Tag: avon

Categories
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.

Categories
Beauty

Nail File #1: AVON, Elanor.

avon rebel rose

AVON Speed Dry+ nail enamel in rebel rose

I kept raving about this nail polish on my old blog, and I’ll continue to do so here. The brush is perhaps nothing special, but it works well. It’s large, not too flat — a generic brush with improvements, I’d say. The formula is amazing – it applies like a dream, and for a quick job on short nails even one coat is sufficient. Despite its bright colour, which is great, it doesn’t stain, so if you’re in a real hurry, you can forgo the base coat. It compliments my skin tone, too. Dries in seconds — at the very least, your nails will be completely dry in under five minutes. The only problem with it, besides this particular colour being discontinued a few years ago? It chips fast. This is my second day hand, and as you can see it’s chipped on at least three fingers. Two days is actually a long time for this polish. Usually it shows serious signs of wear in under 24 hours.

elanor 572

Elanor nail enamel in 572

This brand of polishes is displayed in huge boxes at the local Grand Bazaar. It’s cheap — in currency equivalent, it’s way under £1. I’ve had it for a while now. It was one of the first grey shades to appear on the market around here. Considering its age, it performed well. The brush is generic, but works without trouble. The formula is a little on the runny side – two coats here, and it can definitely benefit from a third one. It doesn’t so much streak, as it … pools, I guess, perhaps due to its thinness. The drying time is OK — not fast, but not outrageously long either. I painted my nails about an hour or two before bed, and got minimal duvet prints. It did bunch up a bit on the edges of my thumb nails, though.

The picture shows fourth day of wear, and as you can see it lasted. This polish doesn’t so much chip as it gradually rubs off. I think if I hadn’t started rigorously cleaning the kitchen, it would’ve stayed at least one more day.

Categories
Beauty

Incoming! December ’14.

I’m not a big shopper, especially now that I’m saving money, but over the course of the month things end up weaseling their way into my hands. Some months it might be a lot, others not so much. These are the things I bought or received during the month of December. Rather a lot of stuff this month, now that I think of it, probably because of the holidays.

the one polishes

Oriflame The One Nail Polish in Black Noir, Steel, Platinum, and Gold Splash

I’m a nail polish addict — well, a beauty addict — but aside from that unfortunate predilection I happen to really like the revamped main line of Oriflame polishes. It is my superficial goal to own every single one, so expect quite a few of these to pop up in the Incoming! posts.

veryme mirror lipgloss

VeryMe Mirror Gloss in Clover Haze

Clover Haze is exactly the cool-toned pink lip gloss that suits my skin tone and doesn’t take any trouble to coordinate with the rest of the look, as it’s practically just an improved version of my lips. The texture of this is what you’d expect a squeeze tube lip gloss texture to be — a bit gloopy during the application and rather sticky, but smooth-looking and -feeling when on the lips. I enjoy using this if only for its scent and colour.

avon body lotion and bath foam

AVON Care Rich Moisture Body Lotion and Milk & Honey Bubble Bath Moments

Haven’t tried these yet, as I’ve this thing where I try to finish the current product before I start anything new, otherwise I find myself under a mountain of half-finished shower gels and hand creams. The lotions seems to be fast-absorbing and a little on the thin side, which is exactly how I love mine. The scent is a little on the strong side, but it’s not unpleasant. And you can never go wrong with Milk & Honey.

lippy soap earrings

Oriflame soap bar; In Style earrings; Giordani Gold lipstick sample

Giordani Gold Voluptuous lipsticks have been on my list of things to try for a bit now, so I was quite happy to receive this sample. It’s in the colour 26607 Red Organza, which I don’t think is in catalogues any more. The lipstick itself is a warm-toned sheer red with a lot of glitter to it. My photos don’t translate the colour well, but an idea of coverage can be seen in a swatch below:

swatch

On the left is one swipe, and on the right (the thicker line) I tried to build up some more colour. I succeeded but only just. The formula of this is more of a rather pigmented balm than a lipstick, to be honest. It also leaves glitter everywhere in its wake. It’s moisturising, though. I’ll use up the sample, but I don’t think I’ll be buying a full-sized lipstick in any colour.

Milk & Honey Gold is an old Oriflame series. It’s lived that long, because it’s pretty good. The scent of all the products in the series can be a bit too strong for me, but for products that I wash off immediately, like soaps and shampoos, it works well. The packaging of this particular bar is limited edition for winter holidays, as I understand.

gaudy gaudy earrings

Aren’t these earrings just gaudy? They were a gift from my brother, who knows I enjoy all kinds of sparkly stuff, even if I’m not going to wear it, so he buys something every time he makes a trip to his local version of Poundland. These did see the light of day, though, for the New Year’s Eve in the office (yep, yesterday was a workday for me). I felt like a proper Christmas tree, but I didn’t mind one bit. So jingly and sparkly and ugh.

jewellery

In Style costume jewellery

Here’s the rest of the things my brother managed to grab on his trips to the shop. Bracelets give me a bit more of a spring/ summer vibe, so I’ll be wearing them come April or so. The yellow one is so dainty! I’m used to big bangles and thick leather cuffs, so this is a bit of a novelty for me, but I figure it’s good to branch out. My favourite thing is the necklace. I love it so much! Pretty sure it’ll become a staple for me.

powder mascara roboto

Giordani Gold Illuminating Pearls; Oriflame HyperStretch mascara

I’ve been hunting down these Giordani Gold Dreamy Moments Illuminating Pearls for roughly a year now, and finally they cropped up! These should definitely be used as a highlighter, otherwise one might end up looking like a member of the Cullen family under the sun. Oriflame HyperStretch mascara was a bonus programme exchange. I had it before, and while it’s not the best mascara, it’s an okay one. And hey, can’t argue with free, can you?

magaziness

Allure, Elle, Glamour

A stack of magazines. Little excites me more than beauty and printed word, so when these two are merged together, I’m just lost to the world for a couple of hours.

lip monthly november 14

Lip Monthly November ’14

A proper Lip Monthly post is coming your way next Thursday, but here’s a preview of the products. Loving the colours of lipsticks, and I’ve been blown away by the eye shadow.

That’s it for the month of December! What made its way into your drawers and onto your shelves that month? Do share, do share.

(Above items, with an exception of mascara and lipstick sample, were either bought with my own money, or received as gifts from family and friends. Mascara was received in exchange for loyalty points; lipstick sample was a gift with purchase.)