Wonderful Dreams

L-R: Midnight Swim, Crystal Ball, Marron Glacé, Chantilly Lace

L-R: Hot Cocoa, Pretty Sunrise, Toasted Almond, Soft Cookie

Hi everyone,

Following my last post, I thought I'd share one of my Christmas presents with you as it's also a Sephora palette that my lovely brother got for me. It's called Wonderful Dreams and is a little eyeshadow palette, perfect for on the go makeup. The palette has eight different eyeshadows, both matte and shimmer, and light and dark. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it because the shades are so gorgeous. There's something for everyone in this palette, whether you're going for a smokey eye or just throwing on some matte shadow. 

I used Marron Glacé all over the lid and topped it with some Pretty Sunrise on the middle of the lid so that it catches the light nicely.

I hope you enjoy this little post on this adorable palette and I hope you all had a great Christmas! 

Wishes Come True

Take A Selfie, Café Latte, Creamy Cashmere

Friday Night, Scented Candle, Pretty Pearls

Feeling Pretty, Nighttime Glow, Midnight Magnificence

Hi everyone,

So whilst out Christmas shopping I came across this adorable little palette in Sephora. It's by Sephora themselves and is a multi-functional palette called Wishes Come True. It had six eyeshadows, three matte and three shimmer, a gorgeous blush and two highlighters. The eyeshadows are stunning and super pigmented and the highlighters are amazing. The names are adorable and so is the packaging, you pull it apart to open it. 

It's the perfect little palette, especially for travelling and for when you're on the go. It would make such a great Christmas present too!

I used Creamy Cashmere all over the lid, Café Latte in the crease and then Scented Candle over the lid. I feel like Scented Candle would be the perfect Christmas day eyeshadow! I also used Feeling pretty and Midnight Magnificence on my cheeks.

Let me know if you have this palette and your thoughts on it!

Farfetch Discover App & £400 Voucher Giveaway

Hi everyone,

I was recently contacted by the lovely Laurren from Farfetch and given the chance to take part in and also share this giveaway with my readers. If you want to be in with a chance to win a £400 Farfetch voucher, enter by using the Rafflecopter below! The giveaway closes midday on Monday 21st December.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to share the news that there's a new and improved Farfetch discover app. So far it's only available for IOS devices but there will be an Adroid version coming to Playstore soon. Luckily I have my trusty iPad and was able to download the app.

It's super easy to use and the design is very clean and simple which I love. I immediately got addicted to adding things to my wishlist and I always adore having a wishlist option as it makes sorting through favourites so much easier. Be warned though, it can be as addictive as Pinterest!

The app is targeted towards more designer items which means you can window shop through all of the things you can't afford without any snooty stares from sales assistants. I don't often splurge on clothes but I do love pretending I can afford everything.

There are hundreds of designer brands to choose from and I had a lot of fun browsing through the Nike section as I've recently started getting into fitness. The shoes!!! I had to physically remove myself from the situation as I almost bought a couple and I have to save my money for Christmas presents! 

I thought I'd share my top 8 picks on my wishlist with you (yes it's mostly Nike). 

So this shows you a little bit of the app layout itself, as I said it's very easy to use. 6 pairs of Nike shoes, I know. My best friend has got me Nike obsessed. Do I need 6 more pairs? Probably not but a girl can dream right? Look at the polkadot ones!

The polkadot jacket is something I actually saw in the Nike store first, unfortunately they didn't have my size so I was ecstatic to find it on the Farfetch app! And lastly there's a gorgeous fluffy parka from Mr & Mrs Italy. How cosy does that look?

Good luck with the giveaway and I hope you all enjoyed this insight into the Farfetch app!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Zoeva Rose Golden Complete Eye Set

L-R: 315 Finer Liner, 237 Detail Shader, 317 Wing Liner, 230 Luxe Pencil, 322 Brow Line, 226 Smudger, 224 Luxe Defined Crease, 234 Luxe Smoky Shader, 228 Luxe Crease, 231 Luxe Petit Crease, 227 Luxe Soft Definer, 142 Concealer Buffer

Last year I bought my first set of rose gold Zoeva brushes (blogpost here) and I have been in love with them ever since. So when I saw that Zoeva had a whole rose gold set dedicated to eyes, it was only natural that they were the first thing I put on my Christmas wishlist. And my amazing mum bought them for me! Thanks mum!

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you may know that I don't do too much to my face when I apply makeup (although recently I have been branching out and using things like bronzer and highlight). I have sensitive skin which means I skip the foundation step and don't like having too much powder on my face either, so I usually just focus on my eyes. I love playing around with eyeshadows and liners and that obviously requires a few different brushes (or no brushes at all for some people!). I mentioned in my other Zoeva blogpost that I can be quite lazy when it comes to washing my brushes. I try to do them once a week, but let's be honest here, I do sometimes 'forget' (read: knowingly put the thought of washing brushes to the back of my mind). 

Funnily enough, I don't own that many brushes that are meant for eyeshadow. I have a few Real Techniques ones, as well as the Urban Decay Naked palette brushes. So that's one reason as to why I so desperately wanted these brushes. The other being that they are ROSE GOLD. Ok breathe. I have been obsessed with rose gold for a while (January 2012 to be precise) just like the rest of the beauty world. And can you blame us? Look how beautiful it looks! Brushes, jewellery, home decor, everything. (Maybe not everything, but you get the point.) Apart from being incredible at their job as makeup brushes (I'll go into more detail in a minute), they also make my dressing table look beautiful.

Moving on to their function and all of the details. You get 12 brushes in a set which is great especially when you look at the price of the set (65€). That equates to exactly 5,41€ per brush which is amazing value for money.

The set comes in another fancy brown pouch with the rose golden Zoeva logo embossed on it. These are really handy for travelling as it can be rather tricky to find makeup bags that are long enough to fit brushes in. I used the other one every time I traveled last year and will definitely be putting this one to good use too.

All of the brushes are incredibly soft and work like magic. They make applying makeup really simple and fast. I also found that they are easy to clean, the powders/liners seem to disappear after the first few seconds of washing them. They dry fairly quickly too and go back to their original shape, although I did find that some of them had a few sticky out bristles, but nothing too bad and I could easily push them back into place. (If you want to see how I wash my brushes, click here.)

Like the original brush set, this one comes with the 227 Luxe Soft Definer (great for blending, I actually prefer it to my MAC 217 brush), the 231 Luxe Petit Crease (the name says it all, it's great at getting right in the crease), the 142 Concealer Buffer (again, the name says it all but this one is also great for blending eyeshadows together) and the 317 Wing Liner (which I use to fill in my brows with powder). I honestly don't mind having these brushes twice, because they are incredibly useful and it's always good to have a few extra clean options for blending eyeshadows for example. 

I really like that there is a brush for everything. You can obviously use them however you want, but I personally use the majority of them how they are 'meant' to be used. 

As well as the brushes I've just mentioned, you also get a bunch of others. The 224 Luxe Defined Crease is like a slightly thinner, longer version of the 227, it's great at blending shadows through the crease and all over the lid. The 234 Luxe Smokey Shader is the perfect brush for applying colour to the lid and I also like using the 226 Smudger to do that too, especially when you want to apply an eyeshadow to the lashline. The 228 Luxe Crease is a bigger version of the Petit Crease brush, again great for applying eyeshadow in the crease. The 315 Finer Liner brush makes applying liner (gel, kohl, shadow) so easy and I often find it difficult using a separate brush for that job but I really like this brush! The brush itself is really small and tapered, and the dent makes the application so simple. I love using the tiny 237 Detail Shader to apply highlight to the inner corner of my eye and also on the brow bone. It's like a really small version of the Smoky Shader. The 230 Luxe Pencil is great for smudging liner and apply shadow on the lower lashline. And finally there's the 322 Brow Line which is the only brush I haven't actually used yet. I always mean to use it to fill in my brows whenever I feel like using a powder but I always end up forgetting. It has a slight angle but is quite a bit thicker than your usual standard brow brush. 

Once again, Zoeva have delivered. You can check them out here. I have yet to try out any of their makeup though and am actually quite tempted to get one of their palettes!

Have you tried any Zoeva brushes?

Charles Worthington Salon at Home Strength & Repair Range

I wanted to try out some new hair products, since I always like change up my routine a bit and had asked my mum to get some Charles Worthington products as she was going over to England anyway.  I picked out the Salon at Home Strength & Repair range and she brought back a whole bunch of products for the both of us.

Shampoo & Conditioner

Out of all of these products, these are my least favourite which is a shame because I really wanted to like them. There's nothing wrong with my usual Nivea shampoo & conditioner but I do like mixing things up a bit when my hair starts to get used to them. I can't pinpoint what is wrong with them exactly, but using both the shampoo and conditioner together just did not work for my hair. I didn't notice my hair's condition get any better and after every use my hair would feel greasy which is obviously not the desired effect. It's a shame because they smell amazing. Whenever I use them with different products, for example this shampoo with a different conditioner, my hair wouldn't be as greasy but it still wouldn't be great. 

Heat Defence Spray

This is my favourite product of the whole range. I love it so much that it has become my go to heat defence spray. It smells amazing, just like the shampoo and conditioner, and doesn't have that weird chemical scent that some sprays have. It protects my hair really well and I've noticed less breakage. Contrary to all of the other heat defence sprays I've used, this one actually doesn't make my hair feel weird when I use it on dry hair. 

Longer & Stronger Hair Masque

This is my second favourite product. The only mask I usually use is my Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Extreme which is a pre shampoo mask, and I wanted to try one that I could use after shampooing my hair. This mask made my hair feel softer and more manageable. I'll definitely repurchase it when it has run out which by the way will take some time as it is quite big.

Split Ends Binder

This is another one of those products that didn't really work for me. It was quite sticky and the minute I put it on, I regretted it. It made my hair feel really greasy and weighed it down quite a lot. I think it's a sample size, so hopefully it didn't cost too much (I can't remember if my mum got it for free or not) but it just didn't work for me which is a shame because if anything can magically get rid of my split ends then it's basically a miracle product.

Nivea Clear-Up Strips

strips for chin and forehead

the nose strip

Recently my skin has decided to be problematic (thanks skin! really appreciate it). More specifically, my nose. Cleanser used to be enough but this time it failed me. So I decided to find some pore strips, which by the way I have never used before but have always wanted to so I don't have any other product to compare it to. I went to Cactus and they didn't have many options, in fact they only had these Nivea Clear-Up Strips, so I got them. 

My first impression was that they smell amazingly fresh and lovely. Which is a good thing because it's meant to stay on the nose for 10-15 minutes. Imagine if they smelt horrible! The instructions were really simple and clear, you cleanse your face and keep the area where you want to place a pore strip quite wet so that they stick. Then you peel away the plastic, stick the soft, fluffy fleece part on and leave it to dry for 10-15 minutes. It then gets rather stiff and dry and is a bit uncomfortable to peel off, but also incredibly satisfying and completely pain free. And voila, my nose was cured! It felt quite tight and looked rather shiny but my pores were unclogged and my face looked fresh.

The pack comes with strips specifically for the T-zone area; the nose, forehead and chin. I think there were two of the chin and forehead strips and four nose strips. I would have liked to have a few more of the chin and forehead ones, but since my main issue was with my nose it worked out for the best. I also (stupidly) don't remember how much I  paid, but I'm pretty sure it was under 5€ and Amazon do them for 3,99€ here. 

Overall, I really like these strips and they make a great addition to my weekly 'spa' routine (which basically consists of face masks, hair masks and now pore strips). 

Have you used these before? What are you favourite products for tackling pores?

Maybelline Go Extreme Mascara

brush size compared to Maybelline Mega Plush (left)

brush size compared to Chanel Inimitable Mascara (left)

left with mascara, right without

left with mascara, right without

left with mascara, right without

left with mascara, right without

If you've been following my blog for some time you will perhaps have noticed that I only every use two brands of mascara; Maybelline and Chanel. Both amazing yet quite different in price obviously, which is why I tend to use Maybelline more than Chanel.

After my Mega Plush mascara started to dry up and run out, I decided it was time for a change (and Mega Plush isn't available in Luxembourg for some weird unknown reason). I saw an advert on our German TV for the new Maybelline Go Extreme Mascara in Leather Black and I was sucked in by the black tube and the big brush. Plus if it's on German TV, it's far more likely to be available here in Luxembourg. I went to the nearest Cactus and sure enough they had it in stock so I bought it a week later (the power of advertising eh?). 

The brush isn't just big, it's HUGE, so huge it deserves all caps. Look at it! It's basically the size of a bumble bee. The mascara wand has two curves on it which supposedly add extra volume. I may be missing something here but I don't quite understand how that works and haven't really found an explanation anywhere. But it seems to do the job because my lashes look longer and fuller after using it. They also hold the curl rather nicely too. 

In my experience with Maybelline mascaras, you have to use them a couple of times before they dry a little and stop clumping. I didn't notice too much clumping with this one, although the formula is quite wet and the first try was a little messy. But after that it has worked perfectly every time. I've had no difficulty removing it either, despite the fact that once the lashes are dry it doesn't smudge at all.

All in all, I'm quite impressed with this mascara. Another thumbs up for Maybelline. 

What are your go to mascara brands?

Soap & Glory Brow Pencil

left normal, right smudged with the brush

left with pencil, right natural

left with pencil, right natural

I'll be the first to admit that I'm quite lazy when it comes to brows. I've never had them properly seen to and the only brow maintenance that I do myself is pluck any stray hairs every now and then. I fill them in occasionally with eyeshadow, but sometimes I just don't bother. It's not that I think my brows look fine as they are in their natural state, I can see that they are sparse and look sort of grey (??why??), I've just never found a product that makes them look the way I want them too. Until today that is! Well actually a month ago, but that sounded far more dramatic. 

I've always wanted a brow pencil with a spooly brush attached that didn't cost a ridiculous amount of money and Soap & Glory have delivered in every aspect. I got mine from Boots where it cost £8, which when compared to other similar products is really reasonable. 

They have two colours, Blondeshell and Hot Chocolate. Now I'm not delusional, I clearly do not have blonde or light brown hair, but for some reason light browns like Blondeshell look nicer and more natural on my brows as opposed to darker browns. My hair is naturally very dark brown/soft black so you would think dark brown would work nicely, but I just find that my brows look too strong. So choosing the colour depends on how you like your brows to look, strong and dark or soft and light. 

The pencil part is very thin which makes it really easy to fill in the brows with precise strokes to imitate brow hairs. The brush is quite stiff and blends the pencil out really nicely to create a more natural effect. The pencil itself is extremely thin and light, which makes it great for popping in your travel makeup bag without weighing it down and taking up too much space. Overall I love how natural this product makes my brows look. I can't find any faults! It also makes doing my brows so much easier than messing them up with a darker colour and having to redo them all over again (yes that has happened), using multiple products or just adding a bit of eyeshadow and hoping for the best. 

I actually enjoy filling in my brows now! Who would have thought!