Top Summer Nail Polishes.

 Two years ago I wrote three different posts about my favorite summer blushes, lipsticks and lipglosses but I never wrote one about my favorite summer polishes. I realised that haven't done a "nail polish" related post in like ages, in fact my very first blog post was about my favorite winter nail polishes so I think it was about time to talk you about my top five, and of course hottest, summer nail polishes! I really like bright shades on my nails, so every summer I love painting my nails with beautiful corals and peaches and of course neon shades, what can I say, I just love my neons!

 It was hard for me to choose only 5 since I have so many similar shades but I chose the ones that I've used the most and I'm sure these are some shades that everyone loves to use at summertime!

   ChG Flip Flop Fantasy, Model's Own Pink Punch, Nails inc. Notting Hill Gate, Korres Flamingo Pink, OPI Cajun Shrimp

China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

A very beautiful super neon coral-pink shade, in my opinion the hottest pedicure shade for the summer. The only problem I have with this one is the texture, it has a very thick and streaky formula but I can put up with it because of its amazing shade.

Model's Own Pink Punch

This is the only Model's Own polish that I own and of course it had to be a neon one, it's a bright warm pink shade with a hint of coral-orange, it has a runny formula that never streaks which I prefer.

Nails inc. Notting Hill Gate

One of the few cool toned neon pinks that I own, it's really beautiful, not super bright as the other two that I mentioned before but still quite noticable.

Korres Flamingo Pink

This is by far the most beautiful orangey-coral shade I own that it's not neon, it's a nice alternative for those who like bright and vivid shades but don't want the bright neon that glows in your face.

OPI Cajun Shrimp

I saved the more classy one for last, this was actually the first OPI nail polish that I've bought years ago and it's still as good as new! For those who prefer more classic colors on their nails this one is the perfect summer red with a hint of coral just to make it more warm.

Do you love bright nails at summertime like me? Let me know what are your favorite summer nail polishes!

Summer Essentials Part 2 - Make Up

I know it took me a while to do the second part of my summer essentials post, but that's because I recently changed a lot in my make up routine for this summer and I wanted to be sure of which products exactly I'd show you. These are the products I use all the time now, and I think they're pretty much what everyone likes to use when it's summertime and we're kind of lazy with our makeup routine, and do things more quick.

Face

 I've been the laziest person ever when it comes to make up lately, and I was looking for a product that would act both as a sunscreen and a foundation together, so instead of using 2 or even 3 different products on my face I decided to just stick with one, and I found this amazing product, the Frezyderm Face Foundation Sunscreen SPF30, it's the perfect combo of a sunscreen and foundation in one, I only wear this and I'm ready to go! 

As for concealer I always prefer liquid concealers in the summer because they're super easy to blend. Right now my favorite is Mac's Mineralize concealer, I use it under my eyes and around my nose or on top of any blemishes I might have and it covers them perfectly. 

And because a powder is always a necessity, the best one in my opinion that everyone must have in their make up bag is a blotting powder, because it's summer and most of the times we end up looking very greasy after a few hours. My absolute HG blotting powder for many years now is Mac's Blot Powder.

One thing that is always a must have in the summer, is a bronzer. You can use a traditional bronzer or a brown  blush, I alternate between these two, Mac's Sunny By Nature Mineralized Skinfinish and Seventeen's Matte Blusher in Cafe Au Lait. I like to use them with a big fluffy powder brush such as the Real Technique's Blush brush on my cheekbones and forehead for a more all over bronzed look. The Mac Sunny By Nature is more of a peachy toned bronzer and the Seventeen one is a straight brown shade, I love them both.

As for blushes, I think the safe choice is always a peachy one, at least I always go for the peachy ones! A blush that really impressed me the past year is the Essence Secret It-Girl, a beautiful true peachy matte blush, super cheap and also permanent. A peachy-bronze blush is also a very good choice, Mac's Nuance Mineralize Blush is one of them, and it can also be used as a highlighter because it has a beautiful golden sheen to it, unfortunately it was limited edition many years ago, but I'm pretty sure you can find a similar one.

Eyes

When it comes to eyeshadows I always go for the bronze ones, sometimes I only use one all over my lids and I'm done. You can get a beautiful premade eyeshadow palette full with neutral shades, such as the Too Faced Natural Eye palette which is the best premade eyeshadow palette I've ever used.

   Or you can make one on your own, Mac has some beautiful neutral shades in their collection. My favorite quad consists the shades Arena which is a light satin peachy shade to use all over the lids as a base, Time & Space which is a medium bronze shade perfect to use it on its own on the lids for a bronzed eye look, and it's very similar to Woodwinked. Cork, a medium matte light brown shade for the crease, to give your eyes more depth and last but not least Bronze, a beautiful dark bronze-brown shade for the outer corner.

For eyeliner, even though I rarely use it at summer, you can always go for a bronze-brown one to compliment the neutral eyeshadows. My HG is Seventeen's Brown Pearl 05 Super Smooth Waterproof pencil, it's also very long lasting and it doesn't crease even when it's super hot outside.

Lips

For lips I always go for coral and orange, the perfect shades for summer lips! Dior Addict in Delice is one of the most beautiful coral lipsticks I've ever tried so I had to include it in my summer essentials, it's very soft with a glossy-balmy texture, I could only wear this all summer! And for something less expensive and more affordable the brand new L'oreal's Glam Shine Baume Gloss in Bite The Maracuja, it's still coral but more orange than the Dior one with golden shimmers, I also love the baume texture, it's very moisturizing!

And for those who prefer to use only lip balms at summertime, Korres Mango Lip Butter is one of the best! It's a tinted lip balm, a beautiful true coral shade, and the texture is just perfect, not super glossy more on the waxy side and it makes the lips look flawless. The Korres Lip Butters have the most incredible texture of all the lip balms I've tried.

Nails

And lastly nails, how could I ever forgot nail varnishes, in my opinion it's the most fun part when it comes to summer beauty. You have so many options, so many colors to choose from, pastels, corals, reds, neons, and as you can see from the picture I always go for the neon ones! The three neon shades I enjoyed the most this summer are the China Glaze You Drive me Coconuts, a beautiful purplish pink with a jelly finish, Model's Own Pink Punch a medium coral pink shade, one thing worth mentioned for this varnish is that it has one of the best formulas I've ever tried in a neon varnish. And last but not least Nails inc. in Portobello, an orangy-coral shade with a glossy finish.

So these are my make up essentials for this summer, I hope you liked them! I want you to tell me what are your summer make up essentials. Have you tried any of the products I mentioned? Let me know!

July Collective Haul - Part 1 (Real Techniques, Benefit, China Glaze)

I've been hauling a lot this month, I still do please don't judge me, for some reason I want to try a lot of new things especially for my face make up and skincare. At this post I'm gonna show you half of the stuff I got a few weeks ago, and I'm gonna do another one next week about the newest stuff I got recently.

I have to start with the big order I did from iHerb, I got lots of Real Techniques brushes for the face, mostly because my skin started to react to most of my brushes in my collection and since Real Techniques brushes are synthetic I thought that it would be a good opportunity to try most of them, this is something that I wanted to do for almost a year now. I got the Core collection, the powder brush, the blush brush, the stippling brush and the setting brush. I've tried all of them and I have to say that they're amazingly soft, my absolute favorite so far is the Blush brush, I use it for my bronzer because it has the perfect shape! Also I've been loving a lot the setting brush, which is really good for applying concealer under my eyes and around my nose, and also applying highlighter on my cheekbones. I really want to try and experiment with them more and see which are the ones that I love the most.

A few weeks ago Sephora I got this Benefit How To Look The Best At Everything make up kit with 40% off, which I think that was such an awesome discount. I got the kit in medium and it includes the famous Porefessional face primer, the Hello Flawless Oxygen WOW Brightening make up in Honey, two shades of the Boi-ing concealer in 02 and 03 and the Hello Flawless powder foundation in the shade Honey, all the products of course are in a mini size. I've been testing them out for a few weeks and besides the powder foundation which I already love and I've mentioned it countless times in my blog, Porefessional is the one product that I enjoyed using the most from this set, it's an a amazing primer and I want to test it out with the rest of my foundations too besides the Hello Flawless, and see how it performs. I'm still not sure if I like the Hello Flawless Oxygen liquid foundation, I love the shade it's the perfect match for my skintone (NC25), but it gets really oily after two hours and it transfers a lot, I'm not sure if this is happening because the weather here is being super hot and humid, but I really want to test it out on a colder weather too, maybe I'll like it more then. The Boi-ing concealer is really good, it reminds me a lot of the Mac Studio Finish concealer, a little less creamier though. The shade 03 is really similar to my Studio Finish in NW25, but Boi-ing performs way better as a face concealer, on blemishes and scars, it stays on longer.

Lastly I got from Ebay two polsihes from the China Glaze Summer 2013 Sunsational collection, Shell-O (left) and You Drive Me Coconuts (right). I love neons for summertime, actually I only wear neons on my toes for the whole summer. These two are jellies, which are more sheer than the usual cream textured neons, but most of the times I end up hating cream neons because they create lots of streaks. Shell-O is a beautiful coral pink shade and Drive Me Coconuts is a bright pink with purple undertones. Actually Drive Me Coconuts is the one that I love the most and that surprised me because I'm more of a coral person, but the texture is way beter than Shell-O's, is not as sheer, and the purple undertones matches really good with my skintone.

I hope you liked my haul post, there are more to come in a new post! Until then tell me, have you tried any of these products? Do you like them?

Oh and one more thing, if you want to make an order from iHerb for Real Techniques brushes and more,  you can use this gift code, TDZ975, and you will receive $10 off your first order of $40 or more, or you can take $5 off if your order is less than $40.

Collective Christmas Haul (Stila, bareMinerals, China Glaze, Vichy, Mac, Taylor Swift)

 

I think it was about time to show you what I hauled for Christmas! I got most of these stuff online, some of them were purchased on Black Friday but my post office was so slow and I received them 10 days ago! I was also waiting for another package from Lush to arrive so I can show you all the things that I purchased but it literally just arrived so I didn't have the time to take pictures. I may do a seperate post, only with my Lush goodies! So let's start!

Taylor Swift Wonderstruck Perfume Set

As I mentioned in my Christmas beauty wishlist post , every Christmas I like to buy a perfume, this year I was planning to buy Vera Wang's Lovestruck, but I saw this set at Feelunique for only 18 euros and I said why not! You get a 30ml bottle of the perfume plus a small 5 ml one, and the body lotion! 

I've read really good reviews about this perfume and since it's not available in Greece, buying it online was my only option. But it's a risk buying a perfume you haven't smell before, there's always a chance that you may not like it, and now that I smelled it I'm still not quite sure if I like it or not, but them again I've used it only twice! It's a little heavy and a sweet perfume, but a unique one for sure! At first it caused me a headache, but in the past I've had perfumes that I couldn't stand and then later I loved! So who knows, I may eventually get used to the scent!

Stila In The Know Eye Shadow Palette

This eye shadow palette is the highlight of my haul! Before November I've never even heard of this palette, and I think it was released last spring! But I was watching a Youtube video from ARose186 , and I suddenly started lemming it like crazy!

 It's a palette with only matte eyeshadows, and let me tell you it's so hard to find an eye shadow palette in the market with only matte eyeshadows, I think Too Faced has one but the colors are too cool toned for me. Amazing quality and pigmentation, all the colors are so pretty and neutral, perfect for subtle everyday looks or even intense night looks! Plus you get a full size Stila Smudge Stick Eye Liner in Halfmoon, it's a dark grey color, very creamy and long lasting!

 

 I got the palette from BeautyBay for 25 euros on Black Friday when they offered a 20% off. It normally  retails for 32 euros, in my opinion it's a really good price for 10 high quality eyeshadows and a full size eye pencil. I may also get the In The Light palette in the future,which contains one of my HG eye shadows ever, Kitten!

bareMinerals Buxom Time To Shine Lip Collection

I was lemming this lipgloss kit for a while now, it was also in my Christmas Beauty Wishlist. It contains 6 different Buxom liglosses, with 2 different textures, 4 of them are Lip Polishes which have shimmers, and 2 of them are Lip Creams with no shimmers at all. Buxom lipglosses are supposed to be lip plumpers, I haven't notice if my lips look more plumpy with these on or not, but let me tell you if you haven't try them before the first time you do it feels so weird! It's like you put ice on your lips and that sensation does not leave until you remove the whole lipgloss from your lips!

The one I use the most is the White Russian because it's a milky pink with cream texture and can be used on top of any lipstick! Katie is also my favorite which is light peachy pink with shimmers and Berry Blast which is a gorgeous berry color with no shimmers, perfect for the winter! I have to mention that they are a little bit sticky, mostly the Lip Polishes, but not as much as the Mac lipglasses are.

Vichy Normaderm 3 in 1 Cleanser + Scrub + Mask

I got this exfoliator/mask 2 weeks ago from the drugstore, I was looking for a good salycylic acid mask for a while now, and this one from Vichy had really good reviews. I got it mostly to use it on my nose and chin area where I have the main problem with my break outs, and make my pores look smaller and clearer! I've used it 3 times, I haven't notice any difference on my pores yet, but I like the natural clear finish it leaves on my skin afterwards!

Mac Omega Eye Shadow

I was looking for an eye shadow to use on my brows, that would have the exact same shade as my HG eye pencil from Mac, Lingering. I was told that Mac's Omega eye shadow is very similar to it so I went for it. I have to say that it's a tone lighter than Lingering but still in the same cool tone family, because I hate to use warm toned shades on my brows. I love the soft look it gives on my brows for an everyday use!

China Glaze Merry Berry and Champagne Kisses

I got these 2 shades from the new China Glaze Joy Holiday collection through Ebay. Merry Berry is a gorgeous and very sophisticated dark berry shade with a cream finish, a perfect shade for fall and winter!

Champagne Kisses, which I showed you in my Christmas NOTD here, is a rose gold glitter nail polish, very festive, very Christmassy, I love it!!

So that was my Christmas Haul, I hope you liked it! Have you try any of these products? 

What did you get for Christmas? Let me know!

Sophia

xoxo

Christmas NOTD: OPI Wocka Wocka! & China Glaze Champagne Kisses

It's Christmas Eve and I wanted to post a festive NOTD, so I choose red and gold! OPI Wocka Wocka! was released last year with OPI's holiday collection, The Muppets. It's a gorgeous deep blue-toned red with fine gold shimmers and in my opinion one of the best reds I've ever tried!

And to make my nails look more festive today I chose a gold glitter for my ring finger, China Glaze's Champagne Kisses. I got this one last week, it's from the new China Glaze Holiday Joy collection, it's a stunning champagne gold glitter polish, almost rose gold, with very fine milled glitters, you only need two coats with this one!

What's your festive nail polish for the Christmas?  Let me know!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family!

Sophia
xoxo

July Collective Haul ( Mac, Revlon, L'oreal, Artdeco, Maybelline, etc).

 This is my last post before I leave for my vacation, it's a haul I did within the whole month of July, which is also my birthday month, some of these I got them on my birthday.

Vera Wang Princess Eau de toilette

Such a cute and light fragrance, I wanted to buy it for such a long time! I think it's perfect for summer and wintertime as an everyday perfume.

L'oreal Professionnel Play Ball Beach Fizz

I wanted to try a salt spray for the summer, so I can enhance my curls (I have naturally wavy hair) and it does a pretty good job, way better than Bumble and Bumble's Surf spray which I've tried years ago and I really hated it!

Sephora Lemon Verbena Eau de toilette

I love lemon and citrus beased perfumes for summer and it was hard to find one that smells exactly like lemons, but this one does and it's so refreshing! I only wish it lasted longer.

Maybelline Mega Plush Volum' Express Mascara

This is the newest mascara from Maybelline, which isn't yet released in Greece so I ordered it through Ebay. I've tried lots of  Maybelline mascaras but most of them dissapointed me, but this one is something else! It has such a light unique formula, like a mousse, and it gives me amazing length and volume!

Mac Bronzing Powder in Refined Golden

A very famous bronzer, I wanted to try a new bronzer and I decided to go with Mac this time since I've never tried any of their bronzers all those years I'm into make up. The shade is really good for my NC25 skintone, it has a few golden shimmers but they're unnoticeable on my face. I'm still not sure if I like this bronzer or not.

Mac Cleanse Off Oil

I got the mini version because I wanted to try it first before I buy the full bottle. I used to be into cleansing oils as a face make up remover a few years ago, but now I use only micellar lotions. The Cleanse Off Oil has a very different texture from the ones that I've tried, it's a little too thick, but I haven't really tested it so I can have a full opinion yet.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Cherish

I really wanted to try these new Revlon stains but we don'thave them in Greece so I ordered it through the Ebay. I don't know why I picked up this color because it's so not me, I never buy these kind of pinks, I thought it would look awful on me but I was clearly wrong! Yes it's cool toned but somehow it works well with my warm skintone, and it looks amazing with summer looks. I love the texure, it's not drying at all and it stays for a long time.

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

I was in the hunt for a good cuticle cream for a long time, and I saw that this one is very famous in the beauty community so I decided to order it from feelunique. It has a very different texture from an actual cream, it's a balm, and it really works, much better than cuticle oils.

Artdeco Blusher in #05

I haven't bought an Artdeco blush in ages, and I don't know why since they're very affordable! When I saw this shade at the counter it reminded me so much of Mac's Peaches, and when I swatched I was right, it's an exact dupe with only 8 euros, I had to get it! I just love it, the perfect matte tangerine blush for the summer! I'm not sure but I think it's a limited edition shade.

Chine Glaze Beach Cruise-R

From this year's China Glaze's neons I wanted to try a neon shade that I didn't have before, so I got this one which is a straight purple. I'm not sure if I like it yet, but for sure I prefer it as a manicure shade rather as a pedicure one.

Essie Off The Shoulder

From the whole Essie 2012 summer collection, this shade was the only one that really caught my eye. It's such a pretty light to medium cream pink. I'm not sure if it's warm toned or a cool toned pink, I would say something in between.

L'oreal Color Riche  in #106 Versailles Gold

This is a sandy-gold nail polish, a shade that I was looking for a long time. A little too metallic for my taste though, but with an amazng texture. I think I'll be getting more of these Color Riche polishes in the future!

Poshe Fast Drying Top Coat

I'm not sure how many bottles I've used from this stuff, but it's the best fast drying top coat in the market, for me it's better than Seche Vite.

Mac Lingering Eye Brow pencil

The best brow pencil for light brunettes hands down! It's a neutral brown, not too cool toned and ashy neither too red (which I absolutely hate at brow pencils). The only negative thing is that it lasts me only for a couple of months.

Mac lipsticks in Venus and Pleasureseeker

Both of these shades were released with Mac's Heavenly Creatures collection, and I B2M for both of them. Pleasureseeker it's actually a repromote from the Neo Sci Fi collection back in the summer of 2008, I had it but for some reason it turned bad really quick, I don't know why. Pleasureseeker it's a very sheer light peach shade, great for everyday use. Venus is a medium pink with cool and warm undertones. I'm actually really surprised on how much I like this lipstick.

So tell me, have you try any of these products?? Do you like them?

And since I'm going to be away for a while, I want to wish a happy summer to all of you!!!

Sophia

xoxo

Summer Wishlist

I think it was about time to make my beauty summer wishlist! It was fun making it because I love summer, and the summer shades in general such as peaches, corals and bronze. Every year I have so many lemmings with all these make up limited edition collections!

So here's my list for summer:

1. A fresh summer fragrance is always a must have, and every year I'm lemming a different one. Last year it was  Escada, but this year I may go for one of the new Body Shop's limited edition fragrances. I love Body Shop's fragrances, Vanilla is my top favorite. This year they are launching the summer versions of three of their popular fragrances , Love etc... Sun Kiss, Dreams Unlimited Sun Fresh and White Musk Sun Glow.

2. A new mascara from Mac, Extended Play Lash , that is going to be released this summer. It claims to be 16 hour smudge-free , plus it's glossy black and volumizing. Definetely a must try.

3. Summer here is super hot, so I need an oil free foundation that will also be lightweight and have a good medium coverage and until now I haven't found one. When I saw that Clinique will release the Stay Matte Oil Free Make-Up, I knew it was going to be in my wishlist for summer. Can't wait to try it!

4. Mac's summer collection will be called Hey Sailor, with a limited edition packaging as they always do every year. I'm not lemming much from the collection but a peachy blush is a weakness of mine, it's called Launch Away!

5. Also from Mac's Hey Sailor collection, Jaunty eyeshadow, a light yellow beige. I'm sure it will look amazing all over the lids with some brown eye pencil and mascara.

6. Neon nail polishes!!! Awww how I love neons on my nails at summertime, and China Glaze is going to release a brand new collection with them. Last year I got Flip Flop Fantasy and I have to say that it's the best neon shade I've ever tried. From this year's collection I'm lemming Beach Cruiser (purple), Pink Plumeria (pink) and Flirty Tankini (peachy coral).

7. Even though I already have 2 bronzer brushes, I've always wanted a brush with the exact same rounded shape that Mac 167SH has. This brush is going to be relased with Mac's Hey Sailor collection this summer.

8. Bronzers bronzers bronzers! I can never have to many bronzers, I just love them all year round.  For a few years I'm lemming this Dior Matte Sunshine bronzer and this year I'm gonna to get it for sure!

9. Dior Vernis in Bikini. A very pretty, true peach cream nail polish from Dior's Croisette collection for this summer. I've never tried any Dior nail polishes, but I really wanna start with this one.

10. I love soft pink glosses for summer days and Dior Addict Ultra Gloss in Pink Croisette 464 looks exactly like the one I'm looking for.

11. Lastly from the same Croisette collection, the Dior Addict lipstick in Palace 354. In my opinion the Dior Addict lipsticks are one of the best high end lipsticks, along with YSL. I love their balm texture, you don't need lipgloss with those. The Palace 354 looks like a soft warm pink, perfect when you have a tan!

What are your lemmings for this summer?

And just a song from Late Night Alumni to put you in a summer mood!! It always reminds me of summer!

Fall & Winter favourite nail polishes

As my first blog post I decided to show you what nail polishes I really enjoyed wearing this fall and winter,even though March and spring is already here, I can't stop loving vampy colors on my nails, I think they suit better with my skin color. My favourite color ranges are purples and dark reds, as you can see from the pictures! I wish I had a better camera, so I could show you the true colors, but mine washed out some of them, just a little bit though.

Purples

from left to right:  Misa Forbidden Lust, Mac WildFire, China Glaze Stella, China Glaze Let's Groove

Plums

from left to right:  OPI Yes...I Can-Can!,  Zoya Lael,  Essie Velvet Voyeur

Reds

 from left to right:  Essie Tomboy No More,  Essie Lacy Not Racy,  Misa Love Bite

 from left to right:  China Glaze Thunderbird,  OPI Wocka Wocka!, China Glaze Ruby Pumps

Miscellaneous

 from left to right:  Seventeen Super Shine #509, Misa Dying Love, China Glaze Side-Saddle

I love them all, but Misa Love Bite and China Glaze Side Saddle have a special place in my heart, I always reach for them.

I also wanted to show you the 2 heroes in my nail routine, my HG base and top coat that I can't live without.

The base coat is Radiant Professional Vitamine Force Treatment for brittle nails, which seriously is a miracle worker, this is the second bottle I purchased within a year. It managed to strengthen my nails and I rarely notice any nail breakage anymore, I'm very prone to nail breakages and peeling and this treatment really helps with these.

The top coat I love for years now is Poshe Super Fast Drying top coat, I only use fast drying top coats because I'm lazy! I prefer Poshe than Seche Vite, mostly because it's not as thick as Seche Vite.

I hope you liked my first blog post!