Zara shopping

I didn't actually get any of those items, but couldn't miss a chance to take some changing room pictures;) Love most of these pieces, except super uncomfy heels and the beige skirt, which unfortunately doesn't look that flattering on me...I just love the retro feel of the new collection:)

 Blue jeans, which I'm not a huge fan of. Give me black jeans over them anyday!

 Oh and I need to get those flats for summer! They are sooo sparkly!

Eve

xxx

Skincare

   So today I had a little chat with my mum about a skincare.I revealed the secret that I was stealing her Maria Galland Hydra Nutritive moisturizer for my night time face routines. It's very rich and super moisturizing cream so I'm using it because it's still a winter time and my skin feels very dry. Imbalanced I would say, because my t-zone is still oily, but around the nose I have dry patches, which I believe occurred due to the the freezing weather outside.

Anyway, we touched the topic on the eye area. My mum has super sensitive eye area as the skin around her eyes becomes red very easily if she uses a make up remover or an eye cream that is not suitable for her sensitive eyes. So I suggested her using the famous Bioderma Sensibio H2O eye and face make up remover.I really love this product! It removes make up very easily and you can be sure that your eyes won't be irritated. Today I was doing a little skincare shopping and saw that they are having this great offer at a drugstore. They are selling a package of Bioderma cleanser along with their Crealine Yeux eye contour cream for the price of the cleanser alone. How great is that! As I'm almost over with my cleanser, for sure I will be buying this package and since I am in need of an eye cream that would moisturize my eye area and reduce morning puffiness, this will be perfect. As soon as me and my mum get those, I'll do a review on the eye cream from hers and mine perspectives.

But for now, let's move on to what I've actually bought today. I have an acne prone skin and I guess I've already tried every brand there is that said something like: "this product will help to clear out your skin, deep cleanse your pores, reduce acne scars and leave your skin silky smooth, mat and radiant from within". I've tried so many things, from exfoliators, cleansers, toners, thermal sprays to creams, lotions and so on... Let's see...Garnier-ckecked, Loreal- checked, Neutrogena- ckecked, Clean and Clear, Avon, Sebamed, Bioderma, Nivea, Clinique, The Body Shop. I cannot say these products that I've tried didn't work, but I also cannot say that I've noticed a significant difference in my skin after using them.
   From now on I've told to myself that I won't care how much money I spend on my skincare. Because if your skin is healthy, you look healthy and radiant, make up looks different as well. Skin is so important! I've really been reading a lot about skincare and organic products these past few months. A Model Recommends has become my homepage (well not really,almost). Ruth is an amazing girl (model,obviously) who does wonderful reviews on skincare (mostly organic products), make up and what not. She really got me into that and I must say from now on I look at my skin from a different perspective and try to give more attention to it. There are loads of brands that I am keen to try, tons of products that are on my beauty wishlist. And they are from such brands as Caudalie, Lierac, Decleor, La Roche posay, Estee Lauder, Lavera and so on. Once I get to Paris this month, I'll make sure to get some products.

So, today at a drugstore they were having 25% off for Avene skincare. It's a well-known french brand, famous for their thermal water spray (which I nearly got today). They are focused on sensitive skin, however they are also making products for acne prone skin. I wanted to get so many things, but I got only one and left the rest for my future purchases. I got their Diacnéal treatment care for acne prone skin. It claims to smooth out the skin's surface. We'll see if it works... Another thing I got is Nature's toner for oily/combination skin with water mint and raspberry water. I've never heard about this brand before, but I like the concept, their products look organic and chemical-free. Plus I got really interested by the claim of what the product is supposed to do, so here you go:

"It has a great moisturizing power, restoring the natural pH of the skin and re-establishing its optimum balance (that's what I need). With the presence of Raspberry Water, Water Mint and Black Poplar extracts it reduces porosity giving the skin an even finish and satin look. It purifies very delicately the more sensitive areas of the face, leaving the skin evenly shine-free and glowing. It doesn't contain alcohol."


Doesn't it sound promising? It does to me. You can find out more about the brand here www.natures.it

And the last item I got, which is not skincare related, is Loreal Studio Secrets primer. Since I really needed a primer and I saw that they finally brought this primer here to our country, I decided to give it a try. It's kinda ironic to see it as a new product, since it's been on the market for about two years if not more. Well, it will be new for me, but I must say that I got shocked when I saw the size of the pot. It's ridiculous! Even your typical eye cream contains more product. I'll try everything out tomorrow and if I like some of those products, I'll do an in-depth review on them:)

Enjoy your weekend girls! My spring break starts today...what a relief!

Eve

xxx

Night time snack...

Here's what I usually do if I'm starving at night time. 

Blueberry yoghurt, banana and Nestle Fitness cereal. Yum!

Ins and Outs

In...

• Sunshine and warmer weather! :)
• Blueberry,vanilla and rose mix herbal tea
• Babyliss hot rollers. Love them!
• Superdrug The Little Red Tin strawberry lip balm
• My pearl studs
• Maria Galland Hydra Nutrive cream (mum's, but my skin feels a little dehydrated so I'm stealing it from her). It's helped a lot to bring back the moisture to my skin.
• Garnier eye roll-on stick

Out...

• The remaining ice which makes it hard to walk in heels
• High Ryanair air fares
• Still dry and winter violated hands
• A bunch of essays to be written for uni
• Mac MSF, which doesn't seem to do it's job on my T-zone
• Chanel nail polish

Eve

xxx

Monday treats

   So here are my new babies I got yesterday. Sadly my Nars Sheer Glow foundation is over but I've been keeping my eyes on the YSL Teint Resist for a while. Heard loads of great reviews about it and girls tend to put it in the same category as Sheer Glow. Well I finally went and got it. Surprisingly enough it is cheaper than Nars, considering the fact that YSL is an absolute luxury brand...but I guess Nars is luxury in make up. Well that's not the reason I got it. I needed a good quality foundation that would not cake on my skin, thus provide a medium coverage, but look natural, control my super oily T-zone area, provide satin finish and be a perfect match to my skin tone. Voila! Teint Resist fulfilled my needs. I've had hard time finding foundation that would match my super pale complexion. Even Nars Sheer Glow in Mont Blanc was too dark for me. (I used it anyways, what else would you do after spending 40 euro on a foundation) Well the color difference between my face and neck wasn't dramatic, but noticeable if my hair was up. YSL Teint Resist in #1 matches my skin color just perfectly and I'm so glad about that.

  Today was my first day of wearing it, so here you go: texture of the foundation is very light, kinda watery, it is definitely more runny than the Sheer Glow, it applies like a dream. It is super easy to work with, blends into your skin beautifuly without leaving any streaks. I had to use about 3 pumps for the whole face, which is quite much, but it's only because I wanted a little bit more coverage as my skin is not at it's best condition for the moment. It even outs the color of your skin and looks incredibly natural, almost if you didn't have anything on your face, basically like your own skin but better. The foundation sets very quickly leaving a satin finish, if your skin is normal, don't even bother with powder. As mine is oily/combination, I had to apply some setting powder. It's is an oil-free foundation and contains spf 10, which is always a plus and it's supposed to last on your skin for up to 14 hours, which I highly doubt, but we shall see.

   Packaging, do I even need to talk about it? Boy, does it feel sleek and luxurious! Oh, and I forgot to mention that it comes with a pump...and yes, it is an important thing to mention, because for some, God knows what reason, some brands decide that it is not necessary to include a pump. Then you are trying to shake the foundation out of the bottle, making not only your hands, but also your vanity table all covered up in foundation squirts. How annoying is that?!

   Anyway, Teint Resist is my new favorite foundation and lets hope I won't change my mind. The minus is that it IS pricey, but you get what you pay for.
And here is the other little treat to my never satisfiable little heart. YSL Rouge Pur Couture lipstick in #24 Blond Ingenu. Let's just say that it is the fault of beautiful Diana from Adventures of Barbarella, who wore this lipstick in her face of the day post. Seeing how the lipstick looked on her, I convinced myself that I need it! It is pretty peachy pink creamy lipstick. Very rich and moisturizing, however it doesn't last long on the lips. It is beautiful, though. Sleek, shiny handbag candy. I prefer to just dab a little bit on my lips for a more natural finish, rather than layering it on my lips straight from the tube.

 Just when I got home, I realised how similar it is to the Catrice Marie Antoinette lipstick! YSL is a tiny bit more pinkish, but Catrice is still a good dupe.

Eve

xxx

Fav mascaras

  By far these are my favorite and most purchased drugstore mascaras. Loreal Voluminous and Maybelline Falsies. I think they beat high end mascaras with their quality and the price, which is far from ridiculously priced high end mascaras. I've tried YSL, Dior, Chanel, Lancome and I can say that I prefer Loreal Voluminous to them. It's the best mascara I've come across, it lasts good 3 months without drying, the wand  is classic, which means it's not too big,not too small and doesn't have a weird shape to it. It does a wonderful job at lenghtening and volumising your lashes without any clumpyness. It's a rich black color and most importantly by the end of the day I don't get panda eyes. For 7 euro a tube I'll be definitely repurchasing it over and over again!
  Another great mascara Maybelline Falsies works just as well. It gives a lot of volume to your lashes, however it can get clumpy if you layer it too much and you may end up with spidery lashes afterwards. I don't love it as much as Loreal, because the wand is not my favorite shape and it can smudge under your eyes by the end of the day, but overall effect that it gives satisfies my needs:) Prices are quite similar of both mascaras, but it depends where you get it really.

Eve

xxx

Moment of the day

  This is what happens when authors of maths book are trying to be funny:

"Infinity is a large, wild beast".

"...if we did have infinitely many Ping-Pong balls, their weight would squash us like small bugs".

"thus, we use our power of imagination to save us from these potentially dangerous balls..."
Haha. Funny! Not.

Eve

xxx

Sales continue...

I'm a Zara girl so I popped into the store to check their new Spring/Summer collection items and saw that they still carry on the last sales items. Prices were highly reduced so I couldn't help myself but purchase a few things.

They are rather casual pieces, but I love all of them. I feel that these black boots are perfect for winter (even if it's almost over) since they have fake fur inside and are leather, not suede (which I always tend to buy), which means that they will resist to rain and melting snow all around.

Eve

xxx

Rolling on

  Now this is something I've heard a lot of good things about and Ruth from A Model Recommends...totally convinced me to try it out. Although she was raving about the tinted version of this Garnier roll-on stick, I thought I'll try the original version first. I am a student which means I never get enough of sleep. 6 hours a night is a relief to me. So in the morning my eyes are often tired and sleepy, I tend to have dark under eye circles as well. This product contains caffeine, which is supposed to help with your dark circles, refresh and awaken your eyes. I have to say that my first thought when I tried it on was "What? And that's it?". However, now I cannot begin my morning routine without this product. What I love about it is that it gives a very nice cooling and refreshing effect. I feel like my eyes are getting their morning glass of water. I literally just roll it under my eye like 10 seconds and move on to another eye, when I'm done, my eyes are fresh, awake and ready for make up. This little metal ball is cold, but it feels very pleasant. I could just sit and roll it under my eyes the whole day. All you night birds, go grab one and join the morning rollers club.

Eve

xxx

Dior favorites

  So here are my fav products from Dior. I don't own as many products from Dior as as I wish I would, but so far I loved everything I've tried from this brand. And I think there is no need to say that the packaging looks lovely and luxurious. I can never pass by Dior and Chanel counters without this dreamy gaze at their products...I know, it's silly, but I can't help myself.

DiorSkin Nude loose powder, Dior Amber Diamond highlighter, Dior Lip Glow, DiorShow mascara and black eyeliner.

 Dior Show is possibly my favorite high end mascara. It has a huge wand, which can be a pain in the arse to apply for the tiny wand lovers, but for me it's ok. It has lovely rosy scent to it, does a pretty good job for elongating and providing lashes with volume. It doesn't dry out as quickly as YSL Faux Cils mascara, which is a big plus:)

 Dior Amber Diamond highlighter. No words needed, picture is self explanatory. It's just the most beautiful highlighter you can get. It gives such a beautiful glow to your cheekbones! Doesn't look patchy or too shimmery on the skin. Has just the right amount of shimmer. Actually I don't know what it is, it's not sparkly or glittery, your skin just glows like in the candlelight. Love it!

 DiorSkin Nude is actually a powder foundation, but I always use it as a setting powder over my foundation. Sometimes on those lazy days I would just apply it on the skin without any foundation for a light satin-like coverage. It's a very nice product, but too expensive for the amount you get.

 Lastly, my beloved black eyeliner. There is nothing left of it, but I always keep it in my bag, in case I'll have black-eyeliner emergency:) This pencil is amazing. It glides on so easily, doesn't smudge at all. Once you have it on, it will last all day. I didn't use it on my waterline so I can't say about that, but for lining your upper lash line it's just perfect. The texture is different, it's like a rubber, it's not creamy at all and is pretty hard, but can be easily applied at the same time. Haha, makes no sense, try it out and you'll see:)

Eve

xxx

Ins and Outs

In...

• Kellogg's Honey Loop cereal
• Dior lip glow
• Babyliss hair rollers
• Sunshine
• Red nail polish
• My man(:
• Listening to Adele

Out...

• Cold weather. Enough already,ugh!
• Using cheaper petrol for a car. Takes ages to start the engine.
• Straightened hair
• Rich food,meat
• Face breakout
• Dry hands
• Psychology exams

Eve

xxx

An evening in Paris

  Ok, so my beloved cousin (love you, sis!) insisted me to post this from my notebook because she thought it was funny:) So here you go!

Paris.January.Sunday.
19:50
Sitting in Starbucks, waiting for my man . He's gone to take his mum from airport. I find that very sweet:) I miss him, only if it's been just 3 hours that I'm alone.
  Starbucks...I have such mixed opinions about it. Sometimes I hate it and think people come here only because it is fashionable to have a cup with this signature green logo in their hands, no matter how overpriced your coffee is. Sometimes I love it and find it somewhat special. If it is so popular all over the world, there must be a reason for it, no? Let's take a look at my order: medium size vanilla rooibos tea, served in a recyclable cup, cake thé vert au framboises, a classy little spoon and a serviette (tissue) made from recycled paper. They are earth- friendly, taste of the tea and cake is perfect as for a Sunday evening, calm jazz music floating in the air, cozy atmosphere. Why would you hate Starbucks? I have better reasons to hate typical Parisian cafes. You come in, middle aged French waiter with a hooked nose gives you a fake smile, says Bonsoir, and when he notices you are not french, he just drops the menu right in front of you. You ask for a fruit cocktail without alcohol and they claim they don't have it, because oh it's so hard to exclude alcohol from a drink! Then you order latte, because what's the other choice left, right? When you tell what you want, the waiter pretends to be confused so that you would repeat your order several times:
- Coffee latte...LATTE, please
- Cafe laaa-te?!
- Yes, please.
Finally, he serves your coffee with no glass of water. Because who gives a glass of water with coffee for a foreigner?:) (Doesn't matter that people all around had one). Then they are watching you with a face full of French arrogance while you drink your coffee. When you are heading out, they tell you a stupid joke in French and because you don't understand it, they would insert few English words to make it "understandable" and then a rude bye-bye will lead you out of the cafe.
  This is why it is worth going to Starbucks, you will be treated properly and always welcome. Plus, the variety of lattes will make you happy.
20:30
Still at Starbucks waiting for my man...I'm kinda starving, didn't eat since breakfast (green tea cake doesn't count). He's on his way to catch me up. OK, the classical music is way too loud in here. What is it, Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi? God, I know NOTHING about classical music. Must take a note on that and write it down on my "Things to do in life" list.
- Learn to distinguish between classical music artists. Learn the names of the most famous symphonies.
Noted.

Eve

xxx

Best top coat alert!

This is, hands down, the best top coat I've tried so far. It dries withing seconds (hence the name) leaving your nails super shiny. I literally saw my reflect while looking at my nails, no joke:) I got it in a store where they sell supplies for hair and beauty salons, but you can get it at http://www.professionails.com/en-eu/catalog/11-nail-&-hand-care/1112-seco-seco-15-ml.
Looove it! I've always had problems drying my nails. It just takes so long to dry them without messing up but now after I'm done with my polish, I just slap this on and my nails are dry within the blink of an eye.

Eve

xxx

Babyliss heated rollers

  So I've been always wanting to achieve this big, sexy, voluminous, wavy hair effect and I finally did! My hair is naturally wavy and very thin, quite damaged with constant use of blow dryer and flat iron. I used to straighten my hair every day, but since this summer I decided to give my hair a break and make them healthier ( got sick of pin straight hair as well). I wear my hair as it is naturally, but it lacks volume, I tried curling them with my flat iron and it looks quite pretty, but still doesn't give me the effect I am going for and doesn't last long. Then I saw many girls on Youtube use hot rollers and decided to give them a go. I came across Babyliss heated rollers and as the price was very reasonable ( ~30 euro), I picked them up.
  So here are my babies, they are sooo easy to use, from my previous experience with basic plastic rollers, I thought I'll mess up again and end up with a funky hair style. However I was completely wrong. Basically you press the red button on and wait 30mins. till the rollers heat up. One roller has this red dot and when it becomes white, you know they are ready to use. You section your hair into 3 sections: front and two sides. Each section should contain about 3 pieces of hair that you need to roll up. The set contains 20 rollers (6 small, 6 medium, 8 big) and 20 clips for each of them. So you just roll your hair towards your head, starting with the ends (wrap them around the roller first) and secure the section with a clip. When you have all of your rollers in, wait 15mins. and take them out slowly and carefully so that you won't mess up the curl. Spray each section with a hairspray and you can repeat that again when you have taken all the rollers out just to make sure your curls stay in place and look shiny. If you want a messier look, just play with a teasing comb or brush with a paddle brush for soft wave effect. I'm so in love with my rollers now, it's quick, easy and gives you polished, sexy ala Victoria's secret hair look. I just put my rollers in  while I do my make up and my hair does itself:). The only downside of Babyliss rollers is that the clips are very poor quality, I still cannot understand what they were thinking for adding these clips to the set. They are so thin and hardly hold your rollers. As I don't use all of the 20 rollers at a time, I use 2 clips on each roller so that my hair stays in place. Ladies, I highly recommend getting heated rollers, they are not damaging your hair like your ususal heated devices that, your hair looks voluminous and sexy! That's what we want our hair to look like,no?;)

It looks funny, but don't worry, the result is worth it:)

Eve

xxx

La-tweez tweezers

  Ok, now these should end up in every girl's bag. I've been eyeing those tweezers for a while and finally got them. The only thing I can say is AMAZING! What a genius idea to put a led light into tweezers. Now It is so much easier to pluck my eyebrows, you can see every single hair that is out of place. The packaging looks very sleek and solid, luxurious I would say, plus it is very convenient at the same time. It has a little mirror inside of it so you can basically pluck your brows anywhere when you need to. In a rest room, hotel room, plane, car, bus, those places usually lack good lighting so with this pretty little tool you will have perfectly shaped brows anytime, I swear;)

Eve

xxx