August beauty budget

So this is what I picked up on a sale in The Body Shop in August;

The Body Shop - 17 eye definer shade: golden brown

Swatch - golden brown colour

Pros: beautiful medium golden brown colour, a bit buildable and very creamy. And it's paraben-free ;)

Cons: the product is a bit thick in the pencil, so you probably have to sharpen it more often than a regular pencil, and maybe waste more product than you would have to.

Thank you for reading,
Ella

My perfume and fragrance collection

I'll be the first one to admit that I'm a perfume/fragrance hoarder.. and a terrible one at that. There used to be the time I was not able to walk through the duty-free without buying a scent for myself. In these later years I have learned to control myself.. othervise my collection would be way out of control. But still I like to have a few bottles to choose from, as different scents match ones mood, dress and occation.

My collection 

(compare to stash early 2012)

What my collection includes:

Sheer by Aerie - travel scent
Viva la Juicy by Jucy Couture (unopened)
Emerald dream by Estrée Lauder - summer scent
Beauty Rush, candy baby body mist by Victorias Secret
Sun Moon Stars by Lagerfeld - this one I use for work
Diamonds by Emporio Armani - my "glamourous" scent
Bright Crystal by Versace - light day to day scent (still prefer the yellow diamond version)
Very sexy body mist by Victoarias Secret
True Star Gold by Tommy Hilfiger - this will be my new work scent

This is a bit, too mutch in my own opinion, especially when I think about how many perfume bottles I have already finished in my life (which adds up to 5) and one of them I did not even finish as the smell went bad. Perfumes do not last forever.. and that I learned the hard way with my Armani She perfume.. when one day it suddenly smelled awful. The other bottles I did actually finish were; Cool water by Davidoff, Eternety by Calvin Clein, Abercrombie (original) and Qui by L'oreal. My favorite of them? Difficult to say, Cool water and the Abercrombie scent I relate to my teenage years, but if I ever re-purchase any of them it would deffinetly be Eternety, I still love that smell.

What I would like to buy, when I have made a dent in my collection:
 
Express love by Express
So Cal by Hollister (sadly discontinued)
Vanitas by Versace
Versense by Versace

The good news?
I'm about to finish the bottle of Sun moon stars - and then I'm going to crack open Viva la Juicy
If you want to learn about notes of any of the scents visit Fragrantica

Thank you for reading,
Ella

July rediscoveries / July favorites

So last month rediscoveries or July favorites would be these 2 very summery products;

OPI nailpolish - My chihuahua bites!

Joli rouge lipstick from Clarins in 711 papaya

711 papaya swatched - it has no shimmer

Both of these I bought last summer, when the coral colour was so very mutch the colour of summer 2012. Happily for me it's still in fashion, and have been my go to items last month... just love the nail-polish as it's somewhere between pink, orange and coral. A very pretty and summery colour. The lipstick is an absoloute favorite, and was a bit neglected in June (mostly due to rainy weather in Iceland), but it looks lovely on the lips, not too much, but still a bit of a pop of colour. Plus it's very soft and moisturizing on the lips

Thank you for reading,

Ella

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

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

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;

Gosh xl flat eyeshadow brush 332 - about 2.500 ISK

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