SUNDAY SPECIAL: Disappointing make-up of 2015

The last installment in the recap of 2015 takes us over to the disappointing make-up products section. Luckily, there haven’t been many of them last year but two of them were quite expensive so the year could have gone better. Let me just say that although the product didn’t work for me that doesn’t necessarily mean they wouldn’t work for you. Also, I do like these brands and many other products from them, so the items mentioned below were just unlucky coincidences.

SUNDAY SPECIAL: Best of the rest 2015

Last Sunday I wrote about the make-up products that impressed me the most in 2015. This week, I’d like to share the skincare, haircare and nail products that have been my absolute favorites in 2015 (and the months after).

Let’s start with skincare. My favorite moisturizer and face mist both come from the brand Melvita. I wrote an extensive review of both already and you can check it out in this post (click). In short, my face has been mainly clean of imperfection and my skin is feeling well hydrated ever since I’ve started using these products. They are not the cheapest, but I look at it as an investment!

I’ve tried many make-up removers in 2015 and yet I keep returning to the Decleor Aroma Cleanse. This gentle cleansing milk really removes both normal and waterproof make-up off my face and leaves it feeling smooth. The 200ml bottle costs about 20 € - I buy if from my beauty salon. This bottle lasted me about six months, so it’s not overly expensive for the amount you’re getting. 

I am so bad at moisturizing my body in the colder months! Once I get out of the shower, I just want to get dressed as quickly as possible and not stand there waiting for the lotion to soak in for the next 10 minutes. The L’Occitane Jasmin-Immortelle-Neroli body lotion from the Pierre Herme line is one of those lotions that takes no time at all to sink into the skin. It leaves my body feeling well hydrated and fresh. Since I used it throughout the pregnancy and escaped without a single stretch mark, I’m giving it a 5 out of 5 points for effectiveness as well!

I like smelling fresh even after I’ve been out and about all day, but applying perfume all the time would be overdoing it, and expensive to boot. The Le Couvent Des Minimes Eau Amiable cologne is a great alternative, since the smell is not overpowering and the spray really distributes the product evenly. I tend to spray it on my clothes to make it linger a bit longer. A bottle will set you back anywhere between 15 and 30 € depending on the size and you can usually find a good deal at Müller!

I don’t usually like sticky scrubs and prefer to use dry scrubs that can be mixed with water and applied, but I’ve completely fallen in love with the Afrodita sugar scrub with brown sugar and shea butter. I used this religiously during the summer to build up a healthy tan and keep my skin supple. It also worked great at removing dead cells after the summer when my skin started to dry up due to the heating. At about 5 € per jar (I think it would last you about a month if used at every showering session) it’s a bargain! After using this scrub, you won’t need any body lotion since it will leave your skin feeling soft I and well hydrated.

Nail polish is one of my weaknesses and I tend to stick to higher end brands that really deliver on the promise of true color and longevity. However, I’ve received a few polishes from the new Avon lines and I’ve really been loving both the Mineral Crush (from Magic Effects) and Gel finish polishes (so much so that I’ve ordered a whole bunch of them in different shades). The effect of  the Mineral crush line on the nails is especially fun and I’ve gotten a whole bunch of compliments on it!

Last but not least, let’s talk about hair. I rarely talk about anything that I receive in sample size (or a deluxe sample size) since I often cannot get a real feel of the product before it runs out. However I can firmly say that the Paul Mitchell Lavender Mint shampoo and conditioner from the Teatree line have been my absolute favorite hair products in the year 2015! Each time I used this combo, my hair felt really clean and amazingly soft. A 300ml bottle of each costs about 20 € which is a lot but used sparingly it can last you a long time. It’s also not much more expensive then the Joico products I’ve been using so far so I’m definitely going to treat myself to the full size in the future! You can buy them in several online stores or in hair salons around you.

I tried using less leave-in products in the past year since I’ve been instructed by my hairdresser to let them breathe as much as possible. With the exception of hair oil once in every blue moon, I’ve stuck to my Beauty Works 10in1 Miracle Spray. It promises a lot (nourishes, detangles, prevents split ends, enhances natural body etc.) but as for me, I’ve just found that it gives my hair a lot of volume and a nice smell while also keeping the frizz of baby hair in check to a certain extent. At 15 € per bottle it’s priced reasonably and I’ll definitely repurchase it after it runs out.

That’s it for the products that I’ve been loving the most in 2015. Did you find any of your favorites among them? Next Sunday, keep your eyes open for the disappointing ones! And don't forget - you've got two more days to enter the giveaway! Find the instructions here!

Until then, stay beautiful!

LOOK BACK / NEW YEAR RESOLUTION TAG

Hello, my beauties!

I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas and lovely holidays. I was busy baking and preparing meals for my family for the entire week, I had some amazing moments with my friends and I am looking forward to the next couple of days bringing some spectacular experiences as well. I was searching the internet for something fun to do on this lazy day and I found the perfect tag for a bit of reminiscing on the year that is about to end. Enjoy!

If you had to choose one word to represent the year you had in 2014, what would it be?

Unspectacular. It was a year that I will remember, but sadly not for the better.

What word would you choose to represent your goals for 2015?

Health. That’s the one mission for 2015. I’m not getting any younger and I really need to start looking after myself a bit better.

Any 2015 travel plans?

I am the master planner for traveling, but not all of my plans come true. But still, the 2015 plan consists of three main travels/vacations: Istanbul end of January, Melbourne end of March and Dublin in September. Hopefully, we will realize at least 2 out of these two.

If you could travel anywhere in 2015, where would you go?

Probably Cuba. But that’s not happening this year, I’m afraid.  

Name a trend you’d like to see continue from 2014 into 2015.

If fashion related, I’d like to see Converse stay around another year or two, simply because everyone owns a pair now and I’d hate that to go to waste. But I don’t own them, so for me, it would be the chunky oversized knits.

In terms of make-up specifically, I would like sparkles and/or glitter to remain “a thing” in 2015.

The official colour of 2015 is Marsala. Show us something you own that’s Marsala.

I’m so happy for this years’ choice. It’s really a colour that would look good on anyone and absolutely something I am happy to wear. I just bought myself a pair of gloves in a similar colour and I positively love them.

 What did you do in 2014 that you’ve never done before?

My first ever road trip outside Europe.

Baked a “potica”.

And of course most of the beauty-related rituals – I would say that it was probably the biggest change out of all – in the way it impacts my life and via this blog.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Finding a bit more harmony between personal and business life.

What was the best thing you bought?

This is a difficult one. I buy quite a lot of things each year and I am quite attached to them all. But if I absolutely had to choose, it would be my MK watch.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014.

That no matter the age, health is the most important thing in life.

If you could look back on one memory this year you wish you could relive, what would it be?

Standing in the middle of Strip in Las Vegas with my hubby and a nice cold drink, soaking in the atmosphere and really enjoying every second of it.

Share something you’re looking forward to in 2015.

I am very excited about something on a personal level, but I don’t want to jinx it, so you will just have to wait a little bit longer to find out :)

Until next time, stay beautiful, stay awesome!

 

No make-up shopping until 2015?

I tried my best with this resolution dating back to October, I really did. But with all the sales and great deals, I was destined to fail before I even really attempted to succeed and not buy any make-up until 2015. So over the course of the last month, I picked up (or was sent) quite a few of the products and I am only showing you the ones I already have an opinion on or I am really excited about. I hope you won't mind the pictures terribly - it's obvious now that since I will never be home in time to shoot the pics in daylight, I will need to do something about my camera, but for now, we are stuck with what we have. 

Let's start with face products. This Chanel Vita Lumiere foundation (in beige) is my first ever Chanel foundation. I will have to give it a few more tries but so far I am less than impressed. It's quite sheer and tends to stick to the dry areas of my face although I am using a primer. For the price, I was really hoping that it would be a full coverage foundation that would still somehow make it look like I am wearing nothing on my face. That is what I was promised and I must say, that not only does the product not deliver on the promises; it fades in comparison to some of the drugstore foundations. I will try it with another primer, but I am disappointed so far. 

 I can only say completely the opposite about the Sleek blush palette (in Pink lemonade). This was sent to me by Licila.si and I absolutely love it. The packaging itself is beautiful (although I'll admit it's a bit hard to open with long nails) and the palette contains two powder blushes (Pink mint on far left and Icing sugar on far right – both have a very slight shimmer to them) and one cream blush (macaroon in the middle). Until this palette, I was sure that the only blush that would look good on me is light, almost neutral, pink, but I have been getting compliments from left and right wearing the darker Icing sugar. All three blushes are highly pigmented so they should last you forever. 

The only brush I recently picked up is the bhcosmetics duo fibre stippling brush. I was excited to try a new brush but the best I can say about this one is that it is very pretty. For me, the fibres are too long and it's difficult to get into every nook with them and besides that, it's already shedding on me after two weeks. Not impressed. 

Next, we have two palettes – one high end and one more reasonably priced. 

I've been wanting the Lorac palette probably since the first day I decided that I will learn to do make-up properly and I've finally picked it up. So far, I am pretty impressed. It's very pigmented and has a beautiful range of shimmery and matte shadows. The only downfall is the kick out, but that is perhaps also due to the brushes I use. 

I Hear Makeup – I Heart Passion palette I received a while back from Licila.si but at the first glance I immediately decided to keep it safe until the holiday season. I mean, just look at all these beautiful strong glitters. I am sure I will be creating many looks with this palette come December. And display the packaging proudly because it is absolutely stunning. Would you like a review of this palette? Comment below! By the way: is anyone else under the impression that the people at the branding department of I heart makeup did not think things through when naming the brand? I mean, the graphics with the heart are beautiful, but the name just seems wrong to me :)

Moving right along we again have two products that are priced very differently. I have heard so many bloggers rave about the Benefit They're real! push-up liner, how perfect and easy it's supposed to be and immediately decided I need it in my life. Well, I was in for a disappointment. I mean, it is easier to do a nice line that with a regular liquid liner, but it's far from easy and I still recorded some massive failures with this liner. For this price, it should jump out of the box and make a perfect winged line which would magically disappear at the end of the day by itself. Not impressed at all. 

The same goes for the I Heart Makeup lip combo named Yesterday's favourite. Well, it might have been someone’s favourite, but it's never been mine. On one side, we have a matte lipstick in a gorgeous red colour but it's so drying that I cannot wear it without  a gloss. The perfect solution would be the gloss on the other side, but it has so much shimmer in it that I was literally glowing like a Christmas tree. So the product was quite disappointing in my opinion. 

Last but not least, the nail polishes. I have quite recently cleaned out my polish collection and of course I needed to stock up on what I felt was missing from it. 

I have already talked about Zoya nail polishes and how much I love them. Yes, they are expensive, probably one of the most expensive brands out there (besides Chanel, Dior and all those premium brands), but I feel you really get a lot for your money. I picked up two colours – Noel, which is a sparkly blue colour and will be perfect for the holidays, and Yuna that is a silvery colour with glitter from their Fall Ignite collection. 

From Make-up Revolution line, I picked up the coppery No Good Waiting and the golden green Make Me. Both of these are fabulous colours and really inexpensive, but for some reason the glitter inside has already started to condense (I cannot find another word to describe it) and the chunks of glitter just sit on top of your nails, making the surface uneven. I am not sure of the reason why this is happening, does any of you have similar experiences with these polishes?

Last up, I knew I was in trouble yesterday when I spotted the Essence Christmas line in Müller. I managed to contain my excitement and only pick up one item, although it's technically three (but they are really small though) :) It's the Essence Come to Town (01 – Naughty or Nice?) polish collection. The polishes themselves don't have any names which I don't really like, but we have two regular polishes - one in red with bright pink undertones and the second one in a lovely plum shade which is a perfect dupe for the Essie Bahama Mama that I love. The set also contains one topper with smaller and larger pieces of gold glitter. I have not tested them out yet but I am expecting them to be reasonably good considering my past experience. Would anyone like to see them on my nails in all the combinations?

I hope you enjoyed reading this. Don't forget – my holiday giveaway is still up and running, so enter, if you haven’t yet!

Until next time, stay beautiful, stay awesome!