My first Nabla cosmetics purchase

~ tirurit ~ 4 Comments
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Nabla cosmetics haul

 

A couple of months ago I went a bit crazy on Nabla cosmetics‘ website and this is the result.

If you don’t know who Nabla are, they are a small Italian makeup company that took the net by storm last year on this side of the Mediterranean.

Right now they offer different kinds of products: eye shadows, lipsticks, mascara, etc, but what really drew me in was the fact that the eye shadows could be bought as refills and the fact that they are 6,50€ each.

They are a cruelty free brand that aims to bring innovative and safe formulas to the consumers as part of their ethos. As such, you will not find many of the recurrent bad guys of the cosmetic world such as phtalates, parabens, edta, silicones, …

At the time of my purchase there was an offer going on, so I got the 12 pan palette for free when buying 12 shades. The palette can be found on their website at 10€.

I also received the translucent make up bag above, which retails for 2,90€ on their website.

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Nabla Genesis collection

 

They have two eye shadow formulas, the standard one and one they call H2O eyeshadow, which they claim to be pigments pressed with water

As an introduction to the brand, I am going to review the four shades that I got from their Genesis collection.

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Spotlight: foundations

~ tirurit ~ 5 Comments
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MAC F&B, Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum, MAC Prolongwear, LM Smooth Finish Flawless Fluide and Chanel Mat Lumière

 As I have explained before, my skin can be a bit tricky when shopping for foundations, so that might be an explanation as to why I have accumulated so many of them.

First of all, I have oily skin and I live in a place where it is very hot and humid in summer so it is a tricky combination as most foundations melt off my face. Also, my skin is sensitive, yellow toned but with redness on the centre of the face. And finally, I don’t really like mask like foundations.

All this means that many times I have been matched to a cool toned foundation or a darker foundation or one with high coverage only to apply it once I am home and cringe.

Let me tell you about my foundation journey below.

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New Mac brush: 135

~ tirurit ~ 6 Comments
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Mac 135 brush

My new addition to my brush collection is just gorgeous! Have a look at it!

I was really excited about the launch of the Mac 135 brush. You could say that I am always excited about new brushes (except those odd toothbrushes look alikes they launched a year ago) but I was specially excited about this one as it had a shape that I love and tend to go for.

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Mac 135 brush, Clinique powder brush, Dior blush brush

My current favourite setting powder is the Clinique powder brush pictured above. I like the flat paddle shape and use it to gently sweep and pat powder all over my face. As you can see the Mac 135 is very similar, just a tiny bit smaller overall.

I also compare it to one of the old Dior blush brushes. The Dior one is a fuller brush with a flatter top and thus picks up more powder. I use it for a higher coverage or even to apply blush with the tip.

In my opinion the hair feels like very nice goat hair. Perhaps the fact that it is not dyed helps in this regard. It feels the softest of these three if you gently swipe it, however if you hold it perpendicular to your face you will feel the bristles.

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Dipping my toes into La Roche Posay: an acid and a serum

~ tirurit ~ 6 Comments

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For many a blogger out there La Roche-Posay is a well known entity. For me however, until very recently, it was a brand that I saw everytime that I went to the chemist’s but that I was never drawn too. Maybe it was the wide range of products that they offer, but my eyes simply skipped the shelves with their products.

However, when I recently vowed to take better care of my skin and decided that I simply had to jump onto the cosmetic acids bandwagon, I found a fantastic glycolic acid on those often overlooked shelves.

The Pigment Control serum is a serum that contains glycolic acid and kojic acid and promises to treat dark spots and uneven skin tone.

The benefits of glycolic acid as a AHA are well known so I was sure to get an improvement in how my skin looked like. On the other hand I had not heard of kojic acid before, but it seems that while it has a lightening effect as well it is very unstable.

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Sunday Summary vol. 4

~ tirurit ~ 2 Comments

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Here it is again, my summary of the week already on its 4th edition and featuring make up inspiration, application tips and jewlery.

If last week I was loving the inspiration that came from looks involving blue, this week I loved this stunning look that combines black and a metallic red. The author of the look told me that that red was a pigment by tammytanuka who has an etsy shop worth checking out if you love sparkly and duochrome eye shadows at very intersting prices.

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Mac is Beauty lipsticks

~ tirurit ~ 11 Comments

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These are the lipsticks I picked up from the Mac is Beauty collection. When I saw what the names of the lipsticks that I had picked were, I was amused. What must the planning meetings be like at Mac one wonders.

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In the past, I would always have gone for the bright and opaque shades, but as I am trying to give a bit of variety to my lipstick collection this time I choose both a formula and a shade that I would not have chosen before.

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Mac is beauty eyeshadows and beauty powder

~ tirurit ~ 3 Comments
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Mac Beauty powder in Alpha Girl and eye shadows in Bouffant and Wow Factor

 

While it is true that I sucumbed to the Fluidlines very quickly and with disastrous results (for my wallet), it is also true that I also grabbed a couple other things from the Mac is Beauty collection. Here are the powder products that came home with me.

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Mac Beauty powder in Alpha Girl and eye shadows in Bouffant and Wow Factor

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Kiko Free Spirit Lips and Cheeks

~ tirurit ~ 6 Comments
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Kiko Free Spirit Lips and Cheeks in 01 Hearty Peach and 04 Typical Dahlia

 

Let me introduce you to my picks from Kiko’s Modern Tribes collection.

Although there were some seriously nice offerings (go to Kiko’s website and drool over the powders’ packaging!) I choose to try two of their Free Spirit Lips and Cheeks pencils as I had yet to try one of these multipurpose type of pencils.

 

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Kiko Free Spirit Lips and Cheeks in 01 Hearty Peach and 04 Typical Dahlia

 

They have six shades available, including a nice red, but I opted for the more neutral or natural shades. I usually go for the bright colours so I thought that a change would be nice.

The pencils are 8,90€ each and contain 4,5 g of product. Also, inside each box comes a jumbo pencil sharpener, which I thought was a nice touch on their part.

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Mac is Beauty fluidlines: put some colour on your eyes

~ tirurit ~ 10 Comments
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Mac Fluidlines in Looking good, Copperthorn, Siahi, Our secret and Ivy

 

When I entered my MAC store to check out the Mac is Beauty collection and saw so many colourful Fluidlines together, I confess that I went a bit mad!

It was a difficult process, but after swatching them I left the store with the 5 shades that I liked most or that were most unusual considering what I already own. Below I have added Deliciously Rich which I first blogged about here.

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Mac Fluidlines in Looking good, Copperthorn, Siahi, Our secret, Ivy and Deliciously rich

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Sunday Summary vol.3

~ tirurit ~ 3 Comments

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About shades of blue, make up lights, brushes and more.

Let’s start assuming that I can be a bit of an odd one. So when I tell you that my favourite colour is a very specific shade of blue, you will not be that surprised to hear that.

My favourite shade of blue is “azul añil”. Yep, that specific shade. I had to visit wikipedia to get the English translation, which is indigo. In many places of the mediterranian indigo has been used to add accents to the white washed houses. If you get the chance to visit Chefchaouen, in Morocco, do it, as the blue-rinsed houses create a stunning image.

Anyway, we digress! The thing is that as much as I love blue, it is not that easy to find blue-themed make up looks in a world of neutrals, so when I saw several this week I was really excited!

I really liked Linda Halberg’s Crying paint and Sandra Holmbom’s Blue Lagoon. I may never be able to recreate them but they sure make a statement! I also really liked the simplicity of this Navy and red look by Frida Skoglund that has that bright pop of blue that makes it special. And if I wanted to go more dramatical, there is always this look or this look that I saw on ABH’s instagram.

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