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! :)

NOTW: Raspberryfields Forever

Well hello!

So, I'm back with another nails of the week. I was wandering around the isles of the drugstore and I happen to came across this beautiful polish:

Catrice: 26 Raspberryfields Forever

If you've been following my NOTW's for a while, you probably know I love my drugstore polishes. Catrice is a wonderful drugstore brand that has a great variety of colors. Raspberryfields Forever is no exception.

It's a creamy polish and 1 coat will do it for a mani. It looks like a pinkish red in the bottle, but it comes out red on the nails. I was looking for a pinkish red, but I guess a girl can never have too many red polishes in their collection :p

I did notice that the Raspberryfields Forever can be a dupe for Essie's She's Pampered: a true red. 
You might say a red is a red, there ain't no difference in them. But there are SO many different kinds of red: orange red, pinkish red, true red, dark red, ...

What do you think of this classic look?

NOTW: Raspberryfields Forever ft. Showgirl

And the nail of the week is ...

Catrice: Raspberryfields Forever - Ciaté: Showgirl

A while back I purchased a a red drugstore polish called Raspberryfields Forever. It's a plain red that applies opaque after 1 coat. To spice things up I added Ciaté's Showgirl on top of it. This is a beautiful quite sheer red with pink and purple flex to it. This made the look just that little bit fancier.

Catrice:
This polish applies opaque with 1 coat. It's creamy, cheap and gorgeous.

Ciaté:
Because this is abit sheer, I prefer to apply this on top of another color. When I only applied Ciaté to my nails this is pretty as well, but several coats are definitely needed to avoid seeing my nail beds under the polish.
Ciaté's polishes are a little bit more expensive, they're right in the middle between drugstore and high end, to me that is.
Remark: Not all Ciaté's polishes are this sheer, there are other beautiful creamy polishes that apply opaque with just one coat.

I decided to top Ciaté on my Catrice because I wanted to achieve a pinkish red. Mission accomplished :)

Review Catrice camouflage cream

Hi there dear visitor :)

Today I'll be reviewing a drugstore concealer for you. It's by the brand Catrice and it looks a little like this:

Catrice concealer: 020 Light Beige

This concealer is very creamy with high coverage. I've been on the hunt for a good high coverage concealer but I just couldn't splurge the money on a high end product. The only thing that I don't really like is that you have to dip your finger in it, which makes it unhygienic. I had the same problem with my one and only high end concealer by Shu Uemura, where it came in a little plastic pot. In spite of that I loved that Shu concealer, it was one of the best concealer I've ever tried. It was probably due to the yellow undertone it had.



Catrice swatch

Well, guess what undertone this Catrice concealer has? Yup, yellow! Slight yelllow, that is, but still! It's not easy for Asians to find a right concealer in the Western drugstores.

The packaging is actually quite sleek looking. It's a little black container, of which you have to screw the top part off. It's simple, but nice.

You get about 3g in each jar, and it's not a lot, but I did pay about 2€, so I can't complain on that department.

As for the longevity, it stays on my face for pretty much the entire day. It didn't come off until you rub it off and the creaminess makes sure those dry patches disappear. Oh yeah!


Long story short, this little jar has got some magic inside I tell you! :)

top 10 drugstore products under 10 euro

Well hello there,

Are you like me and nosy to know what 10 products are good and affordable? Please, make yourself comfortable and let those eyeballs work! FYI: These products aren't in any particular order :)

As you may have seen, if I have to give you a list of goodies I like to work from the top down, so let's kick it into high gear shall we?

Maybelline 24h Color Tattoo - 9,99€
These babies are the B.O.M.B.! They come in a wide range of colors, they stay on for about 6 to 8 hours, don't crease (don't forget I have super oily eyelids y'all) and they're affordable. This was my go to product last year. Just keep in mind that depending on which country you live in the names of the Color Tattoos may vary.

top: 35 Tough as Taupe
left: 65 Pink Gold - right: 35 On and On Bronze

Essence STAYS No matter what waterproof eyepencil - 1€
I like to tightline (=lining your waterline). I don't like to line my eyes, because it doesn't give the appearance to having bigger eyes as good as I want it to be. It's a subtle line but it makes a huge difference to the eyes, if you ask me. I have trouble finding a good, affordable eyepencil, and I have found a Japanese eyepencil, but since they're not easy accessible I have to find ways to keep an eye out for pencils of which I can get a hold of easily. This waterproof eyepencil will wear out during the day, but for the first few hours this looks pretty darn good. The good thing is that this smudge just a teeny tiny tad, but it gives your eyes more of a sultry look than a panda look.

Essense STAYS no matter what: 01 Midnight Black

Essence coverstick - 1,99€
My cheapest concealer ever. I 'm not going to say that this is my best concealer I own, but it's in my to 3 for sure. It leaves a matte finish and the stick makes it easy to apply. The only negative point about this? It can melt quite easily due to the cheap packaging. Just leave it in a cooler place for a while and the concealer is good to go!

Essence coverstick: 05 matt beige

Rimmel Stay Matte long lasting pressed powder - 9,99€
Who of the oily faced girls doesn't like matte? This powder will leave you face matter than matte :) Plain packaging with the lid on top, although I do prefer a lid which is attached to the powder. Cheap packaging, but good face stuff!

Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder: warm beige

Bourjois Color Boost - 9,99€
I've posted a blog blabber on this product before, so you can click here to give it a read so I don't repeat myself. Long story short? I love this! Great colors, great pigmentation& affordable!

Top down:
01 Red Sunrise
03 Orange Punch
04 Peach on the Beach

NYC Applelicious Glossy lipbalm - 2,79€ (356 Big Apple Red)
Another tinted lip balm I've fallen in love with. This moisturizes your lips, gives it a lovely color and smells so goooood! The color is buildable and go on from a sheer red (one application) to a brighter red (3 or 4 applications). I like the sheer red because I've only recently learned to wear colored lip. This is my go to red for fancy occasions :)

NYC Applelicious Glossy lipbalm: 65 Big Apple Red

Nivea Pure Effect Peel Soft Mild Scrub - 5,99€
This leaves the face matte. The scrub contains little beeds that are very gentle for the skin and aren't abrasive at all. You'll need about a pea size amount for each wash. I've purchased mine about a year ago and I'm guessing I'll be able to use mine until the end of the year :)

Catrice nail polish - 2,99€
Catrice is one of my favorite drugstore brands for nail polishes, because they always have fun colors and their monthly collections are always fun to look at. One of my favorite polishes is from this brand: click here to check out a swatch. Some of their polishes do require 3 coats, but so do more expensive polish brands. I'd rather buy more Catrice polishes than 1 famous make up brand. Go Catrice!

Catrice: Walk On Air

HEMA nail polish - 2,95€
I'm not sure whether HEMA is known outside of Belgium and the Netherlands, but their polishes are good enough for me. They stay on for a good week, 5 days if you're a very busy (wo)man :) If you're wondering what it looks like on the nails, check out the swatches here! The wide variety of colors sucks me in every time, and the quality is just as good as some of the more expensive brands.

HEMA: 808

Garnier body calming gel L-bifidus Peach extract for dry&sensitive skin - 3,99€
You're probably wondering: gel for dry&sensitive skin? You? But you keep on whining on how oily your face is? Well, surprise surprise! My body has rather dry skin and after showering I need this baby to lock in some moisture before I become a dry banana!

Garnier Intensive calming gel

These were my 10 favorite products. I have always wanted to a blog post like this online because it just shows that great quality goodies can be found in drugstores as well!


Recently my fingers have been itching to set up a '5 products of each make up category'. So stay tuned for those blog posts! :)

Battle of the eyeliners

Hi blog readers :)

I've had my share of eyeliners, but unfortunately my oily eyelids, my sensitive and water-very-easily eyes don't appreciate eyeliners as much I'd like to.

I have typical Asian eyelashes. You know, stubborn, stick straight pointing down and very scarce in quantity. Yes, those kind of lashes.

Meanwhile I've gotten to know the magical make up tool which calls an eyelash curler. Ever since I've used it, my lashes can become curly. In spite of not having lots of them, I don't like wearing false eyelashes, I've found out that you can fake the look of having more eyelashes than you actually have by putting eyeliner on your upper waterline, mwoehahaha! And here's when the eyeliners swoop in!

I've used pencils, liquid, gel eyeliners. Quick conclusion? I love gel, like liquid and usually hate pencils eyeliners.

Pencils cause my eyes to water and the white in my eyes becomes red. Also, these can smudge quite easy on my eyes.
Liquids are not very easy to work with, and smudge or rub off eventually.
Gels stay on me the longest.

Today, I'll be comparing not 1, not 2, but 15 kind of eyeliners, including my all time favorite, so stay tuned!

Here's an overview of all the eyeliners. I've swatched them accordingly to the separate reviews down below. Just in case, here's the list with all the brand names:

I've swatched all eyeliners on my hand.
On the right picture I've tested these with saliva to test whether they're really as waterproof (=WP) as they claim to be. I swiped over the liners 3 times with my finger. As you can see, there are a bunch of them which did not succeed the water test.

* Mac technakohl

* Déjà vu Lasting fine

* Maybelline Master drama

* Mulensa

* Rimmel Scandaleyes (WP)

* Dolly Wink

* Benefit BAD gal (WP)

* Cover girl perfect point plus

* Cosmagic lock on liner

* Almay

* Maybelline Eyeliner-matic

* L'Oréal Color Riche Le Smoky

* Catrice (WP)

* Prestige (WP)

Those who survived, were put up to round 2: the waterline.

This eyeliner is probably one of my most expensive eye pencil. No offense, but big brands must promise something good, right? I'm afraid this pencil disappointed me so bad. It smudged, it didn't endure the water test (not that it said waterproof, but still) and it's pricey. No, I won't repurchase this. 4/10

Mac technakohl liner eye liner kajal in graphblack

This is an Asian eye pencil, which I bought in Hong Kong. I heard so much about this brand, I thought I'd give the eye liner a shot. Unfortunately I didn't like this. Perhaps it stayed on me for about an hour, but that's it. In spite of putting it on my waterline, I'd like a pencil to stay put longer than 60 minutes, don't you? A poor 2/10

Déjàvu Lasting fine in black

Maybe it's Maybelline. It sure is Maybelline :) I didn't expect much from this pencil to be quite honest. I bought this at the local drugstore and I thought it would smudge on me like no other, as most drugstore eyeliners do, but I have to admit that this has surprised me, in a good way. This stayed on my waterline after a few hours, barely smudged and the price is right. This deserves a proper 8/10

Maybelline Master drama khol liner in charcoal grey

My friend bought me a khol pencil in France. Mulensa. I never heard of it, but gave it a try anyway. I've put this on my waterline a while back and it stayed put, but I don't know why it smudges immediately after testing it for this blog post. It failed badly at the water test, so another flunk: 1/10

Mulensa khol pencil in black

I bought this drugstore eyeliner after hearing that this is the drugstore version of the Urban Decay 24/7 glide on pencils. LIAR!! It's a shame that this isn't able in a solely black pencil. The pencil I have contains little chunks of glitter causing my sensitive eyes to become red and watery. It didn't take long for this eyeliner to smudge and to even cause a little bit of pain. Thanks a lot glitter... 0/10

Rimmel Scandaleyes kohl liner in 002 sparkling black (waterproof)

For the Asian beauty fans out there, who doesn't know Dolly Wink? The liquid eyeliner has reached an incredible fame, but I've never heard anyone talked about the pencil. On the hand, it's ok, but it's not good at all to put on the waterline. You'd think: well, then just put it on your eyelid. I can't. My oily eyelids makes this eye pencil smudge as hell and I'll look like a panda in no time. Too bad, but nice try, I'll stay with the liquid Dolly Wink: 4/10

Dolly Wink liner in black

We've all heard about the Benefit bad gal liner. I like the pigmentation and the lasting power is ... okay. I don't love this liner, but I can put it if I only have to go out for an hour or 2. I told you so, it's not the best liner. Again, you pay a price for the brand. Luckily this performs a little bit better than some others... 6/10

Benefit BAD gal liner in charcoal, comes with smudger (waterproof)

I don't even know why I wanted to buy this eyeliner. I always heard so many good things on the brand Covergirl, so how bad could it be? Well, let me tell you one thing: this pencil eyeliner should be called smudgetown, haha! No, it didn't leave my eyes watery, but dang...I looked straight up like a panda after 15 minutes, for real! Definitely not worth your money people: 1/10

Cover girl perfect point plus in 205 charcoal, comes with smudger

An Asian eyeliner that didn't do the job properly. Smudged on me after a half an hour, although it didn't cause any more sensitivity, hence my 3/10

Cosmagic lock on liner in black, comes with smudger

After reading so many good reviews on this eyeliner, I just had to give this pencil a try. This did stay put on my waterline at first, but unfortunately this did smudge eventually. Ok, but not good enough. 7/10

Almay eyeliner in 205 black, comes with sharpener

After seeing the results on the swatch picture, you'd think this would perform great. Well, I'm here to tell you this is not a great pencil, but it does the job. It doesn't last as long as other good eye pencils on the waterline, since it's not waterproof. But in spite it's not waterproof, it's aight :) 7/10

Maybelline Eyeliner-matic in intense black, comes with sharpener

  

First off: dang, that pencil is sharp! It actually hurt putting this liner onto my waterline. But back to the purpose of this review: no, it did not last on my waterline. Since it says 'Le Smoky' and there's a smudger with it, I can't blame them for not staying put on my waterline. 3/10

L'Oréal Color Riche Le Smoky eyeliner in 201 black velour, comes with smudger

Catrice, a brand which is often neglected for no understandable reasons. I'm not sure whether the States have access to this brand, but I'm pretty sure some countries in Europe do. Anyway, for a drugstore pencil, this is a good eye pencil. It stays on my waterline for quite some time, I like the twistable pencil and I appreciate the sharpener that comes with. Overall, I like this one: 8/10

Catrice longlasting eye pencil in 010 new kids on the black, comes with sharpener (waterproof)

I've always compared Catrice with Prestige (don't ask me why). Now, I've had this pencil longer than I had the Catrice one. Twist up, waterproof, black eyeliner... It has all I need in an eye pencil. But no... It's no good. It doesn't stay put for too long and my eyes become very red after putting this eyeliner, so a 4/10.

Prestige eyeliner in 01 black (waterproof)

And last but not least, ma favorite pencil. No, I didn't swatch this on the overview of pencils, because I wanted to save this one as a surprise :) This is a gel pencil. When putting this on my waterline, this dried immediately so it stayed put on my waterline. Can I just mention that this didn't budge at all! By far, this is the best eyeliner I have ever used! Definitely worth a 9/10. I couldn't give this full points, because it did smudge a bit on my hand after testing with water (look below)

Jealousness in black (waterproof)

Now I've put all eyeliners to the test, I'm glad to announce the top 3:
Here's another swatch picture of my winners. You'll see that the right side is a bit blurry, that's because I, again, put them to the water test.

*drumroll*

Top down: Maybelline Masterdrama - Jealousness - Catrice

 Results:

3. Catrice
2. Maybelline Masterdrama
1. Jealousness




The thing I like the most about all 3 eye liners is that they're all drugstore products. So they're affordable liners with a great staying power. I can't do anything but recommend these babies!

 

After testing these goodies, I'm still on the hunt for good eyeliners (yes, I'm obsessed, but so are you!) But tell me, do you know any good eyeliners that you happen to love? :)

NOTW: strawberry

Hi beauty lovers!

Time for another NOTW!
This week I experimented abit and came up with the following look:

You're probably wondering how I got the idea of drawing strawberries on my nails...


It all started with me borrowing Bourjois So Lacque Glossy Nail Lacquer in 04 Amande. It's a mint green which is almost pistachio-like. The polish is quite creamy and glossy, and I must say that this isn't a bad drugstore polish at all.

I planned on doing an altered french manicure, but with green tips. Weird? No worries, I shared the same thoughts :)

Afterward I added some coral (Catrice's CO2 Walk On Air) to make it less boring.

After looking at my coral nails with green tips, it made me think of strawberries, hence the black dots.

Honestly, this kind of mani's aren't my cup of tea. I just like experimenting and then take it off to put a more subtle color on the nails.

If you like these kidn of mani's, let me know and just maybe, I'll do more creative mani's! :)

Catrice eyeshadow

After having the Maybelline 24 hour longlasting eyeshadow, Catrice has released a longlasting eyeshadow as well. I noticed they have all released colors with a metal finish such as bronze, silver, gold and bright colors.

Catrice - Lord of the Blings

I bought number 040, Lord of the Blings, a gold color. It's very creamy, blends well and dries instantly. I think this would make a great primer and/or all over lid color.

Catrice is known to be the European Wet 'n Wild brand. They're qualitative, yet cheap, YAY!

Must admit, there's a possibility that I'll be purchasing other colors as well :)

Review eye shadow: Catrice vs Shu Uemura

A while back I bought a taupe color from Shu Uemura. Color? Great! Pigmentation? Good color pay off! Cheap? Not really...

Now I'm always on the hunt for drugstore products that are quite similar to the high end products. And recently I walked by the Catrice eye shadow section, and a certain packaging caught my eye.

Catrice taupe - Shu Uemura taupe

First thing first: I do realize these aren't similar colors. But let's review these anyway, shall we? :)

Packaging:
They both have similar packaging, a plastic square with the eye shadow in it and with the name mentioned below. I know you can depot the eye shadows from Shu, but I haven't given Catrice's a try, simply cause I don't want to ruin it :D

Price:
Catrice is way cheaper than the Shu one. I'm pretty sure you can buy 5 to 6 Catrices or buy 1 Shu.

Color pay off:
Catrice has a good color pay off, it's way better pigmented than I expected. Shu, though, is a good light color wash off. Here's a swatch:

left: Catrice - right: Shu Uemura

The lighting isn't very good, but if you look closely, it's clear that the Catrice shows up better. If I'll repurchase one of these goodies, I'm sure I'll go for the Catrice one. Goooooooo Catrice!! :)

NOTW: Walk On Air

One of my favorite polish colors? Coral! Yaaaaay!

Catrice - Walk On Air

This is probably one of my cheapest and most beautiful colors I have :) Too bad it's a LE...
I bought for about 3€ and it's a gorgeous light coral with purple micro-glitters...PRET-TYYY! It requires 2 coats, which gives a pretty opaque color as you can see on the pic. It's definitely my go to color if I'm not sure which color will suit my mood :)

Nail polish collection

I have to admit: I have a nail polish addiction but hey in my defense, which girl hasn't? Every time I see a cute color I just have to get it. And yes, the colors may look a like, but no, they're not exactly the same color :)

Let's start off with Bourjois:

One coat of the 16 and 15 will do, but you will need 2 coats to get an opaque color from 13.

They have a creamy consistency and are an okay price for a nail polish.

FYI:

16: red/coral

25: pink/coral

13: baby pink

16 - 25 -13

Then Catrice:

I simply love these nail polishes: they're creamy, have a great selection of colors and they're SO cheap!

FYI: 

no030 My Café Au Lait At Nôtre-dame (nude)

CO2 Nude from Female collection (spiced pink)

no210 Just married (shimmery baby pink)

no520 Apropos Apricot (pastel orange)

no510 Bye, Bye birdy (pastel yellow)

no540 Am I blue or green (mint)

no200 From dusk to dawn (grey-brownish)

no190 Wrapped around my finger (dark fushia)

no170 I Scream Peach (coral)

CO2 Walk On Air from Hidden World collection (peachy with purple shimmers)

030 - CO2 Nude - 210 - 520 - 510 - 540 - 200 - 190 - 170 - CO2 Walk on Air

China Glaze:

I've heard so many good things about it, and to be completely honest... I don't like them as much as most beauty guru's do. I simply don't like the formula and they can be quite expensive in Belgium. Sad thing about it: they chip so easily on me!

FYI:

735 Skate night (sparkly bordeaux)

001 Wild Mink (spicy dark pink)

CGW235 Outrageous (hot pink)

35 - 001 - CGW235

The nail polish brand I was very excited about to having them in Belgium as well is Essie:

These nail polishes are very creamy, but again I liked them, but didn't love them like crazy. Unfortunately they chip easily on me as well :(

FYI:

74 Tart Deco (coral)

23 Eternal Optimist (spicy nude)

205A Brooch The Subject (nude)

14 Fiji (baby pink)

203A Cocktail Bling (grey)

74 - 2 - 205A - 14 - 203A

Let's talk about some drugstore ones from Hema:
For a drugstore these nail polishes are actually quite good. You'll need 2 coats of this, but on the other hand..sometimes a high end polish requires 2 coats as well. With a good topcoat they last for about a week, which is acceptable for a drugstore product! If there'd be any other color I'd like, I will continue on buying these!

FYI:
Unfortunately they don't have names, so I'll just mention a short description of the color.

front row:

pastel pink - pink - burgundy- black

back row:

jade - dark purple with purple shimmers - burgundy - red - hot pink - spiced pink - pink with silver sheen - shiny nude - nude (base coat) - translucent (top coat)

Another drugstore brand which is more known all over the world, L'Oréal:

These 2 are from the L'Oréal Color Riche collection and they're available in a wide range of colors. They're creamy, give a good coverage and are simply gorgeous colors!

FYI:

no601 French Riviera (mint with blue sparkles)

no305 Dating Coral (coral)

601 - 305

I'm not a big fan of Nivea nail polishes, but I do quite like the following nail polishes:
They say they're shock resistant, but I don't notice any more or less dents if I'd accidentally bump into something.They do last quite a long time and the Lilly Gloss does really shine brighter than bright...LOVE it!

FYI: 

06 Rose (pastel pink)
25 Pink Blossom (light pink)
17 Amarettini (nude)
99 Lilly Gloss

06 - 25 - 17 - 99

Another brand which was raved about on the internet: OPI:

Since the price is quite high, I only tried one product from this brand. The consistency is okay, but I wouldn't purchase any other OPI nail polish.

FYI: 

Lincoln Park After Dark (dark purple)

Lincoln Park After Dark

No nail polish collections of mine would be completed without any Asian drugstore brands, namely Sasatinnie:

The milky polish is actually the only pink pastel I really like, because it's so cheap and 1 coat of this and you're good to go.

FYI:

P573 Rose (bright pink)

Q23 (sparkly milky)

P573 - Q23

The last brand I'll be discussing is the Sinful Colors nail polishes.

I love these nail polishes: creamy texture, color range, last long, price is okay.

FYI:

front row:

M808 Flirting Nails (sparkly bronze)

M1035 Nude Du Soir (sparkly nude)

M982 Be Happy (mint)

second row:

M44 Fire Red (sparkly bordeaux)

M1049 Aubergine (reddish purple)

M795 Folly (hot pink)

back row:

1010 Poudre (salmon)

1006 Mauve (mauve)

front row: M808 - M1035 - M982
middle row: M44 - M1049 - M795
back row: 1010 - 1006

Aside from these nail polishes I have some other from random brands. But these brands are definitely one of my favorites! You've probably noticed that I don't really have high end polishes, that's just because I can't afford to pay that much for a beauty item. IF I'd ever get one, you'll be the first to know! :)

Favorites of the month: March 2012

Tired of reading 'I can't believe the month flew by and it's already April'? Well too bad, because it did fly by and I am surprised it is already April! :D

I was quite excited to write this post because it'll be my first 'favorite products of the month'. I love watching/reading these posts of fellow beauty youtubers/bloggers. It proves how products can work out differently to people. It can be their HG or it can be the why-did-they-make-it kind of product.

Anyway, enough of the chit chat! Favorites, appear thyselves!

First of all we have a product I've already reviewed before, it's the Maybelline baby lips.

Maybelline Baby Lips: smoothing cherry

This lip balm doesn't only look cute, it hydrates your lips like hell and it smells SO good too! The HK Maybelline baby lips are different from the ones you can get in the States. In HK they're available in 4 flavors: cherry, berry, mint and orange. Now, each and every flavor has its own purpose. Cherry takes care of intense moisture and smoothing, berry makes sure your lips are protected, the mint one is medicated for repair and the orange baby lips makes your lips hydrated. These are all translucent and don't have a color pay off. And oh, have I mentioned that they all have an SPF of 20?

Since I have the typical Asian eye lashes (read: droopy, straight down looking, short eye lashes), I need a mascara to make my eyes appear more open.

Dolly Wink: volume mascara

If you haven't heard of the Dolly Wink line before, it's a Japanese brand and they've decided to collaborate with Japanese model Tsubasa Masuwaka. She's made the packaging so cute you can hardly resist to try out the products! And yes, the quality is darn good!

This mascara lengthens and gives volume to my lashes. The thing I like the most about this one is that it gives a boost to my lashes, yet it still looks natural.

Last favorite face product is blush!

Mac blush: Melba

After hearing so many good reviews on it I couldn't wait to try out this product after buying it. I'm really glad I listened to the beauties out there...I simply LOVE this blush! It's a peachy/apricot color and it warms up your complexion in an instant. This blush is very well pigmented and has a matte finish: one slight dab of the brush and it'll be more than enough!

Hair! Hair! Hair!

Lush shampoo: I Love Juicy

I'm sure many of you have already heard of Lush before, so I decided to walk into a Lush shop. First reaction: huuuuuuuuhhh, so many scents, don't know where to look, where to start,... I did some research on shampoo to wash my let's-fry-some-chips-on-that-hair with and tadaaaa: I Love Juicy turned out to be my hair's best friend!

I have tried A LOT of shampoo's to take care of my oily scalp and dry ends, but nothing has really wow-ed me. I used to wash my hair every other day. Now I wash my hair every other 2 days with the I Love Juicy. This shampoo has a very strong fruity scent. The fruity ingredients are pineapple, mango and kiwi and then there's sea salt for volume and seaweed extract to make your hair squeaky clean.

I mainly use this on the roots so it can get all the oils out of my hair and I TRY to condition the ends of my hair every time I wash my hair.

The only downside to this goodie is the price. But if it keeps doing its job, I won't mind paying that extra bit for a product that works wonders on me.

"You can tell a lot from a person's nails" - Ian McEwan

Catrice: Walk On Air

Unfortunately Catrice is only available in Europe. But what I like about Catrice in general is that they have pretty good products for the price you pay (which is peanuts!). I've discovered their nail collection a few years ago, and since then it's my favorite drugstore brand for nails. Their range of color is amazing AND they regularly have new nail polish collections which are LE. The nail polish you see above is called Walk On Air and it's from the Hidden World collection. It's a peachy color with purple shimmers...SO BEAUTIFUL! It's the perfect peachy/coral color for spring and summer and it's just one of those colors that makes you happy no matter what :)