La Roche Posay: Effaclar Duo and Rosaliac UV

Hey Beauties!

Recently, I have picked up a few skin care testers in my local pharmacy. Today I will describe my experience with two creams from the french brand called La Roche Posay. If I may quote some beauty experts, this is a Rolls Royce among skin care brands. French companies are known for having some of the best skin care technologies in their products. I tried out their Rosaliac UV and Effaclar Duo creams. Both products are paraben free.


La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo is a product targeted to skin with imperfections and had had some rave reviews among beauty youtubers and bloggers. I decided I have to try it, if it will stop me from breaking out.


Description of this product goes like this...La Roche-Posay EffaclarDUO is a complete skincare product that combines 4 active ingredients to act on the two main symptoms of skin with imperfections: Severe localised imperfections: Niacinamide and Piroctone Olamine to fight against bacterial proliferation and eliminate imperfections. Pores clogged with sebum: the combination of LHA and Linoleic Acid unclogs pores while eliminating the accumulated dead cells responsible for blockage. These active ingredients are combined with soothing, anti-irritant La Roche-Posay thermal spring water to reduce redness.



In my experience the cream is very light textured, white and it dries to a nice matte finish. I actually love it as a base for my foundation, because it is also a bit sticky, even though it dries matte. It smells of cucumbers:). I have to say I liked it, because I have combination skin, that can get very oily in summer time. That's also when I tend to get a lot of breakouts. I have been using this cream for 2 weeks and in that time I did get one pimple on my forehead. Considering I usually get more and some really small ones, I think that's a pretty good result. Plus, I would have to use the product a lot longer to get the full feel of it. 

In conclusion I like the matte finish that it gave me, it's great as a base for make up and it doesn't seem to clog my pores. I am contemplating on buying the full size, especially for the hot summer days.

La Roche Posay Rosaliac UV is a product meant for anyone that have problems with redness on the skin. It's a daily moisturizer that targets any redness and flushing on the skin. 



Description says this...Triple protection to moisturize and limit the appearance of daily redness and heated sensations : - Vitamin CG to strengthen fragile blood vessel walls. - Vitamin B3 to fortify skin against external irritating factors and climatic variations. - Filtering system with Mexoryl XL to protect the skin against UV rays, major aggravating factors in skin redness.



I wanted to try this cream because I have certain red spots on my skin and I tend to get red spots in the middle of the day, as irritations on my skin. So, I was curious how this product could help me. I do have combinations skin, but I also have very sensitive skin, which can be a bit complicated to work around. Anyways, the first thing that surprised me was the color of the cream. It was white, light texture, but had a definite green tint to the cream. I was like...are you serious? Is this just a green cream, that is going to cancel out the complementary red color?! I don't know, it was just...funny. The smell, I did not like, it smelled to me like nettle. I tried it for about 5 days-because I only had one tester. The cream did actually cancel out my redness, that I naturally have on the skin. This took a few minutes for the full effect and then I also noticed that the effect faded away after a while. The texture was light moisture with a semi matte finish and I like that it wasn't heavy, rich feeling on the skin.

In conclusion the cream has canceled out my naturally slightly red spots. It did not help with redness, when my skin was really irritated-like picking on my pimple or something else. But I also found that those effect went away after a while. That is why I don't intend to buy the full size.

Skin care products are different for anyone. I wanted to share my experience with these two. Just because something didn't work for me, it can totally have a different effect on you. Keep that in mind. Also, I would need to use these creams for a lot longer period of time to really get the full results.

What is your favorite skin care brand? 

Also, I would really appreciate for anyone who would want to follow my blog in further future, to add me among their blogs on Bloglovin, since the Google Reader is going to be removed tomorrow. :)

2 products for sensitive skin (prone to allergies)

Hey Beauties:)

I haven't told you yet, that I have suffered from neurodermatitis for whole 11 years, since I was 4 years old. It is an allergy that makes your skin itch. I was also allergic to all sorts of foods, animals and house dust mites. I had to keep up with all sorts of diets, creams full of corticosteroids-which are known to make your skin a lot thinner with heavy usage and looking scratched all the time. It wasn't my happiest moment in life, but I got older, found some new medicine and know I am in the best shape ever. I do get occasional itchiness and red spots, but that's nothing compared to what I had before. So, in order to help someone else I found two great products for anyone with very sensitive to prone to allergies skin. And the products are also very cheap.


First is Balea Ultra Sensitive cleansing milk. When I first tried this product, I didn't like it. After the second, third use I started liking it. I admit I don't like that all the sensitive products are typically made for dry skin, since I have combination skin type. That's the only reason I didn't like it. After washing my face, the face would stay really moisturized, like I had a filter of cream on.

What I love the most about this product is that it claims to not have any perfumes, coloring and preservatives. I am not an ingredients expert, but I know perfume would not go nicely with sensitive skin. I love that it hasn't got any sort of smell to it-you really don't need to smell nice while you wash your face. I am sure I'll be putting some creams on afterwards, so additional perfume is just a waste on my face.



The milk comes in a nice plastic bottle, that's easy to use. It's very liquid and very white. For about 3 € you get 200 ml of milk. It cleans of my make up very nicely. I always clean my face twice anyway, so everything gets cleaned out of my pores.

Next is this hand cream, which I was so happy to find. It's Salthouse Totes Meer Therapie hand cream. Let me just say that people with most skin allergies know that your best friend is the sea and the salt in it. This product has mineral salt from the dead sea. Any sort of sea-yes yes and yes for me :).


The cream is white and pretty moisturizing. It absorbs into the skin quickly and it leaves the skin soft. A lot of people would probably hate the smell, since it has none. Or I should say it has a smell of pharmaceutical creams. Some that have had does creams would know that the smells are usually not nice, but since it helps I don't mind. I also get eczema-like allergy on my hands every once in a while and this helped me a lot. I can't use normal hand creams with heavy perfumes in, because it just irritates my skin more. I would say don't use it on wounds (if you have some scratched parts on your hands), because it has some alcohol in it and it will sting you. But is't great for daily use, when the skin is not wounded.


For around 3 € you get 75 ml of this hand cream. It is in a nice plastic packaging and it's small enough to easily carry in your handbag.

I highly recommend these to products to anyone with very sensitive skin. It may not work for you, but you can always try it, if you can't find anything better. I think it's worth trying, especially for the price.

If you know of any good products for sensitive skin, let me know, I would love to try some new products:)

Review: Maybelline Colorama Neons nail polishes

Hey Beauties!

I saw that Maybelline came out with their Colorama Neons collection. I was a bit sad to see so little colors in   our store. There were only pink, purple, orange and green. I decided to pick up pink and purple.




Here they are. Pink is in color 188 and purple in 186. This is how they look with just one coat.


And this is how they look with two coats.



I find that you need to use at least 2 coats to get some color on your nails, because the formula is very thin. The finish is a mixture of jelly and matte.


I would recommend using a white base underneath and then going over with these polishes. That would make the color pop a lot more.



I have to say I was a bit disappointed. They are not the real neon colors to me. They are more like a regular color nail polishes with a little bit brighter color in it.

I got 7 ml of nail polish for about 1.50€, because they were on sale. I would love to see some more varieties in colors.

Have you tried any of the nail polishes from this Neons collection? Which neon nail polishes would you recommend? 

Follow me on Bloglovin

Hey Beauties!

You have probably heard if from other bloggers that you won't be able to follow our blogs with Google anymore.  That's why I wanted to remind anyone who likes what I have been doing, to still be following me on Bloglovin. You can find Bloglovin button on the right side of my blog. I would really appreciate anyone for subscribing to my blog through Bloglovin. I have had such a nice experience in this little time that I am blogging and would love to exceed it further on.


Thanks to all of you who are following me :)

Review: Zoeva eye brushes

Hey Beauties!

I have decided to part with my scratchy and harsh eye brushes and finally bought some quality ones for a very good price. Some of you may have heard of this German brand called Zoeva. I have heard about it from some beauty guru and researched it. They do very soft and good quality brushes, but a lot cheaper than some high end brands. Their brushes are supposed to be the exact dupes of Mac brushes.



I bought these brushes from their official German page http://www.zoeva-shop.de/. I bough their Luxury Eye Brush Set. In the set I got a plastic bag with 5 eye shadow brushes and 2 eye liners and with it also came 15 ml brushes cleanser. All this for 33 €. Of course there were also the shipping costs which were a bit too high in my opinion. I had to pay 7.50 € to get them to my country. But it was worth it.



Here are the brushes:
234 Smoky Shader is great as all over the lid eye brush or for smudging around the eyes.
231 Petite Crease is great for smaller eyes to effortlessly create a nice contour in the crease.
230 Pencil is perfect for the inner corners of the eye and around the bottom lash line.
227 Soft Definer is very fluffy and is great to create a very subtle wash of color on the eyes. It can also be used to blend the colors together.
228 Crease is good for creating a crease, for those who have bigger eyes, and it's great for blending.
317 Wing Liner is great for eye lining the eyes and even better for the brows to fill them in with powder.
315 Fine Liner is very thin eye liner brush, great for creating very thin eye liner looks or for any kind of precision lining.




I wanted to show you how big the brushes actually look on my eyes. So here they are. On the online shop the brushes seem really small to me, but when I got them, some of them were pretty big.

228, 227 and 234
231 and 230

317 and 315
The brushes came with this plastic bag and a brush cleanser. The brush cleanser is nice and very easy to use. I don't have much to say about it, since I haven't used any brush cleansers before, because I like to cleaned my brushes with shampoo. It cleanse the brushes nicely and it doesn't have any strong smell.



All the brushes came in good condition. There was one stray hair on one of them, but that can happen with shipment. The only thing that bothered me was the Petite Crease. When I tried it a lot of hair came out, but the hair were very short. So I assume that when the brush was cut into shape, it wasn't properly cleaned off and some of the cut hairs stayed in the brush. Now it's fine, I had to use it a little to get all the hair out. 

The brushes have wooden handles and steel on top. The color is black with little sparkles of shimmer in the color. Very chic. I also love that they have the names written one, it makes thing easier :).

On the bottom the brushes have this cute slogan :)


As far as the Mac dupes goes, I went on the Mac online shop, since I don't own any make brushes and compared Mac brushes with Zoeva brushes. I got to these conclusions: 
Zoeva 227 Soft Definer (5.80 €) - Mac 217 Blending Brush (25 €)
Zoeva 230 Pencil (5.80 €) - Mac 219 Pencil Brush (29 €)
Zoeva 228 Crease (5.80 €) - Mac 224 Tapered Blending Brush (36 €)
Zoeva 234 Smokey Shades (5.80 €) - Mac 239 Eye Shader Brush (29 €)
Zoeva 317 Wing Liner (5.20 €) - Mac 263 Small Angle Brush (21 €)

For 5 of Zoeva brushes you would spend 28.40 € and for the same Mac brushes you would spend 140 €. Now that is a big difference. Bare in mind that I don't actually own any Mac brushes, this is based purely on the look of the brushes. Because they really do look alike. As far as the softness go, I can't speak about the Mac, but Zoeva brushes are very soft. 

Oh and I bought all these brushes myself. I wouldn't want anyone to think I am sponsored. I haven't gotten any of the products for free-so far :). If do get in the future I will be sure to let you know.

I would recommend these brushes to anyone who wants to invest in good quality, very soft brushes, but for an affordable price.

What brand of brushes would you recommend for me, as far as the face brushes goes? I am always on a search for good quality brushes for affordable price:).




Radiant summer glow look

Hey Beauties!

I finally have more time to learn for finals and to play around with make up. I decided to go for a summer glowing, radiant skin look that can be worn with a bold lip or a simple natural lip gloss.


Face:
I started by using Avon Solutions Truly Radiant very important perfector. This gave me some color to my face and a nice glow. I did review on that - you can read it here. Over that I very lightly applied Bourjois Healthy Mix foundations and covered up my imperfections and red spots with Revlon Colorstay concealer.


Tip: If you have a foundation, that's just way too dark for you, use it as a contour or a bronzer.

I did that with the sample, I once got, from Elizabeth Arden Pure Finish Mineral Tinted Moisturizer. I applied it under my cheeks, on my temples, around my hairline (because I have pretty wide forehead :) ), on my jawline, some on my jaw (to shorten my face) and some under my eyebrows.


After drawing lines on those parts of your face, you can blend it in with fingers, brush or anything you like. It would give you a slight bronze and contour effect without looking too unnatural like powders sometimes do. And your skin will still look glowing and not cakey at all. If you get oily very fast, as I do, I do recommend going over t-zone with a loose translucent powder.

Eyes:
Really simple with the eyes. I used Maybelline Color Tattoo 24h in 35-On and on Bronze on the entire lid. Then I used Avon Supershock gel eyeliner in Blackberry to make a slight wing liner. I finished with a lot of coats of L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes in Extra-Black. I filled my brows in with powder and then went over with Essence Guerilla Gardening brow mascara.





Lips:
I mixed two shades of lip gloss: Essence Stay With Me Longlasting lip gloss in My Favorite Milkshake and H&M Lip Gloss. That's it for a natural radiant look.



If you want to add some extra go with a bold lip. I used Avon Glimmerstick lip liner in Red Brick to outline my lips. Over that I used Essence Stay Matt Lip Cream in 04 Silky Red.

I needed to add some more color to my cheeks so I used my Essence Miami Roller Girl peach blush shade.






What is your go to bold lip color? Do you prefer mat or glowing skin?



Review: Avon Solutions Truly Radiant perfector

Hey Beauties!

Really quick review about this tester I got myself. It's the new Avon Truly radiant very important perfector. It's basically like a lightly tinted moisturizer with a bit of bronze in it.


As you can see in the photo below it is a light cream texture with little granules in it. Once you massage the cream in, the granules break down and give a natural brown undertone to it. I like the fact that it looks a bit reddish brown, because if you are going for a natural tan, it almost certainly has some red undertone to it, from the sun burn-which we all know is not healthy.


The cream also give the skin a nice glow - i guess that's why - it's named radiant.


The cream has SPF 20. The price in Avon right now is 6 € for 50 ml. Here are the ingredients for those who know a bit more about that.


All around I have to say I like the appearance it gives to the skin. Especially because it makes my fair skin look a bit more colorful. I am naturally fair and this gives me a nice color, but doesn't look like a fake ten. I would recommend this to anyone that doesn't like to wear make up, but wants that a bit bronze look to the skin. Because it doesn't give any coverage, it's more like a base illuminating primer. I wouldn't recommended it to anyone with oily skin, especially not in the summer.

What do you like to wear in the summer tinted moisturizer, BB cream, liquid foundations, powder?

Party look: golden brown smokey eyes

Hey Beauties!

You have probably noticed by now, that I really like to wear subtle looks. But this one is a very powerful party eyes. Because the eyes stand out so much, the other make up is minimal.


On my eyes I used Maybelline Color Tattoo 24h in 35- On and on Bronze as a base, so that the eye shadows could stick to it.

Then I did a wash of golden brown color from MUA Undressed palette all over my lid.

I added some golden  shimmer powder from bpretty in 9 gold dust on the center of my lid.

I lined my eyes with Avon Supershock gel eyeliner in Blackberry.

I also smudged this color on my outer corners of the eye to make a v shape. On my inner corners of the eyes I used Essence Metallic eye pencil in 03 Iron goddess.

I applied a few coats of L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes in Extra-Black and that was it.



To this look I also added a bit of sparkle and I used Catrice Glamazona Liquid gold topper. This made the whole look a bit more party-like :). You can find my review about that product here.



My face:
Revlon Photoready Perfecting Primer
Revlon Colorstay foundation
Revlon Colorsaty concealer
Catrice Prime and Fine Translucent loose powder
Catrice Prime and Fine Highlighting powder
Essence Sun club bronzer

Lips:
Revlon Lip Butter in 095 Creme Brulee



What colors do you wear mostly when you go out partying? Do you like glitter on eyes or hate it?