AVON Hydrating Face Mask; Product Review

I know I know.. I'm so slow when it comes to update this blog and I am deeply sorry for that :( I am not a big fan of AVON products but I still try their facial masks 'cos I'm a face mask freak.. I looove masks :) I have a few AVON masks already, I really like the mud mask (Name is Planet Spa dead sea minerals; facial mud mask) for example for soothing my face..

I have a lot of soothing and calming masks but I ran out of hydrating masks and the one I bought previously didn't work at all, it also caused several white heads on my face so I turned it into a hydrating foot mask instead of face mask :P The one is called AVON Solutions, Hydrofirming cooling moisture gel cream, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, so stay away from that :P

I'm a Mediterranean, we love olive oil and we know its good effects on skin :) I was planning to buy this mask for a long time but it didn't have a discount for a couple of months, I finally bought it this month and I regret buying only 1 tube! It comes in a 75 ml tube with a flat cap and offers you a soft, suppled hydrated and refreshened face and guess what? It does what it claims!

The product is a pale olive green gel and smells wonderful! I'm sensitive to all kinds of smells, if something smells terrible I immediately get sick.. I could never use AVON's Japanese Rice and Sake products, they smell terrible.. I couldn't stand it! But this mask has a fresh, calming smell and it is not too strong to bother you. The texture is gelly, when you apply it on your face it gets drier.

My face is normal/combination but very dry lately, I assume 'cos of the radiators and dry hot air inside the house and school and dry cold air outside. I mean dry in the sense that it lacks its own moisture (water), not in the sense that it is not oily. In fact my T zone is oily and I know that producing oil is my face's defense mechanism against of moisture loss. It absorbs my moisturizer in 5 seconds and it is very tense lately. So I definitely need a hydrating mask (and need to drink water more than before).

I felt relieved as soon as I applied the mask and my face was so happy after rinsing it off. It looks healthier, glowier, softer and definitely smoother! Some hydrating masks make your face become oilier than before but this one does not.. I'm very satisfied.

Product: 5 out of 5
Packaging: 5 out of 5
Quality: 5 out of 5
Overall: 5 out of 5
Would I buy again? YES! I'll stock up this mask next time there is a discount on it.
Where to buy? From any AVON representative or online if u live in the US.
Price: AVON's prices vary in each catalogue and country. You can always wait for the next discount if it is expensive for you.. I paid 7.90 TL (around 4.50 USD).

Marjo

How do I store my MAC glosses? :)

Ladies and gentlemen.. I'm presenting my MAC gloss's holder, just to give you an idea.. It's a plastic holder (originally a test tube holder, the ones that are used in laboratories), and I love it 'cos I can now keep my glosses organized..

Holes are just wide enough to insert wider glosses such as dazzleglasses and cremesheen glass but not enough to insert MAC lipsticks, unfortunately :(

I also use the empty places for my most-frequently-used brushes :) It saved a lot of space :)

Here are the names in case you are interested in what the glosses are.. Feel free to ask for swatches if you are curious about the shades or just want to see comparisons :)

1-5 (Nudes): Snowscene (LE) - Peroxide (LE) - Icescape (LE) - Cherry Blossom (LE) - Live and Dye (LE)

6-10 (Nudes, Pinks): Love Nectar - Fullfilled - Red Devil (LE) - Nymphette - Palatial (DC)

11-15 (Reds): Melt In Your Mouth (LE, cremesheen glass) - Plus Luxe - Possum Nose Pink (LE) - Venetian - Russian Red

16-20 (Dazzleglasses): 16 isn't from MAC but is like a dazzleglass; Flormar Glossy Splash 01 - Sugarrimmed (LE*) - Baby Sparks (LE*) - Like Venus (LE*) - Ms Fizz (LE*)

21-25 (Dazzleglasses): Glamour OD (LE*) - Glamour OD (LE*) - Love Alert (LE*) - Money Honey (LE*) - Spanking Rick (LE*)

26-30 (From Little Darlings Holiday Set, Pink): Fleur De Light - Song and Dance - Flashmode - Little VI - Magnetique

31-35 (From Little Darlings Holiday Set, Coral): Underage - Ola Mango! - Pink Grapefruit - Wonderstruck - Budding

36-37: Maybelline Watershine Diamonds, 515 and 12..

LE: Limited Edition and DC: Discontinued item.. Items marked with "*" means they were LE when first released but some of them will be permanent with new Double Dazzle Collection (May 2009) but I don't know which yet.. So I label them with LE for now, I will update once the color stories are posted :)

Marjo

Are you freaking kidding me!?

With this snail-speed, I guess my 20% discount will arrive when I hit my 50s..

Remember the 11% discount I got last month? Wow I'm impressed...

PS: I can't believe I originally sent this topic as "Are you freaking kissing me?" What was I thinking?? LOL

Marjo

Silk Naturals, Part 1 of 2

I know I keep delaying to write here, but I’m extra busy with work and school and sometimes all I want and need is a simple 8 hours’ sleep :) This weekend I’ll make my blog happy though :P

A very sweet friend of mine told me about Silk Naturals, late at night while I was working.. An attempt to online shopping instead of working? Sign me in babe :P That’s how I met with Silk Naturals, mineral and organic make-up brand it is.. There were tons of eye shadows and blushes, lip products, foundations and setting powders and skin care products; it was really hard to choose.. As I’m new to mineral make up, I decided to go for samples this time and if I can somehow manage to use them, then I’m to switch to original sizes.. For my first order, I bought a lot of stuff with a really good price; let’s see, eye shadows are full-size and only $3.75, blushes are sample-size and price is only $1.25 but you still get a good amount of it. Most of the blushes can be good dupes for expensive brands’ famous blushes (as stated in its website) and you don’t need to pay a lot for the same color. And for every $30, you get 2 free eye shadows..

I had to divide this topic into two, because there are lots of products to talk about and I can’t pile them up in 1 single post right now.. Too much to swatch :P To be honest, I was afraid of a loosy package but it was well wrapped and every product was covered with pink sheets and everything is in great condition, although traveled hundred miles from US to Turkey! I always have problems with packages from US, but I received this one in 10 days and there were no missing products (it always happens to me), instead there were many free ones! I so loved it :)))

Blushes are awesome! I can't choose which one I loved most.. Seriously I'm way too satisfied with the quality.. Tart is a matte light pink blush and it's a very pretty color, I'm definitely skipping Tippy blush from MAC's Hello Kitty Collection. Tart is very pigmented and for people with lighter skin, it might be hard to blend to look over-done, so you might want to choose Tart Light instead of Tart..

Forbidden is a brownish-apple red color with golden shimmers, it's a good dupe for NARS Outlaw and it's definitely gorgeous. It'll be great for people with medium and/or dark skin tones, it might look kinda muddy for lighter skin tones..

Babydoll is 100% natural! This is enough itself to make me try it, but it is a great clone for MAC's Dollymix, the color is a cute hot pink with shimmer, it is so cute that it'd look great on all skin tones.

Charming is said to be a clone for MAC's Pleasantry, I don't really remember that blush, so I trust it :) It looks pretty much like Babydoll but they are still different (I don't know if you could see from the pictures), Babydoll is a hot pink, whereas Charming is a cool pink.. They both have golden shimmers.

Lastly for this post, I had Deluxe Sample Kit; a foundation kit with an empty jar, sponge, measuring scoop, instruction manual and many others.. You should really try this kit, if you are a starter like me or if you want to surprise someone, this could be a lovely gift.. I loved the foundations, I'm going to play with them once I'm done here ;)

Marjo

Top 5 MAC Products To Buy Before You Die!

I got this idea from a silly TV show last night, they were presenting their Top 10 movies to watch and I adapted it to MAC ;) I'm sure most of us have more than 5 must-have products but I just want to pile the most populars.. Here is my "Top 5 MAC Products to Buy Before You Die"...

1. Brushes; all of them if you could afford.. If not, must-haves are (in no specific order) #109, 129, 134, 182, 187, 217, 224, 239, 263..

2. Studio Tech Foundation; found late but fell in love immediately.. The best of the best foundation, it is. I'll talk more about it in my foundation review (which I keep delaying)..

3. Bare Slimshine; I have searched for a good nude lip color for ages, even from MAC I've tried some lipsticks but none of them is as good as Bare. The texture is so lovely, it's like a wonderful combination of a lip balm and a lipstick..

4. Matte; a review is coming about this uber gel. It's the best product in its own category.

5. Blacktrack Fluidline; is the best gel eyeliner I've ever used. The intense black color is hard to find when it comes to eyeliners, most of the black ones I buy, fade into a grey color which really pisses me off. For a solid, flat finish, use Blacktrack alone, for a shiny, watery finish dab your eyeliner brush into f/l and spritz it with Fix+ ;)

What are your "Top 5 MAC Products to Buy Before You Die" ? :)))

Marjo

Mini Haul :)

This is my super mini haul today. I was saving money for around 1 month to be able to buy everything I want from BBR collection. Yesterday me and my besties got the exciting news from a MUA of our favourite counter and decided to go for BBR tomorrow :P How would I spend my whole day with this excitement? I went to shopping :P Everywhere is full of discounts (thanks to Valentine's Day), I just could not resist.. Plus I needed that moisturizer ok! 

I had this super bad mood because of non-stop working for days and I'm also pmsing severly (don't worry my boyfriend takes care of it heheh). I had zero intentions to buy anything else than some sample jars (for my very first swap, yay) and Lancome Hydrazen moisturizer.. 

While SA was finding a new Hydrazen box to give me, I saw the Teint Idole Ultra foundation from Lancome, which I wanted to try for ages (in fact I saw many stuff and tried quite some also but none of them pleased me). My first impressions are that Teint Idole Ultra is a super-full coverage foundation but it doesn't make you feel that heavy. It does cover scars and acnes as good as my Studio Fix but it couldn't cover the pores near and on my nose. When it is first applied, it feels like there is a mask on your face, it is not looking natural at all.. However, I am very used to this masky-look from my Studio Fix Fluid foundation, I knew it needed 10-15 minutes to settle, so I decided to take a look around while it is setting.. I played with Estee Lauder glosses and lipsticks for a while, then I moved to Chanel stand. There they were.. The beautiful levres scintillantes glosses.. And they had a 30% discount.. I can swear I heard them calling my name :P I picked 3 colors at first, then decided to buy only 1 since I'll be going to see BBR tomorrow.. Anyways back to foundation :P It looked better 10 minutes later in deed, but it didn't give me what I love to get from my Studio Tech heheh. I should tell you that after 5h, it is still not shiny, nor oily. It may be a good foundation for people seeking for full coverage but medium coverage lovers (people like me) may find it heavy and unnecessary, 'cos it might tire your skin if you use daily.. Plus the shade range is very small. At least in Turkey, there were only 5 shades! It is nothing like MAC's perfectly matching shades, makes you feel disappointed once you are used to wear your perfect match, if you know what I mean..

The SA insisted on trying the Inimitable mascara (Chanel) on me, so I gave it a shot as well. It is such a brilliant mascara! I think it is going to be my all time fave mascara from now on. It is too good.. Too good to be real.. I'll prepare a decent review about it later, 'cos light in my room really upsets me at night pictures :/ But it is good, reaaalllyyy good :)))

Marjo