My first NYX single eyeshadows.... (ICED MOCHA, RED BEAN PIE, ROOT BEER, TAUPE PEARL)

Until recently, you couldn't buy NYX products in Croatia. Well, at least not in a store. You could order them online as I did. Now, they are available in Zagreb, in the store called "Šminka i to" (Makeup and that). I heard a lot of good things about them, checked them out and finally cracked and ordered some. And these are the ones I got:

Let me try this again....

top row from left to right: taupe pearl/iced mocha; bottom row/left to right: root beer, red bean pie

with flash

I ordered this shadows from cherry culture (click for link). They are $5 there but you can often find them on sale. Just now, they are 20% off for $3.99. When I ordered mine they were off and I also had a coupon code for my purchase so in the end I paid $3 for a shadow. If you spend $20 or more you get a free cherry culture lip balm. There are lots of different "scents", you choose the one you want. I chose the grape one (if you know the smell of a grape body lotion from Cosmetics Afrodita, you would love this one).

The shipping for these four shadows to Croatia was $10 so they costed me $22 in the end.
You can find NYX products on Ebay for less (not always) but then you can end up with fakes. Yes, they exist, unfortunately.

And now to the colours and swatches.... I didn't use a base underneath.

from left to right: iced mocha, red bean pie, root beer, taupe pearl

They are really nice shadows with soft and creamy consistency. The only one that is a bit powdery and dry is root beer, but it is not a bad quality shadow.
They last all day and look nice in the crease (they don't build up there), and the colours don't loose the intensity. When I wear them, I use a base (Too Faced Shadow Insurance), not because they don't last well on their own, but because I always do so. When I have a base (especially when it as as good as this one), I use it.

ICED MOCHA

ICED MOCHA is a goldeny brown shade. It is not shiny but it is not matte, either. It has a satiny finish. That makes it more dimensional and interesting, because the shade changes with different angles. It can be a great all over lid colour but it will be nice as a crease colour for more subtle looks.
Ingredients: mica, talc, zinc stearate, methyl methacrylate cross polymer,mineral oil, 2-ethylhexyl palmitate, trydecil trimellitate, BHT, methylparaben, propylparaben.

RED BEAN PIE

RED BEAN PIE is my personal favorite. This is a perfect shade for green eyes but to be honest this is such a beautiful and universal colour that will suit any eyes. It is so sultry and so perfect for fall. When I put it on I immediately see my feet in yellow leaves on the ground, can smell the rain and be happy that I got to experience yet another fall. And again, although it is a perfect fall colour it will be your trustful friend through all the seasons.
It has such a soft, almost buttery consistency with a satiny finish. It  kind of has very small rose gold particles that are almost invisible but then they just appear from nowhere... Can you tell that I am in love with this colour? So much in love that I almost forgot to describe this shade. It is a perfect mixture of purple and read, without being too purple or red. The purple finish stops it from being too warm to make your eyes look tired, and the red stops it from being too cold.
You can achieve smoky eyes by just using this colour. You just have to choose where and how to apply the colour on your lid. It is also a gret lid shade and a crease colour. It will soften the darkest looks. It is just so versatile! I really recommend this one.
Ingredients: mica, talc, zinc stearate,  methyl methacrylate cross polymer, mineral oil, 2-ethylhexyl palmitate, synthetic lanolin 6421, BHT, methylparaben, propylparaben, manganese violet/CI77742, black iron oxide/CI 77499.

ROOT BEER

ROOT BEER isn't as creamy as the other shades that I tried. This one is a bit more dry and powdery but if you just tap off your brush before going with it on the lid, you'll be fine and won't experience any fallout. Pigmentation is not bad. This is a matte shade of a darker brown colour. It can soften a line from your eye pencil or a liner, it can be a substitute for a liner or you can create an outer V with it. So, lots of possibilities with this one.
Ingredients: mica, diisostearyl malate, talc, mineral oil, sorbitan sesquioleate, butylparaben (may contain: polymethyl methacrylate, methylparaben, dimethicone, squalane, magnesium stearate, zinc stearate, CI 19140, CI 42090, CI 77007, CI 77288, CI 77289, CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499, CI 77510, CI 77742, CI 77891, CI 16035.

TAUPE PEARL

TAUPE PEARL was the shade that was highly recommended on makeupalley. And it is like the name says taupy (grey/brown colour) pearl (with a satin almost shiny finish). The texture is AMAZING!!! Soft and creamy, highly pigmented, no wonder it has such great reviews.
Ingredients: mica, talc, diisostearyl malate, mineral oil, zinc stearate, buthylparaben, sorbitan sesquioleate, CI 77499.

 They all contain parabens but they are all CRUELTY FREE AND HYPOALLERGENIC!

They come in a sturdy, plastic, black case and contain 2.7 grams or 0.09OZ. The product is not flat at the top, it is kind of quilted.

More swatches for the end:

with flash

from left to right: iced mocha, red bean pie, root beer, taupe pearl

All the hype is well deserved. I give them a positive feedback. Great shadows!

What do you say? How did they work for you? Can you recommend some shades or do I need to save my money and skip any?

Tell me....

Love, beautyandbrains007

LACOTE, GUAM FANGOCREMA for tummy and waist

Wake up!

It is time for a new post and this one is about a fat burner.... Soooo...

Let's get started!

 The first time a tried this GUAM cream, I was stunned how good it worked. But... There's always a but. Isn't it? I was quite young. That was more than 5 years ago. I watched my diet, exercised and needed something to help me with my tummy. And this one was great!

Now, 5+ years after, the circumstances are different. I am older, treating a larger tummy area and have a slower metabolism (that is how I console myself that it is not all the extra chocolate that I eat fault).

The question left to ask is: "How will this cream handle with my tummy, today?"

Aren't you interested?

 The first thing I must say is that I didn't measure myself before and after. My only way to see if I lost cm/inches is my wardrobe.

GUAM Fangocrema Tummy and Waist Mud-Based Treatment Cream with seaweeds, bitter orange and caffeine, has been formulated to tackle and visibly improve unsightly skin and attenuate adiposity around the tummy and waist areas, radically increasing firmness and tone.

In my experience, that is correct! I can't really say much about chemistry and HOW it all works, but IT WORKS! Good enough for me.The skin looks nicer and firmer.

You can really feel that this cream is doing something. After you apply it (especially if you do that after a bath or a shower) you can feel tingling and your skin is going to turn red. And when I say red, I mean RED.

you can see the reddness on my arm (it lasts about 30 minutes)

don't freak out (with flash it looks like a burn)

You shouldn't be scared by that, that is the way this cream works, but if the burning is too much for you to handle, rinse with cold water and apply less cream next time, or just hit the ignore button and find a different product for yourself.

I like the consistency of this cream because it is a cream which nourishes your skin, but it is also a little bit like a gel, because it disappers in your skin without leaving any oily residue. That is great in the mornings when you don't want to ruin your clothes before going to work. The chances are that you overslept, are already in a hurry and for something to extend your getting ready time, NO, that is just not acceptable. You're OK with this one. The only thing that could stay on your clothes is the scent which is a little bit of an algae mixed with menthol. I know, it sounds horrible but is not that bad. And the scent is not so strong that people who are with you in a room would notice it, only the ones that will hug you will probably be aware of it. So, if your husband/boyfriend/friend is OK with it, you're fine.

The ingredients:
aqua/water, octyldodecyl myristate, caprylil methicone, glycerin, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, propylene glycol, propylene glycol laurate, polysorbate-85, citrus aurantium amara (bitter orange) peel extract, xanthan gum, tocopheryl acetate, isomerized linoleic acid, algae extract, fucus vesiculosus extract, malva sylvestris extract (mallow), parfum, citral, limonene, linalool, siloxanetriol alginate caffeine, sollum fullonum (fullers earth), lecithin arachis hypogeae oil (peanut), ethylcellulose, acrylates (acrylamide copolimer), methyl nicotinate, polysorbate-20, propylene glycol isostearate, citric acid, imidazolidinyl urea, methylparaben, deceth-7, PPG-26 BUTHET 26, PEG-40 hydrgenated castor oil, tetrasodium edta, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, mineral oil, propyl gallate, bht, bha.

It is recommended to apply this cream twice a day (in the mornings and evenings), which I did.

 Lacote suggests to use it with their mud mask, which I didn't.

English

Italian

French

Portuguese

Spanish

German

It comes with a booklet in all of these languages so I decided to post every possible language for my readers.

Unfortunately, this product contains parabens. Fortunately, this company doesn't test products on animals!

And what you all want to know. How much did I loose?

As I said, I didn't measure myself but I dropped one size down. Yes, I am watching my diet and did swim a lot but you all know how hard it is to melt fat off from the waist area.
Those with just a little excess weight will notice a difference almost immediately (my case 5+ years ago). Those with a slower metabolism (hello world, here I am) will have to be persistent. You will see results in the end.

You can find this product at DM, where 150 ml tube will cost you about 11.50 GBP/$18.50/15 Euros. That will last you for about 4 weeks (at least).

What do you think? Have you found a good product of this type?

Tell me....

Love, beautyandbrains007

Small ASOS haul (stila- the it girl palette; Asos flower & jewel drop earrings)

So, you already know what I bought but I am so thrilled with everything that I just couldn't keep my mouth closed. Sort of... I couldn't stop my fingers from writing. Yes, that sounds better.
And here they are....

Stila palette will get its own post. Now, I'll introduce you to my fabulous earrings (at least I think they are).
Both of my purchases were nicely packed with foam and those bubbles that, I assume, we all like to pop.

In this post you will get to know a really small part of fashionista in me. I have been eyeing these earrings forever. They were on their site since spring. And then summer came and I was still "just looking". They are costume earrings and they were 15 GBP (shipping included). I just couldn't make myself to pay that much for them. Then, Olympics came and they were reduced to 5 GBP plus 15% off for the Olympic games and I got them for just a little bit more than 4 GBP. For me, that was awesome!!!

This top part looked rubbery but it is some kind of metal. The bottom part is filled with "stones" that are shining just right. Ugh... I love them!

Yes I know, they have a spring/summery feel, but I plan to enjoy many more springs and summers, and I am planning a tropical vacation this fall/winter, for which they will be perfect!!!

If you want to see more professional pictures of them and how they look on, I am putting the link (they are 15 GBP again, I advice you to wait for another sale). There are two other colours here and here (these are next on my list). They are quite big.

the back

What do you say? Do you like them? Have you bought something new?

Tell me....

Love, beautyandbrains007

I am not affiliated with Asos in any way, just like to shop there!

Smart girls get more/limited edition, shade number 55 (or as I like to call it- shocking green) from the spring/summer collection for 2012

The titles of my posts are getting longer with every new post?! What can I say? I like to write the name of the product but sometimes I also like to add something just mine... I don't do that often enough. One day I'll have a personal title and other times I'll get crazy in my posts. What kind of day is today? Still not sure...

Since today is a rainy and grey day (at least in Croatia) I decided to add a pop of colour.

It wasn't until recently that I got into Smart girls get more polishes. One sunny summer day I walked into DM and saw a beautiful stand in the store full of vibrant colours. I was immediately attracted to it...and although I am a cautious person I jumped on that wagon and bought several colours. Some might call it a summer fling?!
It began with yellow, continued with orange and here I am today with a green one. Shade number 55.

This is not a neon polish but the colour is so vibrant that you really don't need it to be a neon. It is definitely a statement polish! I got a ton of coments for it, and it will wake up even guys that will ask you "Honey, is there something different about you, today?" when you went from a long to short hair. They'll probably hate it.
Other type of guys that notice small things that we women do will probably say- Cool!
In my case, most people started with- "MAN....". That positive part of me wants to think that was a good thing. What do you say?

If you want to be cool, you can find this polish in DM. It costs 11,90 kunas (about 1.20 GBP, 1.60 Euros, $2). I am not affiliated with the brand or DM. Just saying.
Both the bottle and the brush are small. You get 5.5 ml of product. But don't let the size full you. The brush is quite good and easy to manage, and applying polish will be quite precise. Besides, this is not an everyday colour (for most of the people) and it would be got to match it with your wardrobe. That is why you won't be sad if you don't use it up, since you didn't pay loads of money for a trendy colour.

If there is anyone who would like to know more about the ingredients, here they are:
ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, nitrocellulose, acetyl tributyl citrate, adipic acid/neopentyl glycol/trimelltic anhydride copolymer, isopropyl alcohol, stearalkonium hectorite, citric acid (+/-) mica, polyethylene terephtalate.

This polish has a shiny finish. You won't need a top coat for shine. I did a base coat and then went for a first coat of green polish.

one coat

As all the other polishes from this line, first coat didn't seem promising. You have to go for a second one.

two coats

The second coat will make a huge difference but for complete opacity, go for a third one.

three coats

You can see that this polish is beautiful. Completely opaque with three coats, shiny and beautiful. Sadly, without a good top coat not long lasting. That is why I added seche vite on top.

three coats + seche vite

Since this polish already has a shiny finish, the difference is not huge but you can see it.

This is a vibrant polish. Some will love it and others will hate it. But the colour is there. That means that every chip will show immediately. Here is where we come to the bad part. Longevity. Without a base and a top coat it won't last a day. If you apply them, it will last longer, not long, but longer.
You need three coats which doesn't have to be a problem since it dries quickly but then again, a lot of people would say that it isn't worth the time. I don't know why but except for the yellow one, all the polishes that I bought had problems with longevity?

Now when you know how pretty it is with all its flaws, it is up to you to decide if you want it.

Have you tried any of these polishes? How did they work for you?

Tell me...

Love, beautyandbrains007