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

Paris haul!

I picked up some goodies from my amazing trip in Paris! Look at the damage I did!

The first stop was Sephora. I picked up the Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer in Light. It’s supposed to be oil free and perfect for acne-prone or sensitive skin. It provides a smooth, matte finish. I specifically wanted to try it to make my makeup stay on longer.

I also wanted to pick up the Urban Decay All Nighter Setting spray. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in stock that day and I had to go to the big Sephora on the Champs-Elysées (which was INSANE). This setting spray should ‘keep your makeup looking gorgeously just applied for up to 16 hours, without melting, fading, or settling into fine lines.’ The result should be smoother-looking skin and of course makeup that lasts all day. That’s why I bought it.

I got this polish for free when I signed up for the Sephora membership card (which was free). I’ve already tried it and love it!

Then I went by the MAC store in the Quartier Latin. I exchanged my six back-to-mac products for a lipstick. Originally, I had other lipsticks on my list, but after three “Ce n’est pas en stock!” I decided to just go and look for lipsticks I liked, instead of looking for the names such as Patisserie or Cream Cup. I also picked up a blush.

I ended up with this lipsticks I would normally never go for: Chatterbox. Although I don’t usually like blue-toned pinks, this one just stole my heart and I’ve already worn it so much!

Then I also gave in and after almost a year of yearning for this blush, I purchased the MAC mineralize blush in Love Thing. It looks stunning in the pan and on the cheeks. The man at the counter said “Wouldn’t you like a pale pink better?” but I stubbornly wanted Love Thing.

how stunning is that!?

Then of course, last but not least, I got me some Bioderma. A lot of it. My boyfriend looked at me in doubt, but I explained how in the end, it would be a lot cheaper when stocking up in Paris. He understood and even helped me carry two damn litres of Bioderma. Now that’s true love.

Do you own any of these items yourself? How do you like them?

Xoxo,

Anine

Paris shopping list

Today, I’m leaving on a four-day trip to the amazing city that is Paris. For the last weeks I’ve been working to save up some sort of budget so I could at least make a few purchases whilst being in the city of blinding lights!

We all know Paris is known for its amazing farmacies. Apparently a world of magical skincare products unfolds when arriving in a Parisian farmacy. I also want to check out a Sephora and a Muji store where I might/maybe/kind of make some purchases *looks innocently*. Keep on reading to see what’s on my Paris Wishlist!

1. Bioderma H20 Solution Miccelaire -- 500 ml €8,75/500mlx2 €15,90

2. Muji 5 drawer box -- €30

3. MAC lipstick in Patisserie – €18.50

4. SMASHBOX Photo finish unificateur de teint léger/face primer --12ml: €14,5/30ml: €31,5

5. Caudelie Beauty Elixer – (Don’t know the price in Paris, online it's 100ml/€33.65)

6. Urban Decay De-slick setting spray -- €24       

A short explanation why I chose these products: Basically I’m stocking up on Bioderma since Paris is the mothership of Bioderma and so it is much cheaper!

I have been wanting the 5 drawer set from Muji for a very long time but am still in doubt if I want to buy it or not... 

I can’t pick up Urban Decay or Smashbox in Belgium, except if it’s a webshop. It'll be nice to check these products out at Sephora Paris!

I would also like to try the Caudelie beauty elixer and I’m back-to-maccing my empty products and trading them for a free lip product, since we can’t back-to-mac in Belgium. I think I'm going to choose Patisserie since it’s a french name and I want to use it to remember this trip to Paris (I know, pretty childish right).

Have you tried any of these products? What products would you recommend I pick up from Paris?

Xoxo,

Anine

Empties #1

It was about time for a first empties post! Empties are the products you use up. Since you've used them all up, you know quite well if you like them, if they work like they're supposed to and if you'd repurchase them.

I've collected these empty items in the last months:

  

Let's start off simple. The first item I used up is this base coat from the Dutch drugstore Hema. It's cheap and it worked just fine. Since I've never used anything besides this, it's not relevant to compare this.

I also ran out of my MAC Oil control lotion, that I use as my daily moisturizer. I started using this about a year ago and it definately helps to control the oil in my skin. I always thought I had oily skin, but since I started using the MAC Oil control lotion, I know that actually I have a combination skin since only my T-zone gets oily. This is probably my second bottle of it, and I've already used a fair amount of my repurchased one. It's still going strong!

 This Maybelline the Falsies Volume Express Mascara has been gone for a while and I've had several tubes of it. It's the best mascara I've used so far, but I won't be repurchasing it for a while, since I'm testing out a lot of new ones. I do think I will eventually go back to this one.

My Vichy Normaderm exfoliating gel has gone too *snif snif*... I loved it, it left my skin pretty much spotless (which is extremely rare for me). I have a lot of samples and exfoliators I need to try out, but after that, I will definately be repurchasing this.

The Vichy solution micellaire is from the same Normaderm line as the exfoliator. I liked this, but tried out the Bioderma one afterwards and simply liked that better. I still have a second bottle of this have to use up though. 

So naturally, here is the small Bioderma Sensible H²0 Solution Micellaire bottle. I tried it out and loved it. On my trip to Paris I will be stocking up! This is the one for sensitive skin and it worked perfectly, but I know that there's also one for oily skin in this line. However, from the online reviews it seems to be less effective. Have you tried both? What do you think I should try?

I also finished this L'Oréal Elnett Satin Hair spray for extra volume. I love it and have been using it for a long time. It doesn't make my hair crunchy, it gives it that extra *Ooomph* that my hair needs in the morning. Will be repurchasing this.

And last but not least, I've used up this Urban Decay Naked skin foundation in color 3.0 a few months ago. I liked the light to medium coverage and easy application very much, but was disappointed by the staying power. This shouldn't be the case when you buy a more high-end foundation. I am very interested to see if the Revlon Nearly Naked (which is supposed to be the drugstore dupe) stays on longer? They don't seem to be selling it in Belgium, though. But I won't be repurchasing the Naked Skin foundation.

Have you used any of these products? Which ones did you like and dislike?

Xoxo,
Anine

Urban Decay Naked Basics

Urban Decay's latest product, the Naked Basics palette, had caused a lot of uproar in the online beauty community. The new palette consists of six matte eyeshadow shades. There's a champagne colour, a beige, a sandy, a light brown, a dark brown and a black colour.

The one thing every beauty addict is wondering with this palette, is: Is it comparable to the other two Naked palettes? Do I need it if I have the others? The shadows are supposed to compliment the first two palettes, but are actually quite similar to the matte colours that come in the previous Naked palettes.

The Naked Basics palette is very small and so easy to take with you when travelling. But do we want all very toned down eyelooks? What if we want to go to a party? Then we'd miss the sparkles from the first two Naked palettes.

If you're a real make-up junkie, this palette might be perfect for you. The Urban Decay palettes are undoubtedly some of the best on the market. But if you have the first two palettes, this might be a bit too much of repetition for you. 

The Urban Decay Naked Basics palette retails for 27 dollars, 20 euros or 17 pounds.

Fall beauty favorites

Can you believe how fall is already coming to an end? Call me an early bird, but Christmas and winter is pretty much all I can think about. So even though we still have a few weeks of fall left, I already have my fall favorites ready to share!


Coastal Scents 88 Original palette

I've been wanting this palette for years, but always thought I wouldn't spend my money on these pretty bright colours. One night, I couldn't resist anymore and bought it online. When it arrived at my home, I was very impressed with it. Coastal scents packaged the palette so secure with meters of bubble wrap, so no damage could be done to the palette. I love the colours. It's not comparable to a MAC eyeshadow; but you definately get your money's worth. I don't use it daily, but I do use it weekly for nice colours to add to my eyemakeup looks.



Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation

I went to an Urban Decay night several weeks ago and got a discount. I was looking for a liquid foundation and had heard some amazing things about this one so decided to pick it up. I have been using it every day and am loving it so much. I was a bit concerned about wearing liquid foundation with my oily skin, but this might be the only liquid foundation that I could even maybe wear without a setting powder. I wouldn't, but I could. It leaves a nice dewy finish on the skin, has nice medium but buildable coverage and fits my skin so perfectly. Three words: I. Love. This!



Sleek Makeup Pout Polish

I heard some nice things about the Sleek pout polishes. I bought them in two colours, Perfect Plum and Peach perfection, but absolutely love the Perfect Plum colour. It works as a tinted lip conditioner and is very moisterizing. Also, I thought the colour would fade after about half an hour/an hour, since that's what happens with my Labello tinted lip balms. But I was surprised to see that it stays on for hours. I also love the colour, because even though it's pretty dark and red, the colour is very wearable and I've already used it a lot!



MAC Russian Red Lipstick

I got this lipstick as a gift for my birthday and have had in on my wishlist for quite a while. I remember putting it on my lips a few years ago after secretly trying my mom's lipstick on. I was amazed by its staying power and saw that it was MAC's Russian Red. Since that day I had been dreaming about getting my own. It's a bright colour so not the most everyday lipstick, but it's perfect for holiday partys or when you go out for drinks. I do use it on a daily basis, I just dab the colour on so it gives a faded and less bright effect.



Lush Tea Tree water

I can't believe I hadn't tried this before. I heard raving reviews everywhere about this product, but I try not to buy too much skin products, since I have testers lying around everywhere that I still have to finish. But when I bought this (the small bottle) and used it, it felt as if I was at a spa. It felt very nice, softening and revitalizing for my skin. This product is perfect for oily and acne-prone skin.



Rituals Facial Tonic

I've been using this product for a long time, but I'm running out of it sadly enough and now realize how much I actually loved it and how much use I got out of it. This toner freshens up my face and makes it feel really healthy and dewy.



Realtechniques brushes

 

 

Since I'm on my exchange program in England right now, I thought that this would be my only chance every to pick up the Realtechniques brushes. These brushes were made by Samantha Chapman, Youtube guru from Pixiwoo. I first bought the Expert Face brush which I use for applying foundation and it works wonders. As mentioned before, I've just started using liquid foundation because I always believed my skin was too oily for liquid foundation, but it got too dry for my MAC Studio Fix Foundation. So I needed a brush that made it very easy to apply foundation, since I am a newbie at the liquid kind. This brush really saved me and has made me more experienced in applying liquid foundation. I also bought the blush brush. It took me a bit longer to learn to love this one, but now I understand how to properly use it and how much to put on the brush, it does the job perfecty. I ended up splurging on the eye brush kit and the seperate eye brush, and those work amazing as well. I really have to keep myself from buying the entire line!

ELF brush belt 

I bought this in my make-up craze at the beginning of October. But I really got a lot of use out of this brush belt already since I had a lot of make-up jobs. It looks really professional, and it might get you more jobs. The MAC brush belt is probably better in quality, but I didn't feel like spending loads of money on a brush belt. I'm not a profesional make-up artist, but just someone who really likes make up and enjoys helping people out on (more amateur) photoshoots.



I hope you enjoyed this fall beauty favorites post!

Xx
Anine

Urban Decay Smoked 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Set Swatches + review

Last week I purchased the Urban Decay Smoked 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Set. The set is from their latest collection and matches the Smoked Palette, which I don't own. 

It started a few weeks earlier, when I went to an Urban Decay Night where the make-up artists showed all kinds of tricks to apply make-up and displayed their new products. It's there where I tried out the Naked foundation and was so amazed by it (blogpost about foundations is coming up). I also got to try the pencils and was pretty stunned by their pigmentation, staying power and colours. But I didn't want to buy them, because I had already bought the foundation and I didn't want to spend too much (failed at that).

Then for my birthday I got a discount card of 15pounds from friends, and decided to buy the pencils anyway since I just had to pay 11pounds with the discount card. The set costs 26pounds or 38dollars. Here are the swatches: first unsmudged, then smudged to create a smokey eyelook.

 

From left to right: Zero (black), Mainline (blue), Demolition (dark brown), Empire (purple), Uzi (grey) and Smog (golden brown).

The pencils is really creamy and feel more like a gel liner maybe than as a pencil liner to me. They are very pigmented and their staying power is amazing, even on the water line. I remember going out one night, coming back home hours later, taking my make-up off thoroughly, and the morning after, the colour was still on my waterline. Also, after applying the swatches, I had a really hard time getting them back off my arm. It's that good. 

You do pay the price for it. Even though they come in a nice colour range, I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't have the gift card. The pencils are also pretty small, way smaller than a MAC eyeliner or than the usual Urban Decay Glide-On pencils. They're almost half the size of a MAC eyeliner pencil, and a bit bigger than my handpalm (I have pretty small handpalms though). 

If you're ready to make a make-up investment, this is definately a recommendation. But if you're not used to spending that much money on higher-end products, I would go for a drugstore eyeliner. Overall a nice product!

Hope you enjoyed reading this review, 

Hugs & Kisses,

Anine

Turquoise breeze: A make-up look

Me and my friend Maxime decided to film a make-up tutorial. I had tried this look a few times on myself and felt like trying it on someone else. For fun we decided to film it and then decided to put it online! We had so much fun creating this! 

The song in the background is Maxime singing a song she wrote herself. I hope you like the video, the make-up, the music, everything! Enjoy, I hope it makes a difference for you :)

 

Kisses! xX

MAC and URBAN DECAY NAKED2 PALETTE

So, it's been a while. I've been terribly busy!

I have a lot of exciting news, but that's for later. First of all I'll share my newborn fantasies about eyeshadow palettes. Quite pathetic, I know. Not good for my wallet either.

I've been rediscovering MAC make-up. To clarify: I use MAC studio fix and kohl eyeliner every single day (and have been using for years - It's an addiction), but I've never really used their eyeshadows, just because they were too expensive and I didn't want to spend money on eyeshadows that would only stay on for an hour because of my hooded eyes.

But then... something changed. *dramatic music* My mom bought the Espresso MAC eyeshadow recently and because I was curious, I tried it. That day I had a job interview in the Netherlands and I left at 11AM and came back home at 10.30PM. I still was able to see the Espresso I applied while it was so terribly hot outside. I was ah-mazed!

I did some research on blogs and youtube. And that was the beginning of a newborn eyeshadow addiction. I also have been earning more money than when I started using MAC a few years ago. So I decided I would buy a 15x empty palette and one eyeshadow pan, one paint pot (to use as a primer) and one lipstick. I can't even tell you how much time I spent looking at colors on the maccosmetic.com website!

(I actually made a list with all the products I really want, whenever a friend comes over and is like 'I wanna buy you a present for christmas/your birthday and I just do not know what to buy you' I have an answer ready. It sounds really pathetic while I'm writing this down though.)

So... next week I'll be going to the MAC store and I'll buy the few things listed here above, I'll go to the Rituals store to buy some skincare products and some drugstore skincare products I want to buy as well. My credit card is already panicking.

But while researching all that make-up on youtube, I bumped upon the Urban decay naked2 palette. I've known about this brand and these palettes, but they don't sell these in Belgium and I've never ordered online before I started buying online since last month (such a life-enriching discovery!).
Now the beauty world of internet is wide-open and it's damn hard to resist.

The Urban Decay Naked and Naked2 palette both look really pretty and I secretly want one of them. But I don't feel comfortable spending that much money. MAC eyeshadows are probably more expensive, but you don't buy that much at once, you know. So I'll probably ask it for my birthday or christmas, not get it and forget about it. That would be the cheaper alternative. But even if I would get it, I wouldn't know which one to choose! The youtube gurus are all saying the same things. It's a difficult decision.



What do you think? Should I buy the Naked or Naked2 palette and why?

Kisses! Xx