Collective Haul (Benefit, Dior, Korres, Revlon, Garnier, L'oreal)

 These are some stuff I bought in the past 2 weeks from Sephora, drugstore and Ebay. I also did a small Essence haul yesterday but I will do a seperate post soon about them.

Benefit Go Tropicoral Lip & Cheek Kit

Since I found out in August that Benefit would come out with new Lip & Cheek Kits I knew I had to get the Tropicoral one! The set contains mini sizes of the ChaCha Tint, High Beam, Coralista blush and Coralista lipgloss. It was a great oppurtunity to try all 4 products with only 29 euros! Even though it's fall I can't stop thinking that this set will be great for summertime! The ChaCha Tint is a gorgeous tangerine colored stain, it makes my cheeks look very fresh, the High Beam gives a glow on my cheekbones like the one you see at runway models, and the Coralista lipgloss has a texture that it's not sticky at all, it reminds me of Mac Tendertones! I can't get enough of Coralista's blush smell, it smells like my childhood summers, so yummy I love it!

Garnier BB Cream for combination-oily skintypes

I have the original Garnier BB cream too but it broke me out, even though I loved the dewy effect it gave me. The new one is for oily skintypes and it's way different from the original one, it's very liquidy, it doesn't have any smell so it's good for those who are sensitive to smells, and it covers like a foundation, but it still feels very light. I'm not so sure if it breaks me out or not yet, I'll have to test it for quite some time to be certain.

L'oreal Volume Collagene 24H mascara

I read really good reviews about this mascara and I wanted to try it, I was waiting for a good promo to buy it because it costs 19 euros, in my opinion it's way too expensive for a drugstore mascara! These days they have a 5 euros off promo so I grabbed one. I haven't opened it yet to try it and tell you my first impression about it, but when I do I'll let you know.

Korres Nude Gift Set

 Korres recently released new make up sets, introducing some new products and shades. There are 5 new sets, a nude, a cherry red, a ruby red, a pink and a black one which contains their new Professional Volume Mascara, I got the nude one. The set contains a new shade of their cherry lipgloss in Sheer Beige #31, a new shade of nail polish in Nude #31, and a whole new product, the Professional Long Lasting Eyeliner in black,  from their new Black Volcanic Minerals line. The lipgloss is very very pretty, the perfect nude for my skintone, a shimmery peachy beige nude, great for warm skintones, very JLo like. The nail varnish is a light peachy beige nude with no shimmers, the shade is exactly like the color of my nails, it gives that glossy sleek look. I haven't try the eye pencil yet, but from the swatch on my hand I can tell it's very smooth. Ohh it comes with a small pencil sharpener also.

Christian Dior Rouge Dior Nude in #418 Ingenue

For the fall Dior released a new line of Rouge Dior lipsticks, the Rouge Dior Nude. I'm not sure which shades will be permanent and which limited edition, but from what I've read the Ingenue shade will be limited edition. The texture is superb! So smooth and buttery, I think as good as the YSL Pur Couture ones or maybe even better. Ingenue is a medium peachy beige shade with no shimmers. The only thing that I don't like is the taste, it tastes like crayons but it's not overpowering. 

Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait and Berry Smoothie

 Thanks to Ebay I can finally try the very famous Revlon Lip Butters. I got 2 shades, the #025 Peach Parfait and #050 Berry Smoothie. Peach Parfait is a medium peachy beige pink shade (if that makes any sense!) with silver glitters, yes glitters! That's the only thing I don't like about Peach Parfait, the glitters are gritty and I don't like that feeling on my mouth. Berry Smoothie on the other hand is glitter free, it has some shimmers though. The berry shade is amazing, so fall appropriate, it matches well with my warm skintone and it's very pigmented. Now about the famous buttery texture, yes they're very buttery, but they're no different from the Dior Addict lipsticks, almost identical I would say. So for those who can't get the Revlon Lip Butters on their hands, you can try the Dior Addict ones, I know they're more expensive, but hey it's Dior!

So have you try any of these products? What are your thoughts? Let me know!

Sophia

xoxo

100 Follower Giveaway!

 I'm so excited because recently I've reached 100 followers, and I wanna thank every single one of you for reading and supporting my blog! So I think it was about time for my 1st blog giveaway!!!

 

The prize will be.......

........a Too Faced Color Drenched Lip Cream in Nude Beach!

I was in Sephora trying to decide what to get as a prize and I thought that one of these new super creamy Too Faced lipsticks would be great! Nude Beach is a great pink beige nude color with a hint of mauve, I think it will be perfect for the fall!

The winner will also receive a few Sephora mini bath goodies!

Giveaway Rules

-The only mandatory entry is to follow my blog through GFC

-This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY!

-You have to be 18 years old or older, or have your parents/guardians permission as I will need your address to send the prize

-The giveaway will end on October 14th.

-The winner will be contacted via email and will have 48 hours to respond. If no response is received, the prize will be passed along to another entry.



How to enter

It’s very simple, just fill in the Rafflecopter form below!

*Just a note for the extra entries: I will check if you are following me on Twitter and if you've tweet about the giveaway. If you don't, the extra entries will be deleted.
So please be careful!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck everyone!

La Roche Posay Hydraphase Intense Serum Review

For over a month I've been using this new hydrating serum from La Roche Posay and I wanted to share my review with you guys.

Packaging

It comes in a slim glass bottle with a pump, I just love how sleek it is, in my opinion it has better packaging than many high end serums I've seen. The only problem is that the glass bottle makes it heavy to carry it with me and it's not so travel friendly, but hey I can live with that.

Ingredients

The serum is a concentrated formula with highly performant hydrating ingredients:

-Hyaluronic Acid Fragments: to immediately infuse and retain water in the skin for optimal hydration

-Arginine + Serine: naturally present in the epidermis, they capture water so that the perfect NMF ( Natural Moisturizing Factor) balance is restored

-Highly concentration of La Roche Posay Thermal Spring Water, a natural anti-oxidant that is soothing and anti-irritating.

Also it's paraben-free, but I noticed that the third listed ingredient is alcohol, and that confuses me a little since it's a hydrating serum targeted for sensitive and dehydrated skintypes, but I haven't notice any irritations on my skin, but I don't know if that would be OK for super sensitive skins.

Texture

It has a clear gel texture, it's not too watery as most serums are, it's like a gel moisturizer. When I apply it on my face it melts in, it's not greasy at all, and it has a slight cooling sensation, propably because of the alcohol it contains. But because I'm oily, it can be a little greasy after 2 hours around my nose and chin area. 

You are supposed to apply it moring and/or evening under your skincare, but for my oily skintype that would be too much so I apply it on it's own, mostly at nightime. I started using it right after I came back from my vacation and my skin was a little dehydrated from the sun, I have to say it helped my skin a lot within only a few days.

Price

It contains 30ml of product and here in Greece it retails for 25 euros. You can find it in pharmacies.

 

Pros

-I don't why but I was never a serum person, maybe because I'm lazy and I just want to put a moisturizer and be done with it. But a hydrating serum for me it can do the job on it's own, because I have oily skin, I can just use a hydrating serum without using a seperate moisturizer after.  So that's a plus!

-After one month of use, it didn't cause me any break outs, and I'm very acne prone, so I think that says a lot!

-It's lightweight, and it can be used under make up.

-Even though I haven't tested it on more cold climate, I think it will be perfect for fall and winter time when my skin dehydrates the most.

 

Cons

-Even if the company claims that it absorbs fast into the skin, it leaves my face sticky for at least 5 to 10 minutes, so I would suggest first wait a few minutes before applying any foundation on.

-It contains alcohol, so for those who are super sensitive to alcohol, be careful.

-For some people the price may not be that cheap, and I agree, but it costs something between a lower end brand and a high end one.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Sophia

xoxo

* I would like to thank assetOgilvy who sent me the product on behalf of L'oreal Cosmetique Active.

* This review is my genuine honest opinion about the product.

Small Collective Haul (Too Faced, Sephora, Benefit, H&M, Vichy, etc.)

This is a small collective haul I did in the past few weeks. I had a coupon for 40% off at Sephora so I grabbed a few things, and also some stuff from the drugstore.

 

Too Faced Natural At Night Eyeshadow Palette

For quite some time now I really wanted to get more of the Too Faced eyeshadow palettes, I only have the Natural one and it's my HG for 2 years now, but most of their palettes have colors that I'm sure I'd never wear, like more cool toned shades, but when I saw this one I was 100% sure I will love it! It's full of warm and cozy shades such as warm browns, bronze, gold and khakies, perfect for the fall! For sure I'm going to do a full review in the future.

H&M lipstick in Dare To Kiss

This was an impulse buy when I was at H&M, they had just release a bunch of new make up stuff, including 3 lipsticks, 2 of them were red and plum and the one I got was the only nude. They didn't have a tester for it but from the packaging swatch I thought it would be a peachy nude but I was mistaken, it's a pinkish nude. I don't normally do pinkish nudes because they look horrible one me, I prefer peachy or brownish nudes, but I love its buttery texture and it costed me only 4 euros. On it's own it looks horrible on me but with a pink lipgloss on top it looks really good! Also it's a great dupe for Mac's Hue.

Benefit Hello Flawless SPF15 Custom Powder

You see me mentioned this powder foundation a lot in the past 3 months, so I'm not going to say a lot about this product. It's been my HG foundation the whole summer and because I hit pan in the first one I got in June, and since I had the 40% off coupon I had to get a new one. It's the perfect foundation for my lazy make up days! The shade that I use is the "Me Vain?" Champagne.

Vichy Purete Thermale 3 in 1 Micellar Lotion

This one has been my HG face make up removal for years. I've tried other micellar lotions/waters in the past such as Bioderma, Shiseido, Garnier, Sephora etc, but this one beats them all! It's suitable for sensiitve skintypes, perfect for my oily skin also, doesn't break me out, and it has a mild rose scent. The Bioderma Sensibio which is also for sensitive skintypes and it's from a pharmacy brand, caused me a horrible dermatitis, made my skin very itchy and I had a burning sensation on my skin for days.

Sephora Coconut Smoothing Scrub

I don't usually use body scrubs, because I'm super lazy, but in the past I really enjoyed Body Shop's Coconut Scrub, but it's very expensive and super creamy ( which I don't like), and since I rarely use one, I went for a cheaper one but with a coconut smell. This one from Sephora it's not creamy, it's more suitable for skins like mine which are not dry. I really like the soft coconut smell it has, it's not overpowering like the Body Shop's, it makes me wanna try more body stuff from their Coconut line.

Maybelline Colorama in #262 Pink Boom

These Colorama nail polishes are the newest ones from Maybelline. When I was in the drugstore I saw a huge display with them, and they have a whole bunch of shades. I really like its thin texture and the packaging too. I picked up this shade because I don't have lots of pinks, but they also have really pretty vampy ones, can't wait to buy some of those for the fall!

Essence nail polish in Sending You Kisses

For some weird reason when I see a 2 euro polish in such a cute shade I have to have it, that's what happened with this one from Essence. It's from the Ready to Boarding collection, they also had a light pastel yellow one and a tangerine one, but this raspberry color is more fall appropriate. But what I don't like is the gloopy texture, I might need to put some thinner in it.

Have you try any of these products? Let me know!

Sophia

xoxo