Monday, December 30, 2013

Empties September - December 2013

I haven't finished a lot of products in these last few months, but wanted to post all the items I finished in this year. There are actually only two products:

Athena beauty exfoliating facial scrub and
Lumene waterproof eye makeup remover

The scrub is nothing special, just an below average facial scrub, not bad but not outstandingly good either.
The makeup remover from Lumene was a big disapointment, I just love the brand, but this perticular item is not so good. My makeup is not particularly waterproof, but my non-waterproof mascara was a pain to get off my lashes. Still prefer my old one wich was from Lancomè.

Thank you for reading and see you in the new year,
Ella

Thursday, December 26, 2013

The 13th item

As I stated in the rules of the 12 beauty budget items of 2013 - I would reward myself with the 13th product if I would be able to stick to the 12 beauty purchases of 2013 in Iceland. I managed to stick to the rules (even though I bought a lot in the states - but I put a disclaimer in the rules that abroad purchaes would not count).

So the 13th product is actually a christmas-gift from a friend of mine: Bourjois smokey eyes trio in 09 lady vert de gris.


Bourjois Smokey eyes trio - 09 lady vert de gris







Swatched in natural light

As you can see from the swatch there is really little colour payoff - except from the highlight colour, which is very glittery, and has a lot of  fallout.  The medium colour is very powdery and has somewhat of a fallout. This is a bit of a disappointment, and I hate that it's not a better quality, especially as it was gifted to me from a friend. When I applied the colours to my eyelids, there was hardly any visable colour payoff, and I had to dig into the shadows with my brush, and tried time and time again to build the colour up, which didn't seem to happen. I put the darkest colour in the crease, yes that one was visable, but very difficult to blend...
I definetly do not have the most quality products, and high-end makeup so I wouldn't say I'm used to very good quality stuff, but sadly I have to say this is one of the worst eyeshadows I have ever tried :( I don't know if this is because my skintone or the elf primer I primed my lids with, or if this is just a flawed trio, but I will continue to play around with it, and I will see if I can make it work and I'll keep you posted.

Thank you for stopping by,
and merry christmas,
Ella

Saturday, December 21, 2013

December beauty budget

The December beauty budget is a Maybelline nail-polish from the color show line in the colour 159 Mauve Kiss:

Maybelline Color Show by Colorrama in 159 Mauve kiss

It's a beautiful light mauve colour, can even be considered a light brown - and reminds me of the mushroom colour that everyone and their sister were wearing a few years ago (apart from me). The colour is light enough for me to wear at work (where we can wear light and not loud colours). The best thing was though, I got it from heimkaup.is which is one of the biggest online stores in Iceland, and they carry everything. As it's a fairly new web-site and I had bought something from their sister-website in the past they gave me a 500 ISK credit with them, and the nail-polish being on a 20% discount, I ended up paying 92 ISK (less than 1 USD) for the bottle and they gave me a free home delivery. Plus the bottle is not too big - so the chance of the polish drying out or me getting tired of the colour is fairly slim ;)
I love the colour (not a very christmasy though), this is one coat on the photo, and that is enough most of the time! Longevity? I experienced some chipping on day 3, with base coat, only one coat and no top coat, so I'm sure you can get longer ware with 2 coats, or a top coat.

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Seattle Haul

So I went on a long weekend trip to Seattle, USA in November and this is what I managed to pick up in Target, Sephora, Ulta, MAC and online at Amazon:

The haul

The shopping list:

Target:
Revlon just bitten kissabe balm stain in romantic
Elf blush in mellow mauve
Almay eyeliner in 207 brown
Rimmel scandal eyes in 005 nude
Maybelline instant age rewind concealer
Maybelline falsies flare mascara in black
Physicians formula organic wear mascara in black
Nicole by opi in kissed at midnight - from the Selena Gomez line (missing in photo see here)

Sephora;
Tarte blush in exposed
Formula X for Sephora nailpolish in light my fire (missing in photo see here)
Kat von D eyeshdow trio in dreamer
Korres lip butter in pomegranate (missing in photo see here)

Ulta:
Revlon just bitten kissabe balm stain in honey
Revlon just bitten kissabe balm stain in adore
 
Mac;
Mac amplified lipstick in dark side
Mac lip pencil in vino

Amazon online:
Real techniques powder brush
Real techniques expert face brush
Real techniques travel set with essential foundation brush, domed shadow brush and multi task brush
Almay intense i-color satin-i kit for blue eyes
Nicole by opi moisture plus (missing in photo see here)

I also ordered one parfum from Amazon: So Cal by Hollister - which is a discontinued scent - so I couldn't resist.

Regrets:
I wish I had picked up a neautral every day lipstick colour from Mac, and would like to swap one of the Revlon red just bitten kissable balm stains for a more neutral one. Wish I would have had more time in Ulta, even though my purse would probably not like it - I'm now craving an essence eyeliner in 08 Teddy (which is supposed to be a dupe for Mac Teddy) and it's only 0.99 USD. Then I'm almost regretting not to have bought the Naked 1 palette from Urban Decay - nr. 3 was not out yet when I was there... then again I try to convince myself Naked 1 contains parabens, and I have a lot of the colours in my collection already (even though they are not from Urban Decay).

Otherwise there is nothing standing in the way of me looking gorgeous in the near future..

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Monday, December 2, 2013

November beauty budget

This is bit delayed post, but I didn't actually pick this up in November.. but it will be registered as November beauty budget. Also it's my first ever Bobbi Brown product, but I got sucked into buyin it on sale earlier this fall.

Bobbi Brown metalic eye shadow in Java 23


Java 23 swatched


And what do I think of it, sad to say I'm a bit under-impressed... it's a bit duller and colour-less on my eyes than I thought it would be. Have to try it a bit better with a primer.


Another post to come soon, as I did some serious shopping in the states in November,
Ella

Monday, November 11, 2013

Sample slaying

I've been on a bit of a rampage, going through my closets, and finding a lot of sample sizes of the various products. Went on a bit of a mission to finish those samples up, and here is the result:






So what I slayed:
YSL Manifesto eau de parfum - a very sophisticated scent, in some way it reminds me of She by Armani
Lumene Arctic touch purifying peat-facial mask - I really liked this, it cleaned my skin without stripping it completely dry
Anna Sui, Sui dreams - a smell that i find a bit young, probably nice for those who are just starting to wear scents.
Elizabeth Arden, After five - this tester had deffinetly gone bad, but I remember that it smelled nice when I got it..
The body shop, White musk eau de toilette - this just reminds me of high-school, as everyone was wearing a white musk scented oil by The body shop, and I did to, I'm just over this scent and not even sure I can finish it.
Nivea, Cellular anti-age Day cream + Skin-refining serum -  these are really good, usually I don't have big expectations for Nivea products, as the seem so mainstreem to me. But these are excelent, the scent reminds me of the blue original Nivea cream in the metal jar. This I would deffinetly purchase, but I'm trying to post-pone using products titled anti-aging, as my skin is still fairly young-looking.. but a few years down the line deffinetly.

So now all this (except the white musk toilette from The body shop) is going to the bin and out of my bathroom. De-clutter is a good thing.

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Monday, October 21, 2013

UNA skincare

I got my hands on two samples form UNA skincare, which you can read all about here.


Cute sample jars



So I got a day and night cream samples. I sweat they both looked white when I got them, but by now the night cream has turned light pink. That might have something to do with the packaging, as the packaging for the full size is very different from anything I have ever seen before, it's kind of a pump, but the product comes out in the middle of the top... probably something to maintain the freshness of the cream.
The cream is very thick, but when you put it on your skin, it kind of gets oily and really melts into your skin. There is only one type of day cream, and one of night cream, so you can not get a spesific product for oily skin or dry skin. My skin is oily combination skin, and to be frank this cream is way too rich for me, especially on the t-zone, but as winter is around the corner I'm sure this will be good for my cheeks, but I will not be putting this onto my t-zone. I'm sure though that these creams will work perfectly for dry skin.

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Saturday, October 12, 2013

October beauty budget

This month I actually did my purchase last month, as every September there is a fund-raising sale in Iceland. Each year a new project worth sponsoring is selected, and this year it's mental-emergency ward at the University hospital of Iceland. The project is called: "Á allra vörum" (On everyone's lips) which is a pretty cool name as every year there are two colors of Dior Addict gloss on sale especially for this campaign - this year there was a light pink and a darker pink (as always) - I chose the darker one which is slightly orange-pink - the color is 643 Diablotine.

Here is a picture of the gloss along with the fund-raising project of October; breas cancer awareness. Each year they pick a designer (often a jewlery designer) and a new pink ribbon-pin is sold each year. This year they teamed up with Orr jewlery designers and they designed this beautiful pink ribbon.

Dior Addict gloss in 643 Diablotine and the pink ribbon 2013

Swatch:

643 Diablotine

And two older ribbons:

2008 or 2009 Ribbon by Sif Jakobs and 2010 by Ragnheiður I. Margeirsdóttir

This entry should have gone up yesterday, as 10.10. each year is the pink day dedicated to the awareness of breast-cancer. Still after all this talk about awareness, it kind of pisses me of that they spend so little time or effort in talking about how you can prevent breast-cancer - and what are the possible causes of it. Then I'm talking about parabens and auluminum-content of various products, which I will talk about soon in more detail.

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Monday, October 7, 2013

Yet another nude eye-shadow palette

I'm such a sucker for palettes, even though I never buy them, but I'm always very tempted to cave in and buy a the hottest new palette at the time. This palette is yet another one I'm seriously tempted to buy, beautiful neutral browns by Bobby Brown, a brand that I have yet to try out.

Bobbi Brown eye palette in Rich choccolate


You can see swatches here, complimentary of reallyree.com

For a few minutes I really thought about getting this palette, it would be so versatile and good for everyday use. All beautiful brown and neutral shades, then when I really thought about it - I really have all these shades in one form or another from different brands.

So here is what I have:

My neutral collection

Swatched:


 Swatched in sunlight

1. Make up store - microshadow ghetto -  beautiful brown in the crease, outer v or lightly all over lid
2. Clinique stay matte sheer pressed powder for combination oily skin, this is a bit too dark for me - but now works as eyeshadow on me - come to think of it, was this the one that broke me out? I'd better throw this one out.
3. Kiko - 122 - a beutiful light taupe that works great all over the lid
4 - 6. Maybelline - Eyestudio natural impact - 05 glamour browns - a beautiful trio with light shimmer (used to be 4 shadows - but it shattered on me and this is left - the darkest brown is missing)
7. The body shop - 13 - a lightly yellow white - a good highligher on the brow or on inner corner
8. The body shop - 39 - not a very pigmented black - appears grey
9-10. Christian dior - juste duo symbole 741 - lightly shimmering highlighter and a beautiful brown

So as you can see I really don't need this palette, and I really do hate to have too much stuff, and as eye shadows go, it almost pisses me off to have more than one shadow in the same colour, or in a very close colour to each other - so you can hardly see the difference between the two.

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Eye update

So an update on the eye-rash:
I tried to take a photo of the rash, but it really didn't show up on camera, either my camera is not good enough, or the rash was so mild. Actually I think it was a combination of the two. As I talked about in my previous post about the matter, I did give a couple of products a shot at it's own to see if a particular product was causing the rash. A gave my mascara a go, then my purple eye-liner and then my Trucco eye shadow in Eden, but nothing did seemed to cause more problems, but still I suspect the Trucco eye shadow - which makes me very hesitant to use it - plus I don't have the box anymore so I have no idea what it contains. 

Then the good news I got an earlier appointment with my skin-specialist, and actually on the day I went to see him, which was probably around the 4 and a half week mark since the rash re-appeared, I could hardly see the rash - it had gotten so mild. The doctor took a look at it, and after I speculated with him if it was an allergy reaction or something else, he decided to give me a mild steroid cream to put on my eyelids 2x a day for one week: ultracortenol 5 mg/g.  And by now the rash has totally disappeared. Then my doctor told me to start using make-up again, and then if the rash re-appears I will have to have an allergy test done. So day one today and I'm back on mascara and eyeliner, and I guess I will slowly start using stuff again, one eye item at a time - unless I get really bold one day :) Still really hesitant to use the Trucco eye shadow, as I read online that a lot of people are allergic to pink and purple colour pigment, and my eyeliner and eyeshadow are both in those colour-families.. I have also cleaned all my brushes very thoroughly (if there was a shampoo residue or some bacteria in them causing the rash), and thought about if I was using a new shampoo, and I am kind of using a new shampoo. A lot of eye-rashes are caused by shampoo or hair products that just run over your eyes while you are taking a shower. Then nail-polish is a common culprit, apparently the first 12-24 hours after you apply the polish, the polish is still drying and a lot of chemicals are getting out of the polish (which can cause eye-rash). I really think the shampoo or nail polish is not the cause in my case because I wasn't wearing nail polish when the rash appeared and had already used the shampoo for some time - and have been using the same eye-cream for over a year and my eye-make up remover for about 6 months.

When I come to think of it I'm kind of appalled by the amount of products we use that could actually be causing this issue. Everything from eyelid primer, eye shadow, liner, mascara (apparently fibers in mascara is a common eye-irritant), eye cream, facial cream?, shampoo, nail-polish, eye-makeup remover, facial soap or something else entirely could be causing this rash.

Then I'm torn between if this happens again, if I should have an allergy test done or not, as it's quite expensive. I really don't want to use the Trucco colour again (as I've persuaded myself that that was the cause - even though I had used it before for an extended period of time), then I'm worried that the Mac blackberry eye shadow will cause me the same reaction as it's very similar colour, even more pink than the Trucco Eden.. Today I'm only wearing my Body shop 17 golden brown eyeliner and Lumene bluberry curl mascara (which I love so much it deserves it's own blog post). But wow what a difference a bit of mascara and eyeliner does for me after a week with absolutely nothing on my eyes (except for under eye concealer). So I think my game-plan will be to use only these 2 products for one week (unless they cause rash reappearance), and then maybe try an eye shadow for a week with a primer.. and then a another eyeliner and so on.. and eventually Mac blueberry..

Have you got any makeup allergies?

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Shopping the stash for fall-trends 2013

I found this image from Lancóme online and used it for inspiration - and as a point of reference of shopping my stash:

Lancóme l'absolu désir - fall collection 2013

And this is what I found in my stash:

Elín's absolout desire?

Clinique lipstick in Flamenco no. 13
Revlon nail polish in Raven Red
Lancóme purple nail polish no. 117
Red nail polish from Gallo (Greek brand?)
OPI nail polish in Skyfall
Christian Breton bronzer in Terra Tan
Cover Girl blush duo in Fresh Roses
Lumene black mascara - just had to add this one as it's my favorite, very buildable

I think I'm good for this fall

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Sunday, September 22, 2013

September beauty budget

Not very different from last months purchase, yes again an eye-liner, this time it's from Lancóme:

Le crayon khol black carat - 023 Chestnut

The color close up;

A true chestnut colour


It looks a bit lighter when you put it on your eyes - then it's a heavy swatch above. Thus it looks a bit light on my blue eyes, then I'm still trying to find out what colour of an eye-shadow I should pair this with. Then again, it's a nice colour when you hardly want to wear any make-up at all, but still a subtle something - which is exactly what this is! Still thought it would be a bit more brown - as I bought it "blindfolded" as it was on sale, and there wasn't a tester available. Plus I thought it was paraben-free, but with closer reading of the packaging it turns out to include parabens. Note to self - don't get greedy on sales!

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Friday, September 13, 2013

8 months into new year's resolutions for 2013

So I came across my new-year's resolutions I made for 2013:

-Take vitamins daily
-Dry-brush my skin once a week (an unresolved new-year's resolution from 2012) - Note to self: put this task on a fixed-weekday!
- Go to the gym at least 2 times a week
- Read at least 6 books for fun in the year 2013
- Don't leave the house without "makeup" and perfume

I think these goals are quite fitting, some I have followed out almost fully and others I have not done anything about - as is the nature of new-year's resolutions!

I do take more vitamins, not on a daily basis though

I have not used a dry brush on my skin once the entire year

I have started to go to the gym at least 2 times a week, since August

I have read 5 books so far this year, and have already started the 6th one

I did not leave the house without make-up (at least my eyes done) after May.. that is until recently, when I developed a rash on my eyelids (right in the crease) kind of small "pimples" or dots you might say. They went away after 2 weeks without any eye-make-up - and I thought the culprit was an old mascara which I threw out right away. After a little less than one week, again on eye-make-up the rash popped up again, and still has not disappeared after about 3 weeks of no make-up! So I booked an appointment with a skin doctor, still waiting for that one - I have the appointment in the end of October..
Now with no idea what causes the rash, I'm back on mascara, to see if it get's worse, if not I will give the mascara a few days off, and try wearing eye-shadow only for a week, and see what happens, and after that: only eye-liner. All of them the products I was using when the rash re-appeared.

Parfume-vise I have finished one bottle, and am working my way through a few samples and have now opened the Jucy couture - Viva la Jucy ;) So I have rarely left the house without a perfume ;)



Thank you for reading,
Ella

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Empties July - September 2013

The empties of these months were:

The empties these months



John Frieda - Full repair, full body shampoo
A great shampoo for damaged hair, I still haven't tried this in a combination with the conditioner from the same range, I'm sure then I will be in love! Smells great as well as all the John Frieda products.

Lagerfeld - Sun Moon Stars eau de toilette
A very lady like, a bit mature scent. I have no idea why I bought this almost 10 years ago around 20 years old. And it ended up in my parents bathroom closet for years, I redescovered it about 2 years ago, the bottle was almost full, still in the box, and incredibly it hadn't gone bad in those 10 years in a warm bathroom closet. It's a bit heavy, and I definetly would not repurchase this (if it was awailable still). But it was the perfect scent for work as I work 12 hour shifts, it stays on for a long time, even though I was not able to smell it about 15 minutes after I applied it (as perfumes are supposed to work if the scent suits you). I just hate scents that you can smell all day on yourself, almost giving you a headacke. This is not one of them, big plus for that.

Yes to cucumbers - cool conditioning hand cream
A very light, and fast absorbing hand cream, which does not leave you oily on your hands. Still very moisturizing - this I would repurchase (if it was still awailable in Iceland). So now I'm on a hunt for a good hand cream, can you recommend one?

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Thursday, August 22, 2013

August beauty budget

So this is what I picked up on a sale in The Body Shop in August;

The Body Shop - 17 eye definer shade: golden brown

Swatch - golden brown colour

Pros: beautiful medium golden brown colour, a bit buildable and very creamy. And it's paraben-free ;)

Cons: the product is a bit thick in the pencil, so you probably have to sharpen it more often than a regular pencil, and maybe waste more product than you would have to.

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Friday, August 9, 2013

My perfume and fragrance collection

I'll be the first one to admit that I'm a perfume/fragrance hoarder.. and a terrible one at that. There used to be the time I was not able to walk through the duty-free without buying a scent for myself. In these later years I have learned to control myself.. othervise my collection would be way out of control. But still I like to have a few bottles to choose from, as different scents match ones mood, dress and occation.

My collection 


What my collection includes:

Sheer by Aerie - travel scent
Viva la Juicy by Jucy Couture (unopened)
Emerald dream by Estrée Lauder - summer scent
Beauty Rush, candy baby body mist by Victorias Secret
Sun Moon Stars by Lagerfeld - this one I use for work
Diamonds by Emporio Armani - my "glamourous" scent
Bright Crystal by Versace - light day to day scent (still prefer the yellow diamond version)
Very sexy body mist by Victoarias Secret
True Star Gold by Tommy Hilfiger - this will be my new work scent

This is a bit, too mutch in my own opinion, especially when I think about how many perfume bottles I have already finished in my life (which adds up to 5) and one of them I did not even finish as the smell went bad. Perfumes do not last forever.. and that I learned the hard way with my Armani She perfume.. when one day it suddenly smelled awful. The other bottles I did actually finish were; Cool water by Davidoff, Eternety by Calvin Clein, Abercrombie (original) and Qui by L'oreal. My favorite of them? Difficult to say, Cool water and the Abercrombie scent I relate to my teenage years, but if I ever re-purchase any of them it would deffinetly be Eternety, I still love that smell.

What I would like to buy, when I have made a dent in my collection:
 
Express love by Express
So Cal by Hollister (sadly discontinued)
Vanitas by Versace
Versense by Versace

The good news?
I'm about to finish the bottle of Sun moon stars - and then I'm going to crack open Viva la Juicy
If you want to learn about notes of any of the scents visit Fragrantica

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Saturday, August 3, 2013

July rediscoveries / July favorites

So last month rediscoveries or July favorites would be these 2 very summery products;

OPI nailpolish - My chihuahua bites!

Joli rouge lipstick from Clarins in 711 papaya


711 papaya swatched - it has no shimmer


Both of these I bought last summer, when the coral colour was so very mutch the colour of summer 2012. Happily for me it's still in fashion, and have been my go to items last month... just love the nail-polish as it's somewhere between pink, orange and coral. A very pretty and summery colour. The lipstick is an absoloute favorite, and was a bit neglected in June (mostly due to rainy weather in Iceland), but it looks lovely on the lips, not too much, but still a bit of a pop of colour. Plus it's very soft and moisturizing on the lips

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Empties May - July 2013

This time I'm posting pictures of products I found online, as these products I used up on holiday and threw the cointainers before taking a photo of them myself. But this section, or series,
"the empties", are really motivating me to use up products that are in my stash and review them afterwards :) Not that I'm using more of them or anything like that, but if I have a bottle that is almost empty, I'm rather going to use that one instead of reaching for the 1/3 finished one! And then I have one item less hanging around in my bathroom and taking up space. And I hate to have too mutch clutter around me - really less is more in that department, where I'm concearned.

The empties these months were;


The body shop olive oil body butter, Herbal essence hydralicious shampoo and conditioner, 
Neutral body lotion and herbal essence hello hydration shampoo



Body shop olive oil body butter: this is definetly good for dry skin, for me it was a bit too rich and thick, but came in very handy when I got sun-burned in Kos. Then it was an absolute favorite.

Herbal essence hydralicious shampoo and conditioner: this is labeled for dry and damaged hair, and no joke it works wonders! I bought it when my hair was at it's worst, very damaged and dry after bleaching, and this really saved my hair, I was at the point to cut a lot of it off as it was so dry.. but this turned it around. BIG LOVE for this one - best shampoo and conditioner for dry and damaged hair (and I really tried a lot of products after this bleaching episode). Plus it smells really good.

Neutral body lotion: this lotion is paraben and fragrance free, and after I got obsessed with parabens I wanted to try a paraben free lotion. This cream on the other hand is a bit thin, and makes you feel like it does nothing for the skin. The cream itself is a white milky colour, and almost see through when it's rubbed out thinly.. still on the hunt for a good paraben free lotion - this was ok, but I'm not craving for another bottle of this one.

Herbal essence hello hydration shampoo: after trying the hydralicious shampoo, I was hoping this would be similar to that one. It really isn't, the hydralicious is about 10 times better than hello hydration... at least for my hair. Not to be repurchased.

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Makeup throw away

Out there there are some general rules to when you are supposed to trow your makeup products out, or replace them. Different websites give different expiration time on different items from the day you open them and start to use them (here you can find some guidelines on bellasugar.com). I have to confess that I'm terrible with those things and have actually "inherited" makup items from my sister, mother and even grandmother.. and I hardly ever thorw anything away... and still I don't even use it! Imagine?

Anyway.. about 6 months ago I went through my entire stash and trew a couple of things away, and now I was looking at this blush, well smelling it - and gosh it smelles awful.. So now is the time for it to go to the bin, and this is actually something that belonged to my grandmother, still I'm trying to find excuses not to throw it away... it's still such a pretty color... but I value my skin more than some pink substance in a box! So it's new home; the bin. As I was in the mood to throw things away, why not find other items? So I found a gloss from my sister that smells weird, a purple eyeliner that I bought on a sale, later to find out it was the tester tube - so I never used that one anyway.. and lastly a lip gloss pots trio from Body shop which I have owned since I was a teenager - and all smell like plastic.

Avon blush in coral fantasy, Bourjois liner clubbing in 85 violet lazer, 
pink gloss from etrebelle and lip gloss pots from Body shop


So by now I'm extra motivated not to buy too mutch stuff and throw it away, now I'm actually going to use up the products I buy!!

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Friday, July 19, 2013

Craving cuts

Last year I made a pact with myself not to buy any clothes in the year 2012, with a few expemtions though! I think I have never spent more time any year thinking about clothes and trying to bend the "rules" and wanting to buy items of clothing. This year it's makeup..

Ever since I relly became interested in makeup and started watching videos on youtube and reading beauty-blogs (probably about 3 years now) I have come across bloggers talking about an eyeshadow from Mac; Satin taupe.

Mac satin taupe - picture borrowed from Allure.com


After endless swatching images checks online, youtube ranting and dupe looking, going to Mac counters and searching for dupes from cheaper brands..  and they are endless - awailable in Iceland: burnt bark from Max Factor, silken taupe from Maybelline and velvet from Makeup store.

I decided to go tresaure digging in my collection, and see if I couldn't come up with something similar.. and guess what, I did: Bourjois loose eyeshadow powder in: 01 regard praline rose, which I bought quite a few years back.

Bourjois - 01 praline rose and L.A. colors in PE226 onyx

Swatches:

L.A. Colors in PE226 onyx and Bourjois - 01 praline rose in sunlight

L.A. Colors in PE226 onyx and Bourjois - 01 praline rose with flash

The pictures are a bit strange, the Bourjois color looks a bit too brown/taupe in the sunlight swatch, and very purple on the flash picture. 
And my eye-look with these two colors (Bourjois - 01 praline rose all over the lid and a bit over the crease, and L.A. colors PE226 onyx in the outer v):


This loose eyepowder from Bourjois is actually quite similar to satin taupe by Mac, still the Mac color is more difficult to define, the colour, is it golden, taupe with pink/purple undertones. The 01 praline rose from Bourjois is a more clear pinky/purple colour and less taupe.

Verdict:

Pros: it is close to Mac satin taupe, its smooth, blendable and very buildable, as you can use a little bit or a lot to intensify the colour, it comes with it's own brush and the packaging looks nice and sturdy.

Cons: a bit on the sparkly side for me, lot of fallout, and your undereye can look very sparkly if you are not super careful when applying. And it probably contains parabens :(

Do you have any dupes for Mac's satin taupe?

Thank you for reading,
Ella

July beauty budget

As I originally thought of this blog as a way to share my rediscoveries beauty-wise out of things I already own, it has turned out quite the opposite. My most recent posts have been about new purchases, this is the last one of those for now... and to justify this purchase - well it is used to use products I already have. Would I not have been able to live without it? Well that is debatable..

So what I bought;


The shaft is a little shorter than my other brushes, but still long enough and you get used to it's lenght. And wow it's so soft, so mutch softer than my elf and bodyshop eyeshadow brushes... got to love it for that!! Plus it's big so you can get the entire eye-lid in one sweep! So far I use it for hightlighting underneath the brow and for light colours all over the eyelid, and I love it!

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Greek haul

I went to Kos, Greece for my summer vacation in the end of May, and wow are there a lot of cosmetics brands from Greece. I had only heard about Korres before, but weird enough I only found that brand at the airport! In the small town there were a couple of stores that sold beuty products, and a whole lot in the city of Kos. So of course I managed to pick up a few items

The Greek haul

So what I got;

Korres - Yoghurt moisturising mask for normal to combination skin 16 ml (3.90 at the airport)
There were so many products from Korres at the airport, and I really wanted to buy more, but then again I have already too many bottles of cream, and I really get paranoid that somthing is going to go bad on me.. so I decided to limit myself only to this small tube of a mask - that I will 100% use up before anything else expires on me.

Olivelia by Macrovita - Body butter natural, olive oil and white tea (11.50 euros)
As I finished my body butter in Greece, it was just perfect to replace it. There were a couple of scents awailable, but this one is just to die for... definetly not too strong, but still the smell does linger for a while (a few hours that is) on your skin, so if that is something you do not like, I would not recommend this one.

Body Farm - Pomengranate 24 hour moisturizing cream (14.50 euros at the supermarket)
Again there were a few creams to choose from, and this was the one that appealed the most to me. I still haven't started to use this one, as I have a couple of tubes of facial cream still going around. So a rewiew to come.

Olivelia by Macrovita - Lip balm vanilla, oveiv oil and propolis with spf 10
This smells just like a vanilla ice cream, and relly moisturizes your lips, and is free of petroleum!

And did we get a great service in one of these little stores that sold beauty products, soaps, spices and greek liquers. The lady was so nice... and I ended up buying the lip balm from her, and a foot cream that I have already given as a gift. She told us about all this different Greek companies, and how some of them were more organic than the other ones..  you just about wanted to buy half of the store, and wow if you are going on a holiday to Greece, take a look at one of those stores - you will love it for sure.

Untill next time,
Ella

Saturday, July 13, 2013

June beauty budget

Last months beauty purchase (June) was an eye shadow from MAC in the colour Blackberry.
First I had my eyes on the color Trax, which is a burgundy-plum color with shimmer. In the store I decided though to buy Blackberry, as I found Trax to have too mutch shimmer, and Blackberry would be a more versitle colour. As it turnes out Blackberry is described on MAC's website as a matte muted burgundy-plum brown colour.

When I came home I figured though, that I actually own a colour very close to Blackberry, a colour from a brand called Trucco in the colour Eden, see the resemblence (picture with flash);

On the left is MAC Blackberry and on the right is Trucco Eden.

And swatched in daylight;
MAC Blackberry on the left and Trucco Eden on the left.

As you can see on the swatch the Trucco Eden colour has more hint of brown, it's really strange really that it looks so purple-pink in the pan and then more like a  taupe-brown when I put it on my eyes. But still that's a good thing, as then the colours are not 100% the same. And I who thought I would have to give someone one of the shadows as they were so similar..

As of today Eden by Trucco is my favorite eyeshadow and I use it almost every day.. hehe hard to imagine I had to buy another similar colour to start using what I already have in my stash!

Question of the hour; how long time will it take me to use up 2 g of an eyeshadow when I use it on average 5 days a week?

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Monday, May 13, 2013

Shopping in Stockholm

I went to Stockholm with work in the beginning of February, and of course did a little shopping, a few items of clothing were picked up in Gina Tricot and H&M.
Beauty wise, I went on a bit of a shopping-spree and got my hands on a few Lumene products, which are considerably cheaper in Sweden than in Iceland, so I stocked up on the following products;

- Arctic aqua 24H balancing moisturizer for oily and combination skin
- Radiant touch refreshing toner
- Blueberry curl mascara
- Waterproof eye make up remover

- H&M matte top coat
- H&M lipstick in Bare if you dare
- Maybelline colorama nail polish in Ballerina

Stockholm shopping


Then I bought a few creams from Lumene to give as gifts, and as I won't use them myself and thus not able to review them (and the recipients might read this blog) so I won't mention them here...
As I bought so much stuff the lovely ladies at the Lumene counter in Ahlens gave me two Lumene lip-glosses as a gift. Wow, how those little gestures make a big difference, I was just thrilled about getting something extra.

These will of course not be counted in the yearly allowance, as they were all bought abroad ;) Kind of cheating, I know.

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Friday, May 10, 2013

Empties January-May 2013


Empties January - May 2013

Aveeno - Clear copmexion foaming cleanser
A good foaming facial cleanser, free of parabens, have no complins about it.

Lancóme Bi-Facil eye makeup remover
The only eye-makeup remover I have used to date, very good, although it never gets everything off in first try. Paraben free, you shake it up before use, as it is made up of two liquids that part from each other - blue in the bottle.

Sothys Hydravance facial cream
Absoloutly the best facial crem I have ever used, this contains parabens, but I heard in the beauty section of my supermarket, that they are going to be paraben free. And if that is true I will definetly buy again - best cream for my skin, combined with the Sothys Hydradvace, intensive hydrating serum - great combo. Will 100% buy again if they go paraben free.

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Monday, April 22, 2013

Products for March, April and May

There was a discount evening at Smaralind shopping mall earlier this year, as a ladies night, and a lot of stores offered awesome discounts, either on spesific types of products or on everything in the store. As I was running out of a few products I purchased these;

Body shop vitamin C facial scrub
Body shop nutricanics foaming facial wash
Doctor organics lip balm in pommengranate


The Vitamine C facial scrub is ok, not great and not awful, but sure there is a better facial scrub out there for me yet to try. Still have not tried the Nutricanics facial wash, as I have still not finished the old one, but that will happen in the next few days I think, so a rewiev soon. The Doctor organics lip balm, is not so good, too waxy for my taste, and not moisturising enough. 

So now a three month item-budget gone

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Greece inspired dress

This even makes you look like the Greek national flag,

I like it, it reminds me of Greece;

Top from Zara - 7.995 ISK

Thank you for reading/looking,

Ella

Friday, March 15, 2013

First purchases of 2013

The first two things I bought this year were both from Lumene:


Both of these items were bought in January, so we can say that my January and February item budget is thus gone!

The toner is really great, after I started using it I have not gotten a singe break out, so for just over 2 months that is really good!
The Arctic aqua 2 in 1, is less than expected, and is far off from my old Sothys Hydradvace, intensive hydrating serum. But I still am going to use it with the cream from the same line, so we will se how the two are going to work out toghether. The Arctic aqua 2 in 1 is a bit of a water/gel consistency, when my Sothys serum was more like a thin cream. I guess as that one was the first serum I ever used, all serums or skin boosters are going to be compared to that.

Thank you for reading,
Elin


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Lumene Vitamin C+ BB cream

Last year I ordered this BB cream from Lumene on Suomikauppa.fi an online store that sells Finish products  and ships them world wide. What's so great about this store is that you can send them an e-mail if the product you are looking for is not available on their website, and that's exactly what I did in my case. They didn't have tht BB-cream available at first so I sent them a line, and in about 4 days, they sent me an e-mail that the cream was now available on their web-site! What an amazing service. So this is what it looks like:





Lumene Vitamin C+ BB cream



The clolor I ordered was 01 Light

Blended out


At first I thought the cream was a little bit too thick for my liking (especially compared to my Maybelline BB cream), and still it is a bit thick so I can't use my fingers to blend it out on my face- well I can, but it looks way too cakey. So I purchased a stipple brush from elf, and that works perfectly with the Lumene Vitamin C+ BB cream, as it applies thin enough not to look cakey or enhancing my few face lines. It does not offer a lot of colours, as it only comes in two shades, but this is perfect for me in winter, I'm somewhat fair, but not very fair. This has become my winter staple (even though I don't prefer to wear makeup every day). For me, with a bit oily skin I do need to use powder on top. 

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Friday, February 22, 2013

Empties 2012

These are not all of the empties of last year, but some of them.


Empties 2012

Orlane, Normalane astringent soothing lotion for mixed and oily skin.
- This toner was not good, didn't do anything for me, as using nothing at all.

Neutrogena, ageless essentials continous hydration face cream with 25 SPF.
- When I started to use this last summer it was ok, but now this winter it broke me out, so I have stopped using it (even though it's not emptly) not to be bought again or ever used again, new home; the trash.

- Victoria's secret, fragrant body splash in Love spell.
This I bought ages ago, and finally finished now. The smell is always as nice even though the purple colour went out of the water as I made the crucial mistake of storing the bottle in direct sunlight (in my batroom window).

Sothys Hydradvace, intensive hydrating serum.
- A great serum works really well with my Hydradvance moisturizing cream. The only downside: it contains parabens, and thus will not be bought again - even though I REALLY want to. Really good product.

Boots, Botanics skin brightening toner.
- The best toner I have ever used, really gentle on the skin and does brighten the skin. Will definetly buy again, too bad there is not a Boots store in Iceland.

The body shop, hi-shine lip treatment (gloss).
- They have changed the packaging at the body shop, this is a 13 ml tube (cut in half), now they have a 14 ml. My tube doesn't have a colour indication on the bottle, but I think it's closes to party pink in the line they have now. It was a little bit too glittery for my liking, as I could just feel a little bit of glitter particles on my lips. Plus the bottle is way too big and lasts forever. Which could be good for some, but I like to switch out my glosses more often, so smaller bottles for me please.

N.Y.C. liquid lipstick in 433A Christine.
- I don't think N.Y.C. makes this anymore, at least not in this packaging. A really nice orange colour and small enough sparkles so I don't feel them on my lips.

Have you tried any of these?

Ella

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Last years purchases

Maybe I should start the year with a summarization about the beauty buys of 2012, well all the things I bought or were given to me last year!

So this is what the pile looks like:

The Pile


And this is what the pile includes (not in an alphabetical, preference or time of purchase order):

-Lumene vitamin c anti-puffiness roll-on eye serum
-Lumene vitamin c illuminating anti-age bb cream - 01 light
-Youngblood mineral rice setting powder
-Maybelline dream fresh bb cream - universal glow
-Maybelline eyestudio gel eyeliner - brown
-Maybelline eyestudio natural impact eyeshadow - 05 glamour browns
-Body shop vitamine e face mist
-Clinique chubby stick - 02 whole lotta honey
-Clinique lipstick - 13 flamenco
-Benefit watt's up
-Kiko eye shadow - shade 122
-Kiko angled blus brush - face 103
-Kanebo lip brush
-Collistar eye pencil - shade 4 - dark blue
-Garnier roll on anti-dark circles - 02 light
-Loréal eye designer (eyepencil) - 413 ebony
-Loréal color riche le smokey (eyepencil) -211 purple dream
-Makeup store microshadow - ghetto
-Estée Lauder blush - 20 sweet nectar
-Mac eyeshadow - contrast
-elf complexion brush
-elf blush brush
-elf stipple brush
-elf professional eye shadow brush
-elf professional eye crease brush
-elf mineral eye shadow primer - sheer
-Nip + fab eye fix - light
-Viva la juicy by juicy couture (missing in the picture)

I have actually not started using the last two of the purchases of the year - as I'm trying to finish a couple of my perfumes before I open this one, and the Nip + fab eye fix is a backup for my sensai/kanebo eye concealer.

So what is the most loved purchase of the year? My elf eye shadow brushes as I use them a lot, the maybelline and Makeup store eyeshadows I also get a lot of use out of. I also LOVE my Kiko angled blush brush, the Estée Lauder blush - it's such a beautiful colour and the Benefit what's up - it'g gorgeous on the face!
Disappointment of the all of the products? My Clinique chubby stick, as the colour pay-off is almost none.
Products that contain parabens; Maybelline eye shadow, Makeup store eye shadow, Kiko eye shadow and the Body shop vitamin e face mist. I'm not sure if the eye pencils contain parabens, but all the other products are paraben free (to the best of my knowledge) - and thus very to my liking!

Untill next time,
Ella