L'Oreal Rouge Carresse 301 Dating Coral and Essence Miami Roller Girl Lip Balm

Rouge Carresse are the L'Oreal's answer to the whole lipstick/lip balm/lip gloss all in one trend. I don't own any of the famous Chanel's Coco Shine, Dior or Revlon lip butters equivalents, so I can't compare them. I tend to like more matte, full coverage finishes and I did discard this trend of lighter, shinier shades as just paying more for a bit better tinted lip balm. 

I finally caved, but only because of the shade. 301 Dating Coral is a light peach shade, a great everyday shade that goes with almost everything. The texture is very light and it feels nice and moisturising. Of course due to the lighter texture it doesn't last that long on the lips. I was quite surprised how pigmented it is, two swipes is enough for full coverage. It gives a slight sheen to the lips, nothing special, it's like at any tinted lip balm. Rouge Carress cost 11€ in our drugstores.

Colour changing lip balm in 01 Miami heat is a part of Miami Roller Girl TE by Essence. The tube and the balm are bright orange, but on the lips it translates into a nice light peachy pink shade. It's one of those lip balms that adjust the colour to your pH, like for example Maybelline's Pop Sticks (review of Tropical Pink is here), so it does stain your lips. The texture is very soft, buttery and very moisturising. A nice product for a low price. 

Thanks for reading!

My Current Skin Care

It's been a year since my last skin care post (click) and I think it's time for an updated version. I haven't changed that many products actually, a lot stayed the same, nor have I experimented a lot in this year. I already found some great products last year and I kept using them. So I suppose I could even call them my holly grail products. My skin is combination to normal type with areas on my cheeks and forehead getting drier in colder months (I get dry patches there). I rarely get spots, in general I'd say about one every one or two months and even those tend to go away fast. However, some have left small red spots on my chin which are fading significantly slower. My skin had never looked better since I completely changed my routine last spring.

Starting with make up removers and cleansers. I still use Bioderma Sensibio H20, I'm on my fourth bottle in a row now. This might be the most recommended skin care product in the make up/beauty blogger community and for a good reason. It's very gentle, feels like water but removes all make up and does not irritate my skin or eyes. However, I do find it does not remove all of the waterproof mascara (actually it depends which one it is), so if I'm wearing waterproof mascara and I feel that Bioderma didn't get all off, I use Maybelline waterproof remover. It's oil based and I'm not really a fan of the oily residue is leaves, but it completely removes waterproof mascara. 

After make up removers I always use a cleanser and rinse my face with water. I just don't feel comfortable with just leaving all that remaining make up remover just sitting on my face. I need to feel that my skin is completely clean. I use different baby shower gels or soapless gels. Right now I'm using one of SauBär ones and I don't really like it. It's too thin and it's not a good shampoo either (it claims to be a 3 in 1, shower-shampoo-conditioner) as it really dries out the hair. Since they discontinued my HG Nivea Todddies gel, which I repurchased a dozen times in a row, I've used a lot of different cleansers. I didn't really like any of them, Neutrogena pink grapefruit one was particularly nasty, because it dried out my skin badly. But I got a sample of Skin79 O2 Bubbles BB cleanser and I loved it. It's on my wishlist already.

After cleanser I use Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair serum. I got it on eBay for half the price it's sold by our retailers, but it still cost an arm and a leg. I bought it sometime in Spring and I've got only about 20% left. My skin is definitely clearer, spots occur really rarely now (as I said before one per 1 or even 2 months) and if I get any they heal and disappear faster. In the first month using it, my forehead broke out like crazy. I almost stopped using it, but I pressed on and now my skin looks better than ever. It's meant to be used with a moisturiser as I find that itself is not moisturising at all. In fact if I use it on it's own my skin gets really tight after five minutes. Now that it's on it's last legs I really want to repurchase it, but it's so expensive. I'll probably repurchase it sometime, but for now I'll replace it with a much cheaper Eucerin Aquaporin light moisturiser (I got a few samples and I love how light, yet really moisturising it is).

I'm still using Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse dry oil as my moisturiser. I've been using it non-stop since last May and my skin looks so healthy, dewy, soft and all in all just really great. I had one 50 ml bottle for a year, because you only need a few drops. I recently repurchased a bigger 100 ml bottle that comes with a pump. Here is my original review. 

I've just recently written a review for self tanners which you can find here click. I use Clarins Liquid Bronze and Xen-Tan Transform light. The first is a light lotion and appropriate also for more oily skin types and the second one is really moisturising so I prefer it more for my skin type (it leaves my skin really soft even if I forget to use Nuxe oil). You can go really light with both, so to give your skin more of a glow than an actual deeper tan, or you can build it up by using it several days in a row.

As my exfoliator/anti-spot mask I use Dermalogica gentle cream exfoliant which has high percentages of salicylic and lactic acid. It's a brilliant product, you can find my rave review here. I bought it when my skin was acting up as a result of Estee Lauder Advance Night Repair's purging stage and it worked amazing. I still only have the small tube (I've been saving it like crazy) and I tend to use it as a spot treatment. It just dries those suckers right out. I'm saving for a full size tube.

My favourite spot treatment has been discontinued. It is PureSkin pure teint spot fighting duo by Essence. The concealer end is absolute rubbish, but the treatment end was amazing. It was a clear liquid and it didn't leave any dried gel type of things on top. It worked great and it dried the spots fast. Now I've been trying other ones (I'll advise you to stay clear of the new treatment from the same line by Essence as it's really bad) and nothing works the same (apart for the Dermalogica mask). I miss it, I've probably repurchased it a least half of dozen times. So far I purchased one from Balea and I hate it, and one from CadeaVera Young, which is just ok, I don't like the fact it's a gel that dries on the spot.

I occasionally make a home made mask when my skin is acting up a bit (but it been a while since that happened and I had to resort to it) made from either just honey (if my skin is dry) or adding a couple of crushed aspirins into the honey (if I get spots). It's a great cheap treatment that works like a charm. Honey works as an antiseptic and Aspirin has salicylic acid which is good for treating spots. You can also use honey  instead of a cleanser as an everyday wash, but beware that it doesn't wash of completely. Also I use to use Aspirin toner (instruction here, below the second picture) but it's become a bother to me make and use. Still if my skin got a bit crazy I'd definitely start using it again. Another nice treatment is using baking soda as an exfoliator.

I wear BB creams everyday now because of the high SPF they have (I count BB creams also as skin care products, not just make up). Here I'm wearing Holika Holika Peachy Girl BB cream (shade #2, review here), but only a small amount as I don't like too much coverage. I want my freckles to show through. On my lips I have color changing lip balm by Essence from the Miami Roller Girl TE in 01 Miami heat (the orange one) and nothing on my eyes.

So this is my updated skin care routine. I know it looks like I use a lot of products, but in fact on most days it's just three: cleanser, Estee Lauder serum and Nuxe oil. Thanks for reading!

Loving Now

There is a reason I love favourites posts, because I always find great products that lovely bloggers recommend. I her June favourites Evi from Lipstick Wardrobe mentioned Max Factor's Liquid Effect Pencil and how great it is. So I had to check it out and I discovered a dark brown shade that is a great replacement for black eyeliner. It's similar to Avon Supershock eyeliner and works well both on waterline and on the top lash line (once it dries, it doesn't budge). Another eyeliner I got recently is from Essence and it's their gel eyeliner in 02 London baby. It's a great dark taupe shade and is another nice everyday alternative to black. 

Taya from Taya- My Little Beauty World posted swatches of Depend's Holographic nail polishes. Before that post I didn't even know Depend had such a line. I wanted a silver holographic nail polish for so long and I finally got it in a local drugstore for a reasonable price. Yay! I need 3 layers for full coverage. It is one of my favourite nail polishes in my collection. I tried taking pictures of it, it's not the best swatch in the world and it's already a bit chipped (this is the fifth day I'm wearing it, I have Seche Vite on top) but it'll have to do.

I much prefer cream blushes to powder and my recent addition is by Essence from their Ready for Boarding collection shade 02 Beauty on Tour. I tried taking pictures of it, but my camera apparently hates that shade and refuses to take a nice picture of it. You can find nice swatches of it here: click. It's a very pigmented bright pinky coral shade that really brightens up the face and also looks nice on the lips.

Pulse by Beyonce (original review here) has been sitting relatively untouched on my vanity since I bought it, until a couple of weeks ago when I ''rediscovered'' it and started using it almost every day. It's just the perfect combination of sweet orange candy and powdery notes. I'm really loving it right now.

Balea Bademomente Sinnesfroh has been lying forgotten in one of my mini baskets for months, I had no idea what a nice product was hidding somewhere in my room. The product itself is nothing special, just a regular bath salt that turns your water brown (could of been some other colour), but the smell is fantastic. It smells like a hot cup of cocoa, so chocolatey and sweet. I'll definitely get some more if I can still find it, I know it was LE. 

Self-tan: Xen-Tan Review and a Comparison with St.Tropez

Since I ran out of St.Tropez self-tanning mousse, I decided to try out the next highly praised self-tanner. I got both the Xen-Tan dark lotion and the transform daily self-tan. The original review for St.Tropez mousse can be found here, but in this post I'll also make a comparison of the two.   

Xen-Tan dark lotion

The packaging is a plastic bottle with a pump and you get 236 ml of product, so the same amount as St. Tropez (the big version) but for a cheaper price. It looks dark chocolate brown right out of the bottle, so when you apply it, there is a colour guide and you can see where you applied it. However, I do find that the colour guide is a lot fainter than at St. Tropez, which does bother me a bit. It is actually very moisturising and does not dry out my skin like St. Tropez does, but because of that it takes a lot longer to dry and it leaves your skin tacky and sticky for quite a while. Because it takes longer to dry, this gives you more time to apply the tan evenly and really blend it in. I always apply it right before I go to bed, so I put an extra sheet to protect my bedding from getting any of the colour. But it never stained my bedding, still it's good to be a bit careful. The scent is very sweet, it smells like marzipan, although I don't find the scent as strong as at St. Tropez. The typical self-tan scent does appear, however, it is very, very faint. I find it fainter than at St.Tropez. But St.Tropez's scent started to get a bit stronger the older the bottle was, maybe something similar might happen with Xen-Tan. The tan looks very natural, I even got I few compliments about how tan I look and if I was on the seaside. The tan is a bit darker as at St. Tropez and it lasts about a day longer, somewhere around 4-5 days before it starts washing off. Tan disappears faster on my wrists and lower arms, because I wash my hands often.

I like both of the St.Tropez and the Xen-Tan. Both a great self-tanners, the best I've tried so far. But if I had to choose, I'd look at the price tag. I'd decide for the one that is cheaper at the time of purchasing a new bottle. Usually Xen-Tan is a bit cheaper. I buy both from feelunique.com. 

           St. Tropez self tan bronzing mousse
                            + dries a lot faster, doesn't leave a tacky feeling

                                                            + better colour guide 

                                                            + stronger floral scent
                                          - more expensive than Xen-Tan

                                          - dries out the skin
                                          - stronger DHA (the typical self-tan) scent
                                          -  because it dries so fast there is less time for application


      Xen-Tan dark lotion
               + moisturises the skin well
               + more time for an even application before it dries
               + darker than St. Tropez
               + lasts about a day longer than St. Tropez
               + cheaper than St. Tropez
               + marzipan scent
                           - leaves your skin tacky and sticky, takes a long time to dry
                           - fainter colour guide than at St. Tropez
                           - fainter DHA scent than at St. Tropez

     

The Transform daily self-tan is a gradual self-tan for face and body. It smells very fruity, like lemon candy (like Fru Fru or Softi lemon candy for Slovene readers). It's a very good moisturiser, I use it on my face and it leaves my skin so soft. It has more DHA than regular gradual self-tanners, but it still takes a couple of uses to get a nice tan. I didn't detect any of the typical self-tan scent. As I said I use it on my face (gets me from Healthy Mix 51 or Mac NC 15 to HM 53 or about NC25-30 in about four uses) and on my body to prolong the tan. I'll definitely repurchase and keep using it as a face tanner because it's more moisturising than the Clarins one (I have quite dry skin at the moment).
I also use Clarins Liquid Bronze self tanning for face and decollete which is a very light lotion and doesn't moisturise that well, but it's a great self tanner and you can get a very light tan (by using it every few days) as well as quite a dark one if you use it everyday. 

Another self-tan that I currently own is SunDance transparent self-tan in a spray can. They reformulated the old formula that I used to use and I don't like the new one as much as that one. The old one had a nice floral scent, while the new one doesn't have any particular scent at all. But I find that the typical self-tan scent does not develop, so it's even fainter than at Xen-Tan. Tan is quit light, it takes a couple of uses to get a really dark tan as with St. Tropez and Xen-Tan. Also one bottle doesn't last long, but you can get a very even application with the spray. It's probably the nicest tan available in Slovenia for the price (less than 5€).

A couple of tips about self-tanning and how I do it: 

- make sure your skin is moisturized . Use a good moisturizer at least the day before if you don't have a habbit of using a moisturizer every day. I use either a body butter or an oil.

 - use a scrub before you tan. I like the L'Oreal Exfotonic or I just make one myself with sugar and olive oil. Or I just use an exfoliating glove/mesh bath sponge in the shower. Make sure you don't have any dry patches, because the tan will make those areas a lot darker than the rest of the body.

- use a light moisturizer on your hands, feet, elbows and knees right before applying self-tan. This is to make use you don't end up with darker areas, because skin tends to be drier on the elbow and knees. Also it's important to make a lighter transition on tan on the hands and feet. You can also use a gradual tanner on those areas, but I prefer just using a bit of moisturiser and I blend what's left on the mitt, so the tan there is lighter. 

- use a mitt to apply fake tan. It makes such a difference in application. The tan looks even also the application is much faster. I currently use the Xen-Tan one and I prefer it to St.Tropez one, because it's smaller and fits on my hand better. 

 - use a gradual tanner or a regular moisturizer to prolong your tan. This also helps to make your tan fade more even and it doesn't get so patchy after a while. 

- apply tan before you go to bed. Allow the tan to develop over the night rather than applying it in the morning/during the day. Be sure to go over the back of the hands and the area by the wrist after you washed your hands (just use what's left on the mitt). Contact with water or perspiration removes the self-tanner leaving you with streaks (even an hour after application).

Hope this helped and thanks for reading.

Holika Holika Peach Girl BB Cream SPF37 PA++

After being super happy with my Skin79 Pink Label BB cream (which is still going strong, despite being a bit worried that it was running out) I purchased another one. This time I went with Holika Holika Peach Girl for very simple reasons: 1. higher SPF, 2. the cutest little cream blush in the lid, 3. mine was cheaper at the time for 50ml than Skin79 Gold Label (my second choice). 

Again I ordered from a Korean seller on eBay called sing-sing-girl and surprisingly it only took 2 weeks to arrive. I paid 10€ for it. Together with the BB cream I also received a couple of samples. I got the shade #2 which is almost identical to Skin79's Pink Label. #1 is lighter and according to other reviewers fits even the palest of the Snowhites (NC10). It has an SPF37 PA++.

The amount you get is a generous 50ml plus a very pigmented cream blush and a mini mirror in the lid. The packaging is a tube with a label sticker, nothing fancy but works just fine. If I compare it to Skin79 Pink Label, Peach Girl has a lot more coverage, I'd say medium and comparable to the original Healthy Mix. Second layer provides almost full coverage, so it covers dark circles and any darker red spots (I have a couple old blemishes on my chin and the second layer covers them just fine. For bigger spots some additional concealing is needed). As at Skin79 BB cream, Peach Girl is also a bit grey upon application. Now that I self tanning and I'm somewhere between Healthy Mix 52-53 (MAC N20-30), the grey cast is a lot more obvious, however, it adapts to your skin tone within a minute and isn't visible any more. Here are swatches on my untanned arm (so NC 15 or Healthy Mix 51) taken indoors. Bourjois Healthy Mix foundations run more yellow, while both BB creams have more pink undertones. Peachy Girl has a touch of peachy tones in it compared to Skin79's BB. I just happened to have a sample of Flower Perfection, so I added it to show the comparison of shades. But keep in mind that BB creams adapt to your skintone. In my experience Skin79 fits me if I'm NC15 (Bourjois 51) or if I'm self tanning. 

The finish is dewy and it makes your skin very healthy looking. However, if you have oilier skin you might find the dewyness a bit much, so I suggest using a powder over the top. Personally, I love the dewy finish of a foundation so I normally don't use powder (also my skin is a bit more on the drier side). As at Skin79's BB it looks very natural on the skin and you can't really tell you're wearing anything and this despite a higher coverage than Skin79's. It's definitely the most long-lasting BB/foundation I used, it stays put for the entire day and I tested it in the hottest weather of this year with temperatures reaching as high as 36°C. I even went swimming with it, but it didn't really survive that well (not that I was expecting that anyway). 

The blush in the lid is very pigmented and has a nice dewy finish, I don't require the use of highlighter with this one. The shade is a lovely peachy pink that gives a nice flush, probably my favourite colour from my selection of cream blushes. The fact it comes in a lid is even more appealing as it's very convenient and travel friendly. Here is a swatch of the blush and BB cream in direct sunlight. The blush is a touch more pink in RL, my camera just hates taking pictures of coral shades.

Get Peachy Girl if you want a BB that gives more coverage, also the blush is super cute. High SPF is another bonus and the price for the amount is quite reasonable. Overall a lovely product. 

Thanks for reading!

June 2012 Favourites

We are having a heat wave at the moment here (where I live it's been 37°C) , also it' been quite hot for most of June, so I put my Fantasy and Euphoria away for a while and reached for more summer type scents. My favourites this month were:

Essence Like a First Day in Spring - A very refreshing and sweet scent. As the name suggests, it is a more spring/summer type of fragrance. In the first minutes the strongest note is tangerine and orange mixed with a bit of pineapple, so very fruity and an Escadaish type of fragrance. Later I get a bit of rose and musk, but it's still quite fruity. Staying power is quite poor, I on me less than an hour.

Yves Rocher Mango - Passion fruit - Another Escadaish - cocktail type of scent, so very fruity and sweet. Doesn't last long, though.

Yves Rocher Noix de Coco Malaysian Coconut - It's exactly what it says it is, a straight up coconut scent. Great for summer and it lasts very long on the skin.

It's been all about corals for me (for the most time at least). I've already written a post about my selection of lipsticks for this summer, but these four really stood out the most. At the beginning of the month I mostly wore Manhattan Soft Mat lip cream in 53M. Other most worn lippies were Essence Coralize Me!, Shiseido Glowing Matte PK 224 and in the last week Maybelline Popstick in Tropical Pink (btw a really moisturising lippie).

I bought Dove Deeply Nourishing shower gel just because I wanted to try out something new and I really like it. It's thicker than your run-of-the-mill shower gel, also it smells really nice. I'll keep repurchasing. 

I love the scent of lavender and Weleda Lavendel Entsoannungsöl has one of the most amazing lavender scents. It just smells like a lavender field. Plus it's great for my dry skin and hair.   

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Swivel Stick is the best chapstick I've found. It's not exactly a chapstick, the size of it is more comparable to a glue stick, so you do look a bit weird when you're applying it on the lips. It's more of a multi purpose product, so for everywhere you have very dry skin. Highly recommended.

I received quite a few samples of Eucerin Aquaporin Active Light moisturizer and eye cream. While I find the eye cream a bit too rich (it takes a long time to sink, I don't really like it when a product sits on my skin), the moisturiser is fantastic. It leaves your skin really moisturised and feeling great also it takes seconds to sink in. I like it a lot and I might even purchase a full size (similar product is Vichy Aqualia Thermal serum, but Eucerin's is about half the price).

Orofluido has recently added another product to their line and as I adore Orofluido hair oil I had to try it out. It's called Orofluido Sahara and it's a dry oil that protects your hair against sun, wind and dryness. It has UV filters which is great for protecting your hair against the damaging sun. As I said it's a dry oil, so it's very light and doesn't make my hair greasy. If you ever used dry oils you know what it's like, you can spray a lot of product in your hair and it won't be wet like with spray conditioners. It's smells amazing, identical as the oil, so oriental amber and vanilla. I use it daily to protect my hair from drying out because of the strong sun. It leaves my hair very shiny and smelling amazing. Like it a lot.

And lastly, two things I repurchased - Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse and L'Occitane Almond shower oil. Both two of my favourite ever products. I use Nuxe dry oil mostly as a face moisturizer (non-stop for over a year now, I love it!), this time I bought the 100ml bottle that comes with a spray.

I got the eco-refill of L'Occitane's shower oil. I had two bottles of this, but I lost/forgot one in one of the many hotels I stayed at in France (self high five!). Refill version costs 25€ for 500ml.

Thanks for reading!

Drugstore Mascara Comparison

A long time ago I wrote another mascara comparison, but it featured mascaras from all price ranges (click here for that review, there is also a picture of my natural eyelashes). Well, today I'm focusing only on drugstore mascaras, at least the ones that are widely available in Slovenia (and probably all over the world). My favourite mascara still remains Helena Rubinstein Lash Queen Waterproof, but I've found some drugstore mascaras that are good and deserve a place among my favourites. I have quite long, thick lashes that refuse to stay curled and tamed. Long, thick lashes that look like I'm wearing falsies are kind of my thing. I may not wear much make up on most days (I tend to skip most of other eye make up), but big lashes and glowy skin is my signature look. 

Featured in this review are: Max Factor's 2000 Calorie Curved Brush, L´Oréal's Lash Architect 4D False Lash Effect Black Laquer and Maybelline's the Colossal Volum' Express Waterproof. Here is a comparison of the brushes:

Maybelline the Colossal Volum' Express Waterproof

I've already talked a bit about this mascara in my May favourites. I tend to wear waterproof mascaras as they hold the curl a lot better. I have very stubborn eyelashes when it comes to staying curled. They drop within seconds after curled and only waterproof mascara keeps that problem at bay. Collosal Volum' Express is a really good mascara, gives a lot of volume, length and doesn't clump them up. In that respect it actually comes very close to HR Lash Queen (so on my lashes like I'm wearing falsies), however, it is not as waterproof as it claims to be. After a hot day I was annoyed to see the all familiar panda eyes. It wasn't dark, but still for a waterproof mascara that is disappointing. Also it doesn't hold the curl long, with HR LQ my lashes stay curled all day. All in all it is a great mascara as long as you don't go swimming with it, also don't expect it'll survive any tears. I would repurchase. 

L´Oréal Lash Architect 4D False Lash Effect Black Laquer

I got this one a a gwp and initially didn't think much of it. But as it with most non-waterproof mascaras when the formula got a bit drier it became one of my favourite mascaras so far (my favourite non-waterproof for sure). I gives a lot of length, keeps them separated and also gives some volume. I know it doesn't look much in the picture but in person it looks so much better. Also surprisingly, it keeps the lashes curled for much longer than other regular mascaras. I will definitely purchase the waterproof version.

Max Factor 2000 Calorie Curved Brush

The only disappointment of the three. It sure gives a lot of volume, but it clumps the lashes a bit and doesn't give much length. My lashes drop like a rock with this mascara. It's just such a heavy, thick formula that the curl doesn't stand a chance. It's quite messy and I always end up with smudges on my lower lashline. I wouldn't repurchase. 

Thanks for reading!