Review: Catrice: Absolute Eye Colour in 010 Mars Attacks

I bought some products of the new and improved make-up line by Catrice a few weeks back, and I thought it was about time I show you the pics and swatches :D!

First up: Catrice Absolute Eye Colour in 010 Mars Attacks

This eye shadow duo contains a very shimmery dark green and a matte very light green that is almost a mint green without any hint of blue.

The packaging is really nice, much better than the packaging they had before.

It ain't fragile or difficult to open (like the MNY eye shadows are).

You get 3g of these fabulous eye shadow for around €3 (forgot the exact prize and can't find the receipt, sorry!).

When you look at the swatches, you see that the dark green is almost black-green:

It's much darker than I had expected, but nevertheless gorgeous!

On the left you see the dark colour lightly applied, in the middle the dark green applied normal, and on the right the light green applied normal.

The dark green is very dark and very pigmented.

The light green was not so pigmented, but it might be different used on an eye shadow base and used on my actual eye ;).

The eye shadows are soft and not too crumbly.

The colours are pretty, very pigmented and easy to blend.

I would rate the dark green a 9 and the light green a 6 (because it isn't that great!).

I would recommend this eye shadow duo for the dark green, since it's awesome.

Also, I love the name :D.

It's the name of a Tim Burton movie about aliens and it's pretty funny!

Stay tuned for some more reviews and swatches!

Until next time,

Freya

MNY:Eye Shadow Review and Swatches

I went a bit overboard with the eye shadows, since I bought eleven of them!

MNY has some colours that were not in my stash at all (like bright red and green but also some lighter peachy and pink colours), so I needed them to complete my stash

As you can see, the colours I bought range from peaches and pinks, through bright red and purple shades, through brown and some green and blue/green shades.

Please keep in mind that I took these pcitures at night with lamp light, which makes the colours appear different then they are.

The shimmer and glitter doesn't show well on these pics and sometimes the colour on the pics is completely diferent than in real life.

When that's the case I'll mention it though, so no worries!

A lot of colours are shimmery, but in the frosted kind.

That means that it is shimmery without any type of really fine glitter (which most shimmery eye shadows have).

From left to right: 317, 229, 213 and 329.

The first 3 are shimmery (the frosted kind) and the fourth one is matte.

*317 is a shimmery peach (probably the most shimmery of these 4 eye shadows).

*229 is a shimmery light pink (less shimmery than 317).

*213 is a dusty rose colour, it's pink, it's a bit of a light puce, this one is darker than 317 and 229.

*329 is a matte bright red, it's quite fierce!

From left to right: 529, 517, 537 and 417.

The first two are shimmer (frosted), the third has both shimmer (frosted) and some glitter, and the fourth one is shimmer (also frosted).

*529 is a pretty shimmery purple with blue undertones and is much lighter and brighter than on the pics.

*517 is a shimmery magenta like purple which is like a mix of magenta and purple, definitely not the pink you see on the pics and a lot lighter and brighter as well.

*537 looks dark grey on the pics but in reality it's a dark, dusty purple mixed with grey, it has shimmer and fine glitter in it(not those awfull big chunks!).

*417 is a shimmery brown colour, but nowhere near chocolate or something like that, more like a taupe colour (without the purple or grey) and more like messing/bronze/copper. A bit metal like. The green hue you see on the pics doesn't exist in reality.

From left to right: 729, 737 and 637.

These are all shimmery (the frosted kind) though 637 is more shimmery than the other two.

*729 is a bright shimmery lime green that is ligther and brighter than on the pic.

*737 is a light shimmery teal colour (love this one!) that's, again, lighter and brighter than on the pic.

*637 is a bright shimmery petrol colour that's brighter and more blue than on the pic.

As you can see I really need to make some good pics during day light, so the eye shadows show their true colour!

When I find the time to make new pics, I'll post them.

Now, onto the swatches (these were also made at night with lamp light):

*All the shadows:

From left to right: 637, 737, 729, 417, 537, 517, 529, 329, 213, 229, and 317.

*The peach, pinks and red:

From top to bottom: 317, 229, 213 and 329.

As you can see, 317 is a light golden peach.

229 is a light pink, and 213 is a darker dusty rose kind of pink.

329 is a red colour that isn't as bright as it is in the pan, but much more red than it shows on the pic.

*The purples and the brown colour:

From top to bottom: 529, 517, 537 and 417.

The colours are brighter and more shimmery in real life.

As you can see, 529 is a shimmery, blue-ish purple, 517 a shimmery, magenta-like purple and 537 a dark, grey-like shimmery purple with fine glitter.

417 is a brown-ish colour with shimmer, that's really pretty!

*The greens and blues:

From top to bottom: 729, 737 and 637.

The colours are brighter and more shimmery than the pics show.

729 is a light, bright, lime green with a little shimmer, 737 is a light, bright teal with a little shimmer and 637 is a nice bright petrol with more shimmer than the other two.

As for the quality, most of the eye shadows have enough pigment, though most colours were not as bright on skin as in the pan.

Most disappointing was 729 (the lime green one) since I was hoping for an extremely bright result.

That wasn't the case, but I still think it's a nice eye shadow!

The colours would probably be a lot more pigmented if used over an eye shadow base though.

When I use my brush to get eye shadow out of the pan, there is some loose powder coming off it, but that doesn't bother me much.

The eye shadow has good staying powder and I really like it (especially if you realise they only cost €2,49 each).

The only downside is that the eye shadows are a bit difficult to open at first.

There is a transparent sticker keeping it closed that you need to take off first.

After that opening can still be a bit tricky, but you get the hang of it after opening a few boxes, so that isn't a problem either.

Sadly, I managed to scratch my red eyeshadow being clumsy trying to open it :(.

Pro's:

*lot of colours available

*cheap (€2,49 each)

*available at all Etos stores (except the ones at train statins)

*enough pigment (especially when used on an eye shadow base)

*the eye shadow feels soft

*doesn't break when you drop the pan on the ground (I did!)

Cons:

*crumbles a bit when you sweep your brush over it

*if you like extremely bright results, these shadows probably aren't pigmented enough

*the pans are a bit tricky to open at first

*MNY is a part of Maybelline which tests on animals!!!

I would rate these 7,5 stars, because they are good and cheap, but not amazing, and because Maybelline tests on animals.

Would I buy this again: Yes!!!

Have you tried any of these MNY shadows?

And do you like them?

Until next time,

Freya

MNY: Lip Gloss Review and Swatches

Last week, MNY finally started selling their make-up in the Netherlands.

It's only available at Etos stores (all stores except for the ones at train/bus stations).

MNY has a great collection of make-up items, all with a maxium price of €3 :D which is great.

At the display, the products aren't sorted by product, but by different colour lines (I think there are like 6 or 7 different lines).

This means that at each colour line the products are sorted by product.

For example: at the pink product line you find blushes grouped together, lip glosses grouped together, eye shadows grouped together, nail polishes grouped together, etc.

MNY has a lot of natural colours but also a lot of brights, in short: something for everyone!

Also they have a Limited Edition collection every 2 months.

I bought a lot of MNY products (because each 2nd product was half price!).

So I got a lot to swatch and to review :D.

This post will only be about the lip glosses.

I'll blog about the eye shadows, blushes and nail polishes later!

I bought 3 lip glosses (from left to right):

*365 (a peachy/coral like coulour with golden shimmer)

*377 (a raspberry red/pink coulour with silver shimmer and glitter in it)

*581 (a dark, plummy pruple with silver, blue and purple shimmer in it)

As you can see, MNY products don't have any cute names (like the Catrice products have), they only have numbers.

I would have liked names + numbers better because names are easy to remember and numbers are more difficult to remember.

MNY probably has a good reason to only use numbers though.

The lip glosses with flash:

And without flash:

You can really see the shimmer on the photo's.

Like I said, the peach one has golden shimmer, that looks really good on the lips.

The red one is red in the tube, but raspberry on the lips and has silver shimmer and glitter in it (though the glitter is really subtle).

As you can see on the pic, the purple is the most shimmery of these 3 glosses.

It has silver, blue and purple shimmer in it and is gorgeous on the lips.

I swacthed the lip glosses on the back of my hand first:

With flash, from left to right: 581, 377, 365.

Without flash: 581, 377, 365.

In real life the colours are darker than on the pics.

They are also more shimmery.

Now, onto the swatches on the lips:

*365 (the peachy one)

Sadly, the pics don't show the golden shimmer very well (since I made the pics with my MacBook instead of my camera), so in real life it's a lot more shimmery and the colour is also more golden and less ordinary.

The coverage of this lip gloss is great and it doesn't get into the lines of your lips.

*377 (the red raspberry one)

As you can see, it is more of a raspberry colour than a red.

However in real life, it's darker, brighter and more raspberry than on the pic.

You can see a little silver shimmer and glitter when it's on the lips but it's very subtle.

It doesn't show on the pic though.

The coverage of this lip gloss isn't as great as the other two.

Therefore it's probably better to wear on top of a lip stick or lip liner than on it's own.

This one doesn't get into the lines of your lips either.

*581 (the plummy, purple one)

It's a very vibrant an shimmery purple.

The shimmer doesn't show very well, but when wearing it it really shows!

It's a bit darker than on the pics and a but more purple.

Just like the other two, this lip gloss doesn't get into the lines of your lips.

These lip glosses aren't sticky, or balmy or barely there.

Nevertheless they stay on longer than lip glosses by Catrice, without being sticky.

Also they smell fruity.

A few bloggers have described the scent as chemical, but I actually love it.

It's probably best to smell the lip gloss in store before you buy it.

The lip glosses were €2,49, I think, which I think is a bargain, especially for the quality and the great colours.

I would rate these lip glosses 9 stars and I would definitely buy these again.

Have you tried any of the new lip glosses by MNY, or are you going to?

Until next time,

Freya

Swatch: Flashing Yellow Nail Polish (Max)

Yesterday I swatched this neon nail polish by Max.

With Flash:

Without Flash:

It's called Flashing Yellow and I bought it in a set of 6 nail polishes for €1,39 at the Action.

Flashing Yellow is a weird lemon yellow shimmer that is very streaky and has very bad coverage.

I applied 2 layers of Flashing Yellow, with a base coat underneath and a top coat over it (both Catrice) and the coverage was bad.

The colour does not suit me (though it turned out to be less ugly than expected) and makes me feel gross.

*I give Flashing Yellow only 2 stars, because it's streaky hell, it has bad coverage and the colour is weird.*

What do you think of this nail polish?

Would you wear it or bin it?

Until next time,

Freya