30 Beauty Questions Tag

Hello, hello again! I don't know how I manage to post for a short period of time so frequently and then not being able to post for months, hahaha. So I wanted to write a quick post and what's better than tags right? So I googled and found this one so here we go :)

1. Do you remember your first makeup item?
I think it was a strawberry lip balm from "Liposan" company.

2. Describe your perfect mascara. Have you found one that fits your specifications?
I have pretty long lashes but they are thin and sparse so my ideal mascara would be one that gives a lot of volume and separation. I've come up 2 mascaras that fulfill my "demands" to a level. One is the "Spectacular Volume" from p2 and the other one is the "Falsies" from Maybelline.

3. What kind of coverage do you prefer from foundation?
I don't care for super heavy coverage, I want a very natural and dewy look and not to irritate my skin (that is the hard part).

4. Favorite high end brand.
Always hard to pick!!! I like Chanel, YSL as far as packaging and Benefit, Too faced as products.

5. What cosmetic brands have you always wanted to try but still haven't?
There are soooooo many! At the top of my mind would be Urban Decay and Kat Von D that are not sold here.

6. Favorite drugstore brand
p2

7. Do you wear fake eyelashes?
Not really.

8. Is there any kind of makeup you can't leave the house without?
Meh, I can leave without makeup from the house :P I guess what I wear most frequently would be a bb cream or something but it's not my favorite makeup item, that would be mascara.

9. What is your most cherished beauty product?
Even though I am a total makeup junkie I always do a research before buying something and only when I want it really badly so I can't say I have favorites and not. I like a lot my YSL lipstick cause it has a marvelous packaging.

10. How often do you shop for makeup? Do you like to pick up an item here and there or lots of goodies at once.
I buy quite often. I usually buy from time to time except in the summer that I go home and as you can see from my summer posts I get LOTS of stuff.

11. Do you have a "beauty budget" or you spend freely?
I don't have a budget but I do try to buy when there are good deals.

12. Do you utilize coupons, rewards cards and sales when you shop for cosmetics?
We don't really have coupons but I do use reward cards and buy on sales when I find them.

13. What type of product do you buy the most?
As in a product that I use up it would obviously be mascara as in frequency it would probably be eyeshadows.

14. Is there a brand that you absolutely can't stand?
I don't like "no name" brands anymore but I can't say I can't stand a specific company. I guess I don't like "Farmasi" and "Farmec".

15. Do you avoid certain ingredients in cosmetics like parabens or sulfates?
I try to avoid silicone in shampoos but I don't get fixated to it.

16. Do you have a favorite place to shop for makeup?
I do prefer shopping in Athens because I find more stuff/brands etc as in Romania it's Sephora (not like there are a lot of choices).

17. Do you like trying new skincare products or do you keep a certain routine?
I LOVE trying new stuff!

18. Favorite bath or body product?
Don't have any.

19. If you could only buy from one brand, which one it would be?
Inglot or Too faced I guess...

20. What brand do you think has the best packaging?
YSL, Chanel, Too Faced

21. Which celebrity always has great makeup?
Kate Winslet which is reasonable since her makeup artist is the wonderful Lisa Eldridge!

22. Do you belong to any online makeup communities?
Makeup Alley.

23. 5 Favorite Beauty Gurus.
Lisa Eldridge ;)
Letzmakeup
The Beauty Vault
that's all

24. Do you like multifunctional products like lip and cheek stains?
Sure.

25. Are you clumsy in putting makeup. 
I don't think so.

26. Do you use makeup base/primer for the eyes?
Yes ma'am. Essence I <3 stage primer!

27. How many hair products do you use on a typical day?
I use obviously shampoo, conditioner and/or mask and except that I lately narrowed it down to hair mousse.

28. What do you apply first, concealer or foundation?
Eye makeup, foundation, concealer.

29. Do you ever consider taking makeup classes?
I already have.

30. What do you love about makeup?
That I can put my creativity to work, I can have fun, I can experiment, I can try all kinds of different looks/products and that I can boost my confidence as well as makeup my strong characteristics pop. 

Goo Hoarding Vol.3 - Major Makeup Collection Clean Up!

Hello!!!!! I hope you're doing great! As I said on my previous post I've been searching through my makeup collection because I've had a lot of very old items in it and they just have to go. I know sometimes we feel sad to throw stuff away but what's the point of holding them if they've gone bad and we don't use them anymore? I might be doing a separate post on the items I will remove from my collection to pass them to friends, after watching a certain youtuber lady doing this I figured I shouldn't keep items that I don't use and instead of letting them go bad in my drawers, why not give them to friends that might enjoy them?
Some of the stuff I'm throwing away are so old that even the writing on the packaging is gone so I might not be able to tell you what's every single item but since they are going to the trash who cares?

From left to right: 

Lancaster Moisture Enhancing Lipstick - #WM24

Chanel Rouge A Levres, Infrarouge - 14 Miss Fizz

Chanel Rouge A Levres - 04 Fric Frac

Chanel Rouge A Levres - 13 Lily 

Chanel Sheer Lipstick, Hydrasoleil - 42 Soilei Troublant

(All of these were more than 10 years old, belonged to my mom, gone bad)

Left ---> Right --> Down

Nivea, random lips gloss

Avon Glazewear Metallic - Pink Shine

Avon Glazewear "Extreme Gloss" - Pale Pink Shine

Avon Glazewear Metallic - Rose Beam

Avon Glazewear Metallic - Metallic Blush

The next's writing is gone

Chanel Levres Scintillantes - 30 Cocktail

Juvena Shiny Lips - 05

Most of them are years old and gone bad

First 2: Orlane Crayone Dessin Des Levres 

Bourjois Lip Contour - 30 Beige Noisette

Chanel Double Lip Crayon - Volcano

needme Waterproof pencil liner - 15

La Roche Posay "Ultra-glide eyecream, streak free" - Color zoom 

(not gone bad yet but too old to use)

Oriflame "Illuminate eye cream" - Blue Dream

The Body Shop "Born Lippy" - Rasberry lip balm

Kallos High Gloss Nail Color - 0

Silky Soft Nail Keratine

Kallos High Gloss Nail Color - 92

Maybelline "The Colossal Volum' Express" - 100%

Maybelline "The Falsies Volum' Express" Flared

p2 Spectacular Volume Mascara - 010 spectacular black

Oriflame Nature Secrets Hot Oil - Wheat & Coconut

Anna Lotan Clear Dry Touch Purifying Spot Treatment

The Body Shop "Love ETC...." Body Lotion

Oriflame, Giordani Bronzing Palette - 1977 Sun Glow

Rose Chandal Eye Shadow Mono - 21

Biguine various pigments

PUPA blush L26 and eyeshadow L02

Avon cream eyeshadow quad

Lancaster Eyeshadow

Biguine shadows and random bronzer

MAC fluid gel eyeliner in Blacktrack 

MAC paint pot in "Bare Study"

(both were returned to the back to MAC program along with other products)

Avon LUXE eyeliner - Black Luxury

Seventeen Pro Liner in various colors (too old to use)

Prestige glitter liners

The Body Shop moisturizing foundation

La prairie anti-aging foundation (was given to me by my aunt but never worked for me, too old)

la prairie pressed powder (came with the foundation, used it a lot but too old)

Manhattan 

(the next 3) Carlo si Roma Eyeliner Basic

Laora Easy Eye Shadow Pencil - ES 03

Masters Colors Precision Eye Pencil - 421

Golden Rose Eyeliner - 04

Avon Glimmerstick for eyes - Majestic Plum

Dorothy L Matic Eyeliner - 208

Bourjois Liner Stylo - 43 Bleu

Chanel Le Crayon Yeux Precision Eye Definer - Khaki

And one without photo is my beloved blush from Bourjois in "Rose d'or" is my favorite blush but it's so old that it totally dried out.

Goodies from Germany!

Hello my friends! How are you, I hope you're doing fine. Today, as the title says, I'll show you the goodies that my friend from Germany sent me. If you read me quite sometime you probably know that I have a friend in Germany that spoils me with makeup and other goodies from time to time and she also sews amazing like bags etc. ;) So let's see what I got shall we?

Christina Aguilera Moisturizing Body Lotion "Unforgettable"

I love.... Rasberry and Blackberry bubblebath and shower cream

Never bad to receive bath products especially fruity stuff :D

NYX - Eye/Eyebrow Pencil: 932 Bronze Glitter

I'm always curious to try brands that they are not easily accessible where I live and Nyx is one of these brands. The only thing I have bought is a blush but I got a pencil now :) Looks super creamy but I will tell you more about it after I've tried it but super excited to try it!

Model Cosmetics Shimmer Bronzing Powder

A warm toned bronzer with fine glitter I will probably use it as blush and eyeshadow more :) 

IsaDora Perfect Moisture Lipsticks in "149 Flirty Fuchsia" and "162 Tropical Pink"

I love the colors, they feel very creamy, can't wait to use them! 

P2 Cosmetics Eyeshadow Palette

This is one of the superstar of the parcel (hihihi)! My friend has sent me some stuff from p2 brand and I am quite impressed with them. They have nice products and super good prices but I've never tried their eyeshadows so when I saw this online I asked my friend to get this for me and she was kind enough to do it. ^_^ yaaaaaay. Swatches and more details about it will come in a separate review post :)

Handmade Hello Kitty Brush Roll

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!! This is the other superstar of the parcel!!!! I asked my friend to make me a brush roll and she made it for me! Aren't I lucky? Isn't it ADORABLE????

Sooooo these are all the lovely goodies that I received, I wanna thank my friend Usi for spoiling me regularly with cute stuff. I really cannot thank you enough for everything that you sent me all these times!!! Much love, hugs and kisses <3

I'll talk to you guys at my next post. I still have to finish my summer shopping posts and also I'm preparing a post with a huge clearance on my makeup collection that used to contain a lot of old stuff that even belonged to my mother so .... yeah I am throwing away a lot of stuff lol. See you!

xo Heliana xo

Summer's Berzerk Shopping, Vol. 3 - Catrice (and possible high end dupes)

Hello to everyone! I hope you are doing well. Today I'll show you what I bought in the summer from Catrice cosmetics. I believe Catrice, even though is super affordable is an excellent brand with very good products. I honestly would have bought more stuff if there were more at the store but they are limited at the market in Greece so.... this is what I bought :P

ABSOLUTE NUDE and ABSOLUTE BRIGHT palettes:

As the name suggest, this is a palette of 6 "nude" aka neutral colors. It contains a frosty white with yellow undertone, a champagne, a sort of coppery light brown, a gold-ish beige/brown and two darker browns, one warm and one cool toned. This palette is much better pigmented than the bright one.I believe the price of these palettes are 5.5 or almost 6 euro.

Not sure why this palette is called "Bright" since you can't say that the colors are super bright. There is a frosty white, an almost white yellow, a light frosty champagne that looks white an almost white frosty baby pink, a gray frosty blue and a medium gray. Pigmentation is poorer in this palette. 

Overall, comparing fast the two palettes, the Nude is better as the colors are more pigmented and more blendable and much more wearable, whereas the Bright palette has a bunch of frosts that are not so ideal for daily use plus they swatch harder and they are slightly on the powdery side. Yet if you are fan of frosty colors then the "Bright" palette is definitely made for you.

ABSOLUTE EYE COLOUR:

I bought 4 colors, 3 of them are supposed to be dupes of high end eyeshadows (details lower). Price: 3.19 euro

640, Don't touch my Mosserati:

Medium to dark forest green with shimmer and very fine glitters. No fallout, very blendable, pigmented and vivid. It is claimed by other beauty bloggers/vloggers to be a dupe for MAC's "Humid" eyeshadow.

420, Talk like an Egyptian:

It is simply a gold shimmery color with bigger particles of glitter than the previous, blends easily, it's only a teeny tiny bit less pigmented. Said to be a dupe for Kat Von D's "Galore".

750, New in Brown:

Light champagne/brown color, pigmented and blends nicely. Can be a pretty everyday lid color. 

400, My first Copperware Party:

Nice medium brown with a copper touch, super creamy, blends like a dream, lovely and amazing color! Said to be a very close color to MAC's "Satin Taupe" and Urban Decay's "Toasted".

BB ALLROUND FOUNDATION and Camouflage Cream Concealer:

I am a big fan of the youtuber "Letzmakeup". I generally don't buy products that famous youtubers or bloggers suggest because (I may sound mean but) you don't always know if they really use and like a product or they promote it. One person that I believe is honest on her reviews is Siobhan McDonnell also known on youtube as "Letzmakeup". On one of her videos, she presented this bb cream as one of the products she really likes. Since I'm not a person that wants huge coverage and I am bored to make layers of sunscreen, foundation etc in the morning I gave this a try. I got 2 different colors. 020-Rosy beige and 030-Nude Beige.

I also bough the "Camouflage Cream" which is a very thick concealer in number 010-Ivory. (Reviews in future post).

That's all for now my friends. I still have a few more stuff from my summer purchases, I haven't decided if I will do one more brand haul separately since I didn't get a lot of stuff from other companies but we shall see.

Always take care and I'll talk to ya at my next post. 

Much love,

xo Heliana xo 

Summer's Berzerk Shopping, Vol. 2 - Essence Haul and Mini Reviews

Hi again! I hope you're doing well! As the title says, this is volume 2 of my summer purchases. This time I'll show you the 6 shadow palettes that I got from Essence and I will very quickly review them for you. These are the 4 palettes that I found and bought.

As you can see they contain 6 eyeshadows (as mentioned before) and luckily none of the colors of one palette is repeated in another one. They cost - if I remember correctly - 4.50 euro which makes them very affordable. Let's see the quality of each palette and the pigmentation. 

all about CANDIES:

This palette contains 6 pastel colors, a sort of canary yellow, a white-ish pink, a pink-ish purple, a salmon, a baby blue and a minty green. 

This palette has the least pigmented colors and the hardest and weakest to swatch is the green.

all about NUDE:

This palette has cool toned earth colors and is probably the most "wearable" of the four.

It contains an icy white, a creamy pink/skin color, a light gray, a soft sort of champagne color, a medium brown and a dark brown-burgundy. 

This palette has a decent pigmentation and depending on your skin tone that nude pinkish color might not show up a lot on you.

all about PARADISE:

This one, not only contains the most intense and bright colors of the rest but also the most pigmented.

There is a frosty warm white-beige, a soft orange, a pinkish red, a golden yellow, a medium emerald green and a medium navy blue.

All of the colors swatch nicely and they are bright and easy to work with.

all about SUNRISE:

This palette, like the nude one, has earth-toned colors but on the warmer side. 

There is a frosty light beige, a sort brown-ish gold, a medium brown, a gold a champagne and a dark brown.

This palette is as well very pigmented and with quite wearable colors. 

Overall comparisons:

Pigmentation:    Paradise, Sunrise = Best                        

                            Nude = Good

                            Candies = Weak

Wearable:        Nude + Sunrise

Bright:             Paradise

Pastel/light:     Candies

Important  Note: ALL the colors of all 4 palettes that look shimmery on the swatches contain only an upper layer of shimmer. Like ALL OF THE ESSENCE SHIMMERY SHADOWS, after this layer is off the real shadow underneath is not shimmery anymore, so keep that in mind! 

Summer's Berzerk Shopping, Vol. 1 - MAC Haul

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooo hellooooo! REALLY long time and no see! I apologize for my absence but I can't even begin to explain how busy I was the post months! I was so busy that I wasn't gonna make it to visit my parents this summer but in the end I just almost literally shoved myself in a plane and made it to Athens :P. Of course I went a little (not really little) makeup shopping- I always like to buy makeup in Athens because I find some brands that there are not at all in Romania. I'm not sure how many volumes this thread will have (last year there were three, if you want, check them out: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3 ). This year i didn't make it to go to inglot (awwww :( :P ).

Anyway, without further ado this is what I got from M.A.C.

1. MAC's Fluidline in "BlackTrack"

I'll start with the simplest thing that doesn't need display or swatch. I got the classic fluidline eyeliner in "blacktrack" since I gave my old one for "Back to Mac" and my Inglot one seems to be dried out.

2. MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish in "Soft and Gentle"

One of my favorite highlighters (next to Mary Loo from the Balm) that broke on me three years ago so since I gave that to "Back to Mac" too and also there was a sale (25% off ) I bought it.

3. Lipsticks: "Relentlessly Red" and "Heroine"

"Relentlessly Red" is a pink based red that paradoxically looks coral on my lips and has a "Retro Matte" finish. I'm not sure what's the difference between the "Matte" and the "Retro Matte" finishes but apparently the "Retro Matte" is a newer formula. I did notice that to get a better color payoff for "Retro Matte" you have to press firmer so maybe it's a slightly drier formula....

"Heroine" was on my mind for soooooo long. When I first started to get into makeup I passed from all the lipstick color phases: bubblegum pink, bright pink, coral, red, nude.... now it's my bright purple phase :P. I did have "Violetta" already which is super similar to "Heroine" (future comparison post) but I wanted Heroine too and since there was the sale I just put it in my pocket ;)

4. Eyeshadow: "Star Violet":

If you know me, you probably know that I don't die after MAC's eyeshadows but the "Back to Mac" program has changed and you get an eyeshadow now (and not a lipstick)! (I hadn't been to Mac for so long that I wasn't aware - I was planning to get Heroine for free but oh well!)

Since I don't believe in the pigmentation of Mac eyeshadows I tried to get one with decent payoff and a color that I don't really have similar shades to so I was between "Cranberry" and "Star Violet". I honestly should have picked "Cranberry" but the lights in the stores ALWAYS pull me off the colors but anyway I'm still ok with my choice. 

"Star Violet" has a "Veluxe Pearl" finish which in my opinion is one of the most decent ones and it's a color between a coper-y auburn and a pinkish brown which will make it cool for using it in the winter. :)

To be honest I wasn't planning on buying anything from MAC, I was just visiting to give my "Back to Mac" items but since there was a sale.... ehehe you know, "when in Rome" :P

That's all for now my dears. The next hauls will be posted soon and I will be back with more posts/reviews etc.

Take care! Love ya!

xo Heliana xo