let's start with skincare, since it's the base. in the beginning of the year i received a book about korean skin rituals and care and it flipped my entire routine upside down, or rather right side up! this is material for a whole another post, which i'm planning to make in a couple of months, but in general i added new steps, especially for the night.
one of which was using a toning water after cleansing and pore-tightening toning.
mario bodescu ~ facial spray with aloe, herbs and rose water
i picked this one on recommendation of essie button in the beginning of march, just to try something out. it sounded great and it kinda is. my favourite thing about it is the scent, it's very relaxing, great to just spray at night, let it sink in and breath in the good vibes. now, i have to be honest, i don't really know if it does anything for my skin per se, it's mostly an extra step for my pure pleasure since i found myself enjoying skincare very much. i used it as a make up setter after too much powder and it worked great, very refreshing after a long, hot day too. i'm very intrigued by other products by this brand now, have you used it?
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tonic is something i use every day but i also discovered something to pamper myself. i'm always on the look out for interesting and cool masks and this is a favourite right now.
skinfood ~ black sugar wash off
following my korean skincare adventure, i came across a website, yesstyle.com, and this brand. this is, clearly, from their black sugar range, so it smells wonderful, like caramel. i use it after cleansing but before the rose toner, as a sort of scrub. i get a small amount, scrub my damp face around a bit and leave this on for about 15 minutes. it melts a bit from the heat of your skin, get's glossy and the scent is more intense so if you don't like that, i suggest some other product. after washing off, you're left with a teeny bit of a film but your skin is so soft and supple, you can also feel the difference in the morning. as you can see i'm almost out, so i have to definitely get more!
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on the topic of taking care of your skin, body skin is also important. i've never really used balms or creams on my body, i feel sticky and gross and like i need to shower right after applying them. but this thing, oh boy.
bath & body works ~ lavender chamomile body cream
this was such a surprise to me. i don't even really look at balms but i had an offer of a free one so i thought this looked promising. it's amazing! first of all, the scent! i'm apparently a very scent driven person, it's all i care about haha! as it says right there, it's chamomile and lavender so it's obviously very relaxing, aromatherapy done right. it also lingers very long, once you use it every night your covers will smell just like the actual cream, you get the whiff when slipping in bed. the scent is important right, but since i have a problem with just sitting there and letting it sink in properly, i was interested in the consistency. this, as the tube says, is a cream so it's not runny, more like a thick custard, it's not as slippy though. it melts right into your skin after shower and when i visit warsaw in september i'm definitely getting my third one!
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now that i took care of the skin, let's put some colourful stuff on it! i've visited sephora a lot lately, gold card member baby, so these next two are from there.
sephora ~ 10hr fix & correct concealer
after i fell in love with the cushion foundation, described here, i decided to pay more attention to the sephora brand, especially skin stuff. i rarely look at face makeup because there's rarely something to look at for me. i'm very pale and even though i live in europe, where lots and lots of people are pale, there aren't a lot of options. sephora brand always looked quite yellow from afar that's why i got very surprised when i came across this. lo and behold, dual tip corrector in number 13, pink as hell and pale as hell. the two formulas are a bit similar, in that they are very thick and creamy, but since the two sides have different purposes, they do have some distinct features.
this side is thin and tiny. the corrector is quite heavy duty, i would say, but isn't as oily as bobbie brown, for example. since it's specifically for spot correcting so it's very matte, you just blend the edges a bit and you're good. the only problem i have is that because it's a stick and is quite hard, it can be a bit painful when you have a fresh pimple (i get zits that kind of react like tiny wounds).
this is the more interesting part, at least for me. since i am so pale and the skin around my eyes is naturally very thin and dark, i have pretty much permanent dark purple half moons under my eyes. it's quite difficult to cover them up because oily concealers don't really work on the area and thinner ones don't have enough coverage. this is a great middle ground. it's creamy and thick enough that it doesn't blend into nothingness yet it's not as heavy as a spot concealer so it blends even better and doesn't look like you just put cut outs of your actual skin under your eyes. oh, and it's even a tiny bit brighter than the other end so it doubles as an under eye highlight!
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since i've been to the sephora website way too many times this year, i eventually stumbled upon the forgotten pieces. and here we have this.
sephora ~ duo reflects eyeliner (mermaid tail, sea horse, stormy seas)
sephora ~ colourful eyeliner 24h, waterproof (engagement ring, firework)
in the sales i found three duo chrome eyeliners, with sea related names too, so of course i had to get them, no question. i consider myself a mermaid so this was needed asap. they turned out amazing, just what i wanted, the website photos don't serve them justice at all.
following this beautiful mermaid discovery, i got a white (i've been looking for one for a long, long time) and a purple glittery ones, waterproof. they all are sooo long lasting, no smudging at all, even my eye makeup remover needs some time to get to them. the glitter and duo chrome pigments are nice and opaque, maybe just stormy seas needs some layers. i'm a bit of a makeup artist, definitely a makeup lover, but i always hesitant this brush business when it comes to eyeliner. the colours got to me though and it turns out it's way better for me than pen or marker! when i run out of my black precision liner, i'm gonna get this one.
i'm so happy and thankful that the sephora brand improved so much lately. they always slayed colourful makeup but now all products are such good quality yet the price didn't change, it's way more affordable than the higher shelf right beside them. i'm looking forward to trying out more stuff from them.
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next we have the highlight part of the title, let's get sparkly.
sleek makeup ~ solstice highlighting palette
when i saw some highlighters late last year, i decided that 2016 is the year i'm gonna sparkle and shine. and here we are, putting on highlight with barely any makeup! although, have you seen the all highlighter face challenge? ''i wanna be seen from space''. i got this palette, along with midas touch one (which isn't gold at all, weird), in march but i have been using sparkly stuff for longer.
there are 3 powders and a cream, i love the names btw.
it was so difficult to photograph this, especially because i fucking can't take photos.
the powders are really powdery so you have to be careful when applying. look out for fall out, although who's gonna be mad at more sparkle, and don't apply this with your fingers, or the brush inside either, you'll be able to see marks. i use this old school sephora duo fiber brush, a nice soft and sparse brush will do.
since either i'm crazy, my camera is crazy or i'm just dumb, i couldn't take a good enough photo of the colours (which don't show that much on the skin actually) so here's a video from my phone.
since i am so pale, with hardcore highlight i look a bit other worldly (especially if it's blue like in the midas touch), but i honestly love this look and i think i look great in it and the pastels i've been wearing all summer. i'll see how this glittery love affair progresses and let you know!
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and last, but definitely not least, we have ze lipz.
maybelline ~ color sensational matte in 940 rose blush
i love lipsticks. when i wear makeup i prefer to focus on the lips instead of eyes, since i wear glasses anyway. i tend to go for matte since it's way more practical and because my lips need some reshaping and that's best done without sparkle. unfortunately, matte formulas tend to be drying and to show all the imperfections in smoothness. after a while my lips need a break, not after this one though! oh gurl, the formula, it's so phenomenal. it's very very creamy, long lasting and smooth. in addition, it's really, truly matte, not ''matte'' but really satin. since wearing pastels i prefer more pink tone lipsticks so this is perfect for now, but the colours... why so little, maybelline? they usually have so many, but this series only has like five and none of the other shades suit me, sad sad.
and here we have a selfie, the lips and concealer are present. new glasses too!
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this is probably the longest post ever! i've been sitting in this starbucks for almost 2 hours, because of technical difficulties (grr, orange internet) i had to go out, that's why this is late, sorry.
i have showed you my faves, what about yours? are there any makeup holy grails i don't know about (probably) or skincare must-haves (most definitely)?
hope you enjoyed, even though i suck at taking photos.
love,
qofr
p.s. do you like the writing on photos thing? i really like it, should get better at it, but what do you think?
p.s. do you like the writing on photos thing? i really like it, should get better at it, but what do you think?
