Holy Grail Beautyy . . .

• Inexpensive
• Wide range of colours in Bella gel powder range
• Cruelty Free
• Shimmers, mattes and satin mattes in the range

This was my first experience with a Milani eyeshadow which I bought from Beautybay a British beauty shopping site.  I also purchased two other shades - Bella Rouge which online looked red but is actually a beautiful magenta with gold sheen and Taupe a matte shade. 

Beauty Guru

This colour is beautiful gold shimmer green, it looks very high end.  I found at least for me, it works best with applying it with a finger straight to your eye.  I tried using it with several different brushes natural bristles and synthetic, wet the brush with setting spray and got decidedly average results especially when compared to simply applying with your finger.  This shade also reminds me of an anaconda in the Amazon jungle lol.



With the other two colours I purchased in the single Bella format, the shimmers definitely apply better and look better with the finger application.  Honestly I would prefer using a brush so I don't have to wipe off my fingers every time. If you set your eyelid with eye primer and powder this product does not layer well at all.  I have tried different powders to set it with to no avail.  However, no primer and no powder will give you vastly better results.

The product is housed in a gold plastic, transparent top lid component, and the product is in a concave dome.  It is not powdery so no fall out if you use a brush.  The product itself does not get affected if you use the wet brush method as some shadows go strange after repeated use with those products on its surface.

I recommend this product but you need to find the best way to apply it for you.

Thank-you for reading.
Not sponsored.
Images of me by me.
Milani

Mecca Cosmetica's second line of in-house cosmetics, Mecca Max, have produced a series of  "duos" of complimentary colours for your eyes with a powder shadow that is matte and a shimmer cream topcoat.  I bought two, one being Tuscan Sun  red powder and orange shimmer and a muted pale green with green/gold shimmer called Armed Forces.

Beauty Guru

Tuscan Sun is a strawberry red shadow and amber orange top coat.  I applied the product in the usual manner with primer and powder base.  The powder has pretty good pigmentation.  The cream I applied with a brush or finger both work just as well.  Immediately you see a great effect.  But within half an hour the cream started wearing off and became so patchy and also started to remove the shadow underneath!

The first time I tried the duo I did with bare lids and same result.  I have to say the cream element is a hard fail.  I need to wear the powder without the cream top and see how that wears.  These duos are $16 each.  It is such a shame as otherwise these could have been brilliant as they have some great combos.


The powder in Tuscan Sun is a beautiful strawberry but on closer inspection in this photo you can see that the pigment is not fully opaque.  Same with the topcoat.






As you can see above the product initially looks good, but after half an hour with no eye primer applied the product starts to break up and slide everywhere leaving patches of no colour!

With the second colour, Armed Forces, I used eyeshadow primer and cream powder to seal it.  I then applied the powder first.

Then the top coat.
This was the result after half an hour again.
Swatches of the powder and topcoat with fingers and cream brush swatches.


These duos are not drugstore prices at approx $16 AUD each.  I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Thank-you for reading.
Not sponsored.
Images by me of me.
Mecca Max