easy & Speedy Nail Polish, shade 250!

So, this is a nail polish that I did not choose nor buy. My mum came home one day and just handed me a handful of nail polishes... alright??? Well, most were colours that I probably wouldn’t buy myself, but this colour is actually pretty, I’ll admit! I love these gentle, rosy colours, with or without gold shimmer. I have had great experience with Trend it Up nail polishes, so I didn’t feel annoyed that she bought me them. However, I had not yet tried the Easy & Speedy range at the time when she gave me the polishes, so let’s see how good this particular Easy & Speedy is!

Oh, such a tiny bottle! It is square-shaped and looks sooo small! There is not a lot on the bottle, just the Trend it Up logo, Easy & Speedy, and a sticker with information. I like the black text on this colour, and it matches the cap. The cap is absolutely huge compared to the tiny cube that is the bottle! The cap is black and closes very tightly. Besides this, there is not much to talk about, really. Simple design, but the shape helps distinguish it from other nail polishes.

Ingredients: vitamin E for nourishment. Also zinc sulfate to make your nails harder. Interestingly, there’s also Lithothamnion calcareum extract and diatomaceous earth! Nothing harmful, such as DBP, formaldehyde or toluene. The scent is a lot more acrid than most other nail polishes, but it is still similar enough generally speaking. The expiration date is 24 months after opening.

The brush is small and dense. It’s really small! This is a flat brush. It picks up a very good amount of polish, more than enough for one nail. It applies nail polish evenly and easily, and it can be surprisingly precise on the sides of nails. It’s alright to use, but it’s too small and a bit too dense for me. It also seems to be very slightly frayed. Not horrible, but also not an amazing brush.

Yeah, this colour is actually really beautiful! It’s got a muted light rose base with a ton of gold shimmer. This is such an elegant and gentle colour, especially on pale skin like mine. I feel like it looks even more elegant and beautiful because it’s not completely opaque. The fact that you can see the nail underneath ever so slightly makes it so pretty. The rose base is a colder shade of rose, almost mauvey. The shimmer is mostly tiny, powder-like, but there are some larger grains as well, so it looks almost a bit 3D, chunky. This is an excellent colour for either everyday occasions or formal ones! It’s just stunning!

The formula is really odd. It’s very thick and feels almost hard, but it is still creamy. It is actually surprisingly easy to spread across the nails, despite being so thick. Is it this thick so that it can dry quickly? I won’t be able to test that out as I always use nail polish drying drops. I really am not a fan of this thick formula. If only it had a bit more liquid in it so that it doesn’t feel almost hard.

One coat is very sheer; it’s really just a layer of gold shimmer with barely any colour underneath. It is amazingly even, though! It’s a bit odd like this, so I would apply a second coat. Oh yeah, it is much better with two coats! With two coats it is still semi-sheer, but now it’s a frosty sheer opacity. Now the rose base is actually visible, while still keeping the gold shimmer intense. With three coats it might be opaque, but it’s already super shimmery and thick, so I wouldn’t recommend that. It’s perfectly even and just looks great! The texture is highly shimmery, but there’s a catch! It’s not scratchy shimmery; the surface is completely smooth, you wouldn’t even know it is this shimmery just by touching it! It’s also quite reflective in a way, it looks kind of like a mirror from some angles! Beautiful finish!

Longevity is astounding, truly! 4 days and not a single chip, scratch or any sort of damage to be seen! This is a miracle honestly! The surface of the nail polish stayed just as smooth no matter what I’d do, and there wasn’t even edge chipping. Nor on the sides. Seriously, nothing damaged it, even using my nails to open stuff! Not even excessive water exposure, which is something that can easily make nail polishes chip or peel off, caused any damage! I... I am speechless. This kind of perfect longevity is something that nail polishes costing ten times as much as this tiny one don’t have. Wow...

All that good has to come with some price, right? Well, here it is. This nail polish is extremely difficult to remove, like, almost impossible. I had to scrub for like 15 minutes and even that wasn’t enough to fully remove all the shimmer. The shimmer is plentiful and chunky in places, and that is exactly why it is so hard to remove. This, of course, is not good for the health of the nails, especially if you have sensitive nails like I do. I decided to stop rubbing them with remover and try to buff out what little shimmer remained with a nail buffing block. At least it doesn’t leave any stains. Ugh. This was very unpleasant. But I should have known it would be like that when it stayed in perfect condition without literally any damage for 4 whole days. And I should’ve known the highly shimmery finish would cause trouble later. Oh well, it cannot be absolutely perfect, can it?

In conclusion, wow, just wow! But in the best way, wow! Like, this nail polish is absolutely amazing! It’s a beautiful shimmery colour, very princessy! A gentle rose with a very generous amount of golden shimmer. I applied two coats and even then it wasn’t opaque; it was left looking almost frosted, with some nail still peeking through the polish. This is actually great; it looks even more elegant like this rather than being completely opaque. I also don’t mind the extreme amount of shimmer, I think it looks very elegant! And it’s smooth to touch, like, if you were blindfolded and touched this nail polish, you wouldn’t be able to tell it’s got so much shimmer inside! And boy oh boy, the longevity is bonkers! It looked 100% the same at the end of day 4 as when I freshly painted my nails! Seriously, no matter what I did over the course of those 4 days nicked it, or chipped it, or scratched it or... anything! It is among the top 5% of nail polishes in terms of longevity, out of all the nail polishes I have! Maybe even in the top 3! Ridiculous – but in the best way possible! So this is all pretty much perfect, right? Well, there’s some bad mixed with the perfect. The formula is creamy and that is nice, but it also feels slightly hard. The brush isn’t the best quality and it can be a bit finicky to use because it is small and a bit frayed. And the biggest negative that I can mention is that this nail polish is horribly difficult to remove. Like, it is almost impossible to remove; I had to rub my nails for over 10 minutes before I was able to get most of the shimmer off. Note that I said most; indeed, no matter how much I rubbed my nails, there was still at least a tiny bit of residual shimmer. Fortunately, I was able to buff it out with a nail buffing block, but this is definitely not at all a good thing to have. This is not good for the health of the nails – especially if you have sensitive nails. But overall, this is a phenomenal nail polish, much better than it has any right to be – especially at its price point! I am overjoyed with it, so I will happily recommend it! You’ll get bang for your buck, and then some!

Rating: 8/10

Would buy again? YES

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Easy & Speedy

New Stuff - Part 36

May 16, 2024

Hello!

Three of a kind - not in poker cards though, but in nail polishes!

So... these nail polishes come with a little story. So sit back and relax because it's story time! See, my mother often goes to the mall to browse all the shops, including DM! She doesn't usually buy a lot of things, but on occasion, she will come back and hand me what she found. These three nail polishes are the result of that; she got home and just went "here, take this"... okay?? I will take them, even if I don't like them, because I don't want the money to be wasted. The blue one here is the one that I was really not too glad that I got - the other two are fine, and stuff I might wear usually, but the blue one? That's completely new to me. So I guess I should thank her for buying me nail polishes, right?

These are all Easy & Speedy polishes; I have reviewed one Easy & Speedy before, it's not the greatest but it's also not the worst. It's going to be interesting seeing how similar or different the shimmery ones are compared to that one, which was plain glossy.

Here are the three nail polishes for today:

Trend it Up Easy & Speedy Nail Polish [250]
Trend it Up Easy & Speedy Nail Polish [200]
Trend it Up Easy & Speedy Nail Polish [190]

See you soon!

Maja

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Anti-wrinkle

Eveline Concentrated Formula Rejuvenation Serum with 0.2% Retinol Review

May 08, 2024

Two skincare products this week, but this is the only new one! This is the Eveline Concentrated Formula Rejuvenation Serum with 0.2% Retinol!

I have begun to notice more and more expression lines on my forehead. Me being an expressive person, I was bound to get them sooner or later, especially with all the sleep deprivation and poor health I was having throughout 2023. I usually shrug off these wrinkles, but sometimes they really start to cause anxieties so I decided to nip those anxieties in the bud and finally start using retinol! I originally wanted to start with The Ordinary’s 1% retinol serum, but I feared this would cause my skin to peel off since I have never actually used retinol before. So I had to go search for a lower strength serum, something that my sensitive skin could learn to tolerate. Out of all the serums I found both online and in irl shops, I decided to go with this Eveline serum, because I liked the combination of retinol, ceramides, hyaluronic acid and pullulan. Sounds very promising! Now, let’s see what it’s actually like!

Packaging: a cardboard outer packaging that, to be fair, is quite soothing in its design. I love the combination of lavender and white, it is so relaxing and pure, perfect for night-time. The text is large and easy to read. There’s a ton of text all over, both in English and in Polish. Even the bottom of the box has text – and important text, to boot! Namely, that is where you’ll find the PAO and concrete expiration date (regardless of if it had been opened).

The bottle is relatively heavy for its size, and it’s not a huge bottle by any means! You might be wondering whether the bottle on the outer packaging matches the real bottle; the answer is no. I wish it looked so expensive and cool like the one pictured! The real bottle is made of dark brown glass that is quite opaque. Makes sense – retinol is photosensitive, after all! There’s a lavender sticker on the bottle to match the outer packaging, but it honestly looks plain. Not that that’s such a horrible thing, I just wish it had this ultra cool, lavender bottle instead. The cap closes extremely tightly, as it should! The dropper is silver/white and actually feels somewhat heavy for such a small glass object! The rubber nib is alright, it’s made of grippy rubber that won’t slip through your fingers easily. It looks alright, at first glance. We will see in a moment how well it functions.

Ingredients: glycerine, squalane, retinol (both as pure retinol and retinyl palmitate), shea (Butyrospermum parkii) butter, pullulan, ceramides (as ceramide AP and ceramide NP), hydrolysed red algae/rhodophyceae extract, hyaluronic acid, sea water/maris aqua, vitamin E, betaine, vitamin C (as pure ascorbic acid and ascorbyl palmitate) for nourishment. No parabens. Oh yeah, this sounds like a quality ingredients list! Retinol and ceramides are not too far down the list, so there is a decent concentration of both in the serum! Also, pure retinol – yeah! I did not expect to see vitamin C and shea butter alongside everything else! I feel giddy; I hope it has good results on my skin! The scent is very peculiar! It smells... yogurty?? Kinda like fermented milk, like kefir or Greek yogurt. It definitely smells milky, although there is something fragrant about it as well. Some sort of floral note? Idk, it’s very odd! I would kinda understand it smelling like this if lactic acid was one of its major ingredients but it doesn’t even have it! Look, I don’t hate this scent, it just caught me totally off-guard. It’s also pretty intense; I can smell it clearly as I am applying it to my forehead. Well, if it’s one thing, it is for sure a fresh smell – yogurty fresh smell, but fresh smell nonetheless! The expiration date is short, only 6 months.

The dropper is alright, but I have seen better ones. The dropper doesn’t suck up nearly enough serum for the whole face; since I apply this serum only on my forehead it is enough, but you really get one, maaaybe two drops. I don’t know whether that’s because of the serum’s thickness or if the dropper is to blame. I also cannot dose a small droplet no matter how gently I squeeze it. So, basically, you can only dose large drops, and since it struggles to suck in more than 1-2 drops, it will be a hassle if you plan to apply the serum to your entire face. There also seems to be a lot of serum residue inside the dropper that cannot be removed.

The serum is milky off-white, slightly yellowish in colour... which doesn’t help with the yogurt or kefir similarities! It’s also thick and looks milky, yeah, they’re definitely going for a yogurt look! The serum is greasy, but it’s also ultralight, and the greasiness feels more soapy than truly greasy. It’s super easy to spread it over the face; it dries remarkably fast, only about a minute and it’s already been fully absorbed! It doesn’t leave any residues and it doesn’t pill; also, it’s not at all tacky. It’s a really nice and pleasant formula!

So, at first, this serum feels incredibly refreshing! It’s a very relaxing cooling sensation that also feels quite hydrating. But immediately after that I usually start to notice a warming sensation, and with it, a prickly feeling. This isn’t irritation – it’s expected of retinol to feel slightly prickly. It’s just the way it works! And that means it is working and the skin is trying to get used to it. So it’s a mix of a cooling and a warming sensation, which is pretty odd at first, but as the skin gets used to the retinol, the prickling becomes less of an issue and the warming sensation becomes less noticeable. After your skin is completely acclimatised to the retinol you’ll mostly be left with a very refreshing, hydrating feeling. I actually love how this serum feels on my skin, I didn’t expect it to feel so refreshing and cooling and hydrating! And the prickling can be bad sometimes, so much that it makes me wince for a moment or two, but I don’t mind it because that means it is working! Also, I definitely didn’t expect my skin to feel so soft and supple after the serum absorbs! It’s wonderful!

So, I’ve been using this serum for weeks now. I first started with two times a week (Mon/Fri), and then upgraded to three times a week (Mon/Wed/Fri) after a few weeks. This gave my skin a chance to build tolerance to retinol, so that it doesn’t flake off. Despite the instructions, I do not use it in the morning, I feel like retinol is way too photosensitive and makes skin way too sensitive to the Sun to be used in the morning, so I only use it before bed. I feel like I have used this serum enough now to be able to give my opinion.

So, this is a serum that is supposed to help regenerate the skin and make wrinkles less visible. Firstly, I have to mention that retinol can often dehydrate the skin; fortunately, this one doesn’t! My skin may be ever so slightly more taut and firm, but it doesn’t seem to be dried out. It looks healthy and slightly more radiant. It definitely feels firmer and like it’s stronger, especially when I make any sort of expression. Before, it felt a bit lax when I formed expressions, now, it’s tight. At first, it seemed like this serum caused tiny bumps on my skin, but it seems like that isn’t happening anymore. My skin is smooth now, with not a single little bump. This also means that this serum doesn’t break me out, which was a huge concern. But now, the main thing. How well does it treat wrinkles? As a bit of background information, I have developed expression lines on my forehead from being too expressive while talking or reacting to stuff. This serum seems to have made the expression lines less visible over the course of a month. They’re still there and visible under certain lighting, but it is much, much better than before! I am definitely noticing signs of the skin repairing itself! Oh yup, this is what I wanted!

All in all, this is a great serum! There’s few things about that I truly dislike. The dropper and the scent being the only ones, honestly. The dropper is not very good as it doesn’t pick up nearly enough serum. There’s always a single drop inside it no matter how much you squeeze it. But it seems like there’s a lot of residue inside it?? I’ve had much better droppers in the past. The scent is another odd thing; it smells very yogurty, very milky and like it’s fermented. But there’s also a floral note in the background... very odd. Out of all the types of scents, kefir-like is the last thing I would have said! Look, I don’t hate it, it’s just very unexpected and weird. The serum itself is also, apparently, inspired by yogurt as it looks milky, cloudy and thick. Thankfully, it doesn’t feel like yogurt on the skin! It feels super light but still somewhat soapy and greasy; it is still very comfortable in spite of that greasiness. Amazingly, it only needs maybe half a minute to a minute to completely absorb into the skin! After that, it feels silky and super soft, leaving the skin supple and feeling nourished. It’s very hydrating, which is actually very important with retinol, as it is known to dry out skin. There is also a mix of a warming sensation and a cooling, refreshing one. The warming one I expected, especially as my skin is slowly getting used to retinol, but the refreshingly cool sensation is a surprise! It’s the perfect counter-balance to both that warming and the prickly, pins-and-needles feeling that I often feel with this serum. This is normal – retinol is fairly aggressive by nature so this prickly feeling is exactly what skin that hasn’t been conditioned to retinol yet should feel. It subsides quickly and it doesn’t take too long for the skin to get accustomed to it, so it tends to feel less prickly with time. Now, the results are great, actually! Especially for just 0.2% retinol! The expression lines on my forehead seem to be less visible overall after more than a month of using this serum. The wrinkles are still there – nothing short of botox or fillers is going to permanently remove them – but they are definitely less visible and less deep. My skin looks like it is rejuvenated; I can clearly see it trying to repair itself! I honestly didn’t expect much, maybe a tiny reduction in the appearance of expression lines, this is awesome! Now, I know that I am never going to be able to get rid of them fully using just creams and serums, but I am so happy that this serum manages to minimise how visible they are without causing my skin to flake or be irritated! Am I going to continue using retinol? Why, yes. Am I planning to switch to a stronger retinol product? Also yes! But do I plan to stop being as natural and expressive as I am in order to prevent further wrinkling? Never, I’ll continue being expressive with my emotions – wrinkles be damned! I will, however, do everything in my power to help my skin stay youthful, such as continue using this brilliant serum! I believe that my skin is now ready to move on to a higher potency retinol serum. This was the plan all along. I will highly recommend this serum as the first product to get your skin conditioned to retinol! It not only preps your skin for stronger retinol, but it also managed to smooth the skin and make wrinkles less prominent! Absolutely brilliant!

Rating: 8/10

Would buy again? Probably YES

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Eveline

New Stuff - Part 35

May 08, 2024

Hiya!

The first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is behind us - and Croatia has, thankfully, passed through to the finals! The real stress starts now, however! So I'll be showing you this interesting serum today, because this week is quite stressful for many reasons...

So, I bought this serum out of a need to try and control how fast expression lines are forming on my forehead. I am expressive with my emotions and, like it or not, that takes a toll on the elasticity and youthfulness of the skin. Instead of going for more drastic - and more permanent - solutions such as going for botox injections, I decided to start using retinol. Starting with a baby dose, of course! I wanted to start with like 0.5% or even 1% but I understand that skin needs to build a tolerance to retinol before using higher concentrations.

The Ziaja night cream is my favourite, I keep buying it again and again as it's really good. Is it the best night cream? Probably not, but since I already reviewed it, you can read my thoughts on it below!

So, here's the two reviews for today:

Ziaja Med Dermatological Formula with Vitamin C + HA-P Deeply Regenerating Night Cream
Eveline Concentrated Formula Rejuvenation Serum with 0.2% Retinol

See you soon!

Maja

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Brush

Misslyn Lovely Beauty Brush Review

May 02, 2024

The second brush we shall be checking out today is something that looks quite different to your standard brushes! This is the Misslyn Lovely Beauty Brush!

Müller had been trying to remove all the Misslyn stock for literal months, because something is obviously going on with Misslyn. They had no new products for like 3 years +, so it made no sense to keep the products on the shelves. Instead, they put a variety of products in a clearance bin! There were eyeshadow palettes, eyebrow pencils, contour palettes, and yes, even brushes! This brush grabbed my attention immediately – how could I resist such an adorable heart-shaped brush? I kept thinking about whether to buy it or not because I was unsure of its quality, but I figured it would be gone soon since it’s in the clearance bin. So I bought it; heck, it was discounted and I mean, it cannot be that bad, right?? Well, let’s see!

Packaging: the only sort of actual protection this brush has is the plastic shell case around the hairs. However, since it’s not packaged in any sort of plastic bag or anything, anyone can come and open it. The plastic shell is semi-transparent, to allow you to see the brush head inside. It closes securely with two little tabs, but the plastic isn’t very high quality, as it gets bent easily. I cannot imagine it will last a very long time if you keep opening and closing it. But once it does close, it is a very secure seal. Well, I guess this is better than nothing!

The brush itself truly does look lovely! It’s massive, though, so it might be a bit tricky to hold, depending on how large your hands are. It’s a bit too chunky for my hands, but the general dimensions fit my hand well. There is an indentation in the centre, this is where your thumb would naturally rest. It’s a great QOL detail, as it greatly improves the ergonomics of this brush, particularly because it doesn’t have any kind of handle that would be comfortable to hold. This indentation should make it less likely that you will experience wrist fatigue while using the brush. The shape of the brush is vaguely heart-shaped; like, it’s not a true heart shape, but it is a nice rounded heart shape instead. The only detail is the Misslyn logo in the front. The base is a gorgeous rose pink colour that is so cute! The heart shape makes it even cuter! Aww, it’s so adorable! Just one note: the base is reflective, which makes it a fingerprint magnet! Seriously, it gets covered in fingerprints in no time. The brush head is tucked into the base, so it doesn’t have a visible ferrule. The hairs are yellowish at the bottom, with a dark brown band that continues into light brown tips. Eh, sure would be prettier if the hairs were white darkening into black tips, but whatever.

Speaking of the hairs, they are synthetic. The brush head is flat, but extremely dense, which will affect how it applies and blends products. The hairs are pretty soft when you swipe or swirl with the brush, but they become quite prickly when you tap with it. That’s because of the dense, flat shape. The hairs are actually very flexible, even though they might look like they’d be stiff. You can bend them really far! So don’t worry if you have to bend them to apply powder, nothing will happen to them. The hairs are quite shiny, though they don’t look very cheap. They also seem to be high quality as I didn’t yet have any problems with fall-out or fraying or anything and I have been using this brush a lot.

So, Misslyn advertise this brush as being a multi-purpose one, fit for powders, blushes or contouring. I honestly do not agree with this at all. I cannot get good results with powders or blushes, it’s just way too dense to be able to apply them properly. So I only use it with contouring. It’s... okay for this. It should be better, though. It picks up a lot of pigment, but it usually deposits it slightly unevenly because it runs out of pigment too quickly. Most of the pigment ends up on the raised centre of the brush head, so it’s difficult to draw a thick line with it all along the jawline. It usually looks a bit patchy. But it is super precise! Well, unless you try to apply pigments with the sides, then it ends up being less precise, but still somewhat patchy. So it’s a bit tricky to use, even though it does give you a hella rich layer of colour. But when you do manage to get it under control, it can give you some impressively sharp contouring! Just don’t expect this brush to blend the pigment out... it usually smudges it until the foundation has been wiped off. Definitely use a fluffy powder brush to blend out pigments after you apply them with this brush, otherwise it will all look patchy.

In terms of washing, you’d be surprised how easy this brush is to wash! Even though it is extremely dense, it doesn’t take a long time to wash it properly. It also doesn’t absorb a lot of shampoo, which can be a problem with dense brushes. After you wash it, it keeps its shape and there was no fall-out at all! Also, it feels so incredibly soft after a wash! Just note that it will take a very long time for it to dry, it is a dense brush after all!

Overall, not a horrible brush, but it could certainly be better. It’s... good, I’d say. The hairs are soft most of the time and they seem high quality. No fraying or fall-out at any point. The shape of the brush is super cute! Look – it’s a sweet little heart! Truly lovely! It’s comfortable to hold in your hand thanks to the indentation in the centre, which reduces strain in the wrist. But it could definitely apply pigments better. Mostly because it struggles to apply a thick line, it’s always patchy because 95% of the pigment ends up in the middle of the brush head, so it gets used up quickly. Then you have to go back to the pan to get more pigment... it’s all a bit of a hassle. Although, it does apply an incredibly intense layer of pigment, especially if you press down with it! It’s just a matter of fiddling with it to get a decently even layer before you blend it out... which is something this brush really struggles with. Seriously, don’t even bother trying to blend with it, it will all look smudgy and messy and you’ll likely to ruin your foundation. Just avoid all this and grab a normal fluffy powder brush. So, what do I think about this brush, in the end? Well, I like it, but as I’ve learned to contour better, this brush became worse. All the flaws got magnified, showing how patchy it can be and how tricky it is actually to use to get good contouring. But it’s not horrible, so, if my other contouring brushes are currently being washed, this one will certainly do. I just have to be more careful how I apply pigments and use a powder brush to blend it all out. So, yeah... good innovation, but could be better. Because it is this tricky to use I will not be recommending it, especially not to rookies. I don’t regret buying it, though, it’s soo cute!

Rating: 6/10

Would buy again? NO

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Bamboo Line

Body&Soul Bamboo Line Konturfächerpinsel Review

May 02, 2024

Hello!

This time I will review the Body&Soul Bamboo Line Konturfächerpinsel (contouring brush, in English).

I bought this brush more or less on a whim. I was interested in trying out all the different brands that have makeup brushes and one of them was, of course, Müller's own in-house makeup tool brand, Body&Soul. I couldn’t decide which brush to get from the more ‘premium’ Body&Soul range, so I settled for the one that looked the most interesting with its angled brush head. Plus, I didn't really have many contour brushes, so it was definitely a useful decision. I didn’t have any expectations for this brand, or this brush, but is it any good?

Packaging: the brush came in a cardboard and plastic packaging that had a window to see the brush. There isn’t any plastic on the window, allowing you to touch the brush handle. Thankfully, the brush head was covered in plastic, to keep it hygienic.

The brush itself has a lovely wooden handle, supposedly made from real bamboo. You know, it really does feel like real wood and it’s light as a feather! The ferrule is metallic. I love the entire design of this brush and how eco-friendly it is, and especially how light and comfortable it is to hold!

The hairs are synthetic and have a really nice colour gradient. They are white at the tip, then brown, ending in a wheat beige colour. It’s really quite a lovely range of colours and looks very pretty altogether. The hairs are relatively shiny, but they don’t look plastic or cheap. Indeed, they seem to be very well-made, as there wasn’t any fall-out and they are cut perfectly even. They are also extremely soft, and feel so amazing on skin. They are definitely soft enough for even the most sensitive of skins. It’s really incredible just how soft these hairs are!

This brush is excellent! The way it applies powder, so evenly and richly, is fantastic! It’s thin enough to be precise, which is key when you have a contour brush, to precisely get the contouring powder where it needs to be. And the hairs are dense enough to deposit an even and thick layer of powder. It’s also fantastic at blending; whether you want dramatic contouring or everyday, subtle contouring, both are equally easy to get with this brush. I love how natural my contouring looks when I use this brush, it blends it perfectly into my skin! This is, definitely, one of my favourite brushes to use for contouring.

Despite the densely packed hairs, this brush is super easy to wash. It retains its shape after a wash and doesn’t seem to have become any worse for wear, even after quite a few washes.

All in all, I am actually totally astonished with how good this brush is for contouring! I had absolutely no expectations, thinking that a drugstore brand brush would be okay, I had no idea it would be better than much more expensive brushes. To be fair, this is the more, like, ‘premium’ range of Body&Soul products, so it makes sense it would be, at least, above average. The brush feels very well made, from the bamboo handle, to the super soft hairs. The brush applies powder incredibly evenly and thickly, and it is just as good for blending of said powder. When blended well, the contouring looks super natural, and there are no harsh lines anywhere. I love, love, love how it looks and how quickly I can get it to look this way. It’s superbly easy to use and just feels fun to use, too! So, this is a real drugstore gem! I am absolutely chuffed that I bought this brush specifically, it is just what I needed! If you have a Müller nearby, check this brand, specifically this range, out! Recommended!

Rating: 9/10

Would buy again? YES

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