My Neutral Eyeshadow Palettes: Inglot and UD Naked

I don't have very many eyeshadow palettes. Actually I think I have only three, which sounds like few, but I believe if they are quite big and if you truly like them, that's enough to create numerous looks. These two palettes are my favorite as I love all the neutral colors they have and the fact that they can be used for creating both, day and night looks.

Inglot 10 eyeshadow palette and Urban Decay Naked

The palettes are similar; however, I find that Naked is warmer in tone than my Inglot palette. I chose the colors of the latter myself as Inglot has a "freedom system," meaning that you can build your own palette of 2 to 20 colors.
The quality of the palettes is amazing. The colors are extremely pigmented and smooth in texture. However the texture of the Inglot eyeshadows is more buttery and softer than that of the Naked palette, which is a little drier, but still is silky smooth.

Urban Decay Naked palette swatches

 My favorite colors from the Naked palette are the first two from the left, and the third and the fourth from the right. I use them the most.

Inglot 10 neutral eyeshadow palette; left to right: # 409, 402, 342, 358, 387, 395, 397, 399, 420, 441

Here my favorites are #402, 395, 397, 399 and 420. I also use # 342  for my eyebrows.


And what are your favorite eyeshadow palettes? Do you prefer neutral or bright colors on your eyes?

Outfit of the Day

This week (or 99.9% of the year?) has been cold and rainy, which means that I can't wear all my nice summery clothes that I've recently bought. Heading for a walk, I chose comfortable shoes, jeans, and a warm cardigan. I'm not an expert at combining things, so I prefer simplicity and casual style, which help me to avoid mistakes. I paired the cardigan with a basic black tank top and a wide leather belt. As for accessories, I wore my everyday watch and a little black bag, which completed this black-and-orange look nicely.

Top - Melrose, cardigan - Ralph Lauren, jeans - Victoria's Secret, shoes - no name, bag - Calvin Klein, belt - no name, watch - Bulova

nailpolish - Wet n Wild - I Red a Good Book

I don't normally wear tons of makeup, so today I only wore light foundation (Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua,) bronzer (Too Faced Chocolate Soleil,) eyeliner (Stile Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner), mascara (Diorshow Extase), and transparent pink lip gloss (Artdeco Hydra Lip Booster #38.)

Thanks for reading and have a nice, sunny day!

My Travel Makeup/Skincare Bag + Reviews

We've just returned from our one-week vacation (we went to visit Mike's parents), and I wanted to share with you guys what makeup and skincare products I took with me.
Starting off with makeup, I want to say that I don't really like heavy/complicated makeup in general, and especially when I'm out of town. That's why I took only basic things with me, most of which I use regularly.

Here we have Jane Iredale Purepressed Base SPF 20 (mineral compact foundation). I've never been a fan of loose forms, that's why I love this powder - it's compact and not messy at all, provides very good coverage (although it's sheer, it can be built up and at the same time look thin and very natural), the color is just right for me, and I like the golden compact! But the most amazing thing about it is that it creates a soft-focus effect, making your skin look poreless and smooth.The brush I use for it is also by Jane Iredale. It's called the Handi Brush. It performs very well; however, the bristles can feel scratchy at times as it's made of goat hairs, but maybe it's just me who is used to extremely soft synthetic brushes like Sigmax ones.
I also took my favorite matte bronzer with me -Too Faced Chocolate Soleil. It's great for contouring or just adding warmth to you face, and it looks very natural - not orange at all! It smells amazing too, just like hot chocolate!I'm going to do a review and comparison on all the bronzers I have as there are a couple more that I also like.
I don't like blushes in general, but there are two in my collection that I find look good on me. One of them is Mac Mineralize blush in Warm Soul.It's hard to describe what color it really is because depending on the lighting it can go from beige to peach to bronzed pink. I really like the effect it gives my face.
The brushes I use for applying blush and bronzer are from Mrs Bunny travel set by Sigma.
My cat has recently stolen my favorite concealer, and I couldn't find it, so I took my Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch concealer instead, which is more of a highlighter than a concealer, but it still has some coverage.
The only eyeshadow palette I took with me was NYX Triple Eyeshadow palette in Rock&Roll. It has a highlighting color, a pinky-nude color, and  a darker blueish-silver color. I like the colors, and the palette itself is very versatile.

NYX Triple Eyeshadow Palette in Rock&Roll and Revlon Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake

The brown eyeliner by Stila is called Smudge Stick in Lion Fish. I got it in my Birchbox a couple months ago and really like it! For my eyelashes I used Dior Extase mascara (Birchbox again, lol), and for my brows - Mac transparent brow gel. I also took a neutral lipliner and two lip products - Revlon Super Lustrous lipgloss in Pink Pop and Revlon Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake. The latter is used in the above pictures.

Ok, next to my skincare.

High SPF was my priority. I like that Neutrogena's Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock is truly dry-touch, and doesn't feel greasy on the skin as most creams with high SPF do.
My day cream is A Perfect World SPF 25 by Origins. It's a little too thick for my liking, but if I wait half an hour before I put on my makeup, it soaks in and feels soft and moisturizing rather than greasy.
 My night cream and toner are from the same line, Vitamin E, by The Body Shop. The are both very moisturizing and smell like baby powder, which I like, surprisingly. I can say that these two products were the first ones that truly helped my skin to get rid of the extreme dryness that I had not so long ago.
The eye cream that I use is by the Grapeseed Company and is called "Vine Eyes". It's organic and is supposed to be anti-aging. I'm not sure about the anti-aging effect, but the cream itself is very moisturizing. My under-eye area is very dry, but when I put this cream on at night, I wake up with very soft and supple skin.
 I used Gold Bond Ultimate Softening Shea Butter Lotion as my hand cream. I'm not sure if I like it or not, just because it's not as rich and thick as I would like it to be. I mean it's thick when you put it on, but when you rub it in, it becomes dry, and your hands feel just bare. The cream still works, but I don't like the initial effect. I guess I'm just used to greasier types of hand creams.
I also took a hair spray that I got in my Birchbox this month and Dove soap to use in the shower.

Alright, that was a really long review, but I hope it wasn't too boring! I'll try to be more concise in my future posts though.
Thanks for reading!

Nice Evening

I got a bike about 3-4 months ago, but didn't have enough time to ride it around the town. But the end of the school year gave me an opportunity to do that, which I am very happy about. I love cycling, especially in the evening, when it's cool and you can enjoy the sunset.

Riding a bike can also also help you burn calories, which is nice if you are trying to lose weight, as I am, lol. What's also exciting is that you can explore new places...I didn't even know that there was a rose garden in this town!

And do you like riding a bike? Where do you usually go?

Outfit of the Day

It's been very warm and sunny here lately, and this inspired me to brighten up my usual and kind of boring outfit. I chose this yellow bag by Carlos Santana which I found a couple months ago for a very good price. This is what turned out:

Here I'm wearing new L'oreal Colour Riche Caresse Stick in Pink Cashmere, which is brighter than what I would normally wear, but I still like it for summer. I'm going to do a detailed review on my lipsticks, including this one, soon, so stay tuned if you're interested!

I'm Back!

Hey everyone, I know it's been over a year since my last post, and you probably don't even remember me haha. This school year has been very busy for me as I had transferred to a university here in the US and was trying to adapt to the new system and devote as much time to studying as I could. But now as I'm done with my finals, I have much more time to write here and do things outside.

Mike and I went to a nearby mall a couple days ago, and we were surprised to see a retro car exhibition there, right inside the mall. All in all there were about 20 cars, and we took pictures of some of them. Here you go

I've never seen so many retro cars in one place, so this was very interesting!
After the mall we went to a sea-food restaurant to celebrate the end of the school year. The food we ordered was so tasty, especially the shrimp! Too bad we didn't take any food pictures then.

 

And how did you celebrate your "official" beginning of summer?