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! :)

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! :)

My daily make up routine

Hi make up lovers!
Today I wanted to share my everyday make up routine. Just for your information, in spite of my obsession for make up and beauty tools, I actually don't wear make up that often, or at least not tons of make up.

I have a preference for the natural look, but I have experimented with some more for evening outings.

I mostly wear make make up when I have to work, or when I go out with friends. During the weekends I'm going au naturel to let my skin breath :)

Anyways, enough chit chat, let's jump right into it!

I like to work from the top down:

1. eyebrows
   

   

   Lioele auto eyebrow pencil - gray black

   
   

• I used to neglect my eyebrows. Frankly, I didn't care!
  Until beauty gurus started to tell more about eyebrows, I started to pluck my eyebrows in the shape I prefer and started to fill them in where needed.
• The Lioele auto eyebrow pencil has a gray black pencil on one side and a spooley on the other side.
2. lashes
   

   

   Shu Uemura eye lash curler

   
   

• Shu Uemura eye lash curler. Do I need to say more if I tell you I have typical asian eye lashes? They're short and stick straight. I NEED my eye lash curler to give that umph to my lashes.
  

  

  Fairy Drops Platinum waterproof mascara
  Maybelline Illegal Length non-waterproof mascara

  
  

• Afterwards I go over with some black mascara. Some of you know my HG is the Fairy Drops Platinum waterproof mascara. But I do like to experiment with non-waterproof mascara's as well. I have to admit, there not a lot of non-waterproof mascara's I like, but I have found one that is ... ok. It doesn't smudge too easily (but still does, especially I've been wearing it the entire day), and keep my lashes curled after putting on a coat of mascara. I present to you the Maybelline Illegal Length Fibre Extensions mascara. 
• The tube looks quite feminine. A slightly curved, long mascara with pink writing on it. 
• The thing which sold me? The fibres. I noticed there are fibres in it, but it doesn't contain as much fibres as the Fairy Drops does. 
• I have noticed that this mascara is rather wet. And although I prefer drier mascara's, this one is ... ok :)
3. concealer
   

   

   Essence coverstick - 05 matt beige

• I'm like any other young woman who has their occasional rush of hormones, and yes, I have break outs as well. I used to have a lot of acne, but never to the point that I had to see a dermatologist. No, I just dealt with it, because I know there are people with severe acne problems. I was lucky enough to not have that problem.
• Back then I never heard of the existence of concealer or foundation. Although I still don't wear foundation, concealer has become my best friend :)
• I've used high end concealers and drugstore concealers. I do have my favorites in high end and drugstore, but in the end, I'm not rich and I don't have sponsors who are kind enough to send me products. No, I'm not affiliated with any company and I buy everything with my own money. 
• I'm currently using a drugstore concealer, namely a coverstick from a drugstore brand Essence in 05 matt beige.
• On the little box it says the formula contains allantoin. For those who don't know what allantoin is, it's moisturizing, causes keratin to soften the skin and it heals the skin more quickly.
• It covers up my redness and blemishes, it turns out matt (great for my oily skin!) and I paid around 2€...SCORE!
4. lip balm
   

   

   Kiehl's lip balm

   
   

• If you know me, you'd know I'm super duper, over the top, totally ob-sessed with lip balms. I have tons of lip balms lying around in every room of the house. I cannot live without them...
• I like to slap on some of my Kiehl's lip balm #1, which I got with my Deauty box. Is it really that good as people claim it to be? I guess it's ok. Would I repurchase it? No. Why? Because it doesn't do miracles to my lips. Yes, it leaves it moisturized for the first hour I've put it on, but in the end I'm reaching for my other lip balms during the day anyway. I'm just trying to use it up.
• The biggest downside to this lip balm is probably that this does contain parabens. No thank you :)

Here it was, my daily make up routine!
Leave a comment if you liked this post and tell me what your essentials of the day are.

Have a wonderful day beauties!

Conceal them bad boys!

Hi everyone! I'm back with another blog post!

Today I'll be talking about concealer, and not just any concealer... No no, it's - without a doubt - THE cheapest drugstore concealers I've ever come across!
I'm talking about Essence's coverstick:

Essence's coverstick: 05 matt beige

I've barely paid 2EUR for this stick. You get 5g (0.17oz) and I must admit ... I've been using this cover stick for a few months and I'm sure I'll be using this for the coming 6 months. Uhu!

It's a beige concealer which gives light to medium coverage. It is definitely build-able and can be used to cover redness and/or blemishes. Although I mostly use concealer to cover up my redness around the nose (hormones..aaah!)

I must admit I'm quite impressed for the price I have to pay.

Yes, I do still prefer my Shu Uemura Pro Light concealer, but I can afford a gazillion of Essence coversticks instead of 1 Shu concealer.


Will I repurchase this? Yes!
Is it affordable? Hell yes!
Does it give any coverage? Yes, but don't count on it for covering your pimpliest of pimples :)

Overall: yes, I do recommend this especially for those newbies out there :)

My Essence...

Hi hi everyone!

Here's a new post on my last purchased concealer:

Essence: concealer in 05 Matt Beige

I've paid about 2€ for it and honestly, it's probably one of the better concealers I've used.
My favorite is still my Shu Uemura Pro Concealer which has been discontinues (boo!) but this one... damn!

It's a matte beige color and it's slightly lighter than my skin tone.
You have to twist up this cover stick. I know I should be using a a concealer brush to apply it, but I just put it directly on my blemish and blend it out with my finger...works like a charm!

I do have to admit that I have to apply it twice, opposed to my Shu Uemura which I only had to apply once. But hey, I can't complain for a little stick which is worth 2 euros :)

To repurchase? Hell yeah!

Favorites of the month: June 2012

Hi there! It's that time of the month again! No, I'm not talking about PMS, it's monthly favorites...YAAAAY!! So, let's jump right into it, shall we? :)

As some of you may know I bought a Clarisonic a while back, and I decided to try it out before I wanted to review it. Well...I tried and fell in love :)

Clarisonic - sensitive brush

I've been using it every other day, other days I may do a light scrub or just go over with it with some toner, about which I'll talk more in just a second. I've been using the Philosophy Purity Cleanser or the Bioré Acne Gentle Care - Oil control facial foam.

Philosophy Purity Cleanser

                                                                   





The Philosophy is a bit more drying to my skin, but since I do want to use up the entire bottle, I'll moisturize my skin immediately after towel drying my face.

Bioré Acne Gentle Care Oil Control Facial Foam

As Bioré's name says so, it's a foam. It's not as drying as the Purity cleanser. I definitely will be repurchasing this one as soon as I'm out of cleansers.









I use the brush for sensitive skin and I have to say, I finally understand what the fuss in the beauty world was about the Clarisonic! My skin has gotten a natural glow to it, without being oily and my impurities have significantly disappeared. I'm really loving it, parapapapa!

I've been using my Biotherm toner for a very long time, and I had to switch up toners because I think my skin got used to it. And since acne was popping up on occasions I couldn't afford to have them, I started using a Clinique' toner.

Clinique anti-blemish solutions toner

Most people use the 3 step skin care line, but since I'm not most people I just wanted to try out this clarifying lotion. If you look at the bottle you see there's a powder at the bottom, which is acne medication. You just shake up the bottle so the powder can disperse in the liquid and I just a put a little bit on a cotton ball and go over my face with it.

I always learned that it's better to use a serum before putting on your moisturizer. Well, since my skin has been so good to me, I wanted to pamper my skin as well. I tried the Estee Lauder Idealist Skin Refinisher serum.

Estee Lauder Idealist Skin Refinisher serum

After using this, I barely notice dry spots on my face. Take that combination skin!

Summer's up (yes, Belgium has summers as well!) and my skin gets quite dry during warm temperatures. *enters Garnier moisturising gel* :)

Garnier gel-cream

It's a very moisturizing gel-cream for the body for those with dry-sensitive skin. It says it contains L-Bifidus** (which is inspired on pro biotica in most yoghurts to keep your skin moisturized) and peach extract. It has a slights peach scent to it, but it's not an overpowering scent that will bother those who don't like scented goodies. I prefer gels to lotions because those just make my skin glows like I've put shimmer all over body. Gels just work better for me and I'm really loving this product.


I've been a huge fan of the Shu Uemura pro concealer for years, but since they're discontinued, I had to start looking for a replacer (not a dupe, because I'm afraid I'll never find something as good as my SU pro concealer).

Maybelline Pure Mineral Concealer: shade 1

I bought Maybelline Pure mineral concealer when I was back in Hong Kong, and I finally gave it a try. Since my skin has been approving, I need less concealer and the Maybelline covers up just fine actually. When I do need a little bit more coverage, I'll go back to my Shu Uemura, but Maybelline's liquid concealer is not doing a bad job at all.
Perhaps that this will be my go to concealer from now on. Maybe it's Maybelline?

A monthly favorite ain't a favorite without mentioning my nail polishes :)
I've really been digging my Essie Tart Deco.

Essie Tart Deco

It's a bright coral, slightly orangy, and I just love this baby! It's bright enough to give my outfits a pop of color, but it's not too bright that screams heeeeeeeeeeey, look at me! :D

Well beauties, this is it for this month. Stay tuned for more make up loving!

Review: Maybelline Pure Mineral concealer and Shu Uemura Point Cealer

As you already know I went to HK and I had a hard time controlling myself from buying everything in the Asian drugstores :) As promised I'd review some of the things, first up: liquid concealers!

I got myself a drugstore and a high end one, namely a Maybelline and a Shu Uemura one.

The Maybelline concealer comes in 2 shades: light and medium. The little tube contains 5.5ml and comes with a built-in brush.

After seeing some of the Youtubers using this I thought I'd give it a try. I think this is one of the better drugstore concealers out there. I think it's convenient because of its size,the coverage is good, it's cheap and I like the yellow undertone of it. It can look a little bit cakey if you apply too much product, so always start off with the tiniest amount you can get.

Maybelline Pure Mineral Concealer no1 light

Then we have our high end concealer: the Shu Uemura concealer which comes in 4 shades. It contains 2.8ml (half the Maybelline one!) and it's the kind you have to twist to let the product come out, so bye bye hygiene!

First of all I don't like the applicator, would have appreciated a brush type for the least. This twist kind of pen makes it difficult to control the amount you need, because it'll continue leaking out a little bit of product after you stopped twisting it. The remainder will dry on the applicator and get wasted, which is a bit of a shame if you pay that much for a concealer if you ask me.

On the other hand a little goes a long way, so I suggest you twist just a little bit at a time so you don't have to waste too much product. It reduces the discoloration on my face such as redness or dark circles, so it does the job a concealer has to do: exactly...conceal :) Oh, and have I mentioned that this product is TINY? Great for the travelers among us!

Shu Uemura Point Cealer 7YR-L light beige

Here's a swatch from both goodies:

left: Maybelline - right: Shu Uemura

Overall, I like them. I like the consistency and they're easy to blend. Don't use too much and you'll go a long way with both concealers. Best thing is to use a staying powder on the concealer, so it'll last much longer. I will definitely repurchase the Maybelline concealer again. Something I'm not sure I can say about the Shu Uemura one. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good concealer, I just really dislike the applicator. Change the applicator, and we have my HG concealer!