Small Avon Haul ..... again!

Once more, I ordered some things from Avon and I thought you might like to see them :)

I got me some good old face cleanser, I usually buy the blemish clearing  (gone through my 3rd one) but now I ordered the pore penetrating one so I will let you know how I feel about it. I also got the blemish clearing moisturizer.

I usually have long nails but lately they tend to chip off and break so I got the "Nail Experts" therapy to for strength (I had used it before and it works nicely) and a lovely lime green color :)

My Seventeen face powder is close to it's end and since I read some very positive reviews I ordered the trend color face powders in "Translucent" and "Translucent Tan" for contouring, they are pretty similar colors so I can achieve a milder contouring.

Last but not least, I got a Trend Color lipstick (i have tried a few of them and I am very satisfied). I got the "Purple Roses" that came out in the campain of Valentine's day and it will soon be discontinued. It is a lovely pink - lilac color with just the right amount of glitter to be glamorous but also appropriate for daily use.

What product did you buy recently? Have you tried any of the ones I bought? Let me know! :)

Faves and Fails of May 2013

Hello everyone! I am sorry I don't post so often these days but I am close to my exam session so you understand I am somewhere between panicking and not having time to breath.

I started from last month this kind of post to let you know which products (new or older) I used this month and I enjoyed them and which ones I used and I got disappointed.

Let's start with the favorites. 

1. Avon LUXE lipstick in "Nude Slip"
This lipstick is the perfect nude color and this comes from a person that doesn't really like nude lips! I fell in love with it! It's not brown or beige or anything that will make you look dead it's the most flattering nude lipstick I ever saw. Not to mention that it has a great creamy texture and it keeps the lips hydrated. LOVE IT!

2.Avon's City Rush perfume: 
I already own this a few months but I use it very often so I had to mention it. It smells so good! It's a bit "loud" in the beginning but then it fades leaving a very sweet and elegant smell that lasts really long!

3. Farmec's Ultrarezistent nail polish in nr. 31
Such a pretty color it has the most beautiful colors of glitter together! Pink, purple and turquoise! Love it! I will buy it again and again.

Products I am not yet sure how i feel about:
1. Bioderma's Sensibio AR Compact with spf30:
I used before bioderma products included sunscreens and I loved them but I am not entirely sure about this. I think it gives me an orangey tone so I have to wear on top powder etc but other than that it doesn't feel bad on the skin. I notice some breakouts while I used it but I don't think it's from the product. I have to keep using it (i don't have the chance to use it daily because the weather sucks, it's cloudy and rainy). But I will do a review when I have a complete opinion about it.

2. Avon Solutions Beautiful Hydration Day, Night and Eye Cream.
I had used the Solutions Perfect Balance before and it was lovely but since I get dry patches on my cheeks I wanted to try a different and more hydrating cream. On my cheeks the effect is beautiful, i don't feel my skin "stretching" and burning or anything so for my very dry areas is amazing but my T-zone and chin are more oily so that area gets a bit greasy after the cream. I am thinking of using 2 different creams one for my dry areas and one for the oily ones. I guess it's not a total favorite but it does a great job.

Fails:
1. Aussie 3 min miracle
As I said in the review I have about it (read here) I have no idea why this product is called "miracle" as it's not even good as a generic conditioner, it definitely doesn't feel better on the hair, heck it doesn't even help at detangling. The only good thing about it is that gorgeous bubblegum smell but that's it. This products gets a D minus!

That's all for now! Let me know if you tried any of these products or any other products that you enjoyed this month or you regret buying. :) I think one of these days I will do an "Empties" post because I liked that idea.

XO, Heliana

Avon Ultra Color Rich Lipstick Swatches and a few words.

As most of the Avon lipsticks, the lipstick of this line are very creamy and they glide easily on the lips. They don't have the greatest staying power ever but they sure look great on the lips.
Here are the swatches with flash and without:

From left to right: Latte, Cappuccino, Carnation Cream, Country Rose, Iced Coffee, Instant Mocha, Sparkling Warm Rose, Sparkling Blush and Frostiest Mauve. 

All of them except the Sparkling Warm Rose (3rd from the right) are very rich in color in-deed, this one, I had to apply it a few times so it can show but it's still a gorgeous color.

My favorites are Frostiest Mauve, Sparkling Warm Rose and Carnation Cream. I also love the Pout Cream from this line but I have to buy it again cause it's gone, hihi. 

I absolutely love and recommend these lipsticks, you cannot go wrong with an Avon lipstick.

Do you own any of these lipsticks? What's your opinion about them?

Heliana. 

PS: I had to moderate the comments because I get daily spam messages so sorry about that :) 

Signs that you need a hair trim!

I just trimmed my hair and I really really wanted to make a video about it but between the messed up house (student in exam session, you know what I mean) and my cat jumping around I couldn't make it but hopefully in a month or so (that my next trim will take place) I will record it and upload it.

I personally trim my hair every month or so and I have to point out that if you ever heard that trimming your hair often will never let your hair grow long it's a totaly myth. I started trimming my hair about a year ago and my hair from shoulder length is almost reaching my waist.

Why trim your hair? To get rid of the split and damaged ends that will cause breakage later to your hair, to refresh your haircut to make bland stronger end to your hair that will prevent it from breaking.

When you hear someone say "my hair simply doesn't grow so I won't get a haircut" you should know that its wrong. In most of the cases someones hair doesn't seem to grow because their hair keeps breaking off so it stays shorter, taking care of your hair and cutting the damage off regularly will lead to strong and healthy beautiful hair.

When to trim your hair? Simple signs that indicate your hair needs refreshing:
- Split ends. Many girls keep their long hair because they don't wanna get it cut to look all luscious and sexy but guess what, long hair full of split ends is far from beautiful and sexy.
- If you use heat styling often. It causes damage to our hair and that damage needs to be cut away.
- If you dye your whole hair often (monthly or more often) with a dye that needs developer or bleach.
- If your ends are tangled all the time.
- If you wear your hair down often, the hair rubs on the clothes and it gets (not serious) but some damage.
- If you don't use any type of treatments. Coconut oil is the best thing you can use to lock moisture in your hair cuticles. Especially curly hair that the natural oils of your scalp never reach it needs some sort of moisture. You can also use argan oil or even normal virgin olive oil and now and them some hair mask.
- If you don't use conditioner.
- If the end of your hairs (hairs not hair) is significally thinner than the roots - also known as feathering.

As I mentioned in a previous post you should trim your hair every 4 to 6 weeks especially if you dye it and heat style it a lot but if you keep it completely virgin and not heat style it you can get away with it with 2-3 times per year.

That's all for now, take care of yourselves and your hair ;)

XO, Heliana

Aussie's 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor Review.

One of the things I forgot to mention in my Easter haul is the Aussie's 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor. There was a coupon for it and since I wanted to try it anyway I thought I should give it a try.

The price in Greece is around 9 euro but thank god for the coupon I bought it with 6 :P.

It claims to make the hair smoother, repair the destroyed ends and make the hair softer and more manageable. You are supposed to put it on your hair and let it for 1 to 3 minutes according to how "thirsty" your hair is and then you rinse it out and your hair is all diva looking. 

The good thing I have to say is that it smells amazing! It has a pretty smell of bubblegum which lasts on the hair so definitely thumbs up for that.

The bad thing is that this product is overated and it's NOTHING MORE than a normal and mediocre conditioner. First of all it didn't help to detangle my hair I actually had to use my conditioner for this and you have to use a big amount of it so for my hair I think I used at once one quarter of the bottle or something so it's not economic at all for curly and long hair.

Now I have a VERY good conditioner and if I compare this one to mine it's pretty much a failure. I am not sure why there is a big fuzz about it and that it's so good etc but I do not recommend it. It will not do any "Miracles" to your hair it definitely doesn't feel like it's deep conditioning and if you are gonna use it as a simple conditioner you can get better products than this - not to mention cheaper.

So in my opinion this isn't really worth it's money. If you want a product that will truly make your hair more manageable and softer go for Joico products, they are pricey but trust me those ARE miracle products. 

So, to sum up, I didn't like anything about this product except the smell and I definitely don't recommend it.

Till the next post, take care!

Heliana

Farmasi's "Catwalk Illusion" Mascara Review.

So as I said in previous posts here in Romania, Farmasi products are very popular and I have to say that they have very good quality and good prices.
So I was in the search for a new colored mascara, I wanted to try the one by Seventeen to be honest but I thought I should try the Farmasi one being extremely cheap.

Farmasi has only one line of colored mascaras called Catwalk Illusion. It claims to be an "ultra volumising mascara" that can give XXL volume instantly. I bought the green one.

The formula of the mascara is EXTREMELY dry! And when I say extremely dry I mean there were small pieces of mascara falling out while I was applying it. It makes me think that the tube might be too old and the mascara dried out inside even though it was closed or it's a really really bad formula.

Other than that it does give a green tint to the lashes but you have to apply a big amount of mascara for the color to show. Let it be noted here that my lashes are blond so maybe for darker lashes it will show easier (?).

Moreover it definitely didn't add any volume to my lashes whatsoever.

Generally I am not very pleased with this mascara even though generally I love Farmasi products and I definitely will not repurchase it again.

I will try to take some shots later on my eyes so you can see the effect.

Small Holiday Haul

I know I said i probably won't buy any new products because I am on vacation but ofc I couldn't resist so I bought some stuff - hihi!

I was in desperate need of new jeans so I got 2 pairs. I usually dress up in jeans and shirts because it's comfortable and easy especially when you have to go to work or school and you are bored to match outfits in the morning :P So I got my some cute shirts and a pair of very cute snickers in golden color.

Yes, the last 2 are actually shirts for men but I like wearing big shirts especially if i wanna go running plus I think they have bad-ass stamps than the women ones :D. 

But, I also got some beauty products (of course)!

I forgot to take my moisturizer with me so I wanted a cheap solution for the few days of the vacation so I got the tinted moisturizer from essence (the light color). It's actually nice for it's price (3 euro) and it has a very weak and pleasant smell of peach. The coverage is not bad either for a tinted moisturizer!

I also got some makeup brushes since I forgot mine home - hahaha! 

I found this eye shadow blending brush with only 3,5 euro so I thought I should definitely try it (the company is called toyoko)!

I also got some face brushes which are very very good even though they are extremely cheap.

This one was a pack of 2 double end brushes. I use the bigger one for blush and it's amazing. I use the black smaller fluffy one for highlighter. The other one is has eye shadow applicators, one end has a sponge applicator and the other one is a fluffy angled brush. The 2 brushes cost 1.99 euro (the small brush that has one end is not part of the pack).

 This one is a bigger brush very nice for powder or for contouring only 1.99 euro. I am surprised by how good they are and they don't shed or bleed color! Awesome!

I am a sucker for pink which is probably the reason that I have so many pink eye shadows, lipsticks etc. Here is a GORGEOUS iridescent pink eye shadow from Golden Rose company only 3euro :D

It was so lovely being home last week, I feel so sad that I will have to go back on Wednesday. :( 

Take care as always!

XO, Heliana