Empties #6

Yes, exams are killing me right now. No, let's not talk about it. This quick blogpost is the sixth in its series, it's EMPTIES TIME! So to any new readers, I basically explain to you what products I've been using up and what my thoughts were on them. Let's get started. 

HAUL: USA beauty

As I told you in my USA beauty wishlist post, my friend Maxime from laviedemaximee.blogspot.be went to New York last month, and the amazing darling she is, she brought me back LOTS of goodies. 

Stay tuned, people. It's gonna be amazeballs.

First she got me some MAC goodies that are way cheaper in the US (like the newer MAC eyeshadow palette) or are even unavailable in the Belgian MAC stores.

The newer MAC palette:

MAC eyeshadow in Omega: 

MAC eyeshadow in Soft Brown (unavailable in Belgium):

MAC eyeshadow in Expensive Pink:

All kinds of lip products! FOUR shades of the Maybelline Color Whispers (unavailable in Belgium), two of the L'Oréal Color Riche Extraordinaires (very expensive in Belgium) and one MAC lipstick in Coral Bliss (unavailable in Belgium):

Face products galore: The Maybelline Instant age rewind concealer, a back up of my Rimmel Stay Matte powder, and the Milani blush in Luminoso (unavailable in Belgian stores) and the NYC bronzer in Sunny (unavailable in Belgium).

And lastly, Maxime also brought me my favorite mascara: the Covergirl clump crusher, the Jordana Fabuliner (unavailable in Belgium) and the Origins GinZing eye cream.

A huge thanks to my girl Maxime!! You're truly an angel for picking up so many of my goodies!

xX Anine

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

My go-to eyeliner look

Lately, I've totally been loving my daily eyeliner combination. The Rimmel Scandaleyes Kohl Kajal in Sparkling Black and Nude and the Maybelline Master precise liquid eyeliner are my favorite products for a light, but defined eyelook. 

I tend to line the tightline with the black Rimmel kohl liner. Afterwards I smudge some on the upper lash line and soften the look with the Real Techniques angled brush. Then I line the waterline with the peachy Rimmel kohl liner, for a wide-eyed effect which opens up the eye and gives the illusion of bigger eyes. 

For a more defined look, I finish off with the Maybelline liquid liner. 

What eyeliner look do you tend to create on a daily basis?

Xoxo Anine

REVIEW: Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer in Big Bang

Hi everyone,

I'm sure everyone has seen and heard about the Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquers. I recently picked up the color Big Bang, as you can see in my London haul! I have been really liking it in combination with a very simply eye look. Some powder, some mascara and eyeliner and this lip lacquer as the cherry on the cake! Simply Gorgeous.

Packaging: I love how the color of the product is visible. Because of this, no way you will buy a wrong color because the packaging is deceiving. It has a handy dope foot applicator, which allows you to apply the product very precise.

Quality: The color has a blue undertone, which is my favorite kind of red lip products, plus it makes your teeth look whiter! The pigmentation is insane, and that's what I love about it. You get exactly what you expect to from this product.

It stays on for hours, stains the lips but doesn't feel drying, even though it has a sort of matte, slightly velvet finish. I do have to reapply after eating or after about six hours.

Price: Normally I would've paid £6.50 for the lip lacquer, but there was a sale going on at Boots and so I actually got it for free (typical girl math, no?). But I do feel that this price is very affordable for a product that works so amazingly.

 Conclusion: Love. I desperately want more colors!


Have you tried the Apocalips Lip Lacquers? Which one is your favorite color?

Xoxo Anine

REVIEW: Rimmel Exaggerate undercover shadow primer

What, a drugstore eye primer? You mean, I can find an eyeshadow primer that is as good as my NARS eyeshadow primer, but costs just a fraction of the price? You'll have to read on to find out!

All hail on deck, the eyeshadow primers seem to finally start hitting the drugstore shelves. Well, in the UK at least they have, since I still haven't seen any drugstore eyeshadow primers in the drugstores in Belgium. I picked up the Rimmel Exaggerate undercover shadow primer on my London trip at the local Boots counter. Well, what's it like??

Well first of all; what does it claim to do?

"Rimmel's unique primer to maximise the colour and wear of your eyeshadow! Makes color waterproof! Apply to lid, let try, apply eyeshadow colour."

Packaging: The packaging looks nice, sturdy, decent and qualitative. It wouldn't break easily. The product has a dope foot applicator, just like my NARS eyeshadow primer.

Quality: The product comes out very watery and colorless, similar to the NARS one, only a bit more fluid.

How does it do the job? After applying, it dries fast and easily. It might give the eyeshadow colors some extra pigmentation, but it is not very noticeable.

Already a few minutes after applying, my eyelids became greasy and my eyeshadows creased a few hours later. My liquid liner transferred immediately to my hooded eyelid and thus, I walked around with very indian warrior-esk stripes on my eyelids. Not really the look I was trying to achieve.

Conclusion: What a let down. I expected too much from this product, just because it seemed similar in packaging to the NARS eyeshadow primer. A real shame! I won't be repurchasing. Maybe if you don't have very oily lids though, this might work for you.

What is your favorite eyeshadow primer?

Xoxo

Anine

MASCARA REVIEW: Rimmel Scandaleyes

Here I am with another mascara review! It’s been my first time trying a Rimmel mascara and since it looked so amazingly volumizing, I wanted to try it.

Quality:

This mascara volumizes and seperates quite well, but I still like to layer another mascara over it for lengthening and more seperating. However, I find it sometimes difficult to use because of the huge brush.

Packaging:

Yes, because of the huge brush! Seriously, how gi-normeous is this thing?? I had such a hard time not putting mascara on my eyelids because the brush is too big for my tiny, hooded eyes. Never thought I would ever bump upon a stupid issue like that!

 I don’t really dislike this mascara. It’s okay. It’s workable and looks nice when layered with a lengthening mascara. However it’s not jaw dropping. And I did notice I disliked it more and more once it got drier. I'm not repurchasing it.

Have you tried the Rimmel Scandaleyes?

Xoxo,

Anine