Rouge Bunny Rouge GWP, or another 'Sales' Announcement

Rouge Bunny Rouge will give you a free Enchanted Garden Lipgloss of your choice when spending €50:

The 'rules' are simple; just add your lipgloss and it will be deducted from the cart:  

Among a growing wishlist lovingly enabled by all reviews online, I would like to get another Decadent Duo before they'll dissapear...they're the ultimate travel companion when flying with hand-luggage only.

'Sales' announcer: Free RMS eyeshadow with purchase

I thought this might be a good deal to share: When buying £30 on RMS you will get a free RMS Seduce eyeshadow (neutral brown), value £19:

sorry, cellphoto...real photo soon

It's my first RMS eyeshadow although I like other RMS products (see here). I'm not the only one who gives it a high rating, see thebeautylookbook review over here and how it matches up to its chemically-enhanced niche sisters.

The offer runs at Cultbeauty.co.uk: The free offer still worked this morning. 

This code will give you 15% off, today only: FF12.
Otherwise, code BEAUTY10 will give £10 when spending over £70 (valid until mid June).

More reviews, swatches to be found at cafemakeup, londonmakeupgirl and messywands has all types of swatches, from cheek to eye.

Scrub-a-Dub in Pink

There is something decent about bodyscrubs: They remove the dead skincells but I personally wouldn't spend too much on stuff that will disappear into the drain.

Still, it needs some essence to qualify as a good scrub: good grains (not to small nor large), nice scent (or nicely unscented) and a bit of extra to keep scrubbing for more than 3 seconds:

I really like my latest find by fashionstore Stories...I have the Shinjuku Bloom version and it smells like a cocktail of fruits & flowers.

The best thing about it is that it lathers slightly, and stays scrubby for more than 20 seconds!

☼ That's fantastic for prepping the body for some fun summertimes ☼

Using, Used, Gonna Use ft. Rodial Bumlift

In the trend of Cannes I thought I would give it a filmic title by featuring something.

Or actually I am really surprised I bought something called Bumlift.

USING:
1. Rodial Bumlift:
I almost finished a whole tube of this product. Rodial is quite expensive and it was the name and the hype that made me bought this. Actually, it was my grafity-obeying Gluteus Maximus : I prefer grafity-defying body and face parts so I thought it was time to bring in some revolt against my drooping glutes.

Ingredients:

So did this prep my glutes and thighs for the luring bikini season?

I was already quite satisfied with Vichy Aqua Destock but curiosity killed gravity so I splurged two times the price of the Vichy on Rodial. I'm not quite sure if it is worth it: my legs and behind are looking slightly perkier since using it, but I do not consider it to be worth more than my Vichy variety.

2. Duri Rejuvacote:
This is my second bottle. I loved it on my first bottle as it FINALLY gotten my nails strong and longer. When I stopped I gotten into nail-breakage Limbo again. Hence, it has its limits but I continue to use it as it gets me natural lenght for the time I am faithful to it.

USED:
3. Organix Repairing Awapuhi Ginger Mask
Oh dear, another hairmask! Yes, I found good reviews on this line at makeupalley and it's available in a brick-and-mortar shop close to me. It works really good in smoothing flyaways and is not too expensive.

Gonna Use (kind of using now but needed this category to be filled)
4. Kanebo Coffret D'Or Rouge Essence RS-276
I bought this one to replace my beloved and almost finished Shine Drape Rouge. I'm slightly dissapointed that it is not the moisturizing quality as before: it is slightly waxier on the lips but I love the pinkish colour for it's neutral polishness. I'm surprised it is on the pinker side as I normally receive something rosier when I order a RS colour. Still, it's a pretty pink.
However, I think I will stick to the Chanel Coco Rouge Shine instead for the feel that is similar to my previous Shine Drape Rouge.

Topshop Hairchalk, or Kidsplay for sorta Adults

I've got these moments when I think I'm young & wild and a virgin

These moments don't happen in the morning when I've checked my mirror: wild, perhaps...but young? Not so much.

As for virgin? My hair used to be but after the restoration session it probably is a mixture of 4 types of dye and some bleach (still manages to look a natural beachlook instead of "hairdresser's head").

As a young mind, I thought turquoise dipdye would be a good idea, but maturity saved me from going in for that [yet], so chalk it is.

There are lots of places to get your chalk from these days, but I opted for the easy way when I ordered some clothes on Topshop.

 So "colour without commitment" for €5.

Let's see how it performed:

After my intensive complaining of my hair for *oh lets say* a whole year I am gonna show you some ends (so they are ends and not superhealthy, but they still have some natural shine)

"ready for a rendez-vouz, goldielocks"

 I am considered a [sorta] blonde in the Meditterean and a blonde in Asia, but in Holland they are that platinum that they consider me a brunette: "it's all about perception, right?"

Chalking up:

 

Andddd

Post-Chalking:

I liked the colour and it's quite colour accurate from the chalk-tube 

(and I am not even having white hair so I think it will work on darker brunettes too)

ONLY,

it looked so matte, so I thought I would give it some gloss with shine-spray:

tools of MATTE destruction: Bumble & Bumble Shine on...(and on...)

EHM?

 I'd probably should have misted it from a far distance instead. Now it's really pine-green.

I have never been that happy about my Bumble & Bumble Shine on but misting it afterwards is not the best idea. 

I think that "keeping it matte" is a good look when working with hairchalk. 

Eventually, it's for a party or other event alone and the matte gives it that "cool-girl-couldn't-care-less" vibe.

So, I am not a pro with hairchalk but for a non-pro it works quite ok, but keep the liquids before instead of after.

Ok, I forgot the ingredients:

bit blurry, sorry

CONCLUSION: Excellent festival spice for more standardy hair;  Fun stuff for commitment-phobes on hair; 40 (& 30)-somethings with pre-midlife crisis that still-have-to-go-to-the-office, or to see if you'd really gonna take the plunge on funky colours in your hair.

Availability: Topshop

Used up's...

"Newly used up's, isn't that an oxymoron?" 

I have quite the selection of products:

1. Suti Rejuvenate Face oil;
I often buy skincare on naturissimo and they have some gorgeous sample sizes that I love for travel. I often return to sample sizes of Suti as their samples are quite generous and not too expensive (£2.95 for 4 ml here). I don't know why I haven't gone full-size yet because I repurchase the sample size oftenly.

2. Aurelia Revitalise & Glow serum
It gotten quite the positive reviews in the Vogue UK, had a feature on net-a-porter, but the review that made me buy this was thanks to the glowy Grace from LondonMakeupGirl.  She branded it as the serum close to Nude skincare serum and I loved that one. Also, I often find beautybloggers to be more unbiased than people working at Glossy magazines (etc) and I love a concise review that makes me plunge into buying something unsniffed/untested.
I love this serum and it's quite similar to the fantasticness of Nude Skincare serum. I will rebuy when I finish my Omorovicza Gold Flash Firming Serum.

 3. Phylia de M Clean shampoo
 Oh, my hair-woos story...This shampoo was included in a set that gotten me an extra bottle of my beloved Phylia de M Connect. I am not sure if it really works but it's a fresh and natural shampoo. I do not think I will repurchase as I think that the spray itself is more effective on getting the Fulvic Acid to my roots.

4. Melvita Mousse Nettoyant (cleansing mouse)
I have to update my original review (here) as it has been gentle, but not too effective in cleaning off all of the makeup. I do not use that much makeup but I still had too much on my face when I used my cotton pad with toner.

5. L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary oil for hair
I would only buy it to obtain such an ecstatic gaze as the model has on the promotion photo...hehe.

It was a BOGO deal with another L'oreal and I liked it for pre-oiling my hair before shampooing. I do not think it is as good as Kerastase Elixir Ultime but sometimes I get too frugal about my expensive haircare: this one was so easy to slather on as a pre-conditioner before shampooing (extra protection).
I didn't get the ecstatic look as the model, though, but if it's featured in another BOGO I might repurchase it for it's easiness described above.

Reaching Tube...

I am about to finish up a lipstick! 

♥ my beloved Coffret D'or Shine Drape Rouge in RS 251 ♥

 For eyeshadows we would use the words "hitting pan" but there's no pan so I'm "reaching inner tube".

Unfortunately this 2009 edition is not available anymore...

I often pick softer colours for my lips: I am not a real lip-person but I like them looking dewy and young. Also, this one is so easy to apply without a mirror.

Oh, parting is such sweet sorrow, or being careful with my bit of Coffret d'Or

I bought this Coffret D'or lipstick based on Lotuspalace's review when she was still around. 

I kinda miss her: beautyblogs have triplyfied/quaduplified and there so many good reviewers going on, and still I miss some of the older 'hangout-places' for reviews & swatches.

I think I will try the newer version of their range soon.

Hakuhodo Mizubake

After my introduction in Hakuhodo brushes I went for a speciality brush aimed for cream formulas: the Mizubake:

It was not my only item:

I also picked a cheaper facebrush for on-the go: the K022

I like the K022 enough but I am baffled by the performance of the Mizubake.
 Let alone that it looks so incredibly beautiful and expertised as a tool for the face.

First I went 'skinny-dipping' into the products I bought it for: My cream formulas of foundation & cream blush.

I did a a *Cinderella Moment* to see if the brush fits: 

it was slightly too large for the RMS and the Julie Hewett cheeky, 

however,

the shoe brush fitted perfectly for my Lotree cream blush:

Mizubake dippin'  in

So I swatched that one...

The colour deposit afterwards:

I don't know which reviewer(s) it was, but I agree with her that it looks so satisfying when having a white brush: you can see perfectly how the formula is distributed on the brush: really equal:

same Mizubake & Lotree, only taken with flash

And that is how it translates on the skin:

 

[I used soft, swirling motions and *deliberately* didn't blend out to the sides so you can see the position I placed the brush]

Actually, since I have this brush I started to rediscover my *slightly* neglected older cream blush formulas like the Lotree one above. I have been loving peachy blushes lately so this colour above fits the bill.

Also, it works like a dream with the RMS concealer/foundation: it's spreads out so much thinner than if I would do it with my hands or another brush.

Conclusion:

• Incredibly beautiful brush with that hint of 'Orientalism'
• excellent for cream formulas
• equal colour disposition of cream formulas 
• perfect for thicker formulas of (cream) foundations, especially when spritzing the brush beforehand with a toner/filtered water/etc
• pleasure to feel it swirling on the skin 
• rediscovered my beautiful 'wallflower' blush thanks to it

A more expertise review and what got me going for this one is on LolasSecretBeautyBlog and TheNonBlonde has been pretty convincing as well. GlossedIntoTranslation loves it so much it even became her header...can you figure?  

It's available from Hakuhodo over here.

L'oreal SuperDust: Cool Girl Hair in-a-Can

"Is it a bird('snest), is it a bee('s hive)

No,

It's SuperDust Hair!"

 L'oreal Professional has a funky-looking version of a volumiser powder in Superhero colours and matchingly called SUPERDUST

If you haven't used any volumizer powder in your hair before, it feels like that Angel's hair you put in your Christmas tree:

It basically looks pretty but it feels like a role of superglue that almost hardened but not yet: and feel your fingertips afterwards.

L'oreal is better than an earlier one I have tried. I cannot remember the name anymore because I steered away from these dusting powders for years as the feel of it felt like the equivalent of someone scratching nails on a blackboard, Brrr:

[POW] Superdust

I caved into having this version for vanity reasons:
wanting good volume in my hair, some grip, coolness:

neither a language that I can understand, nor English

 The list of ingredients is rather simple:

When you shake out some powder, it slightly reminds me of something:

So yeh, I finally figured out what that mystery white powder is of Cara Devigne that had lots of rumours going on...It's just a sample of the Superdust to keep her hair coolgirl grungy:

Yeh right...

How I disgress this time? So how did it perform?

• quick!: shake some in hair-little bit of tease: POOF, volume
• Either a Cool(er) girl look or that Haughty Madame when paired with a beehive
• feels ok: not like angel's hair but still grip-py
• When it slightly collapes: just crunch with your hands and the height returns
• It's a hassle to wash it out so use deep-cleansing shampoo, good conditioner otherwise you have weird (irregular) hair afterwards.

Availability:  On Lookfantastic.com

Deal Alert: Omorovicza GWP

Today's motto = "From one GWP into Another"

Before I'll explain the quote above, I'll let you know that urbanretreat.co.uk has an incredible GWP when spending £50 or more on Omorovicza.

First, something I really like from my previous GWP from Omorovicza:

The Copper peel has been everything to me what the peel I discussed yesterday hasn't been: fast, gentle, effective, and a breeze for the skin. 

And left my skin representative enough for going to more glam occasions than the IKEA.

So from one GWP into another: I've purchased this peel in full-size and (already) received my new GWP and the full-size peel

This GWP is slightly different than the one from Omorovicza's site earlier:

The night cream & thermal balm wasn't in their other set, so more to experiment with

(and perhaps another GWP from an earlier GWP)

Not promoting Urbanretreat but if you haven't ordered from them before:

Yours sincerely,

 Deal-alert-er Birkie

The Quite original BB:

I FINALLY GOT THE ORIGINAL 

Ok, I'll stop the capital textual yelling but I finally had the opportunity to use one of the original BB creams: the German Blemish Balm from Dr. med. Christine Schrammek: that is quite something now these days the original has been broken down to a zillion of versions that all claim to be BB...

I was introduced to this BB as the follow-up treatment to the same peel under Dr. Schrammek's name: the Green Peel (more info here)

I would like to elaborate of my experience of  this peel, but that would make the post too long. It made my skin a lot smoother in the end. However, the process wasn't easy. Basically, I started their lightest version and it felt like a total blast on my face. Nothing harmful, but my face was rather unrepresentative for a couple of days. That resulted in me going to the Ikea to get drawers and go for DIY activities instead of doing stuff in the open at the weekend.

I still wasn't that ashamed that I skipped the Ikea. People might have thought I had dramatic cosmetic surgery instead of a rather normal peel, but there are mostly housewives in my local Ikea that are looking for inspiration. The weekend have the more trendy and studenty people. Mornings have the old people going for the 1 euro breakfast.

But normally there wouldn't be really eligible bachelors walking in the Ikea that I have to have my face representative (aka on the pretty spectrum) for.

(sorry, still a long story about things beautybloggers couldn't care less about, but we need organising our dramatic bulk of pretty makeup, right?) 

That meant any cover up would come in handy: [Original] BB cream?

The Blemish Balm was almost like the 1st Korean versions (can you remember?). Herbally, greyish and a thick paste:

  

That makes sense that it would be similar to the 1st Korean types: the Korean BB's were inspired by  the German versions. 

When you spread it out, it is still a thick, greyish paste: nothing similar that the L'oreal-esque versions on the market these days:

So this one really needs blend blend blending, blend blend blend blending...check mirror, ok going to blend some more.

Result distance:

A calm and equal surface with a hint of grey (to tone down the after-peel redness).

Closer up:

Smooth, tones the redness of my arm, and smoothes down larger pores.

Ingredients:

it gets some yellow lights on cosdna.com

Verdict:

• needs expertise blending
• finish: takes redness out and smoothes pores
• really strong herbal scent
• I was really glad I could stop using it after the mandatory after-peel days: itchiness!
• the amount of shaders/bronzer/blush that I had to use to look like a human instead of a corpse was tremendous 
• totally happy when was finally allowed to be using my own arsenal of soothers [here] and [here]

Conclusion:
Ugh, doing a peel is one thing but the must-use follow-up regimes are another thing. I have to give it credits for its smoothing, pore-refining and mattifying qualities but it's not for the sensitive [skin]types.

Fave Colours

It has become a sort-of-cliche for me to reach for peach blush colours during spring:

This spring is nothing different, only this time I went mineral of a NARS-inspired colour [Deep Throat], delicately called Lovelace.

For people not really knowing their 70s 'classic' (??) movies: Linda Lovelace was the lead actess in "Deep Throat"*.

Oh gosh, there goes my romantic spring feeling about blush, but it's a gorgeous shade even if it is slightly peachier than it's NARS derivant.

It does sound better when a friend asks you what blush you wear: not many people connect the name to that film, but mentioning the blush from NARS could get some raised eyebrows among the non-cosmetic afficionadas. 

(from silknaturals.com)

A more harmless name with a gorgeous golden mustard colour:

Although I often think of Lamé as Lame...

In this case this $3 outlet colour is everything but lame:

Golden Mustard

Silknaturals gave out a freebie when spending over $10, and it's a taupish mauve with some interesting sparkles:

So I've been using that one as well...

So, are you always reaching for a certain colour during the change of season, or are you the experimental type in the field of blush?

*ps: if you think that a 1970s movie is going to be easy on the 'erotic' genre, then I might be a wuss on this field, but (a part of) that film was quite graphic. The story about Linda Lovelace is quite sad too (see here) and it should be reminded that most people working in that genre of filmmaking are not always there because they chose to be.