Preview: Alverde - African Soul LE

Hello everyone! I've been absent for some time now and I'm coming back with a new ost, this time I'm going to show you the new Alverde limited edition, called African soul :) Let yourself be carried away by the warm earth tones and bright colors and look like kissed by the sun. :) This one will be available from August to September 2013 :)


Backed, marmor eyeshadow - The warm earth tones combined with bright green or shimmering gold lend the eye a certain something! The baked texture is delicate and intense, shimmering accents on the eyelids and makes for bright moments. Available in no. 10 Trees and Desert, no. 20 Mountains and Ocean and no.30 Rocks and sand. All are vegan.

Duo lipstick - The Duo Lipsticks with vibrant colors and magical luminosity for  charming lips. The colors may be applied individually or in combination. The duo lipstick is available in the following colors: African Life no. 10, no. 20 African African and no.30 Soul Magic. None are vegan.

Lipgloss - The unique texture nourishes the lips with organic shea butter, organic almond oil and organic Goji berry extract, intense and immersed them in rich colors. Available in colors no. 10 Wildlife, no. 20 Rose Terra and no.30 Natural Tan. None are vegan.

Cooling concealer - Enriched with nourishing organic shea butter and moisturizing organic Aloe Vera Cooling concealer instantly makes your eyes more fresh redness disappears visually. Light-reflecting pigments provide an even complexion. Available in no. 10 Natural Savanna and no.20 Desert Beige. Both are vegan.

Shimmer bronzing powder and African powder -

The shimmering bronzing powder (left) is available in colors no. 10 Sunset Glow and no.20 Rising Sun. Casts a radiant complexion like kissed by the sun and bring back the long-awaited summer tan.

The delicate powder (right) with natural color pigments gives your complexion a soft, naturally tanned look. With nourishing shea butter. The powder is available in one color no. 10 African Earth. The shimmering bronzing powder no.10 is not vegan, the African Powder is. :)

Bronzing stick - The silky-smooth bronzing stick is shimmering highlights on the skin and provides a natural-looking, fresh tan. The gentle formula contains nourishing shea butter. The stick is available in colors no. 10 Gold Rush and no.20 Bronzing Heat. Both are not vegan.

My opininon - hmmm.. I kinda like it! I know we already had so many summer like limited editions with similar colour choices, but I really like products from Alverde in general and I'm looking forward to get this into our stores.. Personally I would like to check out the duo lipsticks, even thou they are in more neutral and nude colours. I kinda hope for a nice browny shade, I've been looking for a nice browny lipstick for some time now. I know brown is kinda 90's style, but still I want one really nice shade for fall and winter time :) I just hope they are not too shimmery... Also interested in shimmer bronzing powder and bronzing stick, maybe I'll get one of these two, it's past time I learn how to use these products and whether they even suit me. I don't know if I'll get a bronzer from this collection, maybe I'll buy some from the regular collection, but they are still worth checking out :)

What about you? Anythign you like?

Thanks for reading!

Love, UniqaPoly

Review & Swatches: Sleek - Mediterranean collection - Monaco eyeshadow palette

Hello! How is everyone? Today I'll write about another product that I have had for some time now, this is also the latest Sleek eyeshadow palette that I have acquired, thou I got it by second hand. This was a part of a limited edition, I think two years ago, a part of Mediterranean collection, palette named Monaco. Well that also means this is a discontinued product and no longer available in regular sale, but I think you can still get it on Amazon, eBay and such online shops, or maybe like me - from a girl that never really used it much. This palette has not been used much when I got it, only a couple of shades and than I had to stick my fingers into it and the photos are not that pretty, sorry guys :) Simply the colour combination had my attention and I had to, I had to feel all the shades and the textures.. they look sooo goood! ;)

Sometimes I really wonder if there is any sense in writting about a product that has been discontinued or a part of a limited edition so long ago it is almost not available anywhere anymore.. still for those of you, who will fall in love with the shades as much as I did, this might as well be just a regular review and swatches and you will find a way to get your hands on the product anyway :)

top line, from L to R: Bamboo, Aquamarine, Midnight Garden, Sunset, Washed ashore, Magenta madness; bottom line, L to R: Summer breeze, Sand walker, Kiwi zest, Lotus Flower, Humming Bird, Moors Treasure.

This palette has all kinds of colours, from vibrant to down toned. Shades are both shimmery and matte, but I feel like the shimmery ones are a bit more creamy in texture and more easy to blend. Shimmery shades are Sunset, a great reddish-browny- bronze colour, perfect for summer and one of the first shades I really fell in love with. Also shimmery are Kiwi zest, Lotus flower and Humming bird in second row. I like them, they are all very well pigmented, but usually I do not wear such light colours and when I do, they are usually matte. All three are easy to blend, I had no trouble with application - but I really don't use them that much... maybe to highlight inner corners, or under eyelashes a bit or such... I admit to not liking Lotus flower much... simply don't like pinky shades and I use this one the least of all.

Here are photos of the swatches, I did not use any base, as to show you how well they are pigmented on their own. First and lightest shade Bamboo, is really really light white-beige-yellow combination... simply don't know how to really describe it - and on hands it is invisible, but on the eye lids it's quite strong and well visible. The first row of shade appears rather pale and light and I'm really sorry for that, I have tried to take photos of these on several occasions but it simply would not show the real shades on photos, which really made me angry.. I can not properly show you how beautiful each one of them is. The Midnight garden is quite a strong deep blue, not as light as here, also Washed ashore looks very deep orange colour and the last one in top row, Magenta Madness is probably the only pink eyeshadow I actually like! It's a great pink shades and actually fits a lot of looks :)

Bottom row has three shimmery and three matte shades, also two of my favorite shades from the whole palette! I am in love with Sand Walker, the second and Moors treasure, the last one. They are simply gorgeous in their own way and I love using them just like that, all over my lids with maybe some eyeliner and that's all. :)

This palette also has two bluish - minty - turquoise shades in Aquamarine and Summer Breeze, and the shimmery Humming bird. I like to use Aquamarine a lot, it's a very beautiful colour and very summery :) I feel like summer is the only time of year when these shades fit better than anything else I am usually wearing :)

To wrap it all up - I admit I have fallen head over heels in love with this one and I actually don't like light pastel like shades.. I guess in summer I feel like I need the change and this palette gave me just that! The texture of all of the shades is smooth, only the shimmery ones feel a bit softer. They are all well pigmented and last very well ( I use my ArtDeco eyeshadow base). So to all of you who are looking for a perfect combination of shades for summer - I would really recommend you to get this one, if you can :) In one palette you get from matte to shimmery shades, from deep, dark ones to pale light ones :) You can create a lot of summery light looks or even autumn and spring  looks with just one palette. If you already have it - do you like it? Do you use it?

P.S. For Slovenian readers - this product is still available at MojaDrogerija.si, in case you really like it :)

Thanks for reading and I hope this was helpful :)

Love, UniqaPoly

Review & Swatches: My NEW stuff from E.L.F: :)

 Hello again! As long ago promised - I'm finally posting review and swatches of my E.l.f. package.. I actually mentioned this already here - NEW in May  along with other makeup products that I will review soon ;)

So this post will be quite a longer one,  normally I would devide stuff into groups but today I decided to present them all together.. As you can see I'll have a lot to talk about, from eyeshadows, to lipsticks, eyeliner, lipgloss... E.l.f. is a brand that everybody knows and has at least one product from them. My first package from them was a couple of brushes that I'll review in  another post. But this is actually the first package I ordered from E.l.f. on my own. Many love this brand because it's not expesive and you can really get some great products for a reasonable price. Also, you can read some great reviews but end up buying stuff that are not worth even that little money... so keep on reading if you are interested in these products and whether they are any good. :)

First, I wanted to start with some photos of the products and writings on the back ( what products promise) and ingredients :)

 What this product promises:

And ingredients for the eyeshadows:

 What this product promises:

 And ingredients for lipgloss:

 What Shimmer pencil promises:

And ingredients:

 What this product promises:

 And ingredients:

And starting with reviews and swatches :) First I'm gonna talk about these two lipsticks, as they are the best products in this buy and absolutely worth the money. I got two shades, as you can see.. with very fitting names - Cheerful cherry and Rustic brick. When picking the shades I wanted to try one for a more daily makeup and one red. You already know I love red lipstick, so no matter how many I already have - I am gonna want to try a red lippie at every brand I get in my hands :D Both promise to be free of parabens, preservatives and chemical dyes.

Also - ingredients for lippies: Simmondsia Chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, euphorbia cerifera (candelilla) wax, ceresin wax, microcrystalline wax, copernicia cerifera (carnauba) wax, paraffin wax, ricinus communis (castor) seed oil, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), olea europaea (olive) fruit oil, tocopherol (ve), ascorbyl palmitate (vc), retinyl palmitate (va), mica.

Packaging - Both come in a cardboard box and than in a matte black case, square shaped. Packaging it's plastic, but looks nice and elegant.Each contains 3,8g of product.
Colour - Rustic brick is a nice browny- beige colour, suitable for warm toned, neutral to yellow skin toned girls, probably would also look good on olive skin tone. Also it sometimes looks rather pinky undertoned lipstick, especially on photos, it was really hard to catch the real colour. Cheerful cherry is a strong, neutral to warm toned red. Still I think it's a colour any skin tone can pull off, because it's enough neutral red.
Scent - they both have a little smell, probably from one of the oils, but it is not too invasive and when on lips you can not smell it.
Texture and application - both are really smooth. They are well pigmented, smooth to apply, leave an even colour.  I had no trouble with application, I just put it on straight form the bullet. Finish for both is a little shiny, maybe the Rustic brick one is looking a bit more matte when applied than Cheerful cherry. Damn I love these two names, they just fit so well with the colours  and sound so good :P
Longlasting - not so much. The  brick one stays on a bit longer, but both seem to fade after 3 hours. At least on me - I'm constantly eating and drinking etc... Scroll down to see some more photos of the lippies :)

 6713 Rustic Brick

6710 Cheerful Cherry

And next are eyeshadows. This product is called Brightening Eye colour and it's in shade Luxe. This quattro eyeshadow was a product I was really looking forward to, but dissapointed me the most. The colour combination looks really good and I especially had hopes for the reddish-browny shade.

Packaging - Simple, small, a bit too small... probably good for traveling but not so much handy when using the product. It's plastic, and not a good one, so you must be careful not to break it. It has a tiny clutch where you open it and to me this is a bit troubling because it's very hard to open it and I feel like the whole thing is just gonna fly out of my hands and break on the floor. Also added double sided sponge applicator and under it a tiny mirror. The sponge is already falling off and I have never even used it.
Pigmentation - As you can see on the swatches, none of these is very well pigmented. So this was the first big dissapointment for this product. Simply the shades are so invisible, even after several coats. Also the shade taht looked most unique and special, the reddish brown - actually with several coats looks kinda too reddish-pinky to me and I really don't like it at all!
Scent - they don't have any particular scent at all, don't smell nice or bad.
Texture and application - They feel smooth, also when applying they feel smooth.  I used brushes and my fingers and both went ok, I didn't have any trouble getting the colour on my eyelids.
Longlasting - not at all! Using my usual, ArtDeco eyeshadow base, this product fades away in a matter of two hours??? I mean this is probably the worst eyeshadow product I have ever owned. After two hours and a lot of coats to even get the colours visible, they just fade away, like I never had anything on! Even with cheap Essence stuff I have never had such a bad experinece, so far. So this was a big turnoff and I don't think I'm gonna use it again.

Next are two eyeliners, the golden one is Brightening Eyeliner in Gilded, the black one is Shimmer Eyeliner Pencil in Black Bandit. These two have both proven to be quite good for the price!

Packaging - both have a plastic transparent cap, Black Bandit has pencil sharpener in the cap, so you don't need an extra item, the Gilded one has a sharpener added extra to the whole package.
Shade, texture and application - both are very well pigmented. Gilded is a great warm golden colour, perfect for summer and Black Bandit has a lot of nice, small shimmer in it. It doesn't fall on your face or eyes, it stays put on your eyelids.  Application is easy and smooth, both products are easy to use and leave a nice, even shade. There's no need  for many coats, one or two will be looking just fine :)
Longlasting - in the middle. On me, I have quite greasy eye lids, these stay put for 4 to 5 hours. After that I need to reapply a little, but that's not a problem, so I don't consider this something that would turn me away from the product. I love both shades and I am really satisfied with both of them. :)

Last one is Hypershine Gloss in shade Vixen.

 Packaging - It comes in a plastic tube, that you have ti turn at the end to push the product out and than apply with a brush like applicator. On top also atransparent plastic cap. So this product of all looks the cheapest.

Texture and colour, application - Texture wise this not a very good product. It's rather sticky and a little too greasy, I make noises when smacking my lips :P Really, it also dries my lips a bit. The colour looks so promising - like a lovely strawberry red - in real, on lips it looks transparent. Like there was no colour added, just a bit of shine, maybe just a tiny bit of colour is visible when my lips are really pale. Application is easy, the brush is ok, but nothing special.

Scent - it has a sweet scent, that is quite strong and a bit a turn off for me...
Longlasting - not at all! This goes off in a matter of one hour, really fast and doesn't leave any stain or anything, like I was never wearing anything.


 To wrap it all up - lipsticks are both great, both great shades and I love using them. Also both eyeliners have proven to be good products so maybe I'll buy one of these again in another shade. Eyeshadows and gloss aren't good at all, personally I would not recommend it to anyone. A total waste of money on those two, but anyway, more than half of the things I got will serve me very well and are actually pretty good for the price. So all in all this was a good buy, I got some really great stuff and some not so great. :) Will see about my next buy at E.l.f., maybe some foundations for fall? Will see, will see... How about you? Do you use E.l.f. products? Which are really good and worth trying?

Thanks for reading and I hope this was useful to you!


Love, UniqaPoly