Catrice The Great Christmas advent calendar 2024

I bought the Essence advent calendar several years in a row, but skipped it last year, because I always ended up not really using the products in the calendars. I think it’s the first year Catrice has done an advent calendar with new limited products, and I thought the theme of the calendar looked really fun and pretty, so I decided to buy the Catrice The Great Christmas advent calendar this year, and I’m going to show you what was inside the calendar. I haven’t tried all of the products yet, but I’ll let you know, how I feel about the ones I have tried.

I’m going to talk about six products at a time, so let’s begin with the product that was behind the first six doors. They were a highlighter (gold), an under eye brightener, a Full Shine lipstick in C01, a lip liner in C01, hydrogel eye patches, and a Cream-To-Powder blush.

The only product I’ve worn of these first six is the highlighter. It was quite pretty, and a shade of gold that actually works on fair skin. I like the inclusion of an under eye brightener, but I don’t think it works on every skin tone; because it’s quite light. I’m sure it’ll work on me though. There’s another lipstick and lip liner coming up, which I have worn, and I liked both, so I’m sure I’ll like the formula of these ones as well. And I have a couple of blushes in the same packaging (and probably the same formula) as this one, but this shade look identical to one of the shades I have, which is a bit disappointing. I actually really like the cream-to-powder formula, so I would have loved to see another shade in the calendar.

The next six products were an eyeshadow shader brush, a matte liquid lipstick, a nail lacquer in C01, a lip liner in C02, a Full Shine lipstick in C02, and a 2in1 nail file.

The matte liquid lipstick is a deep red shade, and I’m actually planning on wearing it today. I really like Catrice brushes and nail polishes, so I’m excited to use those. And this is the lip liner and lipstick that I’ve worn, and they were very nice.

The second to last set of six products were face jewels, an eyeshadow blender brush, a hydrating lip mask, a multi-chrome eye pencil in C01, a nail lacquer in C02, and a hydrogel plumping lip patch.

I’ve never worn any of the face jewels I’ve gotten from Essence calendars, but I’m considering maybe using some for my New Year’s Eve make-up look. I think the lip mask is a fun addition, but my favourite product from the calendar that I’ve tried so far is the multi-chrome eye pencil in C01; it has a very nice warm orangy red/brown/green shift, and I’ve used it quite a few times already.

The last six products were glitter nail foils, a multi-chrome eye pencil in C02, an eyebrow brush, a hair clip, a nail lacquer in C03, and an eyeshadow palette.

I love that they included another shade of the multi-chrome eye pencils. I haven’t used this one yet, but it seems to be a pretty blue/pink shade. The third nail lacquer is probably my favourite by just looking at it (I haven’t worn any of the shades yet), and I think it’s very nice to see an eyeshadow palette in an advent calendar. I’m excited to see if the quality is any good.

Overall, I really like this advent calendar, and I think it’s better than any of the Essence advent calendars I’ve bought in the past.

Collective beauty haul (July 2024)

I have a rather large collective beauty haul to share with you today. It’s a mix of drugstore, high end etc.

Let’s begin with the bits I picked up from the Essence Hello Kitty collection. I wish that this collection had a few more make-up items, but these things are cute nonetheless. I got the pocket mirror in 01 Make Today Amazing, the nail stickers in 01 Life’s Better With Besties, the mattifying paper in 01 Make The Most Of Today, the caring sheer lipstick in 01 Find Something Sweet In Each Day, and the blushlighter in 01 It’s The Inside That Counts!.

Here’s a closer look at some of the items. Definitely cute.

I also purchased these three products at the same time as I purchased the Essence Hello Kitty collection. I got another Rimmel Kind & Free mascara in 002 Brown Black, because I really enjoy this mascara. I also got another shade of the NYX Butter Gloss Bling lipglosses. It’s in the shade 08 Hu$tla. And most importantly I finally got my hands on the RMS Beauty ReDimension Hydra bronzer in Beachwalk Betty, which I’ve already featured in a favourites post.

I was really intrigued by the Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Stix and Trace’d Out pencil lip liners, and I picked up the shade The MVP 10 in both. I’m not quite sure how I feel about the formulas yet though.

Before moving on to a big Catrice collection, I also wanted to show you the Danessa Myricks Beauty Yummy Skin Low Lighters in Unbothered. I’m not sure if you’re supposed to use this product as a highlighter or as a blush, but it’s more of a blush on me. I love the whole Danessa Myricks Beauty Yummy Skin line.

Okay, I think the Generation Joy collection from Catrice is so fun. I love the colourful packaging, and there are some nice products in this collection.

First up we have the Magic Skin Perfector in C01 Embrace Yourself and the coloured mascara in C01 Real Rosewood. I’m not sure how I feel about the Magic Skin Perfector yet, but the mascara was quite pretty and unique.

I love the packaging of the lipsticks! They come in three shades; C01 True Tangerine, C02 Real Rosewood, and C03 Bold Berry.

I love that the lipliners come in the same three shades as the lipsticks. These are plumping lipliners by the way.

The Generation Joy collection also included two blushlighters in the shades C01 Flush of Joy and C02 Make Me Blush.

The remaining products in this haul are all from Beauty Bay. I collect the By BEAUTY BAY 20 colour palettes, and I really like the colour story of the Botanical palette.

I already had the Made By Mitchell Curve Case in Light, and I really like it, so I thought it would be fun to try the Lighter version as well.

I also picked up the e.l.f. Cosmetics Suntouchable! All Set for Sun SPF 30 spray, the Jeffree Star Cosmetics Magic Candy liquid blush in Watermelon Latex, and the Glisten Cosmetics Blooming Blush in Yikes!.

Lastly, I got three products from Trixie Cosmetics. The blush is the Show Pony single blush and the pinky red lipstick is the Love Interest buttercream lipstick. The bright pink lipstick is called Stacy and was a free gift with purchase.

An even bigger Lyko haul (June 2024)

I have huge Lyko haul to share with you today. It consists of the Essence Harley Quinn collection and the Catrice The Joker collection plus a bunch of other stuff including sale items.

Let’s begin with the Essence Harley Quinn collection, which I’m pretty impressed by so far. I picked up two Jelly lipsticks in 01 Psycho Pink and 02 Gotham Glam and two Multi-reflective lipglosses in 01 Harley Glow and 02 Harley Chic. I really like both formulas.

I initially thought about skipping the eyeshadow palettes, because I haven’t loved the Essence eyeshadow formulas lately, but I picked up the eyeshadow palette in 02 Mad Love anyways. However, I could have skipped it, since it’s nothing special.

So far I really like the Pink loose setting powder in 01 Harley Vibes and I also liked the coloured mascara in 01 Purple the one time I used it.

The Meta Glow highlighters in 01 Rebel and 02 Lucky You are some of my favourite products from this collection. They’re great affordable shifty highlighters.

I love the Holo Bomb effect nail lacquers from Essence and this collection included two shades in 01 XOXO, Harley and 02 Chaos Queen.

Let’s move on to the Catrice The Joker collection. For lips, I picked up the lip oil and the matte lipstick in 020 Serious Smiles.

I didn’t get any of the eyeshadow palettes in this collection, but I did buy the eyeshadow toppers in 010 Hazardous and 020 Pow and the liquid eyeliners in 010 Eye-ronic Jester and 020 Inkredible Jokes, and both products are quite nice.

I know this is called the Maxi baked bronzer (shade: 010 Can’t Catch Me), but I’d wish the packaging was smaller, because I think I would get more use out of the product then.

These are the liquid blushes in 010 Prankster Pro, 020 The Joker’s Joy, and 030 Puddin’ Plum. These are very pigmented and the colours are very pretty.

These are the eyeshadow brush and the liquid blush brush from the collection.

And the last two products I got from The Joker collection are the 2-Phase face serum and Hair & Body mist.

Here’s a random selection of products I purchased. I got the Clinique x Kate Spade Pop Plush creamy lip gloss in Juicy Apple on sale. I loved the colour of the BBIA Ready To Wear Downy Cheek blush in 04 Downy Lavender, and I hadn’t tried a Milani baked blush in years, so I picked up the shade Dolce Pink. The Essence Kissed By The Light illuminating powder in 02 Sun Kissed came broken, but I’ve kept it for now to see if I get some use out of it.

I also got another shade of the NYX Buttermelt bronzer. This is the shade 01 Butta Cup. And then I picked up the Dose of Colors liquid matte lipstick in Warm Me Up. Both was on sale.

I’ve never tried anything from Artdeco, but I thought the packaging on these products were so pretty, so I decided to give them a go. They’re the All Seasons bronzing powder and the Sunkissed blush.

I love the Danessa Myricks Beauty Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder Flushed, so I picked up two more shades on sale. They’re in the shades Bellini and Rosé N Brunch. I also got the Danessa Myricks Beauty Vision Flush Glow in Femme, which is very pretty.

The last thing I bought was the Tweezerman Minnie Mouse Just Imagine eyelash curler.

And then I received the Make Up Store metallic liquid lipstick in Icon as a free gift with purchase.

Big Lyko haul (May 2024)

I have a rather big Lyko haul to share with you today. Most of the products are from Essence and Catrice.

This is the Catrice Seeking Flowers collection. As you can see, I picked up a lot of products from this collection, and after trying most of the products, I have to say that it’s one of my favourite collections Catrice has done in a while. I picked up the hydrating lip mask (which is the only product I haven’t tried yet), the two blush & brush sticks in C01 Berrylicious and C02 S-peachless, the cream-to-powder highlighter in C01 Watch Me Bloom, and the three hydrating lip stains in C01 So Apricot!, C02 Fuchsia Fling, and C03 Bloomtastic.

These next four products are from the Catrice Wild Escape collection, which is an older collection, so I got all of these products on sale. I got the eyeshadow palette in C01 Life In Paradise, the glowy bronzer & highlighter in C01 Wild Side, the liquid blush in C01 Rare Adventure, and the high shine lipstick pen in C02 Purely Savage.

Here’s a couple of Essence palettes that I also bought on sale. It’s the Essence Golden Days Ahead eyeshadow palette in 01 Livin’ For Golden Drama and the Love, Luck & Dragons eyeshadow palette in 01 Follow The Dragon Sparks. I was especially impressed by the quality of the Love, Luck & Dragons palette.

The last two items I got on sale were the Catrice Who I Am double ended eye pencil in C01 I Am Art and the Catrice Magic Christmas Story nail lacquer in C02 Clara’s Adventures. I also picked up the Essence Got A Crush On Apricots freckles pen in 01 Après Apricots, which I’ve been really enjoying.

The last product I picked up which wasn’t on sale was the NYX Buttermelt bronzer in the shade 02 All Butta’d Up. I love this bronzer formula so much that I’ve bought another shade since.

And lastly, I got the Make Up Store #502 blush brush small as a free gift with purchase.

Lyko haul – all Essence (March 2024)

I have a Lyko haul to share with you today, and it includes all new at the time Essence products.

Let’s begin with eye products. These are the Essence Meta Glow duo-chrome eye pencils in 01 Chromatic Love, 02 Chromefinity, and 03 Galactic Chrome. I always like trying out duochrome/multichrome products from affordable brands.

I also picked up these three liquid eyeshadows; the Dewy Eye Gloss liquid shadow in 02 Galaxy Gleam and two Luminous Eye Tint liquid eyeshadows in 04 Glazed Candy Cloud and 06 Sparkly Jade.

Let’s move on to some face/cheek products. I got the Banana loose powder, which I don’t know if I like. I think the shade is a little too dark on me. I love the Blush Crush! blushes though, and the Meta Glow highlighter is very nice as well.

Here’s a closer look at the Blush Crush! blushes. I chose the shades 50 Pink Pop and 60 Lovely Lilac, and I’m in love with the Pink Pop shade; it’s such a beautiful glowy, cool pink blush.

The Meta Glow highlighter is a pink-blue duochrome highlighter, and it’s actually very pretty.

Lastly, I purchased some nail polishes. I picked up the Meta Glow transforming top coat, the Glazed Donut transforming top coat, and two of the Glossy Jelly nail polishes in the shades 01 Summer Splash (purple) and 03 Sugar High (red).

Huge Catrice haul (February 2024)

I have a huge Catrice haul to share with you today. It includes their Valentine’s Day collection and S/S 2024 drop.

Let’s begin with the Heart Affair collection that came out around Valentine’s Day. As you can see, I picked up a lot of the products from this collection. Let’s take a closer look at them.

The collection included two blush stamps. They’re in the shades C01 Love Expression and C02 Show Me Love, which are similar shades to the packaging. These are very pigmented, and maybe a bit too intense for my liking.

The highlighter in CO1 Stole My Heart comes in a very cute heart shaped compact, and it’s a nice slightly golden champagne shade.

I got two of the three matte liquid lipsticks shades. The shades I picked are C02 Married?! and C03 Taken?! I’ve only worn C03 Taken?! so far, but I really liked the formula, and the colours are very pretty.

I also bought two out of three shades of the full shine lipsticks. I chose the shades C01 Hearts On and C03 Heartbreaker. These are also very pretty and definitely shiny.

Lastly from the Heart Affair collection, I got two of the nail lacquers in shades C01 No One’s Lover and C03 Love Game, and I love both shades. The packaging is nice too.

Next up are the new spring/summer products I picked up. This is the Skin Glaze hydrating serum primer. So far I like it.

I’m not sure how I feel about the Magic Shaper face cream palette in 010 Holy Grail though. The bronzers are too deep and I’m not sure I like the formula very much.

These are the Blush Affair liquid blushes in 020 Orange Fizz and 030 Ready Red Go, and I remember these to be pretty nice.

Here’s a little bundle of products I got, and two of them are some of my favourites from this haul.

The Space Glam holo highlighter in 010 Beam Me Up! is beautiful. It has a transparent base and then it shifts different colours from pink to gold to green. I can’t believe that Catrice managed to create such a stunning shifty highlighter at such a low price point.

Here’s a closer look at the two lip products. I really enjoyed the Intense Matte lip pen in 070 Re(a)d My Lips, and I know I like the Scandalous Matte lipstick formula, so I picked up another shade called 130 Slay The Day.

Here are some more lip products I picked up. I really like the Shine Bomb lip lacquer in 060 Pinky Promise. I haven’t tried the Melt & Shine juicy lip balm in 100 Sunny Side Up yet, but I also really enjoyed the Drunk’n Diamonds plumping lip balm in 050 Bury Me In Rubies.

The Space Glam products are some of the big winners in my book. These are the Space Glam chrome eyeshadows in 010 Moonlight Glow, 020 Supernova, and 030 Galaxy Lights. I’ve only worn 010 Moonlight Glow on my eyes so far, but all three shades swatch beautifully. These are great multichrome eyeshadows from the drugstore.

For eyes I also got the Deep Matte liquid eyeshadow in 040 Lime Light and the High Gloss liquid eyeshadow in 010 Glossy Glam. I’ll be trying out the Deep Matte liquid eyeshadow tomorrow, and I haven’t tried the High Gloss liquid eyeshadow yet.

I’m very impressed by the Kohl Kajal waterproof eyeliners. I picked up the shades 110 Orange O’Clock, 150 Ultra Marine, and 170 Candy Rose.

Lastly, I purchased three of the Pastel Please nail polishes. I chose the shades 010 Think Pink, 020 Cloud Nine, and 040 Mint Breeze. I love that they all have shimmer.

Essence Mickey and Friends & Catrice Winnie The Pooh collections

I have a huge Essence and Catrice haul to share with you today. It’s their latest Disney collabs; Essence Disney Mickey and Friends and Catrice Disney Winnie The Pooh. Let’s begin with the Essence Disney Mickey and Friends collection.

I picked up two of the eyeshadow palettes. I got 01 Dreams Are Forever, which has a green colour story and 03 Laughter Is Timeless, which has a blue colour story. I really liked the quality of green one, but the blue one was lacking in the pigmentation department. Both are very cute to look at though.

I purchased both of the Bouncy blushes. They’re in the shades 01 Never Grow Up and 02 Another Perfect Day. I think these are supposed to mimic the MAC Glow Play blushes, which has a blush formula that I love, so I think it’s nice to have an affordable version.

For lips I picked up the Balmy Gloss in 02 Back To Nature and the two Fruity lip balms in 01 Oh Cranberry! and 02 Red Berries Vibes!. The packaging on these is very cute.

The Essence collection also included two fixing sprays; the Happy Mood & Fixing Spray in 010 Nature Makes Me Happy and the Relaxing Mood & Fixing Spray in 020 Nature, The Antidote To Stress.

I love Essence nail polishes, and these are metallic shades called 01 Adventure Awaits and 02 Aw, Phooey!.

Lastly from the Essence Mickey and Friends collection, we have some tools. The collection included a cream blush brush and an eyeshadow brush and also creaseless hair clips.

Now let’s move on to the Catrice Disney Winnie The Pooh collection. I only picked up one of the eyeshadow palettes. This one is called 020 Friends Lift Each Other Up and has a lilac/purple colour story.

The Catrice collection included two Soft Glow bronzers in the shades 010 I Think It’s Called Love and 020 Promise You Won’t Forget Me Ever. These are so adorable!

The lip products in the Winnie The Pooh collection was a lip oil in 010 Silly Old Bear and some lip balms. I picked up the lip balm in the shade 010 Poohisms.

For lips I also got the Trio Lip Care Set 3pcs, which includes a lip mask, a lip scrub, and a lip exfoliator tool (I’m not sure if that is the proper name for it). This set is just the cutest!

I also purchased one of the nail polishes from the Catrice collection. It’s the Dream In Soft Glaze nail polish in 020 Let Your Sillyness Shine. I also got the nail and cuticle oil.

This collection also had an Illuminating Primer in 010 Poohtiful and a lash curler.

The very last thing in this haul is the soothing hand cream in 020 Just Doing Nothing with the cute Eeyore on the front.

Collective haul (October 2023)

I have a large collective haul to share with you today. It consists of shoes, clothes, accessories, and make-up.

I featured these Crocs Classic Crush boots in my December favourites post, and I’ve continued to wear them a lot. I bought them on sale on the H&M app.

I love a boot with a chunky heel and a platform, and these pink suede ones from Asos Design are really nice.

This red checkered suit from Asos Design came in very handy during the holiday season. I wore it here and here.

This red bow hair clip from H&M was a stable Christmas accessory for me, and I still love it and will continue to wear it.

This silver ring is called the Drippy V-Ring from Danish jewellery designer Jane Kønig. I wear it pretty much every day.

In my last haul, I featured the other shade of the Catrice METAFACE nail lacquers, but I wanted this lighter shade as well called C02 Cyber Beauty.

I was curious to try the new Clarins Joli Rouge lipsticks, so I picked up the satin lipstick in 742 Joli Rouge and the velvet matte lipstick in 754V Deep Red. Both are very pretty red shades, and the packaging is stunning.

I also got some stuff from Fenty Beauty. I purchased another shade of the Cheeks Out Freestyle cream blushes (shade: Pinky Promise 13), the limited edition Gloss Bomb Crystal Holographic lip luminizer in Holla’Gram, and the Eaze Drop Blur + Smooth skin tint stick in shade 02.

I picked up one more product from Fenty Beauty from another website, and it’s the Fenty Icon Semi Matte refillable lipstick set which was a limited edition holiday release. The lipstick shade is called Sorta Single. I also purchased two products from Rare Beauty; another Kind Words matte lip liner (shade: Strong) and another Soft Pinch tinted lip oil (shade: Affection).

From MAC I got one of the new at the time Locked Kiss 24hr lipsticks, and I picked a beautiful warm tomato red called Gutsy. I received the Made To Wow Brow Kit Auburn as a free gift with purchase. The kit includes a Brow Set Clear and a Brows Styler in Penny, which is not my shade.

You know I love Natasha Denona eyeshadows, and I was very excited to see a blue palette from the brand. This is the Mini Triochrome, and I think it’s very pretty. I’m wearing it here.

I’ve got two more palettes to share with you, and I’m really excited about both. First, I had to have the Blend Bunny Cosmetics Sickly Sweet palette, and I have to say that it’s pretty much the perfect pastel palette. I used it to create this eye look.

The other indie palette that I also had to have was the Cosmic Brushes/Beauty Gothic palette. I wore this on New Year’s Eve, and it was beautiful.

The very last thing in this haul is the Sigma Dry’n Shape Tower Face & Eyes, which is described as a stackable brush care station, so a tower to hold your brushes after you’ve cleaned them. I’ve used it once, and it worked pretty well.

Lyko haul (October 2023)

I have a collective Lyko haul to share with you today. I purchased these products back in October.

The Clinique Cheek Pop blushes are some of my favourites, so I’ve had the Black Honey Pop shade on my wishlist ever since I first saw it. It’s so pretty.

I love the Anastasia Beverly Hills lip liners, and I got a great deal on this deluxe mini lip liner set. It includes the shades Cherry, Raisin, Mocha, Deep Taupe, Dusty Rose, Muted Mauve, Toffee Rose, and Baby Roses. It also includes a sharpener.

Next up is Essence. I picked up two of the Blend & Line eyeshadow sticks. They’re in the shades 02 Oh My Ruby and 03 Feeling Leafy.

I’m a little obsessed with the Essence Holo Bomb effect nail lacquers, so I had to have all five shades; 01 Ridin’ Holo, 02 Holo Moly, 03 hoLOL, 04 Holo It´s Me, and 05 Holo Me Tight. I’m wearing the green one right now.

I got two more nail polishes; the Essence gel nail colour in 59 Brick Or Treat and the Catrice METAFACE nail lacquer in C01 Pretty Avatar. And let’s continue with some Catrice products.

From the Catrice METAFACE collection I also picked up the highlighter face glaze pot in C01 Virtual, which is super pretty. I also wanted to try out the Magic Shaper contour & glow stick and got the shade 010 Light.

The last products I got from Catrice were the Wild Escape high shine lipstick pens in C01 Into The Wild and C03 Unknown Desert, and they’re very nice.

Here’s a little random mix of products before I get to the NYX stuff. I picked up the Wet n Wild MegaLast Incognito AllDay full coverage concealer in Light Beige, but the shade is all wrong, so I’ve already decluttered it. The lipsticks are from MUA Makeup Academy and they’re the Neon creamy matte lipsticks in Dare and Ultraviolet. When I lived in England 10 years ago, I purchased and wore a lot of products from MUA, so I thought it would be fun to try out some newer products from the brand.

And lastly, I bought some things from NYX. I got another shade of the Ultimate Glow Shots, and it’s called 22 Watermelon Wealth. It was quite patchy though, which I don’t find the other shades I’ve tried to be, so I did declutter this shade from my collection. Then I got the Ultimate Shadow Palette in Vintage Jean Baby, which I thought had a cute colour story and theme. I also picked up two of the NYX Jumbo multi-use face sticks. They’re in the shades 02 Vanilla Ice Cream and 04 Blueberry Muffin, and they’re pretty fun.

Lyko haul (November 2023)

I have a Lyko haul to share with you today. I’m posting this haul now, because it includes some products from the Catrice Magic Christmas Story collection. Let’s begin with those.

I picked up the following four products from the Catrice Magic Christmas Story collection; the Cheeklighter in C01 Mother Ginger, the eyeshadow palette in The Nutcracker, nail lacquer in C01 Land of Snow, and the Ultra Satin lipstick in C01 Celebration of Dances.

This is what the eyeshadow palette looks like. I was quite intrigued by this colour story, which is very colourful, and I still get Christmas vibes from this.

I chose the classic red lipstick, because you know me and my love for red lips.

The other three products I bought were all on sale. I picked up another MAC Squirt Plumping Gloss Stick. I’d been wanting the bright pink shade called Amped for a while, and now the price was really good. I also got two products from 3INA, which is a new brand to me. I purchased the 3INA The Color Lip Glow in 244 and the 3INA The No-Rules cream in 371. I’m really excited to try them both.