Beauty Shopping: YSL Powder, Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Sunscreen, Jeanne Piaubert Ultra-Slimming Gel, Bed Head Conditioner, Shiseido Tanning Lotion

In my first post I’d like to make a quick overview of most interesting products I purchased after my last post. It is sort of hard to remember already.

My Estee Lauder Double Wear Powder that I absolutely love fell down and went into pieces. I tried to use it for a while anyway but would always end up messy :-D So I needed a new powder. At first I wanted to go for my usual choice but the sails girl attracted my attention to YSL Matt and Radience Enhancing Pressed Powder. I liked the idea of being matt and at the same time radiant!!! So I got it! Will write a review on this one..


For my trip to Greece I bought Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Sunscreen SPF 30 hoping that it will be better than the last year’s Clinique’s sunscreen of the same power. Unfortunately I was very disappointed - it was as oily and sticky as the Clinique's one.


I am always in search of a good restoring product for my damaged blonde hair. This time I tried Bed Head Conditioner with some color lock-in technology. I will review it later...



I was not happy with the way skin looked on my tummy and thighs so I decided to try out a new firming, anti-cellulite product... I was recommened to try Jeanne Piaubert's Supermince Slimming Gel. To tell you the truth, I so seldome see any result from such products... but I still buy stuff like this at least once a year!



And I again bought Shiseido tanning lotion. It gives the best natural looking glow to the skin without any lines.

Beauty Shopping: Genifique by Lancome

I finally splurged on my spring skin care kick. This year it is concentrated treatment from Lancome Genifique, the Youth Activator. This is an expensive product so I actually tested it 3 times before I finally decided to part with some $$$. I loved the effect from the samples so let's see how impressed I will be with the results from a full size product.

For my incredible generosity I received a present Renergie Lift Volumetry moisturizer. The box promises firmer skin and defined contours.

Beauty Shopping: More Gold!

Check out my recent acquiry for my collection of golden makeup!



Guerlain Golden Lash from the last year holiday collection purchased at a huge discount and Isa Dora Wonder Nail Polish that attracted me by promising quick dry and strong hold!

Beauty Shopping: Payot Emulsion Reconciliante Soothing Care

My jar of Estee Lauder Verite moisturizer is about to run out. So yeaterday I dropped by a local beauty store intedning to buy another one but a friendly salesguy trying to be helpful pointed out some discounted products which included Payot Emulsion Reconciliante Soothing Care. And so I got it instead of Verite! It's anyway advisable to change your skin care line from time to time. I already tried the emulsion and it feels really nice! Let's see how it compares to Estee Lauder's Verite...

Beauty Shopping: Last Year Holiday Season Limited Edition Lip Gloss by Guerlain

You won’t believe it but I came across a 50% off sale and saw this gorgeous GOLDEN Guerlain lip gloss from last year’s holiday collection! I love golden sparkle so I couldn’t pass up such an opportunity to add another jewel to my golden makeup collection… Hmmm, here is a thought, or should I say a “golden” thought! Maybe I should really start to collect makeup in golden shades and with golden accents, sparkles etc…

The Gloss is called Gold Princess and it looks gorgeous! The packaging is absolutely beautiful!

Beauty Shopping: John Frieda Blonde Hair Repair

In desperate need of some magical treatment for my mistreated blond-dyed hair I first asked my friends to give me as a present for birthday something nutritious and conditioning and got Yves Roche Nutrition Nourishing Conditioner. I was not very happy about the results… So I started looking into other options. Here is something I just bought to try out. Sheer Blonde: Blonde Hair Repair by John Frieda. What do you think?

Beauty Shopping: Clarins Renew-PlusBody Serum

Look what I got onsale! (50% damn percent off! - sorry for that!) I am very excited to try this Renew-Plus body serum by Clarins. Clarins describes this product as Intensive Renewing Beauty Treatment. It combines Water Lily extract with Pre-Retinol to "eliminate dead skin cells, enhance cellular renewal and tone skin" I mean the description is sooo good, I wonder what it will deliver :-)

My Beautiful Presents

At the beginning of this month I had a birthday! And just now I got around to bragging to you about my presents :-) Yep, among the maaaany presents I got were the following beauty related presents:

Nourishing Shampoo (dry Hair)
Nutrition Nourishing Conditioner (Dry Hair)
Arnica Night Repair Balm
Arnica Hands and Nail Smoothing Fortifying Cream

All of the above is by Yves Rocher. I actually requested cream and balm for hands as my friend gave those to me as a present a couple years ago and they were VERY good! I don’t know why but it is usually hard for me to find a good hair product. I either get allergic to it or it doesn’t work so well. (Dove’s conditioners I tested recently were good though!) So I am a bit skeptical but at the same time am looking forward to trying Nourishing Shampoo and Nutrition Nourishing Conditioner on my dull dull blonde locks :-)

Another interesting beauty present I got was Light Apricot Cleanser Apri-Cleanse by Nature’s Sunshine. I do not use peelings with irregular pieces like crushed apricot or almond kernel because I have sensitive skin and I get breakouts after using such cleansers or peelings. But I was told that in this particular product the particles don’t have sharp edges and the peeling is very soft. We will see!

Beauty Shopping: Mani-Pedi Essentials

I usually go for a mani-pedi to a local beauty salon. However recently I have been wondering how much I would be able to save if I started doing at-home mani-pedi from time to time... So I decided I needed to get some essentials. I am not completely mani-pedi oblivious, of course. I do take care of my feet and hands and I do have certain tools like nail files, scissors, cuticle softener and callus remover file/razor, creams… even a foot mask and soak! But of course this is not enough. I need some more tools and products. So here is what I got:

* Cuticle and Nail Plier (manufactured in Germany, Dont know why but in this part of the world they think German mani-pedi tools are the best!)

* Cuticle Scissors by Solingen, Germany (I have a couple of those but very old and not so good)

* Exfoliating Cuticle Treatment by OPI (why did I buy it! I still have some cuticle cream by Mavala left
* Nail Polish Corrector

* China Glaze (Octa Gone Wild) Nail Polish (I got obsessed with purple this summer and am still attracted to the lavender-purple shade!)

Beauty Shopping: Clinique SPF 40 Face Cream and Garnier After Sun Ambre Solaire Spray

We are finally going on holiday!!! Yes I know everyone has already had their fix of swimming, lounging and cocktailing… aaand we just got around to finally treating ourselves to a nice relaxing holiday. What can I say? We travel off season… weather is still good, it’s not so crowded and prices are better…
Anyway, I am so excited to finally go to Greece! We are going to Crete to an all inclusive resort! How cool is that?
So, of course, I have been shopping for some stuff for the trip!

I am going to use sun protection creams I have since last year. One is by L’Oreal and the other, developed specially for kids, by Eucerin.(I think) What I don’t like is to put sun protection developed for the body on the face. Because usually it feels very oily. So I thought I should get something else for the face. Without any prior research, just based on the fact that Clinique’s SPF 40 face cream has no fragrance and is allergy and photoallergy tested , I bought this cream today.

I also wanted something soothing and hydrating for the skin for after the sun. So I bought Garnier Ambre Solaire After Sun with cactus extract.
...in Greece, Rhodes about 2 years ago... gonna pack this dress! ;-)

Beauty Shopping: Diorshow Iconic High Definition Mascara

Guess what I finally got??? I made up my mind and got Diorshow mascara! Yay!!! It took me looong... The problem was tooo big choice and since mascara is now my daily quick make-up essential, I had to make a good choice!
When I was looking for the best mascara out there I asked on twitter for advice. Several people said they really liked Diorshow Mascara. However, one person said she would sometimes get raccoon eyes from Diorshow but she anyway liked it most of all. I decided to try out a couple other brands before getting it. But since I am not so much out shopping these days and because I am always in a hurry, I just couldn’t really completely focus on making the right mascara decision. So once I dropped by a store together with my Mom and painted my eye lashes with 4 different mascaras. Which do you think she thought was the best? Diorshow! You are right!
So last week I went shopping determined to finally get it! And I even got a present with it – an adorable miniature eyeshadow palette with 5 shades for creating a classic “iconic” look!


Diorshow Iconic Look (Mascara + Mini 5-color-eyeshadow)
O90 Noir-Black High DefinitionLash Curler Mascara

My present!!!

Beauty Shopping: Dior All-In-One Artistry Palette 008 Smoky Design

Recently I have been drawn like a magnet to Dior makeup. Just about a month ago I invested into a limited edition gold eye shadow. And now I got a palette of 5 shadows. I have been eyeing this palette for a long long time. I wanted a good palette for doing a smoky gray-silver-black eye. What I was looking for is a combination of shades that would allow me to vary intensity of the smoky eye makeup. Dior All-In-One Artistry Palette 008 Smoky Design has 5 shades from white to dark (liner dark black).

Before making the final decision I made sure I consider all of my options and asked the sales assistant to put next to each other various smoky eye palettes to see which I like most. Between Chanel, Lancome, Estee Lauder and Dior, the latter came out the winner.

Promise a review soon!

Beauty Shopping: Shopping in Brussels, Belgium

Traveling on business and for pleasure to Brussels a week ago I was looking forward to doing some shopping! Our hotel was right next to Grand Place so I did not get to shop at the world famous Avenue Louise...sigh... No time for long taxi rides…In fact in the end I am not even sure what the name of the street I was shopping at was … there were numerous brand names Zara, Sisley, Pimpkie, well known sores like H&M, C&A, Hema and of course beauty stores like internationally known ICI Paris XL plus some local beauty supply stores. The latter ones often have effective but unavailable in other countries products... one can discover some treasures there.

Actually I was looking for some brands not available where I am currently living like Payot and La Mer. But funny enough they were not available in Brussels either. I was told that La Mer can be purchased in Waterloo… out of all places…
So I ended up buying some products for the skin around the eyes:
Shiseido Benefiance Pure Retinol Instant Treatment Eye Mask (instant treatment that is actually mostly for wrinkles and circles but I love the smoothing effect on the skin and it does help to reduce puffiness)
Hydra Patch by Phabel Paris with plant extracts (it promises to re-moisturize and reduce fine lines, these are pads based on gel, I am not a big fan of those though some do give a good effect)
Puffy Eye Reducer Pads by L’Action Cosmetique (those are pads soaked in moisturizing ingredients, they come in a shape of a leaf which is cute, but they leave an unpleasant sticky residue on your skin – huge minus!)
Out of the products mentioned above I will write a full review on Shiseido’s masks, they are really worth it…

Brussels is a fun place! Unfortunately not enough time and opportunities to explore the city but had a chance to enjoy mussels, Belgium fries, waffles and of course world famous Belgina chocolates!

Beauty Shopping: Dior Eye Shadows and Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess

I just cannot help myself when I see makeup in golden shades... So when my eye caught Dior's eye shadow from their summer 2010 collection Golden Spotlight 616 I could not resist... I just had to have it... It took me 1 minute to think... or not to think it over and I bought it right away... Beautiful... beautiful eye shadow with a wet intense sparkling effect... aaaahhh I love it!

I also decided to get something that will give my skin a more intense color than Shiseido's bronzing daily moisturizer . Since I trust Estee Lauder with my sensitive skin and their quality has never failed me, I decided to give Bronze Goddes Self-Tanning Milk for Body a try. I know I still owe a review for Shiseido's bronzing moisturizer still... sigh... no time but I will do my best!

Beauty Shopping: Shiseido Benefiance Eye Treatment Mask and Make Up Forever

Lucky me! Again shopping! This time I came over a sale... This beauty focused store was celebrating some kind of anniversary and everything was 20% off. Well... what do I need I ask myself... I am actually currently again in search of a moisturizer for the summer with highest spf possible (in a mosturizer) and suitable for sensitive skin... they did not have anything to suggest except from Clinique's Superdefense... Sounds interesting... I requested a sample of this to test. However when there is such a sale, you just have to buy something... So I got Shiseido Benefiance Eye Treatment Mask.

I always need a good eye mask and I tried Shiseido's eye masks with Retinol which were very good! And I also finally got myself a good soft gold eye pencil. Yay! It is by Make Up Forever and is exactly what I have been looking for for a long time!

Reviews will follow!

Beauty Shopping: Dior Svelte Body Contouring And Firming Concentrate

Yes, I finally laid my hands on this product. After so much talking and changing my plans I finally got it. I am not at all satisfied with the results I got with Colistar’s intensive cellulite treatment. Before pronouncing that anti-cellulite products just don’t work I am going to give Dior’s product a chance. In addition to helping combat cellulite Dior promises tightening and contouring effects. Dior’s Svelte Concentrate looks and sounds impressing. Let’s see how it works! Don’t miss my review.




More on Christian Dior beauty products.

Beauty Shopping: Shiseido Daily Bronze Moisturizing Emulsion

Today I restocked on Estee Lauder Anti-Stress Masks and I got something new – a bronzing daily moisturizer by Shiseido. Last summer I didn’t use anything of a kind. didn’t really care how pale my skin looked… I just gave birth and the only thing on my mind was how to survive on a couple hours sleep a day. Well I survived and this spring I feel I already want my skin to glow. So I didn’t actually do any inquiries or any research into what’s available out there. Just walked into a store talked to a sales girl and chose Shisedo based on the intensity of the color it provides which is very light, no smell and the added benefit of anti-oxidant protection.

Let’s see how it works for me!

In addition to my purchases I got a wonderful present: a cosmetic bag by Shiseido with a Perfect Rouge lipstick in RD 514 and a Smoothing Lip Pencil in RD 305, Shiseido Advanced Essential Energy Hand Nourishing Cream, Benefiance Pure Retinol Instant Treatment Eye Mask, Replenishing Body Cream and Refining Body Exfoliator. Lucky me! Looking forward to trying everything out.

More on Shiseido skin care products

Beauty Shopping: Avene Cleanance and Collistar Super-Concentrated Anticellulite Night Treatment

Shopping again!

Rather than being loyal to my usual Estee Lauder Verite Cleanser I decided to try Avene’s Cleanance soapless gel cleanser. The fact that it was for oily, blemish-prone sensitive skin got my attention. I was not 100% sure as my skin is not that oily but in the recent months I had some annoying break outs. So I decided to give it a try.

I have been dreaming of trying Dior’s Svelte for a long time already… Asked for it but did not get it as a Christmas present :-( Actually was planning to buy it this or next month but my plans (as often happens to me) were disrupted… by a sale! 40% off Collistar cellulite products. Collistar is a Italian brand that I have never tried before. Sale is always a great chance to try out a new brand!

My choice fell on Collistar Super-Concentrated Anticellulite Night Treatment as it was promising fast results. I know I know we all want fast results but it just doesn’t work like this… Well I was also impressed with a red sign "Best Seller" on on the box. And of course I checked the ingredient list and liked what I saw with caffeine being almost at the very top of the list. Let’s see how it will work for me!

Avene Cleanance on Amazon:

Beauty Shopping: Substantific Neck and Decollete Treatment

Just when I thought that I will never go more expensive than Clarins’ Advanced Neck and Decolte cream I bough about a month ago, I went completely insane and got Guearlain Substantific Densifying Nourishing Sculpting Neck and Decollete Treatment. It seems even more crazy because it is definitely for more mature skin than mine. Well, in my defense it doesn’t hurt to try it out and I wouldn’t have even looked at it if the sales girl didn’t lure me into buying it by offering all kinds of presents. Just look at this!
I got
Success Eye Tech Up-Lifting Wrinkle Reducer– deluxe sample

Super Aqua Lotion – Toner Optimum Hydration Resistance

Guerlain Beauty Discovery: Success Age Splendid Deep Action Oil Serum Face Sculpting, Success Eye Tech, Success Future Regenerating Toner

However the price for this décolleté cream is so high, I feel like I didn’t get those for free but I did buy them. As you remember I really wanted to get Guerlain Success Eye Tech for Christmas from my hubby – it was on my wish list I handed to him :-) However I guess the price a bit scared him! Lol! So now I get this wonderful deluxe sample of 5 ml and another one in the Guerlain Discovery Kit. I am thinking if it works for me I will use both samples, otherwise I will give the kit to one very good friend to try out. I am also planning to give her the Super Aqua Lotion. Even though it sounds absolutely gorgeous being highly moisturizing…. with the extract of a desert rose and all that, but I am not soooo big on toners so probably she will enjoy it more!

Watch out for my review. I know I am always very late with reviews but they do eventually get posted!

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Beauty Shopping: What Beauty Products Are on Your Christmas Wish List?

This Christmas as always my hubby inquired sweetly what I would like to see among the presents under the Christmas tree. I didn’t tell him I have been dreaming about trying an SK II product and am very curious in giving a try to Galvanic SPA from Nu Skin. I think I’ll reserve these for anniversaries or something like that. But there are 2 products currently on my wish list: Guerlain eye cream – Success Eye Tech Up-Lifting Wrinkle Reducer (Eye Cellular Amber) and Dior Svelte Reversal Body Contouring and Firming Concentrate. Actually, I just realized that Guerlain’s eye cream is extremely expensive. As I can see in online stores it is around 100$ so maybe it was a bit too much to ask for :-)

If you read my blog you know that I am constantly in search for an effective eye cream to keep eye puffiness and wrinkles at bay. I need to upgrade from my favorite Guerlain Happylogy to something a bit stronger. So I am constantly asking for samples of eye creams whnever I buy a skin care product. I’ve tested a lot of eye creams some of which were really great and showed great result, like Bio Performance by Shiseido, for example. But I am sensitive to most of them and get irritated red eyes as a reaction. Guerlain’s Success Eye Tech seemed to work ok for me so I want to try and make a switch.

As for Dior’s Svelte Concentrate, I’ve been curious about it since summer. I tested Clinique’s High Definition Body Lift which was ok. I know winter is not the high season for contouring your body but I personally try to stay fit and keep skin smooth all year round! So now I would really love to try Dior’s product.

So are there any beauty products on your list?