Empties #4

It's empties time! Not much explaining to do here, I show you all the products I finished the past months and tell you my final thought on them! Sit back and relax because I collected quite a bunch of products.

Just to make one thing clear; I do regularly wash my hair, y'all. Every other day, even! For some reason I just really go through these Batiste dry shampoos like nobodies business. I pretty much only use them for my small baby hairs that tend to get greasy pretty quickly. 

I don't really notice a big difference between the different kinds of Batiste dry shampoos, only that some smell different. But they work perfectly for me, it can't get simpler than this.

These are my makeup empties and I've finished quite a few products (I'm so proud of myself). I ran out my Revlon colorstay foundation for oily/combination skin, it was nice but the high coverage was too much for me. I love other foundations more so won't be coming back to this one very soon. 

Also my Bourjois brow pencil in Blonde really was getting pathetically small and annoying to use. It lasted me years and I've already repurchased. It's perfect for a very subtle brow look.

The Rimmel Stay Matte Powder was also totally finished. I probably won't repurchase, I got my eye on the MAC Mineralized skinfinish natural!

Another Rimmel product, this time the Rimmel Scandaleyes mascara. I won't repurchase it, since the wand was so ridiculously big! I could hardly touch my lashes without blinding myself! Check out the full review here. 

The other two mascara samples I finished are the Benefit They're Real mascara and the Chanel Le Volume de Chanel mascara. Liked them both quite a lot, read the full review here and here.

The last makeup empty I have for you is the Maybelline Magic Lumi concealer in 01 light. I love this so much, but have so many concealers to finish first, so I'm going to have to hold myself back. It's just so darn cheap!

Skincare! And lots of it! Firstly, I finished the Vichy Laboratoire Normaderm Nuit, a night cream for acne-prone skin. Liked it for a while, don't like it anymore. It felt nice but it didn't really seem to do much for my skin.

The same story for the Clinique anti-blemish solution cream and the Biotherm Biosource foaming cleaning gel. They were both okay, but didn't seem to make a difference. 

The La Roche-Posay Effaclar Mat anti-blemish moisturizer however, I really like and have repurchased. It really helps to control the oils in my T-zone. 

Some more skincare items: the Garnier exfoliating gel really didn't to anything for my skin, I barely noticed a difference if I used it or not. I'm still on the hunt for my Holy Grail exfoliator! 

I've been using the Nivea eye makeup remover for a very long time and it does its job perfectly. It removes all my makeup, doesn't sting my sensitive eyes and is cheap too!

Another Labello lip balm bites the dust. I will not be repurchasing though, since I've been noticing they haven't really been moisturizing my lips, they just make them crave for more lip balm. In the market for a new one!

And here we have the Lancôme cleansing milk. I like it and purchased the full size a while back, but don't know if I like it enough to keep repurchasing it though.

Last but not least, we have these two -very dirty because of foundation stains- Urban Decay Setting Sprays, the All Nighter one and the De-Slick one. I liked them both and noticed a clear difference. The All Nighter setting spray really helped my makeup stay on longer and left my foundation with a beautiful natural finish. 

The De-Slick setting spray does help with oil, but I feel like it doesn't make my makeup stay on longer. So if I'd repurchase, I think I'd go for the All Nighter setting spray!

Few, that were A LOT of empties! Have you tried any of these products? Do you have any recommendations for me?

Xoxo Anine

Mascara Review: Benefit they're real

This mascara has got the Blogosphere gone mad. This mascara from benefit is more expensive than your regular drugstore one, so you could already classify this as a more high-end mascara. I received this as a sample when I got the Benefit Mr Bright gift set for my birthday last year. I finally finished it and so, here's me review of this sample size.

The one thing that makes the huge difference with this mascara, is the wand. It's plastic and at the beginning I disliked it a lot. I've been using make-up for years, but this wand apparently made it very easy for me to stab my eyes with. However, the result of the mascara was stunning.

This mascara separated my lashes like nobody's business and it lengthened them as well. It didn't give a lot of volume. When the mascara was still very wet (as they always are when they're brand new), I did only apply two coats. After a third coat, my lashes looked a bit too spiderlike. When it dried out a bit though, I didn't have that problem anymore.

Would I repurchase this? Probably not, since I have enough drugstore mascara's I like that are cheaper. But if you're in the market for a more high-end mascara that makes it look a bit as if you have false lashes on, this could be the mascara for you!

Xoxo
Anine

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!