I don't recall if Max Factor had any contouring products before, but they recently released their sculpting palette and they made it an all-in-one & fits everyone type of product that will probably appeal more to makeup artists or those who often do makeup for other people than your average makeup user. There are similar palettes on the market, though not that many that are sold in drugstores here, most of the competition is online. There are eight cream products in the palette, four are contours, two are lifting concealers and two are highlighters. 

Texture: The creams in this palette are more on the thicker, waxier side. While this means it's a lot less messy than creamier formulas, it also means they work best when they've been warmed up a bit before application, so I find fingers are actually the best way to pick up and apply these on the skin. For blending you can use a brush for a more speedy result, though for concealers I still find it's best to tap them on the skin with fingers for a more seamless blending result. Pigmentation differs and it's quite simply that the lightest have the least colour pay-off, while the darkest shades hold most pigment. Contours work ok and are pigmented when you apply them, but they are also very blendable, which means you need to build them up slowly, which at contouring isn't a bad thing, but it takes time. I can only grab the colour with fingers and apply it on the skin because not even my densest brushes could pick the colour, but they blend easier and better with a brush once on the skin.

There are four contours in this palette, three are warm and one is a cool taupe one. 

Top left - a warm caramel shade.

Bottom left - deep chestnut brown.

Top right - cool taupe. This is the only shade that fits my porcelain skin tone. 

Bottom right - a medium brown. This one looks almost cool in the palette, but it's warm on my face.

Both concealers lack pigmentation for any significant coverage. It'd say they've got light-medium coverage if I layer it.

Top - a neutral pale shade. It's a tiny bit too dark for my NC-W10 skin tone, but it should be perfect for NC15.

Bottom - a warm NC25 shade.

I can't call these highlighters on my skin tone, since both aren't pale enough to create a lighter/brighter effect on my skin tone and neither do they have shimmer to create an illuminating effect. They should work on darker skins a lot better. Pigmentation is the same as at the concealers, so not particularly good. 

Top - neutral pale shade. I'm impressed that Max Factor created something so neutral and not pink.

Bottom - yellow toned pale shade. 

 Lightest contour, concealer and highlighter. You can't see the last two.

Staying power: I could only check how long the contours last, since the concealer and highlighters did a poor job of covering anything and I couldn't tell when they were gone. The contour lasted decently for a cream product. I couldn't say in hours, but it holds on quite a while, though not to the end of the day. It's of course a lot better if you have a good base and if you set it with powder.

Packaging: The palette has a tight closing system, which is very important at creamy products. I also noticed the pans at the back kind of look like the could be replaceable, but I haven't tried to push any of them out and I haven't seen any individual replacements being sold.

Price and availability: The palette is sold in drugstore and I think I was the price tag was 19.99 €, which comes at 2.5 € per pan.

I like the idea and it's great that they created such a product, but it could be a bit better. I can work with the contours and even from that just two colours, while the rest of the palette is sadly a waste for me. The concealers are not the best in terms of coverage (they can be used as highlighters on darker skin tones) and the highlighters need to be shimmery for me, because my skin tone is already too pale for creating light areas. But for those have a darker skin tone or need something like this when they do makeup on other people, at least the contour shades are a nice thing to have. For me I'll stick to L'Oreal's Infallible Sculpt palette in 01 because I don't need any extra shades and I don't even use contours much.

If only this palette wasn't so warm. I'm still on the fence about Makeup Revolution eyeshadows, as they tend to differ in quality a lot inside one palette. It's actually no different in this one either, but the scales are tipped to the good side and especially mattes are nice in this palette. The Sophy X palette was created in collaboration with SophDoesNails (I'm not familiar with her) and it's very similar to the most popular palettes at the moment like Naked Heat and Renaissance palette. 

Texture: Like I said the quality varies, but most of the eyeshadows are very impressive for the price. Shimmery shades are all very pigmented and creamy, which in some cases that's not such a great thing because brushes don't pick them up well and it's best to use fingers to apply them. The best shimmery shade is Sparks Fly, a gold shade, which is really quite impressive. Pink Champagne, on the other hand, is least willing to apply nicely. The mattes are really great in this palette, though not all. Some are so pigmented and smooth, plus they blend so well, but those are mostly the reddish shades that don't suit me that well. Least impressive is Mug Cake, a shade that I'd normally use a lot. Considering how bad some matte shades were in previous palettes, this is a big improvement. 

I won't go through individual shades, but if you're interested, Petra described them well here.

Shades: Palette contains a mix of 14 matte and 10 shimmer shadows, most of the are warm, but there is a possible combination that looks like my usual neutral, defined eye. Overall this is definitely the palette for those with a warm undertone, while on me most of the reddish combination make me look either ill or just strange. My favourites shades are the first three in the second row - they are such nice metallic shades. I had very high hopes for the old gold Pine Tree, but it's greener than in the palette. There are some nice copper shades and corresponding matte reddish shades, a warm purple, a Mac Club dupe Petrol (duochrome green-brown) and some lighter warm matte transition shades.

 Pink Champagne, Mugcake and Rosewood

 Sparks Flay and Rosewood

Pine Tree

 Smokey Bronze and Rosewood

Staying power: Though I find the quality of eyeshadows nice, staying power didn't impress that much. They don't crease or fall down, but they do fade faster than my other eyeshadows. I'd recommend a primer with these.

Packaging: I really like how the palette looks. Peachy shade together with rose gold looks so modern and pretty. As usual there's a big mirror included which is very handy.

Price and availability: It's sold on Ličila.si for 14.99 € and Makeup Revolution site. I believe this one is also sold in DM's.  

If you're a fan of all the rosy-coppery-reddish palettes that have been popular in the last years, you'll like this one two. It's one of MR's best so far in terms of quality, especially when it comes to mattes, they've made great strides. You won't regret spending those 15 € for it, but use a primer. It's way too warm for my undertones and I'm in general not a a fan of reddish shades even though my eyes are grey, but for all of you with a warm undertone, this is a nice one.

Though this is Max Factor's latest mascara, it's been a while since it launched and like most of their releases of the past years, it has a plastic comb. I like most of Max Factor's such mascaras because they know how to combine definition with great volume and particularly their Voluptious is amazing. Dark Magic mascara is nice too, but it hasn't quite wowed me as much as Voluptious.

The plastic brush has short bristles and a double hourglass design. Since the bristles are short, it doesn't comb the lashes as easily as Voluptious and I need to comb them slower, so I can make sure I catch every lash, however, it's a far more comfortable brush. It's still great for definition and it deposits enough product on the lashes in two coats for a good level of volume, which is similar to Voluptious. However, though the effect is nice, it fails at the most important thing for me - lifting and holding the lashes, even if I curl them. A mascara can create amazing volume, but if it doesn't hold my lashes up, it's like I didn't use much mascara. If you don't have problems with difficult to curl lashes, Dark Magic will work just fine for you.

Formula is one of the thicker ones, but not the super wet, messy variety.  Overall, it's not the type of mascara that would make much of a mess, which I appreciate. It's also fairly easy to remove.

The packaging has a partly rubberised cap, which makes it easy to hold, however, it also attracts dirt and the mascara never looks pretty and clean.  

Mascara cost 14.99€.

To me this is merely an ok mascara, but purely because of the poor curl holding abilities. If I don't take that into account, it a nice defining + voluminous mascara. However, Max Factor has done a lot better and in particular I got more impressive results from their Voluptious mascara. 

Have a great day!

*PR product.

I'm not one to wear lip gloss a lot and for years I've been more of a matte liquid lipstick kind of girl, though Revlon's Ultra HD Matte Lipcolour, which have a creamy-glossy finish, are some of my favourite because they are so incredibly comfortable. As absolutely stunning as Honey Lacquers look, I admit I'd never buy it myself if Max Factor Slovenia hadn't sent me the first shade which made me fall in love with the formula and did the impossible - made me buy a lip gloss after several years. I have a review of Honey Rose already - it's a very pale cool pink that I find unwearable, so I picked the shade that is more to my liking, Honey Nude, which I think is one of those shades that would likely fit just about everyone.

Texture: I already talked about it in my original review, so I'll keep this short, focusing on the swatches, but it's a thick, creamy and quite pigmented lipgloss with a creamy version of a glossy shine. It's super comfortable and non-sticky, so I wear it instead of a lip balm during the day.

Shade: Honey Nude is a pinky-brown shade. Coverage is semi-opaque and this is the type of shade that compliments you natural lip colour, so I think it'll fit so many and it will very likely look a bit different on each individual, meaning more pink on some and more brownish-nude on others.

Scent: The scent is exactly the same as at their Silky glosses, so a vanilla type of scent.

Staying power: It last similar to Honey Rose and due to the thick formula it manages to stick on the lips for several hours. It won't look like freshly applied and glossy, but the colour is still there. 

Packaging: Another thing that drew me to this lip gloss formula is the packaging, which is the nicest one in the drugstore ranges. The gold details make it very glamorous. The doe foot applicator is a classic one and easy to use.

Price and availability: These cost 9.49 € in drugstores, which is way too much for a lip gloss in my opinion, but that's just me. I ordered mine on Salma.

I've worn this shade so much since I got it, so it was definitely worth the purchase. It's so comfortable, balmy, it smells nice (reminds me of my teenage years when I wore Silky Glosses) and I absolutely love the shade. It's such a great my-lips-but-better shade and I think it'll suit many different skin tones. These come in several other shades, I think we have four in Slovenia, but this is the only one I like.

Have a great day!

TheBalm has some of the best blushes in my opinion and their powder products in general are really good quality. I have a couple of their blushes, actually two of their most popular ones, Frat Boy and Hot Mama. On a daily basis I prefer more muted shades, so I don't wear them as often as I would if they weren't as bright and peachy, but I do pick them up more often in the summer. The Getaway Trio Palette contains three of theBalm's latest blushes, Balm Springs, Balm Beach and Balm Desert, all looked to me as the types of shades I'd wear because they looked like theBalm's try at less bright shades. All shades are sold individually, while this palette is a limited edition and a great value, so it's be great if they made it permanent.

Texture: Based on my previous experience TheBalm blushes they have a lovely finely milled, silky texture and these are no different. Pigmentation differs in this palette with Balm Spring being the least pigmented, so I need two layers, while Balm Desert is very pigmented, so I need a light hand. All blend beautifully and are never patchy.

Balm Springs is completely different from what I imagined based on how it looks in the pan and based on other people's swatches. It's a very coral shade on me, a muted version, but still leaning strongly to orange. It's the brightest on the cheeks out of the three and as I  mentioned before also least pigmented. I'm not sure how I feel about this one yet, I hoped it's more pinky and less bright, but this might be too peachy for me. Finish is matte. For reference Frat Boy is a lot pinker than this, while Hot Mama is lighter, with gold shimmer.

TheBalm Meet Matte Hughes in Sincere on the lips

Balm Beach again a shade that's a bit different than I expected based on the peachy looking pan, but this is the shade that I wanted Balm Springs to be, so a muted version of Frat Boy. It's a muted peachy-pink shade, more on the peach side than the pink and I have nothing similar, closest is the discontinued I'm Nuts About you by Catrice, but theBalm is more peachy. It's not as bright as Balm Springs, so I consider it easier to wear and it has a matte finish.  

Balm Desert is classified as a bronzer/blush product and in the pan looks like a regular bronzer with a red undertone, but swatched it's a very unique shade. It's actually like you'd mix a bronzer with a rosy blush. Finish is satin. It's very pigmented, so I need to use a light hand it with, but it works as a contour/definer & blush in one. 

Staying power: Hot Mama and Frat Boy are the most long-lasting blushes I own and these are again very impressive. The colour is still very visible on the cheeks after six hours, so these can last a day if you don't have oily skin and also it depends on the base too.

Packaging: Typical for theBalm these come in a cardboard packaging with mirror. The outside features the combination of all three pictures on the original packaging of the blushes which have that retro feel that theBalm is known for. 

Price and availability: I bought mine on Ličila.si for 22.99 €, but it's already out of stock as it's on the official theBalm website, but I heard it's sold in Müller here, though keep in mind this was limited edition. All three shades are sold individually and are permanent, so even if you miss the palette, you can always buy them separately. Individual blushes contain 6.35 g, while they are about the half of size in the palette, 3,3g per blush.

If you can still get the palette, it's worth the investment if you like such shades. If I run out of it or lose it, I'd repurchase Beach Balm because it's my favourite, but Balm Spring is better for very warm skin tones and those who love more coral-orange shades. Balm Desert is the most unique shade in here as it blends two concepts together, so a bronzer and a blush, so if you're interested in something like it, this one is lovely.

Have a great day!

Promises a brightening effect.

Sheet: These have some of the best sheets because they are those thin ones that look almost clear on the face. It also fits me rather well in terms of where the cutouts are, though it extends into my hairline, which is a good thing for you, since I have a petite face and this means it's not too small. Only the part above the lips is just way too thin.

Essence: This one has a classic serum like essence, which isn't sticky or heavy. The moisturising grapefruit version has a different, very comfy lotion like essence, while this one is lighter and doesn't have that soothing feeling.

Scent: It's got a gentle lemon fragrance and it that good, non-cleaning products way.

Effect: This wasn't my favourite brightening mask, as it didn't do much compared to some others like Papa Recipe or My Beauty Diary Black Pearl. My skin also felt a bit tight, so it's not that moisturising and I think it'd be best suited for oily skin, while for me I much prefer the Grapefruit version.  

Worth it? I won't buy it again.

Ingredients: here.

Cosmetic Love, $0.59

Snail secretion actually break me out, but since I enjoyed the V Prove mask so much, I wanted to give them another chance. Snail mucin is a powerful hydrating ingredient and it also promotes healing. I already had the Hyaluronic Acid and Collagen versions, neither really impressed me with their results, but I liked the thin sheet.

Sheet: thin, very comfortable and the fit is regular. It's about the same as The Saem's and The Face Shop The Solution ones.

Essence: Super comfortable milky lotion and not at all slimy like Naruko's. I just loved it and it's equally comfortable as The Saem's Grapfruit.

Scent: creamy chemical and not strong.

Effect: Immediate effect was some redness on my forehead, but no sensation of irritation or burning. Like I said before normally snail stuff break me out, but I used this during a breakout and it reduced it 90%, plus everything started to heal a lot faster (it was gone is the next couple of days). And it was one of those chin volcanoes that I accidentally picked, which usually turns in to a two week nightmare. It also made my skin smoother, so I was very impressed by this formula. Madecassoside by The Face Shop has a very similar result if you're freaked out about the snails.

Worth it? Yes. I bought a pack of these.  

Ingredients: here.

Cosmetic Love, $0.64

Reviews on this entire line are mixed, including their scents. Mine as a smoothing version and there are several others: milk, coconut, strawberry, coffee and green tea.

Sheet: it felt like a regular sheet from the start, and an average fitting one (slightly too large for me), but it started feeling a bit thick and it came off in some places, like above my lip. The sheet just wasn't my favourite.

Essence: a comfortable milky lotion.

Scent: strong creamy vanilla floral scent. I found it very pleasant, but it's not like chocolate at all if you're expecting that. 

Effect: This was a really good moisturising and nourishing mask, so my skin liked it a lot. I used it when my skin was flaky dry and I haven't had a flake since. 

Worth it? The sheet is not the best, but I liked the effect of this one as well as the lovely scent. Overall it's worth the purchase.

Ingredients: here.

Cosmetic Love, $0.73

Ginseng is one of the most valued ingredients in K-Beauty and has some anti-ageing properties, so I took two of the cheapest masks with ginseng that were on Cosmetic Love. I like The Solution Masks from The Face Shop, but this was the first time trying these Real Nature ones.

Sheet: it feels like a regular mask, but it claims to be some special air pocket pulp sheet. It's quite a large mask, which fit ok around my mouth and eyes, but it extended into my hairline.

Essence: The essence has a yellow brown tint which makes the whole sheet in that colour. It's a like a light serum/lotion and in smaller amounts in sinks in fast, there is also not much stickiness from this. Ginseng is on the 4th place among the ingredients.

Scent: given that it's a ginseng product you can expect a typical ginseng scent. It's quite strong.

 Effect: this promises to add energy and boots vitality which to me isn't really a visible type of thing, but it was a nice mask that moisturised the skin and made it feel good. This might have a good effect if you use it regularly. 

Worth it? Yes.

Ingredients: here.

Cosmetic Love, $0.64

From Tony Moly masks I only had the Pokemon Pikachu version with honey which was lovely. These are 100% cotton sheet masks and exist in several versions, I only took ginseng and as soon as I saw ingredients I was disappointed because this looks like stuff made here - glycerine on the second place (not bad) followed by PEGs and nothing of value until the 8th place (panthenol), while ginseng is very low on the list (16th).

Sheet: Classic with an ok fit. It was too large for my face, but that makes it normal.

Essence: a light, toner-like essence. Based on the ingredients, like an inexpensive toner.

Scent: No ginseng scent in this, just a boring shampoo fragrance and a strong one.

Effect: The layer this left had a very glossy look to it, but overall it's just a basic moisturising mask. 

Worth it? No, even though it's cheap.

Ingredients: here.

Cosmetic Love, $0.55

For brightening. Contains pearl extracts and niacinamide.

Essence: A serum-gel type of thick essence that needs time to absorb and feels nice on the skin.

Scent: is nothing special, though it is noticeable. It's just a sweet chemical scent.

Effect: This is the same mask as the Snow White version I raved about a year ago and this is already a repurchased mask, as I reviewed this Solution mask before. It leaves my skin was incredibly soft and smooth, hydrated, more even and just in general in great condition. Foundation applies like a dream after using this mask. This is the formula that made me fall in love with K-Beauty.

Ingredients: here.

Worth it? 100% yes.

For radiance. Contains vitamin C and niacinamide.

Essence: very sticky and thick, more like a lotion than a toner, so overall a rich texture.

Scent: Fruity medicinal.

Effect: As you might expect for a vitamin C mask, it was brightening and it evened out the skin tone, though not dramatically like Pearl and it was more temporary too.  It was also nicely nourishing.The essence became incredibly sticky once it dried, so some might dislike it and need to wash it off.

Ingredients: here.

Worth it? If you don't mind the stickiness, yes.

Anti-wrinkle and nourishing effect. Aside from propolis also contains adenosine.

Scent: again fruity medicinal.

Essence: milky and leaves a sticky layer, but not like Vitamin C.

Effect: It left my skin moisturised and more plump, meaning that the lines looked a bit smaller, though not dramatically. I liked this one.

Ingredients: here.

Worth it? Yes.

Firming and anti-wrinkle effect. Aside from collagen contains adenosine. 

Essence: milky lotion that leaves a smooth feeling if it's applied in thin coat, while in a thick coat it's quite sticky.

Scent: same fruity/sweet chemical one as in most.

Effect: This one was a weird one. I saw immediate plumping effect and improved elasticity, wrinkles were temporarily slightly more filled out, however in the morning all the elasticity was gone, in fact it was worse than without because my crease on the side I sleep on, just didn't want to disappear.

Ingredients: here.

Worth it? No.

Anti-wrinkle effect. Like some others also contains adenosine

Scent: slightly deeper scent that others.

Essence: a simple clear lotion.

Effect: This one was nothing special, it was the most boring and pretty much useless in the bunch. It had a classic moisturising effect and no effect on wrinkles.

Ingredients: here.

Worth it? No.

Hydrating effect.

Scent: a bit fresher than others.

Essence: A thick toner / light serum one.

Effect: Just as I expected it's a very basic hydrating sheet mask. Hyaluronic acid does its job and that's it. Boring and basic, but good if your skin is dehydrated.

Ingredients: here.

Worth it? Yes.

Moisturising effect. Ceramides help replenish the skin moisture barrier. 

Essence: clear rich serum-lotion. 

Scent: more creamy than others. 

Effect: This one was like I used the best moisturiser ever. My skin just felt and looked so good. I liked it a lot. 

Ingredients: here.

Worth it? Yes.

A soothing effect and suitable for sensitive skin. Madecassoside is derived from centella asiatica and it's been linked to healing and anti-ageing properties, more specifically to collagen production.

Essence: clear lotion that like at most of these feels a bit sticky when the mask it taken off.

Scent: more creamy than others. 

Effect: I loved this one. It's definitely great for healing and toning down inflammation. It's also nicely nourishing and my skin looked great in the morning after using this one. I would repurchase it.

Ingredients: here.

Worth it? Definitely.

For oily skin, reduces shine and the appearance of visible pores. Contains tannins, a naturally occurring polyphenol.

Scent: Medicinal.

Essence: Lighter essence than others, but still more of a lotion than a toner

Effect: I used this during a breakout to maybe calm it down a bit and it worked a bit, but not amazingly like EH Air Therapy Snail one or Madecassoside. I didn't notice my skin being more matte, like at My Scheming ones nor did it work on my pores, but my skin was nicely moisturised. It's ok, but I wouldn't buy it again.

Ingredients: here.

Worth it? No.

For blemish-prone skin. Contains black willow bark extract and salicylic acid.

Scent: more medicinal than others.

Essence: similar essence to others, so a thick toner/light serum

Effect: I used this on unclear skin. It didn't have any immediate effect and I didn't feel that it's doing much for clearing the skin. However, unlike most such masks which are best for oily skin I've tried, it was nourishing and there was no tight feeling.

Ingredients: here.

Worth it? No.

Sheet masks I loved the most: Etude House Air Therapy Snail, A'Pieu One Milk Pack Chocolate, The Face Shop The Solution Pearl, Vitamin C, Propolis, Madecassoside and Ceramide.

Have a great day!