Empties

Hello,

this month is a little longer but I don't mind. It is my birthday month and the best gift for me is the awakening of the mother nature. I love the fresh breeze, warm sun, blooming trees and colorful plants. This year can finally start and I'm starting it on the positive note and now I can only wish to continue like this.
I have been saving for the past couple of months and that results in lots of empties because I don't buy and try new products but use the same ones until they are gone and this month is not an exception.

I will start with the two body moisturizers, first bottle is Afrodita's anti stress massage oil (I was massaging myself ;) with an amazing lavender and herbal scent. Oil sinked in rather quick so my sheets didn't absorb much and I liked that. You don't need much to moisturize the entire body and this bottle lasted me for a long time. I will repurchase it for sure but first I have to go through a couple of other oils before they go bad on me.

Next is an oldie but a goldie (this is my second used up bottle). It is from Avon Planet SPA line with the Himalayan goji berry which smells like strawberry on steroids, not artificial at all but quite strong, I sometimes used it in the morning and skipped the perfume all together. This line is sadly no longer available but if it will ever come back I'm repurchasing.

Third tube is my favorite face moisturizer. Neutrogena oil free face moisturizer is my favorite and this is my second tube and I'm already on my third one. I discovered it last year and since then I haven't even look for anything else. It has very light texture which absorbs quickly which comes handy in the morning, it moisturizes very well and it doesn't leave greasy film. My oily skin loves it and I will continue repurchasing, the only thing I miss is the SPF but I use primers and BB creams on top which includes sun protection so I'm covered.

My sister is eager to find effective natural deodorant and she tried this L'occitane cooling deodorant with Citrus and Verbena scent (very fresh and clean scented just how I like it, I would even have this scent in the perfume version). She has tried many over the last five years or so and nothing worked, even this one caused painful irritation on her armpits so she offered it to me. I kindly accepted it and I liked it. My armpits aren't as sensitive but after using it two weeks straight they got a bit red and itchy so I skipped a day and the next morning I was fine. I exercised almost every day and the scent was okay, this definitely isn't the most long lasting deo but the scent is lovely however the price tag brought me back on the solid ground. It costs almost 17 € and for that much it has to be perfect so I most probably won't buy any L'occitane deo ever again.

Second to last is Omnia Cosmetics day eye cream with hyaluronic acid. I already used up the thicker night cream and now I finished this one which had gel consistency which absorbed super quickly. I tried it under my eyes but apparently it was too strong because it irritated my eyes (they both did) so instead using it around my eye area I used it all over my face as a serum and I managed to use it up. In the future I will be careful with this ingredient but I'm not sure if it really was the Hyaluronic acid that caused me troubles. Right now I'm using face cream with this acid and it seems fine, I also have two other Hyaluronic acid serums and I will see how they will work. This particular item was available only for a very limited time so even if I would love it I wouldn't be able to get a backup.

And finally the last item is limited edition hand cream from Essence in the Banana and Dark Chocolate scent. The scent is a dupe of the Casali choco bananas desert which I adore. The hand cream was average to me, if I applied a little too much it left my hands greasy but if my skin was really dry and cracked it didn't do much. It was best to use constantly and very little but people were always asking me what my perfume is or what I'm eating when it was just this hand cream ;)




Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Project polish

Hello,

lately I have been occupied with my job and I didn't have enough time to write but I miss it and I have some posts ready to be posted so I hope I will catch up soon. For today I have prepared the nail polish I consider being empty.

It is one of my darlings from Miss Sporty in the shade 425 which was given to me by my mom. She really nailed it. It is dusty dark blue creme but on the nail it translates a bit darker and murkier.

Here I swatched it on the plastic but you can see it here on my nails. It doesn't look like anything special but I really like colors like that, dark but not so dark that they would appear black and blue is dear to my heart. I already miss it but I will try to find something similar in the store since the brand is no longer available in my country.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Black to White

Hello,

in February I got a lovely gift from Essence and among the other products they also included this dual eye pencil. I was using it quite regularly and I'm very picky when it comes to eye pencils because I have hooded and extremely oily lids.

Essence sculpting eye pencil in the shade Black to White is the one I got, they also offer the purple and brown version and if I'm not mistaken the cream shades are all different from each other.
The pencil is normal sized except it has two colors, one on each side.

One side is pitch black, very creamy and easy to apply.

Other side is not pure white as the name implies but it is more of a neutral cream color with zero shimmer and it is as creamy as the black side. On the swatch below it appears silver toned but in real life it isn't.

Here they are swatched side by side. There is no shimmer present but the lighter shade has almost a metallic finish (no particles just some glow when I turn my hand or my head since I usually wear it on my eyes and not at the back of my hand ;).

Here you can maybe see it better. I distributed the lighter shade evenly but due to it's reflex it looks multidimensional and very lovely on the eye but it is not as obvious since the area is much smaller than here on my hand.

The formula is very easy to work with, the pencils feel soft, there is no tugging and after a couple of seconds it dries and it doesn't move around my lid. I have very oily skin and hooded eyes so finding a pencil that would stay is a challenge (so far my favorite are Avon glimmersticks, Benecos natural kajals and Essence longlasting pencils) but this duo lasted on me very well. In the middle of the day I did noticed that it printed on top of my lid but it was so faint and barely visible, I could fix it with a gentle rub. For longevity I would give it four out of five stars, I love both colors, especially the cream side since I normally use a lot of light shimmery shades in my inner corners and this is a nice change. Now I'm interested in checking the brown version out which is called Peach for Chocolate (the name itself screams my name ;).


Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Empties

Hello,

I back with another empties post. Today's talk will evolve around lip products, don't believe me?

Lets clear the one product that sticks out first. It is Avon clearskin pore penetrating gel cleanser about which I talked here and I still agree with it. It is gentle to my skin and eyes but it removes all of my make-up and sebum. My skin is pretty clear at the moment and I believe that using this cleanser regularly helped with that. I am considering repurchasing it but not right away since I have two full cleansers in my stock and I need to use them up before buying some more.

The next four products are all lip items. On some of them I worked for a while but this Manhattan Sweet & Tasty one in the shade Swiss Milk Chocolate was gone under a month of consistent use. I can't find how much product this bottle holds but it has to be below 4 ml, I know it looks like a normal sized gloss but the plastic is pretty thick and the inner space (where the product is housed) is super slim. I googled them and they replaced them with a similar looking glosses but since this brand is no longer available here I can't tell if they are indeed the same. Anyway, this gloss smelled and tasted really nice (as the name already implies). It was sweet with toffee and vanilla thrown in the mix. It didn't last long on the lips but I didn't mind since it tasted so good, the only 'issue' I had with it was the color. It is such a pale golden bronze shade which didn't go well with my pigmented lips and my complexion so I mostly used it at home where no one could saw me but since it was moisturizing enough I could skip the lip balm and reapply this product all day long. I might repurchase it again but definitely in a different shade.

I manged to use up another gloss, this one is from Avon ultra glazewear line and the shade is called Nude Muse. This line of glosses is awesome, I like everything about them (sweet scent, glossiness, color payoff, great sales) and this one was not an exception. It is quite brown toned nude with no shimmer. It is a great lip gloss but I don't think I will repurchase this particular shade again simply because I find this nude to be slightly too brown for my taste. I mostly wore it on top of pink lipsticks to make more of a nude-y pink lips. I currently have two other shades but I'm eyeing some others as well (I had Crystal Lilac in the past and it is the shade I will repurchase it someday in the future).

Second to last is Catrice luxury oils intensive care gloss in the color Spending all my Honey. I wrote a very positive review last year in July and I still agree with everything said. This 'color' was my least favorite since I noticed after reapplying it all day that my lips turned slightly yellow. Nothing too crazy but still noticeable if you looked closer so I wore it inside my home. The scent was barely there but it didn't remind me of honey as the brand was implying. I reached for this oil when my lips were in poor state and it manged to heal them in just one day. I call this product a miracle and a must in my collection but Catrice discontinued them all together but they have very similar looking product in the Essence line so when I will be done with all three of them I will try those and I keep my fingers crossed that they used the same formula.

Manhattan Sweet & Tasty Swiss Milk Chocolate lip gloss, Avon ultra glazewear Nude Muse lip gloss &
Avon ultra color Latte lipstick

The last item is Avon lipstick sample form their core line, ultra color and the shade is Latte. This one is one of my favorite nudes and since I already have a full size it felt very natural to go through the little sample. It is a brown toned nude (not as brown as the gloss) with no shimmer. It apply like a dream and it has almost a velvet finish, probably because it is so pigmented (it covers my natural pigment with just two layers) and due to that it also lasts on the lips. As mentioned, I already have a full size and when I will use it up I'm definitely buying more of it.


Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Avon package

Hello,

another campaign from Avon has finished up and I picked some 'new' products to get me ready for the Spring.

First box is Anew Clinical advanced resurfacing peel where you get 30 soaked in glycolic acid pads. I haven't finished the ones I'm using right now but they were on such a good sale that it would be a sin if I would skip on them.

Next two boxes contains 30 ml bottle of perfume. They were part of a set which I split with my sister (one perfume, nice bag, supershock mascara and plum it lip gloss). I thought that the floral Dreams perfume will be great for the warmer months and after a first sniff I can already tell that I will love it. The other one, Perceive Dew I just have to get because I already have the other two scents from the Perceive line and it was kind of logical to get this one as well. I haven't tried it on my skin jet but it convinced me with more of a fruity notes.

In the tube is Cherish the moment body lotion. Last year I used up lotion in the Cherish scent which was nothing shorter than amazing so when they came out with new version of it I wanted to try it but it took me a while to actually pick it up. I can't wait to start using it and see if I like this version better than the original.

Up front there is the limited edition blush brush. I currently only have one blush brush and I wanted to pick another one up for a long time. I came across this one which was on sale and picked it up. I haven't tried it jet but the bristles feels so soft. This could be my softest brush.

The last item is a lip gloss. It is from their 'new' line Mark. There are a lot of make-up items with the mark written on them but they all look like old products to me with a new packaging. The old line of glosses was called 3D now they named them Plump it lip glosses and mine is Clear (part of the set where I couldn't pick my own shade). I will test it out to see if they are still cooling and tingly with mint scent. I used up my last one two years ago and I have been missing it so much. The only reason why I haven't picked it up sooner is the fact that I have over 30 lip glosses in my possession and I just wanted to use some of them up before picking something new.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

44. NOTD

Hello,

it was time to switch up my nail polish and Essence team kindly send me one bottle from their new range to try so I decided to paint my nails with it.

My Essence Glow & Care luminous nail polish with kukui oil is in the shade Love and Care. It contains special oil from Hawaii which strengthens and protect your nails while wearing it but probably you have to wear it non-stop for a couple of weeks to see the results.

They named them luminous varnishes with a reason. When you tilt the bottle and the light captures little pearl particles it has this beautiful shine.

It looks magical, right? I don't know about other colors because this is the only one I have for now but this glow doesn't transfer on the nail. I think the texture is too thick and pigmented to show through this delicate shimmer.

This polish was a dream to apply. The consistency feels a bit thick but in a good way. It glides over the nail with an ease and one coat is almost sufficient. My nails are a bit longer and I just prefer two coats to make sure everything is nice but if you are in a hurry and have shorter nails this could be a one coater for you.
It dries with a shiny finish but not super glossy, maybe I'm just so used to the gel varnishes where they have this juicy/glossy finish to them.

I really like how smooth it applied and how well it lasted on my nails. I rarely have problems with polishes and this one lasted on me the average five days. I had a minor tip wear and two small chips but I can blame washing my hair and scrubbing my bathroom for that. For this test I didn't put any top coat on and I really like how well it lasted on me.

So, to conclude, I like this line of nail polishes that they came out with but I am not a huge fan of the particular shade. This one is very similar to the Catrice Welcome to Roosywood. It has the same dusty rose shade the only difference is that the Essence one is a smidge brighter. They offer 7 shades and I checked them online and I like all of them, the one I got is my least favorite. They played it safe because there are only pink/purple hues in the line but if some of the shades will appeal to me or I don't have a similar shade in my extensive collection already I will get one or two but in the future I hope they will come out with 'bolder' colors. 

Thank you for reading and have a nice day