Stila "In The Know" Eyeshadow Palette Review.

Hello everyone! I know it's been a few weeks since I wrote a post but now I'm back with a review for an eyeshadow palette that I'm sure that most of you will love it! It's the Stila "In The Know" eyeshadow palette, which contains only matte eyeshadows, yes it's a rare thing to find but there is a premade palette that contains only matte eyeshadows! I got this palette almost a year ago, and to be completely honest with you I haven't used it as much as I would want to, but there are shades in it that I reach for almost every single time I do my make up.

In this palette you get 10 neutral matte eyeshadows, with an amazing silky texture. I have to admit that Stila knows how to do a good matte eyeshadow, they're amazingly pigmented,very silky and blendable. You also get a full size Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner in "Halfmoon", which has one of the best textures you can find at an eyepencil. The shades in this palette are:

Air - an almost white shade
Wind - an ivory shade
Desert - a light cream peachy shade
Clay - a tan/flesh shade
Earth - a dark warm toned brown
Driftwood - a medium warm toned brown
Fire - a dark orange shade
Rain - a muted mauvish brown
Smoke - a medium grey
Ebony - a true black

The shades I've used the most from this palette are the warm toned ones, just because the cool ones make me look sick. I love using Desert all over my lids, it's a little lighter than the color of my lids and it brightens my eyes a bit, it's a great dupe for Mac's Arena eyeshadow. Clay is also a good "all over the lid" eyeshadow, but because it's almost identical to my actual lid color sometimes it doesn't show up at all. Earth and Driftwood are the two browns that I enjoy using the most, sometimes I use Earth as a liner and it works perfectly. Air and Wind are the perfect "browbone" whitish-ivory cream shades and the fact that they're matte it makes them perfect for that job. Fire is a very unique shade I would say to be included in this palette, because it's a dark but bright orange, I've used it a few times on the crease, it creates a warmth to my eyes, and when it's blended with the rest of the warm toned browns like Driftwood and Earth it creates a beautiful "fall" look. Rain and Smoke are the ones that I rarely use just because I don't look good with greys. Also in my opinion it would be better if the palette came with a warm toned shade of eyepencil instead of a grey.

I really like the packaging of this palette, it's very pretty and girly but practical, it's very lightweight because it's made from cardboard, and it has a magnetic closure. Also it comes with a huge mirror which I find very handy, unlike the Urban Decay's Naked palettes.

Stila is not available in Greece, I have to mention that I bought it from Beautybay, now it retails for 30 euros but I got it with a Black Friday discount last year, and since Black Friday is really close keep your eyes open that day for any discounts.

Overall I think that if you love matte eyeshadows, especially neutral ones, this palette is a must have for you. You can create beautiful everyday looks for the school, the office or anywhere you want. You can also mix them with shimmery ones to keep a balance on your eye look. The eyeshadows have an amazing quality, I haven't found such good quality matte eyeshadows at Mac for sure. I highly recommend it.


Have you tried the Stila "In The Know" palette before? 
Let me know!

What's In My Makeup Bag.

Happy Monday everyone! I wanted to do a "what's in my makeup bag" post for so long, but I was afraid that you're going to find it boring, since I don't carry a lot with me whenever I go out, but since everyone has done a post like this, I said why not? Keep in mind that these are only the things I carry with me in my handbag, and not my makeup of the day, things that I know I will need the most in case I want to touch up my make up, and some other essentials.

 I got this makeup bag last summer from H&M and I'm completely in love with it. I love the black and white design, it's super soft and I can put a lot of stuff in there.

I'll start with the things I use to touch up my face make up. My number one essential, Mac Blot Powder, that stuff is my savior, I use it for over 4 years now and I always carry it around with me, I still haven't found a better powder for my oily skin! What I always like to carry with me is a blush, I don't know why but my blush always dissapears off my skin within a few hours, especially at summertime. Here I have Mac's Nuance Mineralize Blush, it's a beautiful peachy bronze shade with golden sheen, so you don't need to wear a seperate highlighter with this one, the perfect blush for summer.

Lastly a blush brush is very essential, I carry with me Stila's #24 Double Sided Powder brush, because it's the only short handled blush brush I own. Even though it's a very old brush (Stila doesn't make this anymore), it's still smooth as a baby's butt! This is the most expensive brush I own, I paid 55 euros back in 2005 for this baby, it's like I'm carrying something really precious with me!

As for my lips, most of the times I like to carry a lot of lipsticks with me, sometimes even three, but now I'm OK with only one from Dior, my beloved Dior Addict in Delice, a beautiful coral shade with glossy finish. I also carry a mini lipgloss, even though I don't wear lipglosses that often, Benefit's Coralista is one of my favorites, the texture is like a balm, and it's in a mini size which is perfect to carry around.

I love when I find perfumes in mini sizes, because that means you can bring your perfume in your bag without taking a whole 50ml bottle of it, which are also pretty heavy. This one is the Escada Cherry In The Air, which came as a gift with purchase when my mother bought me the full size as a birthday gift a few weeks ago. I love the scent, it's very fresh and fruity.

And here are the rest of my essentials, that I always have to carry around with me. Of course a hand sanitizer, who doesn't need a hand sanitizer with him? It's the number one essential! Eye drops, because my allergies are killing me every single summer, and I end up with red eyes all the time. A mini hand cream, Nivea's Soft, which is my HG hand and body cream, the texture is light yet still moisturizing, and the smell reminds me of summertime, since I was a child. A lip balm, right now I'm loving Nivea's Caramel Cream Lip Butter, it has a delicious caramel taste. And lastly Sephora Blotting Papers, which I cannot live without, I use them all the time before I use my Mac Blot powder, and it works like magic, keeps my oiliness away for a long time.

So these are all the stuff I have in my makeup bag, I hope I didn't bore you that much. I know some girls like to carry around with them more makeup stuff, but I don't see the point in this since I don't go out for many hours and my makeup lasts for all this time I'm out.

What's in your makeup bag?? I'm curious to know!

January Favorites.

So it's that time of the month, and the first favorites post for the 2013, I'm so happy! It's been two months since my last favorites post, and for some weird reason I don't have lots of products to show you. Please excuse the bad lighting at some of my photos, it was so hard for me to find good natural light this past week, but I did my best.

The Body Shop Seaweed Mattifying Day Cream
For two months straight I'm using this moisturizer and I've already finished the jar! I'm so surprised that I actually managed to finish a moisturizer, I never do that because most of them break me out, either right away or after a month of using them. I love how lightweight this gel moisturizer is, without feeling greasy, sometimes I find gel moisturizers not being as lightweight as they claim to be, but this one is perfect and works amazingly well under make up. I actually love it so much that I repurchased a jar, as you saw in my latest haul post here. If you have oily skin and you're looking for a basic moisturizer that costs less than 15 euros, you should try it!

Fresh Line Chocolate Body Milk
This is the only body lotion that I've been using this whole month, and just so you know I have lots of body lotions in my stash right now! I got it with the Chocolate and Vanilla set that I won at the Beauty Bloggers Event and I already did a small review here. It's very lightweight and it's perfect for those who don't have dry skin and don't like the heavy and sticky feeling of a body moisturizer on their bodies. It has the best texture for a summer body lotion, and it smells like pralines!

Stila In The Know Eyeshadow Palette
This palette was the best thing I purchased at Christmas! An eyeshadow palette full of matte neutral shades, I just couldn't ask for more! The best palette for everyday neutral looks for school or work, but you can also do dramatic sexy smokey eye looks with the darker shades because they're super pigmented! I'll do a review about this palette soon! The shades I use the most are Wind, Desert and Driftwood. Here are some swatches for you:

from left to right: Desert, Wind, Driftwood

Yves Saint Laurent Faux Cils Shocking Mascara
This is a sample of the mascara that I got as a freebie with a magazine a couple of months ago, I've been using it for a month now and I find it to be a very good mascara for giving length to the lashes. First of all I love the formula, it's neither too wet or too dry  it's something in between and it really holds my curl. It's not the mascara that will give to your lashes that false effect, but it makes my lashes look cute, and I say cute because it gives that "feather" look, I find it very girly! Too bad it's too expensive, over 30 euros, but if I'll find a good discount I may get it in full size.

La Roche Posay Respectissime Mascara
Yes, I included a second mascara to my monthly faves this time! I was sent this mascara by the company to test it out a few months ago but I didn't want to open it since I was using others at that time. Respectissime is suppose to give length and seperate your lashes, and it's perfect for those who have really sensitive eyes and for those who wear contacts. I have to agree that it does seperate really well but it doesn't give any length to my lashes what so ever! When I use it, my lashes look exactly as if I have no mascara on except a little more defined and blacker. Then why is in my favorites this month you may ask, that's because I find that Respectissime is one of the best mascaras I've ever used for my lower lashes! It has a tiny brush that allows you to apply mascara on the lower lashes very easy and without making a mess, which is something that most of us have serious problem with, huge mascara brushes are the worst of the lower lashes!

Here's a comparison picture between the brush of the YSL Faux Cils Shocking mascara, which is a normal sized mascara brush, and the one from the La Roche Posay mascara. See how slim and short Respectissime's brush is?

Mac Omega Eyeshadow
I actually use this eyeshadow for my brows. It's a light taupe brown shade, very similar to Mac's Lingering brow pencil, only a tone lighter. So for those who wear Lingering, you could also try Omega if you're looking for more of a natural look on your brows. I also noticed that it's quite similar to Naked eyeshadow from Urban Decay. I apply it with a Mac 208 brush which is an angled brush.

BareMinerals  Buxom Katie Lipgloss
Most of the times I have a love-hate releantionship with lipglosses, I like wearing them mostly at summertime, so for over 4 months I wasn't wearing any lip gloss at all, but this Buxom Katie one changed my mind. I got it at Christmas with the Buxom Time to Shine lipgloss set, as you can see it's not the full size. Katie is a very pretty baby pink shade with very fine silver shimmers and it is a little sticky. It gives a light cooling/tingling sensation to your lips, like a menthol lip balm, but it doesn't taste bad, it has a light vanilla taste. If I could use only one lipgloss from now on I'd be more than happy to use only this one!

Givenchy Dahlia Noir Eau De Perfum
I got this perfume last year as a gift, and I've been waiting since now to start using it again because it's definitely a winter perfume, musky/powdery and warm, very sexy I would say! I love the design of the bottle, very simple yet elegant.




I hope you liked my favorites this time and you didn't find them boring. I can't wait to read what were your favorites for the January! Let me know!

Sophia
xoxo

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

October Favorites.

 Well it's time for my monthly favorites, and seriously I didn't even realise that this month is already over,  October just flew by so fast! This time I decided to include some of my non beauty favorites just for fun! 

I hope you like them!

Mac Pro Longwear SPF10 Foundation

I started using liquid foundation again the past month, because the whole summer I prefered using a powder foundation, my beloved Benefit Hello Flawless. One of my HG liquid foundations is Mac's Pro Longwear, it blends really well onto my skin, doesn't make me oily and doesn't make my dry areas obvious, and the best part is that it seriously stays on for hours without transfering, it stays on for more than 8 to 10 hours. I wear the shade NC20. Love it!

L'oreal Mega Volume Collagene 24H Mascara

I don't know what's happening with me and mascaras this past year, every single one I try it's even better than the previous one! OK maybe there's one exception with Benefit's They're Real which I absolutely hated, but this one from L'oreal it's just amazing! It gives amazing length and volume, without clumping, makes my lashes look like false ones, and it's very soft, so soft sometimes I forget I wear mascara. I'm really surprised (in a good way) with L'oreal mascaras lately, very good quality!

Stila Blush Duo in SugarLoaf

Well this is an old blush of mine, when Stila used to release some incredible collections! This blush duo is from the 2006 Fall in Love collection and it's called SugarLoaf. For me this is the definition of a fall peach shade when it comes to blush. I'm not particular in love with the highlighter but the peachy blush is very pretty. Aww how I miss Stila and her gorgeous seasonal collections!

Seventeen Matte Lasting Lipstick in 02

This is a lipstick I got recently, and I used a lot within October, it's a neutral pink-beige shade and matte, perfect for an everyday look and perfect for the fall. It has a unique non drying matte texture which I love.

Mac Lipstick in Way To Love

My second choice of lipstick this month was a more sheer and glossy one. Way To Love is propably one of the few pink lipsticks I've tried and looks good on me, pink lipsticks and especially cool toned ones looks horrible on me, they make me look sick. It was a limited edition shade, released back in 2009 with Rose Romance collection.

The Body Shop Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream

Even though I'm oily, this is a great moisturizer to use at night time when my skin feels more tight and dry, and that happens a lot to me within fall and winter. The best part is that it doesn't make me oily, well only a little bit because it's an intense cream, and that's the reason why I use it mostly at night, also it doesn't break me out!

La Roche Posay Cicaplast

I love this cream, well not only me, my mum also loves it, she uses it for her chapped lips. I have some skin problems for the past month, my skin became very sensitive, some areas peel especially around my nose, and I have itchyness, I'm trying to figure out some new skincare stuff to use this moment for the itchyness, but for the peeling Cicaplast has been my savior and for anyone who has that problem you have to try it out!

Sunsilk Perfect Straight byYuko Leave In Cream

In October I started blow drying my hair again, and I've already mention that I'm a hardcore fan of John Frieda's Frizz Ease Extra Strength serum, but since mine was over, I decided to try something else for a change and not spend 15 euros for it so I chose this on from Sunsilk, it was very cheap, only 2.5 euros. And OMG I was blown away by how great this product is, it's even better than John Frieda's serum, and I mean it. I only need a tiny bit of this for my whole hair, it control the frizziness, makes my hair super soft, it helps straightening my hair a lot and because it contains cones it protects my hair from the heat. I can't recommend this stuff enough, if you'll try it you'll know what I mean!

Non Beauty Favorites

Im addicted to TV Shows, yes I've said it! I'm ashamed of how many I watch, from the new ones that just started I can't really tell which ones are my favorites yet, propably next month I' ll let you know, but from the old ones two of my favorites are Once Upon A Time and Revenge. If you haven't watch them yet, do it, you'll love them!

And my favorite Starbucks beverage, not only for this month but for the whole year (except Christmas time), is Caramel Macchiato. When the weather is hot I prefer the iced one but now I enjoy it hot, and I like the hot one way more!

Let me know what are your beauty and non beauty favorites for this month!

Sophia

xoxo

Favorite Summer Peachy Blushes.

Peachy blushes have always been an addiction of mine, because that color is the one that suit me the most, on my cheeks and on my lips. In this post I include some of my HG for many years now, unfortunately I had more but they are finished long time now. Mac-wise my skintone is NC25, sometimes NC20 depends on the foundation, but since the rest of my body is lighter, keep in mind that the swatches I took are on a NC20 skintone.

Let's start with my an old favorite of mine, Nars Gina, which is also my only Nars blush. Unfortunately I had to depot it because something weird happened to the packaging, the rubber just melt off and it was disgusting, so I put it in a Shu Uemura empty palette I had for years. Gina is a matte true orangey peachy shade with no red or pink in, and it's super pigmented, I always have to be careful when I apply it. I used to have Mac Peaches, and it's a good dupe of Gina. I don't recommend it for skintones lighter than NC20, also it works best with warm skintones.

Next is Shu Uemura's Glow On P Peach 47. I'm not so sure if Shu Uemura still makes this blush, but I know for sure that the packaging of their blushes have changed, I have this blush for many years, it was a gift from an old internet friend. This is a true orangey peach blush, in the same shade category with Nars Gina, also matte, but it's not as pigmented or as bright as Gina. And it's also a tone lighter. This shade of peach is the perfect one for fair skintones, because of its satin texture is very buildable you can go from a super light result to a bright one.

Here's more of a peachy coral pink option, this is from an old Stila summer collection back in 2007 and it's a duo blush called Quaint & Coral Cheek Duo. Unfortunately it was limited edition but I'm pretty sure you can find something similar, most companies make peachy pink blushes.

Quaint is the lighter one at the left and Coral is the brighter one at the right. But the swatches I took on my fingers the lower one is the Coral and the upper one is the Quaint. Both shades are shimmery, Quaint is more shimmery and since it's lighter, on my skin it appears more of a warm pink highlighter. Coral is a very pigmented peachy pink shade. I like to use Coral as a blush and Quaint as a highlighter but sometimes I mix them together.

From Mac I have 3 peachy blushes that I love, if still had Peaches I would show you that one too.

First is a Mineralize blush, it's called Nuance. It's one of the first Mineralize blushes Mac released back in the summer of 2008 with the Sonic Chic collection. And I have to say that, this bunch of Mineralize blushes had the best texture that Mac ever had in their mineralize range. So smooth and not glittery at all.

Nuance is an orangey-bronze shade of peach. Because it has golden shimmers it gives a nice sheen on my cheeks and I don't need to use a seperate highlighter with it. It looks amazing on tanned skin, but if you have a lighter skintone,you can combine it with bronzer it will make you look like you had a tropical tan. I wish Mac will re-release it someday.

Next is also a limited edition blush from Mac, from the Hello Kitty collection back in 2009. It's called Fun & Games and actually is a Beauty Powder blush. It's not one of my HG blushes because it's very sheer, but it's a great blush for lighter skintones, especially for NC15's. The shade is so pretty, for me it's a true peaches n' cream shade. The finger swatch I took is the true shade after I really packed it on. But if you use a dense brush, like the Sephora I.T. Natural Foundation brush ( that's what I use) you will be able to make it look pigmented on cheeks. Also Mac's 109 brush is a good option.

Lastly from Mac, is Springsheen, which was included in my May favorites. It's a very pretty peachy pink shade, more pink than peach though, and it's a great option for those who are afraid of peachy shades but they want to try something else besides pink. It's a Sheertone Shimmer blush, that means it contains shimmers, it leaves a nice golden sheen and you don't have to use a seperate highlighter.

And lastly for a more cheaper option, the Essence Silky Touch blush in Secret It-Girl . It's a very pretty true matte peachy blush, even though I can see some shimmers in, on my cheeks they're not visible at all. I think it's a really good dupe of Shu Uemura's P Peach 47. And it's also quite pigmented for such a cheap blush. I can't reccomend it enough, especially for those who have never tried a peachy shade and they just want to experiment with a cheaper option.

And this is an arm swatch pic I took so I can show all the shades side by side:

from left to right:  Stila Quaint & Coral Cheek duo (mixed together),  Mac Springsheen, Mac Nuance, Nars Gina, Shu Uemura P Peach 47, Mac Hello Kitty Fun & Games, Essence Secret It-Girl

Do you like peachy blushes, especially at summertime?  What are some of your HGs?  Let me know!