Euro - Brick & Mortar
Hi everyone! It's saturday, woohoo! Finally a little time to spend on the blog. For today I have something that will mostly interest Europeans since these brands are not (that easily) available elsewhere, so sorry about that!
I know there are a gazillion matte top coats out there, but I know a lot of people don't like to buy online, so for the people who can get their mitts on these brands I decided to compare three low budget matte top coats!
What top coats?
The top coats in question, are made by Hema, Essence and Catrice. I'll be mainly focusing on their mattifying abilities and their price, and not so much the wear as this is different for everyone.
Likes / Dislikes
As you can see there is one top coat that noticeably falls behind: the Hema matte top coat. It applies very nicely, but it's more satin looking. If this is your thing, I'd say check it out, if you're more into true mattes: skip it! I have reviewed this product before, saying it was not streaky, but today it definitely was! Not so cool. The other two are pretty much identical. They're both made by Cosnova, applied the same way, so I was wondering if these might be the same product in different bottles? Unfortunately I couldn't find ingredients anywhere - which is a major letdown - I think all products should have their ingredients attached to their back.
What I didn't like about the Essence and Catrice top coats was the fact the brushes pick up color. You don't want your top coat to change color, so don't forget to clean up the brush if it got dirty.
Cheap, Cheaper, Cheapest
The Essence Matt top coat costs €1.75 / 8ml, the one by Catrice is €1.99 / 12ml and the Hema will cost you €2.50 / 11ml. As you can see the one by Hema is the most expensive, but the least matte looking. If you want to go for a true matte, I'd suggest you look into the ones by Essence and Catrice. The Essence looks the cheapest, with its price of only €1.75, but is it REALLLLY? A little breakdown:
Hema Top Coat Matt | Catrice Matt Top Coat | Essence Matt Top Coat | |
| Price in € | 2.50 | 1.99 | 1.75 |
| Per ml | 11 | 12 | 8 |
| Price per 100ml | 22.73 | 16.58 | 21.86 |
So, if you're looking for a decent, true matte top coat, for the smallest price, the one by Catrice wins hands down!
One product in this post was provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for review. For more information please read my disclaimer