Marc Jacobs Decadence EDP review

I won't even try to deny the fact that I bought the brand new perfume by Marc Jacobs solely because of the packaging. And the name: Decadence.

Controversial and tacky as it may seem to some, the purse-shaped bottle with a faux snake skin top and a chain strap (there's also supposed to be a tassel, which my 30ml bottle apparently is too small to come with) combines so well with the theme of decadent over indulgence. Also the green velvet box the flacon comes in represents luxury and class.

The scent itself was strangely familiar and it took me over 10 years back to a stormy period of my life. It made me feel uneasy and gave me strange butterflies in my stomach. It awakened some demons that lay dormant at the back of my head. I racked my brain to find out what what perfume I was wearing at that time to no avail. And then came the revelation, it wasn't me, it was his perfume that Decadence reminded me of. 

To the point, I would describe Decadence as a lush unisex scent. The concoction of top and middle notes is definitely floral, but a kind of fresh floral with a twist. According to the description it's a mixture of plum, iris, saffron, Bulgarian rose, and jasmine notes, but I'm unable to single out any of them. 

As the scent develops, crisp citrusy notes of veriver and the woody ones of amber become more prominent and make the scent more daring than it is at first.

This is a strong, long-wearing perfume for people with character. 

I'm sure that both the bottle and the scent are addressed to a particular clientele.

I'm not in love with the perfume, but I'm fascinated by it and feel very emotional when clad in it. 

MAC Paint Pots in Nice Composure and Imaginary review and swatches

I love MAC Paint Pots. There may be some colour dupes here and there, but the formula is unique. They are softer, smoother and more even than any other cream eyeshadow. They also do not give in to the process of drying in time. I've had a number of them for years and they're still as good as new. 

So when I saw a couple of limited edition shades in the Macnificent Me collection I just couldn't say no to them.

Nice Composure is a terribly unique shade. It's a matte gray with some warm, purple undertones. It's beautifully pigmented, applies evenly and looks beautiful on its own and also as a base for other eyeshadows.

The same may be said about Imaginary.

Imaginary is also a complex shade. It's a shimmering navy blue with purple undertones and black base. It's slightly less soft in texture than Nice Composure and goes on a bit more patchily, but it's a very pretty shade nonetheless. It makes a lovely base for smokey eyes. 

My experience shows that MAC Paint Pots are always a hit and those limited editions are nice additions to the ones sold on regular basis. I'll keep updating my collection

Korean goodies: Prori Vita Bright Moisture Gel review

Prori Vita Bright Moisture Gel Mist claims not only to hydrate and nourish, but also to prevent ageing and wrinkles, revitalize and calm the skin.These claims tend to be a bit far fetched, but one thing is certain, this mist does feel refreshing on my skin. Although I would prefer the mist to be finer, I do appreciate how nice it feels on my skin. 

I like to use my mists instead of a toner or to set my make-up and this one does a great job making my skin feel comfortable. However, I haven't noticed any spectacular skin care results which I don't expect from a face mist, so there's no need to make them, is there?

My holy grail face mist remains the unbeatable Caudalie beauty Elixir, which I'm going to repurchase as soon as I've used up all the Korean ones that I have, but the Prori Vita Bright does a decent job. 

Do I recommend getting one? Not really. 

Do I regret getting one? No, it's all right, but there are better mists on the market.   

Kat Von D Interstellar eyeshadow palette review & swatches

Kat Von D products are hard to get in Poland. To get my contour palette I had to order from e-bay and pay unreasonable money for the product itself and shipping. When I saw her Interstellar palette on one of Polish websites that offer to import American goods to Poland, I jumped at the opportunity to try this product out. 

The palette is made of sturdy cardboard with magnetic closure. The print on the top brings to mind a cover some 19th century esotheric book or perhaps a circus poster from the turn of the century. The packaging is beautiful, but it's a bit unreliable as it may open at any time when travelling and cause terrible mess. There's a full size mirror which will not replace your dressing table mirror when travelling as it needs to be held to remain open ( see picture below), but it's practical nonetheless.

The palette contains 12 eyeshadows, arranged in 3 well-curated quads. The idea is not novel, the first palette like this was probably the Too Faced The Return of Sexy, which was later copied by various brands. Kat Von D's Shade and Light eyeshadow palette also pursues this concept.

This palette made me gasp when I first saw it. This is the one and only palette where every single shade tickles my fancy. It contains an array of cool-toned neutrals, classic smokey shades and sultry purples. All shadows are satin, shimmery or matte. None of them contains glitter, which is perfect for me.

Unfortunately my excitement subsided as soon as I started swatching. While all of the shades are amazingly pigmented, soft and buttery smooth, they are so soft that they crumble upon every touch. Fingers or brushes tend to pick up too much product and there's a fallout city when these are applied. I always do my eyes first, so I don't bother this much, but it needs to be said that this is the most fallouty palette I've ever seen.

Luckily this nature of the product doesn't have much influence on its performance as the eyeshadows last pretty much all day (over a primer).  

Since this palette is not a bloggers' favourite and the reviews and swatches are relatively rare, I'll go on to describe each shade quad after quad:

Left quad: 

the top shade is called Gravitron and it's a duochrome, which is a very pale, pastel pink with purple sheen to it.

the left one - Night Crawler - is a beautiful taupe with purple undertone and satin finish

the middle one - Dios -is a lovely gray shade with satin finish

and the left one - Lunacy - is a gorgeous plum purple, but it has a somewhat crumbly texture and tends to overblend into something muddy. This one is a shimmer.

Middle quad: 

Top: Vast is another taupe shade, more neutral than Night Crawler and more shimmery.

left: Astrological is a pastel lavender with shimmer, creates beautiful, sultry aura on the lid.

middle: Darkstar is the most beautiful and the most fallouty shade of the whole bunch. It's a charcoal shade with purple undertones and a lot of shimmer. It's best applied with a flat brush with firm synthetic bristles or patted on with a finger. 

right: Orion is a cool-toned brown matte 

Right quad:

top: Lycan is the only brow highlight shade in the palette. It's a pale yellow shade with matte to satin finish.

left: 3am is a very shimmery taupe which causes the same issues as Darkstar. 

middle: Moonshine is a frosty silver

right: Killing Moon is a matte black with beautiful texture and pigmentation.

1. Self sufficiency: The palette definitely is self-sufficient, containing both light and dark shades, matte crease shades.
5/5
 2. Variety of shades: There's a nice selection of neutrals and purples for a pop of colour. I would be fully satisfied if one of the quads contained some kind of blue. 

4/5

3. Variety of finishes: Shimmers, mattes and satins.

5/5

4. Variety of looks is rather wide. This is a palette that will offer you both basic, office-friendly looks and playful purple ones. 

5/5

5. Pigmentation is great, all products are highly pigmented.

5/5

6. Uniqueness: This palette is unique in terms of  the colour selection. There are many purples everywhere, but such pretty and wearable sultry plums are rare.

5/5

7. Performance is the weakest chain here.There's a ton of fallout and the eyeshadows have the tendency to overblend, but they lack nothing in the pigmentation department.  

2/5

8. Packaging has both advantages and disadvantages. It's lightweight, the design is pretty and there's a full-length mirror, but on the other hand it's may open easily in the bag while travelling. 

5/5 

9. Availability: online, with rip-off prices. 

1/5

10. Value for money: This palette isn't cheap by any means, but it's a great value for money, considering what you get.

3/5

Total: 

4/5

Clinique Pop lip color + primer review & swatches

When Clinique released their Pop lipsticks I was instantly drawn to them due to the claims that they made. They are a 2-in-1 kind of product and combine intense lip colour with a primer which is meant to prolong the wear time of the lipstick and also make it go on smoothly and even out the lip texture.

My problem was the shade selection. I wanted to pick something unique for my collection, a brownish beige perhaps, but the nudes were so similar to each other and all of them pale peachy shades that make me look sick and those I liked had so many dupes in my own stash that I left the counter.

I returned with a 20% off discount code and picked a cool-toned red which I love so much and suits me so well that I knew my choice of shade would be a hit. 

I'm not a fan of the packaging. It's cute, but I think it targets a much younger age group of users. There's something teenage about the plastic base that reflects the shade of the bullet. 

Everything else about the lipstick is prefect.

The colour is rich and intense. 

The lipstick goes on incredibly creamy and smooth, but the finish is on the satin side. It's not exactly lightweight, but due to its moisturising nature it feels as comfortable on the lips as a lip balm. 

This lipstick is incredibly long-wearing and when it starts to fade, it does so evenly and leaves a nice stain behind.

This new formula is definitely worth trying out. I only wish there was a more 'Kylie Jenner' kind of shade in the range.  

Trivia: the list of ingredients is so long that it covers 3 sides of the box.

Stila Got Inked Cushion Eye Liner in Garnet Ink review & swatches

I needed a new eyeliner like a hole in my head, but this Stila Got inked Cushion Eye Liner from their fall collection caught my because if the entirely new concept behind it.

What it basically is, is a runny, ink-like product which comes in a small pot with sponge inside. What you need to do, is to dip a brush in it (I prefer a synthetic angled one), get it soaked in the liquid and draw the line like you normally would do with cream or gel eyeliner. 

What I absolutely love about this product is that it's super saturated with colour, goes on incredibly smooth, makes crisp, thin lines or thicker ones, depending on the brush you use. This product lasts all day, doesn't fade or crumble. The only thing is that as it dries, it can feel tight on the lashline, giving me the same sensation as lash glue. 

The colour I picked is Garnet Ink, which is a beautiful reddish brown with the right balance of these two shades to look vibrant and stunning without making me appear tired. 

This is a lovely  product and I have a premonition that my collection of those little beauties is going to grow. 

Sephora Brow Thickener review

I'm a big fan of Sephora brand and I have a lot of trust in them, but I found their Brow Thickener highly disappointing.

The concept behind this product is interesting and innovative. This is brow powder that comes in a tube that resembles a mascara, but the applicator is a fluffy wand, which is supposed to act like a pen and help you fill in any sparse areas in your brows. 

The powder is on the creamy side and swatches beautifully, it's pigmented and goes on smoothly without any powderiness, but unfortunately this does not perform well on my brows.

The applicator is rather imprecise and the powder goes on blotchy, brushing through my brows makes things even worse as the spoolie sheers out sparse areas and the areas where the applicator hit my skin remained dark. 

Another thing is that I picked the wrong colour. Medium Brown is a nice cool-toned shade of brown, but it's way too dark for my fair and almost non-existent brows.

The product has a rattling ball, which I imagined hepled stir the product, but strangely enough it's located in the cap, so I understand it's just a gimmick.

I think this product might actually work for someone with wide, bushy brows, where precision is not necessary. On mine, barely there ones this look clownish. 

EDIT: While writing this review I thought I'd give this product one more chance. I tapped off most of the product and run the wand through my brows and this actually gave me very natural-looking brows with the right shape and colour. I was about to get rid of this product, but I might keep it for a while and see if we can get on well.

Dior eye Reviver eyeshadow palette review & swatches

Dior Eye Reviver is hands down my favourite small neutral eyeshadow palette. Not only does it come in a super-handy, super classy silver compact with a full-size mirror and 2 double-ended usable brushes/applicators, but also the four beautifully cool-toned, taupey neutrals are complemented with a base shade and a cream liner, which make the palette complete. Needless to say that I absolutely adore the logo embossed on the eyeshadows themselves.

The shade on the right is a transparent powder with ever so slight shimmer, which makes the eyeshadows blend like a dream. I use it on a daily basis in conjunction with all eyeshadows which are hard to blend and it makes such a difference.

Next up is a cool-toned light gold shade, which makes a perfect inner corner highlight.

Number 3 is the least favourite of mine as there's a khaki undertone to it. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, but khaki tones just don't go well with my skin tone.

Shade no.4 is a rosy-toned taupe, which is just stunning.

No 5 is a dark, cool-toned brown.

And finally, the liner. It's the same product that you get in Dior Designer eyeshadow palettes. It goes on smoothly, you can create both thin and smudgy lines with it. This liner doesn't set, but never transfers onto my upper lid. It can also be set with one of the eyeshadows to create multiple looks.

All eyeshadows are shimmery in a quiet and subtle way. Their pigmentation isn't dramatic, but this is the main merit of this palette. They serve to create effotless daytime looks within minutes. All shades go together perfectly well, they blend like a dream and can be built up for more intensity. I really enjoy  this no-brainer palette and the simple, classy looks I achieve with it. 

1. Self sufficiency: The palette definitely is self-sufficient.
5/5
 2. Variety of shades: Even though we get here a nice selection of neutrals, they're not terribly diverse.

3/5

3. Variety of finishes: All eyeshadows are shimmers.

2/5

4. Variety of looks is very, very limited. This is a palette that will offer you a basic, office-friendly look. 

2/5

5. Pigmentation is great, all products are highly pigmented.

5/5

6. Uniqueness: This palette is unique in terms of  the colour selection. Almost all of them are cool-toned taupes and there's also a black eyeliner. The base shade has the most unique formula and is probably the best eyeshadow of this type I've ever used.

5/5

7. Performance: These eyeshadows are some of the best eyeshadows I've got. They're pigmented, creamy, blend like a dream with miminum fallout and last from dusk to dawn. The eyeliner is an excellent addition to the set of eyeshadows.  

5/5

8. Packaging is to die for. The compact is luxurious, stylish and pretty, yet easy to carry around in a handbag as it's not much bigger than a blush or powder compact. The brushes are small, but they actually do work.

5/5 

9. Availability: Sephora, Douglas, online 

5/5

10. Value for money: This palette isn't cheap by any means, but it's a great value for money, considering what you get.

5/5

Total: 

4.2/5

L'Oreal La Palette Nude in #02 Beige review & swatches

Eyeshadow palettes that have more than 4 eyeshadows are a rare find in the drugstore, that's why the appearance of L'Oreal La Palette Nudes caused a bit of the stir in the beauty community. There are 2 variations available, out of which I picked #02 Beige. 

This is a beautifully curated palette that contains everything you need. The packaging is good quality, sleek and handy. It's equipped with a full-length mirror and a double-ended applicator. As far as the shadows are concerned, there are mattes, satins and shimmers, dark and light shades, basically everything you need to create a day-to-night look.

The quality of the shadows is decent, but it didn't blow my socks off. The shimmers are buttery soft and perform exceptionally well, but the mattes are on the dry side and tend to lack in the pigmentation department. The good thing about all of the eyeshadows is that they are neither powdery nor crumbly and they don't cause fallout.

What I don't like about the palette is that it's definitely a warm-toned one and I look much better in cooler taupes than in peachy browns and yellows. There's one beautiful taupe shade and a nice dark brown and a navy black which suit my taste and complexion, but that's not enough for me to enjoy the whole palette. I'm giving it away to a friend of mine whom it'll suit much better.

1. Self sufficiency: The palette contains shades shat are varied enough to make one complete look.
5/5
 2. Variety of shades: Even though we get here a nice selection of neutrals, they're not terribly diverse. But then, this is a nude palette, so a lot of diversity is not expected.

4/5

3. Variety of finishes: The variety of finishes is just right, you get here a selection of mattes, shimmers and sparkles.

5/5

4. Variety of looks is limited. This is a palette that will offer you a basic, office-friendly look that can be amped up to a sort of night-time appropriate look. 

3/5

5. Pigmentation varies from shade to shade.

3/5

6. Uniqueness: This palette is unique in the drugstore, but there are other comparable products on the market.

3/5

7. Performance: The shadows are just all right. Nothing to write home about.

3/5

8. Packaging is very practical, with its sleek design, well-fitting lid and a mirror.

5/5 

9. Availability: unavailable in Poland, can be bought online from feelunique.com

2/5

10. Value for money: This palette is a great value for money.

5/5

Total: 

3.8/5

Tom Ford Lip Color Matte in #05 Plum Lush review & swatches

I've been dreaming of Tom Ford make-up since I can't remember when, so when I incidentally spotted some of their products in Douglas online shop, I picked a couple of items. Being on a matte lip kick, but having exhausted all shades I always opt for I was desperate to get something different, so I picked Lip Color Matte in #05 Plum Lush.

One thing is certain, the packaging is to die for, but is it really worth the price tag? I don't think so. 

Don't get me wrong, the formula and the pigmentation are amazing, the lipstick goes on smoothly and evenly, the colour is vibrant and long-lasting but I cannot understand why this costs 40% more than a Chanel Allure Velvet lipstick or more than twice as much as Urban Decay Matte Revolution, which is perfection incarnate. 

The only downside of this lipstick is that it can be quite drying on my well-conditioned and non-dry lips. After wearing this lipstick for 2-3 days in a row I noticed that my lips started peeling and the lipstick caused and then accentuated dry skin on my lips which were never there before.

   

The shade I picked is not quite my story. It looked much more interesting in other people's swatches. On me it looks more fuchsia-magenta than plum. It's a bright shade which I'll pull out of my drawer in late spring, when the rays of sun make me more playful, for the time being it's way outside my comfort zone. 

All in all, it's a lovely lipstick, but I don't think I'll be getting more of these. Nothing about this product justifies the price tag. There are much better options in Sephora or even in drugstores.