Zoeva 'Retro Future' palette - review and swatches

After trying my first Zoeva palette 'Love is a Story' couple of months ago I knew that slowly but surely I will add their other palettes to my collection as the quality and pigmentation of the eyeshadows is on par with high end ones but they're much more affordable. They have 7 different palettes at the moment from neutrals through smokey to fun shades. As much as I love neutral eyeshadows I am always drawn to those colourful ones that are more fun to play with and are more unique.

Retro Future palette is full of playful colours perfect for Spring/Summer.

Collective beauty haul and first impressions

April was a month of my birthday so it was only natural that I treated myself to some beauty products. Some of them were on my wish list for a long time, some were just a moment of splurge :) And today I'm sharing with you my first impressions on the skincare and makeup I bought recently.

 

Friday FOTD #14 Subtle cut crease and bright lips

The cut crease trend in makeup has been very popular lately and I have to admit that I really like. It looks stunning on big eyes with large space between crease and the brow bone but also gives an illusion of bigger eyes to those with hooded eyelids. My eyes are slightly hooded but also have very small space between the crease and my brows so many eye looks just don't suit my eye shape but I persisted and come up with a look that is a subtle version of the cut crease.

I wanted to keep my eyes quite neutral and pair them with bright coral lips - the courtesy of my new friend Natalie, the Audacious Lipstick :)

 

Nars Audacious Lipstick - Natalie

After falling in love with the formula of my first Nars Audacious Lipstick in Anna I knew I had to add another shades to my collection. With those lipsticks being rather expensive I was waiting for a special occasion to treat myself and having my birthday just couple of weeks ago was the perfect opportunity. And then came the difficult part, which shade to choose?

There are so many gorgeous colours in the range that the decision wasn't easy but after watching hundreds of swatches online I chose Natalie.

Beauty box swap

A couple of months ago Kat from Tales of a Pale Face announced that she wants to organise a Spring blogger swap and asked for people willing to take part in it. As I had never done a beauty swap with another blogger I jumped at a chance and signed up for it. A few weeks later I was paired with the lovely Lora behind the Moonface Blogs which I hope you'll all check out as she runs a beautiful blog and loves drugstore makeup so anyone can find something for themselves :)

After exchanging a few emails in order to get to know each other a bit more, we decided on the budget of the beauty box and the date to send them out. In the meantime I travelled to Poland so it was a great opportunity to get something for Lora while being there.

Couple of weeks ago we sent the boxes out to each other and here's what Lora got me.

Makeup Look #13 Electric Blue

Today I have another makeup look to share with you and it's a one for the brave ones :)

Every time I reach for the Makeup Revolution 'Eyes like Angels' palette I'm drawn to this bright blue shade but always choose something different to wear on my eyes but this time I decided to use it and made it the main focus of my eye makeup.

It's an intense blue colour with pearl shine to it, very Summery and just beautiful.

To tone it down a bit and add warmth to my eyes I used warm brown shades for my crease from the Too Faced 'Chocolate Bar' palette and really liked the result. Admittedly, it's not a makeup look I'd wear during the day but I think it's a fun look for a night/evening out :)

What does the Sunshine smell like?

I heard about The Library of Fragrance a few months ago when the brand came on to the UK market and some bloggers started reviewing their fragrances. What intrigued me most about them were the names of the scents, Gin and Tonic, Paperback, Rain to mention just a few. So I went onto their website and started reading more about the brand.

The Library of Fragrance is part of a US company called Demeter Fragrance Library Inc., they create fragrances that capture all the amazing smells that surround us every day. They have over 300 unique scents in the collection, 100 of them being available to purchase in UK.

After months of trying to find them in my local Boots I finally decided to order online and picked two fragrances, one of them being Sunshine (£15).

Sephora Lip Stains - review

When visiting my family in Poland last month I was pleasantly surprised to see Sephora shop in my city and, of course, I had to take the opportunity to get some bits for myself, (see my haul). As I wasn't really expecting to visit that shop I didn't know at first what to get, but then I decided to try some Sephora product which are not available in UK.

The only thing that I remembered reading lots of good reviews about was the Cream Lip Stain, so I picked one for myself and then saw some new Rouge Infusion Lip Stains and one shade landed in my shopping basket.

Friday makeup look #12 Sunset inspired eyes

If you're a regular reader on here you know that I recently bought some Inglot eyeshadows (review) so it's only natural that I've been playing with them for the last couple of weeks. The shades I bought range from neutrals to playful colours perfect for Spring and Summer. There is a shade #407 - beautiful golden peach duo-chrome, and I wanted to share with you an eye makeup look using it. After trying different options I was happy with a look that reminded me of sunset colours, hence the title :)

 

My top three budget friendly masks for clear, radiant skin

I've been using face masks for years and I think they are a great way to improve the appearance of your skin as they contain more active ingredients with higher percentage of them than your average face cream.

There are hundreds of face masks on the market, many pretty impressive but also coming with an alarming price tag that not all of us can afford. So I decided to share with you mine three favourite affordable masks which I've been using for a long time and can highly recommend.

My skin is mainly combination/oily with many imperfections like clogged, large pores, bumps and some hyperpigmentation and these masks help to keep my skin clear, softer and more radiant.

My Inglot palettes - swatches and first impresions

If you read my latest haul post you know that while visiting my family in Poland I got a bit crazy in Inglot shop and picked up some eyeshadows and blushes to create my customised palettes.

Inglot offers a Freedom System which allows you to create your own palette containing eyeshadows, blushes, powders or lip products. There are lots of different sizes of palettes to choose from so you can really get the exact one you want.
I chose three different sizes to fit the products I purchased.

Friday makeup look #11 My 'go to' makeup look

After sharing with you many dramatic or fun makeup looks, today I decided to show you my 'go to' look which I've been wearing for the last few weeks nearly every day when I was going for the 'more polished' look. It's not my everyday look because it does require more than 10 minutes and on weekdays I rarely have more than that to do my makeup but if I have the time that's what I'm going for. Simple yet elegant neutral eye look which can be paired with any lipstick and kept subtle for a day look or made a bit more glamorous for the evening.

Project #ClenasingMilkTrial with Escentual - update

A month ago I talk to you about the #CleansingMilkTrial blind test run by Escentual and today I decided to quickly update you on my thoughts and experience with all the cleansing milk samples.

Escentual has recently published the report based on the survey completed by all people taking part in the project and revealed which product was in each sample and which ones came out as favourites.

March Beauty Favourites

I didn't post my beauty favourites last month but recently I definitely picked some products that I've been thoroughly enjoying so decided to share them with you. Some of them are new to me, some of them have been a pleasant rediscovery :)