makeup product reviews

Queue for testing: Clarins eyeshadow singles

foundation

Clarins Skin Velvet Illusion
This is literally first foundation I didn't hate feel of on my skin. I always avoided wearing it mostly due to my never ending acne (luckily it's close to be over now) and I literally I could go mad wearing cheaper, usually drugstore foundation which felt so off on my face. I'm allergic to certain ingridients so it's hit and miss with cheaper cosmetics, though I don't mind buying something more expensive that won't make me scratch my face obsessively. I initially wanted a foundation from Clinique but no shade could ever match me, everything was so pink or orange!! Instead I got recommended one from Clarins and it had my exact shade, though it was one with less coverage that would be annoying in long run as it isn't mattyfying and I have combination skin with good chunk of it being oily. So then I finally tried this one I bought and I managed to get a sample of it as I had to try it at home.

It literally was unnoticeable on my skin when applied, I didn't notice much of color change during the day and you don't need to cake your face with it for good coverage. Thin layer is good enough, it has more liquid consistency which lays down well and you can evenly spread it so easily that me, a makeup noob, didn't fuck it up. It kept my forehead and nose matte for an entire day.

It's on more pricier end but it isn't that expensive, I got mine on sale though. But it's worth to invest in better foundation for sure, as wearing one that makes you go insane isn't fun.

Update 10/10: I still love it but maybe it's issue with my skincare or powder maybe, but I'm not sure - it doesn't really eat up excess oil by end of the day, but the wear comfort and color not oxidizing are still major benefits of it in the end. Rating: highly recommended

Concealers, primers

Dr Irena Eris Illuminating Concealer
I got it only because concealer from Clinique I planned to buy wasn't available in the store or even on store's website in shade I needed. Shop assistant recommended this concealer for me as it was lighter one and closer to my actual skin color - I tried it on and it was good enough, though I'd like this pinkish one from Clinique as it felt lighter and concealed my blue veins on my wrists... as I wanted something to hide my dark circles. It's light, it does blend well with my foundation but I hate the applicator. It's the lipgloss type one, though it feels so cheap? It doesn't have strong coverage either, it's more illuminating and well, it makes me look more decent but it's not what I exactly wanted. I tried it also as an eyelid primer and if you spread it well it's pretty good for this use as my eyeshadow looked good for an entire day.
Rating: eeeeeehhhhh, not buying again

Setting powders

Clinique Almost Powder Makeup SPF15
Powdery powder my mom uses, also from Clinique was a nightmare to use. Shade was good, it mattified my face alright but it liked to clump despite low humidity at the home... I went myself for a pressed as I need something that will mattify my face and keep it matte for an entire day and it was a perfect choice. I like how pressed powder actually doesn't make my face look so caked on and all inperfections under the foundation layer aren't even more accented. It lasted well on my face, without re-applying during the day. The packaging feels really nice and sturdy, but sponge they include in the set is just so bad that I have to get a better one.

Update: The coverage is extremely good even without foundation and it's durable - I only had to re-apply it a bit on my nose and forehead, but it still lasted well without excessive re-application. It kept oily parts of my face matte, it covered my blemishes, spots, all of redness really well. All of this without foundation and my face didn't feel sweaty even in late summer heat.
Rating: highly recommended

blush

Clinique Blushing Blush powder blush

I didn't had a blush before because I had same exact issue like my mom, I couldn't pick a shade that could suit me. I wanted one from Inglot as I could just put it into my flexi palette though all shades were so weird and these brown-golden-rose shades I was recommended... weren't what I wanted. I needed it so badly though as I went to a wedding and I wanted to look good so I just went to local Douglas when I barely had time anymore, I had no clue what one to take so I just went for anything from Clinique. They did have testers actually! But it turned out they didn't had it so I had some ugly ass modern hype brand blush recommended and all shades were so bad, until it turned out it was in fucking sale basket... I got it and I ended up getting another lipstick I reviewed on this page too.

Packaging is nice as usual, brush in the set is pretty good actually. The color is very nice, it's highly pigmented and easy to lift up on the brush. It doesn't feel buildable for me, it's kind of something very intensive that you just blend and spread out on your face for effect I desire. I got it on sale so it was cheaper but current price is a bit expensive for me for a blush... though it's worth it, as I think it will last me a good while.
Rating: highly recommended, if you want to pay that much

lipsticks, lip glosses, lipliners

Catrice Shine Bomb Lipstick (discontinued)
I got this one as I was desperate to find a shimmery, pearl or metallic lipstick. It was harder than I thought, my other outlet for cheap makeup (Golden Rose) has only few shades left and I hated them all. Luckily I found this lipstick from Catrice and I had to visit few drugstores to find one that wasn't opened by annoying kids who wreck everything. There wasn't much of choice (later on I found it it's being discontinued, unfortunately) so I went for light nude shade.

It's not really that opaque and shimmer isn't really strong, it gives very subtle effect on the lips. It's more harder, not that soft so I usually applied more. Unfortunately it had a tendency to dry out my lips badly, even mixed with different lipstick I had. Even if it was still available I wouldn't buy it again, but it was at least cheap and most importantly, sparkly! I can't believe that zoomers didn't revive these yet, I don't know why actual early 00s didn't come back properly yet given everything comes back.
Rating: not bad

Inglot Lipstick NF
There's one thing about Inglot that I love is that they don't really discontinue certain colors or shades for ages. I remember getting a 3 color eyeshadow pans around 7 years ago, they still have them in the offer today. So while ago I went into their store with hope of finding another shimmery lipstick and I wasn't wrong in assuming that they might have some still the offer. I truly hate matte lipsticks, especially liquid ones and they make lips look dry, velvet are weird and satin ones aren't really what I want. My taste is annoying to have sometimes.

I had a bit of issue with picking a shade because they had so many of them and I couldn't really decide on one, in the end I got a shade best described as... brownish mauve with hint of deep pink? It compliments my natural lip shade well but it's a bit too dark for daily wear for my taste (I want to get lighter one in similar vein). It's really creamy and soft lipstick, it lays down beautifully and doesn't feel weird. My lips weren't dried by it. It last pretty well, even more with lipliner. Price is adequate to quality and it's very mid-range price for me for a nice quality product.
Update, 10/10: although I meant to add it while ago, it's such great lipstick to wear without much of priming, especially if applied just on lipliner. It holds up well, both satin and shimmer shades, doesn't roll and leave much of residue in more "inner" part of lip and it is barely noticeable after a while.
Rating: Highly recommended

Clinique Lip Pop Colour + Primer

It's probably first lipstick I did actually like that much. After a while I stop feeling it on my lips and it's durable. I did re-apply it few times but color held well on my lipliner (I'm considering getting matching one from Clinique too, but one of liners from Inglot I had matched it well luckily). It's really pleasant on the lips, color looks great and if you get one with shimmer it's even better.

Packaging is beautiful and classy, though it's a bit small for a lipstick (for me). Seems it's getting discontinued so I'm gonna just go to other city to get one or two more for future, as I'm feeling I'm gonna wear it a lot. My current color is 02 Bare Pop which felt nicer than Nude Pop I almost got... I consider trying other colors but after seeing swatches I might stick to nudes only if I'll get my hands on them. It's a bit expensive but honestly it's worth it.
Update 10/10: depending on how you prepare your lips it's either annoying or it "rolls" and leaves ugly pileup in inner lip when I used it just with lipliner (maybe it's because too matte inglot lipliner I use? although I don't want to shell 100+ of [my currency, 1 [currency] = 1/4 USD] for same brand lipliner... I wish I didn't got it in plum. If you use the old beauty magazine method, so foundation > powder > lipliner > lipstick 1st layer > take off some with napkin (y'know what I mean) > 2nd layer. It was so nice in this exact way, actually. Didn't have to reapply it that much even after eating/drinking a lot. Still, knocking it down to recommended - if you can still find it as seems it became discontinued. Either that, I'll try the new Lip Pop formulation (long wear) and I'll compare it to old one when I'll finish it. Rating: reccomended

Inglot Soft Precision Lipliner
I didn't have getting one in my plans, but it was suggested to me at the store. They became somewhat trendy recently, though I feel like it should be a staple if you do wear a classic, typical lipstick. It evens out the contour of the lips and it really does look nicer than just lipstick only.

The pencil is very soft and it's easy to spread if you want certain effects, but it requires it to be sharpened often. Wood it's made from is smooth so I believe it shouldn't make much of problem with a good sharpener. Price is mid-range.

Update: It's such a good lip liner for a good price, it lasts really well and I love it with Clinique Lip Pops as it made last it so well actually. Color range available is a bit small but for me it's enough.
Rating: highly recommended

Clinique Quickliner for lips
At regular price I wouldn't get it really, but I managed to get it at 50% off and I had to take second product to have the quad palette for really low price. Anyway, it's a really nice lipliner. You don't need to sharpen it, it isn't too soft or too hard, it blends with lipstick really well. Packaging feels a bit cheap though, but I like how 00s it is actually.
Rating: reccomended, if you want to pay that much

Eyeshadow

Inglot Freedom System eyeshadow (Matte, Pearl, AMC shine)
I personally have burning hatred of current day eyeshadow palettes which are just useless. I grew up with playing with quad or quint eyeshadow my mom had (it truly shows when she learnt to do her makeup, the classic choice of gen x women) and they did make sense, as you got a set of shades that goes well together and you can use them differently. These big, hyped palettes often can have random colors or you might like only one or few at most and not use rest at all, it's really wasteful for me to be honest. It's why I love the Freedom System as I can pick shades I like, I'll use and I will have them last for longer.

It's a very classic, buildable eyeshadow you can layer. Mattes are more opaque compared to shimmery shades, which are more delicate but still buildable enough (for my liking) but not as strong as creamy shimmer eyeshadow from them. Pans are pretty big compared to ones in usual high end drugstore or hyped palettes and price in the long run can be comparable to a good palette but it will last longer. There's loads of flexibility with cases and picking your colors, colors stay in the offer for ages so you can replace your favorites after running out without need for buying a new palette. There are both full size and 1/2 pans available in exact same range of colors, so you can get smaller pans of shades you aren't sure you'll use lot of.

Update (01/09): After while I ended up liking their shine shades more - greys/silvers are incredibly pigmented, I love white too. Generally it's a bit annoying to build a good quad/quint with shine range only - so many good colors are matte/DS (matte with some shimmer) but I managed to fill up my main neutral palette. Pearl colors are really nice, especially light ones. Mattes are annoying to work with, same for any DS color (they are good for lining and maybe being the darkest shade in the outer corner of the eye) but sparkle colors are super forgiving to work with.

Current palette: cool beige 46, 231 warm, yellow beige and gold 30, 395,07 warm brown/copper 230, 09, 43, 12, 37 cool/classic brown 154, 153, 156, 402, 42 white/grey/silver 35, 151, 36, 23, 498

Rating: highly recommended, if you like classic, buildable eyeshadow

Clinique All About Shadow quad palette (03 Morning Java)
I wanted to get it for ages. Despite my freedom system palette I want something closer and more true to how it was done back in the 90s. Most of luxury quads feel disappointing, I can't find a good grey one... Clinique one was only which seriously interested me. I was able to try it and honestly? I wish I got the green one too in Prague. It's really nicely pigmented, blends really nice and color combinations are very harmonious (quads only, rest is some mess). It isn't really powdery which is an advantage for me, it's buildable and blendable classic eyeshadow but it feels more cream-y? Not sure how to describe it.

My colorway, 03 Morning Java is a classic set of warm brown and beige. It's a shimmer set with no exception, which feels very 90s - luxury brands keep making full shimmer eyeshadow duos or quads which I adore. The lightest shade is a good base but great for lighter looks combined with copper. Both browns look really good together and with other colors. The packaging is classic and nice, clean and modern at once. It's what I love about Clinique the most that they keept their classy, more minimalist and clean packaging same for so long. My only issue is that pans are really small, though with better pigmentation I use less of it. I'll see for how long it will last.

I plan on getting the purple one, which I could test but I didn't get it yet. I wish they had a grey set available, so badly.
Rating: highly recommended, if you can get it!

Eyeliner, eye pencils, eyebrow pencils

Golden Rose Dreamy Eyes Eyeliner
Golden Rose was my to-go place for cheap nail polish mostly (in my case), though I had friends who were getting makeup from them too. I like their eye pencil, which is available in really nice, big color range and I could get fun shades like copper, turquoise or plum. It's not really expensive either. It isn't really soft pencil but soft enough, colors are vivid. They might be a bit of pain in the ass to sharpen due to shitty wood casing, I usually got around it by using a knife or freezing them for a while. Sometimes this won't help and they'll break constantly.
Rating: not that bad for the price

Catrice Kohl Kajal waterproof eye pencil
This might be first eye pencil that sharpens beautifully. It has some basic and few fun colors like burgundy, olive, lilac or turquoise. Myself I got both burgundy and lilac. It's soft, but doesn't give strong lines and you need to layer it a bit. Despite it's softness it can be sharpened into a point and you can get precise, thin lines. Price is adequate for the quality.
Rating: recommended

Clinique Quickliner for Eyes Intense (03 Intense Chocolate)
I wouldn't buy it unless it was part of a set (so it's why I got it). I don't like eye pencils that much, maybe because I'm so clumsy with it and the automatic pencil doesn't help, lead is thick and soft - it's advantage with makeup I usually do, as it's just to make eyelashes seem denser/make eye look more intense under eyeshadow, blended in well. It's super soft and it lays down great, but unfortunately it's super thick line. Still, I use it daily for my usual makeup look I wear all the time. It's Clinique so it doesn't cause allergic reaction which is a thing I care a lot as eye pencils are notrious for causing reaction around my eyes (and it's not nice).
Rating: Recommended, if you want to blow that much on eye pencil.

Clinique Quickliner for Brows
At first filling in brows and shaping them always made me think about [current] makeup trends and these super thick ugly brows that match only some women (for real) unless I took advice from old books again. My mom always told me to dye my eyebrows but I hate the look, unfortunately my eyebrows aren't even, in sense half is nice and full of hairs, the outer part is thin and more skin than hairs which I need to fill in. I tried using matte eyeshadow to fill in, I hated the look because it felt too... fake looking.
I got it because I went to local Douglas just to see what from Clinique they have on sale and they had this pencil... good that they had tester but I couldn't really pick the right shade myself, I got proper help and 03 soft brown matches perfectly, it's exact color of my hair and eyebrows. It's soft and lead is thin for automatic pencil, blends in well and after brushing with brush my eyebrows looked really, really natural and better! I like how they look usually but with makeup it looked so ridiculous. I keep true to my natural shape as it's recommended for [my makeup style]. I wish we went back to one product for eyebrows to fill in times (as it was pre 2010s).
Rating: highly recommended, if you want to pay this much

Mascara

Collistar Mascara Infinito (black)
My mom used to go use loads of makeup from Collistar before and I still fondly remember how nice to use their powder was or colored concealer (both had very classy packaging) but nowadays she only has mascara from them, which I end up using too as I didn't bought mine yet. It's decent and alright if you get it on sale, not for regular price. It's good and doesn't clump that much if it's fresh, the brush is really nice but tube had tendency to break and you can't close it properly... air and bad storage after this fact make it extremely clumpy before expiration date even. It becomes even harder to put on, so you need to be careful with the tube to not break it. Though it makes lashes look so long and nice even after putting it on the tips as I usually do... the effect is nice and not really heavy. It's available in brown and blue too.
Rating: not bad

Clinique Lash Power Mascara (01 Black Onyx)
Even after a half year since I started wearing makeup regularly, I still didn't have a mascara. I hated Collistar one my mom has (too big brush, clumpy, heavy waterproof formula) so I finally got mine. I wasn't sure what I wanted so I took it randomly, because of smaller tube (so smaller brush which I prefer) actually. I got it with set with eyeliner I reviewed earlier this page, as it was actually a good deal.
It's easy to apply, although it makes lashes stick together a bit. It's light and and easy to remove, even if you get some of it on foundation or eyeshadow. Brush is small and easier to use, especially if your hands shake because you feel you'll ruin everything. It lasted me entire day and leaves no residue/dust after drying. Washing it of is breeze, like most of Clinique's eye makeup products. You can even wash it off with water.
Rating: highly recommended, if you can get it in set especially.