Comparison: Essence Crystalliced Highlighter and Benefit Highbeam

Hi guys!
Today I have a little comparison for you guys!
Here *click* I already talked about Essence's new LE, called Crystalliced. I bought the Liquid Highlighter, and I only have one other highlighter that could be a little similar: Benefit HighBeam. I was curious to see how they compare and thought you might be interested, too! Let's get this comparison started!

As you can see in this first picture, in the bottle they don't look that much alike. Benefit's HighBeam looks a lot pinker, whereas the Essence one is way more silvery.
They're also both different to apply, because the Essence one has a pump and the Benefit one a little brush. But that's not what I want to concentrate on, the packaging is not the most important stuff, right?!

When you get a little bit out of the tubes, they already look a lot more similar! I think the Benefit one loses a bit of the pink tone, I don't really know ;) But it's still a tad pinker than the Essence one.

When you blend it even more, you can see that they get even more similar ;) The shimmer in the Benefit highlighter is a bit finer, a bit evener and smaller, but you can only tell that when you look very close. They're not completely the same, as I said, HighBeam is pinker. But not a lot!
Concerning the consistency: they're quite similar here again, I find that the Essence highlighter is just a tad stickier.

Maybe this helps some of you out! The Essence Crystalliced highlighter and Benefit HighBeam are not exact dupes, but maybe it's enough for some of you! Essence's highlighter is clearly way less expensive, so it's a nice alternative if you don't have to have a 100% dupe.
A detailed review of the highlighter will follow :)
xoxo, Misch

Catrice Permanent Line Change #3 + Dupes

Hiya!
Yeah, my 3rd post about the new Catrice permanent line. I finally got the last few things I "needed", and they are all dupes for more expensive things!
First of, luckily it was back in stock, the nail polish in Captain Sparrow's Boat. It's supposed to be a dupe for Chanel's Black Pearl, and that would also make sense with the name, since Captain Sparrow's Boat is the Black Pearl ;) I love that! I don't own the Chanel polish, but just google it and you'll find comparisons.
It needed 2 coats, and it's a little brush-strokey, since it's a frost. It has a black silverish color with a green hint, very cool-toned.

The other things I got are 2 eyeshadows. They're both supposed to be dupes for MAC eyeshadows. The first color is called 400 My First Copperware Party, and it's supposed to be a dupe for MAC's Satin Taupe. The other color is called 410 C'mon Chameleon!, and it's said to be a dupe for MAC's Club. Here *click* you can find an excellent comparison by FashionFee, on which you can see that they're almost dead-on dupes.
My First Copperware Party is a brown copper shade with a silverish shimmer, and C'mon Chameleon is a brown with a green shimmer, almost a duo-chrome. The consistency is nice and soft, like most Catrice eyeshadows.

Apparently there are even some more dupes among the eyeshadows, but these are the ones I got for now.
Will you be getting any of these?
Until then,
xoxo, Misch

So cool: Rival de Loop Aqua Face Powder

Hey everyone!
Yesterday I went to my local Rossmann and there found a new Limited Edition by Rival de Loop. It's summer-themed, but I couldn't find a name. In the counter there was one product that look kinda fun, and I already had some hopes about it, when I tried it out with the tester. And it really is what I hoped it would be!
Do you know that new powder by MAC, that came out this spring? The Magically Cool Liquid Powder? I'm sure some of you have heard about it. And the Aqua Face Powder by RdL is basically the same thing! I can't compare them, because I don't own the MAC one, but I think the concept's the same!

What it is? A powder that when you apply it feels cool and liquid like water! Hard to believe, but it's so so cool! It really does work, and that's so awesome! I love that sensation, and I highly recommend you try it out at your Rossmann! It contains the huge amount of 15g, costs 3,49 Euros, and it has a really light pink color with golden shimmer particles that make it the perfect highlighter.

Right now, I'm really in love! But I only got it yesterday so I can't say a lot yet. But I'll try it out and there'll be a review up soon!
I have no idea why this is so surprising to me, because now that I googled it I found a ton of reviews on it...Oh, well, I guess an extra one can't be bad ;)
Did anyone get it, too? Or do you maybe own the MAC version?
I'll talk to you later!
xoxo, Misch

Review: Catrice Out Of Space LE nail polish in C01 My Milkyway

Hey guys!
From the Out Of Space LE from Catrice I got one polish, called C01 My Milkyway, that is actually a "color changing top coat". I barely do nail polish reviews, but with this one it's possible, since it's a topper.

The color is a milky shade with blue fine shimmer, that adds like a duo-chrome to the nails. The brush is the normal Catrice one, rather short, a little thicker and it fans out easily. The formula of the polish is nice, it's not too thin or thick. When you apply the topper on it's own, you can barely see anything, only a slight blue shimmer when you move your nails in the sunlight. Applied over a darker polish, it adds an interesting blue hue to it. 

OPI We'll Always Have Paris SUEDE: left on its own, right with the topper

p2 Eternal: left on its own, right with the topper

Essence Stamp Me White!: left on its own, right with the topper

China Glaze Outta Bounds: left on its own, right with the topper

bare nail: left on its own, right with the topper

But there's one problem I personally have: When I put this polish over another on the nail wheel, it looks all pretty and nice and even, but when I add it to my real nails, it's not so pretty anymore. Then the shimmer is not even, the milkiness is stronger in one place that it is in the other, and it's just not as stunning :/ That's why I don't really like to wear it!

with the other polishes from that LE *click*

Essence has a similar polish in their range, the Nail Art Special Effect Topper in 05 Time for Reflection. It don't know whether they are exact dupes, since I don't own the Essence one, but in the bottle and on online swatches they look kinda similar.
So if you somehow can't get your hands on this, because it's limited edition, you can still try out the Essence permanent version. Maybe that one's easier to apply, too.
Does anyone have the same problem with the evenness on the real nails? Or is it just my natural nails?
I hope you liked the review!
Until next time,
xoxo, Misch

Review: Essence Ballerina Backstage LE Eye Soufflé in 02 Pas Des Copper

Hi there!
Today I finally have the review about the Essence Ballerina Backstage LE Eye Soufflé in 02 Pas Des Copper for you, because many of you wanted to see it! Here you go:

Information:

• part of the Ballerina Backstage LE
• costs 2,25 Euros for 2.8 g
• is a cream eyeshadow in a pot
• has a shimmery metallic copper color

Positives:

• price
• texture: really light, you only need a tiny bit, and it's smooth, no scratchy glitter particles
• easy to apply and blend out
• a nice base color to use underneath some other colors
• really pretty on its own
• doesn't smear 

Negatives:

• when worn alone, the color fades during the day, sometimes there's only shimmer left
• when doing school sports, this creased on me, even though I was wearing an eyeshadow primer!
• the gorgeous shimmer doesn't pay off that much on the eye

slightly applied with fingers; pic taken after about 5 hours of wear 

So you can see, it's a nice product, but not too great. To me the bad wear is a huge minus to this product, because what do I want with a pretty product if it doesn't stay? I don't really recommend it to people with oily lids, because I have normal ones, and it creased on me during sports, although I had an eyeshadow base on!

And there's something else I find: the color's pretty similar to 070 Mr. Copper's Fields by Catrice. 

If you want to get the gorgeous color but want to leave out the bad wear, get the pressed eyeshadow by Catrice! I think it's a tad lighter, with a little more shimmer and a little more rosy-toned in direct comparison. But that are only slight differences, and I think we could talk about a close dupe here, but only for the color. The Catrice one is no cream eyeshadow!

So, you have to decide for yourself whether you want this. I don't totally recommend it, but it's still okay.

What do you think? Will you get it?

I'll see you later!

xoxo, Misch

Spotted: Essence You Rock! LE: Nail Polish 02 Love, Peace and Purple

Hey there!
Seems like my local drugstore just basically decided to skip Essence's April LE, the Blossoms etc. one, and just went over to the May one, called You Rock. When I saw the online pics of this LE here *click* at Pinkmelon.de, I didn't really think it was something so exciting, and it wasn't in real life better either. The things are nice, and some people might like some stuff, but after all...nothing too extraordinary, especially not for a beauty-addict who isn't surprised too easily :D
But there was one thing a little interesting: the polish that was already thought as the Chanel Paradoxal dupe. Well, even though I'm not a big fan of all of this hype, I got the polish that could be the dupe. I actually liked the color! It's not too typical for spring, but still...I immediately picked this out at the store, and only after looking at it for a while, I was like "That looks like it's Chanel Paradoxal!" :D So I didn't buy it because it could be a dupe after all. I have to say, I've looked at Paradoxal in stores for several times, and it looks A LOT like the Essence polish. And guess what, it really appears to be a dupe! *Click* here for the comparison at FragDieGurus. They look really alike!
And you can even take the cap off the Essence polish, just like you can do with the Chanel ones :D
So that's to say about the dupe thing :D

I already swatched it on my nail wheel, of course :D I wasn't painting too carefully, and what you can see on the pics is 3 extremely thin coats. 2 medium coats would've done the job :P What it looked like today, on a day without a lot of sun, is that the purple shimmer kinda vanishes a little once applied. I really hope that was just the lighting! I'd love to apply it, but right now I'm giving my nails a break, because I'm doing a two-week internship at a translator office, and can't wear nail polish there...But in two weeks you'll see hand swatches for sure :)

The bottle of this polish is little and rather square-shaped, and the brush is really short and thin! The texture of the polish is very liquid and runny. I compared the brush to a few others, as you can see on the pics :D It's way thinner and shorter than OPI brushes, as thick as but shorter than China Glaze brushes, and has about the same length as Essie brushes, but the handle's way longer with Essie brushes. It's really the handle that makes it so small :P The bottle shape reminds me a lot of RdL polishes, but the brushes are way different. RdL brushes are so much wider!

I might go back and have another look at the LE, it was nice :D The palette would've been nice for me too, but I decided not to pick it up because there were no testers, and Essence eyeshadows tend to be not too pigmented. Let me tell you, the lip stains looked so tiny, they could've almost been eyeliner pens! Oh, well...xD

Did anyone spot this LE yet? Are you gonna get something?? And will you get the Chanel dupe, even though the hype about this polish's been gone for a while?
I'll see you later!
xoxo, Misch

New Nail Polishes!! YAY! :)

Hey everyone,

today I have a haul to show you :) 

As some of you might know, I totally love the nautical sailor style, and when China Glaze released a complete collection with that theme, I just had to get some colors :)
The China Glaze "Anchors Away" Collection is their Spring 2011 one and available on Transdesign.com since January 12th. I immediately ordered on January 12th and the polishes arrived today, on January 22nd! I'm amazed, it took only 10 days, it's never been so fast! YAY! :)
I really like the collection by China Glaze, not only for the theme, but also because it's one of the few spring collections that aren't only pastel colors. We've had that long enough now, so a nice change is good :)

I was tempted to order the whole collection, but that was a little too much ;) So I made it down to 6 polishes:
- Sea Spray:

top: China Glaze - Sea Spray
underneath: p2 - being in heaven

A pale blue with a very slight shimmer, almost not noticeable. It's definitely not a pastel, it has a very slight grey tint to it that makes it look a little bit muddy - in my opinion it looks a little like rain :) I compared it to p2 being in heaven, so you can see how grey and muddy it looks next to a real pastel. It's also not similar to For Audey by China Glaze, this one is way greeneer and torqouise. I don't have a color like it! It's opaque with two coats, really nice creamy formula.
- First Mate


A very true navy blue creme. Also perfectly opaque with 2 coats, if you paint very thick and careful, one'll be enough. It's very similar to 77T by Manhattan for the Spice Up Your Nails collection. I wouldn't say they're totally dupes, the one  by Manhattan is slightly darker.
- Life Preserver


A poppy orange creme. It's very muted, definitely not neon or anything. I wouldn't say it's totally unique, but I don't own a color like it. It's opaque with 2 coats as well.
- Hey Sailor!


A bright sailor, pin-up kinda red. Creamy and perfectly opaque with 2 coats. I mainly got this one because of the name, so cute :) It's not that unique, there are a lot of bright reds out there, but I like this one a lot. It's very shiny, too :)
- Knotty


A nude color with a glitter/foil finish, maybe even glass-flecked. Really pretty, especially in the sunlight when it shines and glitters. It's not boring at all, what nudes can be easily, a nude eyecatcher :) For this one I needed 3 coats, but if you paint very carefully, 2 will do the job :)

comparison between sunset sail (left) and knoty (right)

- Sunset Sail


A nude peach color with a light shimmer that is definitely noticeable. It's opaque with 2 coats, as most of the others. I like it a lot, a basic color that is still kinda different.

I also got two OPI colors:
- Suzi Says Feng Shui


A cobalt blue that was in last year's Spring collection, the Hong Kong one. Creamy and opaque with 2 coats, really pretty :) I didn't own a color like it yet :)
- Java Mauve-A

 

it's way to pale in this pic :P

A nude with a lot of mauve in it. It looks pink with some brown in it, or like a very dirty reddish pink. I would say it's  a rosewood color, actually. My camera wasn't really able to pick up the color in it's true way, it made it a lot cooler and pinker. The color is in real life very warm and creamy, it's almost a one-coater, I just had to do 2 coats because I didn't paint evenly.

I love all of the colors a lot :) Do you own any of them? What do you think of them, do you like'em?!
xoxo,
Misch