MAC Warm&Cozy and Love Lace haul and EOTD/N

Oh, yes, much belated Warm&Cozy and Love Lace haul, I know, but blame my MAC counter that only brought these in last week!

This is mainly why I don't do these MAC "new collections" haul type posts - here in Greece we always get everything light years after the rest of the world (not to mention in almost double the price, but that's another story) and I 'm sure that for most of you that are already shopping the most recent collections, my slightly outdated MAC hauls can be a bit boring...!

Nevertheless, this is what I purchased from those two collections:




Now, except from Raven kohl power pencil, none of the rest had caught my eye when I first learned about their release - I didn't take as much as a second look at the Love Lace eyeshadows, and I thought that the Warm&Cozy ones looked very dupable.
But as I kept looking at swatches and blog posts, I did a total 180.

(swatches from l to r: Hypnotising e/s, Raven kohl power pencil, Fascinating eye kohl)

Hypnotising eyeshadow is a mauve/grey shade, and I can see wearing this a lot. To me, it was by far the prettiest of the Love Lace eyeshadows and since I 'm trying to start a taupe/grey/mauve palette, this one would fit in nicely!
Raven kohl power pencil. Gorgeous dark burgundy shade, this is the only one that didn't fail me when I swatched it (call me "Sense of Style"). The shimmer in it is very fine and doesn't stand out. I believe this is an older repromote (Starflash maybe?), but in any case, this is one that should be permanent.
Fascinating eye kohl. Now you 'll laugh because I didn't know that this was part of the Love Lace collection up until I walked in the store. I was just looking for a white pencil for my waterline and this one does the trick - easy to apply, makes my eyes look awake in 2 seconds.

(swatches from l to r: Chamomile, Modelette, Mulled Cider, Embark)

Well, it's true that I 'm not new to the neutral shades, in fact most of my collection consists of neutrals.
But that's also what I go for 90% of the time anyways, so I figured that these ones (unlike other LE eyeshadows) would get a lot of use from me. I also don't own any matte or satin neutrals, so this was the perfect excuse!
And to be quite honest, this could easily become my go-to quad, it's great for daytime looks, as well as the more dramatic ones...

And voila - my simple daytime look:

(Modelette all over the lid, Mulled Cider in the crease, Chamomile as inner corner and brow highlighter, Fascinating on waterline)

...and some added drama for a night out:

(Modelette and Mulled Cider blended on inner 3rd, Mulled Cider on rest of the lid and lower lashline, Embark on outer v and crease, as well as upper lashline, Chamomile on browbone)

Now, I 'll probably remain in hiding for the next 6 months or so, lol!

So, do let me know, did you shop from these collections, and what?
And what are your favourite looks with those items? :)

OPI Alice in Wonderland pt. 1: Mad as a Hatter

Time for a nail post! And a glittery one at that! :)

So, I 'm sure that by now, almost everyone reading this is already familiar with the OPI "Alice in Wonderland" collection. The collection consists of 4 nail polishes, two reds and two glitters!
Now, I can't really say that the reds did anything for me... but the glitters most certainly did! :)

This is "Mad as a Hatter", the one I knew I had to have ever since I saw the promo pics:




The easiest way to describe "Mad as a Hatter" is that it's multi-coloured glitter in a bottle. Think of purple, silver, green, yellow, aqua and orange glitter, as well as quite refined micro-glitter in a clear base and you 've got "Mad as a Hatter". The glitter is quite fine, definitely not chunky and fairly dense, so, it's more than an average glittery top coat.
If I look at this from a distance during the day, I see more of the purple in it, and more of the silver during the night - this is because there's more purple and silver glitter than any other colour.

Two coats (as the photo above) were decent, but I felt inclined to add another one:




As you can see, there's a lot more depth when the third coat is applied, not to mention that the coverage is full.

But, I wasn't quite done playing with it, I really wanted to try it as a top coat!
So, here it is over Sally Hansen's "Alchemy"...




...and, probably my favorite (second to the 3 coat application), over a plain black creme (mine is the cheapo type, but it's quite a good nail polish - Greek ladies, Rilken is not that crappy a brand.)




Come to think of it, this is not a nail polish for everyone, if you 're looking for a work-appropriate shade or if you hate glitter, then "Mad as a Hatter" is obviously not for you.
But, if you don't mind a nail polish that constantly sings "d-i-s-c-o" to you (I mean, it does, really), then you might want to look into it further...!

Post to be continued with pt. 2 (i.e. the blue glitter one) in the future.

So, have you tried this shade yet? Any cool ways of wearing it? :)

Kreativ Blogger Award!

It's award time! :)

I 've been awarded with the Kreative Blogger award by my lovely and incredibly sweet Marietta @Dreamville and even though I 'm thankful for all the thoughtful awards I 've received so far, I feel the need to express a special "Thank you" to her for this one...

Mariettaki, thank you so so much girl, you 've no idea what this award meant to me! Being creative and thinking outside the box is definitely not easy, especially for someone like me (that's somewhat challenged in the imagination department)! I do strive for it though and I hope that this comes across, both in the form of the blog (i.e layout), as well as in it's content! Of course, there's room for improvement, that's something to always keep in the back of my head! :)




So, here's the rules to this award:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreative Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Now, I 'm going to cheat a little, since I 've already posted a few stuff about me on previous award tags, so, I 'm going straight towards the nominations section!

Here's the bloggers that never fail to impress me with their creativity:

Awilda@Awilda Hearts Makeup. This lady has a fabulous blog, and is extremely talented! She 's made so many different and gorgeous looks and always finds new things to talk about!
Cat@Reaching for the Stars. I 'm certain that this girl has a wild imagination, just take a look at the makeup looks she's done and you 'll be convinced! She loves to play with her makeup and I love seeing the results!
Marietta@Dreamville. Bet you didn't see this one coming huh? This girl's creativity doesn't stop at makeup: she loves to challenge herself fashion-wise as well, not to mention she's probably a great... chef too! ;)
Michelle@Lipstick Rules. If I 'm sure about one thing about this lady is that she can talk about makeup and beauty in a million different perspectives, and I can assure you, the one is more interesting that the other!
Muhsine@Bubblegarm. Nothing that you haven't already figured out about her: she's never afraid to mix things up and has an eye for detail! Oh, and yeah, if she wants sth that she can't find, she's probably gonna make it herself!
Stefanie@The Lip Print. The ultimate person that can make you feel guilty about not making the most out of your stash - in a good way! Give her 5 products and I guarantee you that she'll come up with 50 beautiful looks!
Tackyblueeyeshadow. Amazing makeup skills and I love how she incorporates different genres, themes and styles to her looks, so that each is completely different than the previous one!


So, that was it for now guys!
Hope that you all have a great week and... see you soon! :)

December favourites!

Yep, that's right, this will be a (reaaally) late post on my December '09 favourites.
I know it's probably the most belated "monthly favourites" post in the blogging history, but I 've been really busy lately, preparing for exams and everything...

Well, better late than never, right? :)

So, on the products then:




1. Cetaphil Daily Advance Ultra Hydrating Lotion. I 've been using this as a body lotion recently instead of my usual body butters, and what can I say, I love it. It keeps my skin moisturized in the cold winter weather, it sinks in quite nicely without feeling tacky and I adore the fact that it isn't scented, although that is completely unlike me! Now I suspect that for all those reasons it would make an even greater lotion in the warmer months, has anyone tried this in the summer?

2. Sleek Storm palette. Now it might be just me or this particular palette that I have, but I 'm really not feeling this product...I guess that puts me in the minority, but the consistency of the shimmery colours is slightly gritty, making them difficult to apply and achieve an even finish. This wasn't the case with the matte colours, they were quite nice to work with. So, you might be wondering why this made my "favourites" list? Simply because it's a nice compact palette with pigmented eyeshadows that covers any basic neutral and basic smokey eye looks you would want to do. I took it with me while traveling during the holidays and I didn't find myself needing any other colours. But (and this is a big "but"), if I 'd built a MAC palette with similar shades to the Storm one, this would probably be heading towards the...bin.

3. Barry M Glossy Tubes Lipgloss in No.4. No. 4 is also called "Matt Pink" I believe, and that's pretty much what it is: a non-shimmery, non-sticky, light pink lipgloss. It's an extremely flattering shade and I believe that it would work wonderfully for those that have enough pigmentation on their natural lips, as well as for those ones with paler lips. My lips fall more into the more pigmented category, so this lipgloss gives a subtle milky pink effect, which I just love.




4. NARS Orgasm blush. Not much to say about this blush, you either love it or hate it. Personally I love the gold sheen (I tried to make that show on my swatch below), I think it pairs quite nicely with its peachy-pink colour. If you love MSF's and have a fair/medium skintone, you 're probably gonna like this one too!




5. Benefit Erase Paste in No.1 Fair. Seeing that my MAC Select Cover Up in NW 20 was a little dark for me lately, I thought I 'd give Erase Paste a try. It claims to be a brightening product as well as a concealing one, and if I 'm honest, I do think that it provides a slight brightening effect. You certainly don't need a lot of product, and unfortunately it's quite easy to go overboard, since the spatula (that's included in the packaging) method isn't the most easy to get control of. Now, as Sarah pointed out, a little too much of this will end up in your fine lines, but then again in this case unless you have very dark circles, you 'd better try something in a more liquid form. Swatch below showing that it pretty much erased my prominent green little vein.




So, have you tried any of these products and what did you think of them?

And, what are the products that you 've been swearing by lately that I need to try? :)

H&M Haul!

So, this will be a short and sweet little post, that will allow me to share with you my new H&M acquisitions!

Let me first just say that I love H&M and that sadly, there is none in my town, so as I was away during the holidays, I simply could not NOT take the opportunity to stop by the big 3 story store in the big city and have a looksie!

Nothing major, pretty basic stuff:




A grey knit cowl neck sweater, that is long enough to double as a dress, and the most gorgeous black&silver brocade skirt! The skirt is high waisted and at first gave me a problem: the upper waist part in my size was way too loose fitting, so I had to go a size down, meaning that the skirt now is...well, quite form-fitting! I don't complain though, as it was too pretty to pass on!

And because a haul is not a complete haul, unless there's accessories involved, I present you with my new love:




Hey, if that ring doesn't scream "statement", then I don't know what does! It's basically a giant gold pyramid stud, on a shiny black plastic band, super affordable, but guaranteed to be the centre of attention!

So, that was it... next shopping spree will probably be sometime during the sales, and if I 'm lucky, that is...

What about you my lovely readers?
Did you shop anything during the holiday season? And if you haven't, is there something in particular that you 've been eyeing lately? :)