Adam's dictionary update

pipi -pić
kunti- kino
gra
nie ma
tak -  ptak
kółko
dym
traja - tramwaj
doma - Tomek i przyjaciele
mniam mniam
dom
baja - balon i mandarynka
włun - włącz
wiiii - smoczek
ciu ciu - pociąg
tam
tu
dzindziu - dzwig
euko - autobus
łała - karetka
dindi - winda
koko - kakao
ciaka - pies, szczeka
papati - diesel 10, koparka
tati - landrover
kaka - Mikolaj
to
kuń -koń

Nars cream eyeshadow in Grand Bleu - review & swatches

Nars cream eyeshadow in Grand Bleu

Nars cream eyeshadow isn't exactly the thing I've always wanted. Before X-mas Nars offered free delivery  for orders over €40 do I was looking for something to top up my Mandchourie eyeshadow order. I'm mad about cream eyeshadows and this blue looked nice so I picked it.

Nars cream eyeshadow in Grand Bleu

Grand Bleu is a very light kind of blue with silvery sheen. It's much lighter when swatched than in the pan. Unfortunately the formula of this eyeshadow is quite dated. It's the non-drying, very creamy formula, which doesn't need to be tightly sealed to remain fresh. The trouble with that formula is that it's fairly greasy and tends to melt, crease and fade. It needs to be set with powder eyeshadow to survive a couple of hours on my lids. It isn't also particularly useful as an eyeshadow base cause it's far too greasy. I use it on my bottom lash line when I need a bit of bright, fresh colour. A couple of years earlier I would have been extatic about this eyeshadow, but now , with so many marvellous cream eyeshadows on the market, ranging from high-end to drugstore brands this one is not worth the money or effort.

Nars cream eyeshadow in Grand Bleu

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

Nars Mandchourie eyeshadow duo: review + swatches

Nars Mandchourie eyeshadow duo

I had this eyeshadow only for a couple of days cause my mum, who was actually born in Mandchourie, snatched it and has been unable to part with it since then. Partly for sentimental reasons, partly because of how nice it is.

Nars Mandchourie eyeshadow duo

Mandchourie wouldn't have been unique at all if it hadn't been for that gorgeous gray-blue with gold sheen on the right. It's rather unusual to combine cool grays and blues with the warmth of gold, it seems such a clash that should make your teeth ache, but contrary to what you expect this combination looks both extraordinary and beautiful.

The eyeshadow on the right is a blackened navy blue with matte finish. Looks more blue in the pan than when actually used. Good for darkening the outer corners and blending.

Nars Mandchourie eyeshadow duo

The eyeshadows are soft and pigmented, apply and blend easily. However, they tend to fade and crease on my oily lids sooner than MAC eyeshadows do (I always use primers). Nonetheless I'm considering getting one more of these for myself cause I suppose my mum isn't giving them back.

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet lipstick in La Fascinante (38) and La Raffinee (34)

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Fascinante

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet lipsticks are a series of matte lipsticks which offer velvety lip colour. The coverage is opaque, the formula is dense but creamy. Some people find it too dry, I don't, but then dry lips are not my issue so I'm not particularly concerned. I love the fact that is spite of being creamy and opaque the formula is extremely lightweight (it feels like you're not wearing anything on your lips at all). And most importantly, the lipstick stays on your lips for hours (about 5 hours of constant talking and the lipstick won't budge, then it starts to call for improvements).

La Fascinante is a beautiful lipstick, bold vampy red. The colour is so daring that even I hesitate whether wearing it is appropriate and I'm not faint hearted at all. I usually end up wearing it for my hubby at home, hehe. 

The first two swatches were photographed in direct sunlight.

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Fascinante

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Fascinante

The following pictures were taken in the shade.

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Fascinante

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Fascinante

La Raffinee (below) is on the other hand a calm nudey dusty rosy pink with hints of beige. It reminds me of my favourite Chanel Rouge Coco Mademoiselle, very similar shade with different formula. This shade is definitely much more wearable and I use it a lot. 

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Rafinee

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Rafinee

The pictures below were again taken in different lighting. First in direct sunlight:

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Rafinee

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Rafinee

and in the shade:

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Rafinee

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Rafinee

The only thing that doesn't appeal to me is the packaging. It's a beautiful, classy black metal thing where the lipstick is held sort of upside down and opens with a click. I'm a fan of the traditional, almost vintage design of  most lipsticks so this design is simply not my taste.

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

Benefit Hervana blush - review & swatches

It seems to me that spring of 2012 is gonna be all about pink blushes. Most respectable make-up companies are releasing something pink like Dior Rosy Glow, Nars Gaiety, Horizon de Chanel, Lancome La Roseraie to name but a few.

Hervana's toy windmill pattern looks nothing close to being pink. This is an array of colours ranging from warm beige to this very dark purplish beet shade. Looks quite mad, doesn't it? Well when swirled together all these shades combine to create a very wearable light peachy pink. Although you can see tiny shimmers in the pan, the blush reads mostly matte but by no means flat. Really pretty and I guess would flatter a variety of fair to medium skintones.

The quality of the product is amazing. Although it's fair it's very pigmented and I have no issues with the blush not showing on my NW20 skin. It applies easily and blends nicely and lasts a decent amount of time. The brush provided is totally useless when you want to swipe it across all these shades. And actually with the box being so tiny most brushes just dab in the centre. I'm currently in the phase of experinenting with different brushes and figuring which one would make the best swirl. So far my Maestro tapered brush is the winner.

Although obviously  these stipes are a gimmick and it's hardly possible to pick the colours separately (not with a blush brush at least) I tried using the lightest one as a highlighter on my brow bone and it looks really really nice.

And the last thing which I really appreciate in case of this blush is that it's quite hard. I normally prefer much softer powders, but this time hard texture makes perfect sense cause first of all when you swirl the brush inside the box it doesn't sent clouds of dust in all directions and mess the inside of the box and more importantly these stripes don't get stained at all! The pictures above show the blush after a good couple of uses and it looks untouched. So if you'd like to use these shades separately as highlighters, blushes, eyeshadows or whatever else there's no danger that they'll loose their initial colour.

The bottom line is: a great blush for the spring. 

ehm... what am I talking about? it's -10°C here today.

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Reactivating Mist - a review

I hardly ever wash my hair in the morning cause it takes ages to dry and I don't want to risk meningitis walking out with wet hair. That's why I'm always on the look-out for styling products that would revive my curls in the morning. 

Until now my all-time favourite was Toni & Guy Beach Curl Spray, but it has definitely been dethroned by Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Reactivating Mist. First of all the reactivating mist is for me more of an activating mist cause my reactivated hair much better than my hair straight after washing and styling. The mist leaves my hair nicely curly, soft, non-sticky, non-frizzy, non-dry. Once the mist dries it simply disappears leaving the visible effect, but no actual product on my hair. There's no chance of overdoing, you can spray your hair as much and as often as you want to, the only contraindication being wasting such miraculous, yet expensive potion.

The only thing I don't quite like about B&B Reactivating Mist is the smell. It seems quite nice kind of sweet smell in the dominant notes, but then I sense something that reminds me of mildew or this stale smell of damp enclosed spaces. Weird.

Nonetheless I believe this is an excellent product and I definitely intend to repurchase. I'm also planning to explore the brand in more detail as I've seen a number of other interesting goodies on their website.

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Intense Eyeshadow no. 1 & 3 (Blast of Blue & Purpura)

I'm a big fan of cream and hybrid eyeshadows so I couldn't resist trying out the Armani Eyes to Kill. The first one I chose was Blast of Blue (no. 1). Before I got it I was worried about the consistency and the tone as the tester in my local Douglas shop looked first of all crumbly-loose (and I don't like powder shadows) and mostly gold. In spite of this the swatches looked so nice that I took the risk and got it.

The shade turned out to be predominantly blue ( and I love blues) with golden sheen. Really magical, charming and unique.
The shadow needs to be applied with certain types of brushes. I tested it with a number of different brushes I own and the performance differed substantially depending on the brush. Flat synthetic brush didn't manage to pick any product at all, whereas a stiff blending brush applied the shadow in a nicely sheeer way, very buildable actually. You may create a nice smoky eye using one brush and one eye shadow. The MUA at Douglas suggested using a sponge applicator and she was right, sponge applicators are excellent if you wish to achieve the intense kind of look.

The swatches below show Blast of Blue in different lighting, at different angles.

Encouraged by my previous experience with those shadows I got myself another one in Purpura (no.3). The idea behind this shadow was quite similar, the difference being that gold was mixed with purple instead of blue, but to my surprise this time gold played the major role in colour formulation, the purple leaving a dark cast behind the gold. Although the quality of the shadow is just as marvellous, applies exactly the same way as Blast of Blue, Purpura failed to become my favourite simply because I'm not much into golden, brown, taupe, nude kind of make up  and, depending on lighting, Purpura bears resemblance to all these instead of the purple I had hoped it to be.

And again, swatches in different lighting conditions: direct sunlight and on a cloudy day

The bottom line is that Armani Eyes to Kill Intense Eyeshadows are an excellent product. The colour range is exrtemely varied and unique, although there are surprises hidden behind these unusual colour combinations. These eyeshadows'  quality is amazing, they last all day never crease or fade, they apply wonderfully (although I don't think they blend so well). One eyeshadow is enough to create a complete look as you may vary the intensity of application. I'll definitely keep exploring the line, there're many more shades that attract my eye.

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

BB Creams by Missha (Matte and Perfect Cover #21)

So much has been said about BB Creams that I simply couldn't resist the temptation to learn what they are like and try them out myself. I didn't have any expectations really cause I sort of feel distrustful of these Korean goodies and so I ordered these in 20ml packaging so as not to waste too much money in case they turned out to be useless.

Once I received the parcel I understood why those Koreans are such a successful nation. Not only can they produce these cute beauty gadgets, but they also MANAGED TO MAKE POLISH POSTAL SERVICES WORK QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY. I don't know how they made it, I guess some sort of magic, but the package from Korea arrived just in less than a week, 4 working days to be precise. For your reference speedy delivery from Warsaw can take up to 3 weeks, X-mas cards from London spend over 2 weeks on their way here. Can you believe 6 days total from Seoul?

Perfect Cover #21 (left), Missha Matte  (right)

Such speedy delivery made me feel positively about these BB creams before I even used them and I started considering getting more of these goodies. 

So what do I think about these?

They are in no way a miracle product, and I didn't expect them to be, but I think they are very decent tinted moisturisers with really high sun protection factors (Perfect Cover). They do not provide full coverage, but they melt nicely into the skin, optically evening out the skin tone. The shade of both is actually almost identical, a kind of ashy beige, which doesn't match my skin tone at all, but strangely enough it looks great once applied. 

I decided to compare them by covering half of my face with one BB cream and the other half with the other. Here's what I discovered:

1. The shade is identical.

2. The coverage is identical.

3. In spite of the fact that one of them is supposed to be matte, the finish in both cases was kind of dewy.

4. The consistency of Missha Matte is much thicker, therefore more difficult to distribute.

5. The staying power is the same.

6. They have similar faint perfumy smell.

My conclusion is that in the summer I'm gonna get a full size bottle of  Missha Perfect Cover to use as a sun protective tinted moisturiser cause it has SPF 42, distributes smoothly and effortlessly and is fairly cheap. This is a perfect solution for hot days when you want your skin to look nice, but you don't want to pack too much stuff on your face and look overdone.

blended out swatches of both Misshas, you can't see them, can you?

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

Wella SP Polished Waves hair cream

Since my hairdresser suggested I use styling creams or balms instead of mousses on my dry and damaged hair I've experimented with a number of styling products, which generally have improved the condition of my hair, leaving it more shiny and conditioned. 

Wella SP didn't make a good impression on my hair. Strangely enough it left my hair feeling dry, matte and stiff and more beach-wavy than curly. I'll wait till the change of seasons cause it might work better in spring or summer. For the time beging TIGI Curlesque strong mousse and TIGI Curlesque serum are irreplaceable.

EDIT: I started using this cream on dry hair. I rub a bit in my hands then scrunch my hair and irt works perfectly! My hair is volumised, lifted, curled and generally with the use of this cream I can do the tricks my hairdresser does with my hair. Really really really nice!

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

Beauty Formulas Deep Cleansing Nose Pore Strips

This is a product I haven't used since I was a teenager. I loved them then and they disappeared mysteriously from the market. With their reappearance I decided to give them a try.

I must admit this is a highly effective way of keeping your pores clean, though stripping this thing off  your nose is a traumatic experience. 

I don't think there strips differ much brand to brand, Beauty Formulas are widely available and affordable so I might stick to them.

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

MAC Matchmaster foundation 1.5 - review + swatches

MAC Matchmaster foundation is a very decent foundation which is quickly becoming my current  favourite. The idea behind this foundation was to adjust to whatever skin tone you have and I must admit it really does. The founation looked alarmingly yellow in the bottle and when swatched, but once applied it looks fairly natural and well-matched, although I would feel more comfortable if the shade was more of a neutral beige or pink undertone.

The foundation can be applied thinly for medium coverage, which I love. It doesn't accentuate the pores or clog them. Matchmaster gives a fairly matte finish and helps control oil really well. Ideal for me, might feel dry and uncomfortable on dry skin types. I often have difficulty measuring how long the foundation stays on my skin as it disappears gradually and I can never specify when it's actually gone, but I'm convinced this one stays put for a decent amount of time.

If you look at the swatches you may think that this shade is too dark for me, but strangely enough when applied on my face makes me look pale and it doesn't oxidise much.

All in all I I believe this is a decent foundation for decent money. MAC is the only make-up brand which is not ripping us off here in Poland. All prices are roughly the same as in the UK or the US, which renders the products affordable. The only problem is that the nearest MAC store is about 300 km away from the 1-million agglomeration where I live (this is an implied suggestion for the MAC marketing team).

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

TIGI Curlesque Strong Mousse

Instead of a review this is going to be a story of how relative our opinions can sometimes be.

Over a year ago I bought a complete set of TIGI Curlesque products cause they promised to do wonders and received countless positive reviews. The quality of the products within the range turned out to be rather uneven, ranging from really crapy things like the shampoo and the conditioner to my HG styling product - the serum.

The set contained two mousses, light and strong. While I quite liked the the light one and used it up instantly, the other one left my hair in horrible mess not resembling any curls, hardly resembling anything at all. For some reason unknown it didn't end up in the bin ( well, I know the reason, I simply find it impossible to throw anything away). A couple of weeks ago I run out of my previous styling product and started digging for some new one when I stumbled across the strong mousse and decided to give it a go. And it works! It's excellent! Especially now, in winter, which is such a difficult time for my hair. My hair never looks good in winter, it refuses to curl, looks straw-dry and I normally hate it so much I feel tempted to shave it off every time I look at it. And before I started using TIGI it'd already started looking pitiful and now it's revived!

What I want to say is: there's no objective review. Every person has different needs and expectations and what's more even the same person may have different attitudes to the same product! 

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

Burberry Blush in Peony (No.04) - review &swatches

Here it is. The newest beauty in my collection. Burberry blush in Peony! It has come all the way here from Harrods thanks to my dear Anka's help and commitment. Only after she'd bought the blush did I realise what I'd asked her to do! Shopping in Harrods on the first days of sales, god this must have been insane...

Peony is by far the prettiest beauty gadget that I own. It's perfect in every detail, starting from the tasteful cardboard packaging, through the cheched pouch to the blush itself. Peony is packed in a metal case with Burberry check on the lid. Once opened the box reveals a pastel pink blush adorned with the same check pattern, which gives out sweet smell and an angled brush. Every moment of unpacking this product is a pleasure, the pleasure of dealing with something so beautiful that it verges on art and you know that in a moment you'll start hesitating whether you should use it or perhaps you should display it like a sculpture.

I decided to use it after all and it's not an art for art's sake kind of thing but a perfectly usable product. Although I like to use my own blush brush the brush attached does the job really well and would definitely do when travelling. The blush seems at first quite pale and I've read a couple of reviews saying it's not pigmented. Well, I dare to contradict. It's pigmented like hell (if you want to know what a blush which lacks pigmentation looks like check NARS Sex Appeal). The thing is that the shade itself is so natural looking that it melts into my cheeks and the natural shade of my complexion giving my face a fresh, enhanced I'd say kind of  look, but nothing obvious. I think it does look lovely on pale complexions like mine, on darker ones this would look ashy.

The shade is soft peony pink. I have trouble describing the finish cause in the sunlight you can see that it's actually quite sparkly, which has nothing to do with what the blush looks like once applied. It looks very definitely matte on my cheeks but if you looks really close you'll see tiny sparkles on your cheeks which somehow fail to create any sheen, I suppose they add up to the general glow.

When I first swatched it I was surprised at how powdery it was. This worried me a bit but when I applied the blush on my cheeks I noticed no chalkiness whatsoever. I realized this blush powder is so soft and so finely milled that it crumbles at the slightest touch. I love soft powders and I don't mind this at all! All in all this is a wonderful product, the only little hiccups are the price and the limited colour range.

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

MAC Fluidline in Macroviolet

MAC Fluidline in Macroviolet

I do realize that everyone's already had dozens of Fluidlines but Macroviolet is the first one for me. And I'm so amazed at the quality of the product that I'm sort of angry with myself that I postponed getting it for so long. The only excuse is that MAC cosmetics are unavailable where I live and I whenever I was doing MAC shopping in Warsaw or London I had to make choices and Fluidlines simply dropped out of my shopping list.
As far as the shade is concerned I'm no that enthusiastic. I love purples, but this one is too auberginy dark, I'd prefer lavender hues (like some of those limited collections to) but the permanent range is quite limited as regards the variety of shades.

The shade turned out to be very hard to swatch. In reality the shade is more purple and less  brownish.

What won a 100% of my heart is the consistency, so soft and smooth, so easy to apply. I've had a great number of gel or cream eyeliners (ELF, Bobbi Brown, Calvin Klein, Dior), all of them being thicker or harder. Macroviolet crosses the boundary of gel eyeliner-eyeshadow, it definitely may be used as both as the line can be smudged or sheered out effortlessly. I'm curious to see how the consistency will change when the gel starts to dry. Is it going to behave similarly to my Calvin Klein liner which was quite as smooth in the beginning but  thickened considerably within a couple of months, remaining perfectly usable. Bobbi Brown eyeliner was thick from the start, but shows no sign of drying at all. ELF eyeliners tended to change from gel liners to cake liners. For the time being Fluidline resembles cream eyeshadows like Shiseido or MUFe more than eyeliners, which makes me hope it'll resist drying just as cream shadows do.

The only thing that I don't like is the packaging. I guess a couple of years ago MAC packaging looked modern and cool, whereas now, with so many other gorgeous-looking products on the market my Fluidline looks like a cheap, no name product. I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't have any comparison but just have a look at the picture below and say if you can disagree with me.

Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.