Dramatag: my top 5 showcase products

As soon as I saw the last Dramatag I wondered "Do I have any product with super awesome packaging?"

The answer was yes!
I love, love the Naked Basics packaging. It's simple, yes, but I love how it feels at the touch, it's almost soft and smooth, and you can feel the embossed name with your fingers.
An old Kiko blush from the Fierce Spirit LE (Last summer's), with already a small scratch. Still, the "oriental" mood of the packaging is quite pretty and it looks nice on my makeup shelf. It's not much travel-friendly and it's huge, but I'm not going to complain on the size since it's my favourite blush, I don't want to think that one day I'll hit the pan.. sigh.
The Neve Cosmetics blush in Starlet from the 20's inspired LE was one of the products that, well, let's just say the packaging had quite a part on the purchase- that, and the fact that I didn't have a matte blush yet. I ended up with a very lovely blush, that can be easily blended and so it looks nice even on my skin tone.
The Essence highlighting pearls from the Me & My Ice Cream LE aren't so practical in their daily use, but their box is so lovely you'd expect to find candy in it!
The Kiko Loud Night Bronzer from the Dark Heroine LE has one of the most awesome packagings ever. The image on the cover reflects the Blade Runner atmosphere of the whole LE in the best way possible, and somehow the name Loud Night really fits. The cover makes me think of city lights seen when driving a car or running, due to their flashiness, but they could be the lights of a night club as well. See, when a product makes me think of stories, it's a good one. Ah, and it's a pretty great bronzer too!

Pupa Cosmic Beauty

In this sea of new fall LEs, Pupa comes out with a ... cyber/cosmic LE. They make direct references to cyberpunk in their website, talking about a "visionary, cybernetic future [...] inspired by an imaginary metropolis of the future, a city with a surprising charme, where the borders between real and surreal disappear: Cosmic Beauty. The girls of this town with an exceptional lifestyle dress with cybersexy clothes and use a psychedelic make up. The aesthetic charme of a new era."
Now, if this was an ad found in Night City, or the great metropolis that appear in Gibson's novels, I wouldn't be surprised. And I love anything cyberpunk, so if course I am enthusiastic about it
But:
1) if it's so cyber-inspired, why do they talk about space and the products have space-inspired names? First you tell me it's inspired by the colors of the galaxies then you give me a cyberpunk femme fatale. These are two different kinds of sci-fi, my dear.
2) I have now a headcanon: that the creative teams at Kiko and Pupa are best friends and regularly meet together to watch movies. Last year they both created China/East inspired LEs, almost identical in their inspiration. This year they must have gathered to watch Blade Runner all together, or something like that.
3) The collection has only a few products ( I get it's a preview, but I suppose they've shown everyhting), and there's nothing groundbreaking and futuristic for me. Let's see:

An eyeshadow/eyeliner. Comes in taupe, black, peacock green, blue and violet.

Pigments! This one looks cool, I'd admit it. Comes in blue and green as well.

Lip pencils are nothing new. Comes in red and pink too.

There' s a highlighter..

And the polishes. Two duochromes, two more "normal" shades. The burgundy one is great, even if not groundbreaking. The first duochrome reminds me of Catrice's Iron Mermaiden (now discontinued) and the second one..well, I'm interested in that.

Don't you notice something? No powder, no blush, nothing. Apparently in the future there'll be no need for healty and radiant complexions, we will all be cyborgs. Or have biosculpted faces.

Matchpoint, Tribal Summer and Me & My Ice Cream

My sister was kind enough to phone me a week ago when she was in a Coin store, and for a good reasons: they had just put out the latest Catrice and Essence LEs and she asked me if I wanted something. Of course I did!

I remembered well that I wanted the shimmer pearls and the tip painters, then I added the lip balm because it seemed gorgeous. First impressions: the shimmer pearls smell like candy and the tiny box is so pretty, if I finish them I'm gonna keep it; the tip painters are going to be super useful, the lip balm also smells nicely and the color is very promising.


I'm not surprised Catrice went straight from Candy Shock to Matchpoint, but I really hope I find some Glamazona stuff, I definitely want the crocodile gold top coat and perhaps something else. Anyway, I'm so glad my sister found this stuff, especielly considering how many people wanted the shimmer pearls, I wasn't even hoping anymore to find them!

Make Up Moments: My latest...

Just when I wanted to do another post about make up, I found this lovely post and decided it would have been fun, so, here it is!

 But first... the rule says to open the post with the image of an owl. So here's your owl!

 01) Latest foundation (bought or received)?

Essence 2 in 1 make up powder.  I bought it months ago and it has become my summer essential: it's my color, it has a nice coverage and it's cheap!

02) Latest compact powder?

Essence Mineral Compact Powder. I found it in a OVS store just once, then I never found them again in other stores that keep Essence products. It's supposed to be a new product... 

03) Latest concealer?

My sister gave me this Kiko concealer. I'm not exactly enthusiastic, the packaging is a pain in the neck, usually a lot of product comes out, far more than I'd need it. I'm still faithful to my E.L.F. concealer.

04) Latest bronzer?

I don't use any, nor I intend to.

05) Latest blush?

Here things get complicated: I recently bought the single eyeshadow Watermelon by Neve Cosmetics that can be used also as blush, lipstick, everything. The latest blushes of the family were Lolita and Creamy, always by Neve. A bit too glittery but with some powder over it they're fine and long lasting. Did I already mentioned how much I love Neve products?

06) Latest highlighter?

Catrice multicolor highlighter "Vanilla Love" of the Candy Shock LE. It would probably look better on warmer, darker skintones. On me it's barely visible. The upside of this: it's a perfect everyday product, as promised on the website it gives a subtle glow. Probably I'm the only one who can see that glow, but I don't really care, hah.

07) Latest lipgloss?

 Essence marble mania lipgloss in Mix'n Mauve. There was an old LE called Marble Mania so I was afraid that the product I had found was just really old, but apparently it's not: Essence is launching those new lipglosses, and they can be found in the english Essence website. I love this lipgloss a lot: nicely pigmented, not sticky at all, and even when it fades a bit it leaves a nice stain covering the whole lips ( a regular stain, not like those products that leave those weird signs on lips). The final effect is that your lips look is if that shade was their natural color, and I really like it.

08) Latest lipstick?

Deborah lipstick in 13, months ago. I don't use lipsticks in the summer that much so I haven't used it in a while, but it's nice, a classic color. And it was on sale, how could I resist it?

09) Latest pencil?
Eye pencil: Sephora nano eye pencil in azur blue. Super pigmented and long lasting: it's so long lasting that if I wear it at 8 am, leave the house to have an exam at the uni and come back at 7 pm, it's still there. Surely, the primer helps, but it's a really good product.
Lip pencil: Neve Cosmetics lip pastels. The contouring lip pencil seems something you'd never use but trust me, when you have it you appreciate it. The other one is a nice salmon shade.

10) Latest eyeshadow?

The aforementioned Watermelon by Neve Cosmetics. I love using it as eyeliner mostly, it has a nice cyberpunk effect.
 
11) Latest eyeliner?

 Essence I love punk jumbo eyeliner pen. I usually go for pencils, but I decided to try this so maybe I could learn how to apply eyeliner nicely and not just use the pencils to intensify the eye make up. It would be a much greater product if it were more pigmented... I mean, you can apply it, wait until it dries and apply it once again to intensify the color, but since it's meant as an eyeliner for dummies, that way you kinda miss the point.

12) Latest mascara? 

Bought: NYC Sky Rise mascara. For being a cheap product, the quality is definitely good, it really has a beautiful effect on lashes.
Received: Deborah Mascara full color in 02 costa smeralda sea. The color is actually a bit greener irl.
What can I do, I love colored mascaras...

13) Latest eyebrow product?

 I actually don't used anything... I tried but I don't like the effect.

14) Latest primer?

 Essence I Love Stage eye primer. It's really good and effective, especially if you have oily eyelids.

15) Latest face care product?

 Garnier Crème Bienfaisante for normal/combinated skin.Works nicely and feels fresh on the skin, i like the formula. I also tried the "sorbet" cream for oily skins and found it... oily O_O I don't know, this kind of stuff depends a lot on your skin type I guess.

16) Latest body care product?

 Helan Rosa-Rosae silky moisturizing cream. Eeeh, I love this one. I was given a sample, tried it and fell in love with it. It really gives your skin a pleasant silky effect and the subtle rose smell lasts for a couple of days...

17) Latest hair care product?

I only use standard shampoos and such, no particular care products... I don't really need anything special, I have really short hair, no split ends, etc.

18) Latest accessory (brushes, false lashes...)?

 The Sephora empty eyeshadow palette, when it still costed 50 cents. I'm really glad I bought it.

19) Latest nail polish?

 Coming soon on this blog, Deborah 45 Green Fluo. Can't wait to try it!

20) Latest perfume?

I don't used perfume, I only have a old Lush solid perfume. It's supposed to be expired but it still smells deliciously. I am awfully tempted by Shaka solid perfumes, however.


 Whoa, I exceeded the blogspot tags limit. I tagged the products but not all brands.

Quick post: Catrice Candy Shock is in town!

Just a quick post before I go to bed: the Catrice LE I was so intensely waiting for... finally arrived!
I almost couldn't believe it, I usually don't go crazy over pastels but this LE is just perfect for me.

I immediately picked what I knew I wanted: the white pearls and the light blue polish... then I remembered I had seen enthusiastic reviews of the highlighter, so I tried it and, wow, it works perfectly on my skin! I can't wait to use it more, it's a "your skin but better" kind of product. You can use it with your finger or a brush to highlight the standard places (browbone, etc) or put it all over your face for a subtle glow. I love it!
(Perhaps I could post swatches when I try the polishes, mmh..)