Taro Glaze

 Hello,

yesterday I talked about lip glosses which weren't very glossy, today I have a lip stylo which looks super glossy and I am loving it. 

Here I have Bbia over glaze stick in Taro Glaze with 1,7g of product.

It has a twisting mechanism with noticeable click sound (very satisfying :) which gives you total control and boy oh boy it is shiny on the lips. 

Taro Glaze is cool toned plum shade but on a sheer side. When I have red lips this turns them a bit less vivid and a bit deeper. It makes me look like my lips are a bit cold because of the strong cool toned shade.

I absolutely love the shade and I am very satisfied with it.

The gloss is unreal, very shiny and it looks like a proper lip gloss.

I have tried it on dry lips and it healed them after two layers but there is something slightly irritable in it. The scent is nonexistent but after a minute on my lips I can smell mint (a bit similar to toothpaste) and slight tingling which fades after 15 min. It really isn't much so I am okay with it.

I would prefer donut scent (there is donut on the packaging and that gave me the idea) but cool mint isn't too bad since the tingling isn't strong and there is no cooling effect. The shade and shine are my favorite and I can see myself using this up very soon. At the moment there are no shades available that would get my attention but I will check again after a while.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Empties

Hello,

a lot has been going on lately and even though I still go to work I like to take time to just unplug and think about 'light' subjects such as make-up and cosmetics. It might look shallow but for me it is a stress relief and keeps me busy so I don't constantly think about what is going on in the world.
More than anytime I'm motivated to clean up and use what I already have, instead of shopping which is at the minimum and reduced to only food.
It is the end of the month and here are my empties for the last portion of March.

Catrice vitamin lip treatment in Born to be Wild-berry and Bohemian Raspberry, are my last two glosses from this lovely line. Slightly red tinted, just enough to make my lips healthy looking, glossy and juicy plus with a lovely Watermelon scent. I could not wish for anything more. I wish they will eventually bring them back or at least something similar because they were amazing.

Next is Catrice Dewy-ful lips, conditioning lip butte with shea butter in the shade Be You! Dew You!. I recently talked about it and I said that the shade is slightly too light for my liking but what really bothered me was a weird artificial scant that I couldn't bear. I kept it for a little while but I couldn't bring myself to wear it so I guess the only reasonable thing to do is to throw it away.

Last one is Rimmel London Oh my Gloss! with the name Ooh La La. It is bright red with pink undertone which also leaves lovely tint. The other day I wanted to use it but the scent turned and I'm pretty sure that it went bad so I'm throwing it into the trash.

Here I have Balea Raspberry and Rose body wash. I think this was a limited edition scent because when I picked it up (last year in Autumn) it was in the process of being discontinued and I managed to get two bottles of it. I will admit that the cute pug got my attention but upon smelling it I just knew I have to have it. There is something magical about Rose or Peony mixed with Raspberry in my opinion. To me this scent is absolutely intoxicating and if it would still be available I would get some more bottles of it.

Next is another body wash but with a different texture and it is Dove shower mousse with Rose oil. I also purcahsed it last year alongside with the Argan one. You see, my sister loves shower foams and I got it for her but since I was so curious I wanted one for myself. She is not too keen on Rose so I kept this one and it felt luxurious. The scent was light and the foam was extra thick. I absolutely love this formula and after the whole situation calms down and I will be in need for body washes I will see if they still have them.

The very last item is this little Nivea Soft multipurpose hydrating cream that I received in Advent calendar a couple of years ago. It is scentless and I used it all over my body,even on my face in the evening and my face didn't protest. The texture is light and it absorbs fast, in the future I can see myself repurchasing it again.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Catrice lip glosses

Hello,

I thought that this year will be the year when I finally come down to somewhat 'normal' numbers of lip products but once again I fulled myself. This year alone I have already bought/received a full bag of lippies and my numbers aren't going down as I hoped for.
For today I have three different Catrice lip glosses that I bought recently.

First is Catrice generation plump & shine gloss in Sparkling Coral (4,3 ml), Catrice volumizing lip booster in Pink up the Volume (5 ml) and Catrice dewy-full lips conditioning lip butter named Be You Dew You! (8 ml).

As expected they all have different formulas and scents. Sparkling Coral has a barely there cookie scent, Pink up the Volume is minty and Be You Dew You! is the most scented and it remind me of cookies and toffee mixed together.

Also the applicators are slightly different but none is far off from each other.

They all come off as more sheer glosses which is something I prefer. The Sparkling Coral gives my lips some brightness and little shimmer makes them shine even more. This formula is one of my favorites (you can read about the Nude Sapphire which is my first and already used up gloss from this line).
Pink up the Volume is cooling and causes tingling effect (not as much as the new Volumizing Extreme lip booster) and adds just a touch of sheer color to my lips. I think I really picked out the best shade for my lips from this range.
Last is Be You Dew You! with nourishing shea butter. I feel like everyone loves these and that why I was so intrigued to pick one of them out. I decided to go with this pinky nude but it is a bit more pigmented and lighter than my lip color so it settles into my lines and doesn't look the best. I now wear lipstick underneath it to make it work but with this one I also have some issues with the scent, while it seems everyone raves about this sweet scent/taste is a bit much for me and I'm glad that I only picked out one because it will also be the last one form this range.

Sparkling Coral and Be You Dew You! have some sparkles to it and Pink up the Volume is a perfect cream but when I checked up the range different shades have different finishes.
For me the Generation Plump & Shine range still wins because these glosses are barely there scented, aren't sticky at all and they offer them in different shades and finishes.
I also very much love Volumizing lip booster because I'm a fan of minty sensation but I prefer to wear this type of lip products in the warmer weather and not in the Winter time so it is not as versatile as the first one.
My last favorite is obviously the Dewy-full lips because I didn't really get the shade that would suit me (completely my fault) but also the scent bothers me so I'm even thinking of throwing it away because I don't see myself going through the entire tube of it.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Shopping

Hello,

this past week I have been splurging. I purchased way more than I 'need' and when I came home and spread everything out I started to regret it. I have been really good this year and bought only a few items sprinkled through the entire year and now I caved in and bought too much. The store had a sale and I fell hard for it but at least I'm trying to comfort myself that some of the items are my staples or the ones that I already tried turned out to be really nice, so far there are no duds...

First is my beloved Catrice HD liquid coverage foundation in Light beige. Next is Essence camouflage matt liquid concealer in Light rose, I wanted to get the healthy glow one but since they didn't have it I decided to try this version. I haven't try it yet but since I use liquid concealer under my eyes... we will see. Next is a repurchased Essence all about matte powder that I loved back in the days but ever since I tried the Catrice all matt powder I stopped buying the Essence one. I wanted to try it out again to see, if it still works for me. The last powder is something new to me and I guess I was just curious and it is Essence mattifying compact powder.

I wanted to get a good lip stain for quite a while now and I will see if this one will get me where I want to and it is L'oreal I rule lip stain. This conditioning lip product is very talked about in the community and it seem like everyone is raving about it so I had to have it. I grabbed one of the Catrice dewy-full lips lip butter in the nude shade Be you! Dew you!. While I was at the Catrice stand I couldn't pass another shade from Catrice generation plump & shine gloss. I already have Nude Sapphire which is gorgeous but I wanted this one ever since I saw this beautiful coral number named Sparkling Coral. I don't own much from the brand She and I decided to change that by purchasing the Nude lip gloss in the shade 127. These Essence plumping nudes glosses in Big softie and XXL charm were also on my list for a long time and now I have them, I hope they won't disappoint me. The very last item is a lip balm and I got hooked when I saw it is a tube styled balm, I like anything glossy and this one is Blistex Cherry lip cream.

Here are some 'much needed' eye shadows (I really don't know jet where I will store them because I have so many). The first is Catrice The fresh nudes palette I love neutrals and that bright coral in the middle was what caught my eye. L'oreal  came out with these singles just recently and this one looked extra shiny and glossy so I had to bring it with me. Mine is in the shade Almighty. The last one is Essence Morning Glory eye shadow and I had no idea it looked so similar to the L'oreal one (I really was in the zone, just throwing items in my basked not really knowing what I was doing). It is pretty for sure but I will make sure I will swatch them side by side because I have a feeling that I won't need both.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Empties

Hello,

on this rainy day I collected all my empties. It is a colorful bunch of  awesome and some not so great products. Some of them I will definitely repurchase or I have already and some that I will never touch again.

First is Balea coconut water which smells awful, very plastic like so I hold my breath for as long as possible after using it but then it evaporates and I can't detect it anymore (thankfully this scent is discontinued but I think they now have just the non scented version and something with mint or citrus? Something refreshing maybe? I should check). I used it because the mist is so fine, it hits my face evenly and it is never too wet. I was pretty consistent and used it on top of my make up to avoid cakey and dry patches and it worked fine, so I'm definitely looking for a new one in a different scent or unscented version.
  
Next is what become my favorite foundation and it is Catrice HD liquid foundation in Light Beige. I love the pipette/dropper even though it is not that efficient but better than nothing. The color Light Beige is a perfect match and even though it is supposed to be matte it has some glow (no shimmer), it looks natural on the skin and the coverage is pretty high on its own but you can definitely build it up and go all out with it. I love it and I'm already using a new bottle of it.

Another favorite of mine is this Alverde aqua see algea essence. This watery essence took me by surprise. I really wasn't expecting much from it but this little baby moisturized my dehydrated skin with ease, I know you shouldn't use it on its own so I top it off with some moisturizing oil and it did wonders for my skin. This will most definitely end up again in my basket but first I have to use up some more expensive and less efficient essences and elixirs before I purchase it again.

I fell in love with the scent of this The Body Shop Vineyard peach body lotion. It really smell authentic and it is gorgeous but I have noticed that it wasn't moisturizing enough for my skin and I got some dry patches after I started using it (I can't verify that this lotion caused it but after I started using the oil that I will talk in a second my skin healed and now that I'm not using it anymore it looks like nothing happened). The scent was definitely amazing but nourishing properties weren't there.

So the magical miracle that I mentioned is this Melvita Jojoba oil. I ended up using it for so many things like removing my make-up (I started doing the triple cleanse, first is the oil to separate make-up from my face, second is some kind of gel to efficiently remove make-up off my face and third is cotton pad soaked with micellar water to make sure everything is clean). It definitely works as cleanser, then when my face was clean I would use a couple  of drops to moisturize my face, I used it on my arms where I developed some dry patches to sooth and nourish and I even used it on the ends of my hair. I definitely need more Jojoba oil in my life but first I will try to use some others up before repurchasing.

The very last item is this all in one Garnie skinactive rose 3 in 1, cream and mask. They suggest to use it in the morning and night but also as a mask if you don't mind slapping a thicker layer on. I didn't like it at all. It was not light enough, the texture reminded me of a butter so it was definitely not great for the day under make-up (at least for my oily skin), I tried it at night but after a while it absorbs and my skin didn't feel nourished but tight and not really taken care of and if I applied a thicker layer it just dried and it lay on top of my skin and did nothing. Well, probably it did something but the results were so minimal that I didn't notice them. At the end I just used it on my body and didn't worry about it.

This Trend it up Soft color butter pen lipstick in the shade 010 is so good, a perfect mix of gloss, lipstick and lip balm. I wish they would make more shades of them. I scrap everything out of the tube so there wasn't enough for the swatch but if you are curious some swatches are here. This formula is one of my favorites and I wish they would still make it.
Next are the Catrice beautifying lip smoothers in Coffee to go and Best mauve ever. I originally wanted the soft pink shade but since I couldn't find it I settled for these two. Nude one was a bit too light for me so I only wore it inside (so no one saw me) and the brighter berry one was a bit too bright and I was too scared to wear it in public in case of bleeding or going out of my lines. They had a nice formula but nothing too spectacular, if they would still be available I wouldn't get them. I didn't completely finish them because they started to smell so I decided to part with them and use something that is at least still good.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Soft color butter pen

Hello,

how are you doing? I found one of my almost forgotten lipstick. Oh boy, I have too much stuff and so my low buy is really the right path to take on this year.

I almost forgot that I bought this Trend it up Soft color butter pen lipstick in the shade 010. I think they have/had five or six shades (I got it from the discontinued shelf a while ago).

This rose color was the only one that I liked but I wish that they would make more softer, lighter colors instead of discontinuing this range.
Mine has some shimmer but on the lips isn't so obvious or blinding, it more so adds shine rather than sparkles.

They claim that this product has balm like properties (check, my lips were moisturized all day long without any other lip product), pigmentation of a lipstick (check, on my swatch there are only two layers) and shine like a gloss (check, do you see the reflection? I mean, you can almost see my face staring back at you).

This butter pen is exactly what I'm looking in a lipstick. It is moisturizing with some color and plenty of shine that makes my lips look juicy (keep in mind that I'm not a fan of matte textures).
I would highly suggest these to everyone who likes creamy lip products, you might have to dig deep but I think it is totally worth it if you can find them.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Empties

Hello,

this month really was short. It came to an end way too fast but the thing I'm glad is the Spring. It feels like it is just around the corner and I can't wait, what about you?

Tea tree oil makes my skin happier and I'm super glad that I have found this The Body Shop Tea tree pore minimiser primer. I don't think that it does much priming but what I love about it is that it makes my skin matte and it is treating my skin while I'm wearing make-up. I love it and  I have already repurchased it.

Next is a little 10 ml perfume from Avon and it is called Cherish the Moment. I used up the lotion, I believe last year and since I liked the scent I bought this mini version. The scent at first is very strong, sweet and I don't like it in this perfume version (at first it smells very fake and cheap, at least to my nose) but if I leave it on my skin to warm up a bit then it turns out to be rather nice. Still sweet and flowery but not so offensive. I imagine people easily get headaches if I would use it too much at once. I liked it and I did get some sweet comments at how lovely I smell but honesty I won't repurchase it again.

Last year I was in need for some night eye cream and I was too cheap to get my favorite (Avon Anew nutri-advance eye cream) so I bought a couple 'substitutes'. This one from Terra Naturi with pomegranate was a bit of a fail.  It is a white cream, a bit thicker but it does absorb nicely into the skin. The 'issue' I had was that my under eye area got really dry (I was sick for almost two months) and this didn't help much. I guess it is a nice cream but only if your eye area isn't too dry.

This big tub is Avon clearskin professional complete treatment pads. Inside you get 30 presoaked pads and even though they recommend to use them for cleaning I used them on clean skin and if I had any fresh breakouts it slightly burn so I avoided the eye area as much as possible. I honesty didn't notice any difference in my skin but for the most part I have to take the blame. I know I should use them regularly but I wasn't so the blame is on me. I won't repurchase them simply because I know I won't use them. I already have a lot of steps in my cleansing and moisturizing routine that is why this guy never got a fair chance.

Next is this third and last pot of Balea multipurpose cream. They constantly come out with new scents and they cost just a little over one euro so it is pretty easy to buy them. I really just wasn't thinking too much, I thought that it smelled great and I picked it up. The 'issue' I had with it was where to use it. It is a bit thicker cream that takes a while to absorb. The ingredients list isn't anything special so I wasn't using it on my face, the pot is small so if I  would use it all over my body I would be done with it after two or three uses. At the end I used it on my hands before leaving so I would put my gloves on top and the material absorbed all the excess, a bit gross but that was the only way I could think of finishing it up.

This little guy is super old (I believe it is my oldest eye shadow)Avon Color Trend Halo eye shadow. I remember it was marked as primer and shadow but it was too drying on my skin and everything creased even faster. I don't have any swatches of it (I already had a big pan showing in the center but the last part of it fell out which wasn't planned). It was very light like my skin tone with some shimmer. If it would be shimmer free I could easily use it on top of my pimples for some extra coverage (the pigmentation was insane) and for some drying effect. I mostly used it to fix mistakes, so if I went a bit too high with eye shadow on one eye or too far out I put this powder on top and it was covered. We had a good run but now it is retiring.

The very last used products are my beloved lippies. First we have beautiful Misslyn color kiss lipbutter in the shade Sunbath. The color is soft peach and I liked that it wasn't overly pigmented because  light milky shades can turn not so nice on the lips. This gave just enough color and plenty of shine to my lips and I can't praise it enough. I think they are still available but now my eyes are locked on the brighter pink shade.

Avon ultra glazewear absolute Renewing Rose lip gloss has to be my ultimate favorite one. This what you can see is the third and sadly also the last tube of it that I went through. Yep, I finished three tubes of the same color. That is called love  ;)  Avon makes lovely glosses and this one was not an exception. I loved the soft cushion-y feel, glossines and above all the mauve color which gave my lips just a hint of  color.

Next in line is another favorite of mine, it is Catrice Ultimate color Kiss me if you can lipstick and behold, this is the second tube of this exact color that I went through. This soft pink hue is perfect for my skin tone, I liked it so much that the intense shimmer in it didn't even bother me, in fact I kind of liked it. I know shocking ;)   I would get it again if Catrice would repromote it.

The very last item is the most bland of them all and it is Himalaya Cocoa butter lip balm. I say bland because it is sheer, colorless but it turns out to be a pretty nice balm. At first it felt a bit hard and I didn't liked it too much but after time it grew on me and maybe it even become a bit softer in texture so it was easier to spread. It had a slight cocoa scent which is a plus in my books but the thing that matters the most about lip balms is the nourishing component and this green baby had it. It was nice but at the moment I'm sort of drowning in lip balms so I have to finish what I have before I go out and buy some more.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Empties

Hello,

this is the last empties post for this year. I tried to finish as many products up as possible so I will enter new year with less clutter but I still have a couple almost done products that will just have to get used up next year.

To get the big bottle out of the way lets start with this Got2B dry volume shampoo. I loved the one in a big hot pink can but it is no longer sold so when I saw these colorful bottles I just had to try at least one out. To me it smells like a baby powder with some fake coconut mixed in it, not the biggest fan but still better than Syoss or Aussie ones. It leaves white cast on the hair so I had to shake and massage my hair really well to make it less obvious. It managed to cover my greasy scalp pretty well and I thought that I would repurchase it but I found something better for even less (Batiste Blush scented dry shampoo  ;).

Balea Best Wishes Orange and Grapefruit multipurpose cream is the second one I used up. Last year at the exactly the same time I finished up the Freesia and Violet scent that I loved so very much and mostly used it as a night cream. This orange version was more fresh and citrusy, the texture was the same, very light and fast absorbing but I didn't use it often on my face but mostly on my dry hands. The scent and the fact that it is around two if not three years old made me rethink and just to avoid agitating my face I rather used it on my hands which aren't so sensitive. This scent is gone but a couple of months ago I bought Peach one and I'm so excited to see if I will like it better than the Freesia and Violet which was my favorite.

The little pot is The Body Shop Mango lip butter which was given to me by my big sis when she went abroad (that was before TBS was available is Slo.). This smells divine and I will probably get myself a full pot of body butter but it is expensive so I'm postponing. The lip balm had nice light texture which absorbed way to fast for my liking. I would use it at night to pamper my lips but when I woke up they were dry and thirsty. I noticed that it didn't do much so I won't repurchase it again but I would get some other product with the same scent because that was great.

My third Melvita Lily's oil has come to an end. I love how well it heals my acne scars and hyperpigmentation. It doesn't happen over night but if I use it every second day at night over my night moisturizer my imperfections disappear faster (it takes around two months for the bright red dot to heal as if I don't use the oil I can see it for months and they are really hard to cover up even with the best concealers). I will most definitely repurchase it for as long as I will have acne scars.

The last product on the photo is another beloved product but I lost track at how many I used up. It is Avon Care glycerine hand, nail and cuticle cream (I usually get the limited edition packaging, the ingredients are the same just the outside is a little more fun looking, I actually already saw the packaging for the Spring and I will stock up for sure). The cream is fast absorbing and super nourishing, my dad who has sand paper dry hands don't like it (he prefers much heavier and greasier Afrodita's creams but I can't stand them) but my mom, sister and I swear by it. Like I said this is the 'normal' packaging with barely there cream scent. In the Winter they just repackage them, they do the same in the Spring but often ad some sort of a scent. This Spring it will be Jasmine  ;)

I had way too many products to gather on just one photo so I split them. Here the first item is my beloved Avon SuperShock Max mascara in black. It separates, elongates and hold the curl on my lashes at he same time. It is one of my favorites with a reason and this is my third or forth used up tube.

My lips were on the verge of drying out so I pampered them with a lot of oils. At night I would use Essence prettifying I care for you, Honey! lip oil. The scent is so lovely and soothing, it stayed on all the way till the morning when I would brush my teeth and apply fresh coat of Catrice luxury lips intensive care gloss oil in Rosachella Festival. This had a barely there scent/taste and it didn't last as long but I think it was a little better at moisturizing. They both carry very little product, Essence 4 ml and the Catrice just 3 ml so they were gone super fast but my lips are soft and nourished (I have one more from Catrice and four from Essence left, when they will be gone I will have to find something similar, in the near future Catrice will have a limited edition with two lip oils, I hope they will be any good).

On the top there is Catrice camouflage cream concealer in 010 Ivory. I fell in love with this baby the first time I used it. The shade is perfect for me and the slight yellow undertone matches me to the T. The coverage is fantastic and never too obvious. I already bought myself a backup and I hope they will never discontinue it (they will move out the three colored versions, yellow, pink and green so if you are into color correcting get them before the are gone for good).

This is one of my oldest eye shadows and I still like the two colors but they don't perform as good as they used to so I decided to declutter them. It is Avon duo in Healthy Glow (it is still available under the same name just the pans are now squared). The first shade is that typical champagne gold that I use so very often but now it has a major fallout and is just unusable. Golden shimmer end up everywhere so I just don't want to bother with it anymore plus I have so many other golden colors that I can use. The other one is a beautiful deep chocolate brown with some golden shimmer. I find it to be a bit dark so I started to crumble it and mixing it with another peachy shade to create custom shade that I actually really love to use. I still decided to toss it because I bought two duos at the same time, the other being Nutmeg Shimmer (no longer sold) and it has the exact same dark brown shade in it.

The very last item is Essence long lasting eye pencil in Cool Down. Beautiful bright blue shade but I rarely wore it on its own. I usually applied it over a black because otherwise it is a little too vivid for me. This formula is fantastic and for my hooded lids that tend to smudge almost every pencil this one stood the test of times and stayed put. I would buy some more shades from this line but I just figured it out that this line of pencils is discontinued!!!! They probably replaced them with the wooden Extreme lasting line and I already have one shade from it and it is also great so I guess I shouldn't be so very upset.




Thank you for reading and I wish you a happy new year!!!  :)

shopping

Hello,

I have been shopping a little and this time I decided to get only lip products (hello lip junkie).

Revlon Balm Stains Honey & Romantic, Misslyn Color kiss lip butter Sunbath

I got two Revlon Balm Stains, the neutral pink is Honey and the red one is called Romantic. Next my eye caught Misslyn Color kiss lip butters which were part of a limited edition back in the summer, I don't know if they made them permanent or they haven't sell them out but never the less I decided to get peachy neutral shade named Sunbath.
I haven't unpacked them yet but I will try them in the near future.


Thank you for reading and have a nice day