April Favorites

Another month rolled by and I almost can’t believe that it’s almost been a year since I started writing this blog :) Anyway, April brought some new, wonderful discoveries for me, and I also found some of my old friends lurking in the back of that closet that I keep mentioning all the time. 

Quite a few were already mentioned in my other posts, so let’s start with those. First is the Lord&Berry liner that I received in the LookFantastic beauty box about a month ago. It’s been well loved but I’m determined to use the very last inch of it. You can read more about it here – and thank me later when you go and buy it ;)

Essence Longlasting Lip Liner in Yummy Berry

Another favorite that I only recently became acquainted with is the Essence Longlasting lip liner. I love quite a few colors, but as I already mentioned in this post, the Yummy Berry is my favorite. I need to go out and buy a few back-up’s in case it makes a disappearing act from the shelves.

The lip liners you need in your life!

Lip liners are another chapter of my life which I consistently more or less ignored up until a couple of months ago. I remember watching a YouTube video and this girl was filling her entire lip in with a lip liner, explaining the staying power and all that.

I will apologize in advance for the myriad of different photos in this post – I enlisted a help of a friend for the swatches at one occasion, did my own photos at another time etc. – it’s a bit messy (especially with the close-up shots, some are really weird - I couldn't even notice the mistakes around the edges with my eye, but OF COURSE they all show up on camera), but hopefully you’ll manage. Or maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it at all and you wouldn’t even notice? Hmmmm....

Anyway, the liners I’m talking about are the Essence Longlasting Lipliners. 

They are pretty easy to find in stores, although they have the biggest range of colors in Müllers. The price is very user friendly as well – they cost about 1,5 € per liner, which is nothing, really. So on that note, I picked up four of them. The range is much larger though; looking at their webpage they have nine different shades available. I only selected those I felt would be most wearable for me.  

The liners themselves are automatic, so they unscrew from the tube and don’t need to be sharpened, which is an extra bonus. Also, they are extra soft so you don’t need to press hard to get them working, meaning there is less chance of breaking the point off. Because if you put too much pressure on it, or you put the tip out a bit too much, it will break. I learned that the hard way. 

Empties #3

I was under the impression that while hubby was away for two weeks, I would have plenty of time and would post something new every day. Well... that turned out well, now didn't it? I'm sorry to have gone MIA for 20 days, but now I'm back and let's get this party started!

I actually wanted to write some other posts before this one, but as it turns out, cleaning out your closets really makes the empties pile up – I found quite a few products that had only a tiny bit left and that’s now gone.

Pantene Aqua Light, Garnier Fructis Repair and shine 3, Moroccanoil, Goldwell Golden Spray

I used up the Garnier Fructis Repair & Shine shampoo and conditioner. Both contain three nutritive fruit oils: olive, avocado and shea oil. I liked them well enough, especially the fruity scent, but they did nothing really special for my hair. I would not repurchase them.

I also used up the Pantene Aqua Light shampoo (which went a bit faster since hubby was stealing it all the time). This served as a shampoo to get rid of build up in my hair – it really gave them a good wash and they got that squeaky feeling to them – do you know what I’m talking about? I would repurchase this, since it’s inexpensive and works really well. As you can see, I also had some samples of this conditioner lying around so those went as well. 

A – Z Favorites

I recently learned about this tag from a fellow blogger and I must say that it is quite a fun one, since it really will make you go through your collection and pick out the things you absolutely love the most. Basically, you choose your favorite cosmetics item for each of the letters in the alphabet, hence the A to Z name. Here are my favorites!

A – Avon Advanced Techniques leave-in conditioner. I have talked about it here already. It's my favorite conditioner and I will continue to use it on a daily basis. It gives my hair a little bit of nutrition and leaves it silky and shiny for the day, with the added bonus of a great scent. 

B – Benefit They're real! mascara. I didn't like this mascara at first but after I left it open for about a month, it quickly became my favorite. It gives a ton of volume and really holds the curl for the entire day. It's beginning to flake a bit so I'll probably have to let it go soon, but I will repurchase it as well. 

C – Catrice All matt plus foundation. Some of you suggested I try a Catrice foundation and although I was sceptical at first, I've already gone through half of the bottle in a month. It has great coverage without feeling heavy and leaves my skin matte for hours without any touch-ups. My absolute favorite foundation of 2015 so far. 

D – Dvorec Trebnik bath salts. I just happen to have the Marigold salts opened right now, but I've tried many different scents and have loved them all. I already wrote about it here. Honestly, I've never taken as many baths as I do now since I've discovered this brand!

E – Essence Longlasting lipliner. I've got a separate post about these lip liners coming up so I don't want to reveal too much, but since I'm putting them among my favorites, you can guess that I'm absolutely in love with them!

Concealers – a quick review!

When I asked you guys what you’d like to see me write about, so many of you mentioned concealers that I just can’t stay away from the topic. Mind you, I’m not a huge concealer junkie – I think it’s one of those things that you need to find whatever works for you and just stick to it. And let me just say that all of the reviews here will be mainly positive, since I’ve had quite a bit of luck on the concealing side. So let’s jump right in!

Makeup revolution concealer (Fair)

I picked up this shade since I wanted something that would also act like a subtle highlight underneath my eyes (you know - the triangle trick). It has a bit of pink undertone but is still lighter than my natural face shape. I bought this on Licila.si for a bargain price of about 2 €. It also comes in the natural shade, and in the last few months, they also added a new line of Makeup revolution concealers called Focus & Fix, which I need to try as well. 

Anyway, I just use this underneath my eyes since I don’t really have any breakouts to take care of very often and the shade would be much too light for that. Consequently, I cannot judge the staying power on the face, but it doesn’t budge at all underneath the eyes. The only thing that slightly bothers me is that it’s quite a dry formula and if you don’t set it with a good powder, it will probably crease on you, more so if you have some fine lines under your eyes. 

Still, for the price, it’s a great concealer and I would repurchase it. The packaging is nice and sturdy (even though all of the writing came of quite quickly) and looks pretty nice as well. Applicator: doe shaped.