Drugstore Guide to Brands Available in Slovenia

Slovenia is not known for it's great selection of (drugstore) make up. By my count we have about 12 brands that are available in most drugstores, but it is getting better. It's about the same range of brands as is all countries of central Europe (the influence of Műller and DM is really dominant here), also in other European countries. Of course we have less brands and even those carry limited ranges (I'll explain more in individual descriptions).  I set on doing a post that features the products I own from individual brands, my experiences in general with the brands and maybe to help some make up addicts who intend to visit our little country and are interested in what our drugstores have to offer. There are three mayor drugstores: Müller (the biggest), DM (most common) and Tuš Drogerije (I actually only been in the one in Kočevje, so I don't know what brands they carry, if someone can fill me in it'd be much appreciated). E.Leclerc also carries some brands, as does Boutique (Maximarket), Limoni, Nama, Ilirija and some bigger Interspars and Mercators. I'm not sure what happened to Douglas. I did a post about favourite drugstore products here and here is a post on drugstore disappoitments.

Alverde

Is a brand available only in DMs. They pride themselves on offering a range of make up based on natural ingredients. It's fairly cheap, I think I paid 3€ for their baked eyeshadow. Since it is a more natural line, some products contain a lot of denaturised alcohol, like their liquid blushes. This results in quite an odd scent of some products that not everyone would like. I love their eyeliner brush (it cost less that 2€, my favourite brush for gel eyeliner) and their baked eyeshadows. I hated their gel eyeliners, but I believe those were just a part of LE collection. A Müller equivalent of a natural brand is Terra Natura (Thanks Taya) in the same price range. 

Bourjois

Without a doubt one of my favourite drugstore brands. They have amazing foundations (Healthy Mix), lipsticks (Rouge Edition), lip pencils, eye pencils and lip glosses. My cousin loved their mascara Volumizer (with 2 steps). I do, though, dislike their blushes and bronzer, but some people swear by them. It's not the cheapest brand, Healthy Mix foundation costs 14€, but you get what you pay for. It's also one of the rare brands that carries shades of foundations that are appropriate for us Snow Whites. It's available in most DMs and Müllers, also in Leclerc, Nama and Tuš Drogerija.

Catrice

 It's a fairly new brand here, but a great one. I think most were really excited when Müller finally started to carry this brand here (also sold in DM and Tuš Drogerija). They have awesome lipsticks, eyeshadows (cream and powder), nail polishes and those are the products I've tried so far. So far I haven't been disappointed by them, well apart from Lashes to Kill mascara, but it's not bad, just average. Eyeshadows and nail polishes cost around 2-3€, lipsticks are 3-4€.

Deborah

This is the only brand I don't own anything from right now. My mum loves their Atomic lipstick in 09. It's the only lipstick she's repurchased so far and it's the only thing she wears. I used to have their bronzer, but it was too orange and their blush, which was quite nice. Their lipsticks cost around 9-10€. It's available in most DM's and Müllers, also in Nama and Leclerc.

L'Oreal

Is everywhere. It's probably the most intentional brand, closely followed by Maybelline. But we only get a fraction of what's available in the UK or US. It's one of my favourite drugstore brands. I mean it is expensive, but most of their product are really good quality. I love their Infallible eyeshadows, mascaras, Lumi Magique primer/highlighter, lipsticks, Super Liner and there is probably some more. Unfortunately, they don't carry foundations that are light enough for me, so I don't know how they perform.

Essence

A lot can be said about Essence, but to sum it up in a few words: affordable, innovative and colourful. I own a pile of stuff from them, both from regular lines and from numerous trend editions they release. It's one of the most fun brands available. I love their nail polishes (cheap, great range of shades), Stay with Me lipglosses, Stay all Day eyeshadows, gel eyeliners, Sun Club blotting sheets and much more. I did a favourites post here. Their lipstick are more like glossy tinted moisturisers, which are great for those who are afraid of wearing more pigmented lipsticks. I don't like their eyeliners, lipliners (some love them, though), eyeshadows and foundations, also I find their mascaras quite average. It's available in DM, Müller, Tuš Drogerija, Ilirija, Leclerc and larger Mercators.

Manhattan

A brand that doesn't get much attention, but I adore their lip creams. It's the brand I used to buy almost everything from when I was in my early teens. It used to be the cheapest brand here, before essence of course. I bought my first mascara and lipgloss from them, also quite a lot of nail polishes. They have very pigmented lipsticks, good lipglosses, nice single eyeshadows, but bad trio eyeshadows. Lipliners and eyeliners are average. Sold in DM and Tuš Drogerije, it might be sold in some Müllers as well .

Maybelline

One of the easiest brands to find, however, and there is a huge however, the range of products available here is severely limited. Most of their, in my opinion, best products never reach our drugstores. For one it's one of my favourite concealers Instant Anti-Age Eye Eraser. It's available in Croatia, but not in Slovenia. What's the deal with that Maybelline? Another example: their Dream Touch blushes, available in most Carrefours in France (something like Interspar here), but not in Slovenia. Bonkers - the only appropriate word for this. Apart from blushes and concealer I also like their mascaras and lipsticks. I didn't like any of their foundations so far, also most of them are too dark.

Max Factor

I believe Max Factor is like an equivalent for Cover Girl, hence the similar products. They have fantastic eyeliners and I liked most of their mascaras (all of the ones with plastic brushes). They have nice lipsticks and foundations (most don't have a shade light enough, though Liquid Illusion has one). It's available almost everywhere. Oh, and if you're looking for their cream blushes, so far I've only seen them in Nama. It's in the Bourjois/L'Oreal price range.

Misslyn

The newest brand available here. I've never heard about it until about a year ago, when it appeared in Müllers. They have an impressive range of products, everything you need from regular things like lipsticks to a wide range of falsies, lash curlers, etc.  So far the only thing I bought from them are individual false eyelashes (size 2, no glue included), which are too short for me. Prices are very affordable, somewhere in the Catrice/Manhattan range.

Revlon

Available in Müller and Illirija, it's finally picked up after a rather odd era of nothing new coming in and now there is actually quite a current selection of their makeup sold here. I used to own their Colorstay foundation, but the lightest shade was too pink, I hated the strong alcohol scent and there was no pump. I love their Luxurious eyeliner in the shade Antiqued Gold and their Lip Butter are nice as well. I used to live next to Illirija  (Vič, Ljubljana, Tržaška cesta, by the factory and next to the petrol station, opposite of Mercator, you can't miss it. Take the number 6 city bus) and there were some awesome deals, eyeliners for a 1€, the lightest shades of Colorstay and Photoready for 2€.

S-he Stylezone 

Is only available in DM and (this is just my opinion) I honestly find it a bit lame. I like their huge nail polishes range, but the rest is just blah. They have a big colour range of lipsticks and almost all of them I find completely unwearable for me (it's like a festival of weird frosty shades. I hate frosty finish). There are a few exceptions, though. I like their mono eyeshadows (great quality), but their liners and quads are terrible. It's in the essence price range.

Müller also carries Isadora, Artdeco and Make up Factory; some Müllers have Pupa, however, they are too expensive to be considered drugstore brands. 

Brands that disappeared from our drugstores are Wet'n'Wild (try nonpareilboutique.com or eBay), Rimmel (but available in every other country. I suggest a visit to Croatia, Austria or Italy, if all fails try feelunique or Asos), Margaret Astor (Austria), Nivea (doesn't exists anymore), Gosh, Miss Sporty (I'm not sure if it's still sold in Tuš Drogerija).

Update December 2013: Limoni has left Slovenia and there is no drugstore department in inside Leclerc any more, but makeup is still sold there in a small shop across it.

I hope this was useful. Thanks for reading!

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Drugstore Make up Disappoitments

Essence Make up to Match Foundation 

I bought it the moment it hit our shelves in Müller. The colour match looked fine, which is rare for us pale girls, so I took it. It has zero pigmentation. I mean zilch, nil, nada. It's not even worthy of a name tinted moisturiser let alone a foundation. It's like applying a moisturiser and not a good one at that. Four euros out of the window.

S-he Stylezone Khol Kajal Eyeliners 

In short: poor pigmentation, impossible even application, lasts about 2 seconds and smudges like crazy. No thank you.

S-he Stylezone Quad Eyeshadows

The chalkiest eyeshadows ever. Pigmentation is poor and they last about a second on the lids. Get their mono eyeshadows instead. Those are pretty good.

E.l.f. Bronzer/Blush Duo 

A lot of people actually really like this duo. It's a supposed dupe for the Nars Orgasm/Laguna duo. Well, I just can't get it to work on me. I own Orgasm and the blushes are not even remotely dupes. Orgasm looks great on me, while this is an odd peachy pink colour with shimmer. The bronzer is the weirdest colour ever. It's way to orange and a really bad colour for pale skins. Also both feel very powdery and just odd.  

Wet'n'wild Mega Glo Illuminating Powder

This was hyped up on one of the sites that has reviews of cosmetic products. I bought it years ago when Wet'n'Wild was still sold in Slovenia. It is rock hard. There was just no colour pay-off whatsoever. The lousiest highlighter I ever had. Went straight to the bin.

Essence Sun Club Mat Bronzing Powder Blondes

I bought it when I was on a search for a better bronzer. It is way too light even for someone as pale as me. It's swatched here. Smells nice though, like sunscreen.

Bourjois Blush

These blushes are really popular and most people like them. I hate them with passion. They are rock hard, I can't get any colour on the brush, let alone on my cheeks. It comes with the most useless brush ever.

Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder

 My arch nemesis. Oh, how excited I was when I got it. I mean, the thing looks like a chocolate bar. However, first there is almost no pigmentation and second, the colour is too orange for my skin tone. I barely got any colour on my face. I thought that perhaps it's just the top layer that is hard, so I scrapped it off. It didn't help at all. A complete no go product for me.

Manhattan Eyelash Curlers

 Also known as the torturing device from hell. It pinches and rips eyelashes every time you get it near your eyes. Even some no-name curlers from a supermarket were better (though not by much). Just pay a few € more and get Tana instead.

Essence Lip Liner 

These are not the worst pencils in the world. The shades are actually quite cute, they are soft and apply nicely. However, they last about 5 minutes on the lips. I do still wear them sometimes, though.

E.l.f Lipstick

The weirdest texture of a lipstick ever. It feels like you're applying crayon on your lips. It's hard and waxy, it's really difficult to apply nicely. It has a strong, very sweet berry scent. The packaging is horrendous in terms of quality. Essence has better lipsticks for the same price (but those are more like tinted lip balms, though)

Essence I <3 Runway Highlighter

 With huge chunks of glitter it looks miles away from a pretty wearable dewy glow. Personally, I have no desire wearing massive sparkles on my cheeks. Get the their MyBase one instead. You get more product and that one looks actually wearable.

Thanks for reading!

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What I Bought This Week...

I'll start with the eyeliners. I finally got the chance to see the Essence 50's Reloaded TE. I was super excited about the lipsticks and eyeliners, and honestly both left me a bit disappointed. Quality-wise lipsticks looked great in a sense that they felt very moisturising,  but the lighter shade looked completely orange on me (the red one was cute, but I prefer my Manhattan Soft mat lipcream).  I passed on the lipsticks and decided to get only the eyeliner and one nail polish. The eyeliner is in the shade 03 Love Me Tender and the colour is gorgeous. It's a dupe for ArtDeco 245 eyeshadow that I love so much. But this is where the excitement ends. The quality is just rubbish. I barely get any colour on the lid (and you can't just forget about the waterline) and it's so hard. So I have to heat the tip with a lighter to make it more manageable, but still it's a big disappointment.

Second eyeliner I bought is the s-he stylezone khol kajal in 012 which is a gold shade. Again another disappointment. Although it's softer than the Essence one, it's still barely shows up. Just don't bother.

 As you can see both failed the smudge test:

Blistex Lip Relief Cream is a great lip balm. I find it really moisturising and it tingles after application. It leaves a bit of a white cast on the lips, but I like that. Currently I'm loving the combination of E.l.f. Runway pink topped with Blistex. 

Nail polished I picked up has the same name as the eyeliner. Love Me Tender is a frosty silver with a touch of old gold tones, but mostly it just looks silver. The bottle is quite big as it holds an impressive 15 ml of product (well done Essence!). I get almost full coverage with one coat and it dries pretty quickly.

Here is how it looked on my nails the second day after application with no base or top coat. (This picture was taken at the altitude of about 2000 m (about 6500 ft) and that is Mangart in the background.)

The last thing is my absolute favourite purchase in a while. It's one of the Lush powders called Silky Underwear. The scent is just gorgeous, I smell mostly jasmine. It's a great thing to have in this heat since it absorbs moisture (all thought you could use just plain baby powder). There are many ways of using this powder, I suggest reading some reviews on MUA for some ideas, but I use it to absorb the extra moisturiser before I go to bed (it leaves your skin so soft) and I sprinkle a bit on my pillow so it smells nice. On the skin it leaves a subtle but still noticeable fragrance, but I wish it was a bit more powerful. The are a lot of reviewers that complain about the packaging leaking even when shut, but I don't have those problems at all.

 As you can see it's just a plain white powder (with no shimmer, unlike Candy Fluff). Be careful with dark clothes as it leaves white marks.

Have a great day!

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My Top 10 Eyeshadows

I own a reasonable amount of eyeshadows, however I tend to use only a few and mostly it's neutral colours that complement my eye colour (which is grey, you can see it in this post). These are all single eyeshadows, I might feature my palettes separately, but I don't even own that much palettes anyway. So here are my chosen 10:

1. Row: Mac Satin Taupe, Mac Patina, Nyx Black
2. Row: Mac Wedge, L'Oreal Color Infaillible 012 Endless Chocolate, Make Up Factory Shimmer Creme 4
3. L'Oreal Chrome Shine 172 Beige Shimmer, S-he 065, S-he 035, ArtDeco 245

1. L'Oreal Chome Shine in 172 Beige Shimmer - is a very shimmery beige gold shade that really brings out my eyes. I find the the best way to apply it is with the sponge applicator, it sort of doesn't really work well with brushes, I honestly don't know why. Also because it's really shimmery, you have to be carefull when applying it or the shimmer gets everywhere. I bought it when I was in London and I don't think they sell this colour in Slovenia (actually the color selection of L'Oreal eyeshadows in our drugstores is really pathetic). I love pairing this shade with L'Oreal's 012 Endless Chocolate.

2. S-he 065 - is a brilliant highlighting shade. It's has a soft satin shine finish. I love using it just all over with some gel eyeliner. It's ridiculously cheap (1,95 €), however the size of it is also ridiculously small. 

3. S-he 035 - is a gorgeous dark blue with a satin finish. I love, love, love dark blue shades and this one is one of the prettiest I came across. I wear it over Essence kajal pencil in 13 Nightfever on the top lash line, when I want to wear something else than a black eyeliner.

4. Mac Wedge - is the perfect contouring shade for my skin tone. Also use it for contouring  my cheekbones.

5. ArtDeco 245 - I already featured it in my top 10 products post. It's my all-time favorite eyeshadow. The shade is sort of an old gold color, green-gold with a satin finish. The size of the pan is really, really small and it is a bit expensive (around 5 €), but the quality is fantastic.

6. Make Up Factory Shimmer Creme 4 - is the only creme eyeshadow I own. It's perfect for days when I'm in a rush, but I still want to wear something on my lids. It's really smooth and applies like butter. Unfortunately, since it is a creme eyeshadow, it does crease eventually, but I still find it that it lasts reasonably long. It's one of those shades that really complement blue/grey eyes because it's gold with some copper undertones. I also love using it as a base, especially when I'm wearing Urban Decay's Half Baked. Make Up Factory is only available in Müller, I believe this eyeshadow was around 12-14€.

7. L'Oreal Color Infaillible in 012 Endless Chocolate - I already raved a lot about the Color Infaillible range. Endless Chocolate is a gorgeous shimmery, bronzey brown shade. It's so versatile, I wear it all over the lid or just as a liner and it's also one of those shades that looks great in combination with so many colors. The staying power is excellent. The texture of these eyeshadows is like a pressed pigment and are really pigmented. These cost around 8 €.

8. Nyx Black - Another eyeshadow I featured in my top 10 products post. It's my most worn eyeshadow. I wear it as a liner on my waterline and top lash line. It's such a deep black shade that just lasts ages on your waterline. 

9. Mac Patina - One of the pretties shades ever. It's an antiqued gold shade that complements blue/grey eyes. It's not massively pigmented, you have to build up the color, but it just looks so gorgeous even by itself.

10. Mac Satin Taupe - Another really gorgeous shade for blue/grey eyes. It a brown taupe shade with some purple undertones. It's the prefect color for a neutral brown smoky eye. I love wearing it alone with just some mascara and black liner.

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S-He Eyeshadow Quattro and Khol Kajal

S-he completely revamped their line and I already raved about their single eyeshadows here (which I still love). However, the quattro eyeshadows do not live up to the singles. The quad I have in called 152/205 (at least I think it is, the naming is a bit odd) and it contains a pearly white, very light lilac, dusty pink and a bright blue-violet color (all have some shimmer in them). Honesty I really don't like the colors in this quad, they just don't suit me. Eyeshadows feel quite chalky, although they are quite pigmented and soft. Unfortunately they simply don't last long, they just disappear after a couple of hours (unlike the singles which last for hours). 

The kohl kajal in 003 is a smokey grey color (I have no idea why it looks a bit green on my picture). It's a great color for those who find a black eyeliner a bit to harsh but they still want to define their eyes. It a sort of in the middle pencil, not to soft and not to hard. It's quite pigmented, but it smudges quickly. I wore it as a liner on my top lashline and it smudged off quite fast, so maybe it's better just as a base for darker eyeshadows. It comes with a rubber ''smudger'' on the other side.

I was given this quattro and khol as a gift, so I have no idea how much they cost.

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Haul S-he Stylezone and Some Nail Polish Swatches

S-he finally revamped their line and I think I'm actually one of the rare people who likes the new lego style packaging. I bought two nail polishes (020 and 345) and two eye shadows in 035 and 065.

S-he je končno zamenjal embalaže in sodeč po komentarjih, sem ena izmed redkih kateri so embalaže v stilu lego kock dejansko všeč. Kupila sem dva laka (020 in 345), ter dve senčili 035 in 065.

Eyeshadows are very pigmented. S-he doesn't carry a particularity great selection of colours, but these are very good (especially compared to Essence). 035 is an sapphire blue and it's so pigmented, vibrant and easy to blend, I would easily compare it to ArtDeco's 272 (but S-he is a bit brighter). 065 is a gorgeous highlight shade with a satin finish. It's a good dupe for one of my favourite highlighting shades - the lightest shade from one of the Essence's Secret of the Past TE palettes.  I've worn both for hours without a base and the blue one only faded a bit, the highlighter shade still looked ok. Here is a lousy pic of swatches, but can you see how vibrant the blue is? The eyeshadows are very small, but I don't mind since they're 1.95 € a piece. I'll probaby get some more colours.

Senčila so zelo dobra in zelo pigmentirana. Kakšne velike izbire barv ravno ni, ampak v primerjavi s Essence so mi ta senčila veliko boljša. 035 je smaragdno modra, zelo pigmentirana in se lepo nanaša. Zlahka bi jo primerjala z ArtDecovo 272 , ampak S-he-jeva je malo bolj živa. 065 je odličen odtenek za pod obrv, ima satenast finiš. Je zelo podoben mojemu najljubšemu odtenku za pod obrv - najsvetlejšemu odtenku v Essencevi paleti iz Secret of the Past TE. Obe senčili sem nosila brez baze več ur, modra je malenkost zbledela (kot vsa druga temnejša senčila), bež senčka pa je ostala ok. Tukaj je še bolj slaba slika odtenkov, modra je dejansko še bolj živa. Senčila so zelo majhna, ampak mene to ne moti, so itak samo 1, 95€ za kos. Verjetno bom kupila še kakšno barvo.

Here is first of the nail polishes - 020, which is light pink. It has a jelly finish, first coat is very see through, second still has a bit too little coverage for my taste, but 3 coats looks ok (although the tips still show through).

Prvi lak 020 je svetlo roza. Prva plast je prozorna, druga ima že malo več prekrivnosti, tretja pa je že ok (čeprav se konice še vidijo).

I'm sure you've already seen the swatches of 345 before, mine is very bad, sorry about that. I bought this one after seeing Biba's and Nihrida's swatches. It's a black with gold and silver shimmer, just so pretty. However it's a pain to remove.

Verjetno ste že prej videli slike laka 345, moja je zelo slaba. Kupila sem ga potem, ko sem videla slike Bibe in Nihride. Je črn z zlatimi in srebrnimi bleščicami, res lep. Ga je pa težko odstraniti. 

The last thing is Barry M's Limited Edition Pink nail polish, which I got in a swap. It's a very bright pink and very opaque, on this picture I'm only wearing one coat.

Še slika Barry M-ovega Limitited Edtiton Pink laka, ki sem ga dobila v zamenjavi. Je zelo živo rozast in zelo prekriven. Na tej sliki imam namazano le eno plast. 

 

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