A fraction of holiday

Hi Everyone!

Last weekend i visited my all time favorite and most treasured seaside place growing up. Since elementary school i've been spending my summer vacations at Poseidi, camping, enjoying the sun and the gorgeous sea, not caring about anything and just relaxing!

The result of growing up is more and more responsibilities, busy everyday schedule and life in general and.. i wasn't able to go last year. So i was more than thrilled to be there this year even for a night!

Enough drama, time for some pictures!

Crystal clear and bright blue sea

Reading The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

Just a small note- from my overexcitement just by being there i was stupidly careless and i got a terrible sunburn on my back, so please be careful!

♥ 

MAC Temperature Rising collection, 2013

Hi Everyone!

I know that the MAC annual summer collection has been out for a few weeks now, but i didn't have the time to right a blogpost- busy with university exams..

Anyway, this year's summer collection it's called Temperature Rising. I picked up two bronzers and the two blushes from the collection.

First of all, i love the packaging, but they charge more for that! It's one of the reasons that i even bothered with this collection,i love that matt brown finish. The other reason is the fact that i wanted to try a pro longwear formula.

Left: Top: Ripe for love (Satin, 6gr)            Right: Top: Nude on board (Pro longwear Bronzing Powder, 12gr)

          Bottom: Hot Nights (Frost, 6gr)                    Bottom: Soft Sand (Bronzing Powder, 10gr)

left: Ripe for love    right: Hot nights

left: Nude on board     Right: Soft Sand

 I included some swatches for you:

Left: Nude on Board    Right: Soft Sand

Left: Hot nights   Right: Ripe for love

As far as the bronzers go, i don't see a major difference between the two formulas- both don't last all day! They both have a slight shimmer, which my boyfriend noticed on my neck! I really didn't enjoy that! Due to this unnecessary shimmer you cannot contour with those products. They both are very hard to blend, i mean they blend harder compared to my Clarins bronzer. The colors didn't impress me either, they don't appear natural on my skintone. To be fair, Nude on board is fine, but i wouldn't pick it over Laguna by Nars f.i. . Soft Sand is very shimmery for a bronzer for my taste and i don't feel comfortable wearing it. I can go on and on about how much those products disappointed me but i will sum up by saying that i regret the money that i spent on them.

As for the two blushes, i really like them! Especially the pink one which i think is just right for darker skintones. It's so pigmented! It adds to the skin the most youthfull color! I'd suggest applying it with a rather small, dense brush like a Mac 109, after tapping most of it off on the back of your hand. When i saw Ripe for love i thought of Coralista by Benefit, in case you were wondering this is how these two compare:

left: Coralista    right: Ripe for love

left: Ripe for love     right: Coralista

They seem similar but definately they are different on the cheeks. The Mac one is more orange and more matt than Coralista.  I wouldn't replace Coralista for any blush!

One other thing that i wanted to include is that when you put a brush in Nude on board and Hot nights, this happens:

Lastly, i have some photos of me wearing the collection.

Soft Sand

Soft Sand and Ripe for love

Nude on board (with a light hand)

Nude on Board and Hot nights

I love this blush! Perfect combination, Hot nights and Mac's Girl about town lipstick

♥

A calming afternoon by the sea

Hi Everyone!

A few days ago me and my boyfriend went for a walk on the beach. This one is still relatively close to the city and its harbor so we still do not swim in the sea, but we are getting there.. A couple more weeks of studying for my - hopefully- last exam end then i can enjoy the amazing Greek seas...

Until then...

A view of the whole city, Thessaloniki

My feet

Me, taking the photo of my feet

The captivating sea in all its glory

me

An amazing sunset

And last but not least...

Ouzo!!!!!

I love the sea.

♥

FOTD May 31, 2013 feat. Estee Lauder blush in "Tease"

Hi Everyone!

A few weeks ago Tanya Burr mentioned an Estee Lauder blush in "Tease" which is unfortunately limited edition. When i saw it on her, i was really sucked into buying it. So after visiting five different stores, i tracked it down! It's a  shimmery, cool-toned pink blush and i am loving it!

Here is the look!

At the end, i decided to put some bronzer on my cheeks as well

Products used:

Eyes: Maybelline color tattoo in Permanent Taupe
         Mac charcoal brown e/s at the outer corner and on my eyebrows
         Mac shroom e/s in the inner corner
         Too faced in the buff e/s as a browbone highlight from the Naked eye palette and the black e/s from the same palette as eyeliner.
         Mac Grey Utility Powerpoint Eye pencil smudged unter my lower lashline.
         Elizabeth Arden Ceramide mascara in black

Face: Estee Lauder DayWear BB cream
         Bourjois touche healtyhmix concealer
         Estee Lauder Pure color blush in "Tease" (l.e.)
         Mac Nude on board Pro longwear bronzing powder (l.e.)

Lips: Mac Girl about town lipstick

A little bit more about the blush...

I really love its effect on my face but it is extra shimmery so it isn't for everyone! And because shimmer tends to fly everywear i suggest applying this product with a denser brush like a Mac 168 or a Mac 109.

I don't know if you can get this product anymore but i do have some alternatives! They are not dupes per se but they have the same effect on the skin.

clockwise:  left- Estee Lauder Tease (l.e.)
the boxier one- Benefit Bella Bamba
the round one -Mac Hot nights (l.e.)

clockwise:
top- Tease, Bella Bamba, Hot nights

from left to right:
Hot nights, Bella bamba, Tease

from left to right:
Bella Bamba, Tease, Hot nights

On the cheeks the effect is pretty similar,but the Mac one doesn't have any shimmer. All three just add a pretty pink youthful glow to the face! I'd like to add that on very fair skin tones they have the same effect, i don't know if this applies on deeper skintones because i haven't tried it. In fact only the Mac one i believe that it can show up on very dark skintones because it is extremely pigmented! The Mac one is currently out with the rising temperature collection. My next post will be about this collection!

♥

Estee Lauder DayWear BB cream, SPF 35

.Hi Everyone!

I mentioned in a previous post that i was tempted to buy the Estee Lauder Daywear Sheer Tint Release SPF 15. I went to Sephora and i ended up purchasing the BB cream. I hate it when the sales person talks me into a different direction but the truth is that it happens to me a lot! Anyway, she told me that they are basically the same thing,except the higher SPF in the BB cream, same skincare benefits and because the BB cream  in the color 01 Light  was a little better for me, i decided to go with it. I don't find that they are the same. They both don't provide any coverage, they just give color to your skin but the BB cream's texture feels more like a foundation and like most foundations it tends to settle into the fine lines around the mouth, which the other one doesn't.

A small comparison between the aforementioned products:

left: Estee Lauder BB cream in Light (SPF 35)
right: Estee Lauder Daywear Sheer Tint Release (SPF 15)

The packaging looks like this:

Warning, me barefaced..

With the BB cream on

And with some Bourjois Touche healthy mix concealer in 61 under my eyes

In this photo you can actually see that my face looks darker than my neck, so time for some bronzer! I used MAC Nude on board Pro longwear bronzing powder.

Overall, I think that this BB cream isn't the best neither the worst base i've tried. It is very hard to blend and actually works better when applied with fingertips (which i don't enjoy doing). The lasting power is fine and if you put some powder on top, it can last all day. One thing that i really didn't like is that when i don't put a primer underneath, it sits on my pores. For a 48 Euro BB cream for 30 ml, you would think that you wouldn't have this problem, but no.. So i use the MUFE HD primer or the MAC prep+prime SPF 50 with it. 

In fact, i haven't tried any other BB cream. Do you have any recommendations? I like the fact the they are lighter than foundation, especially for summer. I'd just prefer one that i wouldn't have to use it with a primer, why add an extra layer of product? 

Your thoughts?

♥