Summer empties

Another long delayed blog post. I’ve actually collected material to post about but I just haven’t come to posting it. Just feel like a sucker about neglecting this place for such a long time, but I guess that’s just how I am currently.

So, here’s most of the stuff I want to talk about, but just let me break down the products.

Framesi Morphosis De-Stress Shampoo for sensitive scalp

I used it for about 2 months before I ran out, didn’t repurchase as it seemed to be working wonders at first but then it just didn’t.. Smells herbal and funky, makes hair squeaky clean but it didn’t really suit for me. But then again, what shampoo does?? Seriously nothing, nothing does. I think I will have to try Klorane and Pytho some day, I’ve heard some great things about both brands.

Availiable at I.L.U shops in Estonia, costs around 11 Euros.

 

Rich Pure Luxury Intense Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner

I actually did a whole review of the range here! Well, as with the Framesi shampoo, I love-love-loooved the shampoo at first. Man, I love the smell, it made my hair so shiny just by itself and was great even with oily hair! Now the conditioner is fine as well—smells nice and makes my hair softer and sleeker. Not really an amazing product, now that I’ve tried out their Intense Moisture Treatment I’ve found a more intensive conditioner for my long and thick locks.

Available in Salon+ shops in Estonia, forgot the price of the 700ml ones, took a while to use them up!

 

Sally Hansen Moisturizing Nail Polish Remover

Now, the Sally Hansen nail polish removers are my favourite! I have not tried any real expensive ones, but I just love these! Acetone free, acceptable smell, doesn’t strip my nails of moisture and removes nail polish fast. What more can you ask of a nail polish remover? I do admit that it is a bit pricier than the really cheap ones, but you get a lot of product as well and if they are on sale, you can get a 236ml bottle for around 2-3 Euros. Available at Selver, Rimi and lots of other places in Estonia.

Himalaya Cocoa Butter Intense Moisturizer

I have mixed feelings about Himalaya products—they like to advertise themselves as a very natural product, yet the products are actually full of parabens. I got the lotion for 2,50 Euros from Selver when it was on sale and wasn’t really expecting too much. It moisturized rather well and smells pretty nice as well. The cocoa smell was overwhelming for me from time to time, yet my brother quite liked it. If I didn’t have really dry skin and I really loved the smell, I would repurchase, because there’s not that much to complain about.

 

 

 

Sebamed Moisturizing Cream

I purchased it when I was really-really broke and was desperately looking for a safe facial cream to use for day and night. And luckily it did do the trick. It’s a nice cream to use when you are having a breakout, as it is just so basic and you really cannot go wrong with it. No special smell. I would repurchase if I were in the same situation I was before.

Palmolive Ayurituel Tranquillity Shower Gel

I was a bit hesitant about buying this one at first as Palmolive shower gels have been pretty darn drying for me in the past. This one however was not, so it was really nice. The smell was herbal and refreshing for summer.

Available at your local supermarket most probably

 

Rich Pure Luxury Leave In Conditioner

Took me about a year to use it up! I mainly used it before blow-drying my hair and well, I try to blow-dry my hair as rarely as possible and well, I’m pretty good at it. Made my hair softer, shinier, sleeker. I cannot really comment about the heat protecting abilities of this one, but it’s supposed to help protect your hair from UV as well. I think I would repurchase this if I used more styling tools, I quite liked it.

Available at Salon+ and I.L.U in Estonia, costs around 11 Euros, I think.

All in all, I think there was nothing special about these products. They mainly did their jobs well, but nothing miraculous and I’ve already replaced most of them with better ones. The one that really stood up from the bunch were the three Rich Pure Luxury products and Sally Hansen’s nail polish remover.

Hope it was helpful!

Love,

Janne.

June favourites

Well hello again! I have bought plenty of new stuff recently and today I’ll show you the best of the bunch. I’ll start off with the eldest products.

Vichy Essentielles Softening Shower shower gel

Smells like roses as one would assume and the smell is although pretty ordinary and simple, just amazing for every day showers and well sadly enough the smell will not transform onto your skin and leave you linger in the smell for the whole day. What it will do however, is lather into the softest ever foam with the least amount of product.

Vichy Purete Thermal Purifying Foaming Water

The pump creates a soft cleansing foam which I use with a facial brush to give it a slight scrub. Smells lovely- fresh and flowery and not too overwhelming. Not too drying even for my dry/combinational skin and the best part- it really reduced the amount of blackheads on my t-zone.

Framesi Morphosis De-stress shampoo

I have really-really sensitive scalp which is a nightmare to deal with as pretty much all of the supermarket stuff irritates it and so does most of the salon stuff! Well this shampoo has been my saviour for the last 2 months, it cleanses my scalp really thoroughly. Sadly enough, if I’d just wash my hair and didn’t apply conditioner, my hair would be a mess because it’s not nourishing at all. The smell might be a problem for some, smells a bit herby and pharmaceutical, I have grown to enjoy it although I was a bit hesitant at first. Does not lather up very well on the first wash, but it is not too bad as well.

Organix Renewing Maroccan Argan Oil

This stuff is brilliant! It’s an oil that will protect your hair from UV damage and works as a heat protectant. Makes my hair super soft, silky and smooth. Smells lovely as well. The only bad thing about it is the packaging, it dispenses quite a lot of product and unless you have long, thick hair that needs quite a lot of it, you’ll most probably lose a lot of product or over apply. I have also used this on dry hair and it works wonders if you apply just enough. I really-really recommend this!

China Glaze The Hunger Games Collection “Dress me up”

The picture shows it a little too dark, it’s a dusty pink polish that’s great for work but not your average nude. Wear time is pretty shabby, though everything else makes it up. Opaque in just 1 layer and dries almost instantly.

SUQQU Frame Fix Moist Pact Foundation in 203

I have always used a liquid foundation so I was really hesitant about this one. Will it be cakey? Will it set ok? Will it enhance my dry spots? And now I’ve had all my questions answered. If I moisturize very well and/ or use a primer, I will have the greatest foundation I have ever had, albeit maybe a bit too high coverage, which I can overlook. Sadly enough, it will enhance dry areas so make sure to apply plenty of nourishing cream beforehand. I don’t use the sponge that’s enclosed in the sleek, minimalistic and very classy packaging, but if you do, you could wet it to make the application smoother and lighter.

Now, as I did my favourites, I think I should also show you the bummers, but that’s for another post so stay tuned, my lovely readers.

With love,

Janne.

Harassing my roommate

So my roommate ordered an eyeshadow palette with 120 shades. And wanted me to do some different looks on her.. therefore we decided to have a little beauty-evening, unfortunately I ended up using mainly my own products.. oh well. And as I suck at blogging obviously.. I though that it would be nice to show you guys what we came up with. Meet Kristin!

This is a look she specifically asked for. She really wanted to see how a thick eyeliner would suit her, combined with light silver eyeshadow.. and I think she looks fierce! haha

As she really loves when I use neutral/brown shades on her eyes I thought I’d spice it up with some golden shades and created this rather sparkly look.

Now the last look was her favourite! We’ve never tried a complete dark look on her before and I have no idea why. Cos she simply looked amazing and I kind of forced her to go clubbing so that everyone could see her! haha

Hope you liked our little beauty-evening as much as we did!

Love,
Andra

April favourites and bummers

Hey guys!

Here’s a little preview of what you are up for.

I’ll start off with the things I loved in April.

SUQQU Repair Essence

This is a brilliant serum for special occasions. I use it when I have really bad skin—like some acne scarring or if blowing my nose has made it all sore. Apply it before night and in the morning you will definitely see a huge difference. Truly a miracle worker!

Now, this isn’t really a very moisturizing product so some people might feel like it’s far too light for your face, use it before your regular moisturizer.

 

 

 

 

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

I decided to buy this since a lot of beauty bloggers really like it. And I am no different to them since it makes nail polish dry faster and increases its longevity. It also makes the nail polish very shiny.

Although there is a lot of concern over the fact that this top coat has quite toxic ingredients, I didn’t hesitate to buy it since I always polish my nails in a well ventilated area.

 

 

Bourjois Flower Perfection Foundation

I wrote a review about this product a while back and since then I’ve fallen even more in love with it. It’s just a near-perfect combination of longevity, good coverage and great finish. I mean I don’t have to even use powder and it really lasts all day even in a stressful situation (such as a first day at work as a waitress). Though I would maybe opt for a sheerer and foundation for the upcoming summer, I do really recommend this.

 

 

 

 

 

Versace Versense

My mother bought me this for birthday last December and I still adore it. I started to use this on special occasion, since I don’t want to smother myself in perfume every day and usually just smell like washing detergent. This way I keep my love for a perfume and don’t get tired of it with 2 months like I have before.

It’s a really fresh flowery perfume, just like I like all of my perfumes. Quite citrusy even at first and lasts for a long time. Another perk is that it is quite intense so just a drop will be more than enough.

Rexona Linen Dry Ultra Dry Anti-perspirant VS Fa Sport Double Power 72h

I bought the Fa anti-perspirant since it was on sale and I just thought I’d give it a try even though I’ve never had a good experience with Fa deodorants. They just don’t work on me. I do understand that I perspire quite heavily compared to other people, but I at least expect that I wouldn’t start smelling like sweat in a fitness class with 40 other people in it!

So after that terrible incident I turned to Rexona, since it was on sale as well. And luckily it works quite well. I mean I cannot say it stops me from perspiring completely, but the light and pleasant creamy smell keeps me from wanting to cry due to obnoxious body odour.

My current shampoos- Rich Pure Luxury and Goldwell Kerasilk Shampoo

I have stopped sharing my love for these. I was really psyched about the Rich shampoo last year but now my scalp has started to reject its moisturising properties and everything else it contains. I do say, it really sucks to have a scalp this sensitive. It’s the same with the Goldwell Kerasilk shampoo-- love at first sight, but once my scalp got to know it properly, it decided to not like it anymore.

Anyhow, I’m on a hunt for a new shampoo and am currently thinking about trying out Frames, I really hope they have samples in the local department store, I don’t want to waste another 10 Euros for something I cannot use…

Hope this helps!

Love,

Janne.

A little something to drool over..

Well hello!

Today I’m going to show you a little recipe I discovered a little over a month ago. It’s rather healthy and VERY tasty. A little time-consuming but impressive yet simple and you need surprisingly little.

General Tso’s Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 250ml rice
• 60ml corn starch (4 tbs)
• 500g snow peas, trimmed and halved
• 500g skinless, boneless chicken cut into pieces
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp. fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• medium carrot, peeled and julienned
• 3 tbsp. light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes ( I used sweet chilli sauce)
• 2 large egg whites
• salt and pepper
• vegetable oil for frying
• optional 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg

Whatyagonnado:

1. Cook rice according to instructions, for an even healthier version, use brown rice. Meanwhile in a large bowl, stir together 1 tbsp. corn starch and 100ml cold water until smooth. Add snow peas and carrot, garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce, red pepper flakes(or chilli sauce), toss to combine and set aside.
2. In another bowl whisk together egg whites, remaining 3 tbsp. corn starch, 1/2 tsp. salt and some pepper. Add chicken, toss to coat.
3. In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 tbsp. oil over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken pieces golden, you might have to do this in batches. Shake off the excess egg white mixture before adding chicken to the pan. Set the cooked chicken aside.
4. Add snow pea mix to the skillet. Cover, cook until snow peas are tender and sauce has thickened (3-5min). Return chicken, toss to coat, adjust the flavours as you like.
5. This step is optional as you can serve it with plain rice as well. I wanted to use up the egg yolks, so I added it to the rice. Whisk together the yolks, egg some extra salt, pepper and chilli and make an egg scramble. Add cooked rice to the scramble et voilà, you are done.

So while I was browsing online, I noticed the Tom Ford Metallic Beauty spring 2012 collection pictures. Gosh, the Tom Ford make up line looks so freaking good, so effortlessly classy and elegant. Not to mention super expensive…

Pictures via Google of course.

 

I don’t really adore the whole look of the models, not really a fan of the heavy cheeks and golden lip, but the eyes, they are mesmerising. All thanks to the cream eye shadows of course. My personal favourite is Platinum, just to die for really.

And well, being a sucker for nail polish, I also have to show you the 4 little cuties for this season. I’m going to go with the silver one called Silver Haze, well obviously, I will not be able to buy these due to the ridiculous budget I’m on, but a girl can and well, should dream.

Hope you enjoyed this little post.

Stay amazing, my friends.

With love,

Janne.