Tag: beauty

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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

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.)

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Beauty

Lip Monthly June ’15.

lip monthly june 2015

This is a short post, as I have yet to use any of the products that came with the June Lip Monthly subscription bag, with the exception of the be a… bombshell lipstick.

J. Cat Beauty Flying Solo Eyeshadow in FSE 126 Ticket to Stardom

At a glance this shadow has too much red in it to be flattering on me, but I’ll use it in looks and see how it works. Maybe as a crease colour, but I doubt even that. I’m thinking of trying it as a blush, but it might not work either. We’ll see.

be a… bombshell lipstick in Hollywood

Loved the packaging of the be a… bombshell lipstick. It’s reminiscent of MAC, but even if it weren’t, I just love the no-frills matte black lipstick bullets. The colour is a retro red with a brick undertone. It’s not very me, but I think we can work around that, this lipstick and I. It’s creamy and pigmented. The coverage is good. It’s more of an autumn lipstick shade in my books, though, so a surprising choice for a June subscription bag.

be a bombshell hollywood

This is the second be a… bombshell product I’ve received through my Lip Monthly subscription. I loved the gloss I’ve been sent, and this lipstick isn’t a disappointment either. Swatched below.

be a bombshell hollywood swatch

So Susan Colour Hybrid in the shade Marsala

This product I am yet to open. It comes in a squeeze tube, designed to be used on both lips and cheeks. I can safely say that I’ll be using it on lips only. Cream products don’t fare well with my face.

jelly pong pong fig jam

Jelly Pong Pong Lip/Cheek Cream in Fig Jam

… And another product that’s designed to be used all over yer face. The colour is very bright, but I don’t know if it is sheer or has full coverage. The packaging is really hefty. It feels heavy, and I love the simple black and white design of the lid. In my experience, cream products in such packaging dry out very fast, so I’m keeping this closed until I run out of the similar shade I own.

This post isn’t very informative, now is it? I’ll be using these and writing about them in more detail eventually, I promise. For now I just want to catch up on the Lip Monthly subscription itself. Such a backlog! If you missed a post, you can find them all here.

Lip Monthly is a subscription bag with a focus on lip products. One month is $12.95 (plus shipping outside US and Canada).

(This post features affiliate links.)

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Beauty

Beauty Challenge: One Hundred Empties.

skin care

For someone who is not a professional beauty blogger or a make-up artist, I have a lot of products. I don’t even wear make-up daily, which serves to double the ridiculousness. Dozens of shadows and lipsticks sit unused every day, collecting dust and cat fur and shame, so much shame.

(Had to add drama, sorry.)

So on a slow, quiet, delightful weekday evening I decided to do a full inventory of my stuff and institute a One Hundred Empties challenge upon these lands. It is akin to Project Pan that originated on YouTube back in the day.

There are some empties posts coming up about products I finished before I decided on the challenge, so to preserve the accuracy – as we all deeply care – only the products finished on and after April 1 will count towards the challenge.

I’d like to set a specific date for completion, but a hundred products is, well, a hundred products. I don’t want to slather myself in three layers of body lotion or put on five layers of mascara simply because I want to race to complete this before the end of new year, for example.

Which products count towards challenge? All of them, including samples. Now, I could hypothetically ‘win’ this on samples alone, but I’m not going to do that, because I’m an honest person. (You can laugh now, can’t hear you.) Two samples of the same product are going to count as one item. Other than that, one sample = one item. Soaps will count towards the challenge as well.

Which products won’t count? I’m big on dental hygiene, but I’m not sure I’m going to count toothbrushes, floss, and the likes towards the 100 Empties list. Same goes for nail and foot files and loofahs. Brushes that have seen better days will not count towards the challenge either.

When is an emptie an emptie? Ideally an emptie is an emptie when the product is fully used up and the packaging is discarded. However, there are cases where I just let go of products. Most often this applies to nail polishes, shampoos, and mascaras. If I decide to not use the shadow anymore and only keep it for sentimental value, it’s not going to count. An emptie in this case is a product that no longer takes space in my cabinets. I.e., I used it up, let go of it, or threw it out.

Am I allowed to buy things? Yes, in moderation. I can buy replacements for things I ran out of. I can also stock up on my olde favourites on sale. I’m not cancelling my Lip Monthly subscription. If it’s a colour or a product I’ve been meaning to buy for ages, then I’ll buy it within my budget. My ultimate goal is to follow the ‘two out – one in’ approach, but we’ll see how it goes.

Above you can see my skincare stash. It’s a relatively old picture, so it’s changed a bit since then, but I wouldn’t say it lessened any, especially not the soaps (on the right).