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

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

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

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

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

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

First purchases of 2013

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

- Sensitive touch gentle toner

- Arctic Aqua 2 in 1 skin perfecting moisture booster

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