Empties

Hello,

the end of the month is here and I'm back with my empties post. I think I have quite a lot of products this time but not as much as I had at my last end of the month one where I split post into two.

First we have old Avon On Duty Extreme Fresh deodorant for men. They discontinued this line a couple of years ago and since I loved it I bought a couple of backups. Till then I only tried one female version from this line and when they went out of production there weren't much of a choice and I think everyone would agree with me that when you find deodorant that works for you then you stick with it plus I like men scent so at the end it was all good. In smaller print it says it is antiperspirant deodorant (I won't bore you with the difference since I believe you already know it). While using it I think I still sweat as usual so did it work as antiperspirant? No, but it had nice manly and slightly peperminty scent which became more obvious when I was sweating. For me this line worked and I was so happy that Avon decided to came back with it, some of the names are the same so maybe they didn't tweak the formula too much and they are still the same. Hope dies last, right?

Next is Himalaya Neem Foaming Face Wash for normal to oily skin. I won't blab too much since this is my second bottle already and I really think it works for my skin and it is not too expensive. I dedicated to it the entire post here. I would repurchase it but at the moment I have at least three other washes which I need to clear up but after that I will probably get another bottle of this.

In purple bottle is old Avon planet SPA Provence Lavender and Jasmine overnight facial oil. I bought this ages ago and completely forgot about it. When I dig it out I didn't dare to use it on my face but I rather used it as a body oil and my skin seemed fine with it. It had lovely scent, more of a Jasmine with just a hint at the end of Lavender. I would definitely repurchased it if it would still be available or something in the same scent.

These two fellas were featured on my blog just recently. They are part of Avon Color Trend line, nude is called Urban Bliss and purple is Pucker. I like the formula from this line and the scent but mine are couple of years old and the scent on Urban Bliss changed while Pucker isn't the shade I would like to wear. I remember I bought them (at the same time I purchased also the third bright red shade named Kiss) because they were cheap and I wanted to try some more colors but at the same time I thought if I won't like them I can still toss them because I didn't pay much for them. At the end that happened, UB. is half used while I used P. only a handful, my only hope is to finish the red shade before it goes gross.

The last item is Alkmene tea tree oil infused toner. I liked this product and I tried to use it day and night to keep my skin clear but honestly when it got better I stopped using it. I reached over only when I had breakouts and in combination with all other products I really don't know if on its own really did anything but at least I had a good feeling. It didn't harm my skin and I really like the scent of tea tree oil so probably I will repurchase it but I still have some other 'normal' toners which I have to use up first before purchasing more.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Brown no. 1

Hello,

awhile ago I received a package from Korea with this cheek product in it. I know, I purchased some other cheek products before that one so they should be on the blog first, right? I couldn't resist and focused more on this one.

A'pieu pastel blusher in the shade BR01. There are ten shades within this range and one of them is highlighter and one is bronzer, which is what I got. I thought I will pick this one up since Korean girls are so pale I thought it will be a nice color for me as well.

It comes in a very simple white packaging with see through plastic on top to see the color, there are no mirror or brush added but it doesn't bother me.

When I swatched it on my hand the color didn't meet my expectations. It looks more orange than brown and I think it shows on the photo. It doesn't contain any glitter or shimmer but it also isn't completely flat, maybe a soft velvet finish? 

It is very pigmented so I have to be careful when I use it, a little goes a long way. 

At first I was a bit disappointed but then I asked myself what is the difference between bronzer and a blush for me? I use both only on my cheeks, I don't warm up my face with bronzers, I'm too scared to look out of place so I only use it on my cheeks. The difference is in the color, while blushes come in wide array of colors, bronzers are more or less similar, right? So what am I complaining about? Instead of a brown bronzer shade I got orange-y blush, which is my favorite color for the cheeks anyway. 

I decided to embrace this lovely color, it is not as neutral as I expected but it is still nice and I will wear it a lot. 

Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Urban Bliss

Hello,

it was last week when I was chatting about these Color Trend lip glosses. My main focus was purple/mauve tone but today I have another one from the same line. The color is also rather unusual and hard to find among other brands.

Avon Color Trend lip gloss in the shade Urban Bliss. The packaging is typical with a doe foot applicator and white cap. Bottle contains 6 ml of product.

The color is caramel nude with a strong but very small golden shimmer. It looks like it is made out of little sparkles. I prefer my lip products to be shimmer free but this one has such small particles that they don't bother me that much.

It has the same warm vanilla scent as the other shade and it wears off nicely. Because it contains a lot of shimmer it tends to stay on the lips after the shine is gone but that only makes it more opaque with the next layer.
This warm tone didn't suit me that much but I liked to use more neutral nude lipstick underneath and it looked very pretty. Not that long time ago I tried mixing it with another lip gloss (bright coral which I don't feel totally comfortable wearing it on its own) and that was my favorite combination.
I manged to use up half of  the product but unfortunately the scent changed (I have it for over three years now, so it was expected to die soon). I was forced to toss it before finishing it up (I hope I will learn something from this and stop buying new lip products until I use up at least half of what I have).
I liked this color but it wasn't my favorite so probably I won't repurchase it but I would like to try some more shades from this lovely range of lip glosses. Low price doesn't always mean that the product is crap.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Project polish

Hello,
 
another month has gone by and I have been good. No new nail varnishes in my stash but again I manged to clear two of them out. None of them was within my favorites so I'm happy to finish them and I won't look for a replacement.

First is a Catrice in the shade Put Lavender on Agenda. I love lavender color on my nails but this one was a tad too dark and too smokey. I prefer them to be lighter and more vibrant, so I'm not shedding any tears. I reviewed it on the blog in January and it surprises me how much I liked it back then, continuous use really changes my opinion.

Next is from the brand smart girls get more and it only have a number 4 on the bottom so I assume that is the shade. I would never get such a bright color, let alone in pink. I won it in a giveaway and I gave it a chance, I painted my toes and I actually liked it. Once or twice I wore it on my nails so the bottle got empty pretty fast because it only hold 5 ml of product. If you are interested how it looked on my nails you can see it here.


Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Silk proteins

Hello,

today I would like to continue with the hair care. I already reviewed the oil from this line and now it is the time to talk about the shampoo and conditioner. As mentioned Avon decided to repackage the entire AT line and among the new tubes I can't find these two products, are they leaving for good?

So, Avon Advance Techniques Smooth as Silk shampoo and conditioner are presented on the photo.
The scent is typical and lovely. I started to use them at the same time and my hair looked a bit greasy and unruly, especially toward the ends. Something was weighting them down and they constantly looked frizzy just like if I was living in a very humid environment, which I don't.
Next time I skipped the conditioner and my hair looked like usual self, apparently I was using to much conditioner, I never thought that this is possible. Twice I have used only the shampoo and it cleansed my hair and also gave them some shine. When they dried they felt soft, silky and completely straight (my natural hair texture is pretty flat but sometimes they get an accidental  curl while asleep, when using this shampoo on its own there were no curls). Now I use just a little bit of conditioner after shampooing my hair twice and it is fine but I am not happy about it because I can't see the difference if I use it or not.
If this duo would still be available I might pick another tube of shampoo but definitely not the conditioner, it doesn't do much for my hair.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Smooth as Silk

Hello,

I'm a long time fan of Avon hair products. They always worked for me so I never felt the need to buy stuff from other brands. In the current brochure I noticed that they are discontinuing the entire Advance Techniques line but don't worry, it looks like they will repackage everything and most of the lines and products will remain. Maybe they will make minor changes with the ingredients but nothing major.

I started to use my second bottle of this Avon AT Smooth as Silk hair oil when I saw that they are in the process of repackaging. Out of curiosity I checked the next brochure and I couldn't find it so I thought when in doubt buy backups.
I purchased two bottles and imagine my surprise when they came in new packaging (I thought that they discontinued it!). Oh well, now I have three almost full bottles of this miracle and I'm good for next two years (second bottle with yellow toned oil is the new bottle).

First, pink packaging is the old one and next to it is the new box of the same oil so you can compare and see that they didn't change much.
This oil has the same AT typical scent which I adore. I like to use one pump on the bottom half of my hair and they immediately look better. More moisturized and shinier also it tames little fly aways. I know, you will say every oil does that but this particular one keeps them like that for longer (I also used the dry ends serum with the green pump and argan oil from the same AT line and they only worked until the oil absorbed but everyones hair are different).
I would suggest to use it carefully because after all this is still oil and if you apply too much it will look greasy. I have pretty long hair, mid back or maybe even a bit longer and one pump on dry hair is enough, if I'm working with wet hair then two pumps.
Like I said, this oil works for my hair really well and I don't need to use it every single day so one 30 ml bottle usually lasts me around 10 to 12 months (now you understand that I'm really stocked up with them) but no worries because they didn't decided to stop making it so if you want to try it you can still get it.



Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Victorian Rose

Hello,

finally the weather has started to cool down and all of a sudden I feel like wearing more pink toned blushes opposed to peach. I wonder how long that faze will last but it is all good because I decided to wear one particular blush to test it out and I can already reveal that I ended up really liking it.

It is Deborah hi-tech marbled blush in the shade Victorian Rose. There were four different shades available and after swatching them all they all came off shimmery so if you're a fan of matte cheeks than they won't be right for you.

On the skin it comes off as a very light warm rose shade with lots of silver sparkle so there is no need for adding highlighter. I'm very cautious when it comes to pink cheeks because I don't think I can pull it off and I simply don't like it but this shade is subtle enough. I love that it is buildable, one soft layer gives you just a little shimmer (sometimes I use it on top of a different blush to add some glow) or two layers to get this nice flushed colored cheeks. 

I understand that not everyone likes shimmer but I am very fond of it. This Victorian Rose blush become one of my favorites very quickly and I don't see myself stop using it anytime soon. 

Thank you for reading and have a nice day