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