Another eye update

So yet another eye update, now I'm again on the rash train, yes again eye-rash.. 

Then again, it's a bit different from the previous ones, which completely stayed in the crease, this one on the other hand is all over the lid... and the culprit this time around: my Bobbi Brown eyeshadow in java 23 - which was my beloved beauty budget of November. Still I find it very strange that something I have worn before can suddenly cause such a rash - which is totally normal though. At first I used with a primer, but now I put it straight on the eyelid, and right away on day one using this product I got tiny little bumps all over the lid, exactly where I put the shadow. It got a bit better the next morning, but in my madness I decided to put it back on - as to double check if this was 100% the culprit, as I had been wearing other shadows the days before. Needless to say it got instantly worse, and I decided to put the cream I got from the doctor the first time around onto my lids... and when I did, I really understood how bad it was, I could just feel all the tiny little bumps with my fingers.. this has never been so bad before. Then again, it's not itching at all, and no redness.. my lids are a bit dry.. but that's it.  

So I washed the real techniques brush, I just hope I'm not allergic to that one - could it be? Or is it something with the purple dies in the shadows that cause the rash? Both of them have a bit of a purple/violet hue in them - or is that just a coincidence? One of them has shimmer, and the other is matte, so that's not the case.

So now back onto the no-makeup regime, still I slap on concealer and a mascara... but nothing on the lids themselves, unless the cream for healing purposes ;)

In the future: do not buy any eyeshadow unless it's from Clinique, as everything from them is supposed to be safe and allergy free, from Benecos or a similar allergy free brand for sensitive eyes. 

After healing to do list:

Use a pink shadow from Clinique for one week and see if that's ok

Use Blackberry by Mac for one week (that colour is described as muted burgundy-plum brown - but it looks a bit violet/purple)

I'll keep you posted on these experiments,

I'm currently on day 2 on cream, nothing else on my lids.
Have you ever experienced eyelid rash, then this is a good read.

Thank you for getting to the bottom,

Ella

The real recycle

So I figured I have not been very consistent this year to the name of the blog; Beauty recycle, but I promise I have big things planned for 2014 - more towards the recycle or shopping my stash as someone would say. I will go through some of my products and share my thoughts about them - kind of mini reviews and swatches.

Stay tuned,
Ella

Collection 2013

So this pile consists of all the products I purchased in 2013:

Exept for 3 products:

Almay sensitive oil free eye makup remover - just forgot for the "photo-shoot"
Olivelia body butter by Macrovita - too big for the photo
Lumene  waterproof eyemakeup remover - is finished and was presented at the last empties post of 2013

I think my makeup collection is about getting out of control - ok these include toners, creams and facial washes.. and some of the products are almost finished and others I have not even started to use yet - as they are backups and I don't like to have many mascaras in use at a perticular time (actually I prefer to have only one in use at a given time) and then I also don't want to have too many lip products open at a time (especially glosses). Actually I'm going to do a lip-collection soon... so then I'll do an overview of what is being used at the time and what is not.

Thank you for reading,
Ella

Eyshadow comparison: Lumene vs. Bobbi Brown

I thought it might be useful to compare some of my eyeshadows to each other. This time around I'm going to compare two shadows I thought would turn out quite similar, but are quite different after all.

Blueberry crystal eyeshadow from lumene in 20 Frosted forrest

vs.

Bobbi Brown Metallic eye shadow in 23 Java (photo with flash)

Swatched in natural light - Bobbi Brown 23 java and Lumene 20 frosted forrest

Swatched with flash - Bobbi Brown 23 java and Lumene 20 frosted forrest

I had a bit of a problem with the lighting, due to extreme clouds in Reykjavik these days, and short time of daylight in general.

Both of them are very soft and very blendable shadows with minimum fallout, but they turned out quite different, the Lumene shadow is a pinky-purple shade - with a frosted look, and the Bobby Brown is a light brown with a hint of purple tone in it - more of a satin look. But when I use a brush both of them mute a bit out..
My first try at the Bobbi Brown was a big disappointment, as I had such great expectations for the brand, and I thought the shadow was kind of a blahh.. not so special, but after playing around with it more, and using a primer, it's a totally different story. A beautiful everyday shade I can use all over my lid and I'm ready to go.
The Lumne shade is also good for daytime, if applied lightly with a brush, a beautiful pink-purple shade which also can be used all over the lid and you are ready to go.

What is your favorite Bobbi Brown shade?

Thank you for reading,
Ella

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

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

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