Spring fashion haul: pastels!

Hey everyone!

Technically it's already spring, but here in Belgium, it's actually snowing. Yeah, you read it correctly. IT'S SNOWING! No wait, it's more like a blizzard... Now don't get me wrong, I love snow, but only when it's being accompanied by christmas songs, a warm fireplace and lots of turkey. But after New Year's Eve, snow is a forbidden form of precipitation in my book.

To try to forget about the snow, I did what every woman does when she feels down. I shopped. I shopped a lot. Spring seemed to be shouting at me and waiting around every corner to jump in front of me and scream "Hey you, buy me, you'll look great!" and I gave in like a purring kitty that just got a furry toy.

The first kind of fashion item that made me go berserk, were pastel colored items. Last year, I was convinced that this trend wouldn't suit me. But this year, I fell in love with the sweet colors that reminded me of macaroons, flowers and taking naps in meadows.

It started out with pants. I know, so innocent. I needed lots of pants, since I had thrown away all my bad pairs and was left with just one very nice pair of Levi's. One pair of pants? That's not livable! I entered the dressing room with a whole stack of pants, thinking I would be incredibly lucky to even find one pair that fitted me. As it turned out, almost every pair fitted me. I bought two pairs of jeggings, two pairs of normal jeans and then the pastel colored pants caught my eye. And I was in love. I bought three pairs, one in a coral-pink color, a sky-blue color and a mint green color. Take a look at these beautiful babies!

All three pairs are from Yessica (C&A). On the way to the cash register I fell in love with this light coral-pink scarf and in my happy buzz I just grabbed it and hopped to the queueing line without thinking about it. Afterwards, I purchased this mint green baggy top at H&M and I got this striped coral-pink knitted sweater at Primark a few months ago.

And last but not least there's this amazing clutch I got at Primark for just three pounds! I think every girl would agree with me that three pounds for this clutch is a STEAL!

What do you think? Are pastel colors the it-trend for this spring and summer? What trend do you prefer?

xoxo
Anine

Current makeup routine

Hey everyone!

Recently I've been really changing up my makeup routine since I wanted a lighter look, instead of my usual full coverage face makeup. I went back to my Garnier BB cream that I hadn't used for ages and kind of rediscovered it. It stays on my face for so long!

During the week, I usually do my makeup at seven am. I get home at about five or six pm, but I usually still go out and don't have the time to redo my makeup. That means that my makeup has to stay on for at least thirteen hours, which isn't an easy task with my oily T-zone. The Garnier BB cream does the job even better than my usual Revlon colorstay foundation for combination/oily skin. I only look a tiny bit shiny when I get home, with the Garnier BB cream. With the Revlon colorstay... well I looks pretty messy at the end of the day, even when I touch up during the day (which is not necessary with the Garnier BB cream).

That was pretty much the biggest change in my makeup routine. I started using a bit more eyeshadow again as well. I stopped using too much eyeshadow since christmas, since my eyelids have been dry, irritated and acting weird. Also, my eyes get extremely watery and pretty much erase all of my eye makeup - which I hate so much since I'm obsessed with eyeshadow. The irritation has gotten better, the wateriness of my eyes hasn't. I'm too stubborn to completely forget about eyeshadow!

Without further ado, here are the makeup products I have been using this month!

I forgot to put my eyeliners in the picture -.-

Garnier BB cream Miracle skin perfector for combination/oily skin -- in light

Estée Lauder Double wear Stay-in-place flawless wear concealer -- in 02 light medium

Rimmel Stay matte powder -- in 005 Silky beige

Rimmel Natural bronzer -- in 022 Sun bronze

ELF Blush -- in Candid Coral

Urban Decay Original Primer Potion 

MAC quad with eyeshadows -- in Vanilla, Woodwinked and Swiss Chocolate (the colour Orange I don't use in my daily makeup routine)

MAC eye kohl -- in Blooz

Maybelline Master precise liquid eyeliner -- in Black/Noir

Maybelline The falsies mascara

Benefit They're real! mascara

Bourjois Sourcil précision eyebrow pencil -- in 04 blond foncé

Sleek Pout polish -- in Perfect plum

Hope you enjoyed reading about my current makeup routine!
xoxo

Conceal away babe!

Concealers are the big secret of every beauty addict. With just a swipe of the product, your face becomes brighter. Concealing your dark under-eye circles hides the previous long night you had, whether you were working or partying. Concealing your blemishes hides the fact that you’ve been eating way too much chocolate. And applying concealer on the high points of your face can wake your face up as if you just had a very natural looking facelift. It helps the face in amazing ways. I discovered the power of concealer a few months ago, when I purchased the Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting concealer.

I knew from all the Youtube channels and blogs I followed, that this was supposed to be a dupe for the Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) Touche Eclat. This cult item has been cherished in the beauty world for many years, but also very misunderstood. The not so addicted beauty users are not aware of the fact that the YSL Touche Eclat isn’t a concealer; it’s a highlighting pen. This product is not used to hide blemishes, but the colour the high points of your face in a lighter shade with the famous Kim Kardashian-effect as result.



I’ve been dreaming about owning the YSL Touche Eclat for years and when I heard that the Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting concealer was supposed to be a dupe, I HAD to try it. The effect is amazing. I don’t think I’ll ever end up buying the real thing, because the Maybelline version has changed my make-up routing in amazing ways. I’ve run out of it about a week ago, and never imagined I would miss it that much. I said to myself “I’m not gonna go and buy another one, I have way too much concealers to use up!” I couldn’t justify repurchasing it, but can’t wait until I can! Now I try using other concealers in the same way, but the result is not nearly as flawless as the Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch. I LOVE THIS THING!

Other concealers I have been trying out are the Benefit Erase Paste and The Collection (2000) Lasting Perfection. But more about that later. The Estée Lauder Double Wear has been my basic every-day concealer for years. I once tried it as a teenager when I found it in my mom’s make-up bag. Ever since I’ve been using it. It gives amazing coverage over dark circles and I believe it is highly underestimated in the blogging community. I love it, but it’s not cheap enough to repurchase. I would repurchase the Maybelline Dream Lumi touch, but that isn’t supposed to cover your dark circles or bad blemishes.

The old and new packaging of the Estee Lauder Double Wear

I decided I had to try another drugstore concealer to replace my high-end Estée Lauder Double Wear for under-eye purposes. I had heard a lot of good things about the Maybelline FIT ME concealer, and so I have purchased that to give it a try.

As another cheap alternative for under-eye treatment, I tried the Collection (2000) Lasting Perfection. I liked it and stocked up on it when I was studying in the UK and since it’s not available in Belgium. It does the job, which is amazing if you take a look at the price tag. You pay about five/six pounds for it in the UK. The only thing I don’t like about it, is the smell. It’s not a very pleasant smell, but I can look (or smell) past that if it works properly.

The last concealer I will be talking about is the Benefit Erase Paste. I haven’t been trying it out to the maximum but it seems to be okay. The consistency is totally different to the previous concealers I talked about. This concealer is creamier and it’s orange-coloured to counteract the blue- and purpleness of the under-eye area. It’s pretty hard to find a decent powder to set it though, since it’s that thick and creamy. That means it can crease pretty bad during the day, so watch out for that!

I hope this concealer post was helpful to you!