Favourites of the month: April

What do you do when your faithful blogging assistant won't budge from your background? 
You just incorporate him into the photo of course (it's not like he even cares). 

* 99%/isopropyl alcohol 
* essence, blossom dreams rainbow highlighter in Prism of Light 
* essence, blending, concealer, powder and smokey eye brushes. 
* Ipsy, March glam bag, the actual bag 
* M.A.C, strobe cream 
* NYX, Duo Chromatic Illuminating Powder in Twilight Tint 
* tarte cosmetics, tarteist quick drying matte lip paint in rosé 
* Too Faced, Hangover Primer 
* Too Faced, Love Light prismatic highlight in Blinded by the light 
* Too Faced, Natural Eyes palette

Find more about that list!


 

Eventually, Loa cat did get up to go do something else. Ok in reality he got up to eat and then sleep on top of the sofa. But at least there was space to take a proper photo :).

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Supposedly this smells of coconuts 
I'm not sure whether the good people at Too Faced have ever smelled a real coconut, because I can assure you that this smells like a coconut that bathed just a little too long in a vat full of chemicals. Stink not withstanding, this is an A+ primer. 
Especially if you have Sahara dry skin, like me. 
For me, it's not just a primer, but also skincare, which I find a definite bonus. 
It's really done wonders for the dry spots on my face. And, even though I know the two can't be compared beyond the fact that they are both silicone free (as this isn't a pore minimising primer), this is cheaper than Benefit's Porefessional primer, which is definitely an added bonus in my book! 

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Because natural is totally my jam 
When it comes to eye shadow at least. I just recently did a whole review post about this palette (which I love), including a comparison to my other Too Faced palette, the Chocolate Bon Bons one. 
I did that because you often hear people say that all Too Faced stuff looks alike, and I wanted to see if it does? 
Does it? 
Read for yourself ;). 

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Sometimes a soft glow is the better glow, apparently 
It had been pointed out to me, that a gold or mermaid highlight is not appropriate in any situation (mermaid, agreed, but gold, FOR SHAME). 
So I went for one of the new Too Faced ones. 
I know a lot of people online are either loving it or hating it, which normally would have worried me quite a bit, but frankly, the ones hating it were saying it just didn’t glow to the gods (not an issue in this case), or you have to know how to apply highlighter correctly (which I do, I’m not a total rube) or you need to have the right kind of brush (which I also do). 
 I really quite like this, it’s a nice natural highlight, which does what I want it to do: make me healthier without being obvious that I’ve been using some cosmetic assistance. 
So yeah, no complaints from me. 
I still think it's pretty damn glowy mind, it's just not a crazy colour and thus acceptable. 
I'm fine with this. 
Also: a huge thank you to Jon for helping me get this during the toofaced.com free shipping days, which ended up saving me about € 12 in total (because they were sending over my Ipsy bag anyway and this didn't change the shipping cost at all)! 

 

I really feel like April is highlighter month, more so than usual 
I bought an essence product. That isn't a brush (I sure do love a whole bunch of their brushes!) or eye make-up remover pads (I absolutely love those pad boxes). 
I bought a highlighter. Because I swatched it and I was surprised by the fact that it's actually pretty damn good quality. 
Definitely far better quality than one would expect from essence. 
It's not on par with M.A.C or Belladonna's Cupboard (is any highlighter really? Probably not), but it gives off this soft multi pastel highlight which is very sneaky not boring every day stuff. 
And I approve of that sort of thing. A lot. 
Plus is was super cheap at €3,39 for 8 grams.

 

Still, glowing to the gods is BETTER! 
Hell yes! First Sunday of April was Funday over at M.A.C Belgium's website. This not only meant free shipping on all products (and not starting at €25 as usual), it also meant a free strobe cream sample (6ml) with every order. 
I had been wanting to try strobe cream for a while and I won't lie, I was looking for an excuse to order yet another spare white mascara (I've got three now, no I don't regret anything, white mascara is my jam!) so I figured that now was as good a time as any to snatch that extra mascara. 
And of course, I had to try out the strobe cream the moment I got it in my hands. 
Conclusion? 
 I really do love strobe cream. I don't think I want to bothered with the coloured versions at all, because the regular version will look gorgeous under any highlight. 
Even though I adore highlighters, I'm not about to go for full on strobing, but I really do like how this gives most of my highlighters an extra pop when applied underneath them. 
Plus it really is hydrating so my skin absolutely approves. In fact, I loved the sample so much, I went and got a travel sized version, because that way I can keep the sample aside for traveling later this year. 

As a side note, I don't know whether this is the case anywhere else (meaning: not Belgium) too, but it's definitely worth checking out. The “plain” strobe cream costs €10 for 30ml. For the coloured versions you pay €33 for 50ml. You do the math. If you aren't set on a specific colour, it's actually cheaper to buy travel sizes. Two travel sizes = € 20 for 60ml in total. That's € 13 cheaper for an extra 10ml. 

 

It's white! No wait, blue! 
Crazy glow is crazy. NYX products are, in general, really hit or miss. And this one is definitely a hit, oh boy. I was very skeptic about NYX releasing highlighters, but when I saw this on my friend Claire, it took me less than a month to cave in and get Twilight Tint for myself. 
I've given up on finding the perfect lilac highlighter that doesn't have a ridiculous price tag (looking at your Becca!), so I figured I might as well settle for blue. I am aware that NYX does that pink/lilac one, but it's the pink part that is bugging me, so no, ain't going to happen. 
 I also love how this interacts with my M.A.C extra dimension skin finish highlighter in Beaming Blush. When I put that over this, it turns it in a gorgeous white gold. Love it! 

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Kiss proof 
Well, I wouldn't have believed it until I tried this, but this is one of those infamous transfer proof liquid lipsticks. It's also the first liquid lipstick that is actually NOT drying on my lips AND comfortable to wear. And it wears for ages (right up to the point where you eat actually). 
I don't like the part when it's drying, but lucky that's over super quickly so the uncomfortable part lasts for like 2 minutes rather than the entire period of wear. I really like it, 
I would definitely get more shades if tarte was a little easier to get in Belgium. 
And if I didn't already own so many (liquid) lipsticks as is (this one was in my March Ipsy bag). 
 You can read a little more about it here in my March Ipsy bag post.
 

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Doesn't apply half bad... 
Ok, so I've been buying and trying essence brushes since last September, but now that I finally feel like I have enough brushes, I think it's time to add my faves to well, a favourites post. essence is a brand that is VERY hit or miss when it comes to cosmetics, but their brushes (and eye make-up remover pads) aren't half bad. Far from even. 
What started originally as a “I really need an extra of this brush, so I'll give this a go 'till I can order a good one” ended as “these are actually pretty good, let me get some more because they are cheap and get the job done!” I don't like all the brushes by them, but the ones I like are the eye shadow blending brush, the one that is supposedly a smokey eye brush (I use it for the outer corner but hey), concealer brush and the powder brush. I have multiples of each (bar the smokey eye one) and I find they come in handy really well. I know it's kinda not done to say this, but I'm going to anyway. I find that there isn't that big of a quality difference between these and Spectrum brushes. 
What I'm saying is: if you're on a budget, or you need something fast, you may want to look into these (at least, if you can get them where you live). 
Personally I find that if you're just going to set your eye shadow base with powder, or are blending everything out with a clean blending brush, or want to put a shade all over your lid, the blending brushes do just as good a job as my more expensive blending brushes, so it doesn't really motivate me to spend more than the €1,59 that an essence blending brush costs. 
I can apply my concealer without hassle with the essence concealer brush, so again, what's my motivation to spend more than €1,59 on a brush? 
Like with the blending brush, I can't see a huge amount of difference between my Spectrum brushes that are the same as the essence smokey eye one, so when I wanted an extra, I once again opted for the brush that would only cost me €1,59 (I don't think there's an essence brush that is more expensive than €3,99 to be honest). 
The powder brush, well it's definitely not the best powder brush out there, but it does the trick, and as I don't need one often I didn't feel like buying a more expensive one. What it is REALLY good for, is to help distribute powder products better if you have, for instance, been a little too heavy handed with your blush, or are using a bronzer or blush that just needs a little help getting applied (some products just benefit from a sturdier brush to a super soft one). 
So yeah, I've been really enjoying these, and they deserve a faves spot.

 

Not the best quality photo by far, but Loa was being very cute. Plus, it illustrates how much he likes getting involved in things I do pretty well.

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You can never have too many make-up bags 
Well ok, I have a couple of full storage boxes that claim otherwise, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy with this particular Ipsy bag. 
It was the March glam bag, and the last one I received before I canceled my subscription. 
It's a bigger bag, which is super practical, and just so, so pretty. So I love it. 
I like to organise my make-up by type inside my storage box in make-up bags, and this is the perfect size to put all my highlighters in.

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Death to the germs! 
Because you can disinfect your powder cosmetics products (and your brushes for that matter, AFTER cleaning them and before using them again if they've been sitting in a pot somewhere) with 99% alcohol, aka isopropyl alcohol, I went down to the pharmacy and got me half a liter of the stuff. 
I have a smaller spray bottle from di to actually use it with. 
I love that now I don't have to worry about germs etc in my powders anymore. 

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Added note: where possible I link to English language (UK) websites in the summary, even when I bought the product in a Belgian store, or via a Dutch language website. 
So if you don't live in the UK, simply google for your country's website alternative. 
Most stores I buy from have one. 
 Eventually these links may expire when a company discontinues a product, but at the time this post goes live, they *should* all be good. 

Faves of past months (newest to oldest).