May 22, 2013

Spring selection : my top 3 lipsticks

To complete my spring selection (I made an article about my spring nail polishes a few weeks ago), I'm going to speak about my favourite lipsticks for spring.
I've chosen only three lipsticks, because I thought it wouldn't make sense if I gave ten of them (or it would make sense if it was an all time favourite lipsticks article !). Here are the three colours that I love to wear when the weather is nice (i.e. not very often at the moment in France, unfortunately) :






Even though it's my top 3, I'm not going to present them in a special order. I love them all the same !

The first one is a Rouge Caresse lipstick by L'Oréal. These lipsticks are a mix between a balm and a lipstick. The colour is quite sheer on your lips, but you can control it and add as many coats as you want to make it more opaque. I have the colour 301 "dating coral", which is as its name says a pretty coral colour, a rosy coral I'd say. There are tiny shimmer in it, you can barely see it. 
I think it is the most beautiful colour when you want a nude makeup, with almost nothing on the eyes, but with a pop of colour on the lips, without it being too bright.






The second lipstick is from Kiko. They have many ranges of lipsticks and some of them are really good. This one is from the Ultra Glossy Stylo collection. It has a SPF 15, which is always good !
It is a lipstick with a glossy finish. Mine is the 804 "pearly watermelon". It is a quite vibrant pink with gold shimmer in it (but again you cannot see it when you wear it on your lips).
It can go with any makeup, because it is so simple and wearable everyday.






Finally, my third lipstick is a chubby stick by Clinique. It is a very popular product and considered to be very good quality. It is a moisturising lip colour balm. I have it in the colour 15 "pudgy peony", a bright fushia pink. I love this lipstick, it stays on for a very long time and does moisturise a little bit your lips (even though I'd recommend putting a lipbalm first, but just to be sure your lips are moisturised all day long).






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So that's it for my favourite spring lipsticks ! They are all quite similar, simple pinks, but they are very good for the season and go with a lot of different makeups.


Julia xx

May 18, 2013

Collective haul #2 : beauty

This is the second part of my haul, all the beauty bits that I got.
Here is an overview of it :



The first thing (and the biggest) is the Kenzo bag. It came with the "Flower" perfume in it (50ml), and a bottle of body milk of the perfume (50ml too).


I love the smell of this perfume, it is my "spring" scent and I was almost running out of it so I'm glad I got this. Plus the bag is really pretty and I'll use it to store makeup.
The set was 73.00 € (I'm still shocked by the prices of perfumes sometimes !), but there was a discount on it (all the sets were reduced at the time I think).



Then I got the Nuxe "Rêve de Miel" lipbalm again, I missed it too much ! I took the jar version, because the texture is thicker and protects the lips better. As I've got dry lips all the time, I want the best moisturiser possible and this is the best I've tried.
It was 6.95, much cheaper than it normally is (the pharmacy were I bought it made cheaper prices for almost everything I think).



In the Glamour magazine (June edition), I got a sample of the Clarins body crub (30ml). It smells very good and I can't wait to use it !



Then my mother ordered a few things from the brand Agnes B. It's a French brand of cometics (although it is also a clothes brand), so I don't know if you can have it in other countries. 
The best thing about this brand is that they often make very good deals and reduce their prices. This time, we got three products for 20.00 € only. 
The first one I got is a blush/bronzer (kind of). I wanted it for so long, it's so beautiful ! It looks like this :



I'll wear this when the sun is around more. The blush was 27.90€ without any discount, so even more expensive that what my mother actually paid... 'Tis cool.

Along with that I got a lip product called "Cinémat". It is a sort of lip lacquer, with a mat finish once you've applied it. I chose the colour "Fushia Audrey" (Audrey for Audrey Hepburn I guess). It was 18.90€ without discount.
And I got an orange lipgloss... for free ! It is a present they give you when you buy from them. And I'm glad they gave me that because I've been thinking about trying orange on my lips lately, to see if it suits me. Now I'll be able to try without buying anything new haha !
So here are the two products :




And here are the swatches :



The last thing that was for me in the order was a sample of mascara (along with the little pocket of foundation/lipstick/eyeshadow samples), again a present from the brand... It looks like this :



I tried it on once to see what it looked like and... it's not overwhelming, it does the job but the eyelashes don't look long enough for me, it's a very natural and discrete effect. So I'm not gonna use it regularly for now, I'll keep it for when I don't have any other mascara left !

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This is the end of my haul ! I'm really excited about everything that I got, and can't wait to try all these products. Yay !

Julia xx

May 13, 2013

Collective haul #2 : clothing

Hello everybody !

I went shopping these past two weeks, and I bought a few pieces from different shops that I thought I would show you.
I decided to make two separate articles for the clothing and the makeup, so that it's not too big and boring to read it all at once.
Let's start !

First I got this beautiful dress from Pull and Bear :


It is a bodycon dress with an amaaazing flower pattern on it. I literally fell in love with the colours, with the flowers... and also the shape of the dress and the fact that it's very structured because of the black panels on the sides. It will be a perfect dress for summer parties !
It was 25.99, and you can find it on the website. 
Pull and Bear has very good stuff at the moment, especially in terms of white/cream lacy dresses... they have a few different ones and they are all stunning !

The next item is from New Look :


It is a creamy white lacy cropped top. The sleeves are made of lace only, just like the back of the top, but of course you have some material at the front so that it's not see-through.

The lace looks like this :


You could wear it with anything : high-waisted shorts or jeans, a skirt, or even a dress where you would show the bottom part only. It is a very simple piece but that's good.
It was 14.99€ and again you can find it on the website.

Then I went to Forever 21 a few days ago and I bought a couple of items.
First I got this dress. The moment I saw it I knew it was made to be mine. But I'll have to wait until the sun comes again to wear it... 
It is a kind of dip dyed dress, with blue, green and purple colour designs. When you see it from afar, it looks like clouds. Sort of a remix of galaxy prints, you know. 
It is sleeveless and floaty, very summery. Perfect ! It was 23.95€.



Then, again in the "weird but cool" prints, I got this sleeveless top... with loads of cat heads on it. Yes.
It is a love or hate item, but I like it a lot. It is so easy to throw it on top of a pair of black leggings or tuck it in a skirt. And it was only 13.95 !



The last clothing item I got from Forever 21 is this little top. It is light blue and looks like denim, with white dots all over. It is made to be tied at the front. I've been wanting a top like this for a while, it will be awesome for summer, with shorts or with a skirt. This was 15.75€.



Then I got a necklace : it is a very simple gold necklace with an elephant pendant on it. I love necklaces with animals on it so this is amazing and sooo cute. It was 2.90€, what a bargain !



On the same trip, I went to Bershka. I wanted to buy so many things there ! but it was quite pricey so I went for one item only. It is a sort of cropped top, white with "tropical" designs on it : leaves, flowers, parrots, etc.
It will be perfect during summer, to throw over a pair of shorts ! It was 12.99€.



The very last item of this haul is from Claire's. It is a chunky gold necklace. I wanted one for so long but I couldn't find anything that I liked, until I saw this one. There were also chunkier ones but I chose the "medium" one. It was 6.95€ I think.
(And sorry for the weird picture, I didn't know how to show it well haha.)



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So that's all for my clothing/accessories haul, the next one will be my beauty haul.

Julia xx



May 04, 2013

Review : Angels on bare skin by Lush

Hello !

Today I'll be reviewing a Lush face cleanser, Angels on bare skin.
At first, I was supposed to buy Coalface, but I changed my mind because I thought Angels on bare skin was maybe more useful for me, as it has little bits that could be good for exfoliating my face.
This is the product :



Here is what the website says about the product :

"Angels on Bare Skin evens out skin tone, reduces redness and improves the health and appearance of your skin – giving a natural healthy glow.
The ground almonds in this product release their goodness and turn to an almond milk on your hand when you add water."

 The main ingredients are almond, kaolin and essential oils, and lavender. It looks like this :



You can see the little lavender bits of the product. They can fall off it very easily when you take some product so you can find them everywhere in the sink ! And the little orange dots (if you can see them here) are the almonds.
Basically, to use the product, you take some of it (about the size of a pea) and mix it with water, then apply it on your face. Then, of course, you take off the product and that's it !

When I use the product (every morning and night - I mean before going to bed or around that time), it cleans my face very well and makes it smooth and mat. I noticed that it diminishes my imperfections and spots and leaves my skin clear. I really like that !
The only thing that bugs me is that after I clean my face with it, my skin is dry in some areas, around the nose and on my chin. I've always had dryness in these areas of my face, and unfortunately the cleanser is not moisturising enough - I know it's not really meant to be, but still.

For the smell, it is a quite strong one. When I first smelt it, I disliked it (even though it's lavender and I love it) because it was so strong. But after some time you get used to it. It reminds me of the Portuguese countryside where I go every now and then during the summer !

So to sum up, this cleanser is a good product and does the job well, but it's not a miraculous one though.
I'm not going to purchase it again, I'll try a new one to see if I find the perfect one for me !

Julia xx