I blogged about Clinique’s new CC Creams a couple of weeks ago here, and I was quite sad that the shade Light was just not light enough for me.. Luckily in other countries there’s even a lighter shade in stores: Very Light! I got to try that one out to see if that one fits my skin tone, and I’m very pleased to say that it does! It’s a tad lighter than what I’m used to, but when it sinks in a few minutes it adjusts to my skin perfectly. And I also have a picture of the actual packaging now: looks pretty & shiny, right?

It’s strange how I’m different shades with different brands.. I had a Bobbi Brown makeup artist tell me I’m Beige last week while I thought I was actually light enough to use Sand. But she insisted she was right & when we tried it out it did blend right into my cheeks. So I guess it’s all about trying shades out on your face, experimenting and keeping track of which shade you are with each brand. Don’t let shade names fool you! Anyway, back to this CC cream now. I’ve used it a few times now and I’m impressed with how well this wears during regular working days. On bad skin days I’ll add some extra corrector on my chin, but on good skin days (hear that? I’m having good skin days again!) I don’t even need any. It cancels out the red on my cheeks like a boss and it doesn’t peek through all day long. I didn’t even notice any extreme oiliness, which is always a “make it or break it” factor with me. So yeah, I’m still pretty stoked about this one! I’d definitely recommend to try this out as the price tag is not too hefty either. Suggested retail price is €30.30, but don’t forget that a lot of stores offer a nice discount (such as Inno & Ici Paris XL) when you have a member card.

I got invited to attend an extremely exciting intimate M.A.C. get-together with Lyne Desnoyers, Director of Makeup Artistry & Elke Willemen, Senior Makeup Artist. These two ladies are extremely talented, so I don’t need to tell you how impatient I was in the weeks before the event! We were in for two hours of makeup heaven: learning about the new beauty trends and how to achieve them, and we even saw (and touched!) some new products that are yet to be announced. Pinch me, indeed! I’ll show you the two looks we created: two very different ones, but both very on trend! This’ll be a text & picture heavy post; I really want to share as much as possible!

Lyne used the Prep+Prime Skin Enhancer & Select Moisturecover Concealer to achieve a skin like look, using a stippling brush. After applying and working in on the whole face, she brought back some of the redness on the cheeks by removing part of the base with some wet wipes. For the brows, Lyne used the Eye Brows Pencil in Lingering to fill in the eyebrows tone on tone & used the clear Brow Set to finish and lift the brows. Eyebrows bring strength and provide a frame for your eye makeup. When filling in your brows, you should follow the natural brow shape. Never start by building from the top: always start from the bottom and emphasize the high point. If you like using powders, Lyne suggests using Copperplate eyeshadow, sometimes mixed with Concrete or Coquette. For the blush we used Lipsticks. Lyne used a Pro palette for a light blush wash and strong Russian Red to finish off. The key is to first blend out the lipstick on your hand so it’s ultra workable. Follow your natural contour line. If you want a more orange blush, you can mix Russian Red with Lady Danger. These lipsticks will blend as a blush nicely since we didn’t use any powders in this look. For the eyelashes we’re adding some Individual Eyelashes. Alternate them: underneath - on top - underneath - on top.

On the eyelids we used Paint Pots first. Here Lyne used some new paint pots that are launching later this year: Stormy Pink & Tailor Grey. We’re emphasizing these on the inner corner (don’t do this if you have close-set eyes), not in the outer corner because this way we don’t lose the dimension. When adding to the outer corner, lift the eyebrow and apply in circular motion. This way we’re achieving a diffused definition. Now we’ll be using some Eye Shadows so the dimension we just created makes sense. We’re using cold colors as they’re very on trend this fall. Here we’re mixing Purple Haze with a violet Pigment. Let’s go back to Paint Pots now and add some shadow under the eyes with stormy pink. We’re not doing liner, we’re just adding shadow with a 217 or 224. Next up is our Mascara. We’re not using the mascara brush, but a 205 brush to paint the mascara on. To finish the whole look, use some Mineralize Powder with a powder puff. Nothing beats a good ol’ powder puff, and that’s what Lyne said!

Elke used Strobe Cream to add some all over vibrancy, Prep+Prime Vibrance Eye to highlight the eyes and Mineralize Moisture Foundation all over for a dewy look. Then she added some Prep+Prime Highlighter (not entirely sure, but I think this was it!) on the forehead & nostrils. Thin layers are key! She used Silver Dusk Iridescent Powder as highlight, but applied it very subtle with a stippling brush, using a light and soft hand. On the eyes, Elke used one of the new Paint Pots: Camel Coat. The new colors are cold, which will be such a great asset! Paint Pots are the perfect base to start off with: apply with a blending brush, almost towards the eyebrows. Next we’re adding (very precisely!) Gloss Texture mixed with Reflects on the eyes, which’ll give a very glossy texture. On the face we’re also adding some gloss: we’re creating a square of gloss around the eyes. We’re putting a fragile emotion into this look: it’s about the mood you want to put into your face.

For the eyebrows Elke used the new Brow Fluidline, which can be used very translucent or strong, applied with an angled brow brush. Don’t shape or change your eyebrow shape: your own natural brow shape is just fine! The gaps in the eyebrows were filled in with a slightly darker shade than the rest of the brows. Use Brow Set to lift. This won’t make the fluidline smudge. The lips were first filled in with the Lip Pencil in Cherry, and then we used the sold out Ririwoo Lipstick. We’re blurring out the edges of the lips to soften the look. You can also add a dark color inside the lips to make your lips look a bit smaller. Use a blending brush to soften the corners.

As you can see both looks are very different, and I love both of them. While Lyne created a matte look with healthy cheeks and gorgeous colorful eyes, Elke made a super dewy look with lots of highlights and lips that pop out. It’s all about using traditional techniques & experimenting with textures. Use your favorite red lipstick as a blush, for example. And add some gloss on your eyelids to make them catch the light. This is street beauty straight off the fashion weeks! The models toned down their catwalk looks to the likings of these, so go ahead and recreate these looks and experiment with the products you own.

I’m way too excited for those new cold colored paint pots. I might be obsessed with cream products for the eyes that dry to a powdery consistency.. I couldn’t resist buying Soft Ochre while we were at the lovely Dansaert M.A.C. store. I know it’s not an adventurous color, but I’m only now getting started with this, okay? Bye bye eye primer, hello cream shadows!

Thanks Lyne & Elke for the super interesting afternoon, and models Lien & Sien for allowing me to take a load of pictures, even when I had to use my omg-so-close-and-scary macro lense! I’m super inspired now, I can’t wait to play around with my products and push those textures to new boundaries! But first.. I have to get over this little flu I’ve been battling for a few days now. Sneeze!

Now that we got past the empties post, let’s move on to new and exciting things I want to tell you about! A month or two ago I was browsing my local (huge) pharmacy as usual, when I discovered they had added a new brand to their range: Apivita. As you know I’m a huge sucker for packaging, so I was kinda sold from the beginning. The packaging is very pharmaceutical, but think old school brown glass jar pharmaceutical. I love it. No white generic uglies! I first bought some facial masks which come in handy little sachets, but gave in to my first full size products a few weeks ago when I knew I needed to drastically change my cleansing ritual in order to tackle my disobedient skin.

I bought the Cleansing Gel with Propolis & Citrus for Oily/Combination skin. I’ve had a rough time dealing with (new) adult acne the last few months, and this has been my answer when it came to cleaning & calming my skin. When I was younger I used to use pure propolis whenever I had a throat ache, so I’m already well aware of how soothing this miracle stuff is. It’s antiseptic and antioxidant, but still very mild and gentle for your skin. The citrus will tone & refreshen your skin, and it will immediately brighten your day as it’s responsible for the amazing scent! There’s also lemon & tea tree oil in this cleanser, which is used especially to target oily skins and will regulate oil secretion and mattify. And last but not least.. Instead of water, Apivita uses green tea infusion to crank up those antioxidant levels.

Even though there is no SLS in this cleanser, it foams up quite well and thoroughly but gently cleanses my face. It smells AMAZING and never fails to boost my mood, which is a welcome advantage during those early ugh-i-want-to-stay-in-bed mornings. I bought this mainly for the calming nature and I must say that I’ve been very pleased with this addition to my skin care routine. Before using this I wet my face with luke warm water, and then I warm up one pump of product between my hands and gentle massage it onto my face. After it has foamed up well, I rinse it off gently with luke warm water and pat (not rub) my face dry with a soft towel. It’s very important not to aggravate your skin when it’s all broken out as this ‘ll only worsen the condition: you really want to be super gentle.

Ingredients: Aqua**, Aqua, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocopolyglucose Tartrate, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, PEG-150 Distearate, Sorbitol, Polysorbate 20, Bisabolol, Ammonium Glycyrrhizate, Glycerin, Propolis, Citrus Aurantifolia Fruit Extract, Panthenol, Capryloyl Glycine, Allantoin, Camelia Sinensis Leaf* , Citrus Medica Limonum Peel Oil*, Melaleuca Alternifolia Oil*, Juniperus Communis Oil, Butylene Glycol, Parfum, Citric Acid, Dehydroacetic Acid, Sodium Phytate, Sodium Hydroxide, Benzyl Alcohol, Alcohol, Limonene, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool (** = Camelia Sinensis* Leaf Aqueous Infusion = Green tea water, * = Certified organic cultivations)

This lovely cleanser comes in one size of 200ml & is sold in selected pharmacies for €15.30. There’s also a webshop here.

I’ve been wanting to do an empties post for a while, but I just hate photographing bulk products that are empty and look awful from being in the shower cabin for more than a month. But I really love watching vlogs and blogs on empties, I think it’s a great way to showcase some products that perhaps didn’t make it in a full article, but still deserve a mention. Or maybe you were wondering about something and it’s here in the list.. I’m not really up for the whole vlog thing, so let me just write it down. I added some special effects to the pictures to make it more bearable, whaddyathink? You’ll find a list of emptied products & how I feel about them and if I would repurchase below & in between the pictures. Keep in mind that this is quite a few months worth of products.. I had these piling up in a big shopping bag in my laundry room.. Oops! I won’t wait this long to do another empties post again.. So be ready for a long post!

Read More

Remember when I told you that this year would be the year of the Chubby? Well, I’m totes right. The Chubby Stick Shadow Tint for Eyes have just launched in Belgium in eight colours. I got Mighty Moss to try out and love the versatility of this Chubby: if you want a light wash of colour you can just apply one or two layers and blend out with your finger, but if you’re looking for some full one colour you can build it up really well and combine with an eyeshadow to define. The texture is quite creamy, but not as creamy as a paint pot or shadow paint. It feels like something in between cream & powder, and I don’t own any products I can really compare it with.

As you can see on the swatch the product starts of as a very, very sheer colour when you just swipe once. When you layer four or five times, you get a gorgeous deep colour that doesn’t look all caked up. I found the shape of the Chubby to be quite easy when it comes to applying it directly on the eyelid, although I did use a small synthetic flat eyeshadow brush to really pack on colour where I needed the pigmentation to be really dense. I can imagine that these would be great  to use as a thick liner as well, as a daily look to bring out the colour in your eyes and for a general pop of colour!

Here I applied the Chubby Stick Shadow Tint for Eyes in Mighty Moss on the whole eyelid & on the inner half of my lower lash line, combined with a MAC eyeshadow in Cognac from the Fabulousness palette for warm eyes blended out in the crease & on the outer half of my lower lash line. These colors combine like heaven, don’t you think? The lasting powder of this combo was great & there was no creasing at all. And more importantly, this look was done in under a minute and with just two brushes!

I’m again smitten with this Chubby product. Available now in eight shades on the webshop or at Clinique counters for €19.45 suggested retail price. 

Tell me Clinique, when are the Chubby Blush Sticks For Cheeks launching? ;)

I’ve been working on a new layout (well, new header & colours), so I haven’t really prepared a lengthy post for today. However I do want to share a super budget tip with you, since I went on a petite shopping trip in France last Friday. French skin care brands are almost 40% cheaper there; so whenever you get the chance: do make some time to explore a French pharmacie and save some precious euro’s. Since Belgium is really small, it’s not that hard to live close to France. As much as I love my pharmacy around the corner (and I suspect they love me too), once a year when we go on a little shopping trip across the border, I like to splurge on some French skin care. 

La Roche-Posay & Bioderma retail between 20% & 40% cheaper in France, depending on the pharmacy you visit. Also, did you know that Bioderma Sensibio H20 is exactly the same as Bioderma Créaline H20? Now next time you’re in France you won’t have to wonder about the name! If you never visit France, or you happen to live on that one side of Belgium where France is kinda far away.. I’d suggest to look out for a Lloyds Pharma pharmacy in your neighborhood as they always offer really good coupon reductions & have a huge range of brands, or visit the New Pharma webshop as they also have a wide variety of French skin care brands at very competitive prices.

What’s up, CC? The CC cream I was anxiously waited for is finally landing in Belgium: pleased to meet you, Clinique Superdefense CC Cream SPF 30! After all those BB’s, you might be wondering what CC stands for.. Well, these creams are Color Correcting/Controlling, meaning they’ll take care of whatever issues your skin tone might be having and turn your skin radiant and beautiful. So you might think that this is exactly the same as a BB cream.. But they’re not quite. The biggest difference is the amount of coverage: CC creams offer better coverage. I like fuller coverage, so this is a huge plus for me. The second huge difference is the improved skin care benefits that these CC’s offer, focusing mainly on more SPF, loads of antioxidants and extra moisturizing benefits. It’s like a BB with super powers!

Clinique is launching their CC cream in 3 shades in Belgium: Light, Light/Medium and Medium/Deep. The formula is designed to “correct, hydrate & protect”. Advanced color correcting technology ensures that optical effects neutralize the skin tone to make you look healthy & natural. Dull complexions will look clearer, while pale complexions will get a healthy peachy glow. Red spots are neutralized. Hyaluronic acid, Trehalose and Sorbitol take care of an immediate moisture injection and keep your skin hydrated the whole day through. The SPF30 in the formula protects against UVA & UVB rays, while the powerful anti-oxidants vitamin E, rosemary, nordihydroguaiaretic acid and ascorbyl tocopheryl maleate protect the skin from external agressors.

Exact list of ingredients: Octinoxate 7.5% Octisalate 5.0% Titanium Dioxide 5.2% Zinc Oxide 3.2% Water\Aqua\Eau, Squalane, Octyldodecyl Neopentanoate, Butylene Glycol, Propanediol, Glyceryl Stearate, Behenyl Alcohol, PEG-40 Stearate, Polyglyceryl-10 Pentastearate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water, Thermus Thermophillus Ferment, Trehalose, Caffeine, Glycerin, Linoleic Acid, Lecithin, Stearic Acid, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Sorbitol, Polyglyceryl-6 Polyricinoleate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/Vp Copolymer, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Xanthan Gum, Silica, Alumina, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Tin Oxide, Disodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol, [+/- Mica, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Iron Oxides (Ci 77492), Iron Oxides (Ci 77491), Iron Oxides (Ci 7799)] [Iln39833]

Here are swatches of the three locally available colors in natural day light. ‘Light’ is just a tad too dark for my skin as you can see, but I wore it anyway today to see how it performs. The formula is really lovely: it’s semi thick, but blends into your skin wonderfully when applied. It melts away and covers very evenly, and sets to a glowing finish. I used my fingers to apply this one, which worked really well, although application with a stippling brush would work as good in my opinion. This one covered my spots really well and neutralized most redness, resulting in a natural look. If you want full coverage on certain blemishes, an extra concealer might be needed or you can double up this CC cream as it seems quite buildable. Concealer for under the eyes is definitely needed, I added an illuminating liquid concealer to brighten the under-eye area. I did powder off a bit since I like matte looks, I tend to shine a lot in the afternoon.. So that’s just my precaution. Can be worn with or without a day cream, but I always prefer to use my own day cream beforehand anyway. 

Three more colors are available in the UK & the US (and perhaps also other parts of the world, check your local website for more info on this), of which the lightest color Very Light looks to be a good match for me. I will be testing this one too, so stay tuned for an update on that one with some product pictures as well.

Clinique Superdefense CC Cream SPF 30 Colour Correcting Skin Protector is available in Belgium from mid May on (that’s not too long anymore!) in all Clinique counters and will retail for €30.30. This product is available now overseas at £28 in the UK & $35 in the US. 

Don’t you just love a good extra treat for your skin? Some swear by creamy/pasty masks either DIY or store bought, and these are also probably the best known. The easiest to use though are the pre-soaked sheet masks, or even better DIY skin conditioning masks you can make yourself: they’re so economical! I’m not talking about mixing water and face products yourself, but about the skin conditioning lotions you can buy in Asia, or on Asian webshops (long live the interwebs, right?). I bought one by Naris Up on the Sasa webshop some time ago, and I’ve been loving how it feels on my skin. And more specifically: how EASY it is to use! 

What do you need to make this work? Pressed dry cotton sheet masks & a bottle of skin conditioner. Cute red-eared phone cover not obligatory. I bought the Naris Up Skin Conditioner SO with soy milk extracts, but there are a bunch of other types available too: with hyaluronic acid, rose water, Vitamin C, marine collagen & pomegranate. Asian skin care is mostly based on moisturizing your skin very thoroughly, and these conditioners are a very important step in between cleansing & moisturizing. Of course not only Naris Up does these conditioners, basically any Asian skin care brand has them in their range: Shiseido, Skin Food, Everybody Labo, .. even Olay has one in Asia. Very often these also have whitening properties, an effect that is less desired by me though.

There are three ways to use these:
◕ Put the lotion in a spraying bottle & spray it liberally onto your skin & let it sink in. Don’t rinse. I prefer this method the least, so skip to the next ones!
◕ Use cotton pads: tear them apart, soak them thoroughly and apply them on your face. How-to from the bottle is pictured in the small insert. Let the cotton pads rest onto your skin until they’ve turned a bit dry or until you can’t handle it anymore ;) Don’t rinse afterwards! 
◕ Use dry cotton sheets: this is my favorite way to apply them! The Belgian beauty box Deauty contained some of these compressed cotton sheets last edition.. So if you’re subscribed for that box, you now know how you can use them. Just soak the compressed cotton sheet in a lot of product and unfold the sheet & place it onto your face. Let the product soak in for 10 minutes. Don’t rinse afterwards.

The pressed dry cotton masks are easily to be found on eBay and can be bought in bulk for just a few euros, like here for example. And of course you can still use pre-soaked sheet masks if you’re traveling, or if you’re looking for a certain skin treat that you can’t find in the bottled conditioners. I just really like doing it all DIY-ish, both because it’s much cheaper per treatment and just because I get to decide exactly how much product I’m using (and I’m using loads!). And it’s also the favorite way to do it in Asia! 

I feel a new Sasa order coming up.. I can get so excited about Asian skin care and make-up! Totally different than what we’re used to.. And therefor so desirable :) What are your favorite Asian skin care or make up brands/products? Let me know so I can explore!

I’m a huge Kiehl’s fan as you know and I have quite a few Kiehl’s skin care products in my routine. I squeeled a little when I received the press release of the Kiehl’s Correcting & Beautifying BB cream in my inbox a few months ago. I’m a BB lover, but have turned back to foundation (Healthy Mix) after a year of trying to find the perfect one. Sure, they’re all nice.. But there’s always something slightly wrong with every BB I try. The Erborian BB cream is the one that came close to perfection for me, but made me look like I was nearly dead since it was just a tad too pale for me. Dr. Brandt’s BB was okay, but as I got paler.. It just wasn’t right anymore. Luckily I have both girlfriends that are paler & tanner than me, so all these great-but-not-perfect products found a loving home. But I felt a little excluded from the BB party. And the Garnier one I was using was nice, but I knew that it wasn’t doing wonders for my skin. So in comes the BB cream by Kiehl’s. I was invited to an event to discover the product and to munch sushi. Perfect combo, if you ask me!

The packaging is quite sleek and very Kiehl’s-y. It’s interesting to note that this BB has been classified under the Dermatologist Solutions line - a clear statement to emphasize that this BB is not just a tinted moisturizer, but really goes back to the roots of BB creams. Nowadays every brand has a BB cream, some priced at just €3,50 with cute packaging and the promise to tackle no less than ten skin problems. While these products can be very satisfactory and can provide great medium coverage, they aren’t what BB’s were originally intended to be: they lack long term benefits. Kiehl’s did not want to belong to that category & wanted to offer a product that does not only offer decent coverage, but also corrects in the long run. They opted to use Vitamin C for the corrective properties & managed to combine it with pigments & a high SPF50. Apparently this is not all too easy since pigments and sunscreen only work well with oils, and vitamin C is a water-soluble molecule that would usually tend to separate when combined with oily substances. So it took them a while to end up with the final formula; but they made it work! The result is a kinda thick cream that takes some dedication to be worked into your skin completely. It smells very BB creamish. It’s comparable to the smell of Dr Brandt’s BB cream. It’s very persistant and the whole day through I smell it now and then.. So if you don’t like the smell, don’t buy it as it won’t fade away. 

The BB cream comes in three shades: light, fair & natural. In the swatch picture above (made with my mobile phone during the event) you can see these shades from left to right: natural, fair & light. Obviously I chose the lightest shade to take home with me as the other two are quite dark.This is the first flaw of this BB cream: I don’t think the shade range is sufficient. The second flaw is the coverage: it’s quite light, lighter than I had expected. This is alright if you have pretty skin as it is, but mine has been a disaster lately, so this BB cream alone won’t cut it for me. Kiehl’s suggests using this one as a primer if you need more coverage; so I tried that out and I was pretty impressed with the results. I can imagine this BB to be great for summer when you don’t feel like wearing a lot of coverage on your skin & want to be thoroughly protected from the sun. 

Kiehl’s Actively Correcting & Beautifying BB Cream is a great BB cream that really does what BB creams should do: correct on the long run and cover what we’re treating. If you’ve got bad skin, you’ll probably need some extra concealer of foundation to obtain fuller coverage. I can’t comment on the corrective properties yet: I plan on doing a trial using the product every day as a primer (or alone when I can) when my chin area has finally cleared up. I’ll document the progress & do a second round-up post then.

This BB is available now and retails for €29.00 in Belgium. 

EDIT: Forgot to mention this when I first posted this review, but for anyone finding this through search engines or anyone going back in time through my posts: be careful when you apply this around the eye area! Getting a little bit of this product remotely in your eye will result in stinging pain and tearing eyes for at least five minutes. It really hurts! If you in any case experience the same (I’ve been there twice, now I’m super cautious), please immediately rinse with loads of water!

Doing these monthly favorites posts really makes me realize how fast time is flying by. April has been a month filled with a lot of personal discoveries about life, work, love and friends (doesn’t that sound hefty?) and above all it was a very fun month (whoosh, gone heftiness!). Festival season has kicked off with Groezrock which made me feel sixteen again (unfortunately I also had a chin breakout to make me feel 100% the part) and the sun has finally decided to show up! Here’s what I really loved using the past month.

EDIT: for some reason the text accompanying the picture went lost this morning when the post went online.. So here it is again:

Neil’s Yard Remedies Bee Lovely Hand Cream: I got this one last month with Marie Claire and I have been loving it since! The texture is very moisturizing, not greasy at all and it smells AWESOME!
Bobbi Brown’s Shimmer Bricks in Pink Quartz: Whenever I get this one out again, I keep using it straight on for weeks. I love the gentle shimmer and I’m also in love with the sleek Bobbi Brown packaging.
Cheeky Cake by Pop: This is an amazing blush/bronzer duo that I use together as my blusher, which really suits my skin type. I believe these have been discontinued though, so you should check whether this has been replicated in their new packaging. 
Zoeva’s Concealer Buffer Brush: A heavenly brush! I love everything about it, it has completely changed the way I apply concealer under the eyes. A thorough review on Zoeva’s brushes can be found here.
Clinique’s Chubby Stick: I have been LOVING Bountiful Blush & Heaping Hazelnut lately. Both are neutral colors that bring an extra pop of color to the lips. It gives my complexion some more color and I have received quite a few compliments when wearing these! And always trust compliments, right? More on the original Chubbies can be found here.