I can't say that I absolutely adore this primer, in fact I find it's nothing special and doesn't do much of the things it promises, meaning no blurring pores, extra illumination or doing anything extra special. So why is it even in this post? Because it's a light, non-greasy way to wear some extra SPF (I mean that on my dry skin) and I know I'll be using it throughout the year because of that.
I like this a lot on my skin. It's a light-medium coverage foundation that's easy to blend, doesn't sink into pores or emphasise lines and it looks natural. I'm glad this isn't the full coverage foundation Maybelline promises, as this way I get the type of formula I like with the added SPF - though I doubt this makes other people happy. I have quite dry skin and this is a formula that people with combination or oily skin will not like, as even I need to powder it, since it gets shiny during the day. 095 Fair Porcelain is also one of my best matches.
L'OREAL Paradise Extatic Waterproof
I found another mascara that is capable of holding my lashes curled all day. It's actually almost identical to my all-time favourite Essence's I <3 Extreme Waterproof in terms of effect, but the brush is a normal size, so I end up with less dots on my eyelids after application. It adds about the same amount of volume and it's similarly dry, which also helps that the lashes don't clump together. It's less volumising that the original, which is a shame, but as long as it's keeping my lashes up, I'm not complaining. I also like the packaging a lot, since it's in "my colour".
MAYBELLINE Color Sensational Shaping Lip Liner
Dusty Rose
I just love this shade and I should try to find a lipstick in the same colour. It's natural looking pink-nude that's similar to my favourite Big Proposal by Essence, so it's another great one for a natural makeup with nicely defined lips. Formula is soft and easy to apply all over the lips, plus you get a sharpener
L.O.V. BLUSHment Blurring Blush
010 Be the Game Changer
My fourth shade of this formula. These are hands down the best blushes I've tried so far. They are so smooth and fine that they never just stick to much to one place, instead the always blend out nicely. This shade is similar to 050, which is more of a coral-warm light pink, while this is a more neutral-warm pink. It's got the same shimmer in it, which makes it like a mix of a blush and a highlighter, but it's not in-your-face glittery, it's more like an enhanced natural healthy glow.
Glam Glow SuperMud
I've been sticking to L'Oreal Pure Clay masks for years now and I still think they are all great, but this goes a step further because it combines AHAs, clay and charcoal. I bought this because my skin has been acting up and this helps dry up those pesky spots faster. I don't notice any glow from this, but at least it's working on breakouts and it's going to stay in my spot SOS kit.
PRADA Candy
I've been really enjoying this scent. This used to be so popular and I've always liked it, but even I completely forgot about its existence for a few years until I was looking for a nice winter scent. It's a great powdery warm scent, a mix between comforting and vintage makeup/powdery. I don't think the name fits it, but maybe it smells sweeter on others and caramel is a lot more noticeable, however, I get no sweetness in this on my skin, which suits me because it makes it smell more mature.
CAROLINA HERRERA Good Girl
Eau de parfum
Originally I wanted Legere and I still do, but DM only had this one, so I settled. It grew on me. I went through most of the scents they have and this one was most up to my taste. It's somewhat similar to Paco Rabanne Black Xs without pink pepper. It's a warm, slightly spicy, kind of sexy scent or at least one that's most would describe as more suited for winter/night outs. I've heard several people is smells like coffee on the them, but luckily I don't get that note on me. I think it's a crowd pleaser because it's plainly put quite basic, but a nice one, something a bit different and not just a one thousandth reiteration of La Vie Est Belle/Flowerbomb/Jimmy Choo. The bottle is a total stunner, though I like the Legere version even more and this original one comes in a LE polka dot pattern too.
MOROCCANOIL Restorative Hair Mask
Again Moroccanoil truly impressed me. I love their Intense Hydration mask and this is even richer with shea butter, canola oil and argan oil high on the list, plus little bit of protein. I've used this right after bleaching and my hair is really nice condition. This leaves my hair shiny and silky.
OLAPLEX No. 7 Bonding Oil
I was really glad to see that Olaplex decided to expand their selection of products by including an oil. I use them a lot in between washings and this adds a little bit of extra, not just shine and tames the hair. In terms of texture and effect it doesn't differ from my favourites, but since I'm bleaching my hair, I like to stay on the side of caution and keep up with Olaplex and protein treatments.
FA Magic Oil Shower Gel
This is surprisingly nice. I've tried a few of their shower gels, most recently Mystic Moments, which turned out to be a big disappointment (scent is terrible and not how it appeared from the bottle), but this one with micro oil is really good - though there absolutely nothing oily about it. For one the scent is fantastic. It reminds me of the ocean, but it's actually a floral scent, they say it's lotus. The formula is a thick gel one, which is pleasant to use and though I'm not sure it's nourishing, it feels better than most shower gels. I'm definitely going to repurchase this one.
REMINGTON Proluxe Large Barrel Hair Curling Wand CI91X1
I adore this, this was such a great purchase. I've been using Remington's Pro Soft Curl wand with a 25 mm barrel for about 7-8 years, maybe longer and I still love it, but I always wanted something with a larger barrel. I have one from Babyliss with a 38 mm barrel which weighs a ton and though it creates lovely curls, they lasts no more than a few hours (with Pro Soft they last several days). This wand is a something in between the two, it's 38 mm at the top and 25 mm at the end and it creates the loose, soft curls I like (on the picture below with Spectra hair colour). Remington says it has OptiHeat technology where heat is delivered to the thicker sections of your hair at the top, diverting from where it can be most damaging in plus it has grip tech coating, meaning the barrel isn't completely smooth, which is actually quite brilliant because it keeps the hair in place, so it doesn't slip on the barrel. With Pro Soft I had to keep the temperature at 200°C so that the curls lasted for days, but here I get the same result with only 180°C. It's very light to hold, the hair doesn't get tangled anywhere and there's no useless clip. The only minus is that it claims to heat up in 30 second, but it's longer. I get such pretty curls with this and the last for days. I always use a ton of heat protection, at least three layers because I'm very particular about that stuff, but even so this leaves my hair nicely shiny and I haven't noticed any extra damage - the fact I can use a low temperature at this one, even though my hair is very thick is surely contributing a lot. The box looks like this.
SUBRINA Spectra Demi-Permanent Colour
8/10 Ice Blonde
I had to do my roots since I has so much showing already and I wanted to lift the rest of my hair too to get rid of the orange. I didn't quite make it, despite trying twice, so it looks like I'm going to be stuck with some orange pieces mostly at the back of my hair, while the rest is quite light by now. Last time I used L'Oreal 9.1 on the top half of the hair and Subrina's Butter Colour 1080 on the ends, since it was in my "Ilirija drawer" and I've come to realisation that Subrina makes some of the best cooling blond shades. So this time I again raided my drawer again and tried this one, which is the same shade, just a different formula. It's a demi-permanent shade, which is a much less damaging way of toning than using a proper colour. I mixed it with a 3% developer and it toned the yellow into a very pretty cool ashy blonde. Some more yellowish strand still remain because this colour is meant for cooling very pale yellow hair, which mine isn't, but I think it did a good enough job considering how scary orange my hair looked (I planned on giving this a try first and it's it wouldn't be good enough, I'd use L'Oreal's 9.1. I still might single out those yellow strands and tone them, but in RL the hair colour looks better blended than my camera picked up). It's very gentle, so I wasn't worried it's going to cause extra damage on freshly bleached hair, but it is not nourishing at all, so even though I used both Olaplex and Joico K-Pack duo before, this left my hair coarse - thanks to my extensive hair care stash I fixed with Matrixes Re-Bond duo. One tube was no enough for me, which I didn't expect because together it should be 180 ml of product (60 ml of colour and 120 ml od developer) and at L'Oreal that was always too much, but here had to miss some parts and had to go to get two extra tubes so I could fix it next time, which turned out to be a bit too much, so 1.5 tube is enough for me. I'm quite happy with the colour, though I was told I look grey now, but I did not expect it to work so well considering how terrifying fluorescent yellow orange my hair looked after bleaching. I like the colour in spite of a few warmer pieces, since they don't look too out of place in person. Also such toners are in very short supply in Slovene drugstores, I think this is pretty much the only such product, at least from what I could see in drugstores here.
