Karadium Ribbon Marble Blushes

For today's post, I'm thrilled to introduce you to Karadium, a new Korean cosmetic brand that is about to launch on Cosmetic Love. If you've been reading this blog for a while, then you will know that I absolutely love Asian make-up and I'm always excited to try new brands!

The Karadium Ribbon Marble Blushes have the prettiest, most girly packaging ever. They come inside a little silver cardboard box with a cat design on it - the same that you can find on the actual blush compact. Inside of it you can find a little brush with very soft and thick bristles. It doesn't feel cheap at all like some other brushes that often come with powders. The compact also has a mirror, which can always come in handy, and a little plastic separator. I find that's much more convenient than the usual plastic sheet separators!    

I wish I could read Korean - unfortunately, there's no English on the packaging nor I can find any good info about these blushes online. I'm sure we will find out more about Karadium once it will launch on Cosmetic Love!

Something that you notice straight away when opening the blushes is a faint rose scent which I personally don't like (I prefer my make-up unscented or vanilla-scented), but I know lots of people will appreciate it.

California dream

I remember one afternoon -I was about five or six- when my mum and I counted my Barbie dolls: they were almost 100. Quite spoiled, I know! I used to absolutely love Barbie's, so when I saw this sweater on Chicnova I knew I had to have it. Statement sweaters have been a trend for months now, but I had never seen anything like this one before! I got mine in a size M and it fits me perfectly - it's slightly oversized but not too baggy, and it comes down right to my hips. I think it will be the perfect sweater to wear on lazy days at university paired with skinny jeans and a pair of Converse, or just to lounge around in the house. 

Did you use to play with Barbie dolls when you were little, too? :)

Today I want.. #19

Now that Summer is gone (sigh!), what best way than to bring it back with a lovely smelling body butter? I've been lusting over this Korres Fig Body Butter - I bet it smells amazing! I actually am not keen on the taste of figs, but I love their warm, sugary scent. I've never tried anything from Korres either, so I'm very interested in discovering more about the brand.

I've always wanted to try an Annick Goutal perfume. There is something about their names -the one I put in the collage is called 'Ce Soir Ou Jamais'!- and their packaging which is so intriguing! The perfumes from her range are so expensive, so I think I might go for a set of minis like the Annick Goutal Collection Perfume for women, which includes some of her best selling scents like Eau d'Hadrien, Eau du Sud and Petite Cherie. I feel like getting such expensive fragrances in full size can be tricky sometimes, so why not get a collection of miniatures to try out first?

Being a job-less student, candles are not the first thing I can spend my money on, but if I had to treat myself I'd get this Lollia Wish Petite Perfumed Luminary candle. It's descripted as a blend of 'warm Vanilla Bean and Rice Flower delicately frosted with sugared pastille', with notes of Jasmine, Ylang Ylang and Amber woods.. sounds pretty much like the perfect candle to me!

I just realized I have already included the Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint in one of my recent wishlist posts... this must say something about how much I want this product! I'm debating whether to get the minis for £15 or commit to the full sized bottle.. help! My skin is looking terrible at the moment - sometimes I feel like putting on a 100% full coverage foundation, sometimes I'd like to go out with nothing but a BB cream on and let the universe see my flawed skin. I don't know what to do!

On this subject, I kinda want to try the Glamglow. It's a mud mask that is supposed to be a miracle worker, I've seen tons of positive reviews about it but I'm scared my skin will react badly to it. Have you tried this? What do you think about it? 

Make-up storage tips

My make-up collection is not big at all comparing to some you can find on Youtube videos, where girls show their make-up room, but it's not as small that I can fit it all in a make-up bag. I think I have found a pretty inexpensive way to keep my make-up in place and I wanted to share it with you! 

My favourite way to store my make-up is using acrylic tea bags organizers like this one: I just remove the lid so that I'm left with a nice 'open' box with different compartments. There are plenty of wooden tea bag organizers, but I find that clear acrylic ones are better because you find the product that you are looking for more easily. Eyeliners, mascaras, lipsticks and even foundations and tiny palettes fit perfectly in this type of boxes! I managed to store 10 lip products in just one compartment, which  makes this kind of solution much more convenient than using a lipstick holder in my opinion. 

In my latest trip to IKEA I have found something similar to a tea bag box - it's called Krus and it's a cookie holder thingy. It comes with two dividers and you can choose whether to use one or both, which is great! For some reason I can only find it in the Italian IKEA website, but I bet it's available in other countries too :)

How do you like to store your make-up?   

My empties #3

Here I am again with another empties post! There's no feeling like finishing up a beauty product - I feel like I have accomplished something! Haha :)

The first empty product is a huge bottle of the Batiste Dry Shampoo in the original scent, which I had bought back in February (!). Thankfully, my hair doesn't get oily easily, so I only use dry shampoo once a week or even less - that's why this bottle lasted me so long. Batiste dry shampoos are considered the best in the field by many beauty bloggers, and for a reason. They come in heaps of different scents, they don't leave a white cast on the hair and they provide instant volume to the roots. I liked it so much that I have already repurchased a bottle of it! Another product I really want to purchase again is the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth cleanser, but I can't get it in stores here and it's a bit too expensive for me to order it online at the moment. It's the most gentle and efficient make-up remover ever, I loved it! It has a thick cream consistency which removes even the most waterproof mascara without stinging or hurting the eye in any way. It has a very pleasant herbal scent too, which is always a plus. Is there any place that I can get it for less?

The following two products were so-and-so. I've been using the Garnier Fructis Oleo Repair 3 shampoo and conditioner for the past two months now, and I didn't like them that much. They apparently contain Olive, Avocado and Karité oil and are supposed to help with dry or damaged hair. They definitely left my hair feeling soft and shiny, but it didn't quite look alright. Also, it got in my eyes by mistake twice and it hurt like hell! The first time I couldn't open my eyes for half an hour. Crazy!

The next product is a hair product as well, an heat protecting spray to be exact. The Avon Advance Techniques Protect It! Heat Protector didn't blow me away - the only thing I really liked about it was the smell! It was quite 'professional' and hair salon-like, haha!

I also finished up two nail related products: a Rimmel Nail Polish Remover in the Nourishing formula and an Essence Express Dry Spray. Two "meh" products, again - the first one did its job (without nourishing, though), and the second one kinda did what it claimed to do! I don't think I'll repurchase these, just because there are so many similar products on the market that I want to try.

Lastly, I finished up a packet of L'Oréal Triple Active make-up removing wipes for all skin types. These are definitely some of the best ones I've ever tried! They do a great job at removing 99% of my eye and face make-up without burning like some cleansing wipes can do. The only downside to these is that they are quite expensive compared to others, retailing for about €4. I would definitely repurchase these nonetheless!