Little Weekend Buys!

Top: Catrice Prime And Fine Eye Shadow Base, Catrice Eyebrow Filler - Perfecting & Shaping Gel, I am Natural Cosmetics Anti-Aging Anti-Falten
         Augenkonturencreme Alpenrose&Arganöl (eye cream)
Middle: essence gel eyeliner brush, essence gel eyeliner (midnight in paris), Manhattan Marcel Ostertag Collection Eyeshadow palette
Bottom:  Manhattan Candy Rockers Intense Effect Duo Eyeshadow (96N/53D)

Hi guys, here's some more little buys I picked up in the weekend with 2 unplanned purchases that I'm completely thrilled about :) 

First off, I went to check out the Catrice counter because they had come out with a new range of products that I was interested in trying and I also wanted to check out their Limited Edition collection. The last time I was at the Catrice counter, their new eye shadow primer was all sold out and this time I was finally able to pick one up.
The previous Catrice primer (basic doe foot applicator type) did absolutely nothing for me. It creased within minutes and wasn't very easy to blend. However, I have been enjoying their Prime And Fine line so I was interested in trying out their new Eye Shadow Base in the same line.
It comes in a pot which I don't mind. It's definitely a different formula to the old one, thank goodness! It goes in the direction of the Art Deco eye shadow base.
From initial use of this eye shadow base, I'll say that it's ok. For those of you with regular eye lids, it will work. With my hooded eyes and oily eye lids, it does crease. I found that when I used matte eye shadows, they lasted long and didn't crease for a long time. However, when I use metallic eye shadows (which for me is always a test of how good an eye shadow base is), it does crease. So it is an improvement but unfortunately, not a winner for my oily lids and hooded eyes. However, with this as a base and a long lasting cream shadow on top (like Catrice's cream shadows or Maybelline's Color Tattoos), eye shadows will last longer and not crease, as it did for me.

I also picked up Catrice's Eyebrow Filler. From initial use, I'm really enjoying this product. It comes in only one colour, a sort of neutral brown, which is supposed to suit eyebrows of all colours. For me, it's too light to completely fill in my brows but it definitely helps me do my brows alot quicker. I use this to groom and the small fibres in the product do a great job of filling in my brows 3/4 of the way from the inside. Then I use my eye brow pencil (no. 30 from Catrice as well) to finish of the ends and I'm done.

The eye cream from I am, which is a local range of a local chain (Migros) here in Switzerland, is ok so far. I need to use it a bit more to really get a feel of the product. I usually use the eye cream from Yves Rocher (Serum Vegetal range) which I really enjoy. However, since we've moved, the nearest Yves Rocher store is not so close by so I haven't had a chance to pick up a new one. So I thought I'd try out a new eye cream and this one from I am contains Argan Oil (I've been enjoying Argan Oil for my hair which sparked my interest). Will have to see how it works out for me.

I went to the Essence display (you guys know I love Essence! :D) because I wanted to pick up a new eye liner brush. I had bought one way back when Essence first came out with their eye liner brushes. The earlier ones had blue bristles. I didn't enjoy that one much. I found it had too thick bristles and so you couldn't really get a fine line. However, I still was able to use it and thought I'd just pick up another as back up, especially as they're really affordable. However, to my pleasant surprise, essence has re-made their eye liner brushes! These newer ones with the purple bristles have much thinner bristles that make a finer line and are stiffer, which enables you to really draw a line without the bristles bending. I'm enjoying it so much that I'm going to get one or 2 more for back up (eye liner addict here! :D)

I also picked up the Essence gel eyeliner in Midnight in Paris, which is basically, black. Now, again, I had first picked up a gel eyeliner from Essence when they first came out with it. I had it in dark brown, which they don't make anymore. And I didn't enjoy it, especially as I used it with the old Essence eyeliner brush. And the thing about Essence gel liners is that the formula is really a gel. Alot of other brands have gel liners but the formulas tend to be more waxy or creamy but Essence gel liners are really gel, so they can be a bit tricky to work with. 
However, I had heard good reviews about this black gel liner from Essence so I thought I'd give it a go, especially as my favourite Maybelliner gel liner is so pricey here. And I'm glad I did. Once the gel liner sets, it lasts on my oily lids. And once you get the hang of working with the gel formula, it's pretty much like any other gel liner. I find I've been reaching for this instead of my Maybelline one lately!
And used with Essence's eye liner brush, I found lining my eyes to be much faster and felt like I had more control of the kind of line I want. Definitely enjoying this combo!

The Manhattan eye shadow palette was a surprise find. The limited edition palettes caught my eye and the swatches impressed me. I love burgandy eye shadows and there's some shades in this palettes that I just fell in love with and I just had to pick it up. I haven't had a chance to really work with the shadows but initial swatches have shown them to be pigmented and rich colours and I really look forward to trying it out!

Last of all, also from Manhattan is their duo eye shadow, the other unplanned purchase. I admit once again that the burgandy half made me get this. It's such a beautiful shade and I can't wait to try it out! The initial swatch of it showed the colour as a really rich pigmented burgandy brown shade. I'm in love!

So that's my little weekend buys, guys! I will be trying out these products so feel free to let me know if you want to know how they're working out for me so far! :)

Note: I went to check out the Limited Edition collection from Catrice (Candy Shock) which I was really looking forward to. But I ended up not getting anything because I found them to be more on the chalky side so definitely wouldn't work with my skin tone. The only thing that vaguely interested my was the brown eye shadow.

I will be checking out their upcoming Collection called Geometrix.