how’s your week going? Did you have the chance to enjoy a cup of coffee outside in the sun yet? I’m still hoping to do that very soon… But today we are going to continue with the spring giveaway series, that as i promissed is going to last for a whole month.
Today’s edition starring: A Blushing Affair. Excited about that? Today you have the chance to win 3 limited edition items to make your face glow in the spring sun:
Essence highlighter from the Fantasia edition in 01 Elf Yourself (0.31oz/9g)
P2 rumble in the jungle duo bronzer from the Summer Attack edition in 010 Tropical Touch (15g)
Essence blush from the Home Sweet Home edition in 01 Knits For Chicks (0.28oz/8g) The rules are going to be as simple as usual: You have to be my follower in order to enter. Use Rafflecopter & ENTER HERE this international giveaway, which is going to be open until April the 11rd 2013.
As usual:All entries from multiple or spam accounts, like accounts set up for giveaways only will be banned!!!
Btw, I know who’s entering the giveaways only… *wink wink*
If you TWEET about it, please do it from this blog post page (via share on twitter button) and not from Rafflecopter!!
Thank you and good luck!
It’s finally weekend. It was a crazy and busy week for me, so right now i’m just happy to stay in, since it’s really cold outside. While enjoying my cozy weekend, i’ve decided to do this fun I ♥ Drugstore Makeup TAG, that has been going around youtube so much lately. Hope you do it as well. 🙂
I tag YOU all to do this!
THE QUESTIONS:
1. What is your favorite drugstore makeup brand?
There are two actually. The well-known Revlon & the german brand Catrice. I think the most drugstore items that i use on the daily basis are by Cartice. I love how the quality meets price here. And as i became a huge fan of the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters this year, Revlon has to be my other brand of choice.
2. What are your favorite face, cheek and lip products?
My favorite lip products of the year 2012 are definitely the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters and the new Sheer Glam lipsticks by P2 cosmetics. Two current ones that i’m loving are the 070 Cherry Tart & 060 Fame! The sheer glam lipsticks are a great alternative to Revlon’s lip butters, as they are not being sold here in Germany (what a shame btw!)
They have a creamy buttery consistency, a little bit of color and leave my lips moisturized. I’m really happy with all the lipsticks by P2 and that’s one of the reasons, why you can win one of them in my currentgiveaway. Plus i find the P2 packaging super cute. As for my favorite cheek product i would have to pick the Silky Touch Blush in 10 adorable by Essence, a very light pink with a matte finish. I love the formula and how beautifully pigmented the blushes by Essence are. There’s no issues with blending into powder or liquid foundation at all. The packaging is very simple clear study plastic, and i have had no problems even while traveling.
My most favorite face product of the year is the Bebe young care Goodbye make-up tinted moistruizer. (It’s by Johnson-Johnson, so you might find something similar in the States). It gives my face moisture and a light coverage, as a great alternative to heavy makeup, like thick foundations or heavy powders. I didn’t feel like my skin needs too much coverage these days, so this product has been exactly right. It smells a little bit like sunblock, which reminds me of a beach vacation every time i use this tinted moisturizer.
3. Least favorite product? For me it’s the Maybelline color sensational lipstick in golden pearl 862. I didn’t expect it to be that shimmery & pearly. You don’t get much color on your lips, way less than from Revlon’s lip butters. And i feel after drinking, eating and talking, i have that shimmer all over my face. I know i sounds a little weird, but i just don’t like it. But on top of all that i find this typical “lipstick smell” unpleasant. So for me, it’s the biggest downside to this lipstick, along with the pretty high price (around 10 euro/13 US-Dollar). 4. What is the best makeup bargain? Seriously i will have to go with the Essence blushes again. Great product for really small money!! If you have an Essence display at your local drugstore, go ahead and try them.
5. What is your favorite underdog product? (Something you love that often gets overlooked?) Recently i have discovered the highlighter pen by Catrice. It’s a relative new product on the market, but i feel like it didn’t get enough attention so far. It’s a creamy pearly long-lasting highlighter, that reminds me a little bit of the NYX jumbos. It brightens really well the eyebrow area and gives a nice sparkle in the corner of my eyes. I enjoy using this highlighter pen on the daily basis.
6. A drugstore product that is overpriced? This one is really easy. It’s the L’Oreal Paris Studio Secrets Smoothing Primer. Not least because of the newest addition on Catrice’s display. During the summer Catrice came out with the new Prime and Fine Smoothing Refiner, that looks a lot like the Secrets Smoothing Primer. The only difference is that the jar that it comes in, is not made of glas, but plastic. But seriously, that is the only downside for Catrice. The texture is the same, mousy and creamy. The primer by L’Oreal needs much longer to soak in. And i don’t even start with the price. L’Oreal around 16 euro vs. Catrice 4, 99 euro. So as you can see – L’Oreal Paris Studio Secrets Smoothing Primer is just way too overpriced & not competitive.
7. Show your best drugstore dupe!! The best one that i have handy at the moment is one of my all time favorites mono eyeshadow is Catrice 410 C’mon Chameleon as dupe to M.A.C. Club. Anyone who ever had a makeup obsession knows how M.A.C. Club looks like. Club is officially described as “a red brown with a green shimmer”. In my opinion it’s more complex when you look at it. A light brown, green and blue mixed toghether with little sparkles. And it looks different depending on the way you wear it. C’mon Chameleon is a lovely duochrome forest green mixed with warm brown color. The effect is even better i noticed, when applied on a dark base like a black NYX jumbo pencil.
8. Drugstore product that isn’t worth the hype? In my eyes it’s Rimmel London lasting finish by Kate in 05. Yes i know Rimmel teamed up with Kate Moss to create that line, and it was all over the media. But somehow i didn’t like the formula, nor the feel on my lips. And yes, maybe i’m not the biggest fan of bright, matte lip colors – the lipsticks are described as a satin finish, but to me, they are definitely matte. And besides, i can’t stand when a lipstick blends into the lines of my lips. No wonder this one has been lying around after just a week of using. True story.
What are you favorite drugstore brands and products? Please do the tag and tell me more about your beauty secrets!
thanks for sticking around. As promised in my previous post, I’m going to talk a little bit about my very first Sephora haul. For a beauty blogger I have been very reasonable and that for proud of myself. I guess each and every other beauty person is going to understand me.
You wont be surprised when I tell you, that the very first item I just needed to get, was the well-known and loved by millions – Urban Decay Naked Palette. Yes I know, I’m very late on this, since the palette came already out in summer 2010. So as you can imagine I had plenty of time to read all the reviews, watch many videos of beauties using the colors and meanwhile also having others compare it with the Naked 2 palette. I decided to go for the first one, since I feel it suits my skin type a bit better.
As I was saying, I had obsessed about this palette for a long time and I finally justified buying it, since first of all it was my birthday and second – I had that lovely gift card. We all know, the colors are very easy to use and well pigmented, so I’m not going to do swatches at this point. For all those of you, who have never heard of this palette before, let me just say – you wont regret the buy. Nowadays you only need to make the color choice between the two existing palettes.
After putting the Urban Decay palette in my basket, I was looking for good creamy eyeliner pencils. Of course Urban Decay offers you the famous 24/7 liners, but I really wanted to try something out of the Sephora own collection. So i went straight to the display, where I easily found the very creamy, metallic waterproof limited edition eye pencil set. Usually they are sold individually. I really liked the fact, that they are waterproof, so I can finally use a pencil for my water line.
The color selection in this set are just perfect for my taste. I love vibrant & vivid colors. I did some swatches and was amazed how creamy they are, but do not smudge at all. That is something that I expect from good liners.
I decided to go for another well-known beauty item, as i approached The Balm display. I have been looking for a shimmery pinky-coral blush in the drugstore area before, but haven’t really found anything that i would enjoy using. As i found “Hot Mama” I was convinced. TheBalm’s Hot Mama blush is described as “A true all-in-one essential: sexy shadow, striking blush, subtle highlighter, and light-reflecting lip finisher tucked inside a go-anywhere compact.” And I think it’s not bad at all to have a multifaceted item in your collection. I really like how the fine golden shimmer looks on my cheeks. Makes me look fresh and well rested. I think it’s really similar to the Benefit’s Coralista. So if you happen to have one or the other product, you will probably know what I’m talking about. Is this the kind of blush color you’d wear? Or do you have another favorite blush type?
And the last goodie in my beauty bag was the Fresh Sugar Lip Duo mini set, that i got as a birthday gift for becoming a “beauty Insider”. The packaging is really well made for a lip balm, it has a sturdy metal casing. Both of them have a really smooth texture, SPF and the smell is a lovely light lemon cake and rose. The first one is clear and the other one gives a very sheer rosy colour. As I’m not very familiar with this brand, so the little gift gives me a nice way to try the products and see if i really like them. It seems the texture is a little similar to Burt’s Bees lip balms. But the time will show how the quality really is.
Overall I’m very happy with my birthday trip to Sephora. It was a nice experience, which is comparable with a visit in Disney Land for kids. I’m sure I will have loads of fun using the new items.
What did you get last time you entered a Sephora store? Share your story!
Every time I hear about exotic new brand names or see amazingly done packaging in a very feminine style, my heart goes “boom boom boom”. Even if the product isn’t that easy to get, I still enjoy learning more about it, while comparing to the items I already have in my collection.
That and your answers in my beauty poll were exact my motivation to start this series about the cosmetic items around the globe. And let’s be honest, we all want to know what kind of fabulous things they are using in Japan, Australia, Belgium, Turkey or Russia.
So why not starting with the last one. I was lucky to get my hands on some russian decorative cosmetics in a very distinctive vintage parisian chic style. The brand name I’m talking about is Vivienne Sabo. It was created in 2006 in Samara, the sixth largest city in Russia, by Gradient Cosmetics (one of the leading distribution companies in the country).
After having a better look at their official site and the products itself, I realized it was quite a good marketing decision to create a “french brand” in Russia. It combines definitely some aspects of conservative traditional makeup along with fresh and innovative ingredients.
That’s what the brand claims: Vivienne Sabo is a brand with a romantic Parisian soul, modern and classic, enigmatic and democratic. When creating the cosmetic products from Vivienne Sabo we use up-to-date textures and formulas. Fresh violets fragrance makes you feel Paris’s air in spring, this delicate flower decorates the collection. The packaging of Vivienne Sabo’s products has symbols on it. Polka dot is the most romantic French pattern, an absolute classic. Violets are a symbol of revival, love and spring, a symbol of Paris.
Make-up by Vivienne Sabo embodies the true Parisian chic and elegance. It is created with the modern cosmetic products and corresponds to the latest fashion trends. Vivienne Sabo is a company with a very beautiful history and named after a beautiful heroine.
Genuine cosmetic romanticism…
(Photo was taken from the official Vivinne Sabo homepage.)
Why not looking at the products a littlebit closer and see what they are really all about.
First up was a blush in light rose, which applies really sheer, but is also buildable. It gives you the chance to intensify the color if needed. The feel is very powdery & velvety. Might be nothing for the cream blush lovers out there. But over all it’s a nice every day product.
Next item is the beautify shaped eyeshadow trio – Fleur de Velours nr.73.
I didn’t even want to touch the flower, since it looked so lovely, but of course I was excited to see how well the color pigmentation was. Unfortunately I have to admit that only one of the three colors was pigmented enough for my taste. (The silvery blue shade looks very pretty on the lid.) We often see that phenomenon of drugstore eyeshadow being less pigmented than high-end products. In this case I hope to be more successful when using a primer beforehand.
Next two items have been the smoothing lipsticks with wine extract in nr.410 and nr.411.
First of all, how cute is the packaging? The polka dots are spot on at the moment, immediately giving the little box a vintage flair.
The shape and even the application is similar to the L’Oréal Paris Color Riche lipsticks, maybe a slight reminder of the Revlon Lip Butters through their creamy and moisturizing formula and very wearable colors.
They apply very well and leave a shiny finish. But the best is definitely the smell. When you take off the cap you instantly smell wild strawberries. It’s an incredible smell that reminds me personally of my childhood. So far the smoothing lipsticks have been my favorites from this collection. I enjoy wearing them a lot these days.
There are still two different mascara, powder pearls and a moisturizing brilliance lipstick in testing (which you can see in the main picture). So stay tuned for more of this brand. Hope you liked the little overview of the russian cosmetic brand. Have you tried anything from that country yet? If so, what was it?
And if not, what are you most worn blushes and lipsticks of the past season? Share your secrets.
Today you have the chance to win 3 limited edition items to make your face glow in the spring sun: 
The rules are going to be as simple as usual: 
Beauty expression by Luchessa 