Categories
Beauty

Incoming! November 2016

Strangely enough, one of the most popular posts on my blog, according to Google Analytics, is the Incoming! one. Yes, I said ‘the incoming one‘, because indeed I only put up one post of such nature and then dropped the idea. But to satisfy the masses, I am bringing these posts back.

I buy a lot of beauty products for the average person. Soz. I also buy books and stationery, random home ware, clothes and jewellery, and stuff for cats, so I suppose that would be the extent of the subjects of these Incoming! posts.

golden-rose-matte-lip-crayon

Golden Rose Matte Lip Crayon

Pretty much love at first sight. I’ve been looking at these lipsticks on blogs for weeks now, and finally went and bought one. I chose an easy to wear every day shade, because I wanted to see how it performs throughout the day before getting a deeper colour. Let me tell ye – it performs extremely well. Soft, non-drying, very creamy for a matte lipstick formula – any lipstick formula, for that matter. Doesn’t bleed, doesn’t feather. Does wear off when eating, but stays put through tea, water, and light snacks. Very lightly scented (thank you, Golden Rose, for updating the scent of your lip products!!).

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I love, love, love this crayon, and already have my eye on two other shades. My only gripe is that these are not automatic and you would have to sharpen them. It’s not that big of a deal, and sharpening pencils and crayons is something of a calming weekend ritual for me. However, it wastes much more product than the automatic ones do.

delia-serums-collagen-and-hyaluronic-acid

Two Serums

I continue exploring Delia products with these two serums. These are very decently priced. It’s hard for me to grade them for performance against their high-end counterparts – simply because I never had any. Matter of fact, I really only had one face serum ever in my life – the Shu Uemura one from the Depsea Hydrability kit. However, I’ve been pleased with results. My skin feels much more even and very soft to the touch.

face-creams

Two Face Creams

Two cheap moisturises this month because I had an unexpected salary cut – one for oily skin, one for all skin types. I’ve been using these at night. Their price is ridiculously low – just over $1 each. In combination with the above serums, they’ve been doing a very decent job at keeping my skin hydrated. No breakouts. Pleasant scent. I might actually buy them again, we’ll see.

ultra-doux-aloe-and-vegetable-milk-conditioner

Garnier Ultra Deux Softening Conditioner with Aloe Vera and Vegetable Milk

There’s not much to say about this line, is there? It does leave my hair softer and shinier. The scent is non-offensive and even enjoyable.

nivea-inshower-body-milk-cocoa-butter

Nivea In-Shower Body Milk Cocoa Indulging with Cocoa Butter

Been meaning to pick this one up for quite a while. I went for an option with Cocoa Butter for normal to dry skin. Although I still need additional hydration when using this in-shower body lotion, it performs much better than the AVON one I’ve tried some time ago. I’ll be buying more from this series.

oriflame-nail-polishes-antique-bronze-and-amethyst

Oriflame Nail Polishes

And my quest to collect all the Oriflame nail polishes continues. A tiny addition this month – another duochrome shade much like the Golden Rose one I already own (would you like a deeper comparison post?), a gorgeous deep purple with golden glitter – the one from their winter collection of yesteryear that I had thought I’d lost a chance to buy forever, and a green with golden glitter one – missing from the picture, because I have yet to pick up my order.

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Oriflame Tender Care

I am not going to wax poetic about these balms. Okay, maybe I am – in a later post. Technically, though, they are just glorified petroleum jelly. But they’re so well made, and the formula has a really lovely almost-whipped texture, and the scents are so well selected, and the packaging so cute – I just buy every single scent they come out with.

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This one is Gingerbread and it’s fricken amazing. I want to slather it all over my body and eat whatever is left, it just smells so good.

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Bell Trio Eyeshadow

I have had the fondest memories of Bell Cosmetics. It’s one of the first brands I’ve ever used, and their products were one of the first I’d bought on my own. They are marketed as ‘hypoallergenic’. On that I cannot comment, because I have, thankfully, never been allergic to any makeup item to date.

bell-trio-shadow

I picked up this eye shadow trio because the colour selection is lightly (very lightly) reminiscent of the Mary Kay Autumn Leaves set. It’s nowhere near being a dupe, but the idea is there – a green, a purple, and a gold/ neutral. So far I’ve only really used the neutral shade. The others have only been swatched. I might report with a full review later, but for now: Rather pigmented for the product of its caliber; powdery; the two brighter colours seem to stain; use a primer; wear period is medium, but not atrocious; packaging very hard to open.

oriflame-matte-liquid-lipstick

Oriflame Lip Sensation Matte Mousse

I picked up one of Oriflame’s recent releases – their matte liquid lipstick. I had thought it would be a good every day pink for me, but… meh.

oriflame-matte-liquid-lipstick-swatch

I’m currently working on an overview post of all the Oriflame lipsticks I own from different lines, and will have an indepth review there, but in short: Unfortunately, unimpressed.

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Chernii Zhemchug Mousse-Foam Face Washer with Precious Oils

I needed a new face washer because the Bourjois one has failed me. Read a lot of good things about this Precious Oils series from Chernii Zhemchug, so decided to give it a go. It’s not as harsh as the Bourjois one and the scent is much more… I guess you can even call it comforting. One pump is plenty, which is always a huge plus in my book. However, I do think this is more of a quick morning face washer rather than a step in a night time skin routine. But it’ll do for now. Next time I’m going to try an Eveline gel wash with hyaluronic acid that’s been on my list for a couple of months now.

oriflame-body-brush

Some Tools

I picked up a brush for the purposes of dry brushing and an angled eyeliner brush that’s been long overdue in my collection.

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The angled eyeliner brush is very good, especially for its price. There are, perhaps, better brushes out there, but for the purpose of every-day non-precision gel eyeliner and for the price tag of $1 it does a great job.

angled-eyeliner-brush

The body brush is by Oriflame. When I ordered it from the catalogue, I had thought it would be bigger. In reality it is rather small, but still a good size. Aside from brushing bristles, it comes with massage uhh… thingies built in.

oriflame-massage-body-brush

It’s hard to tell you about results just yet as I’ve only started my dry brushing routine, but so far, so good.

Some Books

My friend is a huge King fan, so I bought two books of his that aren’t horror to finally give the guy a go. Horror genre and I do not agree (I’m as surprised as you are, but that’s true – I am a complete chickenshit and find the Scary Movie franchise scary), so by Oxana’s recs I picked up Dolores Claiborne and by my own interest I picked up On Writing. On Writing I’ve skimmed through before in English, so it’s interesting to read the translated version. The photographs are missing, because the shelf with the new books has been obscured with the Wall of Boxes.

On Kindle I bought Fingersmith. I’ve been looking into Sarah Waters works for a couple of months now, and finally decided to go for Fingersmith first.

Not so much bought as exchanged – Night Call is a selection of stories about law enforcement agencies, and one of the stories in the volume is set in Kishinev. Now, let me tell ye – not many books are set in Kishinev, so I had to get this. The book itself is a typical detective story of the Soviet Era, but reading it was exciting because I really enjoyed recognising the city I live in on the pages. You big city dwellers are lucky bastards, you get to recognise your Londons and Moscows and New Yorks in nearly every other work. Finding a book set in my country – my city! – is refreshing, to say the least.

If you’re keen, take a look at the Kishinev category on my other project, Inner Moldova.

Also bought the first volume of Murakami Haruki’s 1Q84, which I have lovingly nicknamed “IQ84”. I mean no harm; I love Mr Murakami’s works. The photo, too, is missing, because the book is behind the Great Wall of Boxes.

spanish-graded-readers

And finally, a couple of Spanish readers. One is a shameful Beauty and the Beast with literally like 10 paragraphs of text in it, but since it’s Disney and all colour, it actually cost more than the others. The other four are readers with exercises. Three of them are still too high of a level for me (I’m currently somewhere between 1 and 2), but I bought them to ensure that I would have them. I had thought that Spanish study material would be easier to come by here, but boy was I wrong.

Sidenote: Would you like me to write about books more? I’ll never be able to write deep thoughtful reviews of what I read – I am not a deep and thoughtful reader – but if you’d like a few notes here and there, I’m sure it can be done. 😉

That’s it for November! Man, it adds up. I was sure I didn’t buy anything this month, ahahah.

Categories
Beauty

Lip Combo: Pink

Despite Kylie Jenner’s lip kits getting mixed reviews here and there, they’re still one of the most coveted beauty products around. Admit it, they’re on your wish list too. I know they’re on mine.

However, lip kits – or lip combos – are not a revolutionary idea. I’ve been coming up with mine (quite probably inspired by the others) for years now. Below is my go-to pink.

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Products, top to bottom:

  • Bourjois Levres Contour in Flamboise Exquise
  • Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in 11 So Hap’pink
  • Oriflame The One Colour Unlimited Lip Gloss in Pink Boost 30643

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvets are easily one of my most favourite lip products out there. True, there are formulas that are more matte, more pigmented, longer lasting, just more – but there’s something about the Bourjois offering that draws me back to them every time. They are very easy to wear, completely non-drying, and feel very natural on the lips. The finish is matte but not powdery matte that makes every line on your lips stand out. It’s also very easy to apply, and is scentless. Always a big plus in my book.

Although you don’t need a pencil when using Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvets, I love lining and filling my lips with a pencil first and then filling them out with the colour. I find that it does prolong the wear of the lipstick and makes reapplication that much easier. Although Rouge Edition Velvets do not bleed outside the lines and absolutely do not feather, it’s easier to slip a bit outside the line on the reapplication if you don’t go in with the pencil first. Bourjois Levres Contour in Flamboise Exquise is a nearly perfect match for Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in So Hap’pink. I bought them together, and have been using together ever since.

Oriflame The One Colour Unlimited Lip Gloss in Pink Boost was on my wishlist for a while until I finally bought it. I try to limit the amount of glosses I own at any particular time, because they tend to go bad five times as quickly as lipsticks do. I wear it both on its own, over the pencil, or over slightly worn lipstick when I just can’t be arsed with fixing it properly or I know it’s going to get ruined in the next hour anyway. Applying it over freshly applied lipstick tends to look cakey.

lip-combo-pinks-swatched

Left to right: Pencil, lipstick, gloss.

What’s your favourite lip product combination?

Categories
Beauty

Lip Product Empties

Let me quickly walk you through some lip products I have either finished or discarded recently.

veryme-gloss-tester-sosusan-lip-dome-ofra-lipstick

Oriflame VeryMe Mirror Lip Gloss is a perfect cool-toned pink lip colour for me. I loved using this in combination with OFRA Cosmetics Laguna Beach, but also on its own. The scent of the product was lovely, and the application was relatively OK (it’s a squeeze tube). The formula was a bit sticky. It was fun while it lasted, but I had to let it go because it started separating and smelling funny.

A sample size of one of the Oriflame Pure Colour lipsticks. I’ve written a post about them here, if you fancy a read. This one had to go because I dropped it on the office floor. A grimy dirty dusty icky yucky office floor. *shudder shudder*

So Susan Lip Dome was a lovely crayon. Not fully opaque, but it gave my lips the nicest bordeaux tint. It also felt nice and wore very comfortably. Unfortunately, it went bad before I could use it more. I received it via a Lip Monthly subscription, and I figure it was old.

OFRA Cosmetics Liquid Lip Colour in New Orleans also had to go – it was patchy and dry as all hell. And although I adored this colour, it made my lips look ridiculous, so I had to let it go.

You can read my post on OFRA Cosmetics lipsticks here.

oriflame-lip-balm-devine-lip-balm

Oriflame Beauty Lip Balm, although intended transparent, did give a bit of a pearlescent pale pink hue to the lips, so at times it made me look rather dead. It also didn’t moisturise my lips enough – matter of fact, sometimes the product felt drying. This is an old formula, and Oriflame updated it. I haven’t tried the new one.

Look DeVine Pinot Noir balm I loved. I received this one through Lip Monthly as well. It had a great scent and made my lips really moisturised, soft, and plump. I had to be careful with accidentally building up the colour with it, as a couple more strokes than necessary, and it would make me look a bit on the undead side.

Categories
Beauty

OFRA Liquid Lipsticks.

During my Lip Monthly subscription (I have unsubscribed a little over half a year ago) I received three OFRA liquid lipsticks. Ever since receiving Laguna Beach, I’d squeal a bit if I saw one in the bag. Here’s a little overview of the three shades I own.

Laguna Beach

My most worn out of the bunch, and probably one of the absolute favourites in my lipstick collection. It’s a nude that’s neither too brown, nor too pink. Sits well on the lips, doesn’t highlight any dry areas, applies like a dream, and wears off nicely. I would wear it day in, day out, but I like sprucing things up a bit with different colours – plus yeah, I’m ‘saving’ it. You can see me wearing it in the photo below (also my current profile pic, heh).

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Mina

This is a really intense dark wine colour. It’s pigmented and applies evenly, but does require a bit more work than the Laguna Beach above (duh). The thing I like about OFRA liquid lipsticks is that you can easily work with the transparency of these. I’ve worn it both as an intense dark plum, and as a bit of an evenly looking wine stain. Add gloss over, and it almost looks like natural but really intense lip pigment.

New Orleans

Simultaneously my favourite and least favourite out of the bunch. The colour is amazing, and as with the Mina above, you can either wear it as an intense purple, or tone it down a notch and use it as a stain under a gloss (and I’ve a matching gloss too – Medusa’s Make-up Shout, unavailable on their website it seems). However, the formula in my product seems faulty. It’s patchy and dry – not drying, but dry. Working with it is a bit like trying to apply poster paint evenly on your lips. Since the other two I’ve got don’t have such problems, I think that my tube of New Orleans OFRA liquid lipstick is just really old.

ofra liquid lipsticks

Top to bottom: Mina, New Orleans, Laguna Beach. As you can see in the picture, the New Orleans tube has its sticker applied the other way round, compared to Mina and Laguna Beach.

ofra liquid lipsticks swatches

Swatched: Laguna Beach, New Orleans, Mina.

ofra liquid lipsticks applicator

Doe-foot applicators of OFRA Liquid Lipsticks.

I wholeheartedly recommend this lipstick range. If you haven’t yet tried OFRA, you really should.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBcfaXXWscA

Kayla Hagey has done a great swatch video of 32 shades of OFRA Liquid Lipsticks. Damn, I want a couple more.

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