Scents of Summer Agua Marina by Suddenly Fragrances

This is a fresh perfume with vegetable and citrus notes. The bottle is square and clear glass with the name of the perfume written in turquiose and a rectangular turquiose lid.

The perfume smells of lemons very, very slightly. It fades very quickly (the scent was gone after a few hours).

This is probably the shortest review on my blog, but I’m incredibly disappointed in this product. Especially given that it was a Valentine’s Day gift this year. At the time it was bought for me, there were no testers available for it instore.

I assumed it would have the same scent strength as Essence de Agaumarina, which I love. It smells similar but just wears off so quickly.

It usually costs 5.99€ but cost us 3.99€ as it was on offer.

Verdict: 2/10

Wet ‘n’ Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trio in 318B Sweet as Candy

This is the first, and only, Wet ‘n’ Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow trio I have.

There’s a shade for the browbone, a shade for the crease and a shade for the eyelid.

The browbone shade is a bright, warm white. To my eyes, it looks almost cream.

The crease shade is a medium-dark chocolate brown. Both of these have a metallic sheen.

The eyelid shade is a berry-pink which has subtle yellow undertones and a metallic sheen.

I was looking forward to this palette and thought the colours looked pigmented in the palette.

I find the browbone shade the most pigmented of all of them since it looks almost cream to my eyes. It’s beautiful.

I found the crease and eyelid shades really paled in comparison and they weren’t pigmented at all. I found the brown was barely-there with one layer of shadow and the pink, which I thought would be more of a dusky pink, was even more barely-there on my skin tone than the brown. I was so looking forward to this pink colour as I thought it would be beautiful, unique and good for romantic looks, but I feel very disappointed.

The colours blend into each other when layered on top of each other, and they were not noticeable to me at all on my eyes.

Even when each colour was used in the place indicated by the palette name, I still didn’t find them pigmented.

At the time of purchase, this cost me 2.99€ and you get 3.4 grams. The range then went on to introduce 4-pan palettes for 3.99€ which are now not available from my drugstore anymore.

The packaging is hard to open because Wet ‘n’ Wild put small sticker seals all round the edges of the palette, as they do on all their products. This is a great security measure, but it makes their products impossible for me to open.

The thing I don’t like is that the overall shade name for the palette and the product code is printed on one of the stickers (the one at the top of the palette) so once you take that off it’s gone forever unless you make a note of it (or have a good memory for product names as I do). Each shade itself does not have a name, which is another thing I don’t like.

The packaging is the same standard plastic as all their other products and feels lightweight, which makes it good for traveling or easy makeup storage in a makeup bag or drawer, but it does feel flimsy, so treat it with care.

I think the shades are good if you’re new to makeup and concerned about going bold with colour. They are good if you like barely-there looks. They are very soft. As I said, the packaging is storage/travel friendly.

Verdict: 3/10: I was expecting more from this. I wanted to get more when they were released but decided to buy just one to try the product out.

Freedom Makeup London Far Away Galaxy Lipstick Collection

In 2016, I decided to buy more lipsticks. Back then, I found a budget brand called Freedom Makeup London . At the time, it was Makeup Revolution’s (the first name that what is now Revolution Beauty was known by) “sister brand.”

The lipsticks are based on Star Wars.

The Sith: black metallic finish.
Far Away: bluish purple metallic finish.
Sky-Walker: silver metallic finish.
Space Luxe: golden metallic finish.
Storm-Trooper: white with matte finish.

I have reviewed Space Luxe here and compared it with L’Oreal Color Riche Gold Obsession Lipstick in Pure Gold.

The Gold Lipstick Comparison: L'Oreal Color Riche Gold Obsession Lipstick in Pure Gold vs Freedom Makeup London Lipstick in Space Luxe

Space Luxe is a medium-toned dark gold and is more understated than L’Oreal’s Pure Gold, which is just amazing, and so beautiful. It lives up to it’s name. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull off a gold lipstick look, but I can and I’m so happy. It’s nice for a summer look with copper eyeshadow and white eyeliner (for example, Kiko’s Water Eyeshadow in 234 (Copper) 0r 235 (Bronze) and MUA’s eyeliner pencil in Snow White) or a statement glamorous look (for example with dark grey eyeshadow, like Maybelline’s Color Tattoo eyeshadow in Charcoal).

I like Far Away, as it’s such a unique colour. I don’t have anything else like it.

Sky Walker and Far Away, to me, seem the most unique shades in the collection.

Of all the lipsticks in the Far Away Galaxy lipstick collection, the one I’d be least likely to use on its own is Storm Troper. I use it as a lipstick base instead.

All the lipsticks are really creamy and the colours are unique.

I would love a lipstick collection based on Star Trek The Next Generation, Star Trek Voyager Star Trek Deep Space 9 or Star Trek Discovery.

Guylond Blue Smokey Eyeshadow Palette (Trial Size Sample)

I have had this for years and got it as a freebie sample from my nearest Sephora store. The trial-size palette has three eyeshadows. The palette doesn’t have shade names or another name other than Guylond Smokey Eyeshadow.

I have the blue eyeshadow trio, which contains a baby blue eyeshadow, a mid-toned blue and a navy blue. This was the only shadow palette available at the time I was given it.

The baby blue is barely there. The mid-toned blue is not a color I like much.

My favourite is the navy blue, since it shows up well on my eyelids. I only wear navy blue shadows if I wear blue and I don’t like mid-tone, or pastel, blues.

It has standard pigmentation and is even a little patch on the first swipe. All the shadows are but they can be built up.

They are very soft and apply well.

The palette contains a small applicator which is too small for me. The palette is tiny and very light, but the eyeshadow pans are surprisingly large for such a small sample palette.

Since this is a trial size sample and I’ve had it so long, I’m not sure how much a full size palette costs, or if the full size palette is even available.

Verdict: 5/10 because of the navy blue eyeshadow. The packaging is flimsy but I like how the lid slides open.

I Heart Makeup Surprise Egg Easter Egg Eyeshadow Palettes

I bought these last March while buying other things online at the drugstore.

The Surprise Eggs are eyeshadow palettes with two highlighters and five coordinated eyeshadows. I have Dragon (red egg) and Unicorn (lilac egg).

There are also Angel (pale pink egg with a white highlighter, a pink highlighter pale grey eyeshadow, a brown eyeshadow a copper eyeshadow a peach shadow and a pale pink eyeshadow.

Mermaid (turquoise egg with dark blue, electric blue, turquise, copper and a jade green shade) There are also Gold and Rose Gold eggs which I really wanted. The gold palette had a true gold colour highlighter and a rose gold one with a mix of deep and lighter brown shadows as well as some mid-toned nude shadows. They have been out of stock for a long time at my drugstore.

The latest edition is Candy, a matte pale lilac egg with a gold highlighter and a dusky pink one. The shadows are: pale pink shadow, fuscia shadow a bright purple, a dark purple and a taupe shade.

Dragon Egg:

The packaging in the shape of a metallic red egg. The shades don’t have names and this palette has a mixture of reds, browns and deep bronzes. There’s a light gold highlighter and a light bronze one.

The shadows are dark red, a bronze a copper, a brighter red and another red-brown.

The shadows have mixed pigment and I like the colours. The only problem is that one of the highlighters was broken when it arrived. To save the trouble of returning the product, my husband tipped the product into a small pot I had. It’s still useable. I was disappointed as this is so far the only product I have ever bought that has arrived broken.

I love these colours, and bought this egg because of the colour scheme, but also because of the metallic red egg that looked pretty.

Verdict: 6/10

Unicorn Egg.

This is a lilac egg and the packaging has a pretty very slight metallic shine. The colours are varying shades of lilac, from a very pale shade to a dark shade and there’s a blue that seems almost electric blue. I don’t like this blue as it doesn’t fit with the rest of the palette. I would have liked a very deep plum shade to complement all the lighter and mid-toned lilacs. The highlighters are lilac and cream.

I can’t blend shadows, but the lilacs all merge into each other, and when they are all used together (even with the blue-lilac) you get a mid-toned lilac which is pretty, but is the kind of colour seen everywhere.

Verdict: 4/10

Each egg cost me 3.25€, but some occasionally went down in price to 2.99€. Right now, every one except Candy is 2.99€ and Candy costs 4.99€ (usual price 5.99€). The usual price for the others is 6.50€. Now I’ve tried them, and even if I had not have tried them, I wouldn’t pay full price for them.

The shadows are very soft and the packaging is very cute. They are good gifts and would be good for travel. I do find the eyeshadow compact packaging hard to open and all the eggs come in an individual plastic box, which I have kept to store each egg safely. They are well presented.

Overall, I prefer the Dragon egg to the Unicorn egg, as Dragon has better colours and pigment and the colours are much more wearable for me. I would have wanted one or two of the shades in Unicorn to have been darker, like a plum shade and a very dark purple. This packaging is noticeably more metallic than the Unicorn one, and that makes me like it even more.

The shadows do stain the palette if they fall into the space between each of the small egg shaped eyeshadow pans, but these stains come off well with an eye makeup remover. The shadows are in the top part of the egg. The two highlighters are in the bottom part of the egg, and their pans are in the shape of a split egg, as if it has just been opened. I think the packaging is imaginative.

I still have one of Revolution Beauty’s older palettes, Mermaids vs Unicorns, and the purples in there are much more pigmented and a mix of mid-toned and darker shades.

Cien Lifting and Firming Tissue Mask

This is the second tissue mask by Cien by Lidl that I have bought aside from their hyaluronic mask which I reviewed a few years ago. There are two other masks in the range.

Here’s more information about the Lifting and Firming Mask:

TENSION VEIL FACIAL FIRMING

The mask accelerates restoration processes of the facial tissues. increasing muscle tone and avoiding skin ageing. It contains anmiotic liquid (active ingredient for tension). Centella asiática: vegetable extract which stimulates cell growth and combats skin flaccidity and hanging.

Ivy extract: Vegetable extract which has decongesting properties and helps to regulate circulation.

Collagen: Gives skin resistence and helps maintain a firm structure.

Elastane: Gives skin elasticity and tone.

How to Use: Spread over skin and leave for ten minutes.

Ingredients

AQUA WATER GLYCERIN PROPYLENE GLYCOL. PEG-40 HYDROGENATED CASTOR OIL, AMNIOTIC FLUID, CHLOROPHENESIN, HEDRERA, HELIX LEAF EXTRACT, CENTELLA ASIATICA EXTRACT, HYDROLYZED COLLAGEN, TRIETHANOLAMINE, HYDROLYZED ELASTIN, DIPOTASSIUM EDTA, CITRIC ACID, POTASSUIM SORBATE, DIAZOLIDINYL UREA, SODIUM BENZOATE, PHENOXYETHANOL, IODOPROPYNYL, BUTTYLCARBAMATE

My Review:

I felt the mask was well soaked in liquid and in fact it did drip a little while it was on my face. My recommendation is always to use an apron or other way of covering your clothes to protect them when using it. Leave it on for ten minutes. Being a tissue mask, it won’t dry on your skin and it’s made of a soft material with holes for your eyes, mouth and nose.

The mask cost 1.99€ originally, which I thought was a little expensive, but when I bought it, it was a product I had never tried before. I actually paid 1.49€ as it was on special offer. I don’t like how sticky it feels and I have tried better tissue masks (like Garnier’s and they cost the same as this when full price).

Verdict: 4/10

I don’t think I’ll buy this again. While the amount of product is good (20 grams), I wasn’t really sure what the product did for my skin.

Cien Long Lasting Eyeshadow Pencils in Bronze Shine and Anthracite Black

Back in December last year, I bought two long lasting eyeshadow pencils from Cien (Lidl). I’ve now tried them both so can share my thoughts with you.

Bronze shine is a light/mid-toned bronze shade and I thought I’d like it more than I do. It’s shiny, but I preferred the original eyeshadow pencil in the same shade, as it was a darker bronze. I think this bronze is good for a very natural look.

Anthracite Black is absolutely stunning! It’s a very weareable, dark and smoky and is the one I like the most of the two.

I love how creamy they are and think they’ll be great for year-round use. I find cream eyeshadows better than powder for the summer so know I’ll find use for them now spring and summer are coming.

They both come in black packaging with white letters and are very compact and convenient to store in a makeup bag. 2,79€ is a good price and I will definitely buy Anthracite Black again.

The original eyeshadow pencils were very good, and I’m glad they have made a longlasting formula.

Sunday with a Sassy Shopaholic: New Lipglosses

Having said in my last Sunday with a Sassy Shopaholic post that I had enough lip products, I couldn’t resist buying some more. I bought two new lipglosses from the Cien makeup range by Lidl. There were many shades but I decided on shade 12, Sugar Plum, a dusky pink with silver glitter, and shade 15 Sweet Toffee, a mid-brown shade. They cost 2.49€ each.

Cien Micellar Water for Dry and Sensitive Skin

I’ve used this product a few times now, and so am ready to review it. It is one of the products I bought in my latest Sunday with a Sassy Shopaholic post.

I bought Lidl’s toner for sensitive skin a lot in the past, and liked it. The packaging for the micellar water is exactly the same: a plastic bottle with a secure flip up lid, which is also plastic.

The formula has bamboo and glycerine and the product has a very slight scent which is pleasantly sweet and it smell less than the dry and sensitive skin toner in the same product range. This still smelled nice.

Bamboo extract is a natural extract derived from the stem and leaves of the bamboo plant. It is cold-pressed to get the concentrated substance. It contains flavones, glycosides, phenolic acids, and amino acids.

Therefore, it has antioxidant, skin-soothing, and astringent properties to cosmetics.

Bamboo extract has natural antioxidants that help protect skin from free radicals and UV-induced damage. It is an anti-irritant, so good for people with sensitive skin.

It soothes and calms dry skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema. It is antibacterial and reduces skin inflammation, irritation and breakouts.

Glycerine (glycerol or glycerin) colorless, odorless and syrupy liquid with a sweet flavor.

Glycerine is found in moisturizing skin care products and soaps. lotions and soaps and is humectant. This means it is a substance that pulls water from the second layer of the skin and brings it to the top layer of the skin. In high humidity areas, humectants draw moisture from the air. Glycerine hydrates skin, helps you shed dead skin cells and gives your skin a healthy glow.

Cleansers: Glycerin doesn’t add oil to the skin or clog pores, making it an excellent cleanser for people with acne-prone skin. It gets rid of dirt and does not dry the skin.

Toners: Toners with glycerine refresh the skin without making it itchy or greasy.

Sunscreens: they are made more spreadable and moisturize well because of glycerine. It is also used in moisturizers, face masks and soaps for this reason.

Top benefits are that it keeps skin young, reduces premature aging and acne. It’s a safe substance. It’s gentle, heals skin and moisturizes. It protects skin and preserves other substances.

Here’s what I thought of the micellar water:

It took two cotton wool pads (both sides) to remove the makeup, and the product left a sticky residue which I really didn’t like.

I bought this on offer for 99 euro cents and has 250ml of product. I would not have paid more for it. I think it’s good if you’re on a budget and have never tried a micellar water before, but even in that case I can think of a better one which is also better value for money, Byphasse’s Micellar Solution which has 500ml of product for 2.99€. This product is not sticky and removes makeup well. It does take a little while to remove waterproof or long-lasting makeup (such as a dark red liquid lipstick which can stain the lips) but you don’t waste as many cotton wool pads as you do with Lidl’s micellar water.

Going back to Lidl’s micellar water, I’m a person who likes to use glitter and long-lasting makeup as well as lots of mascara (waterproof and normal formula). I also think this won’t be of use on waterproof makeup because it’s not that powerful a product but does clean the skin and remove makeup, dirt and grime. I was unconvinced of how deep a clean I was getting though and was very put off by the stickiness of the product.

The product comes out of a pump dispenser which you have to push down. My dexterity, coordination and hand strength issues make this a difficult system to use and it needs to be pushed three times at least to fill a cotton wool pad and be enough to use on the face or eyes. So, if you use it on both face and eyes, you will end up pumping product out a minimum of 6 times and use at least 3 or 4 cotton wool pads (two for face and two for eyes).

The stickiness of the product did not make my face feel clean and I combined it with my usual cleanser and toner.

Beauty Pro Tip:

If you do just want to use this micellar water but want to get rid of the sticky feeling, then just use your regular toner afterwards and your skin won’t be sticky anymore.

It didn’t irritate my skin at all and I didn’t find it particularly nutritive. I won’t buy it again.

Verdict: 4/10

Used Products and Life Update:February

My used products this month are:

Barry M Apple Lip Scrub. This has a great apple scent and I have reviewed it here: https://justkatherineblog.wordpress.com/2021/03/20/barry-m-apple-lip-scrub/

Cien Care Multi Oil Lip Balm. I love this lip balm and have reviewed it here: https://justkatherineblog.wordpress.com/2021/03/21/review-cien-care-multi-oil-lip-balm/

This month, I haven’t reviewed many books. A good one was The Shoe Diaries by Darby Baham:

The Shoe Diaries by Darby Baham @darbybaham @Harlequinbooks

With it being February, some of my posts had a love theme:

The Wedding Dress by Dani Atkins:

The Wedding Dress by Dani Atkins @AtkinsDani @Aria_Fiction

We celebrated 2 years 10 months of marriage and I was given a perfume, Stylish Girl by Suddenly (Lid), a dupe of Good Girl by Carolina Herrera.

2 Years and 10 Months of Marriage: and a New Perfume

This year, there were more posts on my blog related to Valentine’s Day than other years.

I decided to do a special Sunday with a Sassy Shopaholic post with my Valentine’s Day gifts.

Sunday with a Sassy Shopaholic: ❤️Valentine’s Day Edition (Perfumes and Chocolate)❤️

I came across a fun challenge when Boldwood Books emailed me to invite me to take part in their Romance Trope Bingo. I had a great time choosing books and sharing them on my social networks (Instagram @purplestar81 and Twitter @theglitzqueen)

Here’s my post for that:

Boldwood Romance Tropes Bingo #BoldBookClub

As always, I did a Valentine’s Day post:

Valentine’s Day 2022 Plus a Review of my Chocolates

February has been an interesting month and I’m looking forward to finding out what March will bring.