L'Occitane - Huile de Douche

Unfortunately I am weak and have no self control… The beauty world is way too alluring and one has to splurge! As simple as that!

I went by the L'Occitane store and decided to go in because I have not been in a while and spotted the shower oil which used to be a super hyped up product and just spontaneously bought it. Obviously it looks lovely in my shower but it is also a very nice product. 

The concept is simple: it is a shower oil which turns into a milky liquid once it gets into contact with water. It is lightly scented of almonds and the skin feels great after usage. So far I have been using it sparingly because it is on the pricier side and not for every day use but I reckon that it wintertime it will find more use. 

Infaillible eye shadow

Although I do own eye shadows it's not something I use on a daily basis. Also a problem are my hooded eyes, however I am learning to work with them. 

One of my absolutely favorite eye shadows is "Sahara treasure" and is part of the infaillible range. It is a mix of a pressed pigment and a cream eye shadow and being held together with a lid. I was worried at first that it will go everywhere but due to its creamy consistency it does stay put.

Firstly I apply my Estée Lauder double wear eye shadow primer and then bust out a fluffy brush, take it slightly higher when my crease and also apply underneath my the eye. Then line my top waterline with Mac's "Teddy" and to finish of apply a coat of Clinique's high impact volume mascara. 

 

Current base of choice

As mentioned in my previous post I do have a current base of choice. The affair has been going on for some months now... The love is even so strong that I have repurchased! That is an absolute first for me because I'm absolutely rubbish in finishing products and most particularly foundations. 

Without further a due I'm introducing you to Estée Lauder's Day Wear BB Cream. It has the typical smell of the day wear range and is of a thicker consistency. This is how I imagine Asian BB creams to be. It has a decent coverage and hides some redness. I do not find it particularly moisturising and always use a different moisturiser before applying the product. It comes in two shades, light and dark, so the colour range is not great but the light shade suits me well. The skin still shows through and it sort of adjust to the shade. On my it lasts all day and on some days I do not even have to powder over it. One of the best things about BB creams is that they contain SPF and this particular one even has SPF of 35. 

The only downside for me is the price. This BB cream doesn't come cheap, however I believe it's totally worth the price. 

Laura Mercier - tinted moisturizer

I finally took a plunge. I have ordered Laura Mercier's tinted moisturizer (oil free) from http://us.strawberrynet.com/main.aspx. The delivery came as expected and shortly after ordering I have received my purchase. I have picked the shade "nude". 

The moisturiser has a very nice texture and feels nice when applied. I cannot notice a particular smell. However I must admit that I have expected it to be a bit more opaque listening to people and reading the reviews. I also had to discover, that my forehead became shinny throughout the day and I had to powder more than with my other base product of choice. I am slightly surprised since I did buy the oil free version and I have combination dehydrated skin which is not on the very oily side. 

Personally to me this product is not worth the hype. I am rarely using it which defeats the purpose and on top of that it comes with a hefty price tag. 

Impressions

I have been to Jerusalem for a weekend and decided to try my new and beloved app called 

HDR. All photos were taken with that. 

Blog revisited

Today I was looking at my favourite blogs and decided that it is long that an overhaul is long over due. In a life of every blog comes the time where one has to decide how to continue. Is it time for the blog to retire or hasn't it passed its prime yet? 

I decided that although it is the fourth year of my blog's existence it never received the right attention from me, apart from the first months of its creation. This has to change!

A blog is a creation. A free space to share thoughts, likes, style, makeup or whatever comes to mind thus the structure of this blog will take a slightly different direction.

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.