Beauty ponders

As I featured on Monday in my haul I got my first two Barry M polishes. I've been reading a lot about them, but they aren't easy available in Belgium. And as I was busy compiling my shopping cart on a Dutch webshop, I noticed they had Barry M stored. This colour appealed to me above all others. I don't have a lot of peachy polishes, so I was curious how it would suit me.

The bottle is straight and looks really cute, I like the thicker glass at the bottom - the golden lettering is a bit tacky in my eyes. The brush itself is tiny and reminds me a lot of Essie brushes. I used 2 coats as I do with most polishes and this provides enough coverage. Applying the polish goes well, but be a bit aware of streaking. The colour was insanely hard to capture on camera, in real life it's a mixture of the 2 photos. On the left it looks a bit paler/more nude and on the right it's too bright & orange due to the flash. But it is a lovely colour and I like it a lot, I'm an NC/NW15-20 for reference. If your skin tone is a lot darker than this, the polish probably won't be your thing as it appears too orange then.


One thing that I dislike about this polish is its tipwear... After 1,5days I noticed I already had tipwearing on a few nails. Usually with my other polishes I get tipwear after 4-5days. I always use the same base and topcoat so it really is the polish. And this will probably prevent me from ordering more Barry M in the future... sadly!

Here we are again with my recent Avon order. I have some products from them which I adore and buy over and over again, but I also regularly try new things and let me tell you, there are plenty that I haven't tried yet. Since most of their items are budgettary and priced between 2-10euros it's ok when something turns out to be, well, not so great. No pain, no gain....

In my last order I got the quad Cocoa Dreams and I liked it enough to order another quad, one from their 24k collection with gorgeous packaging and again really workable shades for everyday and evening. Underneath you can see a ColorTrend (their budgetbudget line) pencil in white which costed merely 2,5euros.

Bath stuff... Avons Bubble Bath from which I've spoken before and absolutely love and recommend. I got the scent White Lily in 1L and 2 copies 500Ml of Vanilla Peach - smells amazing. It was buy 1L and get 2 small ones for free.

To finish it I got their "eyes-special". Each brochure they offer a combination of items at a huge discount. Since I love this mascara, Supershock, and figured for the price I got a free eye cream and sun glasses, I couldn't say no.

That's it for now... 'till next month for another Avon hauling!

Most brands offer a seperate line for sensitive skin -mostly without fragrance- and so does Estée Lauder. Their sensitive line is called Vérité and contains a cleanser, cream, fluid and eye cream. My skin is sensitive - not in a hyperway but enough to be irritated from time to time - and because I wear contacts I have to be carefull in regards to eyecreams. At first this Vérité line wasn't available in Europe, but as of a few months ago you can also get it - stores like IciParis, Douglas etc stock it...



Estée Lauder and luxurious packaging are inseperate. It's a white/beige tube with a golden dop, very hygienic and good to preserve the ingredients. The tube contains 15ml and is priced around 30euros. The ingredients list is very short, it's water-based with antioxidants & such, and doesn't contain perfume, as stated. It can be used 6months after opening, this short term can be explained as it doesn't contain parabens which are used for a better/longer preservation.


Distributing the product goes easily, just squeeze the tube gently. The product doesn't have a scent and feels really light. It has the texture of a gel, can easily be spread and sinks into the skin fast. The dot you can see underneath is what I normally use for one eye, it's not as rich/hydrating as I expected it to be - therefore the 15ml doesn't last me that long, I think I did about 5months with it applying it only at night. It hasn't irritated my eyes at any time and feels refreshing when applying. As far as the line/wrinkle reducing goes, their claim is false - no product can do this. It lightens the eye area a bit and so it may seem that fine lines are diminishing. I don't have dark circles or puffiness so I can't comment on that part.


The goods: non-irritating, good ingredients, sinks in fast, lightens eye area, good packaging

The bads: not that hydrating, price in comparison to amount

Overall I consider this to be a good eye cream, non-irritating and with a decent ingredient list. It also has the correct packaging to preserve its ingredients. The only downside is the pricing and the amount that you get in return - this is what keeps me from repurchasing it, good product but overpriced. Nevertheless, if you want to splurge and are irritated by almost anything, this could be your HG, just keep the price tag in mind :).

Online shopping is definitely one of my pet peeves... You have acces to every brand you desire - and there are so many that aren't available where I live, so online shopping is a must. But, however, I have become more critical and tend to wait a few more weeks before indeed ordering an item and if I still want it afterwards, I'll go for it! If I could compile a wish list I'm guessing it would be endless, I wouldn't even know where to begin...

First stop was ebay, more precisely a UK-seller. Paula Dorf brushes, I have been lemming them for quite some time - thank you Lisa Eldridge, and now after months and months the time was right and I got 2 of them: the big powder brush *which is so fluffy and soft, very soft* and an eyeshadow brush. Pricing was reasonable: I got both of them with shipping for about 35euros.

Then onto an order from a Dutch store called Alicejohavessentials with lots of hard-to-get-brands. As you can see I gave in and ordered the Sleek Oh so Special palette I was pondering about a while ago - my main reason for purchase was that there are a lot of colours in it that I don't have yet. I have their Storm palette and consider it to be a good pricequality product. I bought 3 lip balms from Eos, it was a travel bag containing Honeysuckle, Sweet Mint & Pomegranate Raspberry, aren't they cute? And lastly 2 nail polishes by Barry M: one peachy colour and one instant nail white effects.

Lastly another Paula's Choice order, which was mainly inspired by my boyfriend. His hydralight cleanser and night cream/gel, both in the middle, were running out. Both of these are repurchases and reviews will follow. On the far left is a body treatment with BHA, because as of lately I'm having slightly red bumps on my legs from shaving etc and this is supposed to help me. On the far right her new daycream with an SPF of 20 to try, intented for dry skin but we'll see. For now her SPF creams aren't impressing me or my boyfriend at all...

Have you recently purchased something online, share!

Hand creams and me go well together... I buy plenty of them and I use plenty of them! I always have one in my bag and one beside my bed. During the day I love using a hand cream that sinks in fast and doesn't leave my hands greasy. But before I go to bed I enjoy using a richer hand cream so my hands can bathe in moisture while I'm of to dreamland. I bought this cream from Rituals for the last purpose, as it states being an "extra rich repairing cream".

• This luxurious, rich hand balm is specially created to soothe and repair rough, dry hands
• Enriched with Ginseng (the symbol for immortality) and Ginkgo Biloba which is known to strengthen the blood vessels

The cream comes in a tube of 75ml with a pricetag of 10euros - which is a good midrange pricing. For hand creams I prefer tubes or good sealed pumps as they are easy for application and hygienic. The light green colour is refreshing. Ingredientwise this cream is based on glycerin as so many but it also contains shea butter and silicones too smooth out fine lines. As far as negatives go: it does contain perfume -if you're very sensitive- and parabens.


The scent of this hand balm is divine: refreshing and herballike as far as my describing skills go, it's very relaxing. The scent consist of ginseng and ginkgo, which is obviously of no help to any of you. Who on earth knows how these things smell? Just snif it next time you pop into a Rituals store, it's a really lovely scent that a lot of people will like.

As you can see underneath the cream is really thick and this becomes even more noticeable when spreading it. It's a very thick cream that at first doesn't seem to spread easily but once it has been warmed up a bit the spreading goes smooth. It's very moisturizing and leaves your skin feeling soft. I mainly used this before going to bed as it can be a bit too greasy or oily when applied. The perfume in it didn't irritate my skin whatsoever.

The goods: nice scent, thick cream, very moisturizing, tube-packaging

The bads: can be too greasy/oily, contains perfume

To sum it up, I totally love this hand cream and will definitely repurchase it - my tube is almost empty at the moment of writing - I need a new one! This is one of the thickest creamiest creams I've tried so far and my hands really enjoy the boost it gives my skin. I would recommend this to anyone who regularly suffers from dry hands. If you have more oily skin, this one probably won't be your best buddy.

When Catrice released their Wonderland collection (with the lovely butterflies on the packaging), I picked up a few of their goodies, including this nail polish. If there's a pastel/nude polish to be found, I'm all over it...

These bottles are a bit smaller: 8ml in comparison to 10ml in their regular collection - pricing is the same at 2,49euros but it's still very budgetproof. I used 2 coats of this polish but 1 coat already provides decent coverage. The polish goes on smooth without any streaks. It's a gorgeous purple pastel and I'm fond of it. This is a perfect polish for summer.

The packaging is quite sleek and I love the curly touch to it. Rest of the packaging is plain black and simple. It costed me 6euros for 7ml. Getting the wand out of the mascara isn't the easiest job, you need a good pull to get it out of it. The wand itself is indeed curved and has a lot of bristles with different lenghts.

Now, more importantly are the results. The mascara indeed gives you a nice curl, it does its name honor. It also gives some length and a little bit of volume. But, however, I found that it clumps easily and is tricky to apply plus there's some wearoff during the day. It dries really fast, so be quick when putting on more layers. Afterwards my lashes do feel stiffer than when using other mascaras - the dryness is also visible in the last picture. Personally I'm not a fan of this mascara. I don't like to hassle too much with application and I'm more fond of natural looking lashes - this one easily gives a spidereffect and I do NOT want that.

The goods: price, sleek packaging, gives nice curl, gives length

The bads: clumps easily, tricky application, makes lashes stiff, dries fast, wearoff during the day

Overall I do not like this mascara and will not continue to use it. I wouldn't recommend it either because of all the cons to it. If you're looking for a nice curl in a mascara, my advice is to use a decent eyelash curler and seek elsewhere for a mascara. Nevertheless Avon has a few great mascaras and their reviews will follow...

It's a jar, I don't like jars (see hygiene - putting your fingers in it) - point of negative number one. It's 50ml - how incredible tiny is this thing? It costs 9euros which is ok and if you multiple it, it isn't that much in comparison to more high end brands such as Joico, Kerastase etc... I'm guessing I'll be getting 5-6 usages out of it.

But there are also numerous positives, do not get me wrong. For starters it has a really nice scent, a bit floral and whilst sniffing the jar it may appear very strong - once applied it smells lovely. It has the texture of a light cream and spreads easily. It's adviced to leave it in for 3 minutes, but I usually take 5. Afterwards my hair feels softer already. I never have problems combing my hair so I can't comment on that part. Drying goes easily and it leaves my hair smooth, without frizz and doesn't weigh it down. The next few days my hair continues to feel soft and stays better in place. It makes it look healthy - isn't that what we all want, glowing healthy hair?

The goods: fresh scent, leaves hair soft, no frizz, doesn't weigh it down, easy modelling

The bads: small jar, it's a jar

Overall I enjoy using this product and will probably end up repurchasing this. I love how it makes my hair look and feel. It's a shame that it's a jar and so small - but I can overcome these negatives. I definitely recommend this for using to switch up your hair routine from time to time or when your hair needs a boost such as in the winter.

Yesterday whilst a little online shopping spree I ran into this polishes by Barry M (official picture). Barry M has been on my list to try for some time, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. These 4 effect polishes are crackle ones and to be honest, I didn't care about crackle that much - it doesn't felt like me, you know?

That was untill I ran into these lovely swatches by Do Not Refreeze and I immediately loved the White Frost over the pastel polishes - she also has the other ones up with swatches but I don't like them that much. So I put it in my basket and hit the "check out" button, polish & other stuff is now on its way to me...

Lastly I used Diorshow Iconic mascara on my upper lashes and as an eyeliner the Velvet Touch Liner from Gosh in the colour Brown (I always do half a line as I have quite big eyes in case you're wondering - it suits me better).

I'm eager to try the darker brown colour and hope I won't be disappointed. I'll do a review with proper swatches of the quad soon. Have you tried any Avon quads and what are your thoughts on them?

As I stated a few days earlier, I'm now presenting my new layout. At this moment of typing I'm still perfecting a few tiny things but I guess you get the overall picture...

Clean, simple, fresh - I like it and I hope you do too.

Just a quick update to let you all know that I'll be publishing a new layout, which I'm working on right now, of "Beauty ponders & randoms" this weekend, it will probably launch on Sunday. I hope you all will like it!

Last week I went discountshopping with one of my best friends, which is always fun and mostly chatting & mostly clothes as she's not into makeup and such. Whilst browsing the Mango she picked up a blouse and said "this will look good on you - statement made", I tried it on and here it is... I also bought a whole bunch of other stuff such as the pants and the belt I'm wearing (not Mango though), but this was my favourite item of the day... It's even more gorgeous when worn on white pants but due to the rain today - although it appears sunny through the window - I put the grey one on.


It's a light dusty pink colour with black (but not intense) stripes, their thickness is different on either side. I immediately loved the little button on the shoulder and the little details on it. It's a very lovely blouse that will look good on a lot of people. And oh yes it was only 15euros...