Today I thought of revisiting my old make-up bag where I keep old make-up products. This is what I found:
It may not seem like a lot to some, but to me they sum up to a disturbing number... I'll count them for you- 40 Biotherm lipsticks/glosses that I had been buying religiously a long, long time ago. They have survived my "getting rid of it" tendencies, probably because I paid a lot to get them- cheap lipsticks, they were all thrown away. Now I'm disgusted of the sight and this is why:
- Because most of them have gone off- if not all! - Because I don't think that a white (!) lipstick or a yellow lipgloss are very flattering and easy to wear... What was I thinking back then?!? - Because of their relatively short expiration date, I could save my money and invest it into make-up brushes of top quality...
So I decided to enforce myself a lipstick/lipgloss ban, until I finish some of these first. I hope I'll manage without buying new lip products for at least 6 months!
Have you been under a make-up product ban recently? Did you stay true to your initial goals?
Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!
Today I accidentally discovered this little web service and I've been playing with it non-stop for hours!
Quoting from Wikipedia: "Musicovery is an interactive and customised webradio service. Listeners rate songs, resulting in a personalized programme. Reviewers have commented that unlike services that are governed by the user's choice of artist or genre, this method results in more discovery of artists to which the user might not otherwise have been exposed".
There are so many ways to customise your music; you can choose between the 4 extremes of the "mood" or/and the "dance" tags, or you can choose your favourite music genres, or your favourite decades- thus limiting the selection down to your very favourable!
Tip: If you're bored of registrating at the site, you can visit Bourjois and click on the pink music note button (located at the right down of the screen). That's how I found it on the first place!
I hope you find it a lot of fun, like I did ;) Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!
Random post again, this time about my thoughts on beauty commercials.
I've been reading a lot of posts from fellow bloggers where they mention their anticipation of summer. My feelings on the arrival of summer, though, are mixed. Overall, I'm not excited about it- to say the least. Let me explain myself; summer makes me anxious.
Please don't get me wrong for saying this, I'm not trying to gain any compliments out of it- I probably shouldn't complain about my body, but here's the thing; I don't feel comfortable exposing a lot of skin. I may be slim, but that's not enough. I feel my arms are always swelled up, my legs looking too slim or too fat...
Where I'm going is this; I'm not intimidated by beautiful and fit women on magazines or at the streets. My alarm bell/shock emerged from those adverts on tv with cellulite creams and slimming pills. As if someone was telling me "don't fool yourself, you HAVE an issue of weight/cellulite and if you don't do something about it you're doomed".
I'm typing this while being aware of all businesses' basic law of creating a need +then fulfilling it, but I still can't get this phrase out of my head. Knowing that skin exposure during summer is inevitable, it makes me even more vulnerable to such thoughts.
I really want to know your opinions on the subject. Do these kind of commercials dispirit you in a way?
Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!
Didn't I tell you that I was going to get my hands on those little cuties?
[left: colourless- no spf, right: peach, spf 15]
I've been using this colourless stick over the last month, so now I can share my thoughts with you:
Pros-
- The packaging! First impressions do count, don't they? I hated the plastic pot packaging of the previous Korres lip butters, it felt so light and cheap! This one is more sturdy, the twisting mechanism works fine, and the minimal decor- perfect!
- It is adequately moisturising and helps heal my lips from chapping and dryness. I found the previous lip butters in the pot not moisturising at all :(
- Its texture- it's a hard stick that won't melt in the tube, but is soft enough to be applied smoothly on the lips. One thing though; when the weather was cold, the product would "harden" and it was a bit difficult to apply- but I believe that this happens with most lip treatments... Now that spring is here, it spreads on my lips like a dream.
- The colour effect- after trying all shades at the store, they felt more like a tint of colour with a healthy shiny finish, not glossy-shiny like the pot lip butters... You can tell that I didn't like those, huh...
- Oh, and it's affordable. That's always a plus ;)
Cons-
- The smell? Don't let the tag "mandarin" fool you, this doesn't smell of citrus at all. In fact, it has a very light scent of cocoa butter? beeswax? I'm not sure! Which brings me to...
- The lack of the ingredient list on the packaging, which is a big turn-off for me... No extra stickers or packaging for this purpose, oh no! One might say that there's no space on the tube to insert the ingredient list and still looking "minimal" and "hip", but I can recall the new Apivita lip aids that have used the ingredient typewriting to their advantage.
- As most lip treatments in a stick, it goes out really fast...
So, that's it with this review. I'm going to try every tinted shade, starting with this peachy one. Please let me know if you've tried any ;)
Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!
I've been so so busy over the last week... Being away for a major engagement, I wasn't able to post a few words on this blog or answer to all your lovely comments! But thankfully, it's all finished now- oh I'm so relieved! I'll contemplate for my absence, promice :D
This is a blurry pic that shows what I wore on this "engagement"... Can you tell that I love stripes?
By the way, I'd like to thank all of you fabulous people who enjoy this little blog of mine and leave your sweet comments under my posts. I'm always excited reading and replying to all of them, so if you're thinking about commenting- please do ;)
Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!
Sweetie, you've been spying on my blog. I know you have, and I don't like it- please stop. This is girlie stuff, nothing that would interest you. It's embarrasing for me to know that you're peeping at my ramblings... and then making fun of it. I'm a good girl. Please don't turn me into a b**ch.
In keeping with the anticipation of spring's arrival, I thought I would post my views on this floral and springy Korres perfume. Oh and please, be patient with my description- I tried my best!
A little note: Is it just me or are all Korres fragrances not the "easiest smelling" of the market? For me, an "easy smelling" perfume stands for a familiar-ish composition of fragrance notes that you can instantly tell if you love/hate it. After testing them out at the store, I found myself constantly sniffing at my wrists to see whether they would fit my style or not.
The men's perfume with the saffron was the "easiest smelling" of the three, it didn't take me much time to find that I love it- now so does my boyfriend that I got him as a gift ;)
The so-called "unisex" perfume with jasmine and pepper... well I didn't like it, but the funny thing is that I couldn't figure out why; was it the jasmine? the pepper? It felt as if it changed its composition with every sniff! Too strange for my nose... Even its gorgeous packaging didn't make me more sympathetic- and this comes from a big-time sucker of fancy packaging!
This women's perfume is not an "easy" smell, too. When you spray it, initially it smells of alcohol. When that goes away, the fruity and fresh black-currant scent takes over, mixed with a little of cyclamen and the tiniest hint of rosewood. The latter dominates the composition 5-10 minutes after the application, but not in a heavy manner because of the "freshness" of the rest of the scents.
I have to confess that what I enjoyed the most (after a lot of spritzes!) was the fact that my nose could trace all three main scents inscribed on the bottle. As with other perfumes, I'm usually bombardised with a dozen of top-notes and an equal amount of middle- and base-notes, while not identifying a single scent! This Korres perfume made me ever so confident, I was secretly boasting to myself that "hey, I could become a perfume connoiseur" :D
Overall, I like it a lot. I'm wearing it a lot. But it didn't make me lose my mind over it like Shiseido Zen has done in the past... So if you're interested in smelling it, you've been warned- it takes some time to love it! If you are familiar with this fragrance, please let me know what you think about it ;)
Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!
Don't they look enticing? I'm always fascinated with this kind of make-up product - a big compact powder with lots of different colours that can be used for highlighting, contouring, as a blush or even as an eyeshadow palette...
These are the Shimmer Waves from the Body Shop. As you can tell, they're supposed to be a Shimmer Brick "dupe"- they may be cheaper than the Bobbi Brown powders but they're relatively pricey for Body Shop products. But anyway, they looked far too pretty to be passed by!
01- Bronze
#1 (left to right)- a shimmering champagne colour #2- a deep golden shade #3- a dark bronzey shade #4- a dark neutral brown. Fear not, this isn't as pigmented as the rest of the shades! #5- a shimmering light golden shade
Applied altogether with a brush: a beautiful, very flattering dark bronzey colour! Personally, I think it looks best during summer, on top of a matte bronzer or on its own. I love the fact that it reflects this beautiful golden glow while having a deep bronzey base- I hope I'm making sense ;)
02- Blush
#1 (left to right)- a dark rosey colour #2- a shimmering champagne colour #3- a light rosey shade #4- a light bone beige shade that is not as pigmented as the rest :( #5- a shimmering white with lilac-pink duochrome
Applied altogether with a brush: a subtle and light rosy shimmer that can easily be worn during the day- unlike the Bronze and the Peach that -for me- can look a "too much" thing at daytime. This powder is so finelly milled that it won't ever accentuate any pores, how cool is that? The only downside (if I can count it as such) is that it clashes with bronze/brown eye shadows, which I use a lot...
03- Peach
#1 (left to right)- a light golden colour #2- a shimmering peach shade #3- an orange shade #4- a very light shimmering peach #5- a shimmering champagne colour
Applied altogether with a brush: an intense peach-to-silver-to-gold shimmer (you can tell the different shimmers by looking from the left to the right). It is obvious that this compact is the most pigmented of all three... Colour-wise, I would say that it is the most easiest of the three to wear. However, it requires a veeery, very light application as you can look like a discoball within seconds! Plus its shimmering particles are the "biggest" of the three (well, you have to look really closely to notice that), so that it can make any pores on the skin more noticeable.
By the way, did you notice a "shimmering champagne colour" going on all three compacts? That's because these colours are IDENTICAL and they make a beautiful inner-corner highlight! So whenever I'm using a compact, I opt for the champagne colour for my inner eyelids and I'm done :D
What's your favourite highlighting product? Are you tempted by these palettes? Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!
So I felt the need to compose a random post about things I dislike regarding make-up, cosmetics, skincare, etc.
1. Eyeshadow breakage!
Look at them, just look at them... I have supposedly "fixed" a couple, but they'll never be the same! Isn't the sight depressing or what? When an accident like this happens, honestly the rest of my day is ruined :(
2. Thumbprints on new eyeshadows For the love of God, come on! So far I've opened three eyeshadows from the Body Shop, all brand new and sealed, to find out three beautiful thumbprints on the surface... Who does this thing, really? He/she must possess some kind of magical powers, testing out products while keeping the safety sticker intact!
3. Greasy packaging of moisturisers It has rarely happened to me, sharing moisturiser or body lotion with a friend- which I don't mind, as long as he/she wipes his/her hands off the product before touching it again. I hate, hate, hate having to use it and feel the greasiness all over the packaging!
4. Spilled moisturisers Another thing that bothers me is when I open a new shampoo/body lotion/whatever and there is dried product on the cap...
5. Sharing make-up products/tools The few times it happened to me, I couldn't find a nice way of telling a friend that sharing lipglosses, etc. is not hygienic for both parties involved... I still don't know what to say in such occasions!
6. Discontinued products that I love! Big thumbs down for companies discontinuing loved products... I can recall the Biotherm full make-up line, the Body Shop Almond Lip Butter, Korres Mandarin moisturiser, etc, etc...
7. Having difficulty to find a decent grey eyeshadow Oh yes, to me it's so hard that it fits into this depressing little post... I still haven't found a grey/taupe eyeshadow that doesn't look silver, light blue, reddish or purple when applied on my lids. If you have any recommendations, please let me know!
Do you sympathise with me in any of the above? Share your thoughts ;) Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!
Oh, it's been a busy week... And on top of that, I'm either having a big headache or feeling tired as hell :(
Anyway, this post is not about whining...
This is a small gift I was given a couple of days ago and I thought I'd share it with you- it is a perfumed sachet by l'Occitane (insert cheesy french accent) with a soft lavender scent.
First of all, don't you just love ALL packagings of the l'Occitane products? Every single aspect of the brand is so meticulously studied to give off this vintage? french countryside? old pharmacy? je-ne-sais-quoi? ... just adorable feel.
This perfumed sachet is of no exception. My first impression was all about the packaging; I instantly fell in love with its cotton fabric, the beautiful typewriting- and of course, the smell of it! I was never expecting to love the actual contents inside the little bag...
It seems that it is tied in a knot and can be easily opened, but unfortunately it is all sewed up :( The ingredients are few and simple: recycled (!) plastic balls, lavender extract and fragrance. This "lavender extract" kind of tricked me; that until I placed the sachet under my desk lamp- through the light I could notice the clear plastic beads and this dark substance looking like chopped grass, turns out it is dehydrated lavender! To think that they actually put inside the sachet pure dehydrated lavender that there's no way of it being noticed by an unsuspicious eye... Gosh, l'Occitane is flirting with me again *flush*
Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!
