Review: Urban Decay Naked 3 Eyeshadow Palette

You'll be shocked, for some of the shots in this post I whipped out my Canon 600D camera....

Anyways  about the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette, I wanted to review this popular eyeshadow palette for quite some time, everybody and their mom has it but still, I want to share my thoughts and why a whopping 48€ were well spent in my opinion.

So here it is:

As you can clearly see, the packaging is quite classy and elegant. From the many Naked palettes that Urban Decay released this one spoke the most to me because of the mix of rosy and nude shades and it being the one with the warmest undertones out of all, which I find flattering on myself. It's actually said, that people with rosy undertones in their skin have to stay away from this one, but at the same time many say that it's great for anyone green-eyed ... I don't care I just like those shades the most!

Here is my swatch:

Sorry for the blur between the last two shades, I got mixed up there haha

I used the Mac Fixing fluid to make them pop a little bit more. The range is quite beautiful and versatile, I can do toned down daytime looks as well as flashy night time looks ( at least what I would call flashy). I do have to admit that I find the lighter tones to be a bit hard to work with, especially Burnout and Limit. Also Nooner and Liar are very similar in my opinion.

I usually go for very natural looks so I did one that I would do regularly, I used Dust on half of the lid, then Limit on the other half, Buzz in my crease and Nooner around my upper and lower lash line:

Here is a simple selfie shot of the whole look (I kinda don't like it when I don't see the eye makeup in the context of your whole face in reviews like that, it doesn't make sense to me and I can't imagine what it would look zoomed out..):

The palette is absolutely gold, especially for someone like me who is NOT an eyeshadow fanatic and tends to create simpler looks. So it was actually worth it to invest because I will be using it for quite some time and be able to do different styles at the same time. Would totally recommend!

Douglas Haul & Review of Mac Lip Liner Boldly Bare + Mac Blush Peachykeen

This douglas haul (german makeup store) is a little bit older (it's really not like I am doing a haul every week, honest to god) so I have used the products for quite a while now! The phone case pictured is actually from claire's and I am so in love with it, I have a huge weakness for cute phone cases... and since I own an Iphone 6 literally all the cute cases fit...
But this post is actually about 2 of the makeup products I got from this haul:

As you can see I got a chubby stick and 2 NYX products also, but I won't review them now!

The Mac lipliner in the color boldly bare is something I've been wanting for quite some time, since I've seen it on Gigi Gorgeous (huge fan of her), and I finally invested 16,50€ for it. Which is quite a lot in my opinion for such a product but lets first see if it owns up to that price.

The blush is something I've gotten on the whim because I just love peach-coloured blushes and "peachykeen" also had a nice shimmer to it so I bought it for 24,50€!

First the blush:

I amped up the details on this pic to make the shimmer come out a bit clearer on it, it's a cooler toned peach color, very natural looking with added shimmer particles! I was very excited to swatch it but then this:

YES, that is actually a swatch, even swatched twice, I don't know why this particular Mac blush had to be so bad with pigmentation for me, maybe I got an old one but it's very hard to swatch it. Well it is very natural because of that but when applying I really have to use a lot of blush for it to appear on my skin... I still like the color but it's the second blush from Mac I bought that I didn't like so I'll stay away from them from now on (other Mac products work great!).

The lipliner is another story though:

The Mac lipliner are pretty popular so I did have some expectations, especially since I only owned like 2 lipliner before this one and rarely used them. This one has vitamin e and helps keep your lips hydrated!

From the swatch you can tell that it's a very subtle colour, a kind of nude-brownish shade. Though this swatch doesn't do its justice, it actually makes the lips look wonderful and even fuller!

I love this product and have been obsessing over it, I usually use the lipliner almost by itself, I apply it on my lip line and then smudge it a bit with a clear chapstick, as to not make it look to harsh and just spread the nude color of it evenly. It's a bit darker than the shade of my lips, which is really good for conturing. It has a very good hydrating formula and stays on pretty good. 

I simply love it and tried to take a selfie with both products, but the lighting is not that good (have to take my canon out pretty soon I guess):

That's quite an amusing selfie actually.... and it shows my signature face. I had to apply a lot of the blush to make it visible like that though.

The lipliner is holy grail material and will stay in my makeup collection forever! The blush not so much though unfortunately...

Btw I added the statcounter this week out of curiosity (and blocked my own visits on it) so it might seem it has few visits but it counts individually and is pretty new also- so don't judge haha

Milani Baked Blush - Luminoso

So here is a small post about a holy grail product that I own, the Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso!
I originally watched some tutorials from Nikkie-Tutorials on Youtube and she kept raving about the blush in several of her monthly favourite videos. The product can be found through amazon for about 6-10€ so I thought I'd give it a try, since there was such a huge hype.
So here it is:

The packaging is pretty simple, I'd like to note that there is a second compartment inside with an application brush (which is actually non too shaby) and a mirror! So it is very practical on the go.

No words can describe the glow and shimmer of Luminoso! The description itself states it is a "blush that features a mélange infusion of colors baked on Italian terracotta tiles".

That sounds pretty fancy. But the big question is: can you actually get that color on your face or is it maybe not that pigmented?

Ok well it's super highly pigmented and just silky in texture and application! I have never had a blush like this and I have so many from drugstore to high end brand, this one takes the cake. It's too beautiful and has a nice soft shimmer without being too overly glittery. The staying power is quite good, although I find myself re-applying quite regularly- simply cause I love this blush.
Here is a pic of me wearing it, toned down with Mac's Soft & Gentle highlighter a bit:

I will forever buy this blush and I use it more often than any other ones I own!!

Too faced haul (again)

I won't even mention how long I haven't updated this thing here....
Anyways! As it is probably clear I am a huge Too Faced-Makeup fanatic and try to buy all of their great products. Even though I can get most of it through beautybay I still have to order through Sephora most of the time, because they have the newest products that I am looking for. For the next products I had to spend over 100€ (well I ordered a third product not pictured but still..) because of taxes and I am not happy about that, the actual product prices will be listed later!

This is what I got:
The Too Faced Born This Way Foundation in Nude (38€) and the Too Faced Love Flush Blush in Love Hangover (25€)!
I was super hyped for both products. Especially for the blush because it is supposed to stay on for 16 hours!

So here is the foundation (unedited pictures):

It says Oil-Free and you get 30 ml for that price in a pump dispenser kind of package. The packaging looks and feels high quality but I am not a fan of the pump dispenser thing, you can see how messy it gets right here:

It's so hard to get the product out without it getting messy, but I suppose it's still better than the missha oriental bb cream dispenser... The nude color is more or less neutral, with some yellow undertones (EVEN THOUGH the label stated it had neutral to pink undertones) which I believe I actually don't have, but the foundation is like magic on skin and adapts very well. I really feel the message "Born This Way" because the foundation is so lightweight that you could almost fool yourself you didn't wear any. It has a great feel on the skin and just glides on, especially with the beauty blender! It stays on all day and doesn't get patchy or dry. Also: The coverage is build-able, so you can wear more coats of it for better coverage even though I think one is already pretty good for coverage. This will probably be my holy grail of all foundations and I usually use it for special occasions, only because it's so expensive (otherwise I'd wear it daily).

Now for the second item:

The Love Flush Blush in Love Hangover has such a cute packaging, as always with Too Faced. The bunnies are adorable such as the whole heart shape of the blush, also the mirror is really practical (will use it as a mirror compact once I use it all up). It is a very warm pink, it's a bit mauvy in my opinion as it has some dark undertones without being cool like mauve. I find the application of this blush ok, nowhere near as easy and perfect as Milani's luminoso, but the color suits me quite well and I usually tone it down with a highlighter (Mac's soft & gentle). That way it looks even better. But I have to say it doesn't stay on for 16 hours, at least not on my face. I have to re-apply quite often unfortunately!

Here a pic of me wearing both of the products:

I am very content with both products, especially the foundation which exceeded my expectations (initially I was having higher expectations for the blush...). Even if the blush is not my favourite I still like it! I am never disappointed when buying Too Faced products so it will stay my favourite brand!

Too Faced Haul (Sephora)

This haul is actually a couple months old but I guess I can comment on the products better after having used them for such a long time! I bought all of the following products from sephora online, I paid about 100$ for everything combined but I'l list prices down below. I have to say that sephora is a great place to order from, the only downside is that I have to pay taxes because I live in germany,
so even if the products seem to be cheaper in comparison to german shops, they actually aren't.
Nevertheless the free samples are awesome (depending on the day you purchase, I got a tarte mascara!) and the shipping was very fast!

Here are my gets:

First of, I got the papparazzi ready set, which includes the bronzer, lashgasm mascara, sweet sun shines lip gloss in mocha freeze ,a beauty balm and an eyeliner. The set was 40$ but the actual value was 87$!
- The mascara is ok, nothing special here and doesn't give any volume
-The lipgloss is nice (especially the scent and texture) but it fades quickly
-The eyeliner is pretty good, glides very smoothly
-The beauty balm is unfortunately not my shade, I gave it to someone else so I am not sure about it.
-The bronzer is da bomb, it lasts me sooo long! I guess I have been using it for a couple of months on and off and the chocolatey smell, the texture and the way it stays on my face just made this the best bronzer ever (I have the chocolate soleil bronzer in milk chocolate, might review it in detail)

Also pictured is the under the mistletoe lip creme set which was 28$ (value 71$), will review this later

And my favourite: the Candlelight Glow Highlight Powder Duo, which is just amazing:

The packaging is already so dreamy, and the colors and chandelier from the powder itself are breathtaking. I hesitated for some time before I would actually use it! The highlighter was 30$ and the whole sephora purchase was mainly because of this beauty. 

I tried to capture the golden shimmer glow, but it's really hard. So the particles are golden, I have not noticed a significant difference from the pink or white powder, but I still tend to mix them both. Usually I apply way too much blush and then just go over the blush with the highlighter using a blush brush. It just makes the face glowy and the blush underneath looks way better this way! 

To show the actual effect better I did not wear any blush underneath:

This is just lightly applied, did not use too much and already the effect is pretty great! Before I found this great highlighter I used a benefit high beam dupe from mememe, which was very difficult to apply because of the creamy texture or my skin79 star glow ball highlighter! I will probably stick with this highlighter forever.

Overall the purchase was worth it, although I'll have to speak about the lip creams seperately. But the papparazzi set was worth it because of the bronzer and of course this highlighter was one of the best buys ever!

China (March)

So today was my first time modeling. How I came to do that? Well actually if you are a European girl, especially Russian, people often will come to you asking you either to model, take part in a tv show, (be someone's girlfriend or wife lol) or stuff like that. So during my half year stay back in 2012/2013 I was offered this opportunities multiple times. But I never got to do any of them because my boyfriends father forbid it (or let's say he didn't want me to attend and told me it was dangerous...).

So this time around I wasn't expecting anything in terms of being able to try out modeling. But my bfs uncle works at some fashion brand and when we went there I was casually asked if I'd like to try out modeling for their monthly fashion magazine, and because it had to do with family member I could actually do it.
So today I just met at a huge shopping store with the photographers and other people picking out clothes and organizing it, they immediately got me to the make up section and wanted to add a little bit make up although I was already wearing some haha (they wanted more....).

Finally a professional doing my make-up

So my make up was done by a (I might say) semi-professional, maybe she even does it professionally but she seemed more like a make-up-shopgirl to me. Anyways they only used Chanel, originally it should have been done at the shiseido section but I didn't care.

I actually quite liked it, the style was supposed to be "甜美“(sweet). Then they went to pick out my clothes, though I was a bit worried from the start because I actually have gained some weight... But they actually picked out great stuff that all fit me nicely.

This outfit was pretty unusual for me

But I loved the make-up in the end!

I found the style very unusual for me to wear, I never wear stuff that could actually be fashionable, my style is kind of old school. There were 3 different outfits with shoes. The second one was a long skirt with a blouse and sweater, the third a dress with a jacket. I will get the pictures once they are printed!

Apart from that I finally met up with friends that are still living and studying in Nanjing, it was nice seeing them after a whole year!

Me and Anna at Haidilao

/EDIT: Because this post was written (but somehow not postet) about three weeks ago I already have the final picture they used of me modeling. I have to say they altered a lot with he help of photoshop haha 

Review: Clinique Chubby Stick VS Isadora Twist Up Gloss Stick

Clinique’s chubby sticks are being reviewed and praised constantly right now. I wanted to find out if they are really worth the price of 20 € (you can get them cheaper though online). I bought the shade 02 whole lotta honey, which is again a somewhat light brownish and slightly mauve shade. While buying I discovered that Isadora had chubby-sticks-like “Gloss Sticks” and they where 12 €, 8 € cheaper, so I bought 03 Sugar Shock, a light pink shade, as a comparison. Of course the shades are different and therefore more difficult to compare, but I mainly compare their moisturizing andlongevity aspects.

They look basically the same, pencil like with a twistable bottom. The scent (yes this is important to me, lip-products are so close to my nose they have to have an acceptable scent) of the Isadora Gloss Stick is very nice, super sweet almost vanilla! The Chubby Stick on the other hand has a typical lipstick smell, which i don’t particularly love. Here is a swatch of both:

Both are quite sheer in opacity, which i like because I prefer balm-like lipsticks or even tinted lipbalms! The color of the Gloss Stick is super cute pink. The Chubby Stick is as I said a brownish shade! Here are the most important pics, actually wearing them, but be warned, because of the sheerness of both the difference is not too big:

I like the shade of the Clinique Cubby Stick on me more than the Isadora one, it doesn’t look as flaky but the Isadora color is more fun. In terms of longevity both are the same, I have to reapply within an hour, other reviewers stated they didn’t have to reapply after several hours but I guess I am very different when it comes to that. Both are moisturizing, I might admit that the Chubby Stick is just slightly better.

The bigger problem with Isadora Gloss Sticks is that there are only 4 shades in Germany right now. Chubby Sticks have a larger variety. I found a second alternative for Chubby Sticks though, Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Stains, they are cheaper than the other both and not as sheer (although Clinique has a more opaque version of the sheer Chubby Sticks, too!). I’ll try those out in 2 shades. I’m pretty sure this will be my only Clinique Chubby Stick, just because there are enough similar alternatives that are cheaper on the market! Otherwise I love the whole concept behind Chubby Sticks!

Make up Look of the day

Well technically it’s already evening here, hence the not so good lighting. I did it to try out some new products I got! I wanted to go for a really light and soft look so i didn’t use any eyeliner (which is normally part of my routine), here goes:

Because of the lighting the blush is not as visible but it’s actually a very nice shade, not intense or anything (I was lucky to find a super cheap blush that I actually liked after the MAC-fiasco). Here is what I used:

1. First I applied the Catrice BB Allround Foundation  in 010 Light Beige

2. Afterwards I used my brand new Clinique Almost Powder Makeup in 02 Neutral fair.  I was actually worried that the shade would be too dark because of many reviews stating the shades usually are to dark for most but it fit me perfectly. Another good point about this powder is that it has SPF 15, which I don’t need but nevertheless is good to know. I used the cheap Essence Powder Brush (the purple one) to apply it!

3. After that I applied my new Catrice Multi Colour Blush in 070 Iced Caramel Macchiato (I just love this name!!) which is a great shade and a breeze to apply! I used the pink Essence Blush Brush!

4. Then I coated my eyelashes with one layer of Essence I love Extreme Volume Mascara (omg just one layer was enough for me??).

5. I used the I love strawberries & milkshake lip balm as a lip base (I hate the smell, it smells nothing like their lotions and shower gels!! nothing like strawberry, but fortunately the horrid smell fades after 2 minutes and the glossiness and moisture make up for it).

6. And last I used my new Isadora Twist up Gloss Stick in 03 Sugar Crush (which is essentially the same as the Clinique chubby sticks, Isadora has less shades but they are cheaper, 12 €, and just as moisturizing, might do a comparison).

That’s all!

Review: Benefit “They’re Real!” Mascara

I got this mascara in the small sample size (30 g) together with a sample sized Hello Flawless Foundation (might review later) for about 10 € on ebay. 

As for mascara I am a “layerer“, I don’t like to use just one mascara, I layer several mascaras to get a intense look out of it. There are some mascaras that I have that are NOT good for layering, e.g. the Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes or the Helena Rubinstein Lash Queen Sexy Blacks, both not HG material for me. I’m always on the hunt for the perfect mascara that I might even use as a stand-alone:

I heard good things about the mascara but didn’t want to read to many reviews because most people look for different things in a mascara, my number one criteria is that it is layerable. This one’s strong points are, according to advertising, volume & length AND lift/curl ( lift and curl were distinguished from one another but for me it’s basically the same).

It is a plastic brush, the one with plastic fibres… I don’t like those actually because I have too many and I find they are a little bit harder to handle but they do the trick. The brush is really thick in my opinion and even long, it’s probably the biggest mascara brush i have ever seen!

Here’s me layering “They’re Real!”:

And with make up done:

It is not my HG product but I use it frequently now because it does not crumble or dry out, the results really are long-wearing! Will use till I find something better. (Especially since the full size runs at something about 30 €, which for the effect it gives is a little bit over the top.)

Review: Benefit Confessions of a Concealaholic Set

Next product I got in the mail some days ago: The Benefit Confessions of a Concealaholic Concealer-Set. Now I love benefit from the bottom of my heart, the packaging, the quality, the names of the products, just about everything but the price. I wanted to try some of their concealing products (because who doesn’t need some concealer from time to time?? okay there probably are people who don’t, whatevs) and this set was perfect for me. It costed only around $20 and considering all the products I get from this (even if they come in traveler size) it’s a bargain.

It’s so very adorable, and after opening it looks like a fairy tale book or a cute diary! Themirror that is in this “book” is very useful and unlike some cheap gimmick mirrors that I experienced (especially in make-up palettes) this one is really nice and helpful without distorting your face at all.

There is even a cute booklet that comes with the set that explains how and where to use every product! Also very helpful: The brushes are labeled so you always use the same side of the brush for the same product. The products in this set are:

“That gal” brightening face primer, 7,5 ml. I don’t really need this product but it gives the face a healthy glow and can actually be applied over (!) make-up (and it really doesn’t mess it up!).

“Erase paste” brightening camouflage for eyes and face, 3,2 gr. This works really well with dark circles as its just like a regular concealer, but not that heavy and creasing! The coverage is a light to medium. Love it!

“Boi-ing” concealer in two shades, each one 1,3 gr. According to the instructions you can actually mix your perfect shade with the two different ones, for me the light one is enough right now. The coverage is still pretty medium but it has no nasty gray shade to it after concealing and doesn’t feel heavy! Love it, too!

“Lemon aid” color correcting eyelid primer, 0,9 gr. Now as I already got a good primer for eye-shadow this was no necessity, BUT I absolutely love this product, you put it on your eye-lid like a primer and you don’t even have to use eye-shadow, it’s such a pure look after putting this on because my eyes look refreshed and bright! Adore it.

“Eye bright” eye brightener, 0,9 gr. This is a very light rosy shade for the inner corners of the eyes to look brighter. Not my favorite but still useful for highlighting and so on!

Summed up: I’m glad I got this set, I will certainly get the products I liked best (like erase paste and lemon aid) in their original size, too, after trying these out!

Pretty and useful in my eyes!

Review: Maybelline Dream Fresh 8-IN-1 BB Cream

I finally bought the Maybelline BB creme!! I already wanted to try out the Loreal BB creme but the texture is just so strange and runny I didn’t like it. I was pleasantly surprised that they finally brought BB cremes into usual stores to germany! No more purchasing them from asia over ebay with high shipping?? The Maybelline BB creme was 9 € which I found to be reasonable enough because their foundations are at the same price level.

What I was amazed about is that there is only one shade that is supposed to be universally applicable and it is Apricot. Asian BB cremes usually have 2 shades and those are more beige.

 It looked super dark and orange-yellowish on my hand! How the hell is that supposed to blend into my shade? Well I tried it out…

It actually blends in pretty good, what a surprise. But applied on the face it is way too oily, not mattifying at all and STILL orangy. So I didn't wear it at all practically. As for coverage it is ok, about medium, SPF 30 sounds a bit high but whatever.

Pretty useless in my opinion.

Will not buy again, I'll stick to Asian BB cremes AND the new Catrice BB creme. 

Review: Maybelline Colorsensational Popsticks

And again a review about the Maybelline Colorsensational Popsticks! Last time Iwasn’t very impressed with them, I got the 010 Pink Sugar and while it was cute and pretty it didn’t make much difference on my lips. This time I got the 020 Tropical Pink. It was 10€ so about $13 I guess?? Not totally unreasonable for a maybelline lipstick!

Why did I even get another one? Well look at it. It’s so cool being all see-through and stuff! And I actually thought a lot about buying it but after testing it out for weeks in the shopping centre I realized I should just go ahead and buy it! It’s a pink-orangeish kind of shade and does not go overboard with the orange shade like it would appear from the lipstick itself. I haven’t got pics of the difference on my lips yet, but I still got a swatch.

You can slightly see the pink color but not so much the orange one on the swatch. The glitter on the other hand is not so much visible when applied (probably because there are no real glitter particles). The one downside to this popstick is that it kind of dries the lips very quickly! I expected it to moisturize but it does the exact opposite! Still the whole design is nice, the scent is sweet like a lollipop, it doesn’t wear off that quickly and it has a nice color on the lips!

Will buy again but is not a must have for me! Maybe I will combine it with a chap stick base and then apply it over the base to keep my lips moisturized…

Review: Clinique

I bought three Clinique products a couple of months ago but I actually only wanted one. But because they were cheaper in the set I thought I’d might as well get it! The product I wanted to get was the “Dramatically Different  Moisturizing Gel”. The set went for about $25 and the full size gel was $22 I think. So I got the gel and the “Clarifying Lotion” and the “Liquid Facial Soap”, the set is for combination oily to oily skin (is this even my type of skin???).

I’ll make this short: I hate it!!!! Ok I like the Dramatically Different Moisturizing gel but the other things, just UGHHH. The clarifying lotion irritates my skin soooo much, I’m red like a tomato after using it. And the facial soap doesn’t really do anything in removing dirt, and it leaves my face feeling stretched out with that amount of soap, even when I wash it away!

And it’s certainly not just because I’m not sure whether I have the kind of skin the products are for. My skin is a combination, and sometimes oily sometimes dry so this is probably about right…

This brings me to the thought I’ve been having for some time: don’t buy all these useless products, you’re better of just using soap! Honestly I had better experiences with simple soap. Nowadays our skin just gets over-treated with all the amount of products we use, you should rather just let it be. Of course I can’t bring myself from buying one or another hyped product but I have to keep that thought in mind to not overdo it with skin-care.

Won't buy again, clearly a good example of pretty useless.

Review: Too Faced Shadow Insurance Eye Shadow Primer

I already mentioned that I got this eyeshadow primer from Too Faced some days ago in the mail. It was $8 on ebay and I’ve been always looking to get a good primer because I thought there had to be a better one than my artdeco primer that was so difficult to apply because of it’s dryish-creamy texture. I was positively impressed by this new primer.

It comes in a tube of 11 grams and is quite easy to handle and to apply. The texture reminds me very much of liquid foundations and it blends in perfectly. The real convincing argument for getting this was the comparison between the eye-shadow applied without the primer and with the primer:

I just used some cheap astor eye-shadow in black as I didn’t have any of my palettes with me. On the left without and on the right with primer. Amazing, it’s such a huge difference. Now I know the quality of this particular eyeshadow is not very good to begin with but then again that’s why the primer is even more convincing, it changes the pigments from nonexistent to a strong black!!! And it doesn’t smudge or wear off quickly (or at all for that matter, at least not through the hours I wore it).

Will definitely buy again because I don’t see any downside to this primer, and the price is great, too, when I compare it to the crappy artdeco primer I used to spend $12 on…