NOTD: Catrice Summery Nights' Sky (115, new color)

The first new color of the Catrice range that I'm swatching is Summery Nights' Sky.  Not a color I would normally wear but if I ever decide to wear blue nails I would definitely go for this nail polish.  I used two thin coats to get full coverage.

Please don't at my nails in close-up.  I broke a nail while cleaning (hence the different shaped middle finger nail) and some of my other nails seems to be chipping.  Big bummer!!  I just started taking my nail vitamins again today and I'm going to treat my nails every night with nail balsam until the chipping stops.  It's a strange phenomena because the less I paint my nails, the more they seem to suffer.  Moral of the story: my nails were made for painting!

Where to buy:

You can buy Catrice nail polishes at Kruidvat for €2,99.

HAUL: Boots, Beautybay, Catrice and Essie

Sometimes a girl just has to treat herself and last week was sometimes for me ;-)  Did I go overboard?    I don't think so but I'm sure some people do.  I don't care though, I work full-time so I'm allowed to treat myself from time to time.  Most of the products will be on the blog in a more detailed post but here's a quick overview of what I bought and were I bought it.

Boots

The only reason I ordered at Boots was because I really needed some Indeed Labs Hydraluron Sheet Masks.  I adore these sheet masks and I always take some with me on vacation but I was all out and I was starting to feel really uncomfortable about that.  Boots does charge shipping fees but the promotions they offer more than make up for that.  The Sheet Masks were down to £13,32 from £19,99 so it was the right time to order them.  The Nyx Liquid Suede Cream Lipsticks had been on my wish list for a while and Boots is the only place I could get them so this was the perfect time to order some.  I ordered 3 colors: Soft-spoken, Tea & Cookies and Life's a beach.  I also ordered 2 L'Oreal nail polishes from their new Color Riche L'huile nail polishes.  These will be available soon at the drugstore in Belgium, I've already seen the empty shelves at Kruidvat but since they were empty and I'm impatient, I just had to get some already so Rose Ballet and Cherie Macaron went in the shopping basket.  The last item I bought was the L'Oreal Color Riche La Palette for lips in nude.  I also wanted to get the red palette because they seem so handy for traveling but that one was sold out.  The Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean deep purifying cleanser was a free gift.  It's a full-size bottle and I'm really excited about this.  I've never tried anything from Soap Glory before but I've read so much good about the brand that I can't wait to try this out.

Beautybay

Makeup Geek!!  That should say it all ... I've always wanted to try out the MUG product and even though they do ship to Europe I never ordered from them directly.  I love how more and more American companies are shipping worldwide now but shipping costs and taxes can make that whole experience a lot more expensive than expected.  But now we Europeans can buy the MUG products from Beautybay.  I have to say that Beautybay is really stepping up their game.  MUG, Morphe brushes, Dose of Colors, LA Girl ... they are bringing those hard to get brands to us poor European girls.  If only Colourpop could be next ;-)  

I ordered an Extra Large Z-Palette, 2 MUG blushes (Spell Bound and Bliss), 1 MUG contour powder (Break Up) and 6 MUG eyeshadows (Barcelona Beach, Peach Smoothie, Cocoa Bear, Frappé, Crème Brûlée and Cherry Cola).  The Mario Badescu foaming cleanser and glycolic acid toner were freebies.

Catrice at Kruidvat

The updated Catrice range has launched!!  I was at Kruidvat when the promotion lady was filling the shelves with the new polishes, she wasn't quite finishes yet but I managed to grab a few.  Swatches of these will be on the blog.

Essie at DI

DI has the best promotion this month.  If you hand in an old nail polish, you can buy a new one (any brand) at 50% off.  Perfect timing because Essie just launched 2 (!) new collections: the Retro Revival collection and the Spring collection.  I have enough old polishes to get me these two collections at 50% off, which is great because buying these 12 polishes at full price (€12,49) is just too decadent (even for me) but with the 50% off discount I think I can manage to get them all.  The old polishes I'm handing in (in case you were wondering) are all polishes I got for free at some point. Most of them were a promotion of Kruidvat were you got a free polish with a coupon (but the colors are terrible and so is the quality) and they are now serving a good cause.

I will be posting the 2 collections on the blog but it won't be for this week.  The last color of the Retro Revival collection was sold out and according to the saleslady it could be up to 2 weeks before they restock so that collection might take me a while but the Spring collection should be up next weekend if I manage to get all the colors.

And that's it.  I felt like a kid in the candy store opening everything and I'm ready to start playing with my new stuff.  More detailed blogposts will follow soon!

Pharmacy must have: Homeoplasmine

I've been obsessed with pharmacy brands lately.  I recently had to purchase a new cleanser and day cream and my search started and ended at the pharmacy.  Truth be told, their products are usually just as good if not even better than the big cosmetic brand products and they have something for every problem you may have with your skin.  And most of the time you pay only a fraction of the price then you would buying at a beauty store.  One of the products that's been with me for a few years now and that I totally swear by is Homeoplasmine (by Boiron).

I carried this with me at my MUFE course and one of my model friends had really dry lips, they weren't really split but she did have some dead skin on there.  Before I started applying makeup I put some Homeoplasmine on them and by the time I had to put on lipstick her lips were as soft as a baby's bottom.  And last week I went to dinner with a friend who had really cracked lips, I mean really cracked to the point it hurts.  She already tried everything and anything so I suggested trying Homeoplasmine and a few days later she texted me that the cracks had almost completely gone.  

Homeoplasmine is a treatment for irritated skin.  It works when you have that red flaky nose we all get when we have a cold, it works for dry spots on your face and it works wonders for lips.  I mainly use it for my lips but sometimes I get dry spots near my eyebrows, I just put some on at night and the dryness is gone by the time I wake up.  

It has a very thick and tacky substancy so it's not something you just put on your face or lips during the day so I do recommend using it at night.  It's also not meant to be used all day every day but more as a treatment when you have local dry spots.

And the best part?  The price!  One tube costs €6,66 (price at newpharma.be) and you get 40ml of products.  So imagine Elisabeth Ardens Eight Hour cream (which costs €35,50 for 50ml at Sephora.fr) without the smell, maybe even better working and at a fraction of the price and you know what Homeoplasmine does.  A real must have in any makeup kit or skincare collection if you ask me.

Catrice LE Rough Luxury nail polishes

I admit I missed a limited edition of Catrice.  Well, I partly missed it, I got a few nail polishes from the Treasure Trove collection but not all of them so I didn't do a blogpost on it.  I might use them as a NOTD post.  But I didn't miss out on the latest collection: Rouge Luxury.  The nail polish part of this collection contains 4 nail polishes and 1 Topcoat.

01 Natural Nude

01 Natural Nude is nice pinky nude polish.  Nude can be tricky, if there's too much brown in there I always feel like my nails are sick, it's just not that flattering on me.  But this one is.  It applied without streaking and it took me 2 coats to get this result.

02 Rustic Red

02 Rustic Red is a nice brownish red.  It has a bit more of a rusty brown in there than shown on the picture.   A nice color that suits every occasion because it's not too 'in your face'.  Again 2 coats do the trick.

03 Call Of The Wild

03 Call Of The Wild is a cold light grey color.  Not really something I tend towards but nice for spring.  And all it took was 2 thin coats.

04 Arctic Shadows

04 Arctic Shadows is a cold darker grey.  Now this I would wear.  A nice grey.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Once again, 2 thin coats for the perfect coverage.

Frosted Flows topcoat

Frosted Flows is described as a frosted matt effect topcoat.  Do you see the difference on my nails.  If you look really good you'll see that my index and my ring finger have a different finish.  Am I impressed?  Not really.  The effect is minimal and to me it's more the 'I used cleaning products before my nail polish was completely dry' kind of effect.  Just a washed out nail polish finish. 

overview

Where to buy:

You can buy Catrice polishes at Kruidvat for €2,89.

Make Up For Ever HD pressed powder

Let's talk powder.  I have dry to combination skin, I'm almost 40 (not quite yet but slowly getting there) and I want that youthful shine on my face (you know, the one I had about 20 years ago and that just came naturally).  So I have to be careful when using powder.  I have drier skin on my cheeks but normal skin on my T-zone and since I have some signs of aging (read: rimples) on my forehead I have to use a light hand when applying powder to fixate my foundation.

I can't use mattifying powder but I can't use 'glowing' powder around my 'rimpled' area either because that would just draw the attention to where I don't want it to be.  A lot of powders I tried in the past just lay on my skin like they were to heavy and you could just see it sitting there.  And I do tend to use powder over my whole face, just so my powder blush has a base to stick to (you know, powder on powder, creams on creams) so it was hard to find the right powder.  Maybe that's why I never took an interest in it.  Usually I use a face powder until it's empty and than I'll go and look for another one.

During my week at the Make Up Forever Academy I got to test all of the MUFE products (which is like heaven for someone like me).  I didn't really buy much at the time but I went back a few weeks later to get the Ultra HD foundation (post on this will be on the blog soon) and the HD Pressed Powder for myself.  I bought the pressed one instead of the loose one just because it's less of a mess (and when I'm doing my makeup in the morning I usually haven't had a cup of coffee yet so you can imagine the damage I could do with a loose powder).

Of course I'd read about this powder before and almost every review was good but I was really scared of the 'ghost effect' on flash camera you can get with this if applied excessively.  That was enough for me to stay away from it. But I when I started using it during my course I loved the feeling of it on my skin.  It doesn't shine, it doesn't mattify, it doesn't look powdery and it doesn't sit on my skin.  And I don't know what your day to day life is like but mine doesn't involve flash cameras so I am now using this powder on a daily base and loving it!  I can honestly say that I never knew powder coul feel like this.

I do apply this with a light hand and a black bristled powder brush so I can see how much product is on there.  And I will be using this when doing someone else's makeup.  Like my teacher said "a little goes a long way" and you have to really cake it on to get that ghost effect (and you can always take a picture of yourself with a flash to make sure you didn't go too far with it).  Personally I know I use less when I use a compact instead of a loose powder so that's also a reason why I bought the compact.  And compacts are just easier to carry around, be it in you purse or when traveling.

The downside to all of this?  All of a sudden I have developed a profound interest in facial powders, I even have one on my wish list (I'm going shopping in Antwerp in a few weeks, Antwerp is like beauty heaven to me) so I guess there is a 'to be continued' to the face powder saga ...

Where to buy:

If you live in Belgium you can buy the HD powder at the Make Up Forever webshop makeup forever.be or in one of there 2 stores in Brussels.  The HD powder costs €31,12.

NOTD: OPI 5 Apples Tall (Hello Kitty collection)

I don't know what happened but the last few weeks (or even months) I lost my nail polish mojo.  Somehow nail polishes didn't really fascinate me anymore.  It wasn't that I felt like I had all the colors, it felt more like I had enough all of a sudden.  I even went a few weeks without painting my nails, can you imagine?  Me?  Not painting my nails?  It was weird, even my man told me to put some color on my nails because I didn't look myself without it.  Maybe it was because of the Make Up Forever course I took that my interest somehow shifted to other products ... I don't know.  All I know is that this little OPI polish managed to get me out of my funk.

I'm no Hello Kitty fan, not even when I was younger.  She just doesn't appeal to me, to be honest I don't even know what she does.  Is she funny or just cute?  I have no clue.  And I saw the OPI Hello Kitty collection on a few websites but I really didn't find the colors that interesting, until I went to got my eyebrows done.  I only had to wait 5 minutes but that was all it took ... I looked at the display and my eye immediately fell on this color.  I picked it up and decided to put it back, only to pick it up again and place it back again.  You see, OPI polishes are not a quick buy for me.  They're €15 so I don't buy OPI very often, it's just too expensive if it's not a special type of polish.  But while the girl was doing my brows all I kept thinking about was this color and I knew I would regret not buying it.  And after all, it had been weeks since my last nail polish buy ... enough reasons to justify buying it.

I truly love this color.  It's not really red, it's not pink, it's not coral ... it's actually all of that, a nice corally pinkish red.  I know I'll be wearing this one a lot, it gives me a summer feeling looking at my nails. 

As usual with OPI the polish applies easily and without streaking.  It did take me 3 coats to get it totally opaque but this kind of color tends to need that.

If I'm being totally honest, there were a few other colors of this collection that sparked my interest and I'm hoping for a good ebay seller to buy them cheaper.  If you know a good ebay place to buy nail polish (that ships to Belgium) please let me know in the comments.

As for now,  the day after buying this one I took home 5 more polishes and I'm actually looking forward to all the spring collections that will be launching in the upcoming weeks.  Looks like the spark is back again.

Where to buy:

I bought mine at Instant Spa in Leuven, Belgium but you can buy OPI online at several places like feelunique, sephora.fr ...

Catrice nail polishes leaving soon (part 3): Luxury Nudes

With a bit of an interlude I'm back with the Catrice nail polishes that are leaving soon.  There are two shades of the Luxury Nudes collection that will be replaced with two new ones.  If you want to see an overview of the whole collection you can find that here with a little update here.   The colors that are leaving were definitely 2 of my favorite colors from the Luxury Nudes range so I have high expectations for the colors replacing them.

01 White & Bright

02 Fresh Love Affair

If you still want to get them you have to hurry up because the empty shelves aren't being restocked at this time.  You can also still get them online at Kruidvat.be but since the new colors are also available there, I'm guessing they will sell out soon.

I Heart Makeup Naked Chocolate Palette at Kruidvat Belgium

I'm not a big fan of companies that make exact copies of a product.  Maybe it's because I studied marketing and I know how strategies are made and how much effort and creativity goes into launching a product line or theme.  So when I first read about I Heart Makeup I really wasn't impressed with the company.  Their I Heart Chocolate palette is an exact copy of the Too Faced Chocolate Palette and when I say exact, I mean exact.  The packaging is slightly different (cheaper looking and feeling) but the colors and the theme are exactly the same.  But curiosity got the best of me and when I saw the I Heart Makeup palettes in a Kruidvat promotion I couldn't help myself and I decided to take a closer look at them.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality, especially for the price you pay.  Kruidvat had a tester of every palette so I could swatch them before buying.  This shouldn't come as a surprise but I decided to buy one.  Since I already have the Too Faced palette I decided to go for The Naked Chocolate one.  Natural everyday colors, you just can't have enough of those right? (please say yes as my bestie already called me out on this and banned me from buying other palettes like this, I think her exact words were "buy neon the next time, I'm sure you don't have that already")

First thing I did when I came home and opened the palette?  I smelled it and I mean I really inhaled the scent of it (I could just hear my man thinking "she's lost it completely now") ... A little word of advice?  Don't do that!!  I was expecting a sweet chocolate scent but instead I got a cheap makeup scent.  It threw me back in time to when I was 16 and buying eyeshadow for the first time in the supermarket.

The packaging feels cheap but hey, it is a cheap palette so that really doesn't bother me and the quality and amount of the eyeshadows makes up for the cheap packaging. 

top row swatches: Smoothy, Divine, Mocha Lover, Dipped, Choc-fest

It's interesting because I read this article recently about how we pay too much for makeup and this palette proves that we do.  Especially these days when drugstore brands often are as good a quality as some high end products are. That being said, I'm pretty sure we are all aware that we pay a lot for marketing or the brand name when buying makeup.  Or maybe we just want to go along with the hype.  I know I do.  Which is exactly why I believe in mixing high end and budget products.  

middle row swatches: Adorable, Buttons, Frosted Choc, Delight, Sweet Shop, Sugar

My swatches were made with one swipe of my finger rubbed over the eyeshadow.  They were taken by daylight and I did no editing where the light was concerned to keep the result as real as possible.  

Some of the more matt colors are a bit chalky (which they often are) but the shimmers are just so buttery and soft!!  

bottom row swatches: Double Dip, Tob-le-rone, Wonka, Milky, Way

If you're looking for a nice natural palette that isn't expensive and gives you a lot of product than this is definitely one to look at!

Where to buy:
The I Heart Makeup promotion at Kruidvat Belgium runs until the end of this week and all the palettes are €9,99.  If you can't find them at Kruidvat you can always order them online at www.makeuprevolution.com .

The week I've spent at Make Up Forever Academy

I got certified #mua

2016 is going to be the year of no more excuses I told myself, no more excuses not to do things.  One of the things that I always wanted to do but somehow was afraid of doing was taken a makeup course. Sure, I've been to MAC techniques lessons and I've seen more youtube video's than I have nail polishes but I always wanted to do a real course.  So why did it take me so long?  I really don't know, there were always these stupid excuses I made up not to do it but if I'm being really honest, I was afraid.  Afraid people were going to think I'm being ridiculous (39 years old with a good steady job in a very conservative business sector), afraid there was going to be pressure (by myself or others) to do something professional with what I'd learn but most of all I think I was afraid I was going to suck at doing someone else's makeup.  Can you imagine the horror?  I love all things makeup and everyone around me knows it.  Could you imagine the shame of not being able to do a proper makeup look on someone else?  Putting on your own makeup or someone else's ... these are two totally different things.

day 1: "show me what you got", our teacher wanted to see what our level of  skills was - featuring my bestie 

Last fall I decided not to give in to those excuses and fears anymore and I started looking around for a makeup course.  Let me tell you, these babies are expensive!!  And I've seen the schools/courses that are less expensive but they force you to buy their products or a starterskit through them.  Since I already have most everything you need for applying makeup I really didn't want to go to a school where I was forced to buy stuff.  Price is one thing, reputation is another.  I really didn't want to go to a makeup school that has a shady or no reputation.  Even though makeup is no real science and once you have the basic techniques down it's artistic freedom from there on, it is important to learn those basics to perfection (meaning the hard way: first foundation and than glitters/pigments, no cheating with fall-out by applying your foundation after the eye look).  The last thing that was important to me was the timing.  I work full time and there are no courses in my hometown (we are not hip enough here in Leuven I'm afraid) I knew I had some traveling to do.  I only had 2 schools in the running, one offered evening classes during the week, the other offered a week class during the day and for my own comfort I decided on the last one.  So the first week of January I commuted to Brussels every day for an intensive training at the Make Up For Ever Academy.  Yes, you heard it right: Make Up Forever Academy!!

day 2: "the gradient" with 3 different colors on the lid - featuring my eye infected colleague (no, I did not stab her in the eye with my makeup brush)

What I loved about the whole set up was that even though we got a pretty good discount, we weren't forced to buy anything.  All the MUFE products were there for our use, we had to bring our own tools but were told that we didn't have to use their brushes as long as we had enough brushes to do what was taught that day.  Another thing we had to take care of ourselves: models!!  We needed a model everyday for a whole afternoon.  I have to say that this was almost another excuse not to do it. I thought: "my friends all work fulltime, who is going to take an afternoon off for me?"  But I think it took me 3 days to find 5 different models.  3 days!!  I was so touched by how fast my friends reacted this and how supportive they all were.

day 3: "natural bridal makeup featuring the classic lift" - with the gorgeous sister of a friend who was nice enough to help me out

But the one thing everyone wants to know is 'how was it?' ... The truth?  I can't describe the feeling in words.  I've never really known the feeling of coming home physically exhausted but mentally pumped.  These were long and tiring days but I still had so much energy when I came home (even though when I came home I knew I still had all my brushes to wash and repack everything for the next day).  And I was so relaxed!! Or as my man said it "you only reach this level of relaxation on the third day of a vacation".  It truly was a dream come true, a whole week of fulltime playing with makeup and learning all about FET's, shaping, lip correcting, eye correcting and applying them to models.  At the end of the week we received a certificate and even though I'm not an emotional personal I really teared up.

day 4: "the classic smokey eye" - featuring one a high school friend (yes we go way back) and one of the fiercest women I know

The makeup looks we did were very natural (aside from the classic smokey eye) but it's all about technique and blending ... blending is everything!!

day 5: "mature skin with classic lift" - featuring a great friend that wasn't offended when I called her mature

I still haven't decided if I want to do something with it professionally.  I would love to do experiment on my friends but I really don't want to put pressure on myself because I'm afraid (yes, there's that word again) that I'll loose the fun of it if I 'have' to do it.  One thing I do know: this definitely won't be the last course like this that I'm going to take, there's still so much to learn!!!

closed eyes to show the shadows

Oh, and in case you're wondering: yes, I did buy some MUFE goodies and I still have a little wish list so I'm going to buy some more very soon.  I'll be doing a blogpost of this soon.

*note: all pictures were taken with my iPhone and I did no editing whatsoever