NOTW: Showgirl

To get in the holiday's spirit, I decided to slap on some sparkly red on the nails. A look that you can never go wrong with!

Ciaté - Showgirl

In the picture above I'm wearing Showgirl from Ciaté's Passionista collection.
This is a reddish pink polish with pink and purple micro glitters all over it. If there's one polish I own that screams Christmas it's definitely this one. 

The formula from Ciaté's polishes apply like jelly. I happen to like it, or let me put it this way: I can work with them. Some people I know love Ciaté's colors but dislike the formula.

I've applied 2 coats of Showgirl to make it look flawless, but most Ciaté's need 2 coats in my opinion.

And let us just take a moment of silence to admire the cuteness of the bottle :)
It looks gorgeous, fancy, expensive and cute thanks to the little bow they've put on the front of the polish.

Unfortunately Ciaté isn't easy accessible for those nail polish lovers out there who live in Belgium unless you order them online. I bought mine in a drugstore in the Netherlands.

Next time I'm trying a Ciaté, I'm picking a cream color. I have 2 glitter polishes by this brand and I was wondering whether 1 creamy color will do the job or not.

If you have a cream color by Ciaté, let me know in the comment bar below :) Is t worth the money?

Products I've used up November '13

The end of the year is nearing and so it is for the products I've been using vigorously.
In this blog post I'll take you through the products I've emptied or are about to empty :)

Since I've bought so many moisturizers for the face, I just had to use some up before I allow myself to go all crazy over moisturizers. This Shiseido Pureness mattifying moisturizer is oil free and has kept me semi matte. After a few hours the oils in my face have come out, but I do need a pretty hardcore mattifying product to keep my oils at bay. For that, I'm glad to have used, but I'm also very glad that this is used up. Now I have another excuse to be on the look out for a new moisturizer, haha!


Second item up is my lip scrub by Lush. I got the Gourmandise flavor, which is a chocolate scented one. I know you can easily make your own lip scrub, but I like to go all fancy and buy one with the nice scent to it.

 

Lush lip scrub: Gourmandise

 

 

 

If you've seen my NOTW's passing by, you probably wouldn't be surprised I used up base coat and a top coat. I've been using the Quick Dry Base Coat by Revlon for my nails and a Sally Hansen Insta Dri Top Coat. I have to admit that they're both not entirely empty. You know how most polishes can dry up when you're nearing the end and they start get al guppy. Yeah, that's what happened with my base and top coat. 

Being a lip balm hoarder it is very likely for me to actually finish a lip balm. But if it happens, it must be because I really like the balm. I've had this lip balm for almost 2 years, but meanwhile I've cheated on this Baby Lips with other lip balms. During October and November I rediscovered this lip balm because my lips were chapper than chapped, haha! This Baby Lips is the Asian version, has a sweet cherry scent to it but doesn't have any color pigmentation. Baby Lips, you've won over my heart!

Maybelline Baby Lips
 

These were the empties for this month! I'm sure there are still a lot of empties blog posts to come, because I have a lot (and I mean A LOT) of products laying around waiting for me to use up. Stay tuned for more empties posts :)

NOTW: Dark Navy

As the title already explained itself, I'm going dark navy on the nails this week!

I bought this polish about a year ago and never got the chance to apply it. This week I decided it was time to experiment :)

I've never been a huge fan of blue nails on myself, because I happen to LOVE the color on other people. I just don't think it suits me. What do you think?

ELF - Dark Navy

This Dark Navy is a gorgeous ... you guessed it, a dark navy, haha! Actually it looks like a black but with a blue sheen over it. Pretty darn beautiful, I must say!

1 single coat does the job and I love the formula of ELF' polishes. They apply easily and the formula isn't too thick but not too thin either. The brush is just the right size. I go over my nails 2 times: left, right, and I'm done! 2 coats will do the job and the color stays for a good 5 to 6 days, which I don't mind, because on day 7 I'm changing my mani anyway.

If you haven't heard of ELF before, it stands for Eyes Lips Face. It's an online site that provides cheap make up. From eye shadow 'till nail polished. They pretty much have it all in their online shop for a very affordable price.

One of my favorite polishes happens to be by the brand ELF. Says enough on how you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Drugstore items can rock your worlds as well! :)

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?

Thailand haul

Hi everyone! I just got back from Thailand abut a week ago and I have done a little bit of shopping in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. I thought I'd share my beauty haul with you all, so let's go :)

Beauty haul

I wasn't quite sure which drugstores I'd ran into in Thailand, but seems like Boots is very popular there, so I just had to explore the store!

First thing I ran into were these blotting sheets. I've been using the Clean&Clear blotting sheets for years now, but I'm always on the look out for cheaper versions. These are the Aiko and the Gatsby blotting sheets.
I've heard the Gatsby are just as good as the C&C ones, so we'll see whether they can match the more expensives ones. The Aiko I just got because they were cheap :D

Gatby & Aiko blotting sheets

Next up are the cleansing strips by Biore. If you haven't heard of them yet, they're black nose strips which you stick to your nose to get rid of the blackheads on the nose. I think they're one of the better nose strips on the market for now.

Biore nose strips

You all know by now that I'm a lip junkie, so I jut had to check out their lippies. I ran into a Baby Lips Belgium hasn't released, which is the mango pie fragrance.

Maybelline Baby Lips. mango pie

Right next to it was the Maybelline Color Bloom lip balm, and since I've never heard about that I just had to grab it as well to give it a try.

Maybelline Color Bloom

Honestly I don't wear much blush, but everytime I see a pretty color on the shelves, I just can't restrain myself and I have to have it. This powder blush is a matte peachy color.

Revlon blush: Perfectly Peach

I got really excited when I saw this lying on the shelves: the Soap&Glory Hand Food. I've heard so many good things about this hand cream. There's a very sweet scent to it and reminds me of Dior's perfume.

Soap&Glory: Hand Food

My last item I got at Boots is the Cetaphil moisturiser. It's supposed to be a lightweight moisturiser with SPF. And after hearing so many people rave about this product, I just had to give this a go as well.

Cetaphil moisturizer

My next stop to do beauty shopping was 7/11. It's a little supermarket that sells pretty much everything: from food to beauty, they have it all.

I used products by the brand Ponds before and although I'm not their biggest fan, I really wanted to try out some of their facial products.
The pure white was very gentle on the skin and I quite liked it.

Pond's Pure White Deep Cleansing Brightening Facial Foam

Because I liked the product mentioned above, I wanted to get myself another Pond's product. Since I like mattifying products, I couldn't keep my eyes off of this facial foam, because of the words mineral clay. I used to experiment with clay before, but the results didn't turn out as I wanted them to be. We'll see what this can do to my face.

Pond's Oil Control Skin Mattifying Facial Foam

As I had a day off (no activities planned) I decided to had a pamper session and do my nails. I went and got a polish remover by the brand Joy Us. I can't ay it's the best polish remover ever. but it did the job...after a while :)

Joy Us nail polish remover

As I was in a hot country, I bought a deodorant. It's funny to see that the deodorants we have in Europe are the same in Asia, only Asians added the words 'extra whitening' to their products. Yes. Asians still like to be as pale as ever. It's all about their status after all...

Nivea Extra Whitening Anti-Perspirant

After hearing so any raving about this product, I just couldn't be left behind. This is a daily scrub to remove blackheads. It's a white creamy texture with yellow micro beeds in it.

Neutrogena Deep Clean Blackhead Eliminating Daily Scrub

On my last day I found out I had some 7/11 stamps left. 1 stamp equals 1 Baht, and since I had 31 stamps left over, I decided to use them up before leaving Thailand. I got 2 Clean&Clear miniature sizes of their Essentials line.

Clean&Clear Esentials: Foaming Facial Wash - Oil Control Toner

I also got a polish by Revlon, which I got at a very big drugstore. I don't really remembered the name, but most big brands were very cheap. Frankly, I don't have high hope for this polish but we'll see.

Revlon Nail Enamel: 220 Provoke

If you had noticed, I only bought products which are all or Western or Eastern, everything except Thai. Well, I accidentally bumped into Oriental Princess. This is a little boutique which has only beauty items that is as Thai as can be. I've heard about this store, and as it is affordable, it's not super cheap as in most drugstores. I got the Acnemise, an oil free moisturising gel.

Oriental Princes: Acnemise

On my last day we had some time to spare at the airport. Amd what do you do to kill time at an airport? That's right, you go duty free shopping :)

The first thing I picked up was an eyeliner by NARS. I've heard so many good things about this, and since my eyes are quite tricky to please, I splurged on a high end eyeliner to check whether it's worth the hype.

NARS Larger Than Life Long Wear Eyeline: Via Veneto

Second thing I got is another eyeliner, but this time it's a cheaper alternative. This should supposedly stay on for 16 hours, so I just had to put this one up to the test.

Revlon ColorStay Eyeliner: Charcoal

When I was already planning on leaving for my gate, I saw this in the corner of my eye and I was sold immediately. This is a travel exclusive little box containing 5 Baby Lips (jumping up and down).

Maybelline Baby Lips

And last but not least, I knew I would make a loss should I change my Bahts back into Euro's, so (and this may sound dumb), but I tried to use up all of my Thai money. When I saw this on the shelf, I've been hesitating to get it but I decided to pamper myself :) This is the V&R set: perfume, body lotion and shower gel. Although it's not much cheaper as in stores, unfortunately most stores are out of this set. (Yes, i was a valid excuse for me to get it)

Victor&Rolf Flowerbomb

This was my Thailand haul. I was hoping I would get much more, but I'm quite pleased with the end results after all. If you want me to do a review on any of these products, let me know in the comment bar below :) Lah gorn!

NOTW: Devotee

This is my very first Illamasqua polish and it was gifted to me.

Illamasqua - Devotee

Before I start rambling about this polish, my friend was inspired by the books 50 Shades of Grey to buy me this polish. And since I was totally into pink those months, this polishwas right up my alley... I thought!

It's a neon matte pink that's very in-your-face and would make a great color to put on during summer. It reminds me of a Barbie pink, which is just a bit too pink for my liking. 
In spite of nearing the coldest months of the year, this fun color can brighten up everyoutfit.


The formula is like a gel, which makes it look like you have fake nails on. That's how good it looks on your nails! When you apply this on your nails you'll understand why they call it the Rubber Finish Nail Varnish.
The matte finish is something that makes this polish special. Although I'm not a huge matte fan, it did muted the color a bit down.

I didn't expect to apply so many coats, but I had to use 3 coats to make it picture perfect.

As the brush, it's a standard size brush. I think it's somewhat too small, I prefer a little bit bigger brushes, but that's just my preference.

Devotee has opened the Illamasqua world to me, but I don't think I'll be trying out other polishes from this brand.

Review Murad Oil control mattifier

Well hello there, hope everyone is doing well today out there :)

In this blog post I'll be talking about a mattifier, yes... I got another one for try out.

When I buy any beauty item I make sure I do my research on the product: how did other people think of it, can I get it any cheaper elsewhere, will it work for me? All sorts of questions to make sure whether the product will do me good and to see whether it's worth investing my money.
Unfortunately I have had my bad purchases after doing sufficient research, but I got to add great products to my collection as well.

Talked about great products, let's have a chat about the Murad Oil control mattifier. Boys and girls, I LOVE this!!

Anyone who has oily skin out there, not just a little glow on the skin that others call a healthy glow. No no, I get so oily that I can often use 2 blotting sheets. People can make money of my face because it looks like oils are about to burst out any minute. Anyway, you get the point :)

Please do note that this best not for those with dry to normal skin as this can emphasize the dry patches on the face. 

You get 50ml in a tube. And this tube must look like one of the cheapest packagings I own. It's a white plastics tub with some black and blue writing on it.
I do pay attention to packaging, but since this product is so darn good, I don't really care about it. Hey, didn't they tell us not to judge a book by its cover? :)

Once you squeeze a bit out, it comes out quite creamy. Do bare in mind that you only need about half a pea size amount! So I'm hoping that this will last me for a while.
I apply some on my forehead, both cheeks, nose, chin and the remainder I apply next to my nose on my T zone where I get the oiliest the most.

Basically it's a moisturizer with SPF 15 that will reduce shine, read: reduce. This will not suck up the oils out of your face, but it will control the oils for up to 8 hours.

This has done 3 things to my skin:

• oil control
• UV sun protection
• matte finish

After about 6 hours, I checked whether I had to blot, but surprisingly enough I had a subtle sheen on my nose, which people like to call that healthy glow.
And as long as other people's faces don't reflect in the oils of my face, I don't feel the need to blot, haha!

I got mine at FeelUnique for 37€, that's about 49$. You say WHAAAATTT?!? And yes, I have to admit, this is expensive as hell. I'm the kind of girl who almost never invests in high end products, so I thought I could get myself this one. (This might not be a super famous brand, but keep in mind that high end brands such as Chanel, YSL, Dior, ... sometimes just don't work for others)

In spite of the price, I think this product has reached my top items in my beauty collection. I know it's not cheap, but it has be the only product that I have tried that will actually keep me matte throughout the day.

I will be repurchasing this, but I will use this mattifier very sparingly as money doesn't grow on my back :p

Have you tried this? If so, please share your view on it! :)

Battle of the red tinted lip balms

Hi girls!
Remember my blog post on 'battle of the eyeliners'? If you haven't seen it yet, give it a reed here :) Well, since I've bought a gazillion tinted lip balms the past couple of months, I thought I'd do a comparison of all the red tinted lip balms I have.

I have 7 contestants who are ready to take on each other. Are y'all ready? GO!
Here's the overview of the lip balms. They're swatched according to the separate reviews down below. Just in case, here's the list with all the brand names:

On the left you'll see the original swatches and on the right they were all put to the test whether they'll last after swiping it away with saliva.

 

 

 

 

* NYC

* HEMA

* Korres

* Bourjois

* Maybelline

* Essence

* Canmake

 

 

 



 

Let's see how they perform: 

I didn't pay a lot for this lip balm, but I can tell you that you're definitely getting your money's worth. The color pay off is quite stunning and has a very sweet scent to it. The packaging is okay, it's clear that this is meant for teenage girls who like cute stuff. When it was it put up to the saliva test this was actually the only lip balm that didn't even smear a little bit. Next to the packaging and the pigmentation, it doesn't dry out the lips after wearing off. Yes, it wears off, after a 4 hours and after having a meal. Nonetheless, for a drugstore lip balm, this is not bad at all. 7,5/10


NYC Applelicious: Big Apple Red

HEMA is a Dutch drugstore and I've seen this lying on the shelves. I thought it was interesting in how the drugstore's version would work. This is a the crayon type of lip balm and I really like these types. It makes the application just that tad more fun. These are not as hydrating as I want them to be, but they'll be okay if you apply a clear lip balm underneath. They do have a some what vanilla scent to them. Unfortunately they do wear off after an hour or so, so don't expect to last for the entire night. Very affordable but worthy a 5/10

HEMA: red

Yes, I already admitted I'm a lip junkie. And no lip balm collection would be complete without ONE high end one. I splurged on a Korres lip balm because I heard such good things on it.
I used to love those little pots where you had to dig in with your finger to get product out. Until I learned about hygiene in the beauty department and I switched to stick forms very quickly. But that doesn't take away my love for those little pots. If the product is good, I'll try it. And man oh man, am I glad I purchased this. This is hydrating, lasts long and gives a great color pay off. They have a slight scent to them, but nothing too much. If only these came out in a stick form. You're probably going to say: Lily, you're not kept up to date well? They do exist. I know! BUT, they don't have the same formula :( They're simply not as good as the pot versions. If this would have some UV protection, this would have been my HG. A well deserved 9/10

Korres lip butter: Pomegranate

You know I love me some drugstore goodies. When the crayons by Bourjois came out, I had no clue how they performed. I got myself one and ended up buying 2 more. That says it all, right? I love the color pay off, they're very well pigmented but they're not lipstick va va voom. They have SPF, wear long on me, has a subtle sweet scent and are surprisingly very hydrating. You see in the saliva test that the Bourjois lip balm actually stained the back of my hand a little bit more than the others. Hands down, my favorite product by Bourjois this year. 9,5/10

 

Bourjois Color Boost: Red Sunrise

For all those Baby Lips fans out there, I got your back! They finally came to Europe and we've waited a long time for them! I do own some Asian Baby Lips as well, but they don't carry the pigmented versions...boo! Luckily Belgium got the opportunity to dispatch them as well and I'm sure a lot of European lips are smiling their teeth off :) These Baby Lips are worth the hype: hydrating, longwearing, good color pay off and are strongly sweet scented. The only thing I wish I could check off as well is a UV-protection. They're very affordable and I have these lying around my bed just in case my lips decide to chap. Good stuff! 9/10

Maybelline Baby Lips: Cherry Me

One of the most affordable lip balms I own are the ones by Essence. But don't judge a book by its cover! This lip balm makes sure your lips stay hydrated with the desired color on them.  No SPF and slightly sweet scented, but worth a 8,5/10

Essence Glow Tinted Lip Balm: 01 Light Up!

And last but not least, the Stay On Balm Rouge by Canmake. This moisturizing lip balm gives your lips the most natural red you have seen. I love color, but I still prefer natural looks over over-the-top looks. This lip balm has a great color pigmentation. As longevity, this actually stayed on my lips after eating. It wasn't until I wiped my lips that the color came off. And another plus? This actually has an SPF protection. So no worries, Canmake to the rescue! 9,5/10

Canmake Stay-On Balm Rouge

Drugstore or not, they're all quite good. For those who want to step out of their clear box but are afraid of bold lipsticks, try the tinted lip balms. I like how you can build up the color by applying a light coat or you can go over it 3 to 4 times to make it pop.

Top 3:

3. Korres lip butter
2. Bourjois Color Boost
1. Canmake Stay On Balm Rouge

And Canmake has won the battle! I know I gave both Canmake and Bourjois the same points, but the winner beat at the packaging department. This Korean brand is known for its cute packaging. Bourjois is stepping up their game with their latest beauty goodies, so hopefully they'll keep up the good work. And Korres can join the top 3. This lip butter goes on smoothly, but for hygienic reasons it didn't take the crown.

Hope you all enjoyed this article! But do tell me, what's your favorite tinted lip balm? :)