Make Up Of The Day (MUOTD) #1

Hi all, today it will be a quick post about the make-up I wore today. I was meeting with a friend  for a coffee, so I didn't want to spend too much time applying make-up but I still wanted to look fresh. :) It was a perfect opportunity to try out some of the new products I bought and also some products I haven't used for a while.

Keep reading if you want to see which products I used and how it looked like...

I thought the easiest way to go through the products is to break them into eye make-up, lips, foundation etc. Here is the list of products I used (links included):

• Catrice Absolute Eye Colour Quattro in 100 F'rosen Yoghurt - 4,49 €
• L'Oreal Paris Brow Artist Plumper in Blonde - 9,99 €
• H&M Eyeliner in Chocolate - 1,99 €
• p2 Sea La Vie limited edition eyebrow marker (unfortunately not available anymore)
• Lancôme Hypnôse Doll Eyes in So Black! - 29.95 €

Here is how it turned out - I used taupe color all over the lid, lighter pink in the inner corner and under the brow and dark burgundy color in the crease. Finally I added the brown eyeliner on the lash line and in the waterline and applied 2 coats of the mascara.

And here is the swatch of the Catrice quad palette - first two colors are very similar, but I really like the taupe and the burgundy one.

For lips I used p2 Get the Glow limited edition lipstick-crayon. Unfortunately this lipstick is not available anymore, but many brands make them now (Catrice, Astor, Clinique). I really like this deep red, burgundy color for autumn time and this crayon format is great because it is easy to apply and it is also very hydrating on the lips.

This is how it looks like on my lips:

Finally products I used on my face:

• Yves Rocher Comfort Cream Foundation in Rosé 300 - 16,50 €
• Maybelline Fit Me! Concealer in Light 10 - 5,35 €
• Bourjois Little Round Pot Blush in Rose D'Or 34 - 11,36 €
• Essence Sun Club Matt Bronzing Powder in 10 Sunkissed - 3,45 €
• Catrice Prime And Fine Mattifying Powder Waterproof - 4,99 €

How it looked like all together:

Here you can see everything I used: brushes, tools and make-up (the photo is a bit bad, but I still wanted to show you everything)! :) 

Let me know in the comments if you liked the post and whether you would like to see more posts like this!

Take care,

~Anelei

Brushes #3 - Ebelin blush brush and Elf powder and blush brushes

Hi all! It has been a loooong time since my last post. I was extremely busy for the past few months - I was travelling quite a lot for work, travelling quite a lot for pleasure :D, working a lot for work, working a lot for some other things... And to be honest, I am currently in the final stages of my PhD, so I hope I will still manage to write a post here and there. 

Enough chit-chat, today I am going to write about powder brushes: blush brushes and classical powder brush (I already mentioned a Ebelin powder brush in my previous post).

In general, brushes made for powders are usually fluffier than the foundation blushes and more loosely packed than the foundation brushes. They need to be good at blending (which is the same idea behind the eyeshadow blending brushes) - packing a product onto the skin, setting the liquid/cream foundation and creating the appearance of smooth, flawless skin. 

The first brush I am mentioning is the Ebelin blush brush. Again, Ebelin is DM's brand and similar in quality to other Ebelin brushes (check my previous post). As I also previously mentioned, they are really cheap, so great for experimenting with make-up and general getting to know brushes. Nonetheless, I do like this brush. The ferrule is oval-shaped which means that the brush is kind of squished on one side, making it great for blush application and contouring. I particularly like to use it for bronzer application and blushes that are not very pigmented (as you can easily build-up powders using this brush). Also, I've used it for cream blushes and it performed very well. All in all, I am quite happy with it - it distributes the product and blends it quite well.

The next brush is the E.L.F. Complexion Brush which I got in the US. It was rather cheap, something around 3$. I believe all of the E.L.F. Studio line brushes are around 3$. But my God, this is the softest brush I've ever felt!!! It is incredible, I would like to use it on my face all day long. It almost has a therapeutical effect. :D And the application of powder is amazing - it just puts the right amount of powder to the skin. I use it to mattify my skin, as I have very oily T-zone. It has a tapered tip made of a long and very soft bristles. No words can explain how much I adore this brush! <3

The last brush I will be writing about today is the E.L.F. Brush Brush. Again, AMAZING! :D And again, only 3$ or so... It seems that the Studio line brushes are quite good. This brush is not as soft as the Complexion Brush and it is smaller than the most blush brushes I've seen/owned (including Ebelin blush brush), but that actually makes it so good. The bristles are not as flexible as blush brush bristles usually are and it has a pointy top - which is just perfect for contouring. It is just incredible! I also use it for blush application, especially for more pigmented blushes and blushes with shimmer (baked blushes such as Bourjois blushes). For the pigmented blushes I lightly apply the blush with the side of the brush and then I blend it with the circular motion. For the shimmer blushes, I go straightly using circular motions. 

If I compare the Ebelin blush brush and the E.L.F. blush brush, the size is the main difference and that's the reason while I usually don't apply very pigmented blushes using Ebelin brush, as it would apply it to the bigger portion of the cheek. In this regard, if I would apply very pigmented blushes using a bigger brush, I would squish it even more using my fingers and use a very light touch. 

This was all for my third post on brushes and with this I am wrapping up the "Big brush" series. Next I will write about smaller brushes, such as eyeshadow, eyeliner and lipstick brushes. 

I do hope you like this series... If you have anything to add, leave the comment into the comment section below. :) (I very much appreciate comments, suggestions and any input from your side...)

As a small surprise, I have a discount code to share with you for iHerb.com (only if you never ordered from iHerb before) where you can order E.L.F. cosmetics and brushes (also RealTechniques)! :)

Use the Rewards Code LKD252 or the following link: http://www.iherb.com/?rcode=LKD252 if you never ordered from iHerb before; you will save $5-$10 off your first order.*

*As a disclaimer, this is not a sponsored post - this is a code I received for my personal order and I would like to share it with you (because I am that nice :P).

It is definitely time to rest a bit and go to bed - it is almost midnight and I am quite tired (constantly kept writing brush blush instead of blush brush :D). It was an extremely busy and hard day for me at work and now I just want to sleep...

Until next week (hopefullY),

~Anelei

Brushes #2 - Ebelin flat top and dual flat paddle/powder brush

Hi all! It is time for my new brush post. Today I am going to write about two most typical foundation brushes: flat top brush and flat paddle brush (+powder brush). 

The first one is the Ebelin flat top brush. Essentially, flat top brushes are meant to create flawless, medium to full coverage base and they are usually used with liquid or creamy foundation. The main feature it has are the extremely dense and therefore relatively firm bristles. This means that you can really buff the product well into the skin and create nearly flawless, streak-free finish.

The one I own is the Ebelin brush - DM's brand and similar in quality to other Ebelin brushes (check my previous post). I have it for a year or so and I have to say it did it's job for the time. Why I used "did" instead of ''does" - well, I got a Real Techniques stippling brush and I haven't gone back to using this one ever since. :D Additionally it started shedding, so now it has some bald spots (getting old is tough, even for the brushes :D)... And I had to glue the ferrule to the handle couple of times. That being said, I would not repurchase it again. I will keep using it from time to time, but certainly not as my main brush. Again I have to stress that those are really cheap brushes, so if you are just starting to experiment with make up or you don't want to invest a lot of money, this is a great choice. (I know that they are not available world wide, but there are many brands in the similar price range).

The second one I will mention today is the dual flat paddle brush/powder brush from Ebelin as well. Practical packaging on one hand (2 in 1), but tough for maintenance. What I mean by "maintenance" is the brush washing process. I try to regularly wash my brushes with a mild shampoo/soap and when I dry them I try to have an inclination so the water can go down towards bristles and out - and therefore not harm or disintegrate the glue in the ferrule. However, with this brush you cannot do that as it has two ferrules and so most of the time  I am drying it on a flat surface. 

On the photos below you can see the glue peeking in on the flat paddle side which means that the original glue got affected and that I had to repair it (couple of times :( ). Nonetheless, the bristles are soft and dense on both sides. 

The flat paddle brush is usually used with liquid foundations. It is supposed to assure a natural, but buildable coverage and even application. If you would apply the foundation to your face, you would make downward strokes with this brush until you get the result you want.

In terms of general application, I would say that this way of applying your base is the most similar to using your fingers only. You can really control the amount of product that you are applying and you can also just put the foundation where you need. With the stippling brushes or flat top brushes you have to cover the whole face (more-or-less) if you want your face to look even and flawless. With the flat paddle brush you can get the no-make-up make up (very natural and subtle base) which is very trendy at the moment. ;)

This particular Ebelin brush I would not recommend because it leaves visible strokes, which are not there with flat top brush. What I usually use this brush for is the highlighter application - one or two subtle strokes above the cheek bone/under the eye... Looks subtle but effective! :)

Lastly, on the other side of this dual brush there is a powder brush. I have not so much to say about it - I use it for powder foundation, powder blush, powder bronzer, anything powdery will do. :) I really like it and this side I would definitely recommend. The brush is soft and fluffy, basically everything you need for your powder products. (And even better if you also like the other flat paddle brush side. :D)

Also these brushes are sold as singles as well which could be easier and more practical for washing whereas this would be valuable and useful for traveling.

And that's it for my second brush post. Next week I will talk more about powder brushes in general and then we will continue the series with small brushes used for eye and lip make-up. :) 

I honestly hope you like this series and I do hope you can get the feeling on what is used currently in the make-up industry for make-up application. If you have anything to add, leave the comment into the comment section below.  

I just want to add that the brushes presented in my posts are only here as representatives of each category and I am aware that there are brushes of a superb quality out there - in the end it really depends what are your preferences. After all, if you would ask me, I would only need some kind of precise brush (for eyeliner and eyebrows) and a blending brush to put my make-up... The rest you can do with your hands. But if you like to play around, I would always go for a cheaper brush and if you like the performance but not the quality, do your research and buy the good quality brush that is the same type as the cheap one. :)

Until next week,

~Anelei

Brushes #1 - Real Techniques and Ebelin Stippling Brushes

Some of my friends really got excited by brushes and of course they had bunch of questions: Which brushes are used for foundation application? What is a blush brush? How do you contour? And so on... So I decided to make a series of posts where I'll try to explain what I know and show you which brushes I own.

Disclaimer: I am no expert, nor a make-up artist, I just share things I know. :) So let's start.

In this series, I will start with large brushes and work my way towards small brushes and their usage. Large brushes are used for foundation, blush, contour, powder and bronzer, so let's say face-oriented brushes. They are big and therefore they are meant for larger surfaces.

First big brush I want to mention is a stippling brush. In general, stippling brushes are dual fiber brushes, which means they are made of shorter and longer bristles. Usually the longer (white) bristles are the ones you pick up the product with and you can either use circular "buffing" motion or dotting "stippling" motion to apply the product on your skin.

I would use it for applying liquid foundation, creme blush or any kind of creamy product. Alternatively you can use it for applying powder products if you want lighter coverage.

Stippling brush gives light, airbrushed coverage which means it is quite appropriate for spring and summer time.

I own two of them: Ebelin (Drogerie Markt DM brand) which is between 4-5EUR and Real Techniques for which I paid around 10$ in the US.

On a few photos below you can see the Ebelin stippling brush. The bristles are synthetic, long and soft and because of that they are not very firm. The problem with that is that you cannot buff the product very well if it is very creamy. This brush works very well with a very liquidy products where you can apply the product with a very light pressure (liquid foundations and BB/CC creams). 

Now imagine having a very creamy foundation and applying it with this brush. Even if you try to stipple or buff the bristles leave strokes on the skin and you would need to buff it with additional brush. Personally, I like to use it for pigmented powder blushes or bronzers because it gives a light wash of color. I don't use it for foundations as I don't like the final result it gives (unblended strokey look).

I haven't experienced any shedding with this brush (but I've seen it in other Ebelin brushes). Also, it feels sturdy and firm, but it is not of a superb quality (handle is made of a light plastic and ferrule is made of some kind of metal - it looks and feels cheap). I'd recommend this brush if you want to play around as it is not expensive at all. 

I should probably mention that the manufacturer recommends to use it for mineral foundation/powder and I can see that working out (I never used mineral foundation so I cannot fully comment on that).

Now, here is another stippling brush, Real Techniques one. It belongs to the same family, but it is completely different. I really wanted to get some RT brushes in the US as they are much cheaper than in Europe and I had my eye on Expert Face Brush (which I ordered later online). They didn't have it in Ulta, so finally I decided to take this one. On my way to a hotel, I was kind of regretting it, since I was not that crazy about stippling brushes.

Boy I was wrong! :) This brush is perfect. It has way firmer bristles than the Ebelin one and they are more densely packed, so you can really buff your foundation on your skin. It doesn't matter if it is creamy or liquid, it looks really natural, gives decent coverage and your face looks airbrushed.

I have to say I really like the packaging - there is a bottom rubberized part on which the brush can stand and the ferrule is made of aluminum. And it is pink! :D You have to love it! It feels very firm and stable and in general looks much better that Ebelin one. The bristles are also synthetic and they seem to be hand-cut and 100% cruelty-free.

Here you can see some side to side photos of both brushes, so you can witness the differences yourselves. You can clearly see that RT is a smaller brush and that bristles are much shorter and more densely packed. As I said, Ebelin brush is more wobbly and I would use it for powder products (for a lighter wash of color or coverage) and RT I would use (and I do use every day) for liquid foundation. 

They are both very soft to touch and they feel very pleasant on the skin, there is no shedding what so ever, they are easy to clean with some soap and water. If you ask me honestly, I would recommend them both, but for different things.

With that I conclude my first brush post. Next time I will continue talking about foundation brushes and try to give as many details as possible.

I really hope you'll enjoy this series and I am looking forward to your comments! :*

~Anelei

Her Royal Majesty - The Naked 2 Palette

Here it goes, I'll try to describe and review a product that I am absolutely in love with! This is my Urban Decay (UD) Naked 2 palette story... :)

End of last year I visited Paris for the first time in my life and of course I had to visit the biggest Sephora ever in Champs-Élysées. I felt like Alice in Wonderland... SO many products, Chanel, Dior, MAC... I didn't know where to start looking! :D

While I spent most of my time just strolling around completely mesmerized, I somehow managed to end up at the Urban Decay (UD) counter several times. Because of that reason, my boyfriend concluded that I really like those palettes and he said to choose one, as he decided to get one for me...

After asking couple of time if he is sure, because they are not cheap (45 EUR), he gave me a green light and I only had to choose between Naked 1 or Naked 2. 

In the end (after 10 min of swatching them and going back and forth) I decided to go for the Naked 2, since I thought the color range is better (gold - silver) and it had more neutral and taupe colors which I didn't have in my collection. Also, you can get any kind of look with this one, from very refined neutral look to a more extreme, smokey look.

So now that I own one, what do I think about it... 

Well, what to say...? These eye shadows are just amazing. The texture is buttery, creamy, the shades are very pigmented and true to their color. There are three matte (Foxy, Tease and Carbon), the rest are shimmery or satin/frosty finish.

I'd maybe prefer half matte and half shimmery palette, but I am overall happy with this one, since the quality is superb.

There are 12 eye shadows inside a metal case (1.5g of product each). The case is a bit bulky, but very firm and it feels very sturdy. From left to right shades are:

FOXY - Cream bisque with matte finish (pale beige).
HALF BAKED - Golden bronze shimmer (metallic gold).
BOOTYCALL - Shimmering cork (frosty off white with a slight peachy pink undertone).
CHOPPER - Copper shimmer with silver micro glitter.
TEASE - Creamy pale brown with a matte finish (mauve brown).
SNAKEBITE - Dark metallic bronze shimmer.
SUSPECT - Pale golden beige shimmer (champagne).
PISTOL - Light grey/brown shimmer (somewhere between a taupe, dirty silver, and a brown).
VERVE - Oyster shimmer (very pale warm silver with a frost finish).
YDK - Cool bronze metallic shimmer.
BUSTED - Deep brown shimmer.
BLACKOUT - Blackest black with matte finish.

Below you can see the swatches with and without flash (without any primer). As you can notice, they are extremely pigmented and easy to work with. They are easy to apply and blend with the brush that comes with the palette. Also, I got a small neutral/pink UD lip gloss together with it. Not something I would buy on my own, but it is a nice add-on (I would prefer the UD primer potion which comes with Naked 1).

That's it - nothing more to add. I would definitely recommend it if you have some money and you don't know where to spend it. :D If not, a decent replacement would be any of the Sleek palettes - maybe iDivine in Storm. I actually carried that one with me when I was travelling to the US, because it was smaller and I wouldn't feel so bad if I lost it or damaged it. They are very cheap but a comparable quality to UD palettes.

I leave you with a couple of pictures from Paris! I hope you like the post as well as the photos and (as always) if you have any comments or suggestions, leave them below.

Hugs,

~Anelei 

Basilique du Sacré Cœur

La Tour Eiffel

Moulin Rouge

Pont Neuf

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Products I've spent recently

It's been a looong time since my last post... :( I have been very very busy with work in general and I was also traveling a lot. One big thing that happened is my trip to the US - make up wise, I bought some quite nice and interesting pieces that I will feature in a future post.

Now, this time I want to write about the products that I recently spent (they've hit the pan!) and give you my honest and personal thoughts.

First thing is Bioderma Créaline H2O which I bought in Paris last year. On the photo below you can see my first ever Bioderma bottle. Likely everyone in the beauty community knows about this product and likely almost everyone likes it. I am not the exception - I love it. In general, the micellar solutions are very gentle, odor free, meant for sensitive skin and eyes. And this is really great, especially for contact lens wearers who have extremely sensitive eyes - like me :). That being said, this is definitely not a product to reach for if you want to take off the waterproof/water resistant eye make up. But, for everything else, there is the one and only Bioderma. I am currently using my second bottle and I will definitely continue buying this product.

Last year before my summer holidays I purchased a bag of sample-sized Biotherm Aquasource products (inside the nice blue bag you could find a moisturizer, a face wash and a toner). If I remember correctly there were two different options - dry skin package and normal/oily/combination skin package. Due to my oily skin, I opted for the second bag. I think it was around 20EUR here in Germany (Link). My skin was having a small nervous breakdown at that time - what I think happened is the fact that I was resting after a stressful period during my vacation and the combination of stress-free time with sun and sea made my skin reacting badly. Initially I thought it was due to the change in my skin care routine and I blamed the Biotherm line, but I was wrong. I tried everything, reverting to the old products, not putting make up, using natural products... Nothing helped. I stopped using those products for awhile and started using them again this winter and my face was great, actually it improved during the time I was using them.

Back to make up, Catrice Longlasting Eye Pencil Waterproof in 060 Moss Undercover is a really beautiful, deep emerald green eyeliner. I remember liking it a lot and using it during spring and summer. During the winter I reached for earthy tones and deeper colors, so this little thing was left forgotten. And then, some weeks ago I felt like using green eyeliner and I reached for this one and... What to say - the product was completely dry, literally the wand inside fell out and it was dry and stiff like plastic, so I had to trash it. This eye pencil is cheap so I don't mind throwing it away, but I was completely shocked. I have some water resistant Essence and Yves Rocher eyeliners and I never had a similar problem.

Nail polishes - here are two that I cannot live without: Essie All in One Base and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat. Essie base coat really improved my manicure - I see that my nails are in a better condition than ever (they don't chip that easily, they don't get yellow...) and the manicure lasts longer than ever (up to 7 days and even then I change the nail polish because I get bored of the color). Great buy and it really takes forever to get through a bottle! I tried using other base coats and it was horrible, most of them just sit on your nail and you can literally peel off the whole nail polish on top of it.

I have to say the Sally Hansen top coat doesn't dry your nails in 30sec, but also this is not the case for Essie Good to Go or Séche Vite. My first fast drying top coat was Essie Good to Go and it was great because of the fast drying thing, but after some time it started feeling like a glue and also the brush wand was so short that I couldn't use the whole bottle (I think they improved that now). And then I bought the Sally Hansen one and I was thrilled because it was much more liquid. True, it takes longer to dry compared to Essie, but it doesn't shrink the nail polish beneath, it is not visible on the nails (a coat of Essie top coat has slightly white edges) and longer drying time is a sacrifice I am willing to make. I managed to spend the whole bottle and now I am using my second one.

Last but not least, L'Oréal Studio Secrets Professional Primer - slightly pink, very creamy silicone based primer. In general, it does resurface your skin a bit and maybe it helps keeping your skin mat for a few hours, but then you get the feeling that the foundation is really sitting on top of it and after some time that it is sliding down. I don't know if it makes sense, but while using this I always had a feeling that my skin is not absorbing the products but that everything is sitting on top of it. I would not recommend using this during the day, because the skin looks a bit artificial, but during the night it does help the longevity of make up. Oh, and it does make your skin super soft. 

So that's it for now. As always, I hope you found this post useful... Please leave any comments or suggestions below!

Hope you had a nice and relaxing weekend! :)
~Anelei