Illamasqua Multi Facet Palette - is it worth the money?

Hi all, hope you're doing great! Today was a great day for Croatians that are into handball - our team just won the bronze medal in the European Men Championship! Yaaay! #proudtobecroatian :)

On to makeup: to answer the question in the title of this post, I will immediately say (a conditional) yes. Allow me to explain. This little palette was originally £45.00 and I don't think it is worth the money. However, if you find it on 'sale', you might get it for ridiculous price of £13.50. Which is, I won't lie, the only reason why I got it. There are two versions of this palette: 'Semblance' for darker skin tones and 'Aura' for lighter, paler people. Even though I am quite pale normally (I get darker during summer months), I went for 'Semblance', as I am usually more attracted to warmer, bronze colors.

This is what Illamasqua says about the Muti Facet Palette: Multi Facet Palette comes housed in a sleek, mirrored compact. Complete with a mini double ended angled and blending brush this features 8 'must have' shades to complete a full variety of eye and cheek looks. Use the double ended brush for eyes and brows and fingers for cheeks. With new Gleam in Mirage, best sellers Cream Pigment in Hollow, Eyebrow Cake in Thunder, Powder Blusher in Hussy and four beautiful Powder Eyeshadows (Slink, Dizzy, Tango, Obsidian) you can create a multitude of looks with just one palette.

Let's start with packaging: it consists of shiny (some people won't like this because it is prone to fingerprints), black plastic with the Illamasqua logo. Once you open it, there is a thin plastic insert filled in with cream and powder products. The design is sleek and the plastic seems durable. One thing I really don't appreciate is the thin plastic insert, it just looks and feels cheap. Regarding the products - I will immediately say I adore the cream products, but I think powder products (eyeshadows and blush) could be better. That might come as a surprise to you if you've read other reviews, which are usually very positive for this palette. 

The thing is, my opinion on this palette highly relies on the quality of products I've used in the past. As someone who uses Urban Decay Naked 2 (review here), M.A.C., Sleek (review here) and even Make Up Revolution (MUR) eyeshadows on a daily basis, I have to say Illamasqua eyeshadows are quite disappointing. Don't get me wrong, they are pigmented, they blend nicely and you can build them up, but they are just too powdery (like they consist of too much talc). I am used to buttery, almost creamy texture of my Urban Decay, M.A.C., Sleek and MUR eyeshadows, and these are not like that. That is the reason why I don't reach for this palette as often as I would like to.

This palette comes with a double-ended brush, that is perfectly usable and not bad at all. Especially I like the eyeliner angled brush for filling in my eyebrows. The Eyebrow Cake in Thunder is great - the texture is perfect for an eyebrow shade, but unfortunately the color is too dark for my eyebrows. I use it when I am going out and in general have more dramatic makeup. And I absolutely love both the Gleam in Mirage highlighter (especially in summer) and the Cream Pigment in Hollow which is great for contouring. Both cream products are pigmented and not sticky, just a dream to work with.

Finally, this brings me back to the question again: Is this palette worth the money? No, definitely not if you pay £45.00, but it could be a handy thing to have if you manage to find it on 'sale' for £13.50 (and have someone in the UK who can get it for you and send it to you via normal post, not to pay for Illamasqua's shipping which is 7€ if you're in the EU).

Below you can see swatches of each product inside the palette: Gleam in Mirage, Cream Pigment in Hollow, Eyebrow Cake in Thunder, Powder Blusher in Hussy and four Powder Eyeshadows: Slink, Dizzy, Tango, Obsidian).

To summarize this post, here is a list of pros and cons of having this palette:

PROS:

• Travel-friendly (4 diverse, neutral eyeshadows + blush + contour + highlighter + brow shadow)
• Neutral, usable on diverse skintones
• Beautiful creamy products
• All products featured are pigmented
• Big, good quality mirror included

CONS:

• Way too expensive if you pay the original price of £45.00
• Powdery, non-buttery eyeshadows
• Plastic, cheap insert that holds pans

To conclude: if you find it for £13.50, go for it! :) 

Do you have any Illamasqua products? Do you like them? If you have any suggestions on what to buy, I would be happy if you tell me in the comments below.

Hope you have a great week ahead,

~Anelei

Battle of the top coats!

Hello everyone! Hope you're doing well! Here in Europe it got a bit warmer over the last two days, so we are now again dealing with temperatures between 3-10°C, which I absolutely hate... *feelinggrumpy* On the other hand, I guess people in North America are freezing, which is also not so great... Wherever you are, hope you're safe! 

Today I would like to give you a small review on three famous top coats out there: Essie Good to Go (€7,99), Seche Vite (€13,45) and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri (€7,99) explain why I really don't like two of them. I will immediately say that among those three I actually favor the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat, even though there are so many bloggers swearing by the Seche Vite top coat. The reason is simple, I don't want a glue, I want a top coat! Let me explain: both Essie Good to Go and Seche Vite have a much thicker texture compared to Sally Hansen Insta-Dri and if you are not fast when applying it, you might end up with a gloopy mess on your nails. And because of that thick texture, when applying your top coat on top of a nail polish, you might actually drag the polish underneath and the end result might be streaky. Which for me sounds awful! Once a week I sit down and unwind by enjoying my 2 hour manicure - I shape or cut my nails, tend to my cuticles, polish my nails, apply 2 layers of a base coat, 2 layers of a nail polish and after all that fuss (which, don't get me wrong, I enjoy) I want a top coat that will seal the deal and make my manicure last!!!

Those are the main reasons why I personally don't like Essie Good to Go and Seche Vite. I tried both of them twice and I was desperate to go back to Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. If I need to describe every single polish in one sentence, I would say the following: Essie Good to Go has a very thick texture, dries fast (5-10min), it tends to shrink the nail polish underneath and becomes gloopy very fast. Seche Vite has a relatively thick texture (comparable to Essie, maybe a bit thicker), dries extremely fast (5min) and has a beautiful shine, but it has this horribly thin brush, it can also shrink the nail polish underneath and tends to become gloopy very fast. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri is much thinner in texture, has a decent drying time (a bit slower than Seche Vite and Essie, 10-15min) and has a nice shine, the manicure lasts for the entire week with no chips, doesn't shrink the nail polish underneath and doesn't budge the design underneath (only if the polish underneath is still very wet). 

I think in the end it all depends on priorities, but I am willing to sacrifice and endure a longer drying time for a long lasting, tidy manicure. If you care more about the drying time and shine, than maybe go for Seche Vite. I know there is the Seche Vite Restore thinner that might help this top coat a lot by thinning it and making it last longer, but I haven't tried it and to me it is just too much fuss having to use one additional product to make my top coat work! Still, I have to say, for me Seche Vite was better than Essie Good to Go - at least it didn't drag the nail polish underneath and it didn't shrink the nail polish underneath as much as Essie did, but none the less it still did all those things to a lesser degree. Essie Good to Go I wouldn't recommend at all - whenever I use it I get bubbles on my nails embedded in the nail polish and often Essie's brush gets stained with whatever nail polish I used - it often happened that I used a red polish and sealed my manicure with the Essie Good to Go top coat and the next time I applied the polish I had red brush strokes on my, say, white nail polish. Just awful! :( As for the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, it has a completely different formula, but I like it and it works well for me. One thing to be careful - if you are not careful enough you can destroy your nail art, especially if it is extremely wet. 

In the end, all three become gloopy and gluey after some time - Essie and Seche much sooner (when 1/2 of the polish remain in the bottle) compared to Sally Hansen, which 'dies' when approximately 1/3 of polish is left, which is another good thing with Sally Hansen: you get better value for your money. All three can cause bubbles embedded in the polish, but with Sally Hansen I minimized this problem.

There you have it - my absolute winner is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri! :) The benefit I have with this one compared to the other two is simple, fuss-free and nicely-looking (tidy and shiny) manicure. It just works without investing too much effort and that's what I like!

Do you use any top coats? If yes, I would be happy if you let me know which ones you like and why. Let me know in the comments below. :)

Have a nice week ahead,

~Anelei

Brushes #5: Zoeva Classic Eye Set

Hello world! Long time no see... Last year was just so busy and tough for me - from defending my PhD, organizing a few scientific events and writing a scientific article together with a job... Also, I wasn't feeling good in general and was exhausted from everything. I just decided to wait until the end of 2015 to start properly breathing again. Hopefully 2016 will be better and hopefully it will introduce some positive changes into my life: a new job, a new horizon and more time for myself! On that note, let's dig into all things related to make-up.

First on my menu this lovely cold Sunday afternoon is Zoeva Classic Eye Set - a set of 6 brushes made for eye-shadow application that come in a black clutch, which you could use as a purse. It costs 35-38 € here in Germany (depending where you buy it, at www.zoeva-shop.de it is 35 € and in Douglas parfümerie, where I got it, it is 37.99 €). Independent brushes together would cost 43.80 € (based on prices from Zoeva website), so it is definitely worth it if you would use all of the brushes featured.

What does Zoeva say for this set:

• Exclusive selection of 6 essential eye brushes made of both, natural and synthetic bristles
• Including ZOEVA Brush Clutch Small
• Must-have basics for your eye makeup

The set includes:

• 227 Luxe Soft Definer: Softly blend and smooth eyeshadow (independent brush 7.80 €)
• 231 Luxe Petit Crease: Accentuating and blending in the crease (independent brush 7.80 €)
• 234 Luxe Smoky Shader: Shading and blennding with smoky effect (independent brush 7.80 €)
• 315 Fine Liner: Precise application of eyeliner products (independent brush 6.80 €)
• 317 Wing Liner: Detailed eyeliner strokes and a perfect wing (independent brush 6.80 €)
• 322 Brow Line: Eyebrow brush for powder and cream products (independent brush 6.80 €)

And I completely agree! I love these brushes! They are well-made, they do their job and they are easy to clean and maintain! The 227 is very similar to the M.A.C. 217 and I use them interchangeably to both pack the color and blend it on the lid. The 231 is great for defining the crease and subtle blend and I use it more than any other brush I have when doing the cut crease look or packing the shadow in the crease (which I can then further blend with 227). The 234 is great to pack the eye shadow or smudge the eyeliner and it works great for packing the shimmery or glittery shades on the lid. Both the 315 and the 317 I use when I apply gel eyeliners (the 315 if I want a very delicate thin line, the 317 for a thicker line). The 317 I absolutely adore, it is the best angled liner brush I ever had (much better than Inglot 31T brush I have). Finally, the 322 I don't use as much, but it comes in handy when all my pencil brushes are dirty. I don't use it for filling in the brows, as I prefer thinner and less stiff brushes (such as the aforementioned 317), but I use it to put and smudge the eyeshadow on my upper or lower lash line as well as for smudging eyeliner and eye pencil.

Overall I am happy with my purchase, especially as I got it with 20 € discount (I exchanged my miles from Miles and More for a Douglas voucher), so I paid 17.99 € for the complete set! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who uses eye make-up on daily basis. If you plan to use 1-2 brushes from this set, get only those. I don't think it is necessary to get the whole set. You can also get the set and keep brushes you plan to use and use the rest as gifts for friends and family (I often do that with sets).

Hope you like the post! And I hope we will hang out more often here in future (I'll do my best to keep writing, at least once a week)... 

Finishing this post with wise words written on Zoeva brushes:

COLOR. LOVE. MAKEUP.

Everything you really need in life! :)

Hugs,

~Anelei