Author: yukino

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Beauty

Local Brand: Cosmeplant Makeup Remover Lotion

New month, new series? Let’s see how far I can stretch this one. Unfortunately, Moldova is not known for the extensive production of beauty and lifestyle items. But I’m going to give it a fair shot. I’ve always believed in supporting local businesses. And quite often they deliver – overdeliver, even, if you take the price tag into consideration.

Below is one such gem.

viorica-cosmetics-cosmeplant-makeup-remover-lotion

The first thing I noticed about this product was its scent. I believe it is supposed to be chamomile, but to me it smells like custard. For that reason alone, I love using it.

The packaging of Viorica Cosmeplant Makeup Remover Lotion is a simple two-coloured plastic bottle with stickers on the front and back. The back sticker also serves as a bit of a decoration for the insides, which I find very cute. The consistency is that of a toner – it’s a liquid, not a lotion. Since it’s runny, there’s no problem getting every last drop out. The quality of stickers and their attachment varies from bottle to bottle. As you can probably see, the left one started peeling off at the bottom, while the right one remained completely intact. I haven’t had any problems with the lids breaking off and leaving the product exposed.

So how does it fare in makeup removal?

I’ve been through a couple of bottles of this stuff, and it delivered every time. It removes the most dastardly hard to remove products – not from the first swipe, but with minimal rubbing. It even works to remove Dior mascaras and Oriflame eyeliners – two things that I always have trouble with when it comes to parting for the day.

However, I must note that if you have sensitive eyes, then you should be careful when using this lotion around the eye area. Sometimes it would sting.

While this is not a revolutionary product by all means, it does exactly what it claims to do on the tin: hydrates, softens, and cleanses the skin. It never gave me any irritation (aside from that occasional eye sting – but seriously, that could be just me and using too much product around the eyes that had contacts in them for like 18 hours), dryness, redness, or breakouts. It is a pleasure to use and is dirt cheap. A bottle would set you back for ~$1.5, if that.

Will I be buying again? Hell yeah.

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Beauty

BellaOggi Trendsetter Eye Shadow Palette in Naked Feeling

How I wanted this quad.

I’ve been circling around BellaOggi Trendsetter in Naked Feeling for good three months before finally giving in and taking it home.

How beautiful is it?

trendsetter-naked-feeling

Very beautiful.

Now let’s get to everything else.

Packaging

Something about these round black pans with a transparent cover speaks to me. I really love it on eye shadows, blushers, and powders. The size is good, it’s very nice to hold in your hand.

bellaoggi-trendsetter-in-naked-feeling

You get 4 g of product overall, so roughly 1 g of each shadow.

Formula

All shadows, including the matte one, are buttery soft to the touch, almost cushioned. Fallout is present, but nothing too severe, perhaps aided by the fact that three of the shades are so light. This is also perhaps what aids blending.

bellaoggi-naked-feeling

Pigmentation

The most pigmented out of the 4 is the bottom one. The light peachy pink right next to it gets the second place – it doesn’t show up on the swatch (really, it doesn’t – see below), but you can build it up. The very first one would work great as a really light highlighter for pasty people (read: me). It shows up against the skin, but it’s not overbearing, to put it mildly. Unfortunately, the light brown shadow (the only matte with a very light sheen) barely shows up. I’m not even sure you can see it in the swatch below. In fact, I’m not sure you can see any of them in the photo below, aside from the very first one I mentioned.

trendsetter-swatch

The palette is ridiculously poorly pigmented. It’s so poorly pigmented, it grinds my little stony heart to dust.

naked-feeling-trendsetter-swatch

In conclusion

Another quad in the BellaOggi Trendsetter collection I’ve been eyeing is Burlesque. I went for Naked Feeling first, because a) you can never have too many neutrals; b) if it turned out to be poor quality, it would be easier to at least attempt to work with. In the end, I passed it on to a more patient person. I just couldn’t work with it. All my tries to use the matte as a base/ transition shade and to work with the lighter shades as inner corner and brow bone highlights ultimately did not work out. I would get frustrated by the poor pigmentation every time I would use it, so it went to a new home.

Needless to say I will not be buying Burlesque, although the colours are very, very lovely.

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Beauty

AVON Bath Products – Speed Reviews

avon-bath-foams-milk-and-honey-and-watermelon

AVON Bubble Bath Moments in Milk & Honey and Bubble Bath in Watermelon

I will preface this note by saying that I have mostly used these AVON bath foams incorrectly. I used them as shower gels as I am not a big bath taker. I love baths, but mine has a bit of a drain problem, wherein the drain plug gets stuck when there’s just so much water omg omg putting pressure on it. So my relaxing baths usually end with a session of vigorous physical activity wherein I have to drain the wretched thing the old-fashioned way – using a bucket to transfer the water to another draining point until the bath drain plug finally decides to give way.

Obviously, that kills the spa effect a little.

As shower gels these are very drying. All the suds and the foam would do that, you know. So we can assume that as a bath product it doesn’t have any beneficial skin properties either. However they do give a good foam and they both have a strong scent. If that’s what you’re after – go for it.

Milk and Honey as a scent nearly always disappoints me, because I expect something from the childhood but end up with a rather strong artificial scent that smells neither like milk nor honey. And I believe this is more of the ‘milk’ part problem, because I have a ‘honey’-scented eau de toilette that I adore.

Watermelon, on the other hand, I love – but it tires me out very quickly with its intense sweetness. So I would use it once or twice, and then I would use something else for a week, and that’s why this bottle lasted me a friggen year.

avon-senses-shower-gel-garden-of-eden

AVON Senses Romantic Garden of Eden Shower Gel

I’ve been absolutely enamoured with the scent of this. It wouldn’t stick to the skin, however; but the bathroom would smell amazing for a while after using this AVON shower gel. Negative point: Very drying on the skin. I discussed this with my cousin and a former colleague, and they both said that they found it OK and not drying at all, so it could be just me and my thin sensitive skin on my body.

avon-skin-so-soft-in-shower-moisturiser

AVON Skin So Soft In-Shower Moisturising Body Lotion

I’ve been wanting to try out an in-shower body lotion for quite a while, so I happily bought this one the moment I saw it in the AVON catalogue. The scent is I would say typical to the AVON Skin So Soft line. It is nothing to write home about, but it’s inoffensive and in a way even comforting. The product itself is pretty thick and slippery. It applied well in the shower – however you do need a fair amount of this. The bottle did not last me ages, that I can tell you. After you apply it and then wash it off, it leaves a bit of a filmy layer on the skin, making your body shiny, almost plastic-like, and very smooth to the touch. I suppose if you don’t have sensitive skin on the body like I do, you can get away with using this one only and skipping the lotion entirely. I managed to do it several times here and there, but I would end up feeling uncomfortable throughout the day.

While I am not a full in-shower body conditioner convert just yet, I am intrigued enough to try other brands and see how they compare to this AVON In-Shower Moisturising Body Lotion. I would probably buy this one again, too. The only thing that stops me is the price/ number of uses ratio. You really do need a lot of this stuff to get any kind of effect, at least on my body, and although AVON is not expensive skin care, it adds up.

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Beauty

Nail Polish: a lovely duochrome from Golden Rose Classics – and a CHANEL Peridot dupe

chanel-peridot-dupe

This is Classics Metallic in 03.

I dug out this polish out of my huge-arse polish drawer. My original intent was to use it, and then give it up, because I just didn’t think I’d like it.

Let me count all the ways in which I was wrong.

Let’s start with the ancient and the superficial – it’s a pretty decent dupe for Chanel’s Peridot. No one cares anymore, but I’m still all about them duochromes.

So yes, the second point is, Golden Rose Classics Metallic in 03 is a duochrome. I’ve never quite got over my obsession with them – I think it’s only got stronger during the last couple of months.

In fact, Oriflame recently came out with a limited edition collection of polishes, and one of them is quite similar to this antique bronze-gold-duochrome thing that’s going on here, so I might just end up buying that one as well. We’ll see.

Applies well. The only downside is it needed three coats, which made it dry slower than I’d like. I ended up with duvet prints – but the upside is that it just looks like a special effect with this polish. Like you’ve applied some foil to your nails.

Held well. Had the tiniest chip on the index finger of my right hand come Friday evening. No top coat of any kind, mind you.

Next time I wear it, I want to try using some matte black on the tips of my nails, see how it looks.

As I kept staring at my hands during the day, I thought that this colour would make a really great eyeshadow. And then I realised that I wasn’t the first one with that idea: INGLOT delivered.

duochrome-polish-and-eyeshadow

Here’s the INGLOT single in AMC Shine 49, and they’re very similar – as similar as a nail polish and an eyeshadow could be. This INGLOT AMC Shine single shadow deserves a full post of its own. It’s easily my favourite eyeshadow out of my collection.

golden-rose-classics-peridot-dupe

For the reference: This is the sixth day of wearing this polish, no top coat. Very impressed with the longevity.

If you ever have the chance to try Golden Rose polishes – any of their lines, not just Classics – do give them a go. They are ridiculously cheap and very, very good. The only ones that don’t last 5+ days are the Matte and Matte Velvet ones – but show me a matte polish that stays beyond two days, seriously.

My least favourite line from the brand is probably Paris – I find most of them very sheer and long-drying, and the lighter shades can be very streaky.

With that said, most polishes from the other lines apply really well. The very light ones can be a hit and miss, and the yellow ones take approximately 385 hours to fully dry. Other than that, Golden Rose is my go-to brand for a nail polish fix. Amazing colour selection, a wide variety of effects (matte, metallics, quick dry, glitters, shimmers, classic lustre…), lines, and brushes (from regular to my favourite – very flat and very wide). They also come in mini-sizes.

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Beauty

Giordani Gold Jewel Lipstick in Pink Secret – Review and Dupe

giordani gold pink secret

Giordani Gold is the luxury brand of the Oriflame family. Giordani Gold is the most expensive line the company makes. The colours in the collection are usually classic, as well as the packaging.

giordani gold packaging

The packaging is made in glossy black and gold tones, with minimal design. The Jewel Lipstick line comes in gold tubes, which I do believe are made from metal. They feel heavy and cold to the touch. Gold is not my favourite metal, but I have to admit that this lipstick looks expensive – if just a little too gaudy for my black, black, all black everything everywhere black taste.

The formula of the product is creamy and on the sheer side. It’s difficult to build up colour with this one, but if you try hard enough, then maybe you would reach medium coverage. The colour I have it in – Pink Secret – is very easy to work with. Given its sheerness, it’s as effortless as a balm.

giordani gold pink secret swatch

The colour doesn’t feather but might just get a little outside of the lip line, mostly in the corners. Doesn’t tug on the lips when you apply it.

Although creamy, the lipstick is a little bit drying.

I remember the good old days when Giordani Gold lipsticks were scentless. Oh, how I loved them then. The formula of some old ones was also much more opaque. I remember my mum finding them drying, but I adored them. I’ve kept one of the tubes way past its expiration date. It was this dark cranberry/ wine shade.

OK, enough with the nostalgia lane.

The longevity of these is very moderate. It applies like a balm, and it wears off like one. The good side to that is that it wears off nicely and gradually, leaving the slightest amount of sheen in its wake.

giordani gold pink secret dupe

Top: Giordani Gold Pink Secret. Bottom: Oriflame Pure Colour Soft Coral.

If you’ve been thinking of giving Pink Secret a go, but aren’t sure if the colour would suit you (as effortless as it is, I find that it looks just a touch off with my complexion), then you can easily dupe it… within the Oriflame brand, ironically enough. Their Pure Colour Lipstick line, the least expensive one they offer, has a lipstick in Soft Coral. As you can see from the swatch above, they’re almost identical, with the Pure Colour perhaps being a bit more sheer and a slightest touch cooler.

You can read more about Oriflame Pure Colour Lipstick range here.

(I’m an Oriflame consultant. I received this lipstick as an incentive for good sales. Go me.)