Makeup Geek: first impression and swatches

I think Makeup Geek was one of the first American makeup blogs that became a regular read for me. I absolutely love Marlena!  She just seems so normal to me, very passionate about makeup and being a makeup artist but not over the top.  The looks she makes are always so wearable and she encourages the use of color in makeup.  I was and am a big fan!!  So when she came out with her own makeup line I was intrigued.  I was really rooting for her and it didn't take long for the positive reviews to fill the net.  Which only made me more curious... You can order all of her products in the Makeup Geek webshop, they ship worldwide, but somehow I never got around to doing that.  And than a few weeks ago I received an email that Beautybay started selling Makeup Geek.  That gave me the tiny push I needed and I ordered my very first Makeup Geek products.  

I went for the more neutral, popular eyeshadows because I wanted to make sure that I would use them.  What's the use in ordering flashy colors when you know you're not going to use them?  I wouldn't be able to test them properly if I don't use them.  Along with the eyeshadows, 2 blushes and 1 contour found their way to my shopping cart.

From left to right:

Peach Smoothie, Crème Brulee, Frappé, 

Barcelona Beach, Cocoa Bear, Cherry Cola

I admit that Cherry Cola might be a bit out of context, it isn't really a neutral but a gorgeous dark reddish brown.  It's unlike any color I've seen before and I love the uniqueness of it!  

The quality of these are great, they are so creamy and smooth and blend so easy.  Especially considering the price of these babies is only €6,30!!  

Spell Bound

Bliss

There's no easy way to swatch blushes but I think these pictures show off the pigmentation perfectly.  One dip of my finger in the blush pan, a smear on my arm and these are the result.  The color payoff is crazy.  

Break Up (cool porcelain contour)

I'm not a big contour person.  I love seeing the instagram pictures with the real hardcore contour but on myself?  Not so much.  I have to admit that I didn't have a real contour color, I used a bronzer to contour ever so lightly.  Before we have this whole discussion about cool and warm tones for contouring, I have to add that my bronzer is actually quite cool toned.  I do believe a contour has to be cool toned, simply because that's what shadows are: cool toned.  And since contouring is mimicking shadows it's only normal that you use cool tones for this.  I have used this powder a few times, not on a daily base but on date nights, and I love it.  The pay off is great but also very easy to blend to end up with a nice natural effect.  My man noticed something different to my face, he couldn't quite say what it was but he liked it and that is the best compliment for me.  People noticing something's different, liking it but not really sure what it is.     That means the effect is there but it is so well blended that it looks natural.

While I was at it, I also bought the XL Z palette to store everything in and as you can tell I still have a lot of space left.  Space that will be filled with more Makeup Geek goodies soon.  I already have my eyes set on some more matt eyeshadows but it won't be long before a least one foiled eyeshadow will find its way to my Z palette.

I really do have to give a shoutout to Beautybay.  This site lost me for a while, they just didn't have anything exciting to offer but all of that has changed over the past few weeks with the arrival of Makeup Geek, Dose of colors, Cover FX, Morphe Brushes, ... I'm a big fan again and am really excited to see what other brands they have coming.

Where to buy:

You can buy everything at Makeupgeek.com but you can also buy them at Beautybay.com.  If you live in Europe ordering from Beautybay will ensure you that no extra duties or taxes will be charged and they offer free shipping on orders over €19.

On Beautybay the eyeshadows cost €6,30, the blush and contour pans are €10,20 and the XL Z palette costs €21,90.

NOTD: Catrice You R On My Mint (113, new color)

Another new color in the Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer Range: You R On My Mint (113).  A mint color with a bit more of a blue than green tone to it.  Perfect for spring/summer!

The formula is great (which isn't always the case with this kind of color) and I needed 2 coats for perfect coverage.

I feel like I'm repeating myself but I can't say it enough: I love this type of polish brush.  I'm no fan of the small nail polish brushes, they just make applying nail polish so much harder.  

Where to buy:

You can buy Catrice at Kruidvat and the polishes cost €2,99.

Emptied and replaced in January and February

It's time for another emptied and replaced.  I have not been a good girl/woman these past weeks.  I admit that haven't been taking good care of my skin, especially my evening routine has been missing a lot and it's starting to show.  Aside from that I've noticed that I've fallen back into the habit of opening several similar products at the same time, especially body products.  That's why there are no empty body products this time but there will probably be a couple next time.

Facial care:

I used up my Nivea eye makeup remover and replaced it by my beloved Klorane eye make up remover.  The Biotherm Blue Therapy Serum (which was a deluxe sample size) was replaced by a deluxe sample size of Lancôme Génifique youth activating concentrate.  I love serum samples, you only need a tiny drop of these so a sample will last you a while.  I had a weird relationship with my Vichy Normaderm daycream, it didn't do much for me and I was a bit relieved when it was finally finished.  I replaced it with La Roche Posay Redermic R daydream.  I'm already using the eye cream of this line and I was really waiting to try out more of this.

Body care:

I used up a Lady Speedstick spring blossom full size and replaced it by the same one in a smaller size (more of a handbag size).  I really love the Lady Speedsticks, whenever I'm in the US I always bring a few back and I really haven't used any other deodorants since I started using these.  There are still a few backups in my bathroom but I'm really nervous thinking about the day that I run out.

The hand cream was from L'Occitane and it was a great one.  I can't really say what I replaced it with because you'll find an open tube of hand lotion everywhere in this house (and on my desk at work).  I have banned myself from buying more hand lotions because I still have so many unopened ones in my bathroom and you can only use so much hand lotion in a lifetime.

Hair care:

Paul Mitchell's Super Skinny Serum was replaced by Kiehl's Damage Repairing & Rehydrating Leave In Treatment.  I love this Kiehl's treatment, I use it everyday on the ends of my hair and it leaves my hair feeling smooth and healthy (even though I have split ends and am in desperate need of a visit to the hairdressers).

Makeup:

A full size Urban Decay Eye Shadow primer potion was replaced by a travel size (look at how cute that is!).  I still have a few travel sized eye shadow primers laying around and I'm going to use up these before I buy a new one (but I'm already stressing out over which one to buy because there are just so many that I want to try out).  My budget proof Cover Girl Ready Set Gorgeous foundation was replaced by Make Up Forever Ultra HD Foundation (which I totally love) and my Bourjois eye pencil was used up till the very end and I temporary replaced it by the Urban Decay 24/7 glide on eye pencil in Bourbon.  This is just a temporary solution because the Bourbon one has glitter in it and since I use my eye pencil to tight line my upper waterline a glitter pencil isn't the best option.  I'm going to get me a new 'normal' brown one this week.

Samples:

I used up some samples, mostly day creams (in-between emptying the Vichy one and starting the La Roche Posay one).  

And that's all.  I've decided to do an 'Emptied and replaced' every 2 months, I just don't feel like there would be much to show if I do it every month.  If there's anything in here that you want to know more about you can just let me know in the comments.

Essie spring 2016 collection

If you live in Belgium and you love nail polish you have to run to DI this month.  They have this promotion that you can buy any nail polish at half the price when you hand in an old polish.  This is the perfect promotion to stock up on those nice new spring collections that are hitting the store right now.  I took full advantage of this promotion last week, to the point where it got embarrassing.  Since the promotion said you could only hand in one old polish a day I did just that.  Every day during my lunch break I went to DI, handed in an old polish and bought a new one at 50% off.  I even dragged a colleague along one day just so I could get more polishes in a day.  Freaky, I know but I desperately wanted to get the whole Essie Spring collection before the weekend so I could swatch the polishes.  By friday I concluded that I wasn't going to get all 6 of them before the weekend but I still went in the store after work to get my 4th polish of the collection.  Standing at the cash register all of a sudden the sales lady (a very nice sales lady I must add) said: "we just received an email from our headquarters saying that we are allowed to accept 3 old polishes a day per costumer so if you have 3 with you right now you can hand them in ... that way you don't have to come around with one polish each day."  How embarrassing is it when the sales ladies know these things about you?  For me, it's the story of my life but I did feel a bit awkward.  Just a bit though ... I handed in 3 polishes and left with a big smile on my face.

So here you have them, all the colors of the new Essie spring 2016 collection.  I have to say that I was a bit surprised by some of the colors.  I expected the peachy pink nude, the peach, the orange, even the purple one didn't surprise me but I wasn't expecting the green and teal color.  It is a bit of break from the more traditional minty soft pastel colors that you can expect to see in the spring and I like that.  The quality of the polishes is great as usual and I applied 2 coats to get full coverage on all the swatches.

high class affair

I love this color, it's a light peachy nude pink.  A neutral color but with enough cuteness so it isn't boring or dull.

lounge lover

The centerpiece of the collection.  A nice peachy pink that reminded me a bit of Tart Deco when I saw it on the stand.  It isn't as bright a pink as it seems on the picture.  

shades on

An 'in your face' bright purple color.  This is something I'd prefer on my toes rather than on my hands.

off tropic

I love dark green but it feels like an odd color choice for spring.  This is more of a fall color for me but it still is a gorgeous dark green.

pool side service

I don't know how I feel about this color.  It hasn't thrown me off but I'm not really a big fan either.  For me this one will also be more of a feet color rather than a hand color.  It's a petrol/teal color and it is quite different from the usual spring colors I must say.

sunshine state of mind

This just screams sunshine, spring, summer ... it's just such a bright color!! It's a pinky orange, I really don't know how else to describe it, and a definite hit for spring.

Where to buy:

In Belgium you can buy Essie at DI and Kruidvat.  Like I said DI is having a 50% off promotion when you hand in an old polish.  Normal retail price is €12,49.

When besties win ... featuring the entire Benefit They're Real range

I think it was around the 10th of february when my attention was drawn to a Benefit post on Facebook.  "Send a Valentines card to your bestie and have a chance to win the whole Benefit They're Real range."  Now, I never win with these things so I din't give much notice to the last part of the sentence but sending a Benefit Valentines card to my bestie?  I loved that idea!!  She replied with her own Benefit Valentines card and that was it, or so I thought ...  Last week she came by my desk at work (yes, we work together) looking a bit mischievous so I immediately knew something was up.  And than she said something in the line of "if I tell you this, you're gonna owe me forever ... and you have to promise to never make fun of me again", alarm bells went off in my head because, you know, never make fun of my bestie again?? No way I can promise that!!!  But she didn't leave me hanging for long ... "remember those Benefit valentines cards we sent each other?  well, I just got an email that I've won and so we both get the whole Benefit They're Real range"  Say that again?  Overexcited doesn't even begin to describe what we felt but the real thrill was when the package came.  I mean look at it!!  Where to begin?

I've always been a big fan of Benefit.  I've been using their They're Real mascara for a few years now, and I still remember when and where the Sephora sales lady got me hooked on this mascara.  It was in Madrid to be exact and I was there on a girls only weekend.  The They're Real mascara just launched in Europe and one coat on my lashes was enough to get me hooked.  Sure I've tried other mascaras since but I always go back to this one.  I was so happy when they brought out the brown version.  Other Benefit favorites are the Porefessional primer and the Hello Flawless foundation and powder.  It's not just the products that are great but with Benefit it really is the whole experience.  The look and feel of the brand is just so appealing.  Cute but not too cute with a bit of a retro feel to it. 

Benefit, you already owned a piece of my heart and this just made it bigger.  Thank you so much for this, I'm really going to enjoy trying everything out!

Where to buy:

In Belgium you can buy Benefit at selected Galeria Inno stores or online at inno.be, currently there is a 20% off promotion when you buy 2 items at the beauty department.