So. Much. Stuff. In the beginning of the month I thought I wasn't going to finish anything. Surprised myself quite a bit.
Let's jump right in...
CoLab Dry Shampoo Active - probably my favourite spray dry shampoo. Invisible, smells fresh and not overpowering. I go through a can very quickly, that's probably the only negative.
Toni&Guy Intense Softness Shampoo for normal hair - I should have known better. This was a random purchase. I just grabbed this in a supermarket without thinking, and really, I should have. Contains SLS and something else that has made my hair dry and coarse. My scalp became irritated. Yikes. Never again.
Korres Japanese Rose Shower Gel - if you like rose smell, you will love this. Beautiful fragrance. Otherwise, nothing special.
TRESemme Extra Hold Hairspray - I had this small can for years and finally finished it. It's good. I've been curling my hair more often so it was useful.
Philip Kingsley Daily Damage Defense - favourite, will be repurchased. Makes my hair soft, doesn't weigh it down, smells nice, protects from the heat.
January Labs Balancing Moisture Lotion - it was lovely during the heatwave and if I felt like I needed something a bit more nourishing, I would just add a couple of drops of oil (Zelens Power D, I love thee). Husband liked this too.
Ren Flash Hydra-Boost Emulsion - this has lasted me for a really long time! I think I got bored of it for a while, forgot about it and then rediscovered it. Lovely when used in the morning as it hydrates and plumps up the skin but also feels light. This would feel lovely on mature skin.
Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Universal Daily Peel - still got 3 packs left. This is a nice treat. The skin feels smoother and brighter straight away.
Alpha H Absolute Eye Complex - I like the ingredients in this a lot (niacinamide, sodium hialuronate, matryxil 6) and it works at hydrating but I don't really like the texture, it's a tad sticky (possibly because of the niacinamide). A little goes a long way.
Clinique Pep-Start Exfoliating Cleanser - I got a sample of this with purchase. I assumed it was an acid or enzyme cleanser and was disappointed to find that it had bits in it. I still have no idea whats in it because ingredients are not listed on my sample and I can't find them on clinique website. It says that it's gentle enough to use twice a day. Uhm, no. It's got bits in and it lathers. Worked a treat on my legs though.
And finally, makeup that got old: Nars creamy concealer (good), Bourjois blush (it's alright) and MUA cream bronzer (too orange, too dark, can't remember where I got this from, I certainly did not purchase this?).
Let's jump right in...
CoLab Dry Shampoo Active - probably my favourite spray dry shampoo. Invisible, smells fresh and not overpowering. I go through a can very quickly, that's probably the only negative.
Toni&Guy Intense Softness Shampoo for normal hair - I should have known better. This was a random purchase. I just grabbed this in a supermarket without thinking, and really, I should have. Contains SLS and something else that has made my hair dry and coarse. My scalp became irritated. Yikes. Never again.
Korres Japanese Rose Shower Gel - if you like rose smell, you will love this. Beautiful fragrance. Otherwise, nothing special.
TRESemme Extra Hold Hairspray - I had this small can for years and finally finished it. It's good. I've been curling my hair more often so it was useful.
Philip Kingsley Daily Damage Defense - favourite, will be repurchased. Makes my hair soft, doesn't weigh it down, smells nice, protects from the heat.
January Labs Balancing Moisture Lotion - it was lovely during the heatwave and if I felt like I needed something a bit more nourishing, I would just add a couple of drops of oil (Zelens Power D, I love thee). Husband liked this too.
Ren Flash Hydra-Boost Emulsion - this has lasted me for a really long time! I think I got bored of it for a while, forgot about it and then rediscovered it. Lovely when used in the morning as it hydrates and plumps up the skin but also feels light. This would feel lovely on mature skin.
Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Universal Daily Peel - still got 3 packs left. This is a nice treat. The skin feels smoother and brighter straight away.
Alpha H Absolute Eye Complex - I like the ingredients in this a lot (niacinamide, sodium hialuronate, matryxil 6) and it works at hydrating but I don't really like the texture, it's a tad sticky (possibly because of the niacinamide). A little goes a long way.
Clinique Pep-Start Exfoliating Cleanser - I got a sample of this with purchase. I assumed it was an acid or enzyme cleanser and was disappointed to find that it had bits in it. I still have no idea whats in it because ingredients are not listed on my sample and I can't find them on clinique website. It says that it's gentle enough to use twice a day. Uhm, no. It's got bits in and it lathers. Worked a treat on my legs though.
And finally, makeup that got old: Nars creamy concealer (good), Bourjois blush (it's alright) and MUA cream bronzer (too orange, too dark, can't remember where I got this from, I certainly did not purchase this?).
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I've had this feeling for a while that it might be time for me to purchase a new eye shadow palette.
It probably has to do with the fact that the beauty market has been exploding with various palettes this year.
I've been oohing and aahing but could not make up my mind for the longest time.
When it comes to make-up and especially eye shadows, I am quite minimalistic, I don't feel the need to use eye shadows everyday. For the past two years the only eyeshadows I have used was Charlotte Tilbury's eye shadow quad in Sophisticate. It had a nice brightening your-skin-but-better shade, a slightly darker beige one for the crease, warmer dark brown for smoky eye and a matte grey brown which was the perfect colour for my eyebrows!
Nearly two years later, I have used up the lightest colour and I still haven't reached the pan on all the other ones. Now that I'm writing this, I'm wondering why have I even decided that I need a new palette... I could have just purchased a singular pale cream colour and been done with it... Oh, but the heart wants what it wants. *shrugs*
I have decided to go for a high end brand rather than high street. I am sure that high street offers some amazing quality eye shadows but call me what you want, I enjoy a pretty design and packaging.
I've looked at most of the brands...
Charlotte Tibury: The Dolce Vita and The Golden Goddess looked nice and so did the face palettes, but I felt like it was time for a larger palette. And non Charlotte Tilbury for once.
Same goes to Chanel/ Dior/ Tom Ford. That said, I was lusting big time after Tom Ford's Honeymoon and Nude Dip palettes... But £64 for four colours. Yowza!
Violet Voss/ Morphe Brushes: The palettes are too big. I don't need that many colours.
Anastasia Beverly Hills: Modern Renaissance. This is probably great since everyone and their mother has one, but I wasn't attracted to the colours, especially the hot pink and red one.
Zoeva: Some great colour combinations and great value for money. Not surprisingly however the packaging is cheap and since I'm intending to use my palette for a couple of years, I doubt it would last or stay looking presentable for a long time.
Urban Decay: the heat palette seems a tad too warm for my liking and I'm kind of over the Naked palettes.
MAC: I heard the palettes are not of the best quality... They might have suited me OK since I am not a professional, but the packaging didn't look great either.
Stilla/Smashbox and Tarte came close to being picked but then I stumbled across the new-ish Nars Loaded Palette in Strike it Rich and I knew I've found THE ONE. It has both mattes and shimmers, plenty of light colours, warm browns, interesting gold, reddish bronze... For me, it seems to have it all and more. Quite an upgrade from the quad of mattes I've been using even though I still think CT quad in The Sophisticate is a great basic.
Nars palette is not cheap, it's £55 but it offers 12 colours and a nice sturdy packaging with huge mirror. I took my time to check all the retailers and decided to purchase from Space NK because they had free shipping, best samples and let me use two voucher codes to add two additional luxury sized samples (Lancer and Vita Liberata), score!
It probably has to do with the fact that the beauty market has been exploding with various palettes this year.
I've been oohing and aahing but could not make up my mind for the longest time.
When it comes to make-up and especially eye shadows, I am quite minimalistic, I don't feel the need to use eye shadows everyday. For the past two years the only eyeshadows I have used was Charlotte Tilbury's eye shadow quad in Sophisticate. It had a nice brightening your-skin-but-better shade, a slightly darker beige one for the crease, warmer dark brown for smoky eye and a matte grey brown which was the perfect colour for my eyebrows!
Nearly two years later, I have used up the lightest colour and I still haven't reached the pan on all the other ones. Now that I'm writing this, I'm wondering why have I even decided that I need a new palette... I could have just purchased a singular pale cream colour and been done with it... Oh, but the heart wants what it wants. *shrugs*
I have decided to go for a high end brand rather than high street. I am sure that high street offers some amazing quality eye shadows but call me what you want, I enjoy a pretty design and packaging.
I've looked at most of the brands...
Charlotte Tibury: The Dolce Vita and The Golden Goddess looked nice and so did the face palettes, but I felt like it was time for a larger palette. And non Charlotte Tilbury for once.
Same goes to Chanel/ Dior/ Tom Ford. That said, I was lusting big time after Tom Ford's Honeymoon and Nude Dip palettes... But £64 for four colours. Yowza!
Violet Voss/ Morphe Brushes: The palettes are too big. I don't need that many colours.
Anastasia Beverly Hills: Modern Renaissance. This is probably great since everyone and their mother has one, but I wasn't attracted to the colours, especially the hot pink and red one.
Zoeva: Some great colour combinations and great value for money. Not surprisingly however the packaging is cheap and since I'm intending to use my palette for a couple of years, I doubt it would last or stay looking presentable for a long time.
Urban Decay: the heat palette seems a tad too warm for my liking and I'm kind of over the Naked palettes.
MAC: I heard the palettes are not of the best quality... They might have suited me OK since I am not a professional, but the packaging didn't look great either.
Stilla/Smashbox and Tarte came close to being picked but then I stumbled across the new-ish Nars Loaded Palette in Strike it Rich and I knew I've found THE ONE. It has both mattes and shimmers, plenty of light colours, warm browns, interesting gold, reddish bronze... For me, it seems to have it all and more. Quite an upgrade from the quad of mattes I've been using even though I still think CT quad in The Sophisticate is a great basic.
Nars palette is not cheap, it's £55 but it offers 12 colours and a nice sturdy packaging with huge mirror. I took my time to check all the retailers and decided to purchase from Space NK because they had free shipping, best samples and let me use two voucher codes to add two additional luxury sized samples (Lancer and Vita Liberata), score!
I've had this palette for a few days now and I'm really happy with it. There's so many looks to try!
What's your favourite palette?
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