A little bit more of MAC in my life

I was relaxing at home the other day and watching videos on Youtube. There I have seen Estée's great Get-ready-with-me video, where she was using an Illamasqua contour colour for her face. She seems to be as fair as me and maybe even a little fairer and since I hardly ever contour because I am worried to look orange with my bronzer, her video made my jump up and run to the nearest MAC store (there is no Illamasqua counter nowhere near me). You can see below what I managed to walk out with:

Unfortunately my store does not carry the pro lines thus there was no sculpting powder, however I managed to find a taupe blush from the "Strong" collection. It is called "Taupe Shape" and is a brownish greyish colour, that has a little shimmer to it since it is a satin finish. I have used it twice so far and really been liking it. It works as a very subtle contour shade for pale skins as mine. The shimmer has not been noticeable.  

Since I am slightly mad about MAC brushes and love the sets that they bring out with certain collections obviously I was one to pick up the "Archie's Girls" set. I know a lot of people don't like the short handle, however I love it. It fits perfectly in my make up bag and is easy to transport. For this collection I absolutely adore the little heart design.

This set came with quite useful brushes in my opinion. You get a 167 large powder brush, a 168 large angled contour brush, a 226 blending brush, a 242 shader brush and the 266 small angle brush. I personally think it is a great value for money. 

Estée Lauder Crazyness

Since we are not getting any younger and a concerned beauty addict and colleague of mine pointed out that my current eye cream (Lancaster Aqua Milk) clearly does't moisturise my skin enough since I was having  expression lines when smiling. Horrified I ran to my nearest drug store and purchased the Estée Lauder Revitalizing Supreme Global Anti-Aging Eye Balm (puh what a long name). This line has been launched quite recently and is designed for skin that just starts changing. 

The cream or rather gel has a very smooth and moisturising texture. After application the skin stays quite velvety and smooth.

The smell is quite light and soothing. And I LOVE the packaging and the whole campaign design. I am aware that packaging should be of very low importance in my decision process, however it is very nice to look at nonetheless. 

A little Duty free haul

Last month I have been in Germany on a business trip (not sure whether I have mentioned it) and hauled 3 things in the duty free in Frankfurt. Oh help me Lord what a duty free! With an absolutely none-existant restraint I ventured into undiscovered territories of Origins. 

After watching Lily Pebbles rave about Origins I decided that from all the masks there I need to try the Clear Improvement active charcoal mask. It comes out as a black paste and where applied on the face it looks like you rolled in mud. Immediately one can feel a little tingle and imagine the mask doing its work. It does feel like it is really cleaning the face and the skin feels incredibly soft after washing it off. 

At the time of the purchase my lips have been extremely dry and since I have heard so many good things about the original Elizabeth Arden 8-hour-cream I decided to give this lip cream. I do have to admit that I am the victim of all marketing campaigns and clearly the marketeers have me in mind when thinking about the placement of the products since this was right by the check out. However, I have not looked back because this product is amazing.

The Origins Spot Remover is another well loved product in the beauty world and since at the time of purchase my face has been in a bad shape I decided I really need this in my life. The smell of it is quite strong and it seems to contain a lot of alcohol. It is a clear gel that dries matt so if needed it can also be easily applied over moisturised and below foundation. 

And here we go again with the BB

I have been wanting to try this BB cream ever since I have heard that Estée Lauder will be launching one. But somehow I never managed to get my hands on it or rather was avoiding it due to the price (not to forget that everything is more expensive anyways). However one day I saw that there was an offer in one of the cosmetic stores and decided to finally give it a go.

The product comes in an elegant packaging with the printed textured Estée Lauder logo on the top. Contrary to the other BB products it does not list all the benefits which I like because I am still not sold that one product can be quite so multitasking. The cream is water based and comes in only 2 shades, light and dark. I was worried that it would be too dark for me since I have a very fair complexion but after I blended it out on the back of my hand I decided I will make it work. 

This BB cream provides an SPF of 35 which in my opinion is great, especially since I live in Israel where where sun shines for the most part of the year. It smells very fresh. When just out of the tube it appears like a thick paste and is quite a bit darker that it actually looks blended out on the face. The content is 30ml so it is the same size like a regular foundation. 

All in all I am very pleased with this product. It has a good coverage, better than my tinted moisturised, and a good lasting power. I was worried that it will make my face as shiny as a disco ball as it happened with other BB creams but the so much dreaded shine stayed away. My skin is quite sensitive but it does not seem to break me out.

The downside for me is the price. Due to its thick consistency it can be a bit harder to blend.

I do not think I will repurchase this BB cream purely because although I liked it it did not wow me and I would not call it a holy grail product but I will definitely use up the tube and enjoy the process.