Nails of the Week #3 : a touch of gold

Hello everyone !

Here we are for the new nails of the week ! With something a bit different this time, I wanted to go with a dark shade for this week. Dark shades like greys and browns and purples are timeless and make you look somehow very classy and chic - at least I think so.

I've decided to wear my Chanel n°509, it's called "Paradoxal". It is a very dark purple colour, with the tiniest purple sparkles, you can't see them when the nail polish is on your nails.

As you can see, I added some glitter to do an accent nail. I thought the gold looked nice with the purple :)

And it is a nail polish by H&M, it is the "Stay Golden". 

They look great together, the gold makes the more "boring" purple pop instantly. 

I have to say, Chanel nail polishes aren't the best in terms of lasting finish ! Their colours are often great, but for the price you pay, maybe they should try and make them last longer on the nails... because when I wear it I have to apply some polish on the tips every other day, if I want to keep it for the week. 

So just a tip : if you want to try and buy a Chanel nail polish, maybe wait until you have a voucher or something, don't pay it full price, it is kinda not worth it in the end.

See ya !

Julia xx

My empties #1

Hi everyone !

Today I'm trying a new type of posts that I've seen in many other blogs but that I never thought about doing before. Empties posts are quite nice to discover new products or see if something is worth the try or not.

I've got five things that I've finished recently, so I'm going to show them to you and tell you what I think of them and if I'm going to repurchase them or not !

1/ Le Volume mascara, Chanel

I've spoken of this mascara in my all times favourites, some months ago. It is a really good product, makes your lashes look great. The brush is quite thick and takes every lash perfectly.

Although because of its price, I won't be buying it again for now (and I have a sample size of the great They're Real by Benefit to use hehe). But I'll surely buy it someday, because I loved it !

2/ Blueberry body butter, The Body Shop

I've had this body butter since last year, and I finally finished it ! I only used it during the autumn/winter times, so that's probably why it lasted me so long.

The smell is quite good, not too strong nor too sweet. And it lasts a few hours on the skin, which is always nice ! But I won't rebuy this one, because I want to try new scents from The Body Shop.

3/ Exfoliating body scrub, Galeries Lafayette

I bought this last summer during the sales, mainly because it was cheap and smelt good haha. It smells of iris, so a very floral and light scent. I used it as a scrub before using my shower gel, and it did a good job and left my skin soft. The exfoliating bits are tiny so they don't hurt your skin as some scrubs could do. But I won't be buying it again, because I have another one of the same brand to use !

It is only sold in the Galeries Lafayette in France I guess, but it is maybe something to try if you are in France and want a nice shower product !

4/ Gliss Ultimate Repair mask, Schwarzkopf

As I have curly coloured hair, I'm always on the hunt for a good mask that will moisturise my hair and leave it soft. I've tried sooo many that I couldn't list them all, but as I've just finished this one I can really say what I think about it.

It is one of those masks that you apply after your shampoo for a few minutes - I always left it for about three to five minutes. It does make your hair soft, and pretty shiny too. But this effect doesn't last, at least on me. If you have normal to dry hair I think it should work well - but if your hair is damaged or frizzy, it probably won't be enough.

Not sure I'll rebuy it because I'm always changing my hair routine (at this point this is not even a routine haha), but I can say that it's a pretty good product anyway!

5/ Vanilla dee-lite body lotion, Lush

I got this lotion on the Lush box I received for my birthday. I was excited to try it out, because I haven't had the chance to use a cream/body lotion from Lush before.

First, the smell is amazing. Although it is called Vanilla dee-lite, it doesn't smell of vanilla, but rather of jasmine, and it even reminds me a bit of lilac, which is my favourite flower ! So as you can imagine, I love the smell of it. It is very light-weight as it is a lotion obviously, and it is very refreshing. I would recommend it for the months of spring especially, because it is not at all a winter smell.

As it is very light, it doesn't moisturise your skin deeply, and if you have a very dry skin I would probably advise you to use a thicker texture. But I'd love to buy this again for spring and summer, I love it !

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That's it for my first empties ! A lot of shower/body products as you can see, but naturally these are the ones we can finish the most easily. 

I'll do another empties post in a few months maybe, see if I can find new interesting products to show you !

Julia xx

Beauty : my all time favourites

Hello people !

Today I'm going to share my beauty favourites. As I don't try enough products every months to make monthly favourites, I decided that it would be good to share the products that I particularly love and that I still will be using for a while.

The first product is skincare : it's the Crème Prodigieuse by Nuxe for normal to combination skin.

I got this cream in a Christmas box and at first I was afraid to use it as I have oily skin, but I decided to give it a go anyway. And I'm glad I did !

First of all, the cream smells delicious. The texture is not too watery nor too thick. It moisturises the skin, but without leaving an oily feeling when you've applied it. I use it as my daily moisturiser since maybe January and I still have a lot in it. I really recommend it, Nuxe are said to make really good skincare products and that one proves it to be true !

Another Nuxe product that I cannot live without is the Rêve de Miel lipbalm.

I made a review about it a few months ago, saying how good this balm was. I repurchased it last month and I'll probably be using it non stop from now on.

It is very moisturising and recommended if your lips are really chapped. The texture is thick and smells of honey. The best lipbalm I've ever tried !

Next is a Lush product ! I've tried a few of their face cleansers, but I always go back to this one (and I'm definitely purchasing it again soon) : the Aqua Marina.

 (I'm not putting a picture of mine, because it's empty haha, I've filled the box with bubble bath things !)

This cleanser is amazing. It smells reaaally good (it may not be to everybody's taste but I love it !), very fresh and "natural" etc. The texture is a bit unusual, a pinky cream with seaweed on it. The seaweed can be difficult to handle in the beginning but you get used to it. It works like most of the other Lush face cleansers : you take a little amount of product in your hand, pour some water on it to make it melt a little and then wash your face with it. When you're done, you face looks so clean and pretty. The only thing is that it leaves some areas of your skin quite dry (if you naturally have dry patches sometimes), but that's the only thing I noticed.  Anyways, this product is perfect for daily use, to clean your face in the morning and then in the evening after you've taken off your makeup.

The next product is a statement one. It is so famous that I won't talk about it much, everybody knows (and probably has) it. It is the Naked Palette, by Urban Decay. Here it is, without the brush because I've stored it elsewhere :

Do I really need to explain why this palette is fantastic ? The colours are perfect, either for everyday wear or for a going out/party makeup, the eyeshadows are very pigmented, they last very long (I don't even use a primer anymore and they still stay all day on my eyes)... And 12 eyeshadows for about 45€ (even though I paid a little less when I bought it, which was two years ago) is quite a good deal !
This palette will last me a very long time, this is the only real palette I own and it is definitely enough for now ! I love using it, the colours suit my skintone perfectly and I like them better than the ones of the Naked 2 Palette. Love that !


Another eye product in my favourites, a mascara this time. I've had the chance to try this as a sample, which was sent to me after I asked for it online (thanks to a website offer). And now I use it all the time and I'm really considering buying it when I run out of it because it's so good ! It's the Le Volume mascara by Chanel. It looks like this :

 

I'm really happy that I got to try it because it's amazing. I love the brush, it curls your lashes very well and makes the mascara easy to use. Your eyelashes look longer, more voluminous, but not dramatic either. I've had it for about two months and I've been using it non stop ! I just fell in love with it. 

The last face product of my favourites is a lipstick I've already talked about, but I love it so much that I have to add it to my list. It is the l'Oréal Caresse lipstick in "dating coral".

As I've already swatched it and talked about it in a previous article, I'll just add that it's one of my favourite lipsticks, the colour is wonderful and goes with every makeup. When I don't want to put a lot of colour on my lips, I go for it because even though it's a coral, it has a nice glossy finish that makes it look fresh and simple. Maybe I'll try other colours of this range, because this one is so good !

My last all time favourites product is a nail polish. Even though I love nail polishes to death, I don't tend to have one or several favourites in terms of colour, because it changes all the time depending on my mood. But there is one nail polish that I love all the time, that I could wear any day, and which is maybe my favourite colour ; it is the 529 Graphite by Chanel. 

You can see how much I love it by the so little amount of product that is left here ! I've never finished a bottle of nail polish before, I will be so sad when I finish this one... And I'm not sure about buying it again because of the price and because even though the colour is wonderful, it doesn't stay really long on the nails.

In spite of the negative "technical" aspects of it, it will stay on my favourites forever just because of its colour. It looks beautiful and shiny in the bottle, and it's even greater on the nails. Have you ever seen real graphite ? well that's what inspired the nail polish, and I think they did a good job.

Aren't they the same ?

 

 

So this colour looks great on the nails and I love wearing it. Favourite colour ever. Thanks Chanel, you're way too expensive but you did right with this one !

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So I'm done with my all time favourites. I would recommend those products to everybody, they worked out great on me so I hope it does the same for everyone else !

Julia xx