What’s in my beach bag?

Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, I’m either on my way to my well-deserved vacation or possibly already lying in the sun. Either way, I needed to do some packing and I thought I’d bring you along for the ride. 

This is most likely just a part of everything I will be hauling to the beach every day (and by that, I’m sure you can tell I really mean that my hubby will be the one at risk of a spinal injury). I will add tons of books, magazines, some temporary tattoos, fruit and water, phone, tablet and other bits and bobs I pick up along the way. But in the beauty sense, these are the main things that absolutely need to come with me. 

My bag was a freebie from Max Mara Weekend a couple of years ago and I love it. It’s a lovely boho-chic bag that doesn’t look too fancy and I don’t really care if it would get dirty (or worse, stolen). I can easily pack it away in the suitcase since it’s very soft. 

Inside the tote, I always keep a smaller bag – this one is another freebie from Decleor and I really like it since it can be pulled out and sealed (see the pink part), but when tucked in, it can also act as a large wallet & phone holder when you want to go get a drink at a cafe whilst at the beach. 

Of course, SPF is the bare essential when going to the beach. I normally keep two large bottles at hand. First one is for the first days when I’m still pale as a ghost – it’s the Nivea Sun Kids Pure&Sensitive lotion with SPF 50. The other one comes in handy when I get a bit of tan and I don’t risk getting sunburned as much anymore – that’s the Garnier Ambre Solaire with SPF 15. 

Naturally, we mustn’t forget about the face. I got this Decleor Aroma Sun Expert with SPF 30 this year and I’m hoping it will do its job well.

Speaking of getting a tan, here’s a product that has been all the rave this summer – the Afrodita 100 % Bronze Skin Fast Tanning Jam. I have had a little dip in it just to make sure I didn’t have any reaction to it, but I could hardly contain myself not to eat the whole jar. I’m curious to see how it will perform!

I like to dive and go snorkeling on my vacation, so my hair is always a bit of a mess. This year, I’m bringing along my new Wet Brush (from the Look Fantastic Beauty Box), since I am more willing to lose this as my Tangle Teezer. My hair stylist also hooked me up with the Schwarzkopf Sun protect Spray conditioner which I can use throughout the day to give my dry and frizzy hair some TLC. 

Since I do like to hang out with people when I’m on the beach, I also always bring with me a random deodorant and my lovely Body Shop Pink Grapefruit body mist. It’s a refreshing, rejuvenating smell that isn’t too heavy, but rather just gives the hint of freshness in the heat. 

On that note, I also always bring some make-up, just in case we decide to go to dinner straight from the beach. This year, I’m bringing my Avon Flawless CC cream and Lancome Virtuose Drama. Another perk from the Look Fantastic Beauty Box – my Cowshed lippy cow natural lip balm – is coming for the ride as well. 

And last, there are the accessories. As you can see from the first photo, I always bring a light scarf which I can wrap around my shoulders if the sun is hitting me too hard when we are walking to the beach. Other than that, I have some accessories that I couldn’t ever rock in Ljubljana, but go great together with my summer attires. 

And that’s it for my bag. Did I forget anything? Let me know - perhaps you won't be too late to save my skin! :)

Until next time, stay beautiful!

Avon surprise Nutra Effects daily cream and Luck La Vie Perfume review

Avon Slovenija was very kind and sent me a lovely package containing a lot of goodies a couple of weeks ago. 

Inside the package, I found the Nutra Effects daily cream, Luck La Vie Perfume and two of their new summer colors of nail polish in the Avon Glow Nailwear Pro+ line. These two, I’ll save for a separate review, since they absolutely deserve a post of their own (hint, hint), but today, let’s talk skincare first. 

Nutra Effects is a relatively new Avon line with active chia seed complex, which certainly counts as an innovative product in my book. The line contains no parabens and colorings. I am drooling over some other products as well, like the Argan infused hair mask or the cleansing foam. But that’s a whole other story.

Review (and rant): Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Palette

I am not ashamed to admit that I buy many products based on the recommendations of other bloggers and YouTube reviews. Some are good, some are OK, and some just don't work for me. Today, I want to talk about one of those.

This is my Anastasia BH Contour Palette in the shade Light to medium.

The instructions in the back suggest that we can use the 6 powders to highlight and contour, »expertly emphasize our eyes, cheekbones, nose and jawline«.  The product is cruelty free. 

Gerard Cosmetics Color Your Smile Lighted Lip Gloss: Candy Apple

This lip gloss was one of the things I ordered for myself on my b-day. I was browsing randomly through Beauty Bay and it looked so pretty I couldn't pass it up. 

Now let me tell you, it gave me quite a fright. Once I received the package, I went into the bathroom to apply it and see how it looks. I brought the tube up to my face, and then, this happened. 

I dropped the entire thing into the sink, but luckily, it survived. I really need to pay more attention to what I'm ordering and not only look at »alll the pweeety colors«.

The best and worst of my primers

I have talked quite a lot about primers in my previous posts, since I really do believe that they make a difference to a) what your skin will look like with foundation and b) how good it’s going to wear throughout the day. I have included some primers in my recent favorites as well, so go check those out if you are interested. 

 

So currently, I have quite a few primers that I use on a regular basis. I thought that the best way to go about this is from my least favorite to my personal favorite primer, something that we already did with mascaras (click here and here to view those posts).

6^th place:  MONU First Defence Illuminating primer with SPF 15

I got the deluxe sample of this primer in the Look Fantastic Beauty Box and I’m almost out of it. It says it’s suitable for all skin types, but I feel that he is somewhat responsible for the breakouts I’ve been having recently. It’s also quite drying, which could be expected for a mattifying primer, but I feel that it sticks to the dry patches on my face a bit more and thus makes them even more apparent. I’ll give it a point for the SPF, but that’s about it. The full size costs a whooping 40 € of Feelunique website. 

THE BATTLE OF BLENDERS – Real Techniques vs. Beautyblender

For those of you who remember my post about the Sephora haul from a couple of months ago, you will also probably remember that I got myself a Beautyblender (BB). Now, the BB is apparently the one true original blender and we have quite a few products now on the market trying to give us the same performance for a smaller price. I personally have been using the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge for about a year now and I was really excited to do this comparison and see what the big deal is all about. 

Now, obviously the first thing that pops to mind when we talk about the differences is the price. The Real Techniques sponge for example sells on Licila.si for about 8 € and you can get the Beautyblender on different pages, like the Beautybay for a hefty 20 €. 

When dry, the Beautyblender looks absolutely tiny compared to the RT sponge. 

But as any other sponge, both of these give the best results when they are wet. While the size of the RT sponge doesn’t change much, the Beautyblender actually increases to almost double the size. Also interesting – when completely dry, Beautyblender shrinks to its original size. 

Many of you know that I am a true fan of the Real Techniques tools in general and this blender is no exception. It comes in quite a sturdy packaging which gives you some pointers how to use different sides of the blender and how to take care of it.

Couleur Caramel Dark Circle Concealer Review + Swatches

As I already mentioned in my B-day haul, I got some gift cards from friends and family and naturally, I went into Müller the next day to spend it allll. But what I didn’t know is that faith actually had another mini gift in store for me. 

Anyway, I was wondering around (I was on vacation so I had much more time than I normally do) and came across the counter of the Couleur Caramel Cosmetics. I’ve never spotted them before so I was super excited to try something new. As I was literally doing swatches of every single thing on the shelves that caught my eye, a very pretty lady approached me and asked if I needed any assistance. And Oh. My. Gosh – it was Maja Šušnjara!!! Now I know that this doesn’t mean much to my international readers, but I’m sure that my fellow Slovenian beauties and bloggers can understand my excitement. I spent a good 15 minutes chatting with her and picking her brains for ideas and knowledge. She was so sweet and so lovely and completely made my day!

Anyway, the whole line is absolutely beautiful. I’m obviously not being paid for this or anything, but even the catalogue is stunning and really informative, with some lovely ideas for make-up looks. Here’s a random page that really makes me want to go back and buy more things, especially the blushes (so incredibly soft and pigmented, oh my).