Lotique Make-up (review & swatches)

Even though I’m technically on a spending ban until Black Friday sales, I had to break the rule in this instance. Since we don’t get many new brands in Slovenian market, I needed to try some products from Lotique brand. Today, I’m giving you my first impressions on two products – an eyeshadow palette and mascara.

Who is Lotique?

Lotique is a relatively new brand on the Slovenian market, only available in Europark Maribor and their online store. Shopping online in their store is easy, since it’s user friendly, easy to navigate and offers different methods of payment which is still very important in Slovenia. Lotique entered the market with skincare products in 2008 and only recently expanded their offer to make-up. They offer every make-up product you can imagine – for the face (primer, liquid foundation, concealer, blush, bronzer), eyes (individual shadows, palettes, mascaras), lips (lip gloss, lipstick and lip pencil) and a Flash line intended for teenagers, but in my opinion appropriate for everyone.

Lotique eyeshadow palette

Eyeshadow palette was the first thing to catch my attention while rummaging through the online store, especially since it looks different from most palettes I own. I’ve been trying it out for the past month and now it’s time to share my opinions with you. The palette costs 12,30€ and holds 12 shades meaning that each shade costs just a few cents over 1 Euro – you’ll be hard pressed to find a least expensive palette in the market.

Packaging

Unfortunately, the packaging is one of the worst things about this palette. Truth be told, I wasn’t expecting much more because of the low price. The entire case is plastic and very light. The lid gives me the impression that it will break of eventually. Hopefully, that won’t happen, but this is definitely not a packaging that would withstand some serious trials.

Quick overview

There are twelve eyeshadows in the palette –  4 matte, 4 shimmer and 4 metalics. Generally, this is a combination that promises quite interesting results. I like the fact that the shadows are placed in a reasonable order in the palette and that it includes shadows for highlighting, matte shades for transitions and the much-needed (yet often missing) black matte eyeshadow.

Eyeshadow test

This palette really impressed me with some of the shades and completely disappointed with the others. I suggest we look at the swatches and the individual shadows. That’s the easiest way to tell you how they worked. In each photo, the first swatch is done with my finger and the next one below with a brush.

First shade in the first row is a neutral beige, a good shadow for highlighting under the brows or simply to fixate the primer. It’s quite chalky and dusty, so you need to be careful when applying it.

Second shade has a metalic finish and comes in a light pink color. It acts very nicely when applied with fingers but tends to crumble under the brush. I got better results when I applied it with a wet brush (sprayed with my MAC Fix +).

Third shade is a shimmer in a dark orange color with a brown undertone. It’s very similar to one of the shades in the next row, but that one in particular is a metalic shadow. It applies quite nicely as most shimmers in this palette do.

The fourth and final shade in the first row is a matte in a light pink, perfect for the transitions. This one tends to crumble as well which seems to be the norm for the matte shadows, not only with Lotique but other brands as well.

First shade in the second row looks very dark but is more pink than I imagined. It’s a metalic shadow that applies nicely and doesn’t crumble too badly.

The sencond shade is very similar to the third one in the first row but sports a metalic finish. It’s extremely powdery – I got it all over my legs, palette and make-up stand every time I used it, so I really didn’t reach for it much. It applies best with fingers.

Third shade is a darker matte from the one in the first row, but the shades are too similar for my liking. As all other matte shadows, it’s crumbly as hell.

The fourth shade in this row is a metalic purple. Again, this shade is among the crumbly criminals but looks wonderful when applied with fingers. Generally speaking, the shimmers perform worse when they are applied with a brush.

First shade in the final row is a brwn shimmer, quite dusty. As you can see from the swatches, it doesn’t perform quite as well when applied with a brush.

Second shade is also a shimmer – a gray with a slight violet undertone. It’s very easy to apply and doesn’t crumble at all.

The third shade is a matte that looks black in the palette but isn’t very pigmented and requires quite a lot of effort if you’re going for a smokey eye.

The last shade in the third row is is a dark brown with a metal finish, doesn’t crumble and applies nicely.

I know, really specific, right? As you can see, crumbling and dustiness is a problem with all three shadow finishes. That can be solved to some extent by using brushes with natural fibers. Shadows with metalic finish apply much nicer with fingers. Some of the shadows are not as pigmented as they look from the finger swatches.

Do I recommend this palette?

There is no universal answer to this question. If you’d buy it for matte shadows alone, I wouldn’t recommend it since you can get better ones from Essence or Catrice. The same goes for buying it for shimmers alone. I don’t know if they justify the cost. The metalic shadows are gorgeous and worth the effort despite the fact they are bit more difficult to apply. Generally speaking, I’d recommend this palette if you don’t have these colors in your collection yet, if you’re looking to play around with different finishes and create bolder looks. You’ll be hard pressed to create a natural look with this palette because of the amount of shimmers and metallics.

Would I repurchase?

Yes, I’d buy it again for the metal shades alone since they’re truly amazing. The palette offers good ratio between price and quality. In the palette, I found colors and finishes I don’t yet own. Despite searching for dupes in the process of writing this post and swatching about 10 other palettes (Naked 1, UD Basics and Too Faced Chocolate Bar among others), I only found very good dupes for three out of the twelve shades. I’m willing to face the kick-out and chalkiness for the interesting looks I can achieve with this palette. This is not a palette I reach for every morning when I only have a couple of minutes for my eyeshadow – it’s more of a “special occasion” palette in my book.

Lotique endless volume mascara (7,45€)

Lotique also offers quite a few mascaras. Personally, I decided to go for the volumizing mascara. My eyelashes are quite long so it’s volume that I’m looking for.

As you can see from the photo, the brush is quite thick. This usually means that it holds and applies product to each individual lash, giving them plenty of volume. Unfortunately, it’s already drying a bit after a month of use which can be seen from the tiny dry fleck on the top of mascara. Such flecks tend to stick to the lashes, weight them down and improve the chances you’ll be looking like a panda at the end of the day.

I think a photo tells more then a thousand words. The lashes are nicely curled and combed but the mascaara didn’t add much volume. I can achieve such or better result with drugstore mascaras that only cost a couple of Euro. In short: it didn’t do much for my lashes and I wouldn’t recommend it.

This is everything I tested out from Lotique. I’m thinking of investing in some face products next to see how they hold up. How about you – have you tried anything from Lotique brand already? Until next time, stay beautiful!

*** I bought and paid for the products myself. Since I was probably the first customer in their online store, my order got lost somewhere in the process. Since Lotique wanted to apologize (not knowing I was a beauty blogger), they sent me the products for free. As always, this doesn’t influence this review above.

This post is also available in: Slovenščina