Evening Skincare Routine

Left-right: Sephora Triple action cleansing water here, Physiological Soothing Toner here, Phyiological Cleansing Gel here. 

Left-right: Avéne Soothing eye contour cream here, Avéne Skin recovery cream here, Origins Drink Up-Intensive Overnigt mask here. 

I got into skincare a while ago before I use to wash my face with water, put creme on and I'm done. Now I have a skincare routine that I do every evening and I've seen how much
better my skin has gotten, its not perfect but we're getting there hopefully. My evening skincare routine contains of five steps.

Sephora Eau micellaire démaquillante: Triple action cleansing water. This is the first step in my routine. It removes my makeup including eye makeup. I put it on a cotton pad and press it lightly on my eyes for a few seconds and then gently remove the eye makeup then I take another cotton pad and remove the rest of my makeup. What I like about the Sephora cleansing water is the bottle, you press the cotton pad onto the pump and the water comes out. You get the right amount out and the cleansing water doesn't go to waste.

La Roche-Posay Physiological Cleansing Gel.The second step is cleansing my skin with this gel. If there still some makeup left that the Sephora cleansing water hasn't gotten rid of, then this will remove whats left of it. This is for normal to combination skin and also for sensitive skin. Gently massage on to your skin and then rinse it of with water. After you've rinsed it of, you instantly feel refreshed.

La Roche-Posay Physiological Soothing Toner. The third step is applying toner. It unclogs your pores and restores the balance to your skin after cleansing. I pore a little on a cotton pad and wipe it over my face and neck.

Avéne Skin recovery Cream or Origins Drink Up-Intensive Overnight mask. Five evenings during the week I use the Avéne recovery cream, this helps if your skin has been irritated from makeup and ads moisture to your skin after cleansing. I use the Origins mask two nights a week and I've written a review of it here. 

Avéne Soothing eye contour cream. The Avéne Soothing eye contour cream I use every evening and morning. Its soothing and cooling on the eyes, if your eyes tends to get puffy in the mornings when you wake or if the skin around your eyes is irritated then this is good for you. Its ads moisture to eyes and its quickly absorbed so you don't have greasy skin around you eyes.

Have you tried any of these products and what is your evening skincare routine?

Sleek Face Contour Kit

Sleek Face Contour Kit in medium

After reading many great reviews about the contour kit, I decided to give it a try and I'm glad I did. The packaging is matte, has a mirror and is quite small so its fits right in your makeup bag.

The kit includes two powders, a contour and a highlighter. The contour kit comes in three different shades; light, medium and dark. I got it in medium and that works for my skintone. 

The contour powder is matte and is not that pigmented but you can build it up so you can get you desired contour without going overboard. I'm quite new to contouring and if you're a newbie like me then this is great! I don't use the highlighter in this kit, I find it to glittery and I don't like that in highlighters. 

I've been using the e.l.f angled brush to contour with but I need a new brush because its quite small. When I do the contouring I do what I've learnt from Youtube! Suck in your cheeks so you look like a little fish and apply the powder to the hollows of you cheeks till you get your desired look.     

This is a great product and it is not that expensive at all. Sleek makeup make great products, I have the 

i-Divine eye shadow palette in Ultra Matts V2 which are super pigmented! 

What is your favourite product to contour with?

My foundation story + Review - Estée Lauder Double Wear Light Foundation

Estée Lauder Double Wear Light

I've had a lot of troubles with finding foundations because here in Denmark, the drugstores don't cater to darker skintones and unfortunately Mac foundations break me out. I remember when I was younger, wondering why big beauty companies like L'oreal, Maybelline etc. didn't make foundations for those with a darker skintone. I also remember being told by those work at the drugstores that the beauty companies didn't make foundations for those with darker skintones. It made me sad and angry because why didn't my skintone matter? But then one day I saw an advert for a L'oreal foundation that included both light and dark toned foundations. I went online to read more about the foundation and after some research found out the both L'oreal, Maybelline and other beauty companies did make darker shade foundations.
This was great news for me because as I said before I didn't know and I had been told that it wasn't something that was made. I then went back to the drugstore to see if they did have some dark shades of the L'oreal foundation and if they didn't, maybe they could order it. But sadly the drugstore didn't stock the foundation in darker shades and they can't order them. The reason that was given to me was that darker shades foundation wasn't in stock was because it doesn't sell (meaning there is no money to be earned in it!). This annoyed me so much, how can you say that there is no market for it when you haven't had it in market in the first place?
The high-end brands such as Chanel, Bobbi Brown, Estée Lauder, Lancome etc. the darker foundation shades are available so its not all bad but those brands are expensive. I hope that some day drugstore foundations in darker shades will be available here but until then I will be purchasing the high-end brands (which can be a very expensive affair!).

Wow that was a long story! Lets get to the review! I had this foundation for quite some time now and I love it. Its comes in a little tube (30 ml), which makes it easy to travel with.
The shade is a perfect match for me (5.0), at first I applied the foundation with a Real Techniques stippling brush but then I switched it and used the Real techniques buffing brush instead, the finish I got was more matte, felt very smooth and looked much better. When finding my shade I took the shades 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0, swatched them on my jawline, went outside with a little mirror and the 5.0 was the one that matched me the best.
This foundation is great to use in the daytime as its a sheer to medium coverage and covers all blemishes. It says that it last 15 hours but when I'm at work or out running errands I find that its about eight hours which I still think is great. The foundation does not oxidize when applied and also has SPF 10. I've used this foundation on its own, I haven't yet tried it with a primer.

At the time being this is my favourite foundation, if you haven't tried it and you're looking for a light to medium coverage, I recommend that you give Estée Lauder Double Wear Light a try.

Whats your foundation story and whats your favourite foundation?
   

Urban Decay - Lush Lash Mascara

Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara

The first time I purchased the Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara was over two years ago and its the only mascara I've ever repurchased. I was in London with my sister (I can't remember which store it was) and I was looking for a new mascara to try. At that time I didn't have a favourite mascara (I just purchased the ones that were on sale!).
This time around I asked someone who was working at the store, which mascara she would recommend and she said the Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara.

The first time I tried it, I knew that this was the one for me. The brush is made of plastic and the bristles are small so that you can get every lash. This mascara gives your eyelashes length and volume.
This first time I purchased the mascara I noticed that after a few weeks use, my eyelashes were much longer and thicker. I didn't know what it was that made them longer and thicker but after reading the small print on the mascara, I saw that the mascara is Growth Serum-Infused. If you suffer from weak eyelashes then this is a mascara you should defiantly try!

The Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara is my all time favourite mascara and if you haven't tried it yet, I recommend that you do.

What is your favourite mascara?

Origins Drink Up-Intensive

Origins Drink Up-Intensive Overnight Mask

I have been using this mask for over a year now and its one of my favourites masks. In the summer I use it once a week and at winters I use it twice a week. My skin tends to get dry at winters and this is great for it because it gives a ton of moisture to the skin.
I apply it before I go to bed and in the morning I cleanse as usual. This mask has an amazing smell because of the apricot kennel oil.
I bought this at the airport so I got it duty free! I thought that it was quite expensive but I have had the tube for a while and a little goes a long way so for me its worth the price. When it runs out I will for sure be repurchasing it.

Do you have the Origins Drink Up-intensive and what do you think of it?

Wishlist

Wishlist:

1. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light: Here
2. Hourglass Arch Sculpting Brow Pencil in Dark Brunette: Here
3. Alpha H Liquid Gold: Here
4. Mac Lipstick in Media: Here
5. H&M Quilted Flats: Here
6. Daniel Wellington Watch Classic Sheffield Lady: Here

Whats on your wishlist?

NARS - Guy Bourdin

From top to bottom: Dolce Vita, Never Say Never, New Lover, Sex Machine and Cruella.

NARS Guy Bourdin Promiscuous lip pencil set. I stumbled across this lip pencil set last week and I had originally my eye on the regular sized Cruella lip pencil. I have the Red Square velvet matte and I like that one so much that I decided to purchase another velvet matte lip pencil.
While I was looking around I saw that they had the lip pencil set on sale. Its original price was €35 and it was reduced to €20 (one lip pencil is €25!).
I swatched the lip pencils in store and I ended up loving them all so this was a bargain and I'm happy with the purchase I made.
The set includes a small makeup bag with a blue lip on the front, I like the small size of the makeup bag, because it does not take up all the space of your bag. I like the blue lip on the bag its quite different from the standard red lip.

The set has four velvet matte lip pencils (Dolce Vita, Never Say Never, Sex Machine and Cruella) and one velvet gloss (New Lover). The velvet matte lip pencils are 1,8 g.and the velvet gloss is 2,5 g.
My sights were set on Cruella which is one of my favourite of the bunch and I ended up with a bonus of four extra lip pencils.

Do you have any of the Nars lip pencils and what do you think of them?

Benefit Watt's up! Highlighter

                                                                                 

Benefit Watt's up! €30,63                         

Heavy swatch

I recently purchased Benefit Watt's up! highlighter from Feelunique.co.uk. The reason I bought it online was that it was a little bit cheaper than buying it at the shops. Before it came I received a letter
saying that I had pay a customs fee. I wrote to Feelunique about this and they were kind enough to pay the custom fee for me.

This highlighter is the second thing I've bought from the brand (I have the Benefit Boi-ing concealer). The thing that first attracted me to Benefit was the names on their products (watt's up!, boi-ing!) and the good quality of their products, their concealer is one of my favorites.

It says that this is a universal highlighter and that it works for all complexions. It has champagne colour and is quite sheer once you've blended it out but still has a beautiful sheen to it. This highlighter is not to glittery which I like (I don't like highlighters that has a lot of glitter in it!).
It comes with an applicator on the bottom but I don't use that. I like to blend it out with my fingers, the results are much better that way.
I have had a hard time finding a highlighter for my skin tone and I'm quite happy that I found this one.

Which highlighters do you use and what would you recommend?

Skincare Review - La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo

I have been trying out the La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo for quite some time now. Before the Effaclar Duo, I used the Vichy Normaderm and I liked that one a lot. When I went to the local pharmacists
to buy the Vichy Normaderm, I saw the Effaclar Duo and thought to switch it up a bit. I have read great reviews about the Effaclar Duo and thought why not try it out?

After a period of using this (its empty now!), I feel like it did slightly improve my skin, my skin does occasionally get spots and the Effaclar Duo did reduce some of them. I really like that it mattifies the skin, which is good because my skin can get oily throughout the day, but it also felt quite drying on the skin.
I applied it in the mornings and in the evenings, it did take some time for it to work. At times I felt like just throwing the tube away but I thought that I should finish it and then go back to using the Vichy Normaderm.

All in all I don't think that I would be repurchasing this, the only thing I liked about the Effaclar Duo was that it mattified my skin and reduced some spots. Whereas the Vichy Normaderm is mattifying and also moisturizing on the skin, reduces imperfections, unclogs pores and gives you an even skin tone.  

The Effaclar Duo did not work me but people react differently and this might work for you. I know that I'll be going back to using the Vichy Normaderm.  

Have you tried the Effaclar Duo and what did you think of it?

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick - Vintage Pink & Dark Knight Waterl-oops!

Left - Dark knight Waterl-oops!   Right - Vintage Pink

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipsticks in Vintage Pink and Dark Knight Waterl-oops! I've had these lipsticks for quite a while now and I quite like them, out of the collection these two were the ones
that stood out to me. Dark Knight Waterl-oops! is a very dark berry colour and the Vintage Pink is dusty dark nude pink colour.

They are very moisturizing on the lips, like a lip balm and the colour when applying is highly pigmented. The lipsticks are very creamy and reminds me of the Mac cremesheen lipsticks but much more pigmented. They do need a reapplying throughout the day as some of the colour comes off. The lipsticks in this range also contains vitamins A, C and E and also SPF 20.

Which colours do you have and what would you recommend?

Nars Seduction - Review

Nars Seduction (€30)

This is the first Nars blush, I've ever purchased from Nars and I don't know why I've ever waited so long! To be honest the price put me off (€30!). One day while I was in Sephora, I kept coming back to the Nars counter and especially this blush and I just had to have it.

The Nars Seduction blush is a very dark berry colour, slightly red and it has some shimmer running through it. This blush is highly pigmented which I like but you should use a very light hand when applying it.
I can't say anything bad about the blush and I can't believe I've waited this long before buying it. I don't think that this will be the last blush I'll purchase from Nars (I have my eyes on Taos!).


Which Nars blushes do you have and what would you recommend?

Essie Don't sweater it

Essie don't sweater it

This week I'm wearing Essie Don't sweater it, it was from the autumn 2012 collection. It is described as a warm, creamy, mauve, purple nail polish. This nail polish is one of my favorites because I just love the colour. Most of my nail polishes are in this colour tone and they just go with everything.
The nail polish is pretty opaque and I used two coats in this picture, the formula is very creamy as described.

This polish is from the diffusion line so the brush is thicker and it makes it quite easy to apply (which is good for me as I'm not one of the best when applying nail polish).
The base coat I always use is Essie Help me grow, I have trouble with growing out my nails so the base coat has been helping me a lot with that.
The top coat I use is L'oreal fast dry before that it was Rimmel Super Wear top coat and it began to chip after only two days wear. The L'oreal top coat is really fast drying and very glossy when it dries which I love.

What nail polish are you wearing and what kind of base/top coat would you recommend?