Holiday Haulin'

I’m back, I’m back! Bet you’ve missed me when I was on a sunbed drinking cocktails and reading countless magazines in Mallorca- I kid, I kid. But I’m back after twelve days in the sun, and it feels like I’ve never even left my quiet, little city. I’m not that happy to be home because I’ve had the most amazing time on holiday and even got a tan, but I missed my bed and the comfort of my own home so it feels kind of ‘good’ to be home.

I was planning on buying quite a lot of stuff whilst being on the beautiful Balearic island, but I ended up not buying that much which my bank balance was obviously quite happy about. I thought I’d show you anyway, since I am really happy with the bits I did buy!

Firstly, I bought an item I was lusting after for absolute ages- a Bourjois Colour Boost crayon, in the colour ‘Orange Punch’. Since most drugstore makeup brands are quite a bit cheaper in Spain then they are in Belgium I was planning on picking up lots more, but when shopping for makeup I always get so overwhelmed I never really know what to buy. I know, I’m such a great beauty blogger! I wore this almost every evening of my holiday and I love it so, so much. It’s quite sheer but the clour is really buildable and feels really moisturising on the lips, and it lasts quite a long time as well! So far it’s a winner.

I also picked up two Clarins products I’ve been eyeing up for a while, and, to be honest I was actually forced a little to buy because you got a free makeup bag containing two sample if you bought two Clarins products! So I picked up the Lotus Face Oil and the Beauty Flash Balm, two quite hyped up products. I only tried these a few times and so far I’ve been absolutely loving both; the Lotus Face Oil smells amazing and seems to do wonders for my oily skin, and the Beauty Flash Balm feels so fresh on the skin and makes every base you apply after look gorgeous.

We went to Palma for a daytrip and I just had to visit the Kiko store. I’ve never actually tried something by Kiko before but heard that their products are great value for money, especially their eyeshadows, so I bought three; two of their Longlasting Stick Eyeshadows and one Water Eyeshadow. I bought their eyeshadow sticks in the colours 06, a beautiful shimmery chocolate brown, and 07, the most gorgeous golden colour which makes an amazing inner corner highlight. I picked up the water eyeshadow in the shade 200 which is the most amazing gold shimmer with an incredible pigmentation and the most amazing glitter ever- if you’re a fan of subtle, I fear this isn’t so much for you. After picking these up I’m actually tempted to play a little with eyeshadows, which is unheard for me so I’ll keep you updated!

I also picked up their Dazzling Highlighter in 02 – Gleaming Apricot. I actually only own one single highlighter (MAC Lightscapade, I’m looking at you), so I thought it was time to expand my collection a little bit. Their Dazzling Highlighters come in a handy stick which you can roll up and sweep across your cheekbones, your browbone, decolletage or anywhere else you’d like. They come in two colours, a shimmery white one or a more subtle apricot one, which is the one I picked up. I’ve been wearing it every day since I got it since it’s so subtle but also makes your cheekbones look amazing and really defined. It’s really creamy and easy to blend in with your fingers, and also smells amaaaaazing!

So that’s all I picked up beauty-wise in Mallorca. I also bought a little leather satchel bag at a market in Son Servera and a beautiful butterfly ring in the most precious little hand-made jewellery store in Cala Bona, which is the little village we stayed in located at the west coast of Mallorca.

I’m planning on doing a holiday essentials post soon, including everything I used every single day on my holiday and some tips for travelling light RE: makeup and skincare. I also might do a little holiday diary, sop lease let me know in the comments if you would like to see that!

Sunglasses and SPF

As soon as the sun kicks in, my obsession with protecting my face from the harmful rays does too. I’m that girl who frantically carries a tube of SPF with her everywhere she goes and make sure she reapplies every two hours- at least. Now on ‘normal’, not-sunny days, I don’t usually wear an SPF because I’m inside most of the time anyway and I don’t want to smear SPF all over my full face of makeup- ew. But as soon as it gets seriously sunny outside and I’m planning on spending my day out, out comes the SPF- and the sunglasses…

My favourite SPF ever (dare I say that?!) is the Dior Bronze SPF 50 Beautifying Protective Suncare, a facial SPF I bought for my holiday last year and have repurchased for when I’m going to Mallorca for 12 days this Wednesday. It has lasted me through the entire holiday, even though I applied it every two hours every single day, and I still have lots left. It smells AMAZING and really summery, but that might be a problem for sensitive skinned gals because it’s scented a lot. It’s quite thick but really easy to apply and blend into the skin. It doesn’t leave a white residue and it really, really protects your skin against the sun; on the last day of my previous holiday I decided to not reapply it in the afternoon in an attempt to tan my face a little bit, and I got burned. A lot. I absolutely love this product and I couldn’t recommend it enough; it hasn’t broken me out and even though it’s quite heavy, it’s really moisturizing so your face doesn’t get dried out by the sun.

Another SPF is the Shiseido Expert Sun Aging Protection Cream SPF 50+. This one’s waterproof and has an anti-aging complex, penetrating the skin cells to reassure optimal sun protection. Now I haven’t used this as much as the Dior one so I can’t really say much about this yet until after my holiday, but the scent of this is very subtle and it sinks into my skin really easily, which is nice as it doesn’t make me look like a greaseball- which the Dior sometimes does. This does, however, leave a really white ‘veil’ over my skin, and even though the sales person told me Shiseido had changed the formula of this so it wouldn’t look as white on the skin, I still feel like it does.

Now another summer obsession of mine are sunglasses. I can’t live without them and wear them all year round, since my eyes are really sensitive and can get red and watery very easily. I’m never seen without sunglasses in the summer; I even wear them in the pool. Last year’s sunglasses were a pair from H&M that broke a couple of days after the holidays. I don’t particularly like H&M sunglasses as I find the designs to be a little bit dodgy but they’re cheap as chips so you can’t really complain. Yesterday, I came across these three beauties in a local drugstore, and yes, I bought them all. Three pairs of sunglasses. But they were only €9 each, so who am I to complain?

One round pair and two cat-eye pairs, one black and white and one brown. I couldn’t really decide so I went for all three. They all have an UV-filter and feel like they’re quite good quality, which is always good! Round and cateye sunglasses are my absolute favourite since they’re quite unique and can be a very nice accessory to your summer outfit. But even though I’m in love with all three of these, I can’t wait until I can call a pair of Ray Ban Erika’s mine… A girl can dream, right?

What are your favourite SPF’s? Are you also sunglasses obsessed?

A Little Skincare Haul

I'm sorry for the bad lighting!

Well, little… It might not look like so much stuff but my bankbalance isn’t really happy with me. I was in need of some new skincare since I’m running out of my usual moisturizer and as I’m leaving on holiday in a few weeks time, I thought I’d pick up some other bits. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I get really paranoid about running out of stuff whilst on holiday! I absolutely love buying skincare and I think it’s fair to say that I love skincare more than makeup. I think this is just because I’ve had bad skin for such a long time, and now my skin is finally clear I can start using products that would have broken me out otherwise! My skin is oily but can be combination since I do get some dry patches around my nose and on my chin sometimes. I do get some blemishes, but it’s not as bad as it used to be. I suffered from acne and still have some scarring left, so I do tend to look for brightening skincare products that will slowly make those little scars disappear. I also tend to go for brightening products that encourage cell-renewal and inject a serious dose of nourishment. Even when I do have a couple of blemishes, I like to keep them hydrated and try not to pick at them as I find they disappear so much quicker and don’t leave a scar when I do that.

I first went to the Clarins counter and picked up two things I have wanted to try for the absolute longest time: the Exfoliating Toner and the Extra-Comfort Cleansing Cream. I’ve heard so many great things about the Exfoliating Toner and have never actually tried a real chemical exfoliant, so I’m really curious about this product. I needed a new cleanser for when I go on holiday and had been eyeing up this cleanser for a while now, so I naturally had to get it! Not the most practical packaging for travelling, but oh well. Even though my skin is quite oily, I hate cleanser that leave my skin feeling too clean and stripped. I do have quite sensitive skin, so I think this will be perfect for me. I’ve only used it once so far so I can’t really say anything about it, but it feels really good on my skin and is great for facial massage, which I like to treat myself to every evening.

Next, I went to the Origins counter. I originally only wanted to pick up the two moisturisers, but I caved and also bought a toner and the cleansing oil. What can I say.

The Clean Energy cleansing oil is quite a new Origins product. I saw it in store a few months ago and immediately knew I had to have it. I’ve actually never tried a real cleansing oil- I’ve tried gel cleansers that turn into an oil as soon as you massage them in- and because Origins is one of my favourite brands ever, I really wanted to try this. By the way, the pump is sold separately- naughty Origins! I would really recommend it though, as it might get a little bit messy and to avoid spilling product everywhere. The United State toner is something I hadn’t ever heard of before. It’s a toner for combination skin, which aims to balance out the oily and dry parts on your face, which sounded perfect for me. I’m also saving this for when I go on holiday because I’m using my Kiehl’s toner up, which I also really like. 

Then on to the best part: the moisturizers. I got a sample of the Ginzing moisturizer a few months ago and I really loved it. It smells really good (like all Origins products, actually) and sinks beautifully into the skin leaving it fresh and moisturized. Perfect for summer, really. The consistency and product itself reminds me a little bit of the Clarins Daily-Energizer Cream-Gel! I also got the High Potency Night-a-Mins, which is a nighttime moisturizer I’ve been wanting  for about a year now but just never bought. Now I have it I couldn’t be happier! I got the oil-free version of it because as I said, my skin can get quite oily and even though I do like (and need!) a lot of hydration, I don’t like it when my moisturizer leaves me with a sticky, greasy face! The scent of these moisturizers is almost the same, although I do find the Ginzing one smells a little bit fresher which is perfect for the morning time.

So I might have spent a little bit too much money on these, but I believe that you have to invest in your face. You only have one, so why not take care of it? I think that if you put a lot of effort and work in something, you get something good in return. And I’d rather pay a little bit more for skincare than waste my money on going out and getting drunk a few times a week.

I really hope I will love these products but I’m quite sure I will, as Clarins and Origins are two of my favourite brands ever for skincare. I really hope I’ve finally discovered my perfect skincare routine, so I’ll keep you updated on that. I’m planning on doing more skincare-related posts, so please let me know if you’re into that! Maybe a post on facial massage or just a post showing you my current skincare routine, or telling you how I’ve cleared my acne? Please let me know! I’m planning on trying some of the Dr. Weil for Origins brightening products next, and I’m also looking more into REN skincare, the masks especially. Let me know if you have any recommendations!

A Haul; Part One, Beauty

Yesterday, me and my mom went to my old uni town to do some shopping. Housing a Sephora, a MAC store and all my favourite clothing stores (Zara, I’m looking at you), it’s one of my favourite cities to shop ever and even though I stopped going to university there, I find myself frequently going back there to do a spot of shopping, most of the time with my mother. It’s a really beautiful city, especially in summer, with all of the gorgeous buildings and there’s even a church that houses a book store- I know, cool, right? So when me and my mom went there yesterday, it was thankfully one of those sunny days and I knew beforehand that my bank balance was going to suffer.

I bought quite a lot of things, most of them which I had wanted for a really long time, so I will start with the first part; beauty stuff.

First of all, Essie polishes were on offer; 2 for €15, where they normally cost €11 (at least that’s what I think) each. They only had a limited set of colours, but thankfully, two of the colours I’ve been eyeing up were part of the offer. The first polish I picked up is ‘Meet Me At Sunset’, which is the most gorgeous orangey-red. Being called a dupe of Chanel’s Holiday, I knew I had to have it, especially since I prefer the formula of Essie polishes to that of the Chanel ones (more on that in this post). The second polish that I picked up was 'Chinchilly', which is just a gorgeous, gorgeous grey-purple colour which looks really good on every skin tone and is the perfect all-year-round colour.

The next items I picked up are two skincare items. I knew beforehand that I wanted to buy an eye cream, since my eyes always feel really sore and the area around them can get quite dehydrated. I was browsing the Clinique stand in Sephora and my eye immediately fell to the All About Eyes serum. It sounded exactly like the thing I needed and more. I also picked up the Turnaround Concentrate, which is something I’ve been wanting for absolutely ages after reading numerous reviews on it. It’s basically a serum which exfoliates dead skin cells overnight, leaving you with brighter and clearer skin upon waking up.

Now on to the make up. Since Sephora is leaving the Netherlands in June, all of their make up was priced at €5, except for their foundations and primers, which were €7.50. Sephora is one of my favourite stores EVER so I’m really, really, really, REALLY sad they’re leaving. I couldn’t leave without picking up one of their blushers, which are normally priced at €12.50 so it was a really good deal. I picked up Romantic Rose, a really nice pinky colour which goes really well with my blue eyes and blonde hair. I also really wanted to pick up the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette, since Sephora is the only store in Belgium/the Netherlands that sells Urban Decay, but sadly, they were all sold out, so I opted for the Naked Basics palette. Since I’ve been wanting to experiment with eye shadows a little bit more, this seemed like the perfect option to start with, providing all natural and matte colours. You just can’t go wrong!

The next stop was MAC. The first thing I picked up there was their ‘Rebel’ lipstick, which was another item that I’ve been wanting for a couple of months. It’s a gorgeous plum colour, and I absolutely loved it. Lastly, I picked up their 224 blending brush. I actually wanted the 227 but the lady at the counter said the only difference was that the 227 is white whilst the 224 is black? I didn’t actually own a blending brush before (I know) so I’m really excited to get started experimenting with eye shadow!

So that’s all I’ve picked up beauty wise. My bank account is crying right now, but at least I’m absolutely in love with everything I bought! What do you think of my purchases?