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Beauty

Today’s Scent: Escada Especially.

escada especially (2)

(Just a bit of a heads up: I’m not a ‘nose’, nor even a domestic fragrance connoisseur. I know buggre alle how to talk about scents, and can’t even use them most days because of my headache spells. I just love how pretty they are on my vanity.)

At random, my father gave me a bottle of Escada Especially about a month ago. Couldn’t even try it for the first few days, because I was felling headachey. Those who suffer from migraines and trigeminal neuralgia will understand that trying out new perfumes — or wearing old, for that matter — when there’s even the slightest chance of a headache is no go. There’s always a probability of ‘pain association’ developing even with the nicest and most favourite of scents.

escada especially (3)

So my father kept asking, and I kept saying that I haven’t tried it yet. Then I opened the box, and got a tentative whiff without even spraying, and put the box away, and decided that I’m just going to call my father and say how I love it, but then never, ever, ever wear it, and maybe spritz a bit of it in the kitchen before his visits or something.

Then I decided to at least give it a proper chance.

I sprayed it on my wrists and on the back of my neck. Then I closed my eyes.

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Olfactory triggers are one of the deepest one, as far as memory goes.

This one transported me right back into childhood. I could clearly see being picked up by my mother in my bedroom in our old flat. I could see spring outside the window and sunlight patterns on the carpet and myself in the mirror trying to plait my hair for the very first time tying it up with clumsy blue and pink polka dot bows. I could hear grandmother calling after my very first pair of kittens.

I never wanted to stop smelling my wrists ever again in hopes that it would just keep me enveloped in that perfect childhood memory forever.

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I wish I could end this post by saying that I’ve worn this perfume ever since all day, every day, and even to bed, but that would be a lie. There’s something in it (its aquatic notes, I think) that are too much for me on most days, and I have to be really careful with my headache predictions to be able to wear this one. But I enjoy it. Love, it even. It paints that golden-lit perfect childhood afternoon in my head with such precision, it’s almost scary.

I gave my father a reserved ‘thank you’ and a promise to wear the scent. I’m kinda pants at expressing genuine gratitude.

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Beauty

Sample Thoughts: Givenchy Le Soin Noir.

givenchy le soin noir

This cream has a gel-like texture, but applies buttery. It’s black/ very dark grey, with small black particles and what looks like very fine glitter. The black isn’t visible on the skin while applied, but it does leave just a touch of a… tinted greyish veil over your face to be noticeable. So I used both of my samples at night.

It’s both very light and very nourishing. Takes its jolly time to absorb. Also, it’s perfumed up the wazoo. I cannot imagine using this during my headache spells. It would slay me.

Obviously I cannot judge the packaging from my tiny magazine sample, but the photograph on Sephora looks exquisite. It better, because the darn thing costs nearly $400 US! (And it’s out of stock?!) That’s about as much as I make a month, so I think the magazine sample is as close an acquaintance as I can ever hope to have with this cream.

But would I actually buy it for this price after having used the two samples? Not sure. Perhaps over time it gives a noticeable effect that’s worth spending $400 for, but the 10 ml I had in my possession could not provide me with accurate basis for such judgement.

(This is not a sponsored post. It does not contain affiliate links.)

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Beauty

FOTD #2: Bold lips, muted lids.

face of the day 2

Products used:

  • Foundation: MAC Studio Fix Fluid NW10
  • Powder: IsaDora Perfect Loose Powder
  • Highlighter: Giordani Gold Opulent Night Pearls 27115
  • Concealer: Artdeco Mineral Fluid Concealer in 04
  • Eye shadow Primer: Artdeco Pure Minerals Mineral Eyeshadow Base Sensitive
  • Eye Shadow: AVON True Colour in Lace Hues
  • Brows: Relouis Eye Pencil in 02
  • Lipstick: L’Oreal Infallible Never Fail Lip Colour in Garnet 750
  • Mascara: Maybelline The Falsies Volum’ Express Flared Mascara

I’ve had this lipstick since ever. It’s expired by now, so I think I’m going to let it go during my next monthly clean-out. Or perhaps just place it in a separate compartment where I keep all my nostalgic purchases. It’s a good lipstick, but for it to work your lips need to be in very good condition. It will highlight every flake and every dry patch, and while the balm on top will soothe and smooth, it will not really affect the visual. For some reason I was under the impression that this product was discontinued, but it’s still available. As long as you don’t attack oily foods with abandon, it will last you for about 6 hours no problem, all while eating, drinking, talking, etc. with the lightest amount of caution. Word of warning, though — there’s no touching up this lipstick, only a complete reapplication.

The muted pink and blue in this quad are gorgeous, aren’t they? I love these colours so much. I went on a bit of a binge a few years ago and bought… six AVON eye shadow quads? They have since then rebranded the line and made the insides square, which diminished their obvious visual likeness to CHANEL. While I really like many of the colours — why would I buy them otherwise? — I am not at all impressed with the quality. The mattes are chalky, not easy to blend, nearly every single shadow is poorly pigmented, and all of them have excessive amounts of fall-out. Don’t expect them to last more than three hours without a primer either. With primer, they usually last about five, but begin to show signs of wear a bit earlier. Perhaps with the visual update came an update of the formula? I might want to find out a bit later, but for now I’ll be exploring other brands.

Something is to be said about using grey as eyebrow definer instead of brown. Brown can be very hard to match to your natural colouring. It’s either too red, or too coppery, or too dark, or too light. Most of the time it’s visible, especially in photographs. While grey is a true neutral colour. It’s non-colour, so defining your brows with grey works really well. There are only that many things to worry with grey — the desired lightness/ darkness and – a must – a matte finish. The aforementioned Artdeco make a great little grey eyeshadow that I really enjoyed using not only for its determined purpose, but also for brows and for slight contouring, especially of my rather prominent nose. I smashed the poor darling beyond all repair not long ago. It’s on my list of repurchases. I’ll be sure to write a review and swatch it once it’s done.

Try using grey for your brows, I’m pretty sure it’ll work.

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Beauty

Today’s Scent: Agent Provocateur Eau Emotionnelle.

agent provocateur official image

I’ve just spent about seven minutes staring at my screen blankly. See, I want a series about perfumes, but I have no idea how to write about them, or what to say. I don’t have the world’s best nose — not even close — and my tastes are… I wanted to say ‘selective’, but really, they’re just rather queer. The ridiculously expensive scents reside right next to the ridiculously cheap. Flirty and floral, musky and seductive, lighthearted, or sweet, or heavy — I don’t have a refined palate.

September this year my bottle of Eau Emotionnelle will turn eight years old. Eight years! By then it will be finished, since there’s only very little left. I included the official image, because my bottle, as you can imagine, looks rather dingy.

IMG_20150111_135844

I lost the release ring and the bit of lace attached a long while ago. Agent Provocateur Eau Emotionnelle is my go-to perfume. I can’t think of a scenario that would make this perfume inappropriate. It’s great all year round, both for work and for fun. Overall a really well-rounded scent. I’ve never had the original, only heard it described as quite heady. Compared to my other favourites, this is almost light. It opens up floral, and then proceeds to darken.

On my skin this is very long lasting, but with moderate sillage.

eau emotionnelle

Originally released in 2006, Eau Emotionnelle has since then been discontinued — a fate that seems to befall every single perfume I genuinely enjoy. It is still relatively easy to find on Ebay and the likes, and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg either, like some other recently deceased favourites. (Looking at you, Midnight Poison, looking. at. you.)

(Official product image nicked from Fragrantica.)

Categories
Beauty

Two Nivea Products: Toner and Cream.

nivea toner and face cream

Nivea Pure & Natural Moisturising Day Care

I had two samples of this face cream, and I remember falling in love. It felt buttery smooth during the application, but didn’t leave any shiny residue and didn’t look oily, just glowing.

Well, there’s something to be said about testers and samples always being better than the actual product, because the cream in the jar, while it wasn’t bad, simply didn’t live up to the expectations set by the sample.

nivea pure natural face cream

I used this up before the freezing temperatures set, but during the milder months of September-November I say it fared well in terms of hydration. I wouldn’t expect miracles, and if you have dehydrated skin, then you need to look for something more hardworking. It doesn’t help keep your face matte, but it doesn’t add any oiliness to it either.

The container is a glass with a plastic lid. It holds the standard 50 ml of product. The scent of this cream, although strong, didn’t annoy me, even when I had headache spells.

Overall, it’s a standard enough cream for its price range. Oriflame Optimals costs about as much, and I think I would’ve gone for another jar of that instead of Nivea Pure & Natural.

Nivea Aqua Effect Purifying Toner

Formulated for oily skin and claims to be mattifying. I haven’t noticed my skin being any more matte, but it didn’t throw my sebum into overdrive either. I used it during a bit of a mishap with a face washer by a different brand. The washer gave me irritation, and I can say that this toner was safe to use even on irritated skin. It didn’t take the redness and sensitivity any further, though perhaps it hasn’t assisted in cooling my face either — but it doesn’t claim to do that, so I’m fine with it.

nivea toner

The 200 ml bottle lasted me for about two-two and a half months, which is saying something, because usually I go through toners really quickly. The scent is a rather standard Nivea one — if you’ve ever used their Nivea Creme (the one in the blue jar), then you know approximately how this toner smells like.

While not a bad product and one that I might return in the future, right now I’m looking for a product that would help me gently exfoliate the skin day to day, which was something that this toner didn’t do.