MONDAY MADNESS: NBB (New Bits and Bobs) from July - review

It's that time of the month again. The day of verdict when I can tell you what I thought about the new products I bought or received in the month of July.

I must say that I really like the Biobaza make-up remover. I only need a single pump to remove the non waterproof make-up and another pump for the face. I also think this bottle will last me about a year, so the value is amazing. 

The Verde Vera hand cream is nothing special, to be honest. It's not very nourishing, it doesn't smell that great - basically, it's the kind of product you forget you own all the time. 

I have used the Avon Sun Light Spray during the vacation, but as my hair is currently going through some kind of hormonal meltdown, I can hardly be an honest judge of it. I can say that it smells wonderfully, though. 

I promised myself I would save this Victoria's Secret Exotic Fragrance Lotion until next summer, but I cracked under pressure. It's another great product, smells great, absorbs quickly and leaves my skin nice and soft. Not something I'd write home about, but a really good product nonetheless. 

The same can be said for the Bath&Bodyworks PocketBac sanitizers. They are now evenly distributed throughout my purses and I'm set for at least one year. I am partial to the Cool Coconut colada, simply because... coconut!

Avon Nailwear Pro+ in Minty is one of my favorite nail polishes of all times - and I feel quite certain in saying that. It's well pigmented, doesn't chip very quickly and I'm absolutely in love with the shade. I can't say the same for the Deborah Gel Effect polish which unfortunately doesn't agree with my skin tone. I am also on the fence about the Kiss Vita base coat since it doesn't seem to a) make my nails any stronger or b) prolong the lifespan of my manicure. I'll have to find something better - if you have a good suggestion for a base coat, please let me know in the comments!

Now for make-up. First, there is the famous Benefit Cheekathon palette - you can read the review *here*.

I also wrote individual reviews about the Nabla bronzer in Cameo (*click here* to read it - it's a great bronzer!), the Cover FX Custom Cover Drops (the review can be found *here* - it's one of my all time favorite products) and the Golden Rose Longstay Liquid lipstick (the review is *here* - I wasn't a fan). I also had a go at my Laura Mercier translucent powder which is quite OK, but the real test will come in the winter when the foundation and concealer get heavier and are more likely to crease. The Beautyblender is still waiting to be used, but I reviewed that so many times already that I probably won't do it again. Last but not least is the Nabla lip liner which I totally missed the color - it's much lighter than any of my nude lipsticks so I'm still thinking of ways to use it. 

And that concludes the short reviews of the products I bought or received last month. If you want more information about any of the products, let me know in the comments below. 

Until next time, stay beautiful!

MONDAY MADNESS: New Bits and Bobs for July 2016

It's the same story every month - I don't really feel like I'm shopping at all, but at the end of the month when I try to take a photo of all new products, I fail miserably. So yes, there are a few missing in the photo above. 

Let's start with some bigger things. I'm going to start using this Biobaza 3-1 cleanser this week since I just ran out of my previous one from L'Oreal yesterday. I got sent the Avon Sun Light spray - perfect timing as my vacation is quickly approaching. I bought the Verde Vera hand cream in Spar because I like the packaging and I also like having a cream in a jar for the kitchen.

MONDAY MADNESS: NBB (New Bits and Bobs) for May 2016

 I’ve been shopping online quite a lot in the past few months, since I was basically tied to the couch for the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy and have not left the house for the first month much. 

Basically what I’m trying to say is that the products you see above were not all bought in May, but I’ll try to keep up from now on with my monthly shopping report. I also completely forgot about my Lancome Juicy Shaker since it’s been in my purse ever since I’ve gotten it, but I think I’ll be writing a separate post about it very soon. I should also mention a present from Licila.si – the Freedom Brush Bath that I’ve already reviewed in a post you can read here.

WEDNESDAY SELECTION: Essence The Beach house collection

Dear beauties,

we all love new and exciting make-up, right? Well, one of the brands that never fails the make-up junkies such as myself is Essence – a brand I’ve come to know and love especially because of their limited edition collections, particularly their summer and Christmas releases.

In about two weeks, a new collection called The beach house is hitting the shelves of drugstores all around Europe and Slovenia will be no exception. I seriously cannot wait to get my hands on these products!

The collection includes:

-          two duo eyeshadows (1,99 €)
-          two lipsticks (2,79 €) with a shiny finish
-          glow fluid (3,49 €)
-          duo blush (3,29 €)
-          kabuki brush (4,49 €)
-          tip guides (0,99 €)
-          four different shades of nail polishes (1,99€) and
-          a beach bag (2,99 €).

I am most definitely going to try to get my hands on the nail polishes since the pink and coral shade look perfect for summer and promise a water shine effect, white polish has a sea-salt effect which I’m curious about and the turquois polish has a matte finish and I don’t own a matte shade in that color – yet.

 I’m also getting the tip-guides that come in three different styles – straight (stripes), waves and zig-zag. Since I’m seriously lacking in the steady hand department, these are a must buy for me.

Lately, I’ve begun to use blush a lot more again and I’m looking forward to picking up this interesting duo-blush in pink-coral. And to be honest, I’ll probably walk away from the stand with the glow fluid as well, since I have a hard time saying no to any sort of illuminator. 

As I said, the collection will be available from mid June until mid July. I’ll keep you posted on what I think about the collection!

Until next time, stay beautiful!

Life update and blog plans + giveaway

Dear beauties, 

those of you who follow me on social media know that my life changed a lot in the past couple of months. 7 weeks ago I became a mom and my little bub is now the center of my universe, my little prince, my everything. Little one was born on 1^st of April (hence many people didn’t believe me when I announced it to the world) and has been really good to his new and a tiny bit scared mum – growing a lot, sleeping a lot and generally being the best baby in the world. And no, I’m not biased at all :)

After all of these weeks I can now finally say that we’ve got a daily routine going on, meaning that my life is slowly again getting back on track and I can afford myself an hour or so every day to concentrate on my blog. But one thing that a baby taught me is that a schedule is important, so I’ve decided to give a little more structure to my posting. I decided on a schedule that goes approximately like this...

On the 1^st Monday of the month, I will write a post about everything new I bought and received in the past month. This will not be reviews, but a haul type of a post. If you are interested in anything you see in that post, keep your eyes open on the 3^rd Monday of the month, since I’ll be doing a review of all the new products then. 

On the 2nd and 4^th Monday of the month, I’ll be doing a bi-weekly make-up & skincare basket, showing you the products I’ll be using for the next two weeks. This will keep me in check and ensure that I keep using and trying new products and not only neglecting them for old favorites.

Tuesday (as well as Saturday) will be my days off when I’ll only post if I feel like it or a very exciting thing happens (like a giveaway or an event). 

On Wednesdays, I’ll be showing you new product launches that I’m excited about and occasionally doing a wish-list post about everything that I would like to purchase for myself.

I’m using Thursday as a “free” day – the day I will write about anything I want, but you can certainly expect more lifestyle posts and random rants about my life and motherhood.  

Each Friday, I’ll do a post about the Superstar of the week – the product I’ve been loving most that past week.

As I’ll be taking the Saturday off, expect a big post each Sunday. This will be a very “beauty blogger” sort of post – Favorites, Top products, Dupes, Routines, Blogging and Photography, to name just a few.

It’s a big plan, but I hope I can stick with it, since I’ve missed my blog a lot in the past few months and I can’t wait to get back to writing about one of the big passions in my life. I mean, I did my make-up before heading off to give birth, so I think that it’s only fair I give it the place it deserves in my life.

Since I’ve been away for so long, we also missed the birthday of my blog – it’s now two years old! To celebrate, we’ll be doing a giveaway with some products that will make sure that one lucky lady (or lucky lad) will be looking great for the summer!

The lucky winner will receive Avon’s Footworks Soak and Scrub so you can get your feet ready for the flip-flops. I’m including the Avlon Keracare Silken Seal which will help your locks be silky and luscious. A Labello is a definite must in each handbag and as someone who can never have enough lip balms, I ensure you’ll love this one. To have a beach ready body, the package will also include a Rituals body cream that smells like a dream, and a Monu Tan Work tan maintainer that will keep your tan lasting long into the autumn.

As an extra bonus, the package will also include 3 surprise beauty products!

To enter, you have to follow me on Facebook and Instagram (@low_maintenance_beauty), so don’t forget to leave your Instagram name in the comments! I would appreciate it if you share this post on Facebook or Instagram with your friends and give them a chance to win this bundle of products as well. And if you have the time, leave me a comment on this post telling me what you’d like me to write about – it can be a product, a routine, ... anything you’re interested in and I’ll try to make it happen.

The giveaway is open to EU only and will last until 30^th of May when I will randomly choose a winner with the help of my hubby. The winner will be notified via Facebook. He or she must send me their address in 3 days, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

Best of luck everyone. Until next time, stay beautiful!

New products – August 2015

I tried to be reasonable with my shopping in the past month, since I've got quite some business and personal trips coming up in the near future and I intend to purchase some products that are not easily available to me in Slovenia (or not at all). That being said, I still slipped on some occasions and I also received some Freedom Make-Up from Licila.si to try out, but I will review those in a separate post.

First off, I took advantage of a nice Yves Rocher offer where one could choose three products for 12,50 € (the promotion is still valid). 

Since I've never tried Yves Rocher products before, this seemed like a nice opportunity. I bought the Replumping serum foundation, Blackberries sparkling body powder and Hair Repair Oil. The company also sent me some extra samples to try out and a shopping bag which comes in handy for my everyday grocery purchases. 

I haven't tried all of the products yet, but can I just point out how beautiful this packaging from the sparkling body powder is? I absolutely love the little puff and the smell of it as well – it really does smell like blackberries!

It was love at first sight for me and the Kaviar Gauche for Catrice face powder (about 2,5 € on sale). This one comes in shape of little balls which can easily be gently swirled around with a smaller face brush and give away just enough product. I personally use them as highlights on my cheekbones, since they are a bit too shiny for the entire face. I give Catrice ***** on the packaging alone – it could have easily been a Chanel or Dior product as well. 

I also purchased two Bourjois products from Look Fantastic website – the Silk Edition Compact powder (12,75 €) which I've used before and absolutely love, and another shade of Bourjois Rouge Edition 12 Hour Lipstick in Rose Vanity (11,35 €). 

I really like the consistency of these lipsticks and although they don't exactly last for 12 hours, they are still reasonably long-lasting and not drying at all, which is something I normally associate with long-lasting lippies. 

I have not yet touched The Nuxe Melting Cleansing Gel with rose petals (17,75 €), but I have used up samples from the Rose line before and liked them quite a lot. 

I am also excited to use the Kera Care Silken Seal (10,65 €) – since reading the great reviews for this product on Look Fantastic website, this was the product I was most excited for to arrive. I will definitely report back on it.

And since I did spend quite a lot of money on the Look Fantastic website, I was gifted some extra goodies from them. I received the Origins Skin Saviour Set (worth 27 €) which includes a face wash, exfoliator and overnight mask. But as if they suspected that my skin is in quite rough shape at the moment, I also got the Elemis Absolute Spa Collection (worth 67 €) that includes a milk bath, Pro Collagen Marine Cream and Papaya Enzyme Peel. I am looking forward to treating my skin to these new products and see if any of them will work wonders. 

Stay tuned for the review of Freedom Make-up products coming up tomorrow! Until then, stay beautiful!