I've been kind of stuck on this palette in March and I always stick one of three combinations: 1. Amaretto & Cherry Cordial for a reddish brown smoky eye, 2. Creme Bruleé & Gilded Ganache for the old gold look and 3. Marzipan, Milk Chocolate & Haute Chocolate for a basic neutral eye look. These are some of my favourite eyeshadows because I don't really have the patience to build up colour slowly and these have a nice pigmentation, plus they are easy to blend. There have been so many eyeshadow palette releases since this one, so I feel like most already forgot it, but I still consider it the best basic palette, especially since I'm not a fan of this new reddish trend that is prevailing in new palettes.
Buying theBalm Getaway Trio inspired me to reach for Frat Boy a bit more than I usually do, even though it's that type of peachy pink that I wish was less bright peach on me, but I love the quality of theBalm blushes which are some of the best. They are pigmented and blend nicely, but their biggest plus is the staying power.
I know I talk about this a lot, but it just so deserves to be mentioned more frequently. I try to use all of my foundations, which means I rotate them a lot and every time I come back to this one, I'm just shocked at how nice it makes the skin look because it just somewhat perfects it in all respects, so covers just enough, hides the pores a bit and at the same time doesn't look have that drying, cakey matte finish, instead it looks like skin. It's my favourite foundation for a reason.
I actually had this in my last favourites, but considering I've worn it almost every day, I have to include it again. I'm not a lip gloss girl at all and it's a combination of the fact they don't last on the long on the lips and I think glosses in general don't suit me in the first place, but I just can't put this one away. It's so comfortable, balmy and I love the colour, plus the packaging is pretty - it's just such a great lip product. I knew I should have picked this shade sooner, because Honey Rose I own from before is so not my colour, but this is the best natural shade lip gloss.
I picked this up rather randomly one day and it just reminded me how wonderful the formula of Matte X is, plus this colour is unlike any other hot pink in my collection, which makes it by far my favourite, The formula is so pigmented, soft and smooth, but immediately matte and the finish is similar to liquid matte lipsticks. I've already said that these are my favourite lipsticks ever, though Bourjois' Rouge Velvet The Lipsticks aren't far behind. Mirror Mirror is a more red type of a hot pink than others, which suits my complexion a bit more, but I also appreciate that isn't not a neon bright version of the shade.
Now that I finally have a full size of this I can put it properly into favourites, not just samples. This impressed me last year already, but I only recently bought a bottle because I wanted to explore other options. It's a thick toner like product that absorbs very fast and it contains 95% of galactomyces ferment filtrate, which does all sorts of things from increasing skin's absorption, to basic moisturising, brightening, helping with spots and increasing elasticity. The rest of the ingredients are hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, plus some extra bits, but overall the list isn't that long which is a good thing. This just makes my skin look better. The texture is more refined, the pores aren't that big anymore and the skin is more even. It's the product that made me fall in love with K-Beauty.
I just love this line of skin care, though I can't say it's anything special in terms of effect, apart from that it's moisturising, but the textures feel so nice, especially the toner is such a winner with its thick toner-meets-comfy serum/lotion type of formula. The Emulsion is perfect for under makeup and it's what I've been using for two months now, and the cream is nicely moisturising as well. I also love the scent of the products and scents at any product is so important to me. I'd like to get these full size one day.
I've already raved about this in my latest New in and on Instagram Stories, but I was very impressed with the results. First of the sheet itself and the comfy lotion deserve the praise because they make this mask such a lovely experience to use this, plus the scent is nice too. This calmed down a spot that I was sure is going to be one of those that stays inflamed for days and will leave a mark, but this reduced it significantly, plus then my skin healed a lot faster. It also made the skin feel smoother, so I'd definitely like to buy more of these.
THE BODY SHOP Milk & Almond
The smell of this is just divine. It's such a lovely creamy, milky, slightly sweet honey scent that reminds me of baby cosmetics, so it's quite a calming type of fragrance. The texture isn't the usual thick body butter like as the rest of TBS's offering, but it's still very nourishing and does the job about the same. I should have bought this is bigger packaging and maybe some other products too.
My hands have been so dry in the past month due to a combination of frequent hand washing plus the central heating, so for the first time I have noticeably dry hands and L'Occitane is the only nourishing hand cream that does the job and I don't find it obnoxious because it dries quite fast. It's a thick formula and it has this gorgeous shea scent, plus it comes is this big tube, so to me it's a winner and I really don't like hand creams from any other brand, though in the past days I started using Neutrogena Body Oil right after I wash my hands while they are still wet so I lock that moisture in and it works too because Neutrogena is a dry oil which sinks in fast.
UPDATES
I rarely say which nail polish I wore during the month, though I change it only once a week or less. This month started with L.O.V. Cosmetics LOVinity in Devoted Denim, which I find too muted and dark, so I took it off and went for a proper mint green, Barry M's Speedy Quick Dry Road Rage, which I hate the formula of, but I risked it any way and it turned out just fine. I'm currently wearing Essie's Spin the Bottle which is my perfect nude, while Wet n Wild 1 Step Wonder in Stay Classy is on my toes.
I'm close to building a good stable skin care routine for me. I've found a combination that keep my skin clear, bright and moisturised, though I still need something hydrating and maybe a bit anti-ageing, so I'm still exploring a bit. But this is so far my best combination of products that work for me:
Cleansing: BIOBAZA Exclusive Micellar Cleansing Oil, BALEA Washgel and MIXA Micellar Water Anti-Dryness
Scrub: SKINFOOD Black Sugar Scrub
For keeping skin clear: COSRX BHA Blackhead Power Liquid
Brightening and hydration: COSRX Galactomyces Whitening 95 Essence and LJH Vita Propolis Ampoule
Moisturiser: NUXE Oil. Occasionally including ETUDE HOUSE Moistfull Collagen Cream (my Panda is still unopened, but when EH runs out, I'll use that one. Both are great)
In the morning I use water for cleansing and then a combination of ETUDE HOUSE Moistfull Collagen products, a toner plus either an emulsion or cream.
My amazing reader Lorenna sent me a bunch of K-Beauty samples I'm currently exploring. The way I do it, so testing the products alone with a combination of my basic skin care (cleansers + Nuxe), it will take a while, meaning I can't say much about these yet, but I've tried a few already. KIKUMASAMUNE Sake High Moist Lotion was first and it's a nice hydrating toner type of product, though my skin was only more hydrated and not brighter as some notice, but I have other products for that. I bought ROHTO Melano CC Intensive Anti-Spot Essence so I'll fade my old blemish marks and this was the second product I tested so far for a bit over a week and my skin looked so good during those day, brighter, clearer, but I desperately needed some hydration, so I had to use some extra moisturiser hours after I applied this (Nuxe wasn't enough). SCINIC Honey All in One Ampoule was the last thing I tested so far and initially I loved it because it's cheap, hydrating and it smells a bit like honey, but I'm almost 100% sure it was the product that broke me out. Now I'm back to my basic skin care so I "reset" my skin and continue trialling other stuff (Scinic will get a second chance someday). Remaining products are:
- CEZANNE Skin Conditioner High Moist - basically the same thing as Kikumasamune. It contains ceramides, Job's Tears extract, 3 types of hyaluronic acid, collagen and amino acids.
- MIZON Good Night White Sleeping Mask - a brightening moisturising product.
- HOLIKA HOLIKA Skin & Good Cera Ultra Emulsion - Ceramides for sensitive skin
- RHOTO HADA LABO Premium Hyaluronic Acid Toner - upgrade of the regular Hada Labo line that contains 5 versions of hyaluronic acid (lotion is the most popular product in this line)
- RHOTO HADA LABO Premium Hyaluronic Acid Milk - same as toner, but a milk
- BEAUTY OF JOSEON Dynasty Cream - contains niacinamide (4th ingredient), hyaluronic acid and adenosine. Texture is one of the light ones.
- TOSOWOONG Propolis Sparkle Ampoule - a propolis contender of my beloved LJH Ampoule.
- MEISHOKU Ceracolla Perfect Gel - ceramides for strengthening the skin's barrier.
CURRENT WISHLIST
I went to check out The Balm Instain blushes this month and Houndstooth really appealed to me because it's a type of muted mauve-pink I don't have yet. Fortune Favours the Brave by MR also caught my eye quite unexpectedly while I was in DM. Normally I'm not a fan of MR eyeshadows, but I loved the colour selection in this one and at least those shades I liked most looked pigmented enough. I'm still delaying ordering stuff by The Ordinary because have so much other skin care to try, but I need a good chemical exfoliator (heard only raves about this AHA one) and Argireline has been on my wishlist for ages. I'm also delaying ordering from Colourpop, but I made my choice which Supershock eyehsadows I want to try, both are old gold shades, the lighter So Quiche and the darker Hammered.
Have a great day!
March Favourites, Updates and Wishlist
Reviewed by Shanali
on
March 31, 2018
Rating:
Reviewed by Shanali
on
March 31, 2018
Rating:
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