Florida haul February 2015 + 1

Less is more did not apply this time around, I got kind of crazy on Amazon, in Target, Walmart, Sephora, Ulta, Ross, Tj Max and Marshalls and here is the result:

USA haul winter 2015

Batiste dry shampoo - dark and deep brown
Jergens BB body - medium deep
Swoon - gloss scooper
Lumene refreshing cleansing foam
Yes to cucumbers - natural after-sun serum with shimmer
Pantene pro-v ultimate 10 BB cream
Proganix anti-fade argan oil and uv spray for hair
Lumene bright now vitamin c BB serum
Garnier eye makeup remover 2in1 (this is the +1 item - as it is bought in Iceland)
Bleanderclenser (for beauty blender)
Beauty blender
Organics organic wear BB mascara
Burt's bees lip gloss - 203 Autumn haze
Urban decay primer potion
Mederma advanced scar gel
Cover girl - redy sed gorgeous in 115 buff beige
NYC smooth skin bronzing face powder - sunny
YSL Volupté tint in oil no.4 I rose you
Milani baked blush - 05 Luminoso
Wet and wild - Fergie daily
Maybelline colour sensational - 235 warm me up
NYX butter gloss - creme brulee
Sonia Kashuk - sweet pea 04

Thank you for looking by

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

USA haul fall 2014

So I dashed to NYC with my sister in the end of October, of course I did some beauty shopping along with the eating and sight seeing. The biggest damage was done in Bergdorf Goodman, then Sephora but most of it was bought in CVS or in one of the small drug stores of New York. But still I tried my best not to go overboard, as I already have too much beauty stuff, and as of late I really believe less is more!

USA haul

Hourglass ambient lighting palette

The most expensive of the items, and was I totally sold by the staff at Bergdorf Goodman, who were super nice and helpful and gave me and my sister the time to an demonstration (which is very uncommon in Iceland). The phrase "treat yourself" was used a lot, and yes I did treat myself - have to encorporate this to my daily routine, as of now I feel this is too fancy and nice to use everyday. Wrong, I should treat myself every day to use this product.

Loréal infallible eye shadows in 890 bronzed taupe and 892 amber rush

A regret buy? Almost as these came at over 9 USD a pop, wow, and then I think two of the colours from the comfort zone are dupes for these two - but they are beautiful - I would buy them on a sale only.

Wet and wild shine protective base coat

An oldy but a goody - there says new shade on this bottle, but I have a 10 year old bottle from wet and wild in the same clear purply shade. I am quite sure it is the same. Too cheap to resist even thogh I had picked up the Orly bonder.

Orly bonder rubberized basecoat

I had heard so mutch things about this base coat, so when I saw it at CVS I just could not let it pass - still testing it out, but I totally belive the youtube beauty gurus.

Inm out the door top coat for nails

Another thing I had seen on some beauty chanel, picked this one over the Seche Vite, as it's supposed to contain less harmful cemicals. Yet to be tested.

Love express eau de parfum roller ball

Have wanted to buy this perfume for several years, I indulged in buying a roller ball - as I already have too many big perfume bottles.

Cover girl clump crusher by lashblast mascara in 800 very black

Youtube made me buy it

Wet and wild eye shadow palette in 738 comfort zone

Again Youtube made me buy it - it was not easy to find, found it in a random health + glass store in Astoria-Queens. Price was dirt cheap.

Clarins radiance-plus golden glow booster

Ruth Crilly on Youtube talked about this one sometime this summer - I had been searching for it in airports in Istanbul, Copenhagen and Iceland - and it was nowhere to be found or sold out everywhere - so I snatched it up in Sephora.

Untill next,

Ella

Airport and Iceland haul

So since I came back home to Iceland these products I have accumulated, so from mid September untill the end of November:

Iceland and airport haul

So these are the products I have bought since mid September:

Garnier miracle skin cream
Maybelline the rocket volum' express waterproof
Nuxe micellar foam cleanser face with rose petals

The body shop Aloe protective serum for sensitive skin
Maybelline eye shadow 610 silken taupe
Elizabeth Arden green tea honey drop body cream
Beauty by Zazie nail polish remover
The body shop lip scrub

Bourjois happy light luminous serum primer

Lumene bright now vitamin c eye cream

Loves:

Lumene bright now vitamin c eye cream - I don't know why but I really belive in Lumene products and this I like very much. Not too heavy around my eye area, love this one.

The body shop aloe protective serum for sensitive skin - I don't have super sensitive skin, but then products for sensitive skin are very unlikely going to irritate normal skin. It's more of a very light cream texture, does the job and my skin feels very hydrated.

Nuxe micellar foam cleanser face with rose petals - a really long name, and it really smells rosy. I was going to repurchase the body shop nutriganics foaming face wash (see here) - but as I was searching for it in the duty free at Copenhagen airport (they had several body shop products around) I saw this Nuxe foaming face cleanser, and thought I could buy something new for a change, plus it is French, not available in Iceland and the cheapest foaming facial wash at the airport. I like it, it is not better or worse than the body shop one, the price I guess would decide which I would buy - if it would become available in Iceland.

Disappointing:

Maybelline eye shadow in 610 silken taupe - I could not resist buying this on a 50% off sale in the supermarket. Still I think it is way too expensive for what it is. I had heard this was a dupe for satin taupe from Mac, it's not I tell you. Still I use it, but it's more of a blah colour for me, as my crease eats up all my lid (I have hooded eyes), so if I put this all over the lid - it becomes invisible, but still you can work with it and if I use a creamy base it becomes more vivid and stands out more. Workable I would say.

Garnier miracle skin cream - a white cream with colour particles which burst when you rub it with your fingers. First of all it is only available in one colour, and you can really go overboard with it if you use too much product. So only use a little amount, and put on top of another cream, otherwise it is too hard to work with and becomes uneven.

untill next time,
Ella

Empties May - September 2014

So this is what I managed to finish now these last few months:

Empties May - September

The body shop Nutriganics foaming facial wash - a very nice and gentle facial wash, it might not have the best smell in to world, but not too bad either and 98% organic - which I love.

Proderm sunscreen mousse SPF 30 - paraben free and my favorite sun-screen, only downside it is quite expensive and can not be bought everywhere.

Oleosome eye gel for dry skin - this is my first eye cream, my skin is not dry, but it has not irritated my eye area. But don't know if I see a difference, but it has not made my eye area worse.

Nivea Sun protect and bronze SPF 30 - contains parabens, sadly - but it is a great sunscreen - did not burn once - and got a really nice bronze tan :)

Lumene Arctic Aqua 2in1 skin perfecting moisture booster - a very nice gel like serum, gives my skin some extra moisture, though even it might be oily, it's sometimes lacking moisture.

Peter Thomas Roth mega rich body lotion - got this when I was staying in a hotel somewhere - do not like the smell, and the cream is too thin also - but handy while travelling.

Nivea Sun pocket size SPF 30 - this is genius, only 50 ml - so it's not to heavy to carry in your purse while strolling through cities, and you can take care of your skin and re-apply sunscreen without dragging a huge bottle around.

Nivea sun protect and bronze SPF 30 - spray bottle, I like this one better than the cream - as it is more lightweight, and doesn't leave you with white streaks all over your body after you come out of the water. Only downside; it has parabens in it.

Vaseline essential moisture pure oat extract. This has been my favorite brand for many years... they have so good moisturizers - downside: it has parabens, magnesium aluminum sterate (is that bad for you?) and petrolatum - I swore I was not going to use any products with petrolatum and parabens - but sometimes you can not find anything else so you have to compromize.

Aerie Whoa eau de toilette samplers - love the smell of this one, if I had an Aerie store within my reach and not too many toilettes already I would definetly buy this one.

Steam cream in happyness - I absoloutly hate the smell of this - it smells to me like a foot cream. My sister gave it to me with good intentions a few years ago, and now when I went to Turkey I thought I would finish it up as it was lightweight and not to heavy for my skin during summer. What happened when I opnened it after the flight, it had all separated, the cream and oil were now floating around in the jar, and it was super liquidy. If it was the heat change from home to Turkey, the shake during the flight, airpressure or what, I don't know. But I used it for my face in the beginning and then ended up using it on my feet and legs, as suddenly it got more rich than before. Really strange - will not buy again!

Turkey haul

So as my stay in Turkey is coming to a finish I thought I would do a gathered haul of the beauty items I have bought while I have been here.

Turkey haul

Golden rose nail polish no. 09 - a nice white slightly shimmery
Golden rose nail polish no. 247 - a hot pink almost neon colour
Flormar nail polish in QD02 soft pink - a nice neutral pink
Pastel pro fashion quad eyeshadow no 280 - nice neautral browns
Cecile nail polish number 96 - light pink colour
Sephora bronzer brush no. 44
Sephora complexion kabuki no. 47
Pull & Bear shot woman perfume gold colour
Miss Manga, mega volume waterproof mascara from Loreal
Golden rose mascara city style - mega volume and length
Alix Avien pearly eyeshadow in bronze (I would say it's more pinky taupe in colour)
Flormar nail enamel dryer
Alix Avien - multicolour no 03
Golden rose nail polish no. 242
Golden rose nail polish no. 238 - this one has small silver glimmer sparkels - but it's impossible to use as it is extremely streaky

I'll give out more detailed review as I start using these products on a regular basis ;)

Sunscreen edition

So as I'm living and working in Turkey for the summer season, sunscreen has become a daily ritual. So I thought I would share with you what products I'm using and what I think of them.

The sunscreen and after sun products

Clarins 30 UVB UVA sun wrinke control cream for face - I decided to buy this at the airport on the way to Turkey, as I'm going to spend so mutch time here that it would be nice to have a special suncream for the face, and I chose Clarins because my mom used to buy it when I was a kid. I'm very happy with it, it's not too oiliy for my combination skin, I don't use a moisturizer before I use it though - that would deffinetly be too rich for me. I have only once gotten a red face while using this product, and that was basically because I didn't re-apply when I was spending all day out in the sun. Now while tanning - about once a week on average I keep my face in the shade though - both to prevent burning and also it's simply too hot to be all in the sun.

Escabel Sun aloe vera after sun gel - this I bought from a small market on my street, I got red shoulders after spending a day on a boat, and had to get something with aloe vera in it, and this the store had - this is probably not the newest bottle, as I have seen other bottles from the same company with a pump and the product is a little bit thick from the bottle I have. But I think it's not expired as it's not a cream-product, and it does get rid of redness after sun pretty quickly ;)

Proderm sunscreen mousse 30 - this I also bought at the airport on my way to Turkey, I wish they sold this brand here, but I have never seen it while abroad - but it's sold in Iceland. This is absoloutly my favorite sunscreen, it penetrates further into the skin than other sunscreens and thus protects your skin better from the sun. Plus it's non greasy and does not run in water or smudge onto your clothes.

Nivea sun protect and bronze 30 - I bought this one here in Turkey in the supermarket (stick to supermarkets and pharmacies when buying sunscreens while abroad in Europe - because their product turnover is fast, so you are always getting a new product). I basicly bought this one because I wanted to save my proderm protection a bit - and use the nivea one for tanning by the pool, as you would have to re-apply reglulary so my proderm one would run out too fast. I totally forgot about nivea sunscreens, they really run in water. I usually put this on me about 30 minutes before I go out in the sun, then maybe lay on a bench for another 30 minutes and then dip into the pool - and then white streaks are running on my legs. It says water-resistant on the bottle, but I really think you have to put this on about an hour, to an hour and a half before going in the sun, and if I'm not dipping into a pool or showering it's not a problem. But when this one runs out, I think I will get the protect and bronze spray in 30 - that seems to be a clear or yellow fluid, and maybe my skin will absorb it better. I wish they had it in 20 thought, or maybe I'll just stick to number 30 - I'm still getting a good tan, and no bad burning so far... I'll see when I finish these two bottles.

So all in all, some good products, and some not so great products.