I was given a gift......

....by my brother. My brother have just come home from a trip to Iceland and while he was there he thought of me and bought me a gift. Lets just say that my brother knows me very well and he knows what makes me happy so he bought me some skincare from Iceland.


This kit is made by an Icelandic company called Sóley Organics and they make organic skincare products with ingredients from Iceland. The kit is called Revive and contains two products, a mineral mask and an exfoliator.




The mask is called steinEY and it is a mineral mask with volcanic clay from Eyjafjallajökull (I have no idea how to pronounce this and I am glad this isn't YouTube) and Wild Icelandic Birch. The mask is actually a gray powder and you mix it with water before applying it on your face. It is supposed to regulate and balance the skin.

The Exfoliator is called GLÓey and it is a purifying exfoliator with peppermint and wild Icelandic herbs. This exfoliator smells like toothpaste and this is deep-cleansing and nourishing that will give you a polished and luminous complexion.

I am so excited to try these. I have always been curious to try a clay mask and this seems like a good one. I am also in need of a good exfoliator so this kit will definitely come in handy.

I am going to try these products and then post a review on this blog and tell you more about the products and how they perform.

White Musk Libertine

I don't know what it is but I have started to go for more sweet fragrances lately. Normally I'm a fresh scent kind of a girl. I'm still not loving the candy or vanilla cupcake kind of scents, in fact I have a difficult time with vanilla fragrances over all and I tend to stay away from these scents.

Luckily for me White Musk Libertine from The Body Shop isn't falling in to the vanilla cupcake category at all but is a really nice feminine sweet scent that isn't overpoweringly sweet.

White Musk Libertine is a new twist on the popular White Musk fragrance from The Body Shop. According to the Swedish Body Shop Website White Musk Libertine has the following notes, musk (of course), Turkish Delight, Orchid and Whipped Cream.
Turkish Delight is a sugary gel candy that most often contains ingredients such as rosewater, nuts and lemon peels.

I didn't buy the perfume because it felt a little bit too sweet for me but I picked up the body mist and the shower gel. The Body Mist is also sweet and I would describe it as a sweet sugary rose scent that is actually very nice on the skin.

The shower gel isn't as sweet as the body mist and I feel that this scent is a little bit more complex than the body mist. Here I still feel the sweet sugary rose but there is also a little bit of a masculine cologne note hiding in the background, this might be caused by the musk.

I do recommend these products for those of you that are looking for a sweet scent that feels feminine but not a teenage candy floss kind of scent.


The products were paid for with my own money and it is my own opinion

On my eyes: Just a simple EOTD

I have to admit that browns and neutrals are my favorite colors. I know I am boring but I love makeups like this, bright and light in the inner corner, a darker outer corner and crease, heavy black liner and nothing but mascara under the eye. Sometimes I even skip the mascara on the bottom lashes.


For this makeup I used the following products:

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, The Original
Make Up Store Eyeprimer Tinted
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils in Milk and Slate
Make Up Store Eyeshadows in Muffin and Tie
MAC eyeshadows in Handwritten, Wedge and Brulé
Make Up Store Cake Eyeliner in Black
Rimmel London Glam'Eyes Day 2 Night Mascara in Black



On my lips I am wearing my new lipstick from Clinique, The Almost lipstick in 06 Black Honey. This is a part of the Fall Collection from Clinique and apparently it is limited edition, which is a shame since this is a wonderful color.

This lipstick is quite sheer so it is more of a stain on the lips than an actual lipstick. I love this color and I have been using this constantly since I got it about a week ago. The color is excellent for fall but I think you can wear this all year round.

The only downside with this lipstick is that it feels a little bit dry and it has a tendency to accentuate the lines in your lip, but I can live with that.



All of the products mentioned were paid for with my own money and this is my own opinion.

Review: CoverGirl LashBlast Volume

Last year almost a year ago I picked up a couple of mascaras when I was on vacation in Hawaii. This was one of them, CoverGirl Lashblast Volume. I have wanted to try this mascara for such a long time. I have heard a lot of good things from beauty gurus on Youtube about the mascara so my expectations was quite high.

The nail polish that I 'm wearing in the picture is a Nail Paint from
Barry M in the color 161 Vivid Purple

First of all I do like this mascara and the results that it gives. My lashes look fuller and the mascara gives them a dark black color. The application is easy and there is no need to comb through the lashes after you have applied it, which is definitely a good thing.




The brush is made out of rubber and is on the larger side. It has shorter bristles at the end making it easy to apply the mascara at the inner and outer lashes.


But....

There is one thing that I don't like and it is that it has a tendency to flake. The fallout isn't massive but there are always some black flakes under my eye after a day of work. The flaking start quite early in the day as well. At first I thought it might be that I started using this during the warmest days of summer but now when it's fall and the days are cooler, the result is the same.

Overall Grade:

PRODUCT: This is a good drugstore mascara that give good results but it has a tendency to flake.
PACKAGING: A bright orange mascara tube. Nothing special but the color makes it easy to find in the makeup bag.
APPLICATION: the mascara applies without any clumps and it gives a good result without the need to comb through the lashes with a mascara comb.
SCENT: I quite strong synthetic almost chemical scent.



I paid for this product with my own money and it is my own opinion.

On my Lips: Bright lips with NYX Sunflower

When I placed an order from Cherryculture a while back ago I order two round lipsticks from NYX Cosmetics, Thalia and Sunflower. While Thalia wasn't my cup of tea, Sunflower really surprised me. The color is a bright coral red with a frost finish, and it really makes a statement on the lips. I normally don't wear bright lip colors, I'm more of a pale pink/nude color kind of a girl but I can actually see myself wearing this.


In this picture I paired it with a lip pencil in the color Hot Red also from NYX Cosmetics and they work really well together.

On my nails: Come To Poppy by O.P.I

It is a beautiful fall day here today and I am stuck inside sick with a cold. So I felt like cheering myself up and paint my nails. I went for a summery pink, Come To Poppy from the Nice Stems Collection.


This is as it sounds a poppy color pink or if you will a pink coral color. It has some fine shimmer in it making it look like a pearl finish. I thought I would love this color and it is a wonderful pink but I don't know...It feels kind of ordinary to me. It is a little strange that I feel this way since this is the reason why I bought the Nice Stems mini set, I wanted to add some nice pinks in my collection.

I felt that it needed a little bit extra something so I applied the glitter/flake polish, I Lily Love You form the same set on top of my ring fingers. I also put a little dot of this polish on my other nails to tie it all together.

In retrospect I would probably skip the little dots on the rest of the fingers since it looks a little bit odd.


Update: I have fallen in love with the glitter polish, I Lily Love You and I tried to capture all of the beautiful colors that the glitter/flakes have in this polish. This polish is really hard to capture in a photo but hopefully this gives you an idea of how beautiful it is.

The Crazy Nail Polish Lady

Yepp that's me. I guess I got a little bit nail polish crazy and I ordered three mini collection sets from BeautyBay.com. I wonder if the fact that they are minis is a good excuse for buying a total of 12 bottles of nail polish. I say yes it is.


All three sets are summer collections and I was looking for some good pinks to add to my collection. The Summer Collection set from Essie was my venture into more brighter colors and a little bonus.
I was a little bit surprised at how small the O.P.I bottles were. I new that they were 3.75 ml each but I didn't realize that way were as small as they are, true minis I would say.
An other thing that I didn't like with the O.P.I minis was that the bottles aren't labeled with the name of the polish. Instead the name is written on the box that they came in forcing you to keep the boxes and be careful not to mix up the bottles. I didn't realize this at first so I pulled out all of the bottles from the Nice Stems collection out of the box just to realize that they weren't labeled.
The Essie mini collection contained larger bottles, 5 ml each and the bottles were also labeled. The Essie Mini collection was also cheaper than the O.P.I sets and did cost £10.75 were as the O.P.I sets cost £12.75 making the Essie Mini Set a better deal.
I apologize for the horrible state of my nails and hands in the pictures below. I have worked a lot with my hands lately and it has definitely taken its toll on my hands and nails.
The Nice Stems Collection by O.P.I
This collection contains three shimmer pink nail polishes and one glitter polish. I applied two coats of polish on every nail.

From Left to Right: Play the Peonies (thumb), Come To Poppy,
Be a Dal-ia Won't You, I Lily Love You and
I Lily Love You On Top Of Play the Peonies.

Play the Peonies is a very light almost white shimmery pink. I liked this because it is so light that it almost looks white but the pink tones in the polish makes it more wearable than a white polish.
Come To Poppy is a pink that leans towards Coral. It has the same shimmer quality as Play the Peonies. This is my favorite out of this set as it applies very well and I don't own any colors that look like this.
Be a Dahl-ia Won't You is a fushia pink with a more glittery effect to it. It looks like a foil to me. This is quite sheer so you may need to apply three coats of this to make it more opaque. I like this color but it doesn't feel very unique to me.
I Lily Love You is a glitter/flake polish in a transparent pink base. This works best when it is layered. I layered it over Play the Peonies in the picture but I think it would work better over Come to Poppy or Be a Dahl-ia Won't You since I think that the glitter disappeared a little on the light base.
Femme De Cirque by O.P.I
This collections consists of very soft nudes and pinks and one shimmery top coat. These colors are very sheer and I needed three coats to make them show up on the nail. Step Right Up! is more opaque than the other but also a little difficult to apply.

From Left to Right: So Many Clowns... So Little Time,
In The Spot-Light Pink, Step Right Up! and I Juggle...Men

So Many Clowns... So Little Time is a creamy nude and also my favorite in this set. When I applied the first coat I couldn't make out the color at all but this polish is build-able and after three coats it became a nice milky nude color.

In the Spot-Light Pink is the sheerest out of the three colors and it is difficult to make out even after three coats but the effect is very nice, it makes your nails look more polished and nice.

Step Right Up! is the problem child in this set. It is more opaque than the others but I had difficulties making it even on the nail. There is also something with this color that makes it a little bit odd. I think it should be even more opaque than it is. Even after three coats the nail line is still visible and it looks like I haven't put on enough coats.

I Juggle...Men is a glitter top coat with iridescent sparkles. It looks amazing in the bottle as it has a beautiful blue iridescence to it. But when you apply it to the nail the shimmer is barely noticeable. I used two coats on the nail and you can detect some sparkles in the close up picture below. I think I have to play with this some more before I make up my mind about it.

From Left To Right Step Right Up! and I Juggle...Men

The Essie Summer Collection 2011

This is the brighter collection that I added as a little bonus to myself when I made the order. There were two colors that I was interested in trying and that was Braziliant and Smooth Sailing. I applied two coats on every nail except for Super Bossa Nova that only needed one coat.

From Left to Right: Smooth Sailing, Meet Me At Sunset
and Super Bossa Nova.

Smooth Sailing is one of my favorites in this set. It is a periwinkle/lavender blue with silver sparkles in it. It looks amazing on the nail and the shimmer really stands out. This was very easy to apply and after two coats it looked perfect.

Meet Me At Sunset is a bright glossy orange creme that leans towards read. This was a little bit sheer but after two coats it looked okay. It isn't my favorite color in the set but I can see myself wearing this in late spring and during the summer.

Braziliant was one of the colors that I was most looking forward to. This is a orange color as well but with pink shimmer in it. I don't know why Essie decided to put two orange colors in this set but there is a difference between the two orange colors. The pink shimmer makes this color more coral and also it is a little bit lighter. This polish was very hard to work with and it was difficult to apply this evenly on the nail.

Super Bossa Nova is the star in this collection and I recommend this to everyone who is reading this blog. This is a dark shimmery fushia and it is very opaque. I only needed one coat. Color-wise it resembles Be a Dahl-ia Won't You from the Nice Stems collection but the formula is very different. This isn't as shimmery and it looks almost like a creme on the nails. I am thinking of layering Be a Dahl-ia Won't You on top of this one to make it more sparkly.

Review: Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser for all skin types.

When I was on vacation in Hawaii last fall I realized that I needed a cleanser to remove all of the sunscreen that I used on my face during the day. When I was at the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu I picked up the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser at Longs Drugs. I have used this to clean my face since then and I have now managed to use the entire bottle up, and I thought it was time a did a little review on this.


The Cetaphil Cleanser is a mild soap free cleanser that doesn't irritate the skin and according to the bottle it can be used on sensitive skin and it helps the skin retain moisture. I do feel some dryness after I have used this but my skin gets dry from just using water on my face, so I have to say that this cleanser isn't drying.

This is a very mild cleanser and in fact I think it may a little too mild and I feel that this cleanser just cleans the surface of the skin and that it doesn't get into the pores and deep clean my skin.
But overall I think that it is a good cleanser that is worth trying if you have sensitive skin and are looking for a mild cleanser.

Overall Grade:
PRODUCT: Good but not effective enough when it comes to deep clean my face.
SCENT: Fragrance free.
PACKAGING: It comes in a plastic white bottle and I think it would be better if it was more transparent so you can see how much of the product that is left.
APPLICATION: A non-foaming cleanser.



This product was paid for with my own money and this is my opinion.

I feel a storm approaching on this blue day

I was bored today and when I'm bored I play with makeup. It all started with me deciding to do an eyemakeup using Barry M's Dazzledust in no. 10 Grey and when I started to go a little bit crazy.

A lot of bloggers often give their makeups a creative title so I decided to do the same so I called this makeup, "I feel a storm approaching on this blue day".



I have worked with this picture in Photoshop so don't take it to seriously it is just here for some inspiration and fun.

Two days and two different mascaras

When I get ready for work I like to keep my makeup simple. I most often do not have the time in the morning to do something complicated and I think that simple is the best way to do your makeup for work. I feel that simple makeup most often looks the best after a day of work and stand the test of time better.

Day 1

I kept the eyemakeup very neutral with eyeshadows from the Naked Palette by Urban Decay. I did choose the most boring colors in the palette, Naked and Buck. I put Naked on the lid and used Buck as an eyeliner. This combination was definitely inspired by Laura who wrote about this in her blog Buy Now, Blog Later.

I also wore one of my Asian mascaras, The Super Dolly Powerful Curling Mascara by Sasatinnie for the first time. LisaLisaD1 on YouTube has talked about a mascara with a comb from Maybelline and how she really like this mascara and I became curious and wanted to try one myself. I remembered that I had a mascara with a comb instead of a brush from my trip to Hong Kong. This was actually why I bought it, I was intrigued by the comb.
I will write a full review on this but for now I can tell you that this stays put all day and is a pain to remove.

Day 2

I went for a subtle pink eye and used the NYX eyeshadow in Platinum Pink and a brown liner, the Cream Shaper For Eyes in 05 Chocolate Lustre from Clinique. The Platinum Pink eyeshadow from NYX wasn't a great hit. The color is lovely, a silverish pink but it has some chunky glitter that causes some major fallout action. I had glitter all over and you can actually see it in the pictures. The glitter has no sparkle to it and it is quite dull so all you see is some white dots all over my face.
For mascara I used the LashBlast Volume by CoverGirl. I really like this mascara and I like the volume it gives my lashes. But it has a tendency to flake during the day and in the evening I can see some black flakes under my eyes.

This is it for now. Two not so inspiring makeup looks but very practical for work. I have come to the realization though that a really good mascara can take your makeup to the next level.


All products mentioned was paid for with my own money and all opinions are my own.

On my eyes: Barry's Brass

I was right in my last post, The Dazzle Dust in no. 100 (Brass) by Barry M is a wonderful eyeshadow. The color is just like its name, brass but with some gold shimmer in it, without the chunky glitter.


This makeup is actually a fail and I blame it on the Liquid Eye Liner from Stila. This isn't one of my favorites, quite the opposite in fact. I really hate this, it is very runny and it smudges. After I had curled and applied my mascara I noticed that half of the liner was missing. I don't now where it went but it was completely gone. I had to fill in the liner again but this time it smeared leaving me with a very uneven and ugly line. I am not recommending this liner at all.

For this makeup I used the following products:

Make Up Store Tinted Eyeprimer as a base.
MAC eyeshadow in Brulé all over the lid area.
Barry M Dazzle Dust in no.100 on the lid and under the eyes.
MAC eyeshadow in Solar White as a inner corner highlight and on browbone.
MAC eyeshadow in Soft Brown in the crease.
Stila Liquid Eye Liner in black.
CoverGirl LashBlast Volume Mascara.

London Shopping: Beauty Stuff

It feels like ages ago since my last post but I finally got myself to sit down and write this post.


I did some beauty shopping in London and I made a visit to Boots and a visit to Superdrug. I have been to Boots many times before and it is one of my favorite places to go when it comes to beauty shopping. It was however my first visit to Superdrug and I have to say I like this store a lot.

I picked up a Vichy Dermablend Foundation in shade no 15 Opal in Boots. I think this was their lightest shade and this is a little bit too light for me now but I think it will look good on me in the fall when my tan starts to fade. I was surprised at how dark the shades of this foundation was and I do believe that people with fair skin will have a problem finding a shade in this foundation.


In Superdrug I picked up two blush/highlighter compacts from Collection 2000. These are called Shimmer Shades and I picked up both of the colors that were available, Blushalicious (on the right in the picture) and Way To Glow (on the left side). The packaging feels very cheap and they are cheap they cost less than £5, but the product is actually quite good. These are shimmer products as the name states but they aren't super glittery. I have used the dark bronze shade in Way To Glow and it gave my cheekbones a very nice bronze glow.

The thing that made me buy these is that Blushalicious seems to be a good dupe for Deep Throat from NARS. I don't own this blush but the Yummy Mummy's Beauty Blog has compared the two blushes and found them very similar.


I also bought two Dazzle Dusts by Barry M , no.100 (Brass) and no. 10 (Grey). These are very shimmery but highly pigmented eye shadow pigments. I haven't had the time to try these yet but I think that no. 100 will be a favorite. It is simply beautiful and it is the color of brass but with some gold in it.


I couldn't go to London without taking a look at the popular and highly raved about palettes from Sleek. There was a lot of colorfull palettes to choose from but I choosed a more neautral colored palette called Storm. I fell for the colors on the bottom row of the palette, the dark blue, dark green and grey color. I think these would look great as a liner together with the more neutral colors in the palette. Most of the colors in this palette are shimmery but there are two matte ones in here as well, a nude and a dark brown.


The last things that I picked up in London was some products from Soap and Glory. Boots had a deal going on, buy 3 pay for 2 so I picked up three bodycare items. I have heard a lot of good things about their Righteous Butter so picked one up. I also bought two body scrubs, Flake Away and Some Like it Hot Body Softening Thermal Scrub. I have to say that these products smell amazing.

That was basically everything that was beauty related that I bought in London. Stay tuned for some reviews and eye makeups that will be coming up. Hopefully it won't take me forever to write my next post.

I took a little break from everything

My summer vacation is coming to an end and I am going back to work next week. This summer I took four weeks off from work and I have to admit I didn't do very much. It has been a wonderful summer vacation and this was what I needed, spending some time doing nothing in particular and just getting my energy levels up.

I also made a little trip over to London. I had a great time and the weather was wonderful. I did some sightseeing, visited some museums and also made a trip to a theme park called Thorpe Park.
I managed to do some shopping as well and made a visit to Boots and Superdrug, but I will make a separate post about my shopping.



There is one thing that I always do when I am in London and that is taking a look at the magazines. Unlike Sweden the magazines in England come with some really nice gifts. It is not uncommon that you get a full size makeup item with your magazine.

When I was in Heathrow waiting for my plane back to Sweden I spotted InStyle magazine and this magazine came with either a full size mascara or two eye pencils from The Body Shop.

I picked up a magazine with two eye pencils, 01 Eye Definer Shade: Black and 06 Eye Definer Shade: French Navy. The pencil that caught my eye was the French Navy one. I do not own a dark blue eye liner and this seemed to be a very nice dark blue with a grayish tint to it.

I wish the magazines here in Sweden did this. There is rarely an exciting gift with a magazine here, often it's just a perfume sample or a thin paperback book. I like samples but sometimes a full size makeup item from a known brand would be nice.

On my eyes: I cannot get enough

Guess what, I used the Naked Palette again. It seems like I cannot get enough of this palette. It is so easy to use and the shadows are very easy to work with.



I think that the eyeshadow Toasted, which I am wearing on my lid is starting to become a favorite of mine. This is a rosy bronze color and it looks so beautiful on the eye. I decided to darken it up in the crease with Creep, shimmery black.

I tried using the eyeshadow Buck to fill in my eyebrows but this didn't work at all. The color is so wrong for my eyebrows and it gave them a very strange tint. I am not doing that again.

For this makeup I used the following products:

Eyes:
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, the original color.
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils in Milk and Slate
Urban Decay Naked Palette and I used the following eyeshadows, Virgin, Sin, Half Baked, Dark Horse, Toasted and Creep.
Stila Liquid Eye Liner
Cover Girl LashBlast Volume Mascara

Face:
Clinique Superbalanced Makeup Foundation in 27 Alabaster (N)
Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch
Everyday Minerals Concealer in Sunlight
Lily Lolo Mineral Bronzer in Waikiki as a cheek bone highlight.
MAC Studio Careblend Pressed Powder in Lush- Light Bronze
NYX Mosaic Powder in Dare

Current skincare

I while back ago two Swedish bloggers, Julia at DaisyBeauty and Fröken Rosa wrote about products from Garden Of Wisdom. I became very curious and made an order.

What I like about this company is that the products isn't filled with a lot of chemical substances that you never heard about, but instead you only find a short ingredient list with only the active substances that you need.
I prefer a short ingredient list because it is easier to understand what the product will do for you but also if it doesn't work and you are allergic or you break out you can easily see which ingredients that you are reacting to and stay away from them.

I think that I have told you in the past that my skin is very dry so I'm always looking for products that will ease the dryness and I think that I have found a product or actually a combination of three products from the Garden Of Wisdom that work for me.



I mix the three different products together and these three products are a Hyaluronic Acid Serum (HA serum), Chardonnay Grape Seed Oil and Encapsulated Glacier Water Hydrating Gel and this becomes something like a hydration serum.

I think that it is the HA Serum that is the main product in this mix. Hyaluronic Acid is a molecule that can hold up to 1000 times its weight in water which makes it really good as a hydrator. I add the oil and the water in the mix to give the Hyaluronic Acid some moisture to bind to.

I use this mixture after I have cleansed and before my moisturizer. There are two different moisturizers that I alternate between, the Eucerin pH 5 Cream for Sensitive Skin (you can find my review here) and Estée Lauder's Hydrationist Maximum Moisture Cream ( review will be coming soon). I do believe that this has made huge difference in my skin and it definitely feels more moisturized and the dry flakes are history.

I sometimes use the oil on its own on areas that needs a little bit more hydration, mostly around my nose. This oils is quickly absorbed into the skin and it doesn't break me out.

The Encapsulated Glacier Water Hydrating Gel can also be used on its own. It gives a cooling sensation but for me it doesn't give enough hydration on its own. I sometimes use this in the morning before my makeup just to feel a little bit more refreshed.

There are definitely a lot of products that I want to try from Garden Of Wisdom and I am already planning my next order.

Source: Garden Of Wisdom



I paid for the products with my own money except for the Estée Lauder Hydrationist Maximum Moisture Cream which was given to me by my parents as a Christmas Gift.
This is my own opinion.

Summer nails

When I think of summer I think of warm weather and sun. I also think of bright colors and bronzed skin. When it comes to nail polish I think that this is the perfect time to be a little bit more daring and fun when it comes to colors.

Here are some of my picks for summertime.


Pastels are fun so I included two polishes from Isadora, 711 Miami Blue, a light pastel blue and 712 Ocean Drive a pastel mint. Both of these are inspired by the pastel colors that you can find in the Art Deco buildings in Miami.

When it comes to bright and fun colors I like to buy cheaper nail polish. The nail polish brand Depend is perfect when it comes to buy fun colors for less money. Their formula can be a hit or miss but the color selection is excellent.

The yellow polish no. 210 from Depend is my Chanel Mimosa substitute. Chanel Mimosa is a yellow color that Chanel released this spring and it became a nail polish that many wanted. I didn't want to spend that much on a yellow polish so I went for a shimmery yellow from Depend instead for the fraction of the cost.
I also picked up a bright orange no.124 and a neon pink no. 034. Neon pink is a great color for summer and bright orange seems to be a trend color this summer.

I also included two more classic colors that can be worn all year long but works great during the summer time. These two nail polish colors comes from O.P.I and one of them is a classic red called OPI Red and the other is Miami Beet, a mix between rasberry and beet color.

I hope that this post gave you some inspiration when it comes to choosing colors to wear on your nails this summers. Remember that there isn't really a right or wrong when it comes to makeup and I think that you should do what ever you want. It is more fun that way.



All of these products was paid for with my own money and it is my own opinion.

On my eyes: Some Smoke

I have a fondness for taupe eyeshadows. There is something about this color that draws me in and I simply can't resist buying this color over and over again.
I received my latest taupe when my mother started to subscribe to a magazine and received a gift with two Elizabeth Arden products. One of the items in the gift was the Color Intrigue Eyeshadow in Smoke 23.

This is what I am wearing on my eyes in this picture. The makeup looks a little bit darker in the picture that it does in real life.



For this makeup I used:

Eyes:
Makeup Store Eyeprimer, Tinted as a base.
Elizabeth Arden Color Intrigue Eyeshadow in Smoke 23.
Urban Decay Naked Palette, two shadows in Virgin and Sin.
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Zero.
Cover Girl Lash Blast Volume Mascara in Very Black.
Isadora Eye Brow Lift & Define.

Face:
Lily Lolo Mineral Cosmetics Foundation in In The Buff as a foundation.
Lily Lolo Mineral Cosmetics Finishing Powder in Flawless Silk.
MAC Studio Careblend Pressed Powder in Lush-Light Bronze, I love this powder/bronzer.
Everyday Minerals Concealer in Sunlight under my eyes
Make Up Store Cover All Mix pens.
Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat Radian Touch in no 2.

I have been looking at my pictures of my eye makeup on the blog and I think I need to make a visit to a makeup counter and ask them if they can teach me how to cover under eye shadows. Because I pile on products but still the shadows shows through. This annoys me when I try to take pictures because I feel that the shadows interfere with the eye makeup.


All of the product was paid for with my own money if not stated otherwise in the post. All of the opinions are my own.

Maybelline Full 'N Soft Mascara

This mascara has become one of my favorite mascaras. The only sad thing about this is that I can't buy it here in Sweden. This seems to be a mascara that only exists in The US and this makes me a little bit sad, because I want more.


The Full 'N Soft mascara did give some volume to my lashes without clumping them together. The brush is a "normal" type of mascara brush and I did find it hard to avoid mascara smudges on my lid. I didn't remove this little mess from the picture to show you how it looks after I applied it (click on the picture to see a larger image). I don't mind this since it is easy to correct but it can ruin a perfect eye makeup.


Overall grade: I like The Full 'N Soft Mascara by Maybelline a lot. I feel like it gives similar results as the Hypnôse Mascara from Lancôme but for a fraction of the price. It has become one of my favorite mascaras but it is hard to get hold of this mascara if you don't live in The Unites States.



I paid for this product with my own money and this is my own opinion.

Some Elizabeth Arden and an eyeshadow ramble.

My mother wanted to start to subscribe to Femina Magazine and I really wanted the gift. So she signed up for the magazine and I went for the gift. I love the gifts that you nowadays get when you start a subscription.

This time is was Elizabeth Arden products.

Color intrigue Eyeshadow in Smoke 23
High Shine Lip Gloss in Shimmering Pink o1

The lipgloss is a nice shimmery light pink. Nothing super unique but very wearable.

The eyeshadow in Smoke is a nice taupe, my favorite kind of color. It is similar to some other shades that I have that belong to the Taupe family.

Smoke resembles Satin Taupe from MAC, Burnt Bark from Max Factor and ME Brown 850 from Shu Uemura

Burnt Bark and Smoke are very similar, but the texture of Smoke is finer and a little bit more metallic.

ME Brown 850 is definitely more shimmery and has a little bit more silver and gray in it.

Satin Taupe is darker and more brown.

I was planning to do swatches but it didn't go so well because my camera wouldn't focus so I skipped the pictures.

It's finally mine....

....The Naked Palette by Urban Decay that is.


I have wanted this since it was first released in the United States. When I received an email from HQHair that they had it in stock for a limited amount of time, I ordered it right away.

It felt like it took forever to get here but I finally received it yesterday, it took about two weeks to get here. This is a long time since it normally takes about a week to receive stuff from the UK.

I haven' had time to use the palette yet but I will definitely do some looks with this. I like that it comes with a small tube of Primer Potion and a eyeshadow brush. When it first came out it had a double ended eyeliner pencil in the colors Zero and Whiskey. I already own Zero and I don't need another one so I prefer the brush. I think it is a full size brush so it is definitely a better deal.

It isn't available at HQHair anymore but if you want one check out BeautyBay.com they might still have it in stock

On my lips: The Myth of Thalia

This is actually the lip combo that I wore with the eye makeup in the post below. The round lipstick from NYX in the color 529 Thalia has been on my wish list for some time now.
But unfortunately I do not like this lipstick on my lips. The color is much darker that I expected and not as nude as I hoped.


To solve this I used Myth from MAC underneath. This is a pale nude and this made the color a little bit lighter and a little bit more pink. It is an improvement but still I am not in love with this color. I doesn't match my skin tone and I think this is caused by a purple tone in the color of the lipstick.

I paired the lipstick with the Lip Pencil in 831Mauve and this is a perfect lip pencil for Thalia. The colors are a pretty close match. This pencil is also good for shading and contouring your lips.

I just went for it....

... and placed an order for the Naked Palette by Urban Decay.

This palette is very hard to get a hold of here in Sweden so when I heard that it was in stock at a web store that ships to Sweden I placed an order right away.

I hope it is still in stock.

Some new stuff, This time I got some NYX.

NYX Cosmetics is a brand that I have heard a lot of good reviews about. This brand is cheap and a lipstick will cost you only $4.00, but I have heard that the quality is supposed to be very good.

I did take advantage of the NYX Sale at Cherryculture.com a while ago and I bought some items for 50% off.

Since the products didn't cost much I decided to be a little bit daring and pick out colors that I normally doesn't wear so I went for the reds and pinks.

So here's a list (and a picture) of what I picked up:


Mosaic Powder in Dare. This is a tan-pink blush with some shimmer in it.

Two Jumbo Eye Pencils in Strawberry Milk (shimmery light pink) and Slate (shimmery dark grey).

Three single eyeshadows in Platinum Pink (shimmer/glitter light pink), Fahrenheit ( a sort of rosy bronze color) and White Pearl (frosty white).

Three Lip Pencils in Hot Red (red), Tangerine (peachy pink with shimmer) and Mauve (it is like its name, mauve).

Two Round Lipsticks in Thalia (mauve) and Sun Flower (red coral).

I was also sent a little freebie, a bubblegum lip balm. I like the scent of this, it's bubblegum so I have actually used this a couple of times since I got it.


I got a little makeup happy and decided to put together an eye makeup using as many of the products as I could get away with. So I used the Strawberry Milk Jumbo Eye Pencil as a base and then all three eyeshadows. I didn't like the result so I added Satin Taupe Eyeshadow by MAC in the crease and Raven Kohl Power Eye Pencil also from MAC as a liner.

The mascara that I used is Double Extension Beauty Tubes Mascara by L'oréal. Lets just say that this mascara and I aren't the best of friends just yet. I am still on the fence about this one.

Review: A little gem in a jar.

I have always thought that a good moisturizer will cost you a lot of money. Well let me tell you that the Eucerin pH 5 Cream for Sensitive Skin has proved me wrong.

This is a really good moisturizer that actually worked wonders for my skin this winter. Normally my skin gets very dry and I have a lot of dry flakes on my skin. This moisturizer minimized my dry flakes and my skin felt moisturized throughout the day.

The nail polish in this picture is called
652 Gold Sparkles by Isadora

This facial moisturizer is designed for sensitive skin and I have found that it doesn't cause any breakouts. The only thing that it does is keeping your face really moisturized and soft.

The best thing is that this cream doesn't cost a lot of money. The prize is around 50 SEK and you can find it at the Swedish pharmacies.


Overall grade: As you probably can tell by now I really love this cream and I do recommend this to people with dry skin.


This product was bought with my own money and it is my own opinion.

Not really a big fan

During the summer time it is important to protect your skin against the sun's rays. Since I love the sun and I like to sit out in the sun I thought it was time to update my SPF for my lips. So I picked up the Sun Protect SPF 30 by Nivea when I was buying groceries at my local grocery store.

This is a lip balm that protects your lips against the sun and while keeping them moisturized. It is also waterproof if you decide to go for a swim.

So far so good but what I didn't realize was that this isn't transparent but very opaque. This gives your lips a yellowish white color and worst of all it emphasize every little dry flake that may be on your lips.


Let me just say that this isn't a pretty look to be sporting on the beach this summer.

On my lips: Dior Addict Lip Maximizer

I wasn't planning to buy the Dior Addict Lip Maximizer when I took a trip to the beauty department at one of my local department stores. Instead I was planning on buying the Dior Addict Lip Glow. When I got home I discovered that the Sales Assistant at the counter had picked up the wrong item for me. Well that was a little bit of a surprise but when I took a look at the Lip Maximizer I thought it looked like a cool product so I decided to keep it.


The Dior Addict Lip Maximizer in 001 Pink looks like a lip gloss but this is called a collagen active gloss. I don't know what the Collagen Active part is supposed to mean but this is a lip plumping gloss.

The color of the Dior Addict Lip Maximizer is called 001 Pink and it looks like a milky pink in the lip gloss tube but it looks almost transparent on the lips. When I use it I can definitely see a plumping effect on my lips and they look fuller and more defined. It also feels moisturizing on my lips and they feel smoother.

Before

After

When I used the Lip Maximizer for the first time I could definitely feel it. I felt a mild burning sensation on my lips, the kind of sensation that you can get when you eat very spicy food. It wasn't hurting me but I didn't actually love the feeling. This settled a little bit after a while and it became more of a tingling feeling and this lasted for over an hour. Be careful with this if you have dry patches on your lips since this will make the Lip Maximizer sting more on these areas and this is also the case if you have irritated lips.

You can use this as a treatment and you are supposed to see a more defined lip contour and plumped lips after 15 days. I used this on and off for more that 15 days and I can see a little bit of a difference on my upper lip. It looks a little bit more defined but it isn't very noticeable and I therefore didn't take a before and after picture. It makes my lips feel smoother in texture but if I stop using it this quickly disappear and I am back to my dry lips again.

Overall grade: I do recommend this product because it is a lip plumper with a moisturizing effect. It gives results but since it is Christian Dior it is pricey.

A quick sniff: Kenzo Amour

This is a heavy perfume that is sweet and powdery. This isn't the typical girly candy sweetness that you may find in some sweet perfumes but a more heady type of sweetness.

One of the top notes in this perfume is Frangipani flower and I believe that this is to some extent the cause of the heady and powdery sweetness that first hit you when you apply this perfume.
There is definitely some vanilla in this perfume and this enhances the sweet powder scent that is this perfume.

These types of perfumes have a tendency to give me a headache so I only sprayed a small amount of this on my arm but I am so far not experiencing any signs of a headache from this, so this is a good sign.

If you like a nice sweet perfume that isn't too girly this might be the perfume for you but for me it is too sweet and I prefer perfumes that are more fresh than sweet. But I can't help feeling fascinated by this scent and there is something in this that keep me wanting more.

After a couple of hours the initial strong sweetness has calmed down and the frangrance isn't as strong but more softer and much closer to the skin. It is still sweet but it is more a dry vanilla and I think this is caused by the wood note amongst the base notes. I find the perfume mote pleasing now and it feels like a comforting scent, a crawl under a blanket in front of an open fire and some burning candles kind of scent.

This perfume contains the following notes( source osMoz.com)
Top: Frangipani
Middle: Cherry Blossom, White tea and Frankincense
Base notes: Tanaka wood, Rice and Vanilla

On my nails: Black Diamond by Sally Hansen

This is my first nail polish from Sally Hansen and I honestly don't know what to think of this one.
94 Black Diamond belongs to the Diamond Strength Polishes from Sally Hansen and it is supposed to be a "no chip nail nail color". On me though it started to chip the day after I had applied it. This might not be the nail polish fault but it might be caused by the base coat I applied under it. However I used the Diamond Shine Top + Base Coat from Sally Hansen so I am surprised by this.

The color itself is very nice indeed, it's a black polish with lots of silver sparkles in it. This tones down the blackness making this a very wearable black.

Review: Lancôme Hypnôse Mascara

The nail polish on my nails is Pink Whisper from Orly

The Hypnôse Mascara from Lancôme is a volumizing mascara and I can definitely see a volumizing effect on my lashes. It isn't exactly a false lash effect but the result is very good and I think this is perfect as an everyday mascara.

The mascara is very easy to apply and the result is almost perfect with no need to comb trough the lashes with an eyelash comb.



You can easily wear this mascara all day and it will stay put. I rarely saw any smudging and mascara flakes under the eyes and I wore it from early morning into late night.

The main negative with this mascara is the prize. Lancôme is a high end brand and their products aren't cheap. The price for the Hypnôse mascara is around 300 SEK.

Overall grade: This is a very good mascara that gives a very nice result on the lashes but it will cost you. I doubt that I will buy this again since there are far cheaper mascaras on the market that will give you a similar result.



I paid for this product myself and this is my own opinion, I am not affiliated with Lancôme in any way.