My TOP 3: matte Bronzers

Boy, do I love this time of year:

When the weather starts to get real summery and people around me announce proudly their first sunbath of the season, that's the perfect time to abuse my bronzers!

I normally use matte bronzers to warm up my skin, for obvious reasons:
natural tan has no shimmer!

The following products are my favourite matte bronzers from the entire of my makeup collection. Goes without saying, I would recommend all three products to anyone- provided each of them is used for its own purposes.

That, actually, answers the inevitable question:
"do you really need three or more matte bronzers? They're the same thing!"
Well, as you will find out below, these products are nothing but the same!
Thus, each of them has a different use.

Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel, Bronzing Makeup Base
This is my summer bronzer, the one I'm currently (ab)using! Its texture is phenomenal, although the surface tends to harden and it needs a little scraping from time to time. Because it's a cream formula, it looks so seamless and healthy on the skin than powder bronzers. This has a caramel (dare I say orange?) tint that, in my humble opinion, an olive complexion can easily pull off during summer. It may run a little too orange on pale winter skin, though. Full review here

The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder, shade #02
First of all, one has to give credit to the Body Shop for carrying a complete bronzing makeup range with 4 (!) matte bronzing powder shades. This is the one I'm using during winter! It has a very light bronzey colour that looks so natural on pale skin, and because it's so light, it's hard to get overboard with it. It's also the one I'm carrying with me when I'm travelling, as it has a nice compact size and a convenient mirror. Full review here

Elf Studio Countouring Blush & Bronzing Powder
This duo, as the name suggests, is best to be used for contouring. I couldn't agree more: the bronzer side is way too dark to pass as a natural-looking bronzing powder! This is my go-to choice for when I want to make my cheekbones look more prominent and I always, always use it on nights out. Upon first glance, it looks as if it has some shimmer, but it practically swatches matte on the skin. Full review here

    Swatches, from left to right: Chanel, The Body Shop, Elf

Can you see now how different these products look on the skin?
That's why I need three matte bronzers in my life ;)

I cannot stress enough how indispensable a matte bronzer should be in a girl's makeup bag! I hope you can deduct from this post that you can find a good quality bronzer from luxury brands, as well as on the cheap.

Now, tell me: what's your favourite matte bronzer?
Have you tried the products featured in this post?

You can also have a look at my first TOP 3 post on the Elf $1 products. Click!

Evi   xx

That's how the Body Shop rolls, baby!!!

Last week, I attended the much talked about bloggers' event at the Body Shop,
to celebrate their latest revamp. All I can say is: YES, YES, YES!!!

I cannot express my enthusiasm enough for that the Body Shop stepped up its game to better communicate its ethical heritage: now that competition has intensified and other companies have clinged to the natural and ethical bandwagon, it's not fair for the Body Shop to stay in the backround- since it was Annita Roddick who invented the "business with ethos" in the first place!

Not to mention, of course, the amazing products that the Body Shop has to offer- which I'm sick of raving over and over again all by myself! If a little revamp can make more people to re-familiarise with them, the better ;)

    New shelving pattern

    The Body Shop's newest perfumes...

    My favourite skincare range!

So, what's new at the Body Shop?
Let's take it all one-by-one:

1. New campaign
"Look good, feel good, do good" is the new slogan of the company. The idea behind it is to describe the brand's stragegy with clarity, so that the message is not confusing. Lily Cole has also been set as the brand's advocate! Her beautiful face will star on the Body Shop's new Summer makeup collection.

2. New PULSE stores
2000 stores have already been revamped: brighter and more eye-catchy than before, they have a special station in the middle of the store so as to encourage customers to test the Body Shop products, in a "test before you purchase" manner. There's also a new "community wall" that allows locals to see the latest charity activities in the area. FYI, the only greek Pulse store is located at Kolonaki.

3. New products!
Along with the new Summer makeup collection with Lily Cole, the new Beautifying Oils range has already cought everyone's attention: in short? Beauty in a bottle! Also, the ever so popular Body Butters have been revamped- but that's something to talk about in another blog post ;)

    My natural habitat, for obvious reasons ;)

    The Body Shop Summer 2012 makeup collection with Lily Cole

    Take a look at these LE Shimmer Cubes! Don't they look pretty?

     Argyrousa in action: we were asked to write down our favourite body products...


    ...and we hanged our notes on the "community wall";
    the most popular product is going to be donated to NGO Praxis. 

    Me in the middle, in serious posing action with Artemi and Sofia!

Other than the Body Shop news, I couldn't end this post without mentioning my excitement for meeting all those fellow beauty bloggers with which we've talked a lot through blogs and Twitter, but hadn't got to meet in person before! My girls, I'm glad we finally met and I hope we'll see each other again soon ;)

To conclude, it's heart warming to see a brand you're so fond of going back to its roots, and communicating its ethical message to a wider audience. I truly hope there will be a new era for the Body Shop- if nothing else, their amazing products do deserve some more love!

There's gonna be some more posts with the products we were kindly given at the event- and of course, the ones I picked out myself; I mean really, could I ever step into the Body Shop and come out empty handed? Nooo...

Evi   xx

My Spring/Summer nails!

I'm not a nail polish connoisseur. I can't distinguish a good one from a less than mediocre, chipping is not an issue -yay for chipped nails!-, plus I'm not that particular when it comes to flattering colours for my skintone.

But there's one thing that strikes me as a "must get":
mini nail polishes in coordinating colours!

Last autumn, it was the H&M nail polishes;
now I've found a prettier little set- and wait, they're actually made in Greece!

    'Xcuse the rain drops and the gloomy atmosphere in this pic!
    I wanted a spring-ish green backround but the weather didn't cooperate with me :(

The company that makes these mini nail polishes is called Rona Ross. It's the sister brand of Lee Hatton, another small brand I've associated with cheap-looking, but decent nail polishes. These ones contain 4,5 ml of product and claim to be long-lasting, which I won't argue, they seem to last pretty good on the nails.

However, the one thing I loved the most is that you can find these stored in big plastic jars and you have to dig through to get to your chosen colour. Isn't that so cute and retro? Reminds me of when I was a teenager, looking for the most bargainous nail polishes available at Hondos Center!

I've only applied 2 coats in the following pics, no top coat. Some require a 3rd layer to get an opaque coverage, but I guess a nice top coat would fix that as well. Oh, these are not named or numbered! :(

Each mini nail polish costs around €1,80;
you can also find sets of 10 Rona Ross nail polishes at around €13 ;)

Now ain't it neat, experimenting with different nail colours on the cheap? Then, if I like a certain shade, I can always buy a bigger bottle knowing I'll wear it- a lot.

What do you think of cheap mini nail polishes?
Likey, or no likey?

Evi   xx

Getting my skin sorted at Kiehl's

Time for a cruel assessment of my knowledge on skincare:
...
...
...

Basically, I have none! From now on, I'm considering myself a skincare noob. It only took 10'' for me to realise my utter incopetence on skincare issues and that instead, I should leave it to the experts...

I'm referring to the skin consultation that Kiehl's offers at its clients. Granted, I was invited because of my "beauty blogger" identity and yes, it did make me feel extra special and spoilt, but please note that this is not a bloggers' exclusive thing: anyone can have a skin consultation at Kiehl's- free of charge, no shopping obligations.

So, what is this skin consultation?
It's a quick & easy, 10'' business that calculates your accurate skintype. The Kiehl's sales assistant takes two specific pieces of paper and places one in your forehead (the area where skin gets oily) and the other on the cheeks (which are usually drier than the T-zone). You hold these little cards on your face for 10'' so that they can collect data, so to speak, and then you compare the results with a little diagram that shows the amount of nutrients that are evident in all skintypes: Oily, Normal to Oily, Normal, Normal to Dry, and Dry.

Why is it important to take this test?
I'll speak from my experience: imagine a skin that's dehydrated, flaky and uneven in texture. How would you describe it? Dry? Normal to Dry, I hear you say? Yep, that's what I thought too... However, as the consultation test proved, my skin falls under the Normal category. *making a (mental) happy-dance 'cause Kiehl's tells me I have the best skin possible!!!* That means: no more heavy moisturisers that can clog up my pores, yes to mild exfoliators to heal the flaky areas on my cheeks.

See?
Had I not taken this test, I would have carried on loading my skin with oily treatments and skipping exfoliators altogether- because you know, dry skin doesn't do well with exfoliators... Or, so I thought!

After my skintype profile, I was presented with the Kiehl's products that my skin currently needs to look its best; the highlights being the Overnight Biological Peel, which looks like a transparent mask that you're supposed to sleep on and then wake up with glowing skin, and the intriguing Midnight Recover Concentrate that is all ages/ skintypes appropriate that also works over-night to repair skin from within.

And of course, I got to test the uber popular among beauty blogs, the Kiehl's Avocado Eye Treatment- all I can say is, now I see why this eye cream is being raved about over and over again! Think of a luxuriously rich, but easily absorbed formula that helps to brighten the area under the eyes due to the green tint... This one, I have to make it mine!

Most of all, this experience made me realise the significance of knowing your skin and treating it with the proper skincare rut it needs. It's such a simple, almost cliche statement, but of the utmost importance!

I was also given a goodie bag at the end of my appointment with a few Kiehl's samples to try out- and I did a little shopping myself! So, expect to see more of the brand in my following posts ;)

If you do get a skin consultation at Kiehl's, which in fact I urge you to do, let me know about your experience as well!

Evi   xx