When Essence met Catrice

Hi everyone! Weekend is almost over and as usual Sunday evening is time for another post. :) In this post I will present the products I bought recently. I have to say I am really happy with Catrice brand in general and since I've heard one YouTuber (LetzMakeup)  mentioning some of their products I decided to give it a go.

The products I will mention here I bought in DM:



I have to say Catrice Prime And Fine Eyeshadow Base really improved my eye shadow application - I notice it refining my under eye skin as well as my lid skin (it sort of blurs the shadows and the pigmentation) on its own. Once I put the concealer and the eye shadow, they glide smoothly and stay put much longer than without the primer. The second thing I was very happy about was the Catrice Camouflage Concealer. I was really surprised how well it conceals. The texture is creamy, but it sort of sets once applied. Since it is very opaque and thick, I like to apply it underneath my foundation and blend everything together to achieve the flawless look.

With the Catrice All Matt Plus – Shine Control Powder I already knew I was happy since I previously had a similar product from Catrice (I think actually only packaging changed). Sometimes (if you put too much) you might look cakey, but if you are careful with application it really mattifies the skin. If you have a particularly smooth and overall nice skin, you can also apply it as a powder foundation. As my skin is not even close to the perfect skin, I like to use it on top of my foundation. It holds up solid 3 hours before I need to blot the oily excess (and I tend to get very oily during the day). 


The third product I was thrilled with was Catrice Eye Brow Set. Wow, this one is definitely my favorite - it totally changed my eyebrow routine. I was using a combination of very dry black mascara and a brown eyebrow pencil to do my eyebrows for years now and recently I started playing with the eye shadows on my brows. The problem was that all the eye shadows I own have a reddish tint, and therefore my eyebrows didn't look natural. That's why I decided to try with this inexpensive set and it blew my mind. I used to spend 15-20 min on my eyebrows (I have very light and sparse eyebrows) and now I am managing to finish my whole "work" make up in 15 min. I use the small angled brush from a kit - sometimes wet (if I am going out) and usually dry (on everyday basis) and I apply darker shade on the 2/3 of my eyebrows (outer part) and lighter shade on the inner 1/3. The shadows are easily blendable and they stay on my brows the whole day (~12 hours before I remove my make up), including work and gym time. The only thing I find useless from this kit is a small set of tweezers, but that really depends on you.


The last Catrice product I recently purchased is Catrice Liquid Metal Eyeshadow in 070 Gold Leaf Me. It is a beautiful golden/green shimmery color appropriate for parties and going out. I have to say I used it only once, since I keep on reaching for my Urban Decay Naked 2 palette all the time. I think it is a nice quality shadow, pigmented and it has a creamy texture - reminds me of some Sleek shadows.



This brings me to the Essence part of the post - even though I have over 50 nail polishes I just couldn't resist buying some more. :) So here we go again, I got two Essence Colour&Go nail polishes in 147 Miss Universe and in 128 Let's Get Lost. There is not much to say about Essence nail polishes as I really like them. They are very cheap and in my opinion very good quality. In general, I believe that if you invest in a good, quick drying top coat and a good quality base coat, any nail polish will be good. However, Essence nail polishes are opaque and have a really good brush which makes application much simpler. This makes the brand stand out for me and I honestly have to say I find these nail polishes better than many of the expensive ones. 

On the last photo you can see how it looks like when I apply one coat of 128 Let's Get Lost and one coat of 147 Miss Universe on top of that.





Hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know if you share my opinion and if you have any other Catrice and Essence products worth mentioning!
~Anelei

4 comments:

  1. Catrice products I absolutely love - their lipsticks and blushes, they are definitely the best products they offer, the quality is excellent for the price. As for Essence, I'm using their translucent Stay Matte powder (I'm not sure about full name of the product) and it's my HG mattifying product! Since I wear foundation occasionally, I use it alone, and it's great. Also, their makeup brushes - quite a catch, you can collect a solid set. I <3 Extreme black mascara (and other mascaras actually) is also an excellent product when I can't afford my loving MNY Colossal.

    I'm not much into manicures because I've been fighting biting addiction for years now, but I buy a polish mostly impulsively. Catrice polishes I purchased for prom disappointed me, I won't buy them again, even for that price. Essence polishes are much better, but they don't last on my nails even for a full day. My recent discovery is Essie - All in One base (thrilled!), and I think I'll invest in their polishes in future. They can often be found on sale up to 7 euros. I'd also recommend Rimmel polishes. 'Till reading! :)

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    1. I am really surprised that you don't like Catrice nail polishes - for me they last forever and they are quite comparable to Essence nail polishes. However, I always use a base coat and a top coat and this makes a huge difference. My HG base coat is Essie All in One Base ;) and my HG top coat is currently Sally Hanses Insta-Dri Anti Chip formulation. This makes my nail polish last a week. The Sally Hansen top coat takes a bit longer to dry than for example Essie Good to Go, but it doesn't shrink my nail polish at all. I wanted to try Seche Vite, but I've read that it also shrinks the nail polish. Basically, by using the top and base coat I can use any nail polish brand and it lasts super long (+ I always put 2 layers of a nail polish in between). I know Rimmel and Revlon nail polishes are great, but those brands are not easily available in Germany - I did buy them in Croatia though and I have one or two. :) Essie is a fantastic brand, no complains there!

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  2. Great picks! I love such good quality items for sooooo inexpensive!! x

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    1. Hi Siobhan, thanks a lot for your comment! Means a lot for my little blog project! x

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