Inglot pigment eyeshadows # 47, # 71, # 49: review & swatches

My obsession with Inglot pigments has only just started with the purchase of # 47 during 50% off promotion "just to see if it's any good". It turned out that Inglot pigment eyeshadow is one of the best Inglot products out of their entire range and one of the best eyeshadows in general.

The finish in case of all three of these eyeshadows is pearl verging on metallic. The pigmentation is insane, the colour applies smoothly and evenly, producing surprisingly little fallout as for this kind of eyeshadow. They are easy to blend and with a tiny drop of  sealing liquid like Inglot Duraline they may be transformed into  beautiful, bright liners.  

# 47 is a gorgeous lilac purple which looks much darker in the jar than when applied. 

#71 is medium teal, brighter when applied than in the jar. A very unique shade in my humble opinion.

#49 is a typical gunmetal silver. Plenty of eyeshadows like this, however, this one seems to have a much more beautiful sheen than others. again, not as dark when applied as it appears in the pot.

Below you can see swatches applied on my arm with a single stroke of a brush. See how pigmented they are?

Inglot pigment  eyeshadows #49, #47, #71

I know for sure my collection of Inglot pigments is going to expand, though not so fast perhaps cause they're not as cheap as other products Inglot has to offer. On the other hand, they're less than half price of MAC pigments, which are excellent of course, but their permanent colour range is more limited and not as vibrant.

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.

Lancome Rouge in Love # M322 Corail in Love: review

This is going to be the my second  review of Lancome Rouge in Love lipsticks. If you wish to read a more comprehensive review click here. My opinion about these lipsticks remains unchanged so you may be wondering why I got another one. Well, it comes as a part of a set consisting of a Doll Eyes Mascara a Khol Pencil and a mini lipstick. I needed a mascara so I grabbed the set, with my Sephora discount it was excellent value for money.

The lipstick is small and cute, though the packaging misses a couple of details which make the full-sized one so beautiful and elegant it still looks pretty good.

The shade fills the gap in my lipstick collection. This is the most nudy lipstick in my stash. The shade is light coral pink with no sparkle or shimmer. It's nicely pigmented, a very thin layer does the trick. As for my personal attitude to the shade itself I must say it's not my pair of shoes, although I'm pale and theoretically this shade should suit me it verges on washing me out (or maybe I'm not used to nudity, haha). But it's a perfect shade for day wear, going out with kids or grocery shopping. 

Comparing the two Rouges in Love I have I've noticed that Corail in Love seems more matte and drying on my lips. Rose Rendez-vous seems more moisturising and comfortable to wear.

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.

Dr Brandt Flexitone BB Cream: review

Today I'd like to review another sample of BB Cream from Sephora. When I expressed my interest in Estee  Lauder BB Cream my favourite assistant suggested Dr Brandt Flexitone BB Cream to me. I thought a sample wouldn't do any harm and the product itself might be of might be of interest to me.

I'm glad I got the sample cause now I know the product is definitely not for me.
Here's what I found out:

• moussy consistency
• lightweight, seems watery when applied
• there's only one shade available, the colour is the most unflattering kind of graige. Oxidisized immediately onthe back of my hand, turned reddish when sheered out, kind of scary actually
• much too dark for my skin tone, failed to self-adjust, looked as if I've overdone with self-tan, though the tone was more of reddish brown than the self-tan yellow
• worst of all in spite of lightweight and watery texture it was too greasy for my liking, I was unable to control shine on a warm but not hot, sunny, non-humid day. My face was sticky and looked sweaty in spite of setting face make-up with powder.

The sample I received was very generous, I think it would be sufficient for at least one week of daily applications but one time was enough for me. I'm gonna pass this to my mum, perhaps she likes it.

Inglot Soft Precision Eyeliner #23 and #32: review

Inglot Soft Precision Eyeliner #23 and #32

Inglot is such a hit or miss company you never know what you're going to get. Their range varies from products, like their eyeshadows and pigments I'm exstatic about to less than average products like the eye pencils I'm gonna write about.

Inglot Soft Precision Eyeliner #23 and #32

When I was buying these pencils I was aware these  wouldn't probably be the best pencils in the world. I could see at the first glance they wouldn't be waterproof or long-lasting cause they smudged very easily when I applied them to my palm and some time later wiped them with my hand. They didn't set the way my MUFE or Urban Decay pencils do but they're dirt cheap so I decided to try.

The pencils are nicely pigmented, they apply evenly but they're not soft enough for my liking (the matte is softer than the pearl one). I thought they could sometimes serve as eyeshadow base but I can't imagine covering the entire lid without pulling and dragging.

Inglot Soft Precision Eyeliner #23 and #32

I also hoped these would smudge nicely to be helpful for creating smoky eyes but they tend to vanish into thin air when I smudge them. They just don't cling to my eye lids!

Feeling the urge to experiment more with the pencils I used them on my waterline, which was the BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER. They got into my eyes making them dry and giving the unpleasant feeling of having grains of sand in my eyes. I removed my contacts, I removed all make-up but still this feeling continued, my eyes were too irritated to wear contacts for another couple of days. This has never happened before.

Colourwise # 23 is a matte gray, soft and highly pigmented. Applies evenly without any bold patches etc. #32 is gunmetal silver, much harder and quite unpleasant to use but it's more smudgeproof than its matte counterpart..

So to sum up, these pencils are average drugstore products, every low-end make-up company has a product like these. I just expect from Inglot sooo much more. They will do if you don't wish to play with them too much.  They're cheap and have good colour range which is why I might be tempted to get some more even though I'm not fully satisfied with 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. 

Biotherm Skin Energetic: Non-Stop Anti-Fatigue Moisturiser - review

My favourite assistant from Sephora recommended Biotherm Skin Energetic to me as a moisturiser for combination skin types.
Here are my observations:

• smells nice and fruity, like fruit coctail in the morning
• gel-creme consistency distributes smoothly and absorbs quicky
• moisturises well
• good for oily skin, works fine as foundation base

Overall, I might consider getting it full size once I've run out of all my samples and creams on my shelf. I must say I really like it!

Korean Goodies: Skinfood Paltinum Grape Cell White Essence - a review

This review is based on a sample received from one of my favourite E-bay sellers. 

First of all, the sample was very small,it was barely sufficient for two applications so I'll describe the emulsion in terms of texture and immediate result rather than describe its whitening properties.

Platinum Grape Cell White Essence is a very watery liquid which smells of nothing in particular except alcohol. When you apply you noticethat it's slightly grainy as if it contained some very finely milled powder or starch. 

Dries very quickly, leaves no stickiness on the skin. I think it's suitable for oily skin types when followed with an appropriate face cream or just a BB cream.

If someone asked me to blind test this product I would describe it as some product of troubled skin regime, perhaps a pore diminishing toner. I'm not gonna purchase it full-size cause I see no need for such product with quite a high price tag.   

Inglot O2M Breathable Enamel # 663: review & swatches

Inglot O2M Breathable Enamel # 663 indoors

Since I hadn't bought nail polish for ages I thought I deserved something new for the summer. As it happens new Inglot Breathable Enamel collection caught my eye and I grabbed 2 polishes but there were more colours that were worth checking out.
Today I'd like to review the first one, #663 which is hard to define in terms of colour and also photographs don't do any justice. The shade is basically milky orange with aslightly coral twist. In some lighting it looks toned down by this whiteness and sometimes it's very bright, seems almost neon and in the dark it seems almost fluorescent. It seems matte in general, but in very bright light you may detect some ultratiny golden shimmer. I like the colour cause it seems fairly unique and hard to define and it also matches my summer mood well.

Inglot O2M Breathable Enamel # 663 outdoors

Unfortunately I'm not exstatic about this polish cause this formula is really the worst and the strangest formula ever. The polish is very pigmented and extremely opaque but it when applied it looks streaky. So in spite of good pigmentation and the fact that one coat is enough to cover the nail with a non-transparent layer of polish you need at least 3 coats to get rid of the streaks. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that the consistency is quite thick and the brush applies a thick layer of product with each application, as a result you get rid of colour streaks but you get texture streaks instead. In fact the nails look like painted with wall enamel. Look at the picture below to see what I mean.

In terms of duration, this enamel wears pretty well with no chipping but for some reason (I guess the problem lies in the formula) it simply doesn't cover the edges of the nails. I know that top coats tend to shrink polish but it just doesn't look nice at the moment of application. I may be clumsy but I manage well with other polishes.

Overall: great colour with nasty formula. Cost 30PLN which is about $9 or £5, for the price I'd expect more.

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. 

Strawberry season

Beginning of June marks the opening of strawberry season. First strawberries come from the south of Poland, quite expensive at first ( the ones I bought cost 8PLN, which means about $2.5 or  £1.5 per kilo), then when our local, Kashubian best strawberries in the world ripen I go mad about them and eat everything strawberry.

This weekend I made a Malibu layered cake (my own exclusive recipe) for my father-in-law's birthday but I simply couldn't resist decorating it with strawberries, even though the tastes don't really match.

Here's the recipe
For the sponge:
6 eggs
1.5 cup caster sugar
1cup starch
1/2 cup flour
1tsp baking powder
1tbsp plain vinegar or lemon juice

Beat egg whites until they form soft peeks add the sugar and beat until glossy.
Mix the yolks with vinegar and baking powder, add to the whites and stir.
Fold in the starch and the flour, bake in pre-heated oven (170-180 degrees) in a non-greased baking tin (dia
for about 35 mins. Remove from the tin when cold. Cut into 3 layers.

For the cream
500g mascarpone
2 tbsp dessicated coconut, soaked in some Malibu
a splash of buttermilk
icing sugar

In a mixer beat the mascarpone together with the coconut and as much sugar as you wish (just taste if the cream is sweet enough for your liking). If the consistency is too hard or thick add some buttermilk to soften the cream so that it resembles whipped cream.

To soak
approx. 30 ml  Malibu + equal measure of water

To decorate
dessicated coconut, strawberries

To finally make the cake soak the first layer with Malibu dissolved in water (we don't want the smell of alcohol to dominate the cake but we want the coconut aroma), spread the mascarpone cream over it, cover with another sponge layer, soak etc. Spread the cream on the top and the sides evenly, coat the cake in coconut and arrange the strawberries on the top.


You may invent as many combinations as you wish, the sponge is always high and, well, spongey. Mascarpone is a perfect alternative for whipped cream, tastes almost the same but it's effortless to prepare  and maintains its shape longer. I've tried adding blended strawberries, cocoa powder, chololate flakes, instant coffee and countless other things, each time the cream was delicious and well-appreciated by my family members.

Our first cache found!

We've made our first geocaching trip! We were supposed to find 3 hidden treasures but we ended up locating one. The other one was located somewhere along the main road and proved too hard to find with two little boys exploring the bushes in the roadside ditch and me getting scared of them running into the road.

Nonetheless we managed to get our satisfaction and located the cache in a rotten stump. Inside we found a logbook, owner's data, honorary certificates and a gadget to be passed on when we're allowed to plant our own caches (i.e. after finding 9 more caches).

Caught the bug. This is definitely what we're gonna do this summer. And above all it was such a warm, sunny day and the forest smelled sooooo lovely!

Then we made a picnic in the forest and Mikolaj poked a stick in his eye which turned all red. Had to go back home to consult a doctor, fortunately no treatment was needed apart from some drops. Adam enjoyed himself thoroughly cooking soup out of pine cones.

And I was staring at my new Inglot nail polish, not sure whether I liked it or not.

Estee Lauder Day Wear Anti-Oxidant Beauty Benefit Cream SPF 35

This review is based on a generous sample received from Sephora. Mine is the fairest shade available.
I've been curious about this BB Cream for a long time but not quite sure whether I should get it. On the one hand I've heard it had really good mattifying properties on the other I suspected it to be no more than a tinted moisturiser. That's why I decided not to buy it without trying it out first.

My first impression was of course connected with the smell and texture. It has a fresh, cucumber-like smell which reminds me of DKNY Be Delicious (green one). I quite like it.
The texture of the cream was soft and lightweight, threfore easy to apply just with fingers. However, it made my face look extremely dewy. This surprised me cause I'd expected something more matte. I used it on fairly cold days and I looked sweating hot. I can't imagine what I'd look like on a really hot summer day. However, after setting the cream with translucent white powder (Skinfood Peach Sake) it looked decently matte for most of the day.

To conclude, I'd like to say I'm in two minds about this product.
Here's what I liked about Estee Lauder BBCream:

• light coverage which would look natural on holidays in the countryside
• decently high SPF
• easy to apply, I wouldn't need to take millions of brushes with me to our summer house in the countryside, my hands would suffice
• nice and fresh smell
• moisturising

Here's what I didn't like:

• feels too dewy for my liking. Estee Lauder excels at making matte foundations, this one is lightweight and moisturising but too sticky and it's not even hot today. I don't really want to pile powder on my face when on holiday.
• the coverage is too sheer for everyday use in the city

All in all I believe Estee Lauder Invisible Makeup Fluid (reviewed here) paired with some good suncream will do a much better job. 

MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow in Thunder & Rain

Here's another marvellous MAC eyeshadow in my collection. Thunder & Rain is a Mineralize eyeshadow which is split into two shades: gunmetal silver (or pearly gray) and grayish purple.

This is my fourth MAC Mineralize eyeshadow and it must be said that the formula is different than all of the other shadows. These shadows are much softer, smoother, more finely milled. What I like about this duo is that it can be applied sheerly for a kind of dreamy look or built up more dramatically, especially when used wet. They're so soft you don't need to scratch them with the brush, just dab them slightly and the powder is transfered onto the brush.

While these two shades are obviously diferent, when blended they don't stand out much, they sort of melt into a kind of grey with purplish sheen. Purples and grays are not the most unique shades in the world but they are in away redefined in case of these eyeshadows. 

What I like about this duo is that it's very versatile. The shadows blend superbly, therefore they can be used separately, together or blended with other shadows. Also the intensity is fully customizable, which is great cause most of my eyeshadows are madly pigmented and sometimes I crave for a softer look. Great eyeshadows in general.

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. 

Legal regulations concerning sun protection

All my youth I spent craving for beautiful golden tan and envying everyone around the genes which made it possible for them. Now I feel liberated and I believe pale is beautiful. So when summer approaches, naturally, my interest in the sunscreen topic increases. Every blogger raves about the SPF in their foundations and BB Creams and how it's gonna protect them from the harmful rays, manufacturers outdo themselves producing anything they can think of with some amount of sunscreen, Neutrogena has even managed to make a sunblock with SPF100!
I've always felt that the instructions on how to use sun-protective substances weren't precise enough. Dermatologists claim that you need to apply a fairly thick layer of sunblock for it to work. I've just learned that you need an almond-sized drop of eg. sun protective product on your face. Can you imagine using that much of your BB Cream or foundation and then going out in the blazing sun? Similarly, many powders contain high SPF but if I dust them lightly over my face, are they really gonna work?
What is more doctors say that the highest SPF that works is SPF50, so products like Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock SPFG100 are pure gimmicks intended to attract naive customers. But where is the moral responsibility of the manufacturer? If a customer is led to believe that they can spend 100 minutes in the sun instead of 50 without suffering any consequences they will surely do.
What puzzles me even more is a relatively small number of eye care products containing SPF. You really need to do your research to get some, and it's not automatically understood that an eye cream or concealer should contain any sun protection, which is weird cause this is one of the most wrinkle-prone areas onthe face.
At last the US government took the matter into their own hands and introduced new regulations connected with the labelling of sunscreen products (eg. Neutrogena will no longer be able to sell its SPF100) and specifies the ways of using sunscreen safely. You can read the leaflet here here.
I hope the medical authorities of the EU will follow suit. In countries like Poland, where scorch-tanned means beautiful and healthy, it's extremely hard to find out about sun protection cause simply nobody's interested (apart from a couple of beauty bloggers, and beauty websites, which tend to follow western trends and weirdos like me whose children remain albino pale all summer due to sun protection and are believed by everyone around to be sick).

L'occitane hand and foot cream

These two creams were included in my Glossybox in May. Having used both samples up I feel ready to write a review.

I've always perceived L'occitane as a more expensive version of The Body Shop and while The Body Shop has always attracted me with its Britishness and also for sentimental reasons, L'occitane scared me away with its customerless interiors, bored shop assistants and prices.

Now, I didn't have a choice, I had to try out something L'occitane.
The hand cream smells nice, distributes easily and is absorbed immediately, leaving no greasy film on my hands. Particularly useful for drivers, the steering wheel doesn't get greasy and slippery. But there's also a negative consequence of this. I don't notice much effect of the cream either, except for the pleasant smell. I think there are better drugstore products and I would never buy such an expensive hand cream unless it did some magic tricks, I can't even think which ones.

The same observation refers to the foot cream. My heels tend to be quite dry and I care about them a lot and I was quite excited to use this foot cream. It smells amazing, it's a kind of mix of lavender and rosemary. But this is where my raving ends. After two weeks of using the product I didn't notice any difference (apart from the aromatherapeutic aspect of using it). My feet look neither better nor worse. Again, even dry feet like mine can be taken care of with cheaper drugstore counterparts.

So the conclusion is: if you have money to spare, these won't harm you. They consist of natural ingredients and smell nice. But is you expect a miracle you might be sadly disappointed. Drugstore products will work just as well, they just need to be used regularly.

Disclaimer: received in the Glossybox May

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Vernis à Lèvres #9

This is my fourth YSL Vernis a Levres, though this one got into my possession incidentally. My mother, encouraged by my raving, got this one, but she didn't really like the shade so she gave it to me.

I'm not gonna review this product as such, I've already done it here and here .  This time I want to focus on this particular shade itself.

#9 is the closest to proper red out of them all. It's much warmer kind of red than #10, and I think it's more suited for warm toned complexions. 

The lipstick is insanely pigmented and it lasts for hours on my lips (though it's a very individual thing cause my mum didn't consider it long lasting at all on her very full lips). The stain lingers on even longer.

Vernis a Levres #9 is an excellent product, though not my favourite out of the four in my possession.

MAC Fluidline in Wholesome (Shop MAC, Cook MAC collection)

MAC Fluidline in Wholesome

Encouraged by really good experience with MAC Fluidline in Macroviolet (reviewed here) I decided to get their Blacktrack cause black is so versatile that every woman needs a black liner in her stash. 

MAC Fluidline in Wholesome

Instead of Blacktrack I got Wholesome, which was a leftover of Shop MAC, Cook MAC collection. THe assistant recommended it as a blacker black than Blacktrack (and I'm not a person who sees any shades of black, black is black in my opinion) so I got it.  I've just read on temptalia.com that this is supposed to be blackened brown. Well, it's VERY blackened brown, blackened to the point of actually being well pigmented black.   

MAC Fluidline in Wholesome

Like my Macroviolet, this Fluidline performs perfectly. It's soft, it draws both tiny and dramatic lines, doesn't smudge or budge. I'm a big fan of MAC Fluidlines, I only with they had a wider range of shades in their permanent collection.

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. 

I COLONIALI fizzy bath

I Coloniali fizzy bath tablet  is a product I absolutely adore. You drop the tablet in your bath and you get  a couple of minutes of soaking in green fizzy water with such a gorgeous scent! It's hard to describe but it's very relaxing and invigorating at the same time. The tablets have also moisturising properties, they make my skin smooth and soft.

I also use a quarter of the pill to make a lovely soak for my hands and feet before my mani or pedi, they do excellent job there as well.

The tablets are sold separately, at the price of approximately $1.5 or  £1 so I can always get one when I need it and it doesn't ruin the budget.

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 Impeccable Brow Pencil in Blonde

MAC Impeccable Brow Pencil in Blonde

Before I review my lastest acquisition in the brow colour area let me say a couple of words about my attitude to brow products in general. I'm relatively new to brow cosmetics cause while I'm no big fan of nude make-up which I consider unimaginative and boring, and I'm not afraid of looking made up but when it comes to brow make-up I really hate when brows look like painted with a felt-tip pen on bare skin. I really like my brows to look as natural as possible.

 The problem is that with brows so sparse and fair, and pale complexion as well it's extremely hard to enhance the look without making it too obvious. I have good experience with brow powders and slightly tinted waxes but they're quite time-consuming in the morning. That's why during my last visit in MAC store I picked their Impeccable Brow Pencil (Pixiwoos use it a lot so I thought it must be good).

MAC Impeccable Brow Pencil in Blonde

When trying it out in the store I was on the verge of leaving the pencil cause it was sooo hard I thought there was no way it was gonna work, but for some reason unknown I persisted and I'm glad I did.

Actually now I know that a good brow pencil must be hard to paint the hairs, not your skin. The colour match is perfect, so non-obvious and natural. I also appreciate howeasy it is to use, a couple of strokes and I'm done! The name of this pencil speaks for itself, it is trully impeccable! I love it and I'm gonna repurchase whenever I need it!

The only thing the pencil lacks is a spoolie to make it more travel-friendly,but I can also manage without it! 

MAC Impeccable Brow Pencil in Blonde

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.