treat yo self ~ january faves

i decided that this year i'm going to make monthly favourites posts. i like watching those videos on youtube and i feel like it's the most practical thing to do. i trust those recommendations and i hope you'll like mine. we can even share some finds!

since i'm kinda into beauty and more likely to use different products rather than buying new clothes, most of my favourites are from that category.

let's do skin care first:

~ mia 2 ~ clarisonic

wonderful massage for your face.

ok, maybe it's a bit tmi, but here i go. i don't have many skin problems, i don't really get pimples, if there are any they are under my fringe anyway and heal quite quickly, but i won't go into my questionable methods now. the thing about my face is that the t zone is super prone to blackheads, like i really can't get them out (okey, that is really kinda gross). i know there are the strips and some hardcore cleansers but i can't use those, my skin is really delicate, i can accidentally scratch myself and it's gonna be red for days, and it's the worst in the problem areas. so here i am, with a sephora coupon in my hand, getting the famous clarisonic with my mum. i was kinda sceptical but i'm really into trying new stuff so i used it the first night in early december and haven't stopped since. i mean i did stop that evening but continued... you know what i mean!
this is a quite basic model, it came with a normal head, charger and a travel case, oh and a facial wash but i use another one. the tool is really nice, it's light and has two speeds, and the best thing, it beeps! it says in the manual that you're supposed to use it for a minute, 20 sec on your forehead, 20 seconds on the nose and chin and 10 sec on each cheek. yeah sure, am i supposed to count that? no! it beeps when you need to switch! cool stuff, cool stuff.
the real thing though, it really helped me with the blackheads, especially on my forehead and chin. mechanical cleansing is the shizz. i use it with simple kind to skin moisturising facial wash, curtesy of zuza (thank you, thank you, thank you). it's exactly what it says, very delicate and simple. nothing fancy but that is just the thing i need.

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~ ''wonderful dreams'' eyeshadow palette ~ sephora

wonderful dreams, on your eyelids for a change.

i'm not a a big eyeshadow fan, so this is really weird. since i kinda do makeup professionally, i know how many great things you can do with good shadows but i didn't really use them for my personal makeup (i wear glasses, big ones, so it would all just disappear behind them). the only thing i can say about shadows is that for a while i had my eye on the biggest palette ever, naked 1,2,3 from urban decay. it came to my sephora, i tested the pigment and it sucks! like come on! i can only imagine that beginners like them cause it's safer for building up on the lid! but if i'm gonna pay in gold for shadows, they better be gold. but sephora brand came to the rescue, rather genius of them tbh. they made a couple of simple palettes with colours like the naked series and the two chocolate creations from too faced, for a fraction of the price. i know the brand name is not there but the shadows! as you can see, they are super pigmented and easy to blend. there is a nice mix of satin, glittery and matte ones, and i love them even though i'm usually not a neutrals girl. i haven't experienced any fallout or creasing, which is a problem for me sometimes (hooded, deep set eyes). the colours have such nice names too!

in the palette order

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~ ''flushed'' blush ~ sleek

i'm healthy looking, kind of.

i'm difficult with blush. since i'm ghostly white and naturally have a rosy undertone, lots of blushes make me look either like a doll or like i have a severe fever. but this one, i think looks great. it's almost matte and looks quite scary in the tin. fortunately, if you just swipe it once it leaves not a lot of colour and loses a bit of darkness so on the cheek it's quite lovely. for me it's great for winter sun cause with a bit of a warmer colour i would look green. oh, and it matches my scarf quite nicely, so that's a bonus.

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~ ''island hopping'' nail polish ~ essie

                           and

~ ''bloom boost'' nail treatment ~ ciate

boring but great combo.

i love doing my nails, it relaxes me, i can watch scooby doo and i can do it however i like it, i'm really weird at the nail salon. since i have them painted most of the time, i try to use some good stuff under the polish to make them nice and strong. and the nail treatment does just that. i got it in my advent calendar as a mini and i'm really considering buying a full size bottle (btw, the ciate calendar was sooooo good! buy it in december and thank me). and the nail polish... i'm usually a blue girl, i have like every drugstore light blue/lilac available. then why the rosy, dusty grandma colour (the real colour is the one on my nails in the photo, i am not a photographer...)? i don't know. but it looks so nice! and is really good quality, to be fair, a week without chipping for me (and i wash my hands quite a lot). if you're not blown away by the pink, just let me recommend you essie polishes in general, they are a lot of colours, two coats are opaque and they dry quite fast.

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ok, that's it i think. i don't know if that's how those favourites are done, i hope i did a good job. let me know if you want to see more, or suggest other categories. starting march or even february, i'll put up favourites as an additional post, not on mondays, but today that's gonna be it.

this has been your monday dose of love for inanimate objects.

love,

qofr

p.s. i know that these photos aren't really good. i had to retouch the lighting cause i'm stupid enough to wait till evening. i'm sadly not a photographer and macro is not my best genre but if you would like to see some better photos, of the shadows perhaps, let me know.