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

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

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

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

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

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

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