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 :)

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!

Review Canmake Stay-On Balm Rouge

I'm sure you've all heard of the Revlon lip butters :) Apparently the Koreans have found a dupe for these. I'm talking about Canmake Stay On Balm Rouge.

Canmake Stay On Balm Rouge

Before I get into the product, let's just enjoy the moment and look at the cute little tube of lip balm. Canmake is known for its cute packaging and I have to say that they didn't fail on that department this time. The simple flower background is a subtle way to make it look more appealing to customers. Sneaky marketeers, those Asians!

As the product itself, I have to say that I freak-ing love this lip balm!
Not only has it a good color pay off, but it moisturizes my lips as well. And I have to say that the color stays on for about 4 hours, which isn't bad at all! I had a meal with this lip balm and it didn't come off until I wipes my lips with a tissue. You don't feel like you have anything on, hence the lip balm, but this one is there to stay.

Another thing worth mentioning: SPF protection. This has a UV shield. It doesn't say how much, but just knowing it has one, makes it more easy for me to reach for this one than for a lip balm that doesn't have SPF protection at all.

The little tube is handy to throw in your purse for touch ups during the day. And frankly, it's one of mine cutest lip balms ever.

Here's a swatch of the balm:

I've swatched this twice on my hand so you could see that the color is actually buildable.
On the top I've swatched it only once, but on the bottom you'll see a deeper color because I went over it for about 4 times.
I don't have the balls to wear a bold lip, but these tinted lip balms are a great try out. They're not translucent but the color isn't as in-your-face as lipsticks.
You can easily wear it sheer during daytime, but when the lights go out...BAM, that's when you and your Canmake Stay On come in and make every head turn your way, haha!

I think it's a great lip balm. I've used the Revlon lip butter before, but you have to admit:
Asians rock at packaging. That little effort convinced me on sticking with Canmake lip balms.

What do you prefer: Revlon or Canmake?

Lippies

If there's one beauty thing I won't be able to live without, it would be lip balm.
Every single friend of mine knows I'm addicted to those lip sticks, and it's even better if they'd have a nice scent :)
Here's some of the lippies I bought or was gifted over the past few months:

Waterlip: Peppermint

First up are Lip Ices: I have them in Peppermint and Apple scent.
They last quite some time on the lips, are hydrating and the scent is lov-e-ly!

Lip Ice: Apple

Peppermint: The strong peppermint scent is quite strong, but very cooling on the lips.
They say mentholatum is used for severe chapped lips: smack some waterlip on and bye chapped dry skin!

Apple: This mentholatum lip ice has got an apple flavour (duh?!) and it contains SPF 15 to give some extra protection for the lips against harmful sunray.


Second up is a lip butter from Korres. I bought this because I head so many good reviews on it. I have it in the Pomegranate scent, and I ADORE this lip butter! It's hydrating, creamy yet not sticky.

Korres lip butter: Pomegranate

     

Besides the cute packaging, the lip butter's smoother than smooth. The tint is quite sheer, but smells sooooo good!
Definitely one of my favorites and planning on getting other scents :)






I received a Cherry Culture lip balm when I ordered at Cherry Culture, and I got this Watermelon lip treatment. It's an okay product. I probably won't be purchasing this on its own, but it's nice to have given this lip balm a try.

Cherry Culture lip balm: Watermelon

When I was in HK earlier this year I bought a Revlon lip butter in Creme Brulee. Unfortunately this color was far too light for my lips, so I decided to go for a darker color: Macaroon.

Revlon lip butter: Macaroon

It's like an old spiced rose color with gold sparkles in it.
I just love the creamy formula of these lip butters!

Swatch Revlon lip butter: Macaroon

After buying all these lip balms, I thought I'd be ready for the grown up version: lip sticks! Haha! I bought myself a coral lipstick by L'Oréal: the Caresse line. It's a bright coral color which is a freaking awesome color, but I just don't think it suits me. Back to lip balms I assume...

L'Oréal - 301 Dating Coral

As you can see here, you can choose how bold you want the color to be depending on how many times you go  over it.
     

Swatch L'Oréal: Dating Coral

In my Deauty box I got a Kiehl's lip balm...YAY!! I always wanted to try this, but I was just not able to spend that kind of money on one lip balm of which I wasn't quite sure whether I'd like it or not (thank you Deauty!). You probably guessed what I'm about to say: like like like! They're so hydrating and makes sure my chapped lips disappear like that! The thing is: I promised myself I'd use up all of my products before buying anything else. In spite of how much I like this, I noticed this does contain parabens (=chemicals used as preservatives in cosmetics). Will I be repurchasing this? Probably not, but can't help but loving this!

Kiehl's lip balm #1

Then my friend gifted me these 2 lip balms:

Yes, they're lip balms with cupcake and bacon flavour.
I must admit, my friend and I are both suckers for flavours, packaging and names, regardless of the quality :D

Are they the most hydrating lip balms? No.
Are they bad lip balms? No.
Will I purchase these myself? Probably not.

But I sure can scratch trying bacon lip balm off my to do list. Only in America folks! :)

Swatch NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss: Natural

After seeing so much hype on YT on this lip gloss, I
gave in and bought it. Unfortunately I was quite disappointed by these lip glosses. Yes, the color pay off was very good, but I dislike the sticky feeling of this gloss. A big miss for me...

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss: Natural

My friend gave me a very cute lip balm:

Oh yeah, it's actually called moustache lip balm (just in case you wouldn't be able to recognize the shape of it, haha!)

Once a sucker, always a sucker for packaging? Yeah baby!

 Moustache lip balm: raspberry

These last couple of months I started getting obsessed with tinted lip balms...

First up is the:

NYC Applelicious glossy lip balm:
Big Apple Red

NYC Applelicous glossy lip balm in Big Apple Red.

They're like a glossy lip balm with a hint of color. The lip balm is actually quite interesting: it's got a apple shape lip balm in the inside which contains shea butter, jojoba oil and avocado oil and the outside has the color. For the price I paid (2,59€), these are the bomB (yes, with a capital letter b at the end!).

And my last purchase is ...

... the HEMA lip balm stick.

Which brand?

If you're not living in Belgium or the Netherlands, you probably won't know this one, but it's a Dutch (from Holland) drugstore with cheap cosmetics.

Swatch HEMA lip balm: reddish plum

It's a tinted and moisturising lip balm. Best thing about this is you never need to sharpen this since it's a twistable lip balm.

I bet this concept sounds familiar?

Yup, it's clearly based on the Chubby Sticks by Clinique. (Another dupe are the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Stains)
Since these are quite cheap, I probably will be repurchasing these goodies!



So, these are the most recent lip products I added to my collection. I told you I'm addicted to lip stuff, right?
Anyways, if you have any recommendations on lippies, please let me know in the comment section down below 'cause I'd be more than happy to try them out! :)

Revlon Colorstay eye shadow palette

After I bought UD's Naked palette, I became obsessed with nude eye shadows. I was looking for a cheaper version, because let's admit... the Naked palette ain't a bargain! I bumped into Revlon Colorstay eye shadow palettes.

Revlon colorstay eye shadow palette: Addictive

I bought Addictive, it was the closest one to nude colors.

There are 4 colors: a light beige good for highlighting, a very light brown which is a good overall color, a taupe color with shimmer and a brown color, perfect for the crease or for eyeliner if you wet it just a little bit.

 Here are some swatches:

The colors don't show up very bright, but there's okay in real life. I'm not saying these have the best pigment, but for the little money I paid, they're doable :)

The staying on power is quite good, and I have oily... What am I saying? I have VERY oily lids! I did put on a MAC primer before putting the shadows on, but the powder didn't have any fall out, which is good enough for me.

Although I do think these are okay eye shadows, I probably won't be repurchasing them again.

HK haul

It's a luxury for a beauty blogger to get your hands on products which aren't available on the other side of the planet. I went to HK a while back, so I decided to make a haul for you guys!

FTP: Everything was purchased by me with my own money at Mannings, Sasa (http://www.sasa.com) and Colourmix (http://www.colourmix-cosmetics.com). All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.

These are the beauty goodies I got from HK:

As you can see I went a little bit crazy in the HK drugstores :)

• Maybelline clear smooth BB silk shine free two way cake powder
• Maybelline baby lips lip balms
• Revlon lip butter
• Maybelline pure mineral concealer
• Shu Uemura concealer
• Aquamoist hyaluronic acid essence
• Aquamoist moisture washing foam
• Maybelline lasting shine gel eyeshadow
• Chanel long-lasting eyeliner
• Dolly wink liquid eyeliner
• Dolly wink eyepencil
• K-Palette real lasting liquid eyeliner
• Essential ultra honey & shea butter hair mask
• Sasatinnie pore cleansing brush
• Eos hand lotion
• Eos lip balms
• Shu Uemura eyelash curler
• Biotherm Aquasource gel
• Sasatinnie nail polishes
• Canmake blush
• Déjàvu Lash Knockout mascara
• Déjàvu Fiberwig mascara
• Fairy Drops Scandal Queen mascara
• Kiss Me Heroine mascara

Some of these products are new to me as well. I'll review them and keep you beauties posted!