Addiction by Ayako, My Picks, Review, Swatch & FOTD

Thanks to everyone for good luck wishes yesterday. Today I learned that I have the job! It is very exciting and the change is coming as early as September, that is if I can come to terms with the current employee. More detail about that soon. Today I went to the grocery store, grabbed a champagne, came home to see that hubby is not feeling well. Oh well, celebration has to wait. On a side note I am super behind answering comments, reading blogs, leaving comments, answering some e-mails. Please bare with me, exciting times come with lots of things to do. I will try my best to catch up soon.

I am going on showing the pieces I picked up during my Japan trip in April. Most of my haul was brushes but I couldn't resist some pretty make-up neither. I have reviewed my picks from THREE here. Today I would like to show you what I picked from Addiction Beauty. I own a few of their eye shadow quads (reviewed here and here) and one of the limited edition palettes (reviewed here). I personally love the color stories, bright matte shades, crazy colors like red, yellow in a wearable combinations. But as well as the quality goes, the things I have picked up online up to now have been hit or miss. I have one more quad in Es Paradis which never made to the blog because of fall out and very sheer, not buildable shades. See, this is the dilemma of the make-up addict, everyone was raving about their singles and blushes so I had to try them. Here is a palette I put together... and here are my thoughts about the shades I picked up.

Addiction by Ayako, My Picks

Soufeel Charm Bracelets, Review & $100 Gift Card Giveaway

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend. Today I have some firsts on the blog, which I am really excited about. It will be the first jewelry review as well as the first gift card giveaway. I am hoping you will like it, and if you do want to see similar posts (or don't want to see any of that), let me know in the comments below. For me feedback is a crucial part of blogging, so please feel free to leave one whenever you see fitting.

Now back to our matter for today: charm bracelets. For an unknown reason I never jumped on the bandwagon although I find the idea of personalized jewelry very creative. Also from another perspective it gives lots of affordable but good quality options to hopeless gift searchers. If your budget is restricted and you want to buy a piece of jewelry for a friend, you might have to go down in the quality of the material, such as buying stainless still bracelet instead of a silver one because the latter is out of your budget. If you buy a charm or two instead, you can opt for a Sterling Silver and even a touch of gold in there without breaking the bank. 

Long story short, I was approached by Soufeel (not affiliated), an online shop who has lovely charms in good quality material (sterling silver, 14k gold), to test their products, here are my thoughts after three weeks of extensive testing (read I wore it everyday LOL). They were also kind enough to offer a gift card for one of my readers. Read more of that, right after the jump.

Packaging: Soufeel Charm Bracelets

Chanel Le Vernis #767 Fraicheur Review, Swatch & Comparison

I hope you are all having a beautiful weekend. My weekend started certainly much better than last one. In the morning it was sunny so I could take some swatches. We just had delicious Sushi, I will write the post and exercise a little. Then we will watch a movie, probably from iTunes. Any recommendations?

Chanel recently added a new fragrance to their Chance line, Eau Vive. To celebrate this, they released a new green shade, which is matching to Chance Eau Fraiche and repromoted three other shades, #535 May, #515 Peche Nacrée and #167 Ballerina. Each shade is matchy matchy with one of the Chance fragrances. When I saw the new green, Chanel Le Vernis #767 Fricheur, I thought it was Jade revived! Many thanks to a dear friend from Taiwan, I got my paws into one. Today it is all about it.

Chanel Le Vernis #767 Fraicheur Review

Clarins Blue Orchid Face Treatment Oil, Review

Facial Oils are the new trend be it as a step in our skin care or mixed with various products we use such as our creams or foundations. I have previously talked about Sisley Black Rose here and was positively surprised to hear lots of very experienced and enthusiastic comments. After that I decided to invite an expert to the discussion and I was so happy when Ebru from ChicScience agreed to write us an article about the basics of facial oil (read here). She then later on added another article to this series on her blog, which is about twelve most favorite facial oils and their benefits here. 

Today's post is inspired by our orchid, which is right now in full bloom and poses so well. I have been searching for a more affordable alternative to the Sisley Black Rose Facial Oil, so have been on a journey on trying a few alternative products. I heard many good things about Clarins Facial Oils and decided to give one of them a try for science (thanks to Clarins for supporting it). For the ones who don't know, there are three different products for different skin types in their line up. The one I would like to share my thoughts today is  Blue Orchid Face Treatment Oil (Huile Orchidée Bleue) for dehydrated skin. There is one for dry skin but it is more specialized in rednesses which I luckily don't suffer from, so I decided to go for Blue Orchid.

Clarins Blue Orchid Face Treatment Oil

Jo Malone Lime Basil & Mandarin Body & Hand Wash, Nectarine Blossom & Honey Body and Hand Lotion, Review

I hope you are having a wonderfun week. No it is not a typo, so silly but this is a word I just made up. I am sure usually weeks are not too much fun but hey, today is the hump day, so hang in there.

Having done with almost all the Summer Collection Reviews, I have some fun reads like skin care, perfumes and some fluffy brushes coming up next. I also would like to review a few more items I picked up in Japan and USA during my travel month of this year, April that was. 

Recently Jo Malone London extended their Bath & Body range to offer Shampoo, Conditioner, Hand & Body Wash and Lotions with their popular fragrances. You can double or triple your signature scent in any of these products to increase the intensity and longevity by using Hand & Body Wash, apply Lotion and finally spray some Cologne of the same scent. Even more fun is to be more experimental and combine and layer different scents as you desire. Today I would like to share a combination I am loving it at the moment... Right after the jump.

Jo Malone Lime Basil & Mandarin Body & Hand Wash, Nectarine Blossom & Honey Body and Hand Lotion

MAC Extra Dimension Eyeshadows, Review, Swatch & FOTD

I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was less productive than usual. Although there were so many things which I had to take care of, I ended up sitting in front of the computer in a mixture  state of upset and angry. There are so many things going inside my head right now, if I would try to put them into words, probably I would fail. So I decided to wait for a better moment. As blog was the main reason to all the frustration, I was not very inspired to write a post. Today I will try my best to be as cheerful as possible.

An exciting launch which I was waiting for just happened a few weeks ago. MAC's Extra Dimension Eyeshadows, which were always released as limited edition are now permanent. I love the formula and couldn't resist getting one or two shades each time they were released. Extra Dimensions are nicely pigmented eye shadows which can be applied wet or dry. They have a metallic finish but I find them less frosty than Nars Double Intensity or Burberry Wet & Dry Glow eye shadows. The shimmer is very complex and beautiful.

There were six Extra Dimension Eyeshadows in last year's Alluring Aquatics Collection and I ended up with all of them. Four of these are now repromoted to stay. There were two more shades I got from Magnetic Nudes Collection. I now purchased three of the shades I missed previously so here are my swatches and thoughts about nine of the eighteen shade release. 

MAC Extra Dimension Eyeshadows

Laura Mercier Lip Parfait Creamy Colourbalm Sweet Guava and Creamsicle, Review, Swatch & FOTD

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great start in the weekend. Although there is nothing particularly exciting happened, I feel super positive and full of energy for the days to come. This might have to do with having started to exercise again. I always had the feeling that I have a more positive outlook on things if I regularly exercise. It is a good motivation to keep on moving. Plans for today is to take a few blog photos, zumba, take a shower, get pretty, go to the city to pick up a few dresses which I ordered online, try and cry (if they don't look good or if I don't fit in it), play with Chanel Les Beiges Collection at the counter, have a nice dinner in the town with hubby. That is about it, what are your plans for today?

Today I have a new lipstick formula to share with you. Laura Mercier Lip Parfait Creamy Colourbalms are already out in the States and will be available in the beginning of July in Germany. I tried two of the shades, Sweet Guava and Creamsicle during the last weeks. Here are my thoughts about them.

Laura Mercier Lip Parfait Creamy Colourbalm Sweet Guava and Creamsicle

Tom Ford Bronzers, Terra, Gold Dust, Shade & Illuminate Intensity One, Review, Swatch, Comparison & FOTD

Weekend is almost there. I can't get very excited though because there are tons of work I have to get done before the week is over and there is only tomorrow left *double sigh attack*. On the exercise front, the day before yesterday I failed to find the time but other than that I am going strong with 50 min Zumba everyday. That will be for now until I figure out what else I can do. Today it is raining again, so outdoor activities are out of question. I only like getting wet if I choose to swim ;-)

I have reviewed most of the items from Tom Ford Summer Collection Soleil but left out the bronzers, since they were released a few years ago (you can see a Caught in Action Post with Gold Dust from Summer 2013 here). After I reviewed lots of other bronzers and posted comparison swatches, I started getting many questions regarding Tom Ford Bronzers such as how light they are, how shimmery, how cool... Today I would like to write about how to get a healthy tan and warm up the face using Tom Ford products. For this I selected not only two of their bronzers, Terra and Gold Dust, but also cream contour Shade & Illuminate. I like using it more as a bronzer since it leans rather warm for me as a contour. More about these, after the jump...

Tom Ford Bronzers, Terra, Gold Dust, Shade & Illuminate Intensity One

Cire Trudon Joséphine Candle Review, an Ode to the First Empress of France

"The muffled light of dawn slips through the flower beds. 

A fine shadow sneaks among the roses, jasmine, camelias and irises. 

With her delicate green thumb, she awakens the dazzling fragrances of a garden with an imperial destiny."

Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie conquered the young commander Bonaparte's heart, right before his first Italian Campaign. Although she was known as Rose, Napoléon gave her the name "Joséphine". Joséphine was a socialite but a widow with two children and she was already six years ahead of him in life. This was why their marriage in 1796 was not received well by Napoléon's family and many others but this didn't stop him. They had a tempestuous marriage characterized by denial and affairs, as Napoléon once put it, with much love but no respect. As Napoléon was crowned as the first Emperor of France, she became his Empress. In need of an heir, they had to eventually divorce although she stayed in Empress of his heart.Right before Napoléon died during his Exile in Saint Helena island, his last words were: "France, l'armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine" ("France, army, head of the army, Joséphine").  

After purchasing Chateau de Malmaison in 1799, Joséphine took a personal interest in the gardens and the roses. She hired botanist, horticulturist as well as landscapers from United Kingdom and Scotland. She wanted to collect all the known roses which resulted in Bonaparte ordering his warship commanders search all seized vessels for plants to be forwarded to Malmaison. It is assumed that she had about 250 roses in her garden when she died in 1814.

Patroness of roses, Joséphine, is the muse behind traditional French candle house Cire Trudor's last scented candle creation. Here are my thoughts after spending a quality time with her in form of a candle.

Cire Trudon Joséphine Candle

Giorgio Armani Eclipse Collection, Eye Tints, Nail Polishes, Liners, Review, Swatches & FOTD

I hope you had a great start in the week. I am still exhausted from the training and event right after that. Sunday was not enough to recharge. I am also trying to exercise everyday around an hour which causes further exhaustion since I was not doing it for sometime now, my body is used to sit in the sofa and write a blog post haha.

Recently Armani released another summer collection in Germany. There was one with bronzers and co but this one looked more interesting with nail and eye products. On Friday, right after training on my way home, I visited the counter to check the things out and ended up with two nail polished and two Eye Tints. I would like to share my thoughts about these products today. I also had the chance to swatch most of the collection. You can find the swatches at the end of this post.

Giorgio Armani Éclipse Collection, Eye Tints, Nail Polishes

Tom Ford Cream and Powder Duo #04 Midnight Sea, Review, Swatch, Comparisons & FOTD

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I was in Frankfurt yesterday to join a blogger event/fair. I am going to tell more about that later on. If you remember, I wrote that Friday I started exercising again after a break. After Friday's exercise, Saturday came as a weight lifting part because I didn't know I had to bring a suitcase with me. That is to put all the samples *chuckles*. I had to carry two big bags with me all the way home. It was mostly skin care and I got to know very innovative and interesting products. More on that soon...

Today it is a quick post of me failing to resist. Tom Ford released four Cream and Powder Duo Eye Colors for Summer 2015 Soleil Collection. After reviewing Golden Peach (here) and Black Oyster (here) I was convinced that I was done. Then I started dreaming about Midnight Sea and decided to stalk it at an online shop but somehow it never made it there. I had to order it from another online shop in Germany, which charged me 8 € for shipping. Now that is really not ok and normally I wouldn't support something like that but there was no other option and I was so obsessed. Fast forward to today, after wearing it to Frankfurt yesterday, I would like to share my thoughts with you.

Tom Ford Cream and Powder Duo #04 Midnight Sea

RMK Irresistible Glow Lips Lipsticks 01 Cherry Red, 09 Pink Coral, 12 Mix Berry Rose, Ex-01 Noble Mauve, Review, Swatch & FOTD

... and I am back to home. After thinking about how badly I deviate from my usual weight during last year, I decided to do something. I had a 45 min Zumba session directly after coming home, which was maybe... not such a good idea after all. Exhaustion of three days mixed with some muscle soreness is not a fun way to start the weekend. Nevertheless I am happy to be able to start exercising again. It might effect the blog a little. After all "sitting down, editing photos and writing a review" is not all that sporty. I have to see how this one goes.

Meanwhile I hope you had a great start in the weekend. I have already talked about the new lipstick releases of RMK last week and reviewed one of the newly released two formulas, called Irresistible Bright Lips. Today I would like to share my thoughts about the other formula, Irresistible Glow Lips. As the name suggests, this one is more shiny and it is sheerer than the other. It is the new casual sheer lipstick line of RMK.

RMK Irresistible Glow Lips Lipsticks 01 Cherry Red, 09 Pink Coral, 12 Mix Berry Rose, Ex-01 Noble Mauve

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer Luminous Bronze Light, Review, Swatch, Comparison & FOTD

I hope you are all having a wonderful week. Mine went very fast since I worked only for two days in the office and drove to a near by city to have a three-day-training after that. The second day is over today. Although I like leaning new things and connecting with new people, a training requires a constant attention so I feel a little drained. It was also a mistake on my side that I booked the training right on time for our wedding anniversary, which was yesterday *cough cough*. I made it somehow up to hubby by booking a hard-to-reserve restaurant (because of its Michelin Guide Star) three week ahead for last weekend. I can't wait for the weekend to take some rest but it won't be easy since I will be traveling to Frankfurt on Saturday for a beauty fair. 

One of the items I purchased during my last travel to the States was Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer in Luminous Bronze Light. Upon trying both of the bronzers out, me and a lovely SA in Sephora, we decided that the lighter version looked more natural on me. Hourglass Ambient range is growing on me lately. I am still not so much into their finishing powders but the blushes I reviewed (not all positive) some time ago (here) became recently the ones I reach for quiet often. The reason was that, I used them a few times just to wonder which lovely glowy blush it had on my cheeks when I was editing the photos afterwards. Needless to say, it often turned out to be one of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blushes. So I was expecting a similar quality from the bronzer too. How do I feel about it after trying it out? After the jump...

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer Luminous Bronze Light

THREE, Shimmering Color Veil #37 6760 Miles, Color Veil for Cheeks #20 Love Twist, Velvet Lust Lipstick #06 Shiva Dance, Nail Polish #05 Cloud Aura and Performance Eyeliners, Review, Swatches & FOTD

About a month ago, I went into a low buy status, although I never made it official because I was not sure if I could hold on to that. The reason for that one was simply because I went overboard in Japan. Like seriously I was almost going bankrupt. When I saw all the pretties at the counters and brushes and skin care, I thought I was loosing my mind. Good thing was that hubby was with me and he managed to give me his "is this reasonable?" look each time I was loosing it. It helped a little though not so much. After all how can he understand why I need the 20th face brush right? Even I can't but I know it is needed! *chuckles*

Some of you asked if I could show my Japan haul after I was back. I already posted a few haul photos at Instagram. What I am planning to do on the blog is to introduce you to some of the Japanese make-up brands. Today I would like to start with THREE. I already owned a few of their products prior to visiting their counters in Japan. I had one of their quads, which didn't work all that well for me. I had a few of their liners but I was unsure if I liked them enough. Therefore I didn't feel I could bring some insight. After playing with them and purchasing some of their products, here are my thoughts about the items I have picked up.

THREE, Shimmering Color Veil #37 6760 Miles, Color Veil for Cheeks #20 Love Twist, Velvet Lust Lipstick #06 Shiva Dance, Nail Polish #05 Cloud Aura and Performance Eyeliners

La Mer The Moisturizing Cream Review & World Oceans Day

We are tied to the ocean. 

And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch 

- we are going back from whence we came.

John F. Kennedy

Happy World Oceans Day.

If you are a regular here and taking your time to read my thoughts about new make-up, skin care and fragrances which I share in this tiny space of mine, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Today I would like to ask you to use this time to think about our resources and how each one of us can help to preserve the natural balance of our planet. Although there are numerous dates to remind us to be sensitive to environmental issues (here is a list at Wikipedia), I selected this date since Oceans are so dear to my heart. So don't worry, you probably you won't be seeing me posting about Global Wind Day, World Wood Day nor International Polar Bear Day. These would be subject matter of another blog after all although polar bears are also so cute!

To keep the beauty bits intact during this ocean awareness post, I decided to merge it with a short first impressions review of Cream de La Mer. Recently I was made aware that La Mer partnered with National Geographic to support three researchers who work on ocean conservation. By a little bit of this and that I am hoping to keep the integrity of the blog while being a tiny more useful to the planet. Works that way? Please keep on reading...

La Mer The Moisturizing Cream

Chanel Le Vernis 655 Beige Rosa, 659 Beige Beige Pur, 661 Precious Beige & 663 Lovely Beige, Review, Swatch & Comparison for Les Beiges Summer 2015

I hope you are all having a great weekend. Today it is the day of cleaning in our flat so I have to run here and there in between. Also in about an hour I am going to meet a friend who I haven't seen for ages. When I say ages, it is like almost three years or more. I am a little excited about that too. The super melty weather conditions are going on here. It is very unpleasant. I will try to put on some make up soon and wonder how if it will last for an hour or two. I might have to look into new MAC foundation when I have the chance this week.

Today I have the nail polishes from Chanel Les Beiges 2015 Collection for you which a very dear friend was kind enough to purchase for me in the States. The collection haven't arrived to the counters in Germany yet but I believe it will soon. I will try to learn more about the release dates and edit this post accordingly. Since I am collecting Chanel nail polishes, I got all four shades, although beige is not my favorite color of nail polish. Sometimes I find it very office/appointment friendly. Also if I don't have lots of time during the week, I tend to wear nude colors on my nails so that they don't look bad if there is tip wear or slight chipping. 

Chanel Le Vernis 655 Beige Rosa, 659 Beige Beige Pur, 661 Precious Beige & 663 Lovely Beige

Dolce & Gabbana Smooth Eye Colour Quad #146 Lushies, Review, Swatch & FOTD

I hope you had a wonderful start in the weekend. It was too warm to do anything here yesterday and today it is the same. The moment I put on my base, it basically melts. I fished out some setting powders which were pushed to the bottom of the drawers. Now they became my best friends. Are you having a molten weekend too?

Each year I try to visit Italy once. During my visit I like checking Dolce & Gabbana counters too. These counters are everywhere in Italy although in Germany the brand is very hard to get. This time around I also searched for Gucci make-up counter and paid a visit to their flagship store close to Piazza de Spagna. A very kind sales assistant told me only Milan and Florence stores have the beauty line but it is expected that Rome gets it later this year. Since I checked Gucci Beauty in Berlin already (you can find swatches & first impressions here), I concentrated on Dolce & Gabbana this time around. 

The first day of our arrival I ran into La Gardenia Profumerie. From what I understood, it is an Italian chain cosmetics/perfume store. They were having 20% off everything if you buy over 50€. It was a great opportunity for me to pick up one more Dolce Gabbana Quad since I love their color combinations and formulas. The quads were then only 42€. I recommend you checking out if you have one of these stores close to you, since I believe this price is really good for the quality you get. I would have gotten a few more quads normally  but I am trying a low buy at the moment so here is my small haul from Rome. I also picked up one of cream eye shadows from the brand and I will be posting about it soon.

Dolce & Gabbana Smooth Eye Colour Quad #146 Lushies

RMK Irresistible Bright Lips Lipsticks 01 Vivid Pink, 04 Apricot, 06 Natural Rose, 07 Deep Rose, Review, Swatch & FOTD

I hope you are having a great week. We had a bank holiday today, which came god sent after going to work yesterday after thinking I was fit and all that but it turned out I got the headache back in no time. Whatever it is (gladiator virus?) it is not all gone yet but today after sleeping through and having a relaxed day at home, I feel fit again. I am behind all kinds of blog things, comments, posts, please bare with me.

Today I have the launch for you from one of my favorite Japanese make-up brands RMK. Brand recently discontinued their lip products and released two newly formulated lipstick lines. They are called Irresistible Glow Lips and Irresistible Bright Lips. I would like to share my thoughts about both of the lines with you. Today I start with RMK Irresistible Bright Lips Lipsticks. 

RMK Irresistible Bright Lips Lipsticks 01 Vivid Pink, 04 Apricot, 06 Natural Rose, 07 Deep Rose

Darphin Exquisage Beauty Revealing Serum & Soleil Plaisir Anti-Aging Suncare, Review & Photos

I hope you are all doing great. You must have noticed that I am a little quiet on the blog front as well as on social media. My mother sent me an sms yesterday asking me "Are you ok? You haven't post in Instagram since two days!" and yes she was right. I was basically sick, laying in bed since two days but still it made me laugh that she figured that out by checking my Instagram account!

After my travels I was trying to return back to schedule but then a monster head ache hunted me on Sunday night. I suppose it had to do with my stomach being weird but I don't know that for sure. It can be gladiator viruses I received at Colosseum in Rome. I was knocked down two days straight and today I started feeling a little better. I hope tomorrow I will be able to return to work and slowly to blog and social media as well. Bad thing, I still haven't taken my things out of my suitcase, good thing, Thursday is a bank holiday, yay! 

Since I was mostly rolling in bed, I was not testing makeup for a few days. But I would like to share my thoughts about two products which I have been testing over two months now, since I have posted them at Instagram. These are new products to Darphin range, a sunscreen for the face, called Soleil Plaisir Anti-Aging Suncare and a serum called Exquisage Beauty Revealing Serum.

Darphin Exquisage Beauty Revealing Serum & Soleil Plaisir Anti-Aging Suncare