Maša M blog
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Products I regret buying – 2014 recap

 

Let’s start with face products.

The L’Oreal Mat Magique foundation I already talked about here. It is supposed to be a really mattifying foundation but it only lasted a couple of hours on my face before it started melting away and my face got oily again. I’ve tried it since with several different primers and fixing fluids, to no success.

All-around concealer by Catrice seemed like a good, inexpensive option for the days when I actually take the time to color correct my face before I apply foundation. I chose this particular palette because I thought that it would be a good learning tool, but I find that the product is really difficult to blend (with fingers, beauty blender or with brush) and cakes on my face where I apply it.

Bahama Mama was a big, big disappointment because I’ve heard so many bloggers go on and on about how it’s a great contouring bronzer. I somehow managed to make it work when I had some tan from summer (read about thathere) but now I just look like I’ve been rolling in the mud every time I attempt to use it. I am afraid that it is not meant for us fair-skinned folk, unless you are going for the Kardashian look on an everyday basis.

As far as eye shadows go, I made two rather unsuccessful purchases this year, but the one that really left me down was the Maybelline Nudes palette.

You can find the entire review over here, but if you don’t feel like reading it, let me just say that half of the shadows in the palette are so bland and have such low pigmentation that they are useless and the other half are nothing special, really. You can find better palettes at Essence, Barry M or BH Cosmetics for half the price. View Post

My Fall and Winter Skincare Routine

I’ll be the last one to claim that I always stick to my routine, go through all the paces, take 20 minutes to get my face ready in the morning or clean at night, never sleep with my make-up on. Let’s face it, we’re all working people in some way or another. I don’t have half an hour a day to go through each of these steps. But when I do take the time and put in the effort, this is my normal autumn & winter skincare routine that is quite different from what I do to my face in the summer.

In the morning, there are four steps I try to take before putting any make-up on. First, some warm water never hurt anyone and apparently, it opens up your pores and prepares them for everything that is to follow. When dry, I follow up with the moisturizing part which is my absolute favorite thing to do in the morning – it really helps me feel fresh and ready to start the day. I’ve recently switched up my daily moisturizer to Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel.

So far, so good. It’s a little dry for my taste so I will probably try the lotion from the same line next time, but it does not break me out which is a step in the right direction. Normally, I’ve had luck with Clinique skincare products in general, so it’s a positive trend.

I try to take off my make-up when I get home from work, but it still normally has a good 12 hours to jump around my face clogging my pores, melting away and doing all kind of other silly business. I don’t tend to do the entire skincare routine at that moment though – I just use some cleanser (right now, I’m using the Nivea Pure&Natural Cleaning Milk) and a facial wipes. I’ve written a long post about many of these already and I’m currently using the Yes to Blueberries wipes which I again adore 🙂

In the evening, the real pampering (or torture, depends on the type of person you are) starts. About 3 times a week, I try to exfoliate with my Olay Pro-X and the Neutrogena purifying pore scrub. I’ve also gotten my hands on some Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 1 % BHA gel and I’m excited to try this stuff out to see how my skin will like it. When I exfoliate, I always end the process by putting the Nuxe (Huile Prodigieuse) oil on my face and let it really nurture the skin properly for about 15-20 minutes before doing anything else. I feel that exfoliation is quite stressful on the skin and it deserves a little pampering afterwards.

But as a part of a regular, everyday routine, I first take off my make-up as described above. Then I let my skin rest for a couple of minutes before applying Mixa Soothing Toner. It’s good, but it is not my favorite. That would have to be the Nuxe Eau Demaquilliante Micelaire (Micelar cleaning water). I’ve only had a deluxe sample of that and I am quite ready to invest in the whole bottle.

Then I apply the eye cream. I am currently using the Eveline Argan Oil Anti-wrinkle rejuvenating eye-cream, but I doubt that I will finish the whole serum – it does not seem to do anything to have any benefit whatsoever on my skin and I am a bit disappointed in it. Last but not least, I apply my nightly moisturizer. I switched this one as well, so I am using the L’Oreal Triple Active night moisturizer (I dropped it one day hence no lid because it broke). It’s very, very nice – quite oily, but I like that in the night cream since it has plently of time to really do its thing to my face throughout the night. I also apply down my neck as well.

And that is IT. It’s really simple in my opinion, although my husband would probably not agree.

What is the one thing that cannot be missing from your skincare routine when you want to pamper yourself? Comment below!

Until next time, stay beautiful, stay awesome!

Too many opened mascaras…

Fact #1 – I love mascaras. Fact #2 – when I buy a mascara, I really, really want to open and try it straight away. And fact #3 – this means that I always have at least 3 mascaras opened at the same time, consequently waisting them. Oh well, I’ll do better in the future.

These past 2 months have been particularly bad in this sense – I have no less than 5 mascaras that I have been using and most of them I need to get rid of because they’ve gone dry. But before throwing them away I can do a quick post about them. I will go from the worst to the best one by my personal opinion. The fact is that the likeability of mascara depends on what you want from it. I personally have quite long lashes to start with and am consequently looking for mascara that will add volume. So it really is a personal preference all around, as it is with most mascaras. There are two photos for you – one with the product closed and one with them opened so you can see each of the wands.

#5 : GREAT LASH by MAYBELLINE

You know, how drier mascaras have the tendency to flake? Well this mascara is so wet that I can feel this wetness for several minutes after applying it, but it still somehow manages to leave my undereye area looking like the Halloween came early It clumps the lashes into long, spider like legs. I’m not a fan of either the wand shape or the packaging itself – it really looks quite juvenile. Even though it’s drugstore, it could still be a bit classier.

If you’re looking for length, are willing to comb through your lashes and you don’t mind the panda look, go for it. Otherwise, run away as fast as you can. Would I repurhcase: no way!


#4 : BETTER THAN SEX by TOO FACED

I’m usually a fan of Too Faced products, but this one left me cold. Thankfully I didn’t purchase the whole size but got a deluxe sample in one of their trial kits. Also, what’s with the name? I know that Too Faced isn’t exactly a PG rated brand, but let me just say that this statement is not true 😉

Anyhow, when I opened this mascara I was expecting a hell of a lot from it. The wand has super dense fibers of different lenghts which looked like they will hug every single lash and give it length and volume. Well, the mascara is not bad, but it’s not great either. Completely opposite of the Great Lash it has a very dense formula which tends to flake a lot. So while it does give you long and bold lashes, especially if you apply more than one coat of it, you will have to check under your eyes every hour or so. Would I repurchase: no – it costs more than $20 and I think there are better mascaras out there for that price.



#3 –Voluminous Waterproof mascara by L’OREAL

This again is a mascara with quite wet formula but it dries much faster than the Great Lash so it’s not too much of a problem. It has a very standard wand which many of us have probably used with this or that mascara so that’s not really what’s appealing. But trust me – go out and buy it, if you can. It leaves you with long and dense lashes, it doesn’t clump, smudge or flake and it holds to its promises. I’m putting it in 3rd place only because I bought the Waterproof version which is such a pain to remove that I have to brace myself before starting the process every evening. Would I repurchase: yes, but the regular one, not the waterproof.

#2 – Volum’ Express Colossal Cat Eyes – MAYBELLINE

Probably the mascara with the longest name out there 🙂 It wasn’t an instant love affair with me and this mascara – I had a hard time getting used to the curved wand and I didn’t find it that impressive. But when I took my time and really tried out what different parts of the wand to to the eyelashes, I fell inlove. When using this mascara I don’t even curl my eyelashes before – the wand does the trick by itself. So it curls, lengthens (to the point when I need to stop applying it because my lashes are touching my browbone and leaving tiny black dots) and adds volume when adding one or two layers to the primary one. Would I repurchase: absolutely, especially for this price. View Post

Products I regret buying

I’m sure you all know the feeling when you walk into a store, see this one, shiny, new make-up or beauty item and immediately fall in love with it. Of course it’s coming home with you. You are super excited about it and can’t wait to try it out properly.

So you go into the bathroom and put it on your face or your body and immediately, you are disappointed. You contemplate throwing the product away, but at the same time you also feel the need to use it, since you already spent good money on it, right? Well, below are some products I feel that way about. A word of warning though – these are products that I don’t like or don’t work for me personally, but might work for you. So just some honest opinions, really.

I’ll just quickly mention the Avon Nail polish drying spray. It’s icky, it’s oily and it my opinion, it doesn’t perform. So it’s going straight in the bin. If you want to read more about it, click here.

Next up, we have the Aldo Vandini hydrating face mask with hyaluronic acid and caviar. Sounds great, right? Well, this thing isn’t exactly cheap for a single use product, I think it’s about 1 € (you get two in one packet for about 2 €). But besides that, my skin reaction to this mask was horrible. I felt a tingling sensation when I was putting it on and after the specified ten minutes when I took it off, my face was none the same but for the weird red patches on different areas. I will be throwing this remaining packet away.

Being an Argan addict, I was really happy when I spotted the Dvorec Trebnik argan ointment in the store. Mind you, the price was again quite high, I think it cost about 7 €. It’s a nice product overall, but it is just way too oily to be suitable for someone like me who is always busy with something. I simply don’t have the luxury of putting this on my hands and then sitting around for hours. I’m not sure what I’ll do with this, maybe give it to my grandmother 🙂 View Post