Best of 2014 – #1 Make-up

The end of the year is always the best time to look back at all the good and the bad that happened and the same goes for our beauty world. It’s taken me ages to go through everything and really gather my thoughts, but I’ve picked out the best of the best and I’m ready to share them with you. To stay organized, I’ve picked only one product from each general category (well, I cheated in a couple of them, but I really TRIED, so don’t hate me). Let’s start with make-up. And let me just say in advance that I’ve tried to keep it short, so the reviews are really minor. If you want to read more about these products, check out my monthly favorites and the reviews by categories I’ve done in the past months.

First up are the basic tools. I’ve accumulated a bunch of new brushes and applicators this year (obviously, since I did not own any before) and I must say that considering my inexperience in the field, I’ve done quite well.


A couple of my favorites are to be found on the picture above. We have the Real Techniques blush brush – an amazingly soft brush which is just large enough to hit the apples of my cheeks perfectly. I included two of my Ecotools blushes – the powder brush which I actually use for bronzing but is a great all-around brush, and the Ecotools large eye brush which I use for simple application all over the lid and is just big enough to make my job a lot quicker in the morning. I was considering including my Sigma e40 as a blending brush, but to be honest, this Essence blender does the job just as well – I just can’t seem to find them anywhere anymore. Let me know if you know where I could get my hands on some more of these!

For face products, I’ve picked some I’ve loved recently as well as those I could not live without during the summer months. I won’t go into a long rant about the face primer – I’ve talked about the Maybelline Baby Skin instant pore eraser so much already that if you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I absolutely adore it. For foundation, I’m going to go with the Rimmel Match Perfection which is not a heavy duty foundation but not exactly lightweight, either. It covers up most of the blemishes but does not look unnatural. View Post

(Very Pink) October Favorites

I’m not a big fan of these autumn months. They bring bad weather and I’m constantly cold, clients start burning budgets which means long hours and a lot of traveling, and the Christmas time seems a million of years away. But I am trying not to be too depressed by all this and search for happiness in little things. And here are five products that made me smile in October – a very pink month, obviously.

As I already mentioned, I dyed my hair brown a couple of weeks ago and the hairdresser was furious with me because of the condition of my hair. She suggested that I use some natural oil on my hair, which I am doing, but I still cannot my paws off my Syoss Glossing Shine Sealing Finish Fluid. It’s a big name for a great product. I take a drop or two of this, rub it into the bottom half and the tips of my hair and it gets an instant healthier and shinier look to them, while also taking some frizz away as an extra bonus. I will say that since it is oil based, it will make your hair feel greasier after a couple of days. Still, I think it’s a great product. I’ve picked it up in E. Leclerc for about 9 € and it will probably last me more than a year, so it’s great value for money as well.

Fall makes me want to dig into my stash and pull out some darker nail colors, while also tempting me to buy new ones. This month’s favorite is Bahama Mama by Essie, which doesn’t sound very autumnal, but I personally love it for this time of year. It’s a deep, dark plum color and would probably look fantastic with some brighter nail art on it as well.

Bourjois Happy Light matte serum primer has been my recent substitute for the Maybelline Baby Skin. Since I’m wearing more and more heavy moisturizers as the days grow cold and the air gets dry from the heating, I need a mattifying primer to take the shine away. This primer is great at doing that. It does feel somewhat heavy and it’s difficult to apply in small quantities since it dries so fast, but my face stays matte for about 12 hours without having to reapply any mattifying powder or use oil sheets. I got this at Asos on sale for about €12.

I bought the beautiful pink Essence Studio Nails nail corrector pen a while back and since I’m not too clumsy with my nail polish I’ve barely gotten through the first tip (I think there are 2 or 3 extra still waiting for me). At this rate, the nail polish remover will probably dry up before I am done with the tips, but for this price (I think it was about €2?), it’s absolutely worth it. For extra bonus, it nourishes your nails with jojoba oils and does not smell, probably since it is infused with Acai berry aroma.

Last up is the Make-up Revolution Anti-bacterial brush shampoo. I’ve loved this since the first time I’ve used it but I wanted to go through the paces and see if my brushes love it as much as I do. Now that I’m sure of that I can definitely declare it my favorite. It has been about 10 washes of 30 brushes now and I’m not even half way through the bottle which was about €7 at Licila.si.

What were your October favorites? Link them down below!

Until next time, stay beautiful, stay awesome!

Low maintenance – really?

Yesterday, my significant other watched me put on make-up from start to finish while he was taking a shower. When I was done he was utterly amused by the fact that I am writing my blog under the »low-maintenance beauty« name. Because, in his words, I’m anything but. And you know what? After reviewing my morning routine I realized he is right. What I want to know from you is if you find the bottom list something normal – something you do as well – or am I taking it a step too far?

This is the list of everything I put on yesterday + all the tools I used for application in the exact order I use them.

  • moisturizer (Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel) and lipbalm (EOS)
  • face primer (Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser) + fingers
  • eye primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance) + fingers
  • liquid foundation (Rimmel Match Perfection) + Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge
  • compact powder (Bourjois Healthy Balance) + BH Cosmetics Powder Brush
  • light concealer (Make Up Revolution Concealer) + Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge
  • under-eye concealer (Instant Age Rewind Concealer) + Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge
  • bronzer (Tarte Mineral Bronze Powder) + Ecotools powder brush
  • blush (NYX Blush in Pinched) + BH Cosmetics Blush Brush



  • eyebrow powder (NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder) + brush that comes with it
  • eyebrow gel (Essence Lash and Brow gel)
  • eyeshadow (Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette) + 3 BH Cosmetics eyeshadow brushes for application and blending
  • eyelash curler (no idea of the brand, picked it up at Walmart for a few $)
  • mascara (1 coat of Maybelline Volum Express Colossal Mascara + 1 coat of Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara)
  • eyeliner (Maybelline Master Precise liquid eyeliner)
  • lip liner (Uma Cosmetics)
  • lipstick (Barry M)
  • setting spray (e.l.f. Make-up Mist & Set)

Total? 19 products and 9 tools.

I’ll be the first to admit that this is a full face of make-up, although I apply it in a way that is still appropriate for daytime. I mainly separate daytime and night time looks by the amount of contouring and the darkness of the eyeshadow – there is probably some other things that could also be taken into account? How do you change your daytime/night-time make-up?

At the moment, putting this on takes me a good 15 minutes, which is a ridiculous amount of time. I hope to get a bit faster eventually, but so far it is what it is. What I will say though is that I absolutely love the mornings now because every day I get to play around with make-up and try something new, which is something I never did before.

What is your favorite part of mornings?

Until next time, stay beautiful, stay awesome!