I know, I’ve been back from Europe for about 3 weeks now, and I am just now finally posting this. But now I’ve used some of them so I can give mini reviews! (That was obviously my intent with waiting and not just procrastination duh).

I went to Europe so of course I had to pick up some things I’m not able to pick up in the good ol’ USA. I’m going to have a separate post about the items I picked up from Kiko as there were a whole mess of those. Look for it in the future.

In the mean time, here are the other makeup items I found! I didn’t spend too much time in drugstores over there – I either didn’t see them, or didn’t want to drag my friends all over into them. But there was a big makeup store right next to my hostel in Poland, so this is where I picked these up! Let’s get into it!

The one main thing I was gunning for, that I knew I would pick up over there is this bronzer. This is the Bourjois ‘Bronzing Powder’. I do watch many British YouTubers and this was all over their channels a while ago, and I’ve just always wanted it. There are two different shades – 51 and 52. I picked up 52, which is the slightly deeper shade.

As you can see it’s a thicker cardboard packaging that flips open to show the product inside. And it looks like a fancy chocolate bar! Look at that! And it does smell like cocoa too, what more can anyone want?

On their website it claims that it has “flecks of gold” throughout it to give a nice glow. I honestly can’t pick them up looking at it, and it’s very much a matte bronzer to me.

Since I’ve brought this back, I’ve been using it everyday for bronzing. I do really love it. It’s not super pigmented right off the bat, so you can build up slowly into this beautiful bronze all over your face. And it’s not super orange or dark or anything, so it works even on my fair skin in the summer. Overall really like this, and I know it’s going to last for a good long while.

I also made sure to see what other Essence products I could get. Surprisingly I held myself back on the makeup shopping (I spent money on tattoos instead – Sorry, Mom). So I only picked up one Essence product.

This is one of their ‘My Must Haves’ eyeshadow singles. They have 20 different shades, that you can pop in and out of their empty palette that they sell as well. I only picked up one. I wanted a color that would be unique to my collection, as well as something to really test the line.

I picked up a matte blue shade in #16 ‘Dare to Wear!’.

I haven’t worn this on my eye yet, but it swatched pretty evenly. It’ll be interesting to see if it blends out evenly, or if it just blends away. I have high hopes, Essence!

Up next is from a brand I wasn’t at all familiar with, called Misslyn. All of the packaging reminded me of the Balm, with more vintage and fun designs.

This is their ‘Treat Me Sweet’ powder blush in the shade ‘You Make Me Blush!’. Absolutely adorable, and sturdy cardboard package.

It’s a bright rose shade, and it’s a large pan size for sure.

If you’re like me and went into this gung-ho, there was some blending that had to be done. This is definitely a pigmented blush, and you have to be careful with it on fair skin like me. But if you go slow and build it up, it adds a beautiful flush to the skin.

(Also, you can buy Misslyn on beautybay.com. This particular blush retails for $9).

The last things might be the ones I’m most excited about. One night in Poland, one of the Irish girls in my hostel room was excitedly talking about all of the eyeshadows she had bought at Inglot that day. I basically shook her down to tell me where the nearest Inglot was, and I found out it was in the mall attached to the bus station we had to go to the next day.

So of course I had to go. Yes, you can buy Inglot in the US. But the nearest actual shop is in New York, and I wanted the experience of seeing all the colors in front of me. I also discovered that the eyeshadows retail for $4 in Poland, whereas they retail for $7 in the US. I wish I had had more time in that shop, (or maybe not as I would have spent so much money).

I picked up 5 of their Freedom System eyeshadows, and a 5 pan palette to put them in, as well as 1 blush.

If you haven’t heard of Inglot, they’re known for their super pigmented eyeshadows. They have a massive range of colors, and they’re sold as able to pop in and out of these magnetic palettes, with magnetic sliding tops. I know they used to be super popular back in the day, and haven’t been talked about as much these days.

But I was still super intrigued and knew I had to get some.

It’s really nice because you can also magnet the tops to the bottom for convenience.

Again, I was looking to add some unique colors to my collection, that aren’t found in every palette. And apparently I was also into shimmer as well, as all 5 shades I picked have some sort of shimmer.

There’s a very good chance some of these are incorrect numbers. Lemme explain.

The one downside to these palettes is that once the shadows are in, they’re in for life. A couple (15 and 60) popped out easily and I could read the numbers on the bottom. However, the others, I had gouged holes in them trying to dig them out of the palettes when I finally decided to just compare colors and swatches and just guess. So I apologize if the top 3 are at all wrong – I tried my best and didn’t want to break my shadows.

But as you can see these are very pigmented and smooth. I’ve used 15 and 420 as great one shadow looks so far and loved the effect. And they’ve lasted all day. Very satisfied and I would love to pick up more colors soon. (Also if anyone has tips for getting them out of the palettes lemme know).

Lastly I picked up a blush. It’s a pink with more purple undertones to it.

Again the same story with the eyeshadows – this could be the wrong number, because I didn’t want to break it getting it out of the pan. But this one was more unique so I’m pretty sure I got it right.

It’s very pigmented, so it’s again something you just have to go in slowly and build it up on your cheeks. But it’s such a unique cool toned shade and I love it. Again, super impressed with these formulas.

So that’s the makeup I picked up! I was excited to have a few new things to play with, and overall I was impressed with everything I got!

Of course, someday when I go back to Europe I’ll pick up even more things 😉

Stay tuned for my upcoming Kiko post!

 

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