Monday, April 30, 2012

YSL Rouge Volupte Perle 107


Rouge Volupte Perle is a more newish line of the famous Rouge Volupte lipsticks (review of two of the shades can be found here), this one, however, has more shimmery, frostly types of shades. 107 Impetuous Beige is a kind of pinky-peachy shade, very similar to Mac's Hue, but with a subtle frost finish. I've had this lipstick for ages now (got it for my birthday, actually), but I was to lazy to make swatches of it. I find that this one dries out my lips, despite being very creamy, which is odd because the original version doesn't. But all can be fixed with a bit of chapstick. It's definitely one of the prettiest shades I own, but it is very expensive for a lipstick (about 30 €). 


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Saturday, April 21, 2012

Skin79 Pink Label BB Cream

 
I finally caved. After all the raves in the make up community about BB creams, I couldn't resist ordering one for me. I decided to get Skin79's Pink Label version, because it's rated high on MUA and because it was quite cheap on eBay. Also I wanted something with a high SPF and this one has an SPF 25. I ordered it from this seller (based in South Korea) and I paid a bit over 10€ plus it came with a lot of samples. It took forever to arrive (a little over three weeks), but I blame our postal service (I think they lost my package from feelunique, because it's been over two weeks since I ordered it. I'm just livid right now).

The packaging is just brilliant. The colour is a bit bright, but it looks so cool. I got the smaller version (15g), because it took me years to use up my previous foundation. The bigger version (40g) is actually not that much more expensive, but I just don't need that much product also this one is much more travel friendly. The pump works great, you can easily get the amount of product you need.  


A lot of reviewers pointed out how grey it looks on the skin for the first 10 minutes, however, I find it adapts to my skintone (NC15 or NC20 if I'm self tanning) in seconds. The coverage is a bit more that an average tinted moisturiser, it's similar to Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum, but the latter still has a touch more coverage. It looks incredibly natural on the skin, nobody will notice you're wearing anything. It has quite a matte finish, I find it perhaps a bit too matte for my liking (I'm a fan of much more dewy finishes, the likes that Healthy Mix serum gives), so I use highlighter where needed. I have combination skin, with normal/dry cheeks and normal/a bit oily T-zone and I find this BB cream controls oil very well, I don't need to use any powder with this BB cream. It lasts quite long on the skin, certainly longer than HM Serum.


Here is a comparison of HM Serum and Pink Label BB cream. HM foundations run quite yellow and as you can see BB cream looks quite grey, however, as I said before, it adapts very fast at least on my skin (I have neutral undertones). Also it matches my skintone perfectly and you can't actually tell that I'm wearing anything on my skin. The consistency is quite thick, a lot thicker than any foundation I ever owned. 


I received four samples with purchase: BB Cleanser which is just brilliant and I'm seriously considering buying it, a sample of White Reviving skin radiance solution (I haven't tried it yet), another sample of Pink Label BB cream and a  sample of Gold Label BB cream which is supposed to be more suited for drier skin. After trying the sample I didn't notice much difference between the two, Gold Label has just a touch more dewy finish, so next time I'll probably go for the Gold Label version instead of the Pink one.


I quite like this BB cream (it is my first though). I'd prefer a more dewy finish, if Bourjois HM serum had such a high SPF that it would be ideal. However, I love the idea of an high SPF and a light coverage foundation combined plus I can just use highlighter if I feel like I need a bit more glow. This will definitely be my choice for the spring/summer months, in fact I've been wearing it every day since I got it. Here are the ingredients:


 Thanks for reading!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Repurchases


I've made quite a few repurchases in the past couple of weeks and I just thought I might made a little post about it. These are either my favourite products (of the moment) or I just haven't find anything better yet. 


I managed to get one of the last bottles of LE Balea's Traum Geschöft shower gel and a small version of deodorant. I've been repurchasing it since it was released last summer as I simply adore the scent. It's such a lovely peach smell. Why does it have to LE? 

I got yet another bottle of L'Occitane's Amande shower oil. I've been repurchasing it since 2007, I stopped counting how many bottles I've actually gone through. Seriously the most awesome scent and product ever, too bad it's so expensive. I wish they made a fragrance with this exact scent.


My fourth bottle of Bioderma Sensibio H2O in a row. A great and gentle make up remover that literally feels like water. It doesn't perform that well, when it comes to waterproof mascara though. For that I'm using Maybelline's remover for waterproof make up (another repurchase, but it's not in the picture).

I got another SauBär lavender spray, so I have one at home and one in Ljubljana. I'm still so in love with this scent. I'm not sure if this was LE or not, as I got the last bottle in my nearest DM (I sure hope it's not!).

I've raved a lot about Alverde's hair oil and I bought one more bottle for my mum. I still love it and I use it everyday (I have very dry hair though). It tames the frizz and makes my hair so shiny like from a Pantene commercial.

As I've already wrote in my previous post, I got another Stay All Day concealer by Essence, but this one in the darker shade (20 Soft Beige). It's still quite light, but it matches my skin perfectly now that I'm self tanning. 


I'm not a fan of make up wipes, but the only ones I like using are from Speedy Care. The are very gentle and soft, they contain camomile (quite high on the list of ingredients actually), vitamin E and other good stuff that I can't remember right now. Plus they're quite cheap.

Preven's Antiseptic wipes are always in bag. This is the large version, but they also have smaller packagings with different scents (these ones smell like mint).

And what do you find yourself repurchasing over and over again?
Thanks for reading!

Friday, April 6, 2012

My Favourites from Essence


Essence is probably the most affordable make-up brand available in Slovenia. They have a nice range of products in general and quite a few trend edition collections per year. Now, I obviously haven't tried all of their products, but here are my favourites so far. I only chose products that are available right now, so no TE (apart from nail polishes) or discontinued items. Coloured text are links to the original review and swatches.

I'm not a massive fan of lipglosses. I just don't like the look of them on me, especially the ones that are super shiny and glittery, but these are probably my favourite glosses. For a very affordable price you get a fantastic  gloss that is not too sticky, nicely pigmented (especially darker shades) and smells really lovely (kinda sweet-fruity). The shade range is fantastic, in my opinion, with two lovely nude shade and a really nice coral. I like to blot 03 Candy Bar and wear it more as a kind of a stain, I just find it suits me better than applying it straight from the tube. The wand is kinda odd, but it doesn't make the application any harder.


It's a really nice concealer for the price. I find the coverage sufficient enough for dark circles and even some minor spots. It is actually quite pigmented for a drugstore concealer. It has a doe foot applicator, which honestly I like a lot as it makes the application really easy. Also it blends really nicely. The only problem 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. 20 suits me perfectly now that I'm self tanning.

3. my base illuminating make up base
This is a new product, I think it became a part of their standard range just about a month or two ago. It's basically a liquid highlighter that you can use by itself, or under/mixed with foundation. I like that the shine is actually quite subtle, there are no massive shimmer particles in it, so the glow it gives is really pretty. I tend to use it on my cheeks under blusher and then add my Jemma Kidd highlighter just on the tops of the cheekbones. The packaging is nice, with a pump, but it's a bit hard to squeeze just a small amount of product (it's quickly too much). You get 20 ml of product for 3-4€. There is also a peachier version available.

These are my absolute favourite cream eyeshadows and I've raved loads about them (here is another review and comparison to Catrice cream eyeshadows). They apply and blend nicely, don't crease and last really long on the lids. 

5. Gel eyeliner
I bought this eyeliner just a couple of weeks ago and I'm already impressed. Before I used Mac's gel eyeliner and this one performs just as good. It lasted the entire day without smudging or fading, which is very impressive, especially since it costs about 1/5 of the price of Mac's and honestly I see no difference between the two.


6. Smokey eyes set in 02 Punky Vibe
This is one of my favourite shades for my eye colour. It's a warm dark brown with bronze tones that are really flattering for blue/grey/green eyes. I like both product, the eyeshadow and the gel liner/cream shadow, although I use gel liner/cream shadow as base and then the powder eyeshadow on top. It does fade quite fast, however, it fades evenly and I actually looks quite nice.

7. Colour & Go and TE nail polishes
Again probably my favourite nail polishes. They have a nice colour range, they apply nicely and last really long without chipping especially if I use a good top coat. Fantastic quality for the price. My favourite is You Belong to Me, which is a dupe for Essie's Mint Candy Apple. 
From TE's my favourites are BBC Pink Heat (a coral red shade, very pigmented, it needs only one coat) and from one of more recent TE's 04 Bright Alert! (a bright coral pink, needs 3 coats).

So these are my favourites so far. Hope this was useful. Thanks for reading!