Maša M blog
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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!

Make-up remover wipes

Being low maintenance and all (yeah, right, wait ‘till you see the most recent haul, even I was a bit ashamed of myself), I tend to use the simplest method of all to get rid of the main part of my make-up every evening. And since I feel an obligation to you lovely beauties to try everything once, I have tested out no less than five different brands or types in the last few months.

When using a make-up wipe, I need it to be effective, meaning it actually does remove some of my make-up and doesn’t just move it around my face. Secondly, I want it to be soft on my skin. I am not a fan of rougher wipes – I swear that I can literally hear some scraping at my skin. Thirdly, I want them to smell nice, and when I say nice, I don’t mean some nasty fake smell. I want them to smell clean, if that makes any sense. Next up, I want them to have enough moisture in them so I can use them all over my face. And last but not least, I want the packaging to be designed in a way that it can be closed well so that the wipes don’t dry out in the first couple of days.

Low maintenance maybe, but my standards regarding make-up wipes are quite high 😉

Anyway, I will just go over these five in the picture below briefly, while trying to rank them from worst to best. Your thoughts, comments and opinions are as always highly appreciated.

4th runner up: Müller Cadeavera Vital (35+ years)

Nope, nope, nope. These wipes were so rough against my skin that I ended cleaning up the fallout around my sink with them after I’m done applying my make-up. They didn’t have an unpleasant smell, but they were also less than effective in doing some serious damage to my make-up. Will not, would not, am not going to repurchase. View Post

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!