Hits & misses Jul-Dec 2013

Hi everyone!

Thank you for tuning back in and let me start off with wishing you all a great (and huge belated) 2014. I've been SO darn busy that I have neglected this blog like I never did before... Shame on me!
Anyway, a new year has begun, so this means turn a page and let those new, fun challenges begin!
If you have any resolutions, please share them in the comment bar below, I would like to know them! :)

Let's get back to business and kick off the year with a hits and misses of the passed couple of months. If you haven't read my former blog post on hits&misses, don't be shy to give it a read here.

Hits

Let's start of with za face. It may sound weird, but I have the feeling my skin has never been as oily as it has been the past year. I've used blotting sheets like crazy. And if I'm using them, sometimes I'll need 2 papers to get all the oils off! Whenever I'm in a beauty related store, I check out their mattifying sheets, because I like to try out a bunch of those papers. After using the Clean&Clear for a couple of years, I thought it would be fair to give other brands a try as well. Sasatinnie, Catrice, Suki, ... They've all lived in my make up bag. They've all done their job. Frankly, no matter which brand it says on its packaging, as long as it takes the oils off, I'm one happy lad!

I've used high end concealer, and yes, they're good, but I could not longer spend so much money on something while I've found a drugstore version that works just as well. I'm talking about the Catrice's camouflage cream. It's cheap, it has a high coverage and it works with my yellow undertone. What more can I ask from a concealer?

You know I love my lippies :) The passed year I have experimented with lip stuff like crazy and man oh man, have I fallen in love with it. I'm talking about the Bourjois Color Boost glossy finish lipsticks. They're in the form of a big fat crayon that you use to color in the lips. The pigmentation is great, they moisturize, have SPF and they're quite cheap for a lippy.

Another lip item I would like to mention are the Maybelline Baby Lips. These have been raved about for years and the company has finally decided to make its way to Europe as well. I have recommended them to my friends who aren't really into make up and they have fallen head over heels with it! Coincidence? I don't think so!

Misses

As for the face I couldn't stand the sunscreen by Avène. It has a SPF 50 and it's supposed to be for people with normal to combination skin, but somehow this leaves my face a little bit sticky and it makes me oily as an oil can! Luckily I received free samples, so I didn't spend any money on these sunscreens.

Occasionally, I like to put on eyeliner if I got out with my girls. Unfortunately this drugstore eyeliner hasn't done good to me eyes. This is by Essence and I bought it for 1€, I guess I can't complain then, huh? This didn't make my eye any red, but it did clog up the pores on my waterline. Yes, that's actually possible! It left me with a little reddish bump that hurt a little bit, but was more annoying than painful. I wasn't sure whether I did something different to my beauty routine, so I gave this a second try. I threw it away as soon as it happened again. Never again!


This was the very first blog post of the year 2014. Let's make it a wonderful year filled with make up and nail polishes! :)

Favorite products of the month: September 2013

Another end of a month means another listing of my favorite products of the month!
Maybe you've noticed that I haven't been doing these king of post every month, that's because I usually use the same products for quite some while.

The products that do make it to the 'favorite products of the month-post' are or awesome products I use on a regularly basis or I've discovered them recently and I just want to share them with you.

Anyway, enough chit chat for now, let's jump right into it :)

My face has been very bad to me the last couple of weeks. I've been using my Benzac which contains 5% benzoylperoxide to treat the blemishes, I've been using my Clarisonic more often and I've rediscovered a scrub to get rid of the dead skin cells. You've probably heard of this scrub before, it's the St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot scrub. This scrub is the Allure readers' choice award winner and yes, it is quite good actually. It comes out as a pinkish white cream with orange beeds in it to exfoliate the skin. As the name gives it away it has a pleasant apricot scent which isn't too overwhelming. After using this scrub my skin feels very soft. A good alternative to my Nivea Visage Pure Effect Peel Soft which is more a mattifying scrub than it is an exfoliating scrub.

For facial make up products, the waterproof Jealousness gel eyeliner has been taking care of my smoky eye looks. These eyepencils go on very smoothly, no tucking, no going over the same place more than one time to darken it up, good pigmentation, ... By far, one of my favorite eye pencils! I got this pencil from an online Asian beauty shop, if you want to try it out as well, click here :)

Jealousness: waterproof gel eyeliner: black

I've been digging the Bourjois cream blushes. They're a cream to powder blush and the old spices color Sweet Cherry is a wonderful color for my complexion.

Although summer is coming to an end, the oils on my face haven't decided to call it a day. They've been excited to come out since summer has started. To solve this problem, mattifying papers have been my best friend. I've been using several ones, because I keep a certain brand in my purse and some in my make up bag. Catrice, Sasa, Clean and Clear, ... they all get the job done, so I don't really care what brand they're from.

I have been loving lip stuff lately, well actually always, but I've discovered some great lip goodies the last couple of months. Not just the regular lipbalms, but the tinted versions.
One of Korres' best selling products is the lip butter. These are little pots with a scented and tinted lip balm in it, but dang...they're good!

Korres lip butter: Pomegranate

I've done a blog post on the Bourjois Color Boost glossy lipsticks before. If you'd like to give it a read, click here. They have a good pigmentation, are quite cheap and they're cute looking. If you haven't seen them before, they're basically like a big fat crayon to color in your lips.

Bourjois Color Boost glossy finish lipsticks

These have been my fav's of the month. I'm still trying out a bunch of new products, time will tell whether they will make it to my next favorite products of the month! Until then, see you soon!