Worth It or Not? Monthly Makeup Roundup!

When they get it right they really do but when they get it wrong oh it's so disappointing. It really is. Hi everyone welcome back my name is Carmel and in today's video we have my February roundup. So that is all of the makeup and beauty that I tried in February. Ones that I loved, ones that I didn't love and ones that were just okay. So if that sounds like something that you might be interested in then please do keep on watching. So I think we'll start off with the eyes and oh my gosh I've had such an absolutely traumatic morning. So we'll talk about the first palette that I want to speak about. It's my favourite palette of the month. It's my one of my favourite palettes of all time now and it's this one from Lisa Eldridge. It's the Betty palette which I dropped this morning. Oh I know I know but look minimal damage has occurred. I know to look here it doesn't like there's any damage but this shade I think it's called Talk to the Poor that has become dislodged okay. So I've just kind of pressed it back in. I mean why am I so clumsy? Why do I do this? I find a palette that I fall in love with, a palette that has colour in which for me is saying something and then I go and drop it and I mean I smashed it off the ground literally. Do you know what the good thing is with these palettes though is Lisa sells these single ones so if you need to replace something you can literally just purchase the pan. So that does give me a little bit of um breathing space and I'm not crying yet but almost my friends almost. So I did produce an extra video this week where I created two looks with this palette. If you know me you'll know that this is way outside my comfort zone but guess what I'm pretty comfy in this zone. I love this palette so much. It is so pretty, it is so versatile. So just to let you know how I've been using this palette now usually I save my favourite palettes for special occasions but I told you in my new year's resolutions that I wasn't going to do that anymore. So I've been using a lot of these as one and done shadows so go in with any of these as a one and done. They are perfect, they are smooth, they are pigmented. The formulas are some of the best I've ever tried and honestly I just I was never really that bothered about trying Lisa Eldridge's eyeshadow palettes. I think because I've fallen out of lovely palettes but guess what I seem to be back on the palette train in 2026. For some reason I just want to buy everything but I'm just so glad that I bought this palette. It's everything that I expected it to be and more. So if you want to go for a colourful eyeshadow look like this you can but if you want to tone it down you want to go for a really neutral brown eyeshadow look you can do that too. This is, it's just perfection. The other palette that I bought this month was this one from Natasha Denona. This is the Luxe Glam Compact and I got the shade rosy. There are three colour stories to choose from a cool, a nude and this which is rosy. I think this is absolutely beautiful. I love especially this foil shadow. I think it's stunning. I think it's one of her best formulas. However this is nothing we haven't seen before so if you are a Natasha Denona palette collector well I suppose if you are you're probably going to want to buy this or one of them. However you have these shadows apart from this one take this out of the equation you've got all these anyway in different palettes from different brands. I can't deny that her formulas are beautiful and these mattes are just so creamy so beautiful. Just blend themselves and this is just gorgeous. Like the foiled shadow is so impactful. It's stunning and the packaging absolutely beautiful but it's 50 quid. Like 50 quid. So this was 50 euros and this was 59 euros and honestly there's no comparison to me between these palettes. Obviously both beautifully packaged both insanely beautiful formulas but if I had to pick any and I had to recommend any it would absolutely be Betty. Betty just ticks every single box. It's so incredibly versatile whereas you're not going to get a whole lot of versatility from this. Again I don't regret buying this palette. I think it's gorgeous. Natasha Derona lovely but then Lisa Eldridge is just another level. I did have a couple of fails for eyeshadow this month and that title goes to number seven. So number seven this eyeshadow palette oh it's such a disappointment to me and yeah someone did call me out in the comments and said that they were surprised that I was so negative about number seven. I really did not mean to come across as negative with number seven at all. I just wanted to be honest about my experiences. So these little quads I bought another because I had such great success with the one that I had previously which was the Lights Camera Action. It's kind of a neutral brown palette and I loved it and I thought I was going to get the same experience with this and it was just really really disappointing. In fact all of the eye products that I tried all of the eyeshadows that I tried from number seven were disappointing. So the other one was these Pro Artist Dream Duet eyeshadow sticks. I have been through several of these. I had to return to because they broke on me and I just don't like the colour stories. It's not that I chose colours and then regretted it. They came out looking completely different. I just don't think that the payoff is good on them apart from with the creamy matte side. They were a real disappointment for me. Everything that I tried on my eyelids from number seven I didn't like this month unfortunately which is a real shame because I do actually love the brand. If I didn't love the brand I wouldn't have created two videos on them and purchased every single thing with my own money. I really do apologize if you think that I'm coming across as negative. I just I'm trying to be honest. I don't want you to waste your money. Let me do that. Let me waste my money on these things. I know we're all different. We all like different things. Yeah I apologize if you thought that I was being too negative. I didn't mean to. I do love number seven. When they get it right they really do but when they get it wrong oh it's so disappointing. It really is. One of my greatest finds in February in fact two of my greatest finds in February came from number seven. The first one is this the number seven Pro Artist Instant Impact Volumizing Mascara. It's the mascara that I've got on today and this has become my number one mascara. I can't believe that it gives me this amount of length in my eyelashes because my eyelashes are poor right now but it gives me not intense volume but just a nice amount of volume but really lovely length. I love everything about this. I think this performs better than the majority of mascaras that I own honestly and that is saying something because I have a lot of mascaras that I like especially from the drugstore. This is constantly on offer at the moment and I think I saw this morning that it's on offer for 11 quid or something like that. That is a great price for what is a phenomenal mascara and one that will lift, will separate and will stay there absolutely all day. Now it's not going to give you super drama in your lashes if you want like you know full fat lashes. It's not going to give you that but just for an everyday if you want nice fluttery lashes and you don't want to worry about them and it's really easy to remove. I love this mascara. One of my absolute favourite finds of February and one of my other favourite finds from February that I absolutely fell in love with. It's from number seven and it's this fixing spray. This is the Pro Artist Finishing Touch Fixing Spray. I have never been a fan really of fixing sprays so setting sprays can have different functions so you know to melt everything together but also to set your makeup in place. But a fixing spray is going to literally stick everything on your face okay and your makeup shouldn't move. I've never really been a fan of those because they always feel like hairspray on my face. This feels like my holy grail which is my Charlotte Tilbury and actually I prefer the mister. I prefer the fragrance. I don't think there's any fragrance in this. No I can't get any fragrance from this. This gives me a beautiful natural luminous finish to my skin and it will literally keep my makeup from going anywhere. This has become such a go-to for me and what a little hidden gem. I've heard nobody speak about this and it's also alcohol free as well so and I actually prefer the mister to the Charlotte Tilbury. The Charlotte Tilbury can be a little bit oh that's because I've said I've got a new favorite. Look at my face now. I'm sorry Charlotte Tilbury I didn't mean to upset you. So yeah what I was saying was that the Charlotte Tilbury mister can be a little bit aggressive at times but this one from number seven did you see that spray? It's really it's really gentle and fine and just lovely. I finally have an amazing fixing spray and yeah could be rivaling my Charlotte Tilbury for the top spot 100 percent. Can we just talk brow products for a minute? So right let me back up. Previous video I had a full face of Catrice on and I spoke about this micro blade brow pen from Catrice. Absolutely fantastic. The tiniest little tip you'll ever seen. Very soft natural brows. Brow pen sticks around all day. I'm a big brow pen fan and it takes a lot to actually impress me when it comes to brow pens. However and I've not featured this on the channel yet because I have a bunch of essence that I've been testing that I need to test. Honestly I need more days. I need more days in a week from testing this new brow product from them. This is the micro blading brow bush liner. Holy smokes. So my current favorite is this one from ABH Anastasia Beverly Hills and can I just give you an update on this please? And it's not about the product it's about the packaging. All of the writing has disappeared and you know what? It came off in flakes every single time I used the pen and it would end up all over my hands, all over my face. So annoying. So I'm not happy about that. Still amazing product though but that was my favorite. This micro blading brow pen from Essence. So it's a slightly bigger tip but actually it creates such super fine brow strokes. It's what I've used today. I am incredibly impressed. I'm literally blown away by this brow pen. I can't even tell you. And do you know how much I paid for this? 3.25. How is that even possible? This is absolutely incredible. I didn't even tell you my shade did I? This is in the shade dark brown. It's one of the best brow pens I've ever ever used. I do still love the Catrice though. I think if you like more of a natural feathered look, go for the Catrice. But if you want brows that stay in place all day, go for the Essence. Wow. I actually did try the Rare Beauty brow gel for the first time in February. Like it. I do. I got it on today. I think it just holds everything really nicely. Yeah, I mean I'm a bit funny when it comes to brow holding products because I like what I like and I like what I like. So I don't really branch out from that. But my favourites are the Maybelline Superlock brow glue and the NYX brow glue. These are still my favourites over this. However, it has entered my rotation. So just depending on what I fancy on the day, I'll either use the Maybelline or the NYX or the Rare Beauty, however I'm feeling. I think they're all really, really good. But I wouldn't encourage you to go out and buy the Rare Beauty when you've got these which are more affordable. Now there's not actually that much between them I would imagine. Rare Beauty isn't excessively priced. But if you can save a few pennies, then why wouldn't you? I tried a few concealers this month, but one really impressed me. This is the Patrick Tarr. It's what I've got on today. This is a very self-setting concealer. And yeah, for the first time doing a video like this, I don't have any powder under my eyes, which is so weird for me. So this is the Major Skin Soft Blur Brightening Concealer. I have this in the shade Light Peachy Neutral 2. That's a really long shade name, isn't it? Really enjoy this. I think it's beautiful. So as I mentioned in my initial review, this is very serum-like, but actually does blend out into a thicker consistency. But it's absolutely stunning, honestly. So I'd say it gives a medium coverage. I'd say it's super hydrating feeling under the eyes, but not too serum-y, okay? So I know some people don't like serum concealers. If you don't, you'll like this. I wish it gave a little bit more coverage than what it did. So you can still see a little bit of my darkness. And yeah, I mean, the shade isn't particularly brightening, but it's totally fine. I mean, I've been loving the concealer, and I've been using it, honestly, on a daily basis. It's everything that I wanted the Charlotte Tilbury Concealer, the airbrush concealer to be. It has the same kind of finish, so very soft matte. But for me, it's just more flattering. I'm just a fan. I'm just a big, big fan of this Patrick Tarr. It's definitely entered my top rotation of concealers. So obviously my Maybelline Lifter Concealer, my favorite. I love the new Chanel. I now love this. I mean, I do have a bunch of concealers that I absolutely love, but this has definitely entered my top draw. I think it's beautiful, especially on dry and mature under eyes. I tried this Milk Concealer this month. This is the Milk Hydro Grip Gel Concealer. Not worth it. Nah, not worth it. First of all, the absolutely minimal, measly amount of products that you get. So it's three grams. I think it's actually a little bit less than three grams, actually. And you get 0.1 of an ounce. Yeah, it's very, very little. Okay, so a couple of issues with this. Number one, super light coverage. Obviously, not everybody has horrific under eyes like me, so you don't need a lot of coverage. This is for people who like to wear minimal coverage, who like to just dot a little bit of concealer around the face and are good to go. If you are that person, you'll like this. I don't know how long it'll last you, but you will like it. It's very light coverage. Feels nice. It does feel nice on the skin. I don't really like it under my eyes because it doesn't give me the coverage. I like to use it a little bit around my face. Although having said that, I did use it on my head today and it's not really done a whole lot. Let's try and use it again. So I'm just gonna take my concealer brush into it. Yeah, it's fine. Like, it's nice. It's all right. I think I like it all around the face more than I do anywhere else, if that makes sense. Yeah, I just don't think it's worth it for the price. I'm sure that you have something in your drawer that is very, very similar to this, if not the same. I just don't think it gives anything different than anything else I've got. I feel like I always pick on milk and I really don't mean to. I'm always drawn in by their pretty blue packaging. It always makes me want to buy their products, but I'm yet to be blown away by a milk product. Oh, and the other thing that is a little bit annoying with this is it's got a twist-up applicator that cannot be twisted back down. So whatever you distribute is going to remain distributed. So just be careful with what you are using. Yeah, that could get messy and wasteful as well. Shall we talk foundations? Because I've had a bit of an exciting month and I found an amazing high-end foundation and an amazing lower affordable end foundation that I truly love. So the first one is this one from Clarins, the Double Serum Foundation. Oh my gosh, people got really, really angry in the comment section of that video. Yes, they did. And I also really offended people by just existing. Yeah, I got the usual comments in that video. I'm fake, I'm boring. Why am I talking for so long just to tell us that a product is good? Can I just say, if you want to know if a product is good within 30 seconds, there are shorts and there is a platform called TikTok. That is probably the most suited to you. And I really don't want to be offensive, but I'm absolutely sick of people coming to long-form content and moaning about the long-form content. I chat, I talk, and honestly, you should see what I edit out, honestly. It can be two and a half hours worth of stuff that I edit down to 30 minutes. And I think that video was only 20 minutes long, honestly. Anyway, I was trying to explain in that video what this foundation was all about. So this is the Double Serum Foundation. So it's got foundation in one side, serum in the other. It distributes an equal amount of each when you use this, but there is a little dial on the end, which basically enables you to distribute how much product you want, depending on how much coverage you want on that day. I really like it. I love how it feels on my skin. I like how it looks. I like how I can dial up the coverage or dial it down. I think for dry skin, I think it's perfect. I have powdered down my face today. It can be dewy. It can be quite dewy. And it doesn't have the best staying power in the world, I'll be honest, but I just love it. I love how it feels on my skin. Pricey though, it is pricey. And the major negative for me is that the fragrance is horrific. I hate it. I really despise the fragrance, but I will overlook that because it does dissipate and I love the product. So I did explain in that video, I tried to do it concisely, but people were worried that you might run out of one side quicker than the other, but I did speak to Clarins and they said that it is designed to run out at the same time. So you always get the same ratio of serum to foundation. So you shouldn't run out of one side quicker than the other. But I guess we'll see when I run out of this and I'll keep you updated. So lots of people saying scam, gimmick. Fine. If you think it's a scam or a gimmick, don't buy it. You don't need to buy it. I just shared my thoughts on what I thought about this foundation and I really like it. I've got it on today. I've got it on a lighter kind of coverage today, but yes, absolutely top tier product. I'm going to be honest. My favorite complexion product of the month, of the year so far is this one from Rimmel. This is the Kind and Free Glow It Up Moisturizing Skin Tint. Holy moly. I absolutely love this. It is absolutely stunning. This is just the most smoothing, hydrating, nourishing feeling skin tint. It's the only skin tint that I have felt like I wanted to wear out on a night out. I wore this out for a meal and people complimented me on how well I looked and I knew it was because of how my skin looked with this skin tint on. And actually the very first day that I wore this, I knew that it looked really nice and healthy. But when I went down to a store, the shop assistant kept complimenting my skin, specifically my skin. And I was like, okay, there's something nice about this skin tint. It's giving me nice skin and it really, really does. So it's very dewy. However, there is a sister product to this, which is called the Blur It Out. This is Glow It Up. There's Blur It Out. Blur It Out is designed for people with oilier skin. So I think it has more of a soft matte finish. I would actually be tempted to try that because I've heard such good feedback on it. So if you have dry skin, this is like a little bit of magic. It is brilliant. And it lasts so well during the day as well. I genuinely thought it would just slip off my face, but it doesn't. I do have to powder it though, because it is really dewy. But yeah, I'm all about it. I love it. So I tried a new contour from Catrice. The Catrice Sculpt and Charm. Oh my gosh. This is phenomenal. Now, is it super contoury? Hmm. I'm not sure it is super contoury. I know some people like their contour super cool. This is more neutral, I would say. This is amazing. I've been using this as an alternative to bronzer because I don't use bronzer and contour at the same time. But oh my gosh. This is one of the nicest products I've ever tried from Catrice. So I use this in the shade 020 Stone. I think it retails for about five euros. How? I don't know how. It's so affordable, but it's creamy. It's long lasting. It blends out within an instant. I cannot recommend this enough. This has become my go-to on a daily basis. I think it's an absolutely fantastic product. Catrice are smashing it right now, honestly. Sticking with the contour bronzers. I did try the new Say Super Suede Radiant Bake Powder Blush this month. No, not blush. It's not blush. It's bronzer. You know what? I like this. I do like it. It's not the smoothest of formulas I've ever tried from Say. But I really like it. Once you blend it out, I think it looks really natural, just gently warms the skin up. It says that it has a radiant finish, but I'm not going to say I don't feel like it's super radiant. I think it's not a flat matte. Anyway, as I said in my review, it's very much like the RMS Hydra bronzer, but not as smooth. I would say the RMS is slightly smoother. So yeah, I enjoy it, but it's not something that you really need to go and run out and purchase. I will use it, but it's nothing super special. I did pick up a new blush as well that I haven't featured, and it's from Say. So I heard great things about the Say blushes. I picked up one of the minis. I'm not sure whether this is a new shade, but it was a new mini. So I don't really know. This is in the shade Baby. Now, I've been trying to branch out of my usual blush colours. We're coming up to spring now, and I think this is just a beautiful shade for spring. It's the blush that I have on today, but I've not got a lot of blush on today. I kind of wanted to keep it kind of natural because of the bold eyes. But this is beautiful, enough to make me convert back to liquid blushes. Listen, I'm very fickle when it comes to blush. I've never been the biggest powder blush fan, but give me creams all day, every day. I love them. But I used to feel the same about liquids. Liquid blushes, if you want the smoothest complexion, you don't want a single wrinkle emphasised. If you want blush that feels hydrating, that is so smooth and flattering, then liquid blushes are the way to go. And this Say blush is absolutely no exception. They are quite sheer, but they are very buildable, and I just love how they feel. They're not sticky. They're not tacky. They just melt into the skin, and I can't recommend them enough. This is one of my new favourite blushes, and yeah, I can definitely see myself this summer reaching for more liquids than creams. But who knows? I'm very unpredictable when it comes to blush. You know, if I could wear them all at the same time, I would. I really need to talk about Catrice and their lip products. Holy mololy. What is happening with their lip products? So I've got the Catrice Filler Supreme on the centre of my lips today. I have a different lip liner on that's not new. Oh my gosh, I absolutely love these. This is the Fairy Tale Filter, and I don't normally go for a colour like this, do I? Look at that. I mean, that is not me at all. However, it's become me. This is just so super comfortable. It's somewhere between a gloss and a lip oil. It's just so good. Now, if you caught my video on Catrice, I use these, which are the Colour Glaze Lip Tints. I don't think I've ever used a better lip tint in my whole life. You know, these products tell us that they're going to tint our lips and they might give us a little wash. Oh my gosh, I kept Tinted Love. I kept that on for the first part of the video and it completely stained my lips. If you want, you can have this as just a glossy product and it stays super glossy and comfortable. It feels lovely. But you can either let it fade on its own or wipe it off and you're going to have colour there. These are absolutely fantastic. I'm not sure whether the tints have made it to the US yet, but keep an eye out for them. Oh my goodness. Mind-blowing. I picked up a bunch of these from Catrice, the Glass Light Gloss Sticks. Love these. I have these in my handbag, my purse, if you are from the US. I take these everywhere with me. I've got one in my car. I've got a bunch of these because they are just... Now, they're not the most creamy of lipsticks, but they just give you a nice gloss to the lips and I absolutely love these. And these are so affordable. I mean, you're talking four, five quid for these. Wow. And the new Catrice lip liners, the Gel Glide Lip Liners. Wow. I don't think I've ever had a lip liner glide on as effortlessly. And I paid 275 for these. 275 for one of the creamiest, most beautiful, long-lasting lip liners I've ever used. Hey, these could be coming from my favorite Maybelline Lifter Liners. If they had better shades, it would be my number one for sure. So I did invest in some new makeup brushes in February, more affordable ones. So I picked up some from Morphe, their Core Collection, and some from Real Techniques, which is the Natural Collection. These have fitted in really nicely with my brush collection that I have. So I love my BK Beauty brushes. I love my Ref-A brushes. I have Zoeva brushes that I love. I have old Real Techniques brushes that I love. I don't just use one particular brand for brushes. I use what feels good on my face. And so I love them both. I can't really separate them. All I will say is that if you want more of a natural makeup look, if you like natural makeup, if you don't wear anything really heavy, you don't want anything very glam, I'd go for the Real Techniques because they really do give a really soft and natural application. However, the Morphe are just like your typical makeup brushes. So whether you want natural or glam, you can get both out of these. I like them both. Honestly, I can't separate them. I like some brushes more than other brushes, but I would highly recommend. I mean, I will still always use my BK Beauty. I'm never going to stop using those because I love them. These have slotted right in with my current brushes and I'm really, really happy with them. I use what I feel like and what feels good. So, yeah, I've had great success with the affordable brushes. So, yeah, if you have been avoiding affordable brushes, don't because there are some brilliant ones out there, especially for Morphe and Real Techniques. So we're going to leave it there because I think you've seen enough of me this week. Haven't you? I know you're sick of me. It was a really, really good, positive month. I have so much stuff to test, especially from Essence. And I have my Colourpop order. I also purchased a couple of items from America that I still haven't tried. I just need to figure out a way to get these all on my face and bring you the videos. But yeah, we have lots of new makeup to come, especially affordable. So I'm really, really excited to share those with you. So do let me know what did you try in February that you absolutely loved? What did you try in February that didn't impress you so much? Let us know everything down in the comments. Thank you so much for joining me for this video. I so appreciate you being here with me. I'm really looking forward to seeing you in the next video. But until then, take care and bye for now.