Last Wednesday night... A vlog

So yesterday, me and my friend decided to go watch the cult classic "Rosemary's baby" at an open-air cinema located in downtown Athens.

We were surely close to the incidents at Syntagma square, but in a fairly safe dinstance.

    Still, we could see the smoke from up ahead...

    There was this shop with all kinds of custom-made old- fashioned lamps
    and bedheads...

    The cinema was packed with greenery, that's always a plus!

    Please spare me these couple of photos which imply the industrial history
    of the building hosting the open-air cinema- I have a "thing" for modern
    structures of the past :/

    This is my friend wearing a total "black outfit", as usual- and obviously
    he wasn't very happy with the prospect of me taking him a pic...

    Coca-cola, check! Beer, check! Now off to see the movie ;)

    Lovely Mia Farrow was only 23 when this film was shot!

    Doesn't she look more fragile and vulnerable with this famous
   Vidal Sassoon haircut?

    Ah, John Cassavetes... He was the sh*t back in those days!
    Rough facial features, hairy chest...

    Then we decided to make a stroll around the Acropolis,
    it was so beautifully lit...

  
...when our happy stroll was ended by some protestors and their slogans.
Further ahead, this view of 100+ policemen scared the hell out of me...
As if "this is not normal, if so much police force is up here, then there's got to be riots as well! SH****T!"

I took the first taxi I saw and the driver was so damn creepy- he didn't make a single noise during the ride! No talk, no radio, nothing but the sound of his hands moving the wheel...
Ah, it was so good to get back in the safety of my flat!

Any fun-evenings-out-turned-to-surreal you'd like to share?

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The "meeeh!" products of the moment

...where "meeeh!" refers to those I've been recently trying out and don't fit under my "best of" or "worst ever" list of beauty products.
Yeah, I keep doing lists like that... No, I'm not an organizing freak. No I'm not, no I'm not, no I'm not... 

Korres Wild Rose moisturiser: please don't hate me for saying this, but the only positive I can find about this product is the "formula facts" list where it's stated than it contains no petrochemicals, parabens, etc. Other than that: it takes time for the cream to be fully absorbed on the skin, otherwise you run the risk of those nasty white marks all over your face... Oh, and don't get me started on the pathetic SPF6. I mean, really? SPF6 and it claims to be an all-round moisturiser? Please...

TBS Vitamin E face mist: you can definitely smell the rosewater in this moisturising spritz (as it turns out, I'm all for hardcore synthetic rose blends rather than the real thing, but I digress). The main issue I have with this product is that upon application, it's not that refreshing... Heck, plain tap water feels definitely more refreshing than that! Although I must point out that it does moisturise your face, as it claims to do- but I think my oily skin could be without this extra layer of moisture :/

TBS Moisture foundation: ok, so I don't 100% hate this foundation, it's just that my skin needs a bit more coverage than what this product has to offer. However, I'm not giving up the hunt for a low coverage foundation; my next choices would be Mac's face&body or the popular Bourjois 10-hour sleep effect foundation. Or a nice tinted moisturiser? Or even a BB cream? Ah, I could go on forever, the list is endless!

Anyone want to share her current "meeeh!" products?

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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?

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Yet another Mac haul ;)

Hiya everyone!
How's my greek girls doing in this summer-heat political craziness?

Anyhoo, last week I popped into Mac to get me a couple of essentials:

Gently Off Eye&Lip Makeup Remover: this is going to be my last dive into bi-phase eye makeup removers, just in case I have misjudged them and they actually suit my habits.
That, and the fact that it's eligible for back-2-Mac! he he he

Paintpot in Painterly: nope, I couldn't stand any longer my Prep+Prime Eye and was bored of using cream eyeshadows as a base, so here it is!!!
My precious... I've read some recent comments that the UDPP is far superior than this one- I have some reservations about this statement but, we shall see how Painterly performs!

Have you tried these products before?
If so, let me know your experiences!

Hint-Hint: the shimmering dry oil from the Body Shop's summer collection is selling like hot cakes! A new batch arrived in greek stores just a couple of days ago- so if you're interested in this product, hurry up to your nearest Body Shop asap!

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My beach make-up

I don't know about you girls-
but me, I'm always planning ahead on what make-up I'm going to wear
on the beach every summer!

These are my current picks:

Face: sunscreen all the way! This is the Korres Watermelon face cream with SPF20 from last year (it has a 24M tag so I think it's ok to use it). As my skintone lacks uniformity and to save me some time, I'll be mixing it with my foundation and ta da, skin's done in no time!

Cheeks: it's a no brainer this year, def going to be my new Soleil Tan de Chanel! Since it's a cream formula, it's going to blend beautifully on top of my sunscreen+foundation, while keeping up with the "bronzed skin" theme ;)

Eyes: curled lashes and mascara, only when I want to look really polished... I mean, since I'll be wearing sunglasses all the time, what's the point in putting on eye make-up at all? I'm strictly avoiding any uneccessary tugging of my eyes from wearing or removing eye make-up.

Lips: I'm so glad my sister got me this Suntint by Mac, cause it's the perfect treat for my lips to use while on the beach! It's basically a liquid lipbalm with SPF20; it has a slight pale pink tint and fine gold shimmer running through it. The squeeze-tube packaging is perfect, as it won't collect sand like the traditional lip glosses with the wand. AND it won't melt on my bag like regular lip butter sticks...

So, what's your beach make-up routine?
Any of you going bare faced under the sunnies?

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Elizabeth Arden made in... what?!?

A total random post for you today but I felt I had to spread the news!
I hope you understand my excitement by the end of this post ;)

So yesterday, my sister returned from a business trip at Germany.
As she knows me (and my old love affair with Biotherm!), she had picked for me a body milk from the "Eau de Paradis" line by Biotherm; it has a lovely tropical scent and feels light and refreshing on the skin.

Oh yes, I'm saving it for my holidays!

So far, so good.

And as my sister trusts 100% the Elizabeth Arden 8-Hour cream for any problem skin issues, she thought of trying out the face sunscreen from the
8-Hour line of products. The price was friendly, as in all airport duty-frees.

As always, I took a look at the packaging's inscribings...
and what do you know?

You got that right, this product by Elizabeth Arden is made in Greece!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Moment of silence...

Now I don't know about you, but the first thoughts that spring to my mind are these:

* if an accomplished brand of that decent has one of its products manufactured in Greece, it probably means there's a greek cosmetics factory competent enough to put together a formula relative of the brand's quality status.

* given the above statement, one could speculate that the same factory could provide its technology and expertise to a greek brand for the same type of product. Why not, right?

In this case, the only greek brands I'm aware of that their sunscreens are produced in Greece are Korres and Apivita.

I would rule out the Korres sunscreens, as their packaging and texture are far different from the 8-hour sunscreen by Elizabeth Arden.
But could it be Apivita?

All guessworks aside, I can't help but take pride in this "made in Greece" tag, as it was completely unexpected from a company such as Elizabeth Arden!

Although I'm wondering, whose pocket would I benefit as a potential customer- my country's local industry or the interests of Unilever, who owns Elizabeth Arden?

I'd love to read your opinions on the matter-
or even better, if you've happened to come across a beauty product from a big cosmetics brand which is made in Greece, do let us know!

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My belated May favourites...

Hi lovelies!
Another monthly favourites post for you today...

Enjoy!

Elf eyeshadow palette in Brownstone: the darkest shade of this quad is a soft black that actually blends into a nice black/brown colour. I only use it to smudge my black kohl pencil to a kitten flick, so I have no issues with creasing. I do prefer this colour over the rest of matte black eyeshadows I own that blend into purple or blue hues...
Needless to say, I don't bother with the rest of the shades- they're terrible!

TBS bronze Shimmer Waves: since I rediscovered this compact, I fell in love with it all over again! I'm telling you, a generous swipe of this on your cheeks and you have an instant bronzer+contour+highlighter effect with minimum effort!

Biotherm liquid eyeshadow: this is an old an discontinued golden eyeshadow that I wore daily during past month; I'm hoping I'll finish this little tube in 2-3 months' time- cause I hate keeping old make-up in my collection as much as I hate throwing away unused products...

Erre Due nail colour: this was part of the brand's summer 2010 collection; as I desperately wanted a fun nail colour to clash with my new watermelon pink pants (!), this dark mint shade served me well for that purpose ;)

Korres lip butter stick in Peach: I won't go on and on about how much I looove the Korres lip butters... This one is a repurchase!

TBS Metallic eye pencil in Brilliant Blue: so this product won't show in my waterline on its own... But it looks gorgeous under my eye shimmers or even smudged on my lashes!

What were your May favourites?
Do share!

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I'm back... again ;)

Hey pretty ladies!

Man, it feels like it's been AGES since my last post-
oh Blogger, how I miss thee!!!

See, I was away for some Uni chores with no internet service :(
10 days of errands under the hot sun and I'm still in point zero! Dammit...

Anyways, two lovely fellow bloggers -Anastasia and Natalie- gave me the following awards...

Thank you so much, sweeties!!!
So, here are 7 facts about me:

1. Pink is a colour I would never incorporate in my wardrobe. Never.


Ok, pink roses are fine, though...

2. I'd like to become really crafty one day! Currently I'm in a long-term "lazy@ss" phase...

3. If there was this magic wand that transforms you in anything you wish, I'd like to be her for a day...


 <3 you Adora!

4. Since I got my two dogs, I've been flirting with the idea of becoming a vegetarian... Although the thought of giving up meat for good is extremely tormentous!

5. My favourite cartoon is Pink Panther. I remember this particular storyline ever since my childhood!



6. When a movie doesn't have a fancy ending, I make up my own!
For ex., I always went ahead and thought of Scarlett O'Hara carrying on with her life, making a fortune from her land and winning over Rhett Butler...

7. I'm so glad summer is here so I can eat cherries and cherry pies!
And cherry drinks!!! Om nom nom nom...


So, any news from the beauty blogosphere?
What do you think of the new Bloggers' Obsession collection by Mac?

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