Category: Makeup

Diorblush – 873 Cherry Glory (Spring 2015 Collection)

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The gorgeous Dior Kingdom of Colors Spring 2015 collection is in stores right now. I went to check it out on a local store and immediately fell in love with the Cherry Glory powder blush. I just had to have it right at that moment.

 

 

This is such a stunning blush! Amazingly vibrant coral shade and SO pigmented. You only need to apply a very small amount to bring an amazing glow to your cheeks. Perfect for spring and will work on tanned skin too. This is the kind of shade that works perfectly for a lot of different skin tones.

This will be seen on my makeup looks a lot in a future. My new favorite blush ♥

I also love the fact that this is matte. No fine shimmer fallout all over your face. Just a healthy, natural glow. I have very few matte blushes so this was definitely a welcome addition to my collection.

 

***Cherry Glory was purchased by me. 

FOTD and testing Rimmel Lasting Finish 25H Foundation with Comfort Serum

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Here’s my yesterday’s FOTD and first test of new Rimmel Lasting Finish 25H Foundation with Comfort Serum.

This was my first time using Rimmel Lasting Finish 25H Foundation with Comfort Serum and I was so impressed! This made my skin look absolutely flawless. I already said this on my personal FB page and I say it here too. This foundation works so much better for me than the expensive Dior Star I bought a while ago. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the Dior one but after trying this I don’t see myself reaching for that bottle for a while. That’s how good this first test try was! After 8 hours my makeup was still almost perfect. I will have a better and more detailed review coming up after I use this a few more times.

Then to the makeup look. I’ve been drooling over the new Clarins Garden Escape Spring 2015 collection and especially the eye shadow palette so I decided to do a fresh looking green-ish makeup look. I went for some of my old and beloved Dior products plus the brand new Dior blush I just bought. I like how this turned out but it didn’t cure my Garden Escape fever. Those green shades are just too pretty *sigh*

Looking at the photos I also really could have used a matte lipstick instead of just gloss. I have a huge shortage of matte lipsticks so I think I need to throw some money into those too.

 

 

When my skin looks this smooth in a close-up photo you better
believe me when I say it looked almost photoshopped in real life ;)

Face 

Rimmel Lasting Finish 25H Foundation with Comfort Serum – 102 Light Nude
Dior Skinflash Radiance Booster Pen – 002
Sensai Loose Powder (translucent)
Paese  – Kashmir
Dior Flower Blossom Illuminating Powder
Dior Blush – 873 Cherry Glory (Kingdom Of Colors Spring 2015)

 

Brows

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade – Medium brown

 

Eyes

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
Dior 5 Couleurs – 409 Tropical Light
Maybelline Lash Sensational

 

Lips

IsaDora Twist-Up Gloss Stick – 11 Poppy Peony

 
***Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation was sent for review, everything else was purchased by me.

LivBox – February

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This is LivBox, a monthly cosmetics subscription box that is only available in Finland. I’m writing about this cos even if the box itself is only available here in Finland it usually has products in it that are internationally available.

I tried this box for three months last year and wasn’t too impressed. Now I decided to give it another try for a few months and this time I quite liked this first box I got. Most interesting products for me were the new Lumene Nude Perfection Fluid Foundation and Nivea 3-in-1 Micellar Cleansing Water.

 

A quick testing of the new Lumene foundation gave me a very positive first impression and I’ll have a review up for this after using it a few more times. I’ve been hearing good things about micellar waters but never actually remember to buy any when I’m out shopping so it was perfect to find one from this box.

I also haven’t tried In-Shower body lotions so I’m excited to try the Eucerin one. I’m pretty bad when it comes to body lotions after shower cos I usually don’t have time to wait for them to absorb. So this might be perfect for me.

I don’t really have an opinion about the Fructis Densify Lengths Plumper leave in conditioner for hair yet. I’ll give it a try and let you know what I thought of it later on.

Paese eyeshadow in Kashmir was a little meh, but it might be a good color for contouring or brows so maybe I’ll get some use out of this one too. If not I’ll just give it to my mother. She likes these kind of matte shades.

There was also a necklace as a Valentines Day surprise.

All in all this was a good one for me and now I’m really looking forward to testing these products and receiving another box next month :)

Reminding myself that age is just a number…

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Lately I’ve caught myself thinking that “Ohh, that’s pretty! If only I was ten years younger!” on more than one occasion. I’ve felt that I’m starting to be too old for certain things like crazy colored hair or really bright eye shadows. Now it’s time to break out of that box I’ve locked myself into. I’m 38 years old and I’m not too old! Age really is just a number!

I keep buying beautiful, colorful makeup only to leave it sitting on my makeup drawer while I reach for another Naked palette once again. There’s nothing wrong with nude makeup, it’s quick and easy and can’t really go wrong … or can it?

I have noticed that yes, it actually can.

Let me explain.

During summer nude makeup looks fresh, beautiful and glowing. During winter, not so much. I’ve noticed it makes me look dull, lifeless and older *gasp* Winter and spring require color and a good amount of it too. The other day I was testing lipsticks just for the hell of it. Brown-ish red lipstick made me look 5 years older, I swear! (that color looks great on some people, I’m obviously not one of them). Nude colors made my already small mouth disappear completely. Then I tried on bright pink and it instantly lit up my whole face. I had no other makeup on and the difference just the lipstick made was significant.

So the next step was to go for something other than a nude eye shadow palette. I chose Sugarpill Cold Chemistry cos the colors are perfect for winter. I’ve owned this palette for over a year now and I’ve only used the white Diamond Eyes shade. Shame on me!!

This is what I mean though. I have gorgeous, good quality eye shadow palettes and I show them no love. Instead of looking radiant during the winter I decided to look beige most of the time. When and how did this happen? I don’t know but it changes now.

 

 

I think this blog is going to take a new direction from here on…

“Almost forty is the new thirty!”  :D

I’m not old!
I can do whatever I want!
Self-made rules are meant to be bent and broken!

Yes, I’m having some sort of age crisis and I’ll fight it publicly, with color! LOL

Eye makeup was done with Sugarpill Cold Chemistry. Lips have Illamasqua Eurydice and MAC Fleshpot in sort of a gradient application. I have a lot of nude lipcolors so this is a perfect way to still use them :)

***All products used for this makeup look were purchased by me.  I don’t benefit from clicking the link on this post.

Anastasia Beverly Hills = LOVE!

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I have recently discovered Anastasia Beverly Hills brow products and I’m in love. Of course I knew the brand was out there but I never tried their products until now. I have quite thin and sparse eyebrows and they don’t match when it comes to shape. For the longest time now I have just used a brow pencil and accepted the fact that my brows are what they are. Now Anastasia Beverly Hills has opened my eyes to a whole new world and I have actually found some products that work perfectly for me.

I saw a ton of makeup photos with perfect looking brows. I saw hashtags like #anastasiabeverlyhills and #anastasiadipbrow. Then I started watching video tutorials on how these ladies do their brows and to my surprise some of them had eye brows similar to mine. They worked their magic with the right products and all of the sudden their brows looked perfect. So I figured I had to get me some of these products I saw them using. I wondered in to BeautyBay.com and did some shopping.

 

 

 

I started with Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in medium brown. I love this packaging! It’s beautiful to look at and it has a feeling of quality to it. This comes in a small glass jar and that 4 grams will take you a long way. I’m also considering getting this in taupe too.

Dipbrow is waterproof, creamy product that is very easy to use as long as you remember that less is more when it comes to this. I find it easiest to apply this using an angled synthetic brush. This is highly pigmented and with a little practice it’s easy to control how dark or light your brows will look like. Dipbrow stays on my brows very well all day long and is still easy to remove with Philosophy Purity 3 in 1 Cleanser I love to use.

 

 

So after getting a taste of what Dipbrow could do for me I just had to go in deeper. Next I got Anastasia Brow Wiz in medium brown and a Highlighting Duo Pencil Matte Shell & Lace Shimmer. I’m still figuring out how to best use these but by far they are also working great. Now I just need to perfect my skills when it comes to using these new lovelies.

Now I find myself wanting more and more and next I’m planning on getting Anastasia brow gel and at least one of their brushes, maybe those tiny scissors too. I’ve become obsessed with eyebrows and it seems like I can’t get enough of this brand. Go figure! I got along just fine with a single brow pencil for years and now I’m going off the deep end :D I guess this is a situation every cosmetics addict has some experience of…

 

On the Highlighting Duo Pencil swatch I applied both colors generously.

And oh yes, there was one more thing I just had to get cos who doesn’t need a very pretty makeup pencil sharpener ;) This is a 3 in 1 sharpener and the right side works for medium size pencils with the insert in place and when you remove it you can also use this for larger makeup pencils.

 

 

Now I’m going to practice doing my brows and I’ll be back with another post and more detailed reviews of each product.

 

 
***All products were purchased by me.

Lookfantastic Beauty Box – December

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I just received my first LF Beauty Box yesterday and here’s what I found inside

 

This was my first Lookfantastic Beauty Box and I was quite pleased with what it had to offer. I’m really bad when it comes to skincare so it’s great for me to get new products to test and use like this.
I really needed an oil for my face so the Ole Henriksen Pure Truth Youth Activating Oil was just perfect. It has a strong citrus scent to it and I’m allergic to citrus. So I applied a small amount of this on my face last night and no reaction. I’m gonna start using this and I’ll keep you updated if I was able to continue even if I’m allergic.
The Macadamia Oil comb might not be good for my thin hair as it might make my hair look oily. I will definitely give it a try though. If the comb doesn’t work for me it will be perfect for my daughter who has thick, down to her hips long hair that is always a mess after a day of being an active, almost 5 year old kid.
I’ve heard good things about the Murad Cleanser so I’m also very excited to try that. The makeup in the box is also interesting to me and well, there’s no such thing as too much makeup so keep ’em coming :D

The only thing I wasn’t excited about was the Gold Collagen food supplement. I don’t see the point of testing something you need to use for weeks to see the result and only having one day worth of the product. I guess you can find out how it tastes and if your stomach can stand it but I would’ve rather had something else instead of this.

All in all, the box was a positive experience and I’m excited to try most of these products :) Now I have to seriously consider getting January’s box :D

***Lookfantastic Beauty Box was purchased by me.  I don’t benefit from clicking the link on this post.

Matching Nails & Makeup – Cadillacquer The Rest Is Silence

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I recently placed my first Cadillacquer order and here’s the first one of the two polishes I bought, The Rest Is Silence from the Sons of Anarchy Collection. I know I just did a “Matching Nails & Makeup” post but the opportunity to use turquoise on my makeup was too good to pass so here goes another makeup post :D

The Rest Is Silence is a GORGEOUS light turquoise polish with a subtle holo effect and pink shimmer. I can’t even… this polish is so so stunning!

Formula was excellent. Two easy coats for an opaque result. Dry time was normal and removal was easy. No staining the nails and no chipping during the three days I wore this manicure. This Cadillacquer beauty lived up to it’s good reputation and my first experience with this brand was a really positive one.

For this manicure I used a coat of Sally Hansen Nail Rehab and a coat of Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu!, two coats of The Rest Is Silence and HK Girl top coat. For the ring finger nails I placed some studs (no longer available or at least I couldn’t find a link for you. I bought those sometime last year), waterdrops and rhinestones. All of them are from Born Pretty Store and you can use the code NZL91 for -10% off your order.

 

 

Yep, I told you, stunning polish!
And then on to the makeup look. I didn’t want to go all crazy with the turquoise so I decided to just use it on my lower lid and leave the upper lid neutral with big lashes.
For this look I used:
Upper lid
UDPP for a base
Urban Decay Burnout, Buzz and Strange (Naked 3 palette)
False eyelashes
Lower lid
GOSH Waterproof Eye Liner Pencil in Cool Mint
Urban Decay Deep End (Fun palette)
Sugarpill Loose Eyeshadow in Lumi
I really liked how this looked. Neutral enough for every day use but still had enough color to make it look fun and fresh :) This is a very quick and easy look to create and you can use pretty much any color on your lower lid as long as it looks good on you.
***The Rest Is Silence and makeup products used on this post were purchased by me. Studs were purchased by me. Waterdrops and rhinestones were gifted to me. I don’t benefit from clicking any of the links on this post.

Matching Nails & Makeup – Delush Polish Time To Kill

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Today I’m trying something that is new to my blog. I take a polish/manicure and match my makeup with it to show you guys. Most of these looks are meant to be your average every day look. Something I can wear when I walk out the door to go shopping or just go to a grocery store. I like to play with colors too so there is going to be everything from nude makeup to a smokey eye. Needless to say, I have a lot of makeup and nail polish to match so I shouldn’t run out of material anytime soon :D It’s just a matter of having the time to do my makeup and take photos too. So when ever I have time to do this, you’ll see the results.

So my choice for today’s makeup look was based on Delush Polish Time To Kill from the Slice Of Life Collection. This is a stunning plum jelly that can be worn on it’s own or over a base color. The formula is flawless. It applies nice and thin. Glitters spread evenly without having to place or dab them on. Dry time is also pretty fast. It’s just perfect!

For this manicure I used a coat of Sally Hansen Nail Rehab treatment, a coat of Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu! base coat, a coat of Essie Sugar Daddy, two coats of Time To Kill and HK Girl top coat. I also added a matte top coat (This matte top coat is from Born Pretty Store and I’ll have a review coming up for it later on. You can use the code NZL91 for -10% off your order).

 

 

Gorgeous! Right?

So it was easy to create a makeup look for this manicure. I used purple, plum and gold eyeshadows this time but orange would also go great with this if you want a bolder, more colorful look that really makes blue eye color pop. For the eye makeup I used Sleek Make Up Vintage Romance palette. I really like this  palette. The colors are perfect for fall and it’s also good quality for an affordable price. I really need to get more of these :)

 

For this look I used gold Meet in Madrid and the three purple shades from the left side of the bottom row. These look quite shiny on the lid so I tried not to blend the shadows too high up. I have a lot of area to cover on my lids and if I’m not careful the makeup can end up making me look like a clown.I added false lashes cos the last pregnancy totally messed up my lashes and I have like half of them left and they are much shorter than usual. Hopefully they’ll return to normal soon enough. Till then I’ll be faking it ;)
 This look is pretty subtle and natural with a hint of color on the eyes. Good every day look that could  easily be turned into a darker nighttime look by adding dark eyeliner and creamy eyeshadow as a base to make the eyeshadows more visible.

I hope you liked this post and the idea of matching nails with makeup. I really enjoyed doing a makeup post. It’s been so long since the last one. This was fun for me at least :D

 

***Time To Kill was sent for review. Matte top coat was gifted to me. All the makeup products were purchased by me. I don’t benefit from clicking any of the links on this post.

Overall Beauty Minerals Eye Shadows

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A while back lovely Kim from Overall Beauty sent me some of her mineral eye shadows to test. Today I’ll show you swatches of these pretties and later on there will be more detailed reviews and makeup photos using these products. These are loose eye shadows and they come in a 5 g sifter jar. You can also purchase samples.

I’m very happy with the quality of these eye shadows. They are smooth, shimmery and very pretty on their own and eye shadow primer brings out a whole new side of these.

Camelot is a perfect natural day eye shadow. It’s shimmery peachy pink on it’s own and it has a blue flash. With a primer the blue flash is more visible. I actually like to wear that one without a primer cos it’s almost nude looking but makes my eyes look brighter. It just wipes that tired “My kiddos kept me up all night again” look off my face ;)

Up All Night is a super pretty lilac but it’s also very glittery so you will want to wear this by tapping it over a primer or a creamy eye shadow. I prefer to apply eye shadows like these by tapping them on instead of brushing them. That way all the glitter sticks to the base and there is minimal fallout of glitter on your cheekbones.

Last I have to mention Last Exit. This one makes me go “Ohh!” every time I look at it. It’s is totally unique in my collection and it’s just gorgeous. Last Exit is medium grey with amazing pink shimmer. I’ll show you swatches of this over different bases in a near future.

 

 

So here are the swatches of these pretties and keep your eyes peeled for more detailed reviews in the future. Overall Beauty Minerals can be purchased from their store (worldwide shipping) along with other cosmetics and several nail polish brands. You can follow Overall Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram.

 

 

***These eye shadows were sent for review. I don’t benefit from clicking any of the links on this post.

Illamasqua Lipstick – Eurydice

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Naturally I had to test the new camera with some makeup too. I chose lipstick cos that is easy enough to photograph. The photo is far from good enough but you can see the shade well so I’ll let it go this time ;)

This is Illamasqua Eurydice, a matt finish bright pink/fuchsia lipstick. This is quite dry but still applies well. My lips weren’t moisturized enough for this and you can see some dry spots. So using a good lip scrub and a moisturizer is a must with this one (like with most matte lipsticks). This wears well and doesn’t feel too dry on my lips. I have two Illamasqua matt finish lipsticks and I love them both, long lasting and great quality.

When I bought this my hair was blonde and I felt like this might be too bright for me. Now that my hair is purple my usual go-to coral and peachy colors don’t work as well but this one fits me perfectly (full makeup pic using this coming up in near future). Not really a fall color but when there’s some snow on the ground this will look gorgeous!

 

 

 

***Eurydice was purchased by me. I don’t benefit from clicking the link on this post.