Elixir - All in One Face-book palette (picture heavy)

Ελληνικά/ Greek

This palette was given to me this summer as a gift by a friend who knows my love for cosmetics. It’s called All in One Face-book palette because it has most of the things you will need for a full face of makeup. It’s a sturdy carton palette with thick carton separating the wells of product. The two sides are separated by two thick transparent sheets stuck to each side(you can remove and re-stick the sheets). None of the products have identifying names or numbers. I tried to use as many of the products in it as possible to form an opinion, but I’m sure I’ve failed in that cause there’s just so much of it! It contains:

  v  56 eye shadows - 28 high pearl(top 4 rows) and 28 mattes&satins(bottom 4 rows)

  v  2 eyebrow creams

  v  2eyebrow powders

  v  4 compact powders

  v  6 powder blushers

  v  28 lip glosses

 

Before I go into a list of pros and cons, I need to write a separate paragraph about the eye shadows. What surprised me was that while they are powdery, they are not too dry and crumbly. Eye shadows of that price point are usually very crumbly (e.g. Sleek) which is why I avoid them, but these are better with the metallics being the best of the lot. You definitely need a good base for them to stay on if you plan on wearing them all day, but I don’t think that comes as a surprise these days. Pigment-wise it’s a mixed lot. Colourful eye shadow palettes tend to have colours that are too pigmented, but sheerer colours are needed in order to create a nicer look especially if you’re not a make-up expert. I see too many bloggers bashing eye shadows for being too sheer or for having a poorer colour pay-off, but we have to keep in mind that these products are for the mass market. The vast majority of people either lack the ability or the time to devote to blending and that is perfectly fine. The people at Elixir seem to know their audience, hence this palette has eye shadows for all levels of expertise.

the eye shadows and eyebrow products

So, here is a list of pros and cons about this palette:

Pros

• You really get a lot of products for your money and a very decent selection of colours. The colours would suit most people.
• The eyebrow creams. People might overlook them when faced with so many colours, but for me they are the star product of the palette! I love them and wish there were more of them. They are nice and waxy and can also be used as an eye shadow base. They are fantastic for all kinds of weather, even the 40C Greek summer that makes all my other cream eye shadows melt. They may seem a bit dark, but both can be sheered into almost nothing. So much love I tell you!
• The blushers have really nice textures. I may not have found a colour to suit me (check the cons), but the textures are smooth, no shimmerbombs or glitter in sight! The peach has a satin texture and the rest are mattes. One of them could definitely be used as a bronzer.
• Nice powders. Very finely milled powder, suitable for lighter and darker skin colours, both pink-based and yellow-based. Really happy with these.
• The lip creams. On the back they are called ‘lip glosses’, but they feel more like lip creams. A huge variety of colours, suitable for all seasons and all current fashion trends. From nudes, to pinks, to browns, to burgundies you will find one to suit your style. And that is coming from someone who doesn't like lip products in pans!
• I got to try colours I wouldn't have bought otherwise (I am a neutral browns&pinks girl mostly). The matte dark forest green and hunter’s green are a pure treat and the metallic periwinkle is a sheer spring delight(pun intended)!
• No glitter. I find glitter can make things look cheap. The lack of it is a good thing.
• All the non-eye shadow powder products (eyebrow, compact and blushers) can nicely double as eye shadows, supplementing the lack of neutral shades. The same goes for some of the eye shadows that can be used as a highlighter.
• No applicators! I hate it when palettes devote space for applicators that I’m not going to use. 

Cons:

• There’s a few colours that are too similar to each other. It would have been better to have a few neutral brown shades instead. There’s so many colours in the palette that you need a few neutral shades to blend them out.
• The selection of blues could have been better. With 8 blue shades included, I was expecting at least one dark matte navy or ink blue, but sadly there is none. The selection of greens was better as it had light, medium and dark shades.
• The blushers are too dark for me (MAC NW20, Georgio Armani 3, Shu Uemura 365). Given how much I liked their texture, that just made me sad.
• The packaging isn’t very easy to operate. A way for it to stay securely closed would be more practical.

the blushers

Conclusion

All in all, this is a very decent product that you can use in so many ways. I've enjoyed using it and the whole time I was trying colours I kept thinking that this is made for somebody who is a beginner and less set in their makeup ways than I am. I will use a few of the colours, but too many will probably be left untouched, which is a pitty. If you know someone who has yet to experiment with colours and textures and for whom playing around with makeup that isn’t too expensive would be a good start, this is definitely for them! A teenager would be over the moon with it, as would anyone who enjoys colourful eye-make up. With such a huge number of eye shadows and lipsticks the possibilities are endless. 

the lip products

ingredients lists

Rustic floral with a slate blue Annie Paris polish

Ελληνικά/ Greek

Continuing the journey through discovering nail polish companies available in Greece I came across Annie Paris. This is the first polish from this brand that I got and, again, I am amazed. This amazing slate blue was perfect in one coat and it stayed perfect the whole four days I wore it. It's so pigmented I might try stamping with it. 

Anyway, here is what I used for the mani in detail:

base: Elixir - Calcium Milk Gel

base colour: Annie Paris - 486

stamping plate DRK-C

stamping colour Konad white

top coats Elixir - Diamond Top Coat Fast Dry & Seche Vite

I'll leave you with a beautiful song that has a suitable title for this mani. Colours and music should go together even if it's unusual to match your music to your mani ;)

xxx

Elysse

Retrofuturistic Dreams with Gabrini 49, Stargazer Chrome 236 & Born Pretty L005

Greek/ Ελληνικά

There are so many small cosmetics brands available in Greece and I am slowly trying to discover them all. Today's post is for one such brand, Gabrini. 

I don't think I have found yet a yellow nail polish that applies as well as other colours (I think that's an issue with all yellow pigments), but with careful use of the brush this polish looked perfect in two layers. What has impressed me most though is how good this polish actually is. I took the pictures on the 4th day of wearing it and it still looks perfect! There's only so much a base&topcoat can do and I just didn't expect such a result from a polish I spent a grand total of 1€ to get. Absolute bargain! I am definitely going to get more! 

base Elixir Fast Dry Multi Active Hardener 

Gabrini 3D 49 (2 layers)

stamping plate Born Pretty L005

stamped with Stargazer Chrome Polish 236

topcoat Seche Vite

xxx

Elysse

Essence 51 Miss Captain and Polka Dots

Ελληνικά / Greek

Happy New Year!

I have been wearing so many shiny and sparkly things all through the holidays, I needed a cream polish as a palette cleanser. Essence 51 Miss Captain, a medium blue grey, was perfect for this. It’s part of their gel line, but it’s exactly like their previous creams. It dries a little bit darker and leans a bit greener on the nail.

I also did two types of polka dots with a white polish to keep things interesting, the smaller ones were done with an Essence stamping plate and the larger ones with the classic Konad m79.

XxX

Elysse

Yves Saint Laurent Eyeliner Effet Faux Cils in 3 Noir Bronze/ Bronze Black

Greek/ Ελληνικά

I find that the Christmas holidays are the perfect time to try something a bit shinier, a bit more glamorous than usual. For me that is the Yves Saint Laurent Eyeliner Effet Faux Cils eye liner in 3 Noir Bronze/ Bronze Black. It drew my attention cause I love old gold type of colours and I am glad I got it.

It’s been quite a few years now that I’ve been using exclusively Korean and Japanese eye liners, not only cause of their superb quality, but also because they don’t trigger any of my allergies. There’s only so many times one can try and fail to find an eye liner and mascara in the western market that doesn't trigger any allergies before it all feels like throwing money down the drain.

That’s when I noticed that on the packaging of the YSL eye liner were the magic words: Made in Korea. I have since noticed that the glass jar is exactly the same as my much loved Shu Uemura one(the lids are different of course), they contain the same amount of product(2.8gr) and they are very alike in texture. Given that both brands belong to the same parent company, L’Oreal, chances are they are made in the same factory. It was worth a try!

What’s it like though? It’s a black gel-cream eye liner saturated with bronze shimmer, thus making it look olive green in the jar. If you smudge it out a bit, then the black base becomes more apparent. It is super smooth, it glides on the skin easily, the colour is very opaque so you need only a couple of swipes to get it to look perfect and I’ve worn in for over 10 hours(sans a primer) without experiencing any transfer, smudging, crumbling or anything unpleasant. It almost feels like I have nothing on. On the eye it looks more black than in the jar and the bronze shimmer makes it look so elegant and delightful.

I’ve worn it lots during the holidays and I find it very reliable. It’s a very welcome shimmering addition to my eye liner collection, since most of my other eyeliners are Shu Uemura and their range is all matts. I think I might get the Jade Black next. Emerald green eyeliners are my weak spot!

ΧΧΧ

Elysse

Pink Ruby with gradient stamping to rid me of my cold

Greek/ Ελληνικά

I have many posts waiting in my drafts, but I decided to post this one today since I finished it a little while ago. I really needed a little pick-me-up cause I've had the most annoying cold for the past few days.

The base colour is from a Bulgarian company. I've noticed there are a lot of cosmetics around coming from Bulgaria lately, most of them are pretty inexpensive, too. This could be a fledling trend, who knows. Anyway, Brooklin - 9* is a beautiful metallic pink ruby colour that applied beautifully and was opaque in 2 layers.

On top of it I did a gradient stamp with Her Rose Adagio and Fated Prince by A-England* using the Drikk DRK-B plate. This was a little bit more challenging than the gradient stamping I had done before since so far I had only done a gradient using similar colours and tones.

the bottles are so similar

My mani-cure (I am really not well, I am making terrible puns!) is not bringing my voice back, but at least I can stare at my pretty bejewelled nails now. On to some soup and a few episodes of 'Bob's Burgers'.
xxx
Elysse

*All the links in this post are non-affiliated links.

Apivita Lip Care in Pink Rose, Pomegranate and Blackcurrant

Ελληνικά/Greek

Ιn the past I have written about how much I love the Apivita lip balms. I’ve loved them for well over 20 years now and this time I have the old packaging to show you as well. The first one I bought was the cocoa butter one and as soon as pre-teen me could muster the courage, I got the rose one. It was my first lip product with colour and I can still remember how excited I was, applying too much so that I could carefully blot it like I had seen my mother do with her lipstick.

90s packaging

The number of lip balm bullets I have used up is impossible to count, they are a true staple product for me. This time I’ve selected the three lip balms that leave some colour on, the pink rose, the pomegranate and the blackcurrant. All three are very hydrating, but what I appreciate more is that my lips don’t feel hydrated only when I have them on, they are in a great condition hours after I’ve applied the lip care and the more consistently I use them, the better they look.

According to the website all three are made with olive oil, beeswax, cocoa butter, shea butter, castor oil and jojoba esters. They also contain vitamins E, C & F, avocado oil and calendula. They are created with  96-99% organic ingredients and are cruelty free. They are also free of silicone, parabens, propylene glycol and mineral oils. You can check the list of ingredients here: pink rose, pomegranate and blackcurrant.*

What are the differences between the three of them though? I would say they are different in terms of how much colour they leave on and how matte or shiny they are.

The blackcurrant lip care is the most pigmented one. It leaves the lips looking a bit deeper than their natural colour, a deeper rose colour and it is also the shiniest of the lot. It’s perfect for those days when it’s so cold that your lips loose all colour. I had also suggested it to a friend of mine whose lips had become really dry and colourless as a side effect of chemotherapy and she liked it a lot.

The pomegranate, though it looks almost colourless on my hand, has a brightening effect on my natural lip colour. It is more on the matte side giving the lips a very natural texture and it smells amazing. The website mentions a “red fruit scent” which I would have guessed would be more of a “forest fruits” scent, but (luckily for me) is more of an unripe pomegranate, sweet and zingy. A unique and pleasant scent.

The pink rose lip care is the least pigmented, leaving behind a pale pink colour. My lips are naturally pigmented so I only wear this when I want to tone down their colour a tiny bit. It is the most matte of all, so perfect for the summer months where every other lip balm seems to melt. It smells of rose and geranium, a bit like a turkish delight.

Their price is 4.95€ for 4.4gr of product.

Last but not least, it’s only a few hours till my giveaway ends and one of the prizes is an Apivita lip balm so those of you who want to try it, don’t forget to take part!

xxx

Elysse

*All the links are non-affiliated.

Christmas Blog Giveaway! (closed)

Greek/Ελληνικά

It’s time! I promised you a giveaway and here it is! It’s the first time I host a giveaway or use rafflecopter so I hope I did everything right! The giveaway is open worldwide, please read the Terms & Conditions!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The winner will be getting 8 polishes and a lip balm of a total value of about 60€. All of them were bought by me.In detail they are:

Six Korres Nail Colours in 01 Cream White (for all your snowy needs), 36 Light Peach, 38 Bright Mint, 74 Violet, 79 Metallic Purple, 97Steel Grey. You will find a review on some of these colours here and here. I tried to get 2 lights, 2 mediums and 2 darks to keep everyone happy.

Flormar in 392 Holographic Silver (the one I write about here) and GL06 a chunky green glitter with holographic stars in a clear base, it doesn’t get more Christmas-y than this polish!

And last but not least, the Apivita lip care in Pomegranate. I will be posting about these amazing products within the next few days, I just didn’t want to delay the giveaway. The short story is I love them. I picked ‘Pomegranate’ because pomegranates have been a good luck symbol in Greece since ancient times and it’s actually traditional to break a pomegranate at the entrance of the house on new year’s day. It’s a “Happy New Year” wish in lip balm form!

Good luck everybody!
xxx
Elysse