Revlon Parfumerie Scented Nail Enamel in Ginger Melon

Hi Everyone,

Today my review is on the brand new nail enamel by Revlon. It's called Revlon Parfumerie and is a scented nail polish. There are 24 different shades; Wintermint, Beachy, Fresh Linen, Tropical Rain, Orange Blossom, Wild Violets, African Tea Rose, China Flower, Chocolate Truffle, Italian Leather, Autumn Spice, Bordeaux, Apricot Nectar, Ginger Melon, Pink Pineapple, Lime Basil, Sunlight Grass, Lavender Soap, Powder Puff, Surf Spray, Balsam Fir, Moonlight Woods, Espresso & Spun Sugar.

I intended to test three different colours and scents and purchase these on the 3 for 2 deal that was on at Boots. However, the one near me did not have the scents I wanted to buy apart from one. So I brought the Ginger Melon colour to test. 

Colour: This colour is a vibrant melon reddy, coral, pink colour. It's very hard to explain but if you think of the inside of a watermelon, this is the exact colour. 

Application: I had to apply two thick coats on polish to each nail to cover without any streaks. Many people have said it took them three coats to achieve an even colour. So I suggest using slightly thicker coats when applying. On Revlon's site they suggest using a base coat first, this may help the colour to apply more evenly.

Scent: The scent is exactly like melon in my opinion, sort of a tropical melon smell. I love it! I don't really get a ginger scent coming through.

Overall: I love this nail polish! As you can see from the above pictures, it is a vibrant colour and very shiny once applied. The scent is long lasting (I can still smell faint fruity melon after 4 days of wear). The formula is long lasting too, I have my first chip after the forth day, which I think is pretty good going.

I would recommend these nail polishes and I will be buying the Apricot Nectar and Pink Pineapple scents as soon as they have them in Boots.

If you buy these let me know of your experiences with any of the other scents :)

MUA Ever After Matte Palette Review

Hi Everyone,

My review today is on MUA (Makeup Academy Professional) Ever After Matte Palette. MUA is not a brand I am familiar with and this palette was given to me as an Easter present. I believe, feel free to correct me if I am wrong, that these products are stocking in Superdrug. As far as I am aware this makeup brand is cheap, so I thought I would go into this open minded and see what the product was like. 

The palette contains 10 nude shades of matte eyeshadow and promises a cashmere soft finish. My first impression of the colours was good. I love nude eyeshadows and this contained a lot of usable colours. 

So from the Top going right we have; (1) Unwrap, (2) Butter, (3) Bare, (4) Taffeta, (5) Fade, (6) Penny, (7) China, (8) Truffle, (9) Fog & (10) Smoke. 

(1) Unwrap - is a creamy nude tone, useful to highlight your brow bone or to dot in the corner of your eye.

(2) Butter - is a yellowy sandy shade, almost a light beige.

(3) Bare - is a light pink with a warm undertone.

(4) Taffeta - is a bright light pink with a cool undertone.

(5) Fade - is a light chocolaty brown.

(6) Penny - is a darker brown in reminds me exactly of the colour of a 2 pence piece, hence the name.

(7) China, is a dark pinky brown with a warm undertone.

(8) Truffle - is a dark rich brown colour.

(9) Fog - is a dark blue / grey.

(10) Smoke - is a dark black tone.

I swatched all colours firstly on their own and then with Elf Cream Eyeshadow duo in Cream to act as a primer. I did this as the colours where pretty much none existent without a base coat.

As you can see from the top picture, the colours do not really show up at all without a base coat or primer. The pigmentation is very poor. Even with the base coat underneath some of the colours are still very hard to see, Taffeta for example (second from the bottom) is pretty none existent.

The darker colours have more pigmentation in this palette, they all show up pretty well in the swatches without the base coat and very well with it. I am happier with these colours than those on the top row.

Colour: The colours on the top row and very poor and do not show up well at all. However, the colours on the bottom row are very pigmented and work well as nude colours. 

Price: I believe these are around £4 each to buy and you get what you would expect for the price. The colour pigmentation is rather poor and the eyeshadow are not the best quality making them quite hard to work with.

Overall: I think you get what you pay for with these palettes and unfortunately that is not quality. The colours in the bottom row that were quite pigmented do not really make up for the lack of pigmentation in the top row. I found the eyeshadows cakey and hard to work with. I did manage one look (see below) but I don't think I will be using this palette too much.

Elf Duo Eyeshadow Cream and Powder Review

Hi Everyone,

So today I thought I would do a review on Elf's Duo Eyeshadow in Cream and Powder form. I discovered Elf whilst browsing videos YouTube. I must admit at first I was a bit sceptical, but for the price (£1.95) I thought it was worth a try. So I ordered some of their Duo Eyeshadows, 2 Cream and 2 Powder. 

Elf Duo Eyeshadow Cream:  I ordered Butter Pecan & Coffee & Cream: I liked the look of these two shades as I like to wear neutral tones on my eyes and thought that the white shade in the Coffee & Cream duo would look good as inner corner highlighter.

Elf Duo Eyeshadow: I ordered Butter Pecan & Berry Mix: I chose these shades as I wanted the powder shadows to match the Butter Pecan cream shadows and I liked the light pinky shade in the Berry Mix duo.

On the left are the powder swatches, the Berry Mix colours at the top and the Butter Pecan Colours at the bottom and on the right hand side there is the Coffee & Cream cream swatches at the top and the Butter Pecan swatches at the bottom.

As you can see the colour pay off is not really anything to shout about. You can barely see any of the colour in the powder duos! Even with the cream eyeshadows the pigmentation is definitely lacking.

Colour Pay Off: The colour pay off of both of these types of Elf Duo Eyeshadows is poor. The products are lacking in pigmentation and therefore do not give the desired effect. HOWEVER, if you use the cream shadows as a base and apply the powder on top the colour pay off is quite extraordinary in comparison (see below):

The Berry mix, pink tinge shows through with the Cream colour as a base and the Pecan on the bottom is a gorgeous shimmer brown. I think this is the true beauty behind these products! They should be sold as a Cream and Powder duo so that they can be used in combination like this!

Price: At £1.95 per duo these eyeshadows are cheap and in a way you get what you pay for. However, if you combine the cream and powder shadows you can get high quality pigmentation for a fraction of the normal price.

Longevity: These eyeshadows on their own do not last very long at all. The cream eyeshadows seem to melt away before your eyes and settle in any crease they can find and the powder shadows just look none existent by the end of the day. However, using the cream eyeshadows as bases you can get the shadows to last an entire day. This is my eyeshadow at the end of a full day!

As you can see the cream shadow has helped to hold on the shimmer and colour of the other eyeshadows. I think this is the true use of these cream eyeshadows.

Overall: Believe it or not I would recommend these eyeshadows BUT I would only recommend using the Cream and Powder forms together. These eyeshadows simply do not seem to work on their own. If you are still unsure I would recommend buying a Cream eyeshadow duo to try as an eyebase / primer. At £1.95 you can't really go wrong for a long lasting primer.

Although these eyeshadows were not really what I expected, I did find another use for them and now find myself reaching for one at least once or twice a week.