Current cravings and how to curb them

I have in fact gotten over the crave for Urban Decay eyeshadow in half baked during my mission to finish up some items in my collection. But it didn't last for long as of late I saw a beautiful eyelook with the Body Shop Chocolate box shimmer cubes 06 on youtube.

The Body Shop chocolate box shimmer cubes in 06

I have not gone in person recently to swatch them, but have swatched the shimmer cubes in stores through the years, and what I remember is they are VERY shimmery and I never really was tempted to buy any of them, if it was due to shimmer, the packaging or the size (it is a lot of product 4x4 grams that would last for years and years).

The more I looked online through swatches of the shimmer box, the more I came to realize I must have these shadows, or very similar in my collection, and this is what I came up with:

My "shimmer box"

Swatches

So my shimmer box 06 from the Body Shop is made of:

Wet and wild comfort zone palette: the first swatch is a mix of the two top left colors (browbone and eyelid)

Almay intense i-color in 412 trio for blues: the bottom color of this trio is the second swatch

Maybelline single eyeshadow in silken taupe: the third swatch

Almay intense i-color in 412 trio for blues: the brown in this trio is the fourth and last swatch

You can compare my swatches to swatches taken by Beautyshelfie and British beauty addict and see if you think they are similar or not.

At least I do not need to invest in the Body shop palette, as I seem to have all the colors in it.

Hope this has been an inspiration for you to go through your stash when you get the next craving for a product.

My take on Christian Dior Holiday collection 2014

My biggest weakness when it comes to cosmetics is eye shadow palettes, so when the big high-end companies bring out their new Holiday collections I am always tempted to purchase one of them.

On the other hand I really don't need any more eye shadows, so I decided to try to shop my stash and come up with a similar idea I can use over the season, instead of buying more stuff that is not used.

Dior Christmas 2014

Nail polish in Gold shock - Eye shadow palette in 756 Golden shock

So this is what I came up with:

With flash

The body shop eyeshadows in 13 and 39 - both matte, one off white and the other black (I trew in a black to deepen the purple coulour.

Mac blackberry

Nicole by OPI - Selena Gomez in kissed at midnight

EGO eye shimmer (no colour indicated)

Maybelline eye shadow in 610 silken taupe

Bourjois eye shadow loose pigment in 01 regard praline rosé

And swatched:

Swatches without flash

Compared with swatches from the Dior golden shock eye shadow palette (you can see swatches on the blog Mostly Sunny) the purple and sparkling gold are not as pigmented, but I am quite sure you can get a similar result with these products.

The nail polishes are both clear top coats with gold glitter particles, the difference being that the Nicole by OPI has regular cut glitter particles and a bit of silver particles while the Dior more of a irregular particles only in gold colour.

Thank you for reading,

Ella

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

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