Things I'm Loving Right Now - Summer Brights

With Summer finally here, I started reaching for some brighter shades of lipstick. I purchased four more in the past weeks (having a bit of a lipstick craze at the moment), mostly Catrice which turned out to be very good lipsticks.

My choices for this summer are (coloured text is a link to previous review and swatches):

1st row from left to right in the first picture and on swatches:
- Revlon Matte 004 Pink About it
- Beauty UK 10 Passion
- Shiseido Glowing Matte PK 224 (a new one, I tried taking swatches but they turned out horribly. But in short, it's a great mix of light coral and pink, a nice everyday shade)

2nd row:
- Catrice Ultimate Colour 210 Pinkadilly Circus
- Catrice Ultimate Colour 100 Lobster Love
- Catrice Ultimate Shine 210 Kiss Kiss Hibiskus

3rd row:
 - Essence 55 Coralize Me!
 - IsaDora Jelly Kiss 47 Coral Punch
 - Maybelline ColorSensational Popstick 020 Tropical Pink

As I said before I purchased four new lipsticks - in the 2nd row from left to right are all from Catrice: Ultimate Colour 210 Pinkadilly Circus, Ultimate Colour 100 Lobster Love and Ultimate Shine 210 Kiss Kiss Hibiskus; and in the 3rd row is Maybelline ColorSensational Popstick 020 Tropical Pink.

All three Catrice lippies are very pigmented. Ultimate Colours have a satin finish and last very well on the lips (survive eating and drinking quite well actually, another shade I own is Frozen Rose). Ultimate Shine one is also very pigmented but has a more glossy finish. Pinkadilly Circus is a medium pink shade. Lobster Love is a bright coral red shade. Kiss Kiss Hibiskus is a bright watermellon dark pink shade (supposedly a dupe for Mac's Impassioned). Catrice lippies cost 4,19 € in our drugstore and I highly recommend checking them out, the quality is really impressive.

Maybelline ColorSensational Popstick 020 Tropical Pink is one of their new ''see-through/transparent '' type of lipsticks. My pictures of the lipstick in the tube are horrible (my camera hates corals it seems), in real life it's not that orange, it's more of a coral pink shade (this is a much better picture click). It's more of a stain and looks very transparent on the lips. It smells amazing, sort of tropical fruity and moisturises very well. It costs around 10 €.

In other news, I got a package from Korea yesterday with my new BB cream. I purchased Holika Holika Peach Girl BB cream SPF37 PA++ in shade #2, which is still a very light shade (actually almost identical to Skin79 Pink Label). It comes with a very cute coral cream blush and a mirror in the lid. So far I've worn it once and I like it a lot. It has a bit of a dewy finish and more coverage than Skin79 Pink Label. A more detailed review and swatches will follow as soon as I test it properly.

Thanks for reading!

What I Bought in France and Other Recent Purchases

It's been more than two weeks since I've returned from France, but I wanted to a least try some of the products before I wrote anything. I didn't get much stuff. Strangely I left Sephora empty handed, but I did purchase a couple of things in Yves Roche, Douglas and Carrefour. 

I already reviewed the Dream Touch blush here -> click. 

I got two things in Douglas: I love... peaches & cream set and Bourjois Magic Nail polish remover.
I love... peaches & cream set includes a shower gel, lotion and a mesh bath sponge in the prettiest light peach colour.    Both products have a nice peach-mixed-with-a-bit-of-cream scent, so sweet and fruity. Actually, it reminds me a bit of Britney Spears' Midnight Fantasy, or at least on how it smells on me. I was quite impressed by the lotion, because it's thicker than I thought it would be and it moisturises well.  

Bourjois Magic Nail polish remover really cuts the amount of time you spent on removing nail polishes to a mere couple of minutes. I'm sure most of you already heard about this product. I do like it a lot, however, it is way to expensive for what it really is (I paid over 8€), so a bit of sponge with some remover. I'm just waiting for cheaper knock-offs to appear on the market. It does smell nice, like fruit and vanilla, also it leaves your fingers and nails quite moisturised, so it is better than your run-oft-he-mill nail polish remover.

I left Yves Rocher with two items: LE fragrance Mango and Passion Fruit and Monoi de Tahiti oil. I regret purchasing the latter as, if I use the description of my (male) friend, it smells like grandma. Ok, that's a bit harsh, but it is a bit to flowery for me (a lot of people like it a lot, judging by the good reviews on MUA). I expected a nice coconut-beachy fragrance and this is not it. But it does have a nice consistency and sinks into the skin quite fast.
The mango-passion fruit fragrance is lovely. It's a typical summer-coctail-Escada type of scent and I really like it. It doesn't last long though. There was another LE fragrance, which smelled like pina colada, but I restrained myself from purchasing a small bottle of that too.

Last month I suddenly wanted some jasmine scented products and after some well executed Google searches, I found that Lush Flying Fox shower gel and Lust perfume fit my wishes best. Both have a very strong jasmine scent, Flying Fox also has a bit of honey mixed in. It's not the type of scent I'd love to smell every day, but sometimes I do like something different. Flying Fox is very runny and I hate Lush packaging with passion (does anyone else find their plastic bottles so damn hard to squeeze?), so in general I probably won't repurchase it. I much prefer my L'Occitane almond shower oil for pampering. 

Lust solid perfume has a very strong jasmine scent that I think a lot of people wouldn't really like (my friend  - btw the same as above- pointed out it's nice, but too strong). The scent lasts really long on the skin, also beware that it leaves red stains on clothes. 

Ruby Kisses nail polish in Tropical Blend looks amazing in the bottle. It's an amazing bright pinky-coral shade that unfortunately translates into neon orange on my nails. And I don't like that, so it's a miss purchase for me. The quality of the polish itself is quite nice though.

Essence recently released a collection of 6 fragrances that are available in 50 and 10 ml bottles. After testing all, I liked the Like a First Day in Spring the most and I purchased a small bottle. It's again a very Escadaish type of scent, so very sweet and fruity, but also a bit fresh. Top notes: orange, tangerine, pineapple. Middle notes: rose, blackberries, praline. Base notes: musk, sandalwood, vanilla. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long (but so don't Escada fragrances for a much heftier price tag), I don't mind respraying it anyway. The 10 ml bottle is a great purse size and not that expensive, it retails for around 3-4€.

Thanks for reading!

(Mostly) Drugstore Concealers - Favourites and Really Good Ones

I've tried quite a few of concealers so far, drugstore and high-end, and I found some really good drugstore concealers that perform as well if not better than high-end ones. My main concern is redness under my eyes (I've always had it, even when I was a child), I don't suffer from much breakouts. I've already reviewed most of these concealers and you can find some reviews here ->click. 

Maybelline Instant Anti-Age the Eraser Eye Perfect & Cover Concealer

My absolute favourite concealer so far. I think it might be my HG concealer, it's just so good. It offers a lot of coverage, however, it looks very natural on the skin and not at all cakey. Mine is in the shade light (this is the second lightest shade, one even lighter one is called fair), which matches my skin perfectly no matter whether I'm selftanning or not (so it matches me when I'm NC15 or NC20-25). It has a peachy undertone, which really brightens up the under eye area. The sponge applicator works really well, although I still have to blend it a bit with my finger. It even covers some small blemishes. The only problem is that it's not sold in Slovenia (God knows why) and the closest place for me to buy it is Croatia. It is priced 10€. Highly recommended.

ArtDeco Perfect Teint Illuminator

This was one of my first ever concealers and I've repurchased it I think three times so far. Well, it's not as much of a concealer as illuminator, so basically a poor man's Touché Eclat. I never owned the famous YSL version, but this one is pretty good. I use it mostly on my under eye area, but it can also be used anywhere you would apply your highlighter, so on the top of the cheekbones, bridge of the nose, cupids bow, etc. It's not the best at covering, but that's not what it promises to do anyway. It works best in conjunction with some other concealer with heavier coverage and it really brightens up the area. Mine is the the shade 8, which has yellow undertones and there is another shade that is more pink. It is priced somewhere around 10€. 

Rimmel Match Perfection concealer

My second favourite concealer so far. It has quite a lot of coverage, it's even good for covering blemishes and looks very nice on the skin, so not cakey. I have the lightest shade called 010 Ivory which is comparable with Healthy Mix 51 or Mac's NC 15. It also has illuminating properties, which is great for under eye area. The applicator is a brush and you have to squeeze the tube for the product to come out. As well as with the Maybelline one, this one is not available in Slovenia (Rimmel in general is not sold here) and I also had difficulties finding it in Croatia (Zagreb), so I got mine in France for around 8€, but you can get it online on feelunique.com. Highly recommended.

Essence Stay All Day concealer

It's a really nice concealer especially given the price (around 3-4€). It is actually quite pigmented for a drugstore concealer. I find the coverage sufficient enough for dark circles and even some small spots, however it's still quite light. It has a doe foot applicator, which honestly I like a lot as it makes the application really easy. But there are two problems: first is that it comes in only two shades (10 Natural Beige and 20 Soft Beige) and both run very light. I own both, 10 is suited for very pale skins (Healty mix 51) and has yellow undertones, while 20 is just a tad darker (Healthy mix 52) and has pinker undertones. So for anyone darker than that unfortunately Essence doesn't offer a good colour match. Second is that it oxidises very fast on the skin. By that I mean that when you apply it, the colour turns a bit darker and orange, however, when you blend in, it looks fine. So it's not such a big problem as more of a bit of a nuisance. It is one of the best drugstore concealers available in Slovenia and one of the easiest to get, since it's sold in almost every drugstore.   

theBalm Time Balm concealer

The heavies concealer of the bunch. The texture is very thick, but not that hard to blend. I prefer to apply it with fingers because it just blends better with the skin. Unfortunately, this concealer does not work well on dry skin. It clings to every dry patch so make sure you moisturise before using it. The coverage is full, works well on dark circles and blemishes, but really make sure the area is moisturised. It feels quite thick under the eyes, so I prefer to use other concealer and I use this one on blemishes. The shade I have is Lighter than Light which is comparable to NW15 (pink undertones). Original review can be found here ->click. It the most expensive out of these five and also my least favourite, but you can get it on feelunique.com.

Hope this helps and thanks for reading!

Maybelline Dream Touch Blushers in Peach and Berry

Dream Touch Blush in Peach is my go-to blush and one of my favourites. I much prefer cream blushes to powder forms, simply because it is much easier and quicker to apply them (I use fingers), plus they give a more natural and dewy look. From my recent trip to France came home with me another shade called Berry (although I'm pretty sure it said Mauve-something on the packaging, but I can't find it on their website, so I guess it's Berry. There's no name printed on the actual packaging, which is really weird). 

I've already reviewed the shade called Peach a long time ago and here is the link to the original review click. 

These have a very nice soft cream texture that is easy to apply and blend. It's very easy to control the amount of blush you put on your cheeks. Peach is, as the name suggests,  a peach shade, a great neutral everyday shade and perfect for those who are not that comfortable with bolder colours. Berry is a brighter shade, but still very neutral and wearable pink that gives a very nice fresh flush, like you just came from somewhere cold.  

These blushes are not available in Slovenia (nor have I seen them in Croatia) which is just frustrating. It seems like most of the actually good range of product by Maybelline just go by us (like their Instant Rewind Anti-Age concealer which is also brilliant). I think it was priced around 8€ in Carrefour. You can also get them on feelunique.com and if you have a chance I highly recommend you try them, especially if you like cream blushes. 

Thanks for reading!

May Favorites

So here are my May favourites. As always coloured text is a link to the original review.

In the past few months I've been mostly concentrating on my perfecting my skin and leaving out from my routine most of the other make up items. My favourite foundation still remains my beloved Bourjois Healthy Mix serum. I've raved so much about it already and usually I get a lot of compliments about how perfect my skin looks when I wear it. But mostly I wore skin79's BB cream because of the spf and it too makes my skin look pretty perfect. On my cheeks I wore Magic Lumi by L'Oreal (one of the best highlighters ever) and Dream Touch blush by Maybelline in either Peach or Berry. I recently purchased the shade Berry when I was in France, so swatches will follow (an old review of the shade Peach can be found here click). Still my absolute favourite concealer is Instant Anti-Age The Eraser Eye by Maybelline (I've already raved about it here click).

For my eye make up I kept it really simple with just some mascara and a fleshtone eyeliner by Max Factor. Maybelline Colossal Volum' Express in waterproof is my latest mascara and it compares very well to my favourite HR Lash Queen, just that Volum' Express does not perform that well when it comes to the claim of being waterproof. But the volume it gives is impressive, at least on my lashes (I always wear waterproof mascara as it holds the curl better).

On my lips I only wore some lipbalm. My favourite is Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Swivel Stick (the packaging is quite a chunky thing, it looks like you putting on glue but it moisturises so well), other favourites are Rosal in Milk and Honey, Labello in Rose and for a pop of colour Fruity Shine in Guava again by Labello. 

Thanks for reading!