Exploring Greek brands: the lip liners. Which one is the best?

In keeping with supporting Greek brands, here's part 3 of my attempt on mapping out some possible gems among makeup brands like Erre Due, Seventeen and Radiant; you can also have a look at part 1 and part 2.

This time, I'll be reviewing 3 best-seller lip liners that I specifically picked out from each aforementioned greek brand, so as to be fair and show some love to all ;)

The candidates are:
Seventeen Supersmooth Waterproof lip liner, #14 Pure Red
Radiant Softline Waterproof lip pencil, #06 Salmon
Erre Due Silky lip pencil, #64

I'll go through each shade separately, starting with my personal favourite:

Radiant Softline Waterproof lip pencil, #06 Salmon
It's not an exaggeration to say that you need this in your collection! This lip liner has the most beautiful pink-to-coral shade, which looks bright on the lips but is oh so wearable! It can be worn on its own or blended in with a pale lipstick like Creme d' Nude for a more pastel finish. The texture is soft, smudgeable and pretty long-lasting. <3 <3 <3 it!!!

Seventeen Supersmooth Waterproof lip liner, #14 Pure Red
A classic red shade. If lining your lips is not your thing, you simply cannot ignore it when it comes to shaping the perfect red pout- been there with Russian Red! The good thing is that this particular lip liner seems to match both warm- and cool-toned red lipsticks. Texture-wise, it's identical to the Radiant lip pencil- quality is excellent.

Erre Due Silky lip pencil, #64
This is your usual pink shade that is close to the lips' natural colour. It works with so many lipsticks and I do like it, but here's the thing: as it's slightly more creamy than the previous two, it's not as long-lasting and it also swatches a tad shiny, thus making it impossible to "cheat" and outdraw your lips to make them fuller. Still, it's the best formula for beginners ;)

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All in all, these are lovely lip liners of excellent quality- and for once, I find their price tag matches the brands' "affordable" orientation (around 5-6E each). I'm very satisfied with all three purchases and would urge you to check these out if you're in need of a lip liner. In fact, I don't think I'll be browsing into other brands for my lip liners from now on!

   Swatches from left to right: Radiant, Erre Due, Seventeen
   The pic doesn't do justice to the gorgeous Radiant pencil!

Now, to conclude with the question on this post's title,
which one performs the best?

Well, I could never be 100% sure about this, but I have a strong feeling that all three lip liners are made by the same factory in Germany!
Ιn other words, excluding the ever so slight creaminess of the Erre Due lip pencil, the only difference between all three lip liners may lie into their colour range!

So there's no real winner between these- but if I had to put them into some kind of order, I'd say Radiant has the biggest (and most interesting) colour variety, the Seventeen lip liners have the prettiest packaging and the Erre Due Silky pencils are a great choice for begginers.

***All three lip liners share the new silicon-infused formula that is embedded in a plastic pencil, not wooden. For more info about this innovation and how lip liners are produced and marketed by makeup brands, you HAVE to read this article (if you haven't already):  http://beautyandthebullshit.blogspot.com/2011/03/pencil-pornication-sequel.html

So, where do you shop for your lip liners?
What's your opinion on greek makeup brands in general?

Evi   xx

November 2011 favourites!

My my, how time flies by!
I can't believe it's December already; it doesn't feel like it, I'll tell you that... I mean, it hasn't rained for weeks and it's not that chilly yet; so when are we gonna get snow? There's no Christmas without snow, dammit!

Ok, rant over...
On to my November favourites:

Seventeen Waterproof lipliner, shade Pure Red: until I got my hands on Russian Red, I settled on this one. By the way, I find the greek "drugstore" lip pencils to be of excellent quality, give them a try if you're in need for one!

(p.s.: oh yes, Russian Red is crossed out of my X-mas list! hehe)

Elf Studio Matte lip colour, shade Natural: a pretty matte nude

"office-appropriate" lipstick that I used a lot in my morning makeup routine. Doesn't feel dry at all, and to be honest it makes my lips look fuller than good old lipgloss ;)

TBS Baked eye colour, shade Sapphire: my go-to choice for a navy smokey eye during past month. The thing is, I came to the wrong conclusion that baked eyeshadows photograph so much nicely than the regular pressed eyeshadows- but, after seeing the latest Pixiwoo vid, I realised it wasn't the baked formula that was to blame but the light coordinating shade blended in the crease. I urge you to try this method instead of blending the dark lid colour with your usual light brown shade, you'll be amazed by how much nicer it looks in photographs!

    Swatches from left to right: Seventeen lip liner, Elf Matte lip colour,
    Elf Celebrity eyeshadow, TBS Sapphire baked eyeshadow duo

Elf Mineral eyeshadow, shade Celebrity: when I first opened this little pot, instantly a contemporary makeup icon came to mind: JLo. This is THE most perfect shade to achieve that JLo look- both in terms of colour (golden light brown) and shimmer (sparkly but not glittery, almost metallic). Like all loose pigments, it creases after a good 5hour wear-
but who cares? Seriously, everyone should own Celebrity!

Dior Amber Diamond shimmer powder: my precious... My collection of highlighters is complete with this baby. Although after using it a lot the last couple of weeks, I noticed it looks "too much" for daytime wear- but it has that depth that enables me to pair it with a nice bronzer and just skip blush altogether.

I also popped into H&M and among other things, I bought these cute lipbalm tins with Disney's Bambi on the front- love the packaging and their scent, hate to admit that they dry out my lips so bad! Thank goodness for Apivita balms, they always come to my rescue...

So, what have you been loving during November?

CBSG5861

Exploring Greek brands: Seventeen Silky blusher

Hey dolls!

This is part 2 of my series on Greek high-street make-up products-
to see my first post, click here

So I've had this blush by Seventeen for quite some time now;
and I've been meaning to write a proper and honest review the past
couple of months, but somehow I kept procrastinating...

The reason for this slackness?
There was something about this blush that baffled me and thus couldn't make up my mind if I really liked it or not.

Well, I've finally come across what was keeping me wondering all this time, so now I can speak my mind.

I'll go straight to the point of this review:

I don't like this blush.
It's just plain average and for the price (around 12E),
I should and would expect more from it.

So what's all the fuss about this product?

The shade I got is #57-warm brick.
It's an interesting shade of a dirty peach with golden sheen
(which is ever-so-common in the Seventeen blushes).
Actually, I could argue that this colour is rather "démodé", but let's just pretend and count this a positive, shall we?

    a heavy, heavy swatch...

 Now, here's where the fun ends!

The main issue I'm experiencing with this blush is that the formula is "dated": at first, I thought it wasn't pigmented enough, then I realised it's the hard-pressed formulation that requires an old-fashioned and stiff animal hair brush to get a decent pigmentation going on. Modern technology
cruelty-free tacklon brushes won't pick up product from this compact :/

    blended in, looking rather... "blah"!

Other facts to be considered:

*the cheap packaging, which I could overlook if the product inside was worth it!
*the golden sheen overpowers the peachiness. Swatches nicely on your hands, but on the cheeks it translates more golden than peach.
*after some uses, all Seventeen blushes seem to form a hard layer on the surface that you have to scratch to be able to get some product on your brush!
*it oxidizes on me :(
*"made in EU". Umm, where exactly?

So there, my love affair with Seventeen blushes ended real soon.
Sorry Seventeen, I like you as a brand but you've failed me with this product.

Unless you come up with a new updated blush formula-
then, we can talk it over again!

What you girls think of the Seventeen blushes?
Do you have any recommendations for products from this particular brand
I should consider?

CBSG5861

April favourites!

 Hey loves!

Another "monthly favourites" post for you today-
the products mentioned below were also the main features of my holiday makeup bag, as well:

TBS Moisture foundation: this may not be the best-ever foundation I've tried so far, but it's heaps better from the previous used Oil-free version; review coming soon ;)

TBS Shimmer Cubes: when it comes to my travel makeup bag, I always include a neat&cute eyeshadow palette; apart from the top left honey gold colour, I made good use of the rest of the shades during Easter.

Seventeen nail polish in 219: as I haven't yet experimented with the season't hot pastel nail colours, this coral shade served me great to transition my manicure from dark wintery reds and browns to spring's brights.

Mac Hue lipstick: what I like the most about this lipstick is its buildable coverage- during daytime, I can wear it as a soft wash or I can layer it on evenings for a glossy nude mouth! An essential product when I'm travelling.

Korres Jasmine lip butter: I so love the soft nude effect it gives on the lips, but I still can't get over the plastic pot container! If you ever see a girl on the streets using a hand sanitiser before applying this lip balm, that's probably me...

I was also going to include this old plum blush from Biotherm- but no, the clumsy little me had to drop it on the floor and ruin it completely...
Took me two days to get over it!

What were your most used products during April?

CBSG5861

February favourites!

So, past month was pretty busy-
make-up wise, I couldn't bother with eyeshadows on my morning errands,
and as you can see...

    ...the focus was on cheeks and lips!

Erre Due Wet&Dry Sparkler for cheeks in #410: I've blogged about this lovely product here. In case I was misunderstood, I'm not bashing it; it's the price tag that keeps me from jumping around the house from excitement, lol!

Seventeen Waterproof lipliner in #14-Pure Red: I was pleasantly impressed by this product, it's definitely among the best lipliners I've ever used! More about that on an upcoming post. I like to combine it with a reddish balm, much like the next one...

Korres Mandarin lip butter stick SPF 15 in Rose: you already know I'm a huge fan of this Korres line of lip balms in the stick form; but now I've fallen in love all over again thanks to their revamped packaging! Every balm has its own pattern on the cap, and the typewriting on the twisting mechanism is just lovely. Korres, you did an excellent job at redesigning these cuties ;)

Elf Hypershine Gloss in Bubblegum: I really enjoyed wearing it during past month, and I suspect its low price has a lot to answer for that... Is it the little "bargain lover" inside me who takes great delight in the Elf products? I hope I'm not the only one experiencing that!
Korres Wild Rose concealer: it took me a while to figure out the best way to apply it (always using new product by twisting the wand, blending it quickly on the skin), but finally I've come to realise that I love it. It provides high coverage for both under-eye circles and the occasional spots.

Now, I've kept the best item of the bunch for the end...

You're looking at Pink Nouveau by Mac,
swatched as a... cream blush!

I wonder why I didn't think of this sooner... Those bright lipsticks with a drier texture look absolutely beautiful when worn lightly as a blush! I'm making a mental image of how Morange or Impassioned would look on the cheeks- and I'm lusting after them even more! Now that spring is on its way, I'm going to make a lot of use from this old-school trick ;)

So, what were your most loved products during February?
Have you ever used your lipsticks as cream blushes?

CBSG5861

Best of 2010!

Hi lovelies!
This is a list of my most loved & used make-up products of 2010.

    Family pic! Click to enlarge

Onto the products...

Art Deco magnetic eyeshadow palette: As I'm organizing-obsessed, I love anything that gives me the option of neatly storing my make-up. This palette can hold up to 12 single Art Deco eyeshadows, can't wait to fill this baby up with some neutrals, sigh! (I hope the colours I'm after are going to be available to purchase. Soon enough.)

Art Deco duo fibre brush: this was my take on last year's trend of Mac's 187 lookalikes. It wasn't as cheap as I thought a brush from Art Deco would cost (I paid aprox. 18 euros), but I don't regret a single cent I spent on it! It gives a flawless finish and works for everything- foundation, powder, blush or bronzer. And I love the short handle! Anything that can fit into a small travel make-up bag makes me happy ;)

The Body Shop blending brush: Since I tried this brush, my eyeshadow blending skills have been improved! Now I'm looking forward to get Mac's 217...

Kum sharpener: need I mention this again? It's probably the best cosmetic sharpener you'll ever come across, for a decent price!

Mac Angel lipstick: I got into Mac during 2010; this lippie has to be my favourite! I think I've had it with nudes like Hue or Creme d' Nude, a nice girly pink lipstick can do so much more to brighten up my smile ;)

Art Deco longlasting lipstick in #40: a layer of this combined with some Jasmine lip butter, it's been my favourite daytime combo for lips. Pretty pale pink lips are foolproof, right?

Korres Jasmine lip butter: this product is the exception to my rule "no lip balms in a pot". Dipping my fingers into the pot to get some product isn't my favourite, but its colour and texture compensates for it! It has rightly become a favourite among Youtube beauty gurus and bloggers.

The Body Shop lip&cheek stain: I'll never, ever get bored of this stuff. It gives the most natural flush on the cheeks and it stays on all day! If you have combination/oily skin and cream blushes don't really suit you, try this one instead and you'll be hooked with it for a lifetime!

Seventeen #79 nail polish: quite a dark colour, it's not for everyone's taste but personally, I feel more comfortable when wearing this shade on my nails! I hope Seventeen never discontinues it, as it must have been brought out a long, long time ago...

The Body Shop #04-Granite eyeshadow: this colour has been my trusty friend during days I'm in a hurry/ don't know what eyeshadow to pick. Every make-up bag should have at least one dependable eyeshadow which you're 100% sure it matches your eye colour. This is my top choice, followed by...

The Body Shop taupe eyeshadow from Shimmer Cubes #06: it's the most perfect shimmering taupe, ever! I'll probably never run out of it (as this little cube weighs 4 gr. of product!)- but if I do in the future, I won't have any problems purchasing the whole palette again (despite the fact I'm not really using the rest of the shades).

Art Deco eyeshadow base: it's not included in the photos because I'm out of it :(
Still, it's a decent eyeshadow primer and it's worth a try if you can get hold of it.

Have you tried any of the above products?
Let me know which were your 2010 favourites ;)

CBSG5861

Pink fever

Hello my lovelies!

Just so you know, I'm not a pink-lover kind of gal. At all.

In fact, I don't own a single piece of clothing/shoes/bag/accessory in pink! To put it nicely, it's between the last colours that feel closer to my style.

But lately I've been incorporating pink in my everyday makeup routine and I love it! Bronzers and corals are out for me this season, cool-toned pink blushes and Barbie-pink lips are my go-to choice.

1. The Body Shop Lip&Cheek Stain in #01-Rose Pink

My beloved!!! Look at how little I got :(

I guess that shows how much I love it- a HG product!

As you can see, it gives a nice pinky flush, just like the colour the cheeks get after exercise... Very pretty, looks natural and healthy, stays on ALL day... I would totally recommend it ;)

2. Manhattan Mousse Rouge Blush in Apricot

The more I use this mousse blush, the more I like it!

When at the store, I swatched some mousse blushes from Maybelline. Apart from the fact that they had shimmer (which I'm avoiding because it accentuates my pores), they gave me a bad reaction- almost an eczema rash! So that's why I picked up this blush, and I'm so happy I did!

See? It gives a beautiful rosey colour- more coraly and warm than the Body Shop Stain, but still very pretty!

3. Korres Jasmine Lip Butter (worn over Mac lipsticks)

Ok, so I've mentioned before that I loathe the Korres lip butters in the pot, purely because of the packaging- it's not so hygienic to dip your fingertips in a product, no matter if you've washed your hands before, IMO.

However, I repurchased the Jasmine lip butter because the colour is sooo versatile! I use it on its own or, most often, on top of Mac's Angel- which I find a bit drying on the lips. A favourite combination ;)

4. Seventeen nail polish #210

Yep, I'm wearing pink on my nails!

I'll always be a lover of dark and vampy nail polishes, but I desperately needed a "safer" and more sophisticated colour for emergencies like important meetings, etc... This is a more "muted" version of pink going towards grey/taupe, so it made perfect sense when I bought it.

So ok, the above might not be all that adventurous and exciting- but to me (a "neutral-makeup-colours" junkie) it's a small revelation ;)

FYI, I've also been using use some lovely pink eyeshadows as well, not shown in this post. I'm actually planning to do a full review and swatches of ALL eyeshadows from the Body Shop. Yay ;)

Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!

CBSG5861

September favourites!

Hello my lovelies!

This is my first "monthly favourites" post, hope you enjoy!

...Family pic  =D

First off, during September I started layering my blushes and I love it! I found that the end result is more interesting than a swipe of one colour on the cheeks.

Favourite combination:

a matte coral as a base (Biotherm blush, left),

with a topping of a coral/gold shimmer (Seventeen blush in Coral, center- see my review here),

or a pinky/icy shimmer powder (The Body Shop Shimmer Waves in 02- Blush, right- see my review here).

My favourite makeup look that I wore during September was the easiest and quickest to do:

A little foundation and concealer,

eye primer and mascara,

a rosey cream blush (Manhattan Mousse Rouge in Apricot, left),

and a darker pink lipstick (Biotherm lipstick, discontinued).

I look pretty and polished in 5 minutes' time!

 

I also discovered a way to do the perfect smokey eye with brown eyeshadow!

You see, if you have brown eyes like me, you soon find out two things:

One, that you have to stay away from warm-toned eyeshadows, and

Two, that a smokey eye with brown eyeshadows doesn't really make brown eyes pop :(

But with a little experiment, I dished both of the above rules.

So, this is my improved version for a brown smokey eye:

a dark base on the lid (smudged black pencil, cream eyeliner, anything),

a cool-toned brown on top (The Body Shop eyeshadow in Chocolate, left),

a warm-toned medium brown in the crease (The Body Shop mineral eyeshadow in Bronzed Amber, right)

black eyeliner, mascara... and you're done!

See, I made a ridiculous demonstration on the back of my hand...

Seriously, it looks like a prehistoric creature living in the deep seas, lol!

Anyways, moving on:

During September I bought the Body Shop's blender brush (see my review here),

and Carbon eye pencil- the softest I've found, although not the blackest...

Nevertheless, love them both!

I also found a new use for my Korres lip butter stick:

wearing it on top the Erre Due Silky lip pencil in #61.

See? A nice sheer brown-nude shade, perfect for daytime.

Skincare-wise, my favourite product of the month has to be the Apivita exfoliating cream with olive and lavender. Its granules are from crushed olive stones and give a deep exfoliation, just how I like a proper face scrub to be!

It also contains Menthol -which gives a "cooling" feel on the skin- and Salicylic Acid -a big surprise, thumbs up Apivita!

Last but not least, the lovely fellow greek blogger Stella sent me this beautiful ring by Mark Jacobs from an older giveaway that I won. Thank you so much, girl!!!

 

Needless to say, I wear it every-single-day since I got it!

 

On the diameter of the ring it's inscribed the Latin phrase "Veritas Inlustrat", which probably means "Shining Truth". I'm not sure though, I've never had a Latin class!

I'd love to read you favourites of the month,
please share them below or post a link to your September favourites post ;)

Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!

CBSG5861

THE perfect coral nail polish!

Hello my lovelies!

Lately I've been in search for the prettiest coral nail polish; it had to be not too light to be mistaken as an orange, not too dark to fall under the big "red nail polish" family, and it had to be... well, cheap ;)

Once again, I opted for the old favourite and trusty brand Seventeen. I went and literally studied each shade in the red/coral/orange family; I stayed for so long that I'm pretty sure the girls at the store shared a giggle at me... Hey, I couldn't help it- I wanted to get THE perfect coral! So, here it is. The perfect coral nail polish from Seventeen, #219!




You like? Me, I love it!!!

Seriously, my lovely greek readers; if you step into a cosmetics store, go straight to Seventeen's stand and get it with no second thoughts! You can thank me later ;)

Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!

CBSG5861

Coral, coral, coral!

Hello my lovelies!


Oh, how I envy this model's make-up with the coral eyeshadow, it looks so fresh and modern!

But, given the fact that my skin isn't gorgeously pale like hers and my all-Mediterranean dark brown hair isn't helping either, I'm in fear of putting coral on my eyes. It's a statement that I'm not brave enough to pull off :(

Coral lips and cheeks though, that's another story...



This is a beautiful blush from greek brand Seventeen. It has a lovely peachy colour with gold shimmer, namely called...


Coral!

I've been accustomed with the Seventeen nail polishes ever since my teen years but have never owned any other products from the brand, so during my last visit to the cosmetics store I thought I would give Seventeen some more love and browse through the rest of their make-up range.


See? Both corally and golden! Perfect for summertime, it beautifully accentuates tanned skin. Holding 6 gr of product for the price of aprox. 10 euros.

So coral cheeks, check! What about coral lips?


I dug through my old Biotherm lip glosses/lipsticks and I found these two... Love, love, love! The lipstick is more blue-undertoned than the big glossy pencil, even so I'm going to wear both of them this season! They're more intense than the swatch below:


I'd really love to know if you've tried any coral eyeshadow and whether it looked good! I'd like to wear it, too- but until I find the courage (or the perfect coral eyeshadow for the job!), I'm sticking with coral cheeks and lips.

Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!

CBSG5861