– essence, all about matt! oil blotting paper
– M.A.C, eye shadow in Lime
– M.A.C, eye shadow in Rule
– M.A.C, eye shadow x 9 in Semi Sweet
– M.A.C, eye shadow x 9 in Tropic Cool
– M.A.C, lipstick in 4EVA
– M.A.C, blush in Full of Joy
– Yves Rocher, lipid-replenishing lotion
– Too Faced, Go Ahead and Lie
– Too Faced, Unicorn Tears
– Shadowhunters, season 2B
Click to find out more about why these are my faves to start off the summer...
In M.A.C I trust
Now, if only they could stop selling China and be 100% cruelty free. That aside, M.A.C is probably the only make-up brand I have any sort of loyalty to, simply because I can trust them not to put complete and total crap in their products. And for the products to never break me out of give me allergic reactions. I've actually never used a M.A.C product (at least not that I can remember) that 100% didn't work for me. So yeah, I like M.A.C.
Green and orange is perfect for Halloween I have actually owned Lime before. But, like Orange, the shadow was pretty much entirely used up and had gone rather mank after years of use. So last year in November, I binned both, figuring I'd re-buy them near the summer.
So this is my second pan of Lime (I had it in a single shadow pot before but details) and my first pan of Rule, because... Orange, THE PERFECT ORANGE, has been globally discontinued *screams in frustration*.
So I ended up settling for Rule. And I do really like Rule. I even like Rule as an orange blush, and I will admit that as far as orange shadows go, this is more wearable than Orange was. So even though it is Not-Orange, it still deserves a spot in my faves.
As for Lime, well it's a repurchase, clearly I love it that one too :).
More is more
And the case of these eye shadows, more is cheaper, because there was no way I could buy 9 refill pans for about €40.
Sure, ok, these palette pans are smaller than a single refill, but they are also colours I am very much unlikely to finish off before they expire if they were a full size. So, fine, whatever.
That said, I really love these palettes. They're all colours I would use (some more than others) and I had a lot of fun playing around with these all of June.
I will continue to do so in the months to come, actually.
I'm also reviewing these for my blog, but so far only Semi-Sweet is up. You can read that here.
Unicorn purple
That's what Claudia from the Antwerp Inno-M.A.C (aka the M.A.C store inside the Inno store, officially it's called M.A.C Meir, for those that care about these things) calls it. I actually wanted to try this shade when I first saw it announced on the US M.A.C site last year. But it wasn't released in Belgium at the same time, so I assumed we weren't getting it. And... I forgot about it.
Recently, I saw some photos of my friend Sophia wearing it, and asked her what that awesome shade of lipstick was. When she said it was 4EVA, I checked the Belgian M.A.C site, because clearly, it was on sale _somewhere_ in Europe. And 'lo and behold, it was on sale in Belgium indeed!
Because it's really the kind of purple you have to try on first, I tried it on in store, and even Bert liked it (which doesn't happen quickly or often with a purple lipstick, let me tell you that!).
So yeah, got it, happy with it. Probably should stop buying lipsticks because I have lots but I kinda can't help myself! Who am I kidding though, I love lipsticks, they're like the one make-up product I can NOT live without!
Click here for the ingredients.
To stick with the unicorn vibes
I just love this shimmery lilac-y blush from M.A.C! Love it.
I had heard about it before, ogled it online, but I heard it was discontinued so kinda gave up on the idea. Then I found out that it’s just generally not available online (it wasn't when I was looking into it on the Belgian M.A.C site in any case), but it IS in stores.
Frankly I feel like Full of Joy is nearly identical to that lilac highlighter they have in their extra dimension skin finish line, just a lot cheaper. And as it’s a shimmery blush, it can be used as a highlighter too.
Considering I have wanted something like this for ages, and this is multifunctional, not to mention cheaper than highlighter variants (not just the M.A.C one but also Aura by Urban Decay), I went with Full of Joy.
No regrets.
Click here for the ingredients.
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Hopefully no actual unicorns had to cry for this!
This being the infamous, cult status lipstick: Unicorn Tears by Too Faced.
I get why it's sold out so often and it's a best seller: because this damn thing is not just a multi-functional lipstick that instantly transforms whatever lipstick you're wearing, it's also great to do mermaid or fae looks if you are into body painting or SFX.
Just a warning though: residual stain, it's gonna happen (but not very blatantly so, so you won't be hot pink for ages).
I love it, it's just the right amount of insane for me. Of course, contrary to most people, I actually wear this out. The locals already are convinced I'm crazy, at least give them something to legit support their claims. Could be worse than outrageous lipsticks (and to be fair, I prefer being known as “that girl that wears outrages lipsticks” than “that weirdo that isn't right in the head”).
I just wish that it was easier to get my hands on... (Charlotte knows my pain, thanks again for your help Charlotte!).
Click here for the ingredients.
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Feed the lipids
Ok, that actually sounds like the tag line from a bad B-movie horror or sci-fi flick (which I would probably watch, but that's just me).
I got a sample of this last month, put it in a little sample jar, and even though this is a body lotion, I used it on my face, because I just could NOT get rid of some dry patches. Lo and behold, this did the trick.
So this month I went out and bought the full size of this, because it really is that good. It also dries into the skin superfast, which is definitely a good thing.
As an added bonus, this has a plastic removable “lock” to keep the pump bottle from spilling if you travel with it. I don’t know why anyone would consider traveling with a bottle this huge, but it’s nice the pump can be locked in place with minimal effort. I can appreciate little things like that. And if it’s empty, you can just keep that little “lock” and use it on other pump bottles, so you don’t even have to toss it!
Click here for the ingredients.
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Up yours hot weather
I don’t get oily, I just get sweaty on my nose bridge (right under my glasses). And as wiping at it with my hands and clothes is just gross (not to mention inadvisable full stop) I use blot film.
I LOVE my Daiso blotting paper, that’s still hands down my fave, but eventually it’s gonna run out, and then this essence one is a good alternative.
It’s also dirt cheap (about €2 for 50 sheets), so it warrants a spot in my June faves.
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Shadowhunters
Now I know I have talked about Shadowhunters back in March, but FINALLY the new episodes came out early this month!
I still don’t know how I managed to survive from early March to the beginning of June without new Shadowhunters.
But it’s here and I love it. Glorious, glorious entertainment, YAAAAAAS!
I have to admit that season 2B got off to a rocky start for me, I absolutely HATED the first episode (S2E11), but luckily it did pick up again after that. Slowly, and not fast enough for my liking, but there you go. It's like the Nightside books I guess, I didn't like one of the storylines that went on for 2 or 3 books either, but I stuck with that too and it's still my fave book series :).
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Go Ahead and Lie
As some of you might know, I studied graphic design with a speciality in commercial advertising.
So I can REALLY appreciate it when a brand does a really good promo. And this video by Too Faced really takes the cake.
Even though I don't even use (and wouldn't use) half of these products, I love it. I laughed so hard watching it.
Well done Too Faced, well done!
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Added note to this post
Because I get super annoyed when I can't look up ingredients of a product online before buying it, I've decided to start photographing ingredients of products that don't list them on the official website. Which is why you can already find several in this post. I'm keeping all of them together in this set on flickr, so if you're looking for ingredients and you think it's a product I might own, have a look in there. (It doesn't have all my products, but you know, it's a work in progress). Ingredients for the x 9 palettes are in that flickr set, as they will have them posted with their separate review posts. I will continue to add to this with new products I buy, as long as it's possible to photograph the ingredients (sometimes the way they print them you just can't take a photo, sadly).
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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.
Past favourites on this blog.
Going further back on my old blog.
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Find me online: twitter - instagram - website - old blog (it's to say, I double post, but my years and years of posting is on there as I've had it since 2003)
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