Review: Maybelline Instant Anti-Age The Smoother Skin Retexturizing Primer

Hello Ladies,

This Maybelline Instant Anti-Age The Smoother Skin Retexturizing Primer (what a mouthful huh?) was very high on my TO BUY list ever since I swatched it in Superdrug. Because it felt so nice and looked so cute :) Yes, I'm a sucker for packaging.... guilty as charged.

I wanted to try this primer with The Eraser foundation, but I just so happened to get me the US version of The Eraser and didn't need the UK one. Would you be interested in me comparing those two (US and UK one)? I already can see some differences in the range itself, for example I believe that US has more shades and they are possibly named differently. And their primer is in the tube instead of cool glass container.

I bought it from Superdrug because none of my local Boots had it yet at the time, but right now both stores have it on sale for £7.99 although I paid the full price of £9.99. Like I said, I was in love with the texture and the packaging. I'm not a fan of luxurious makeup (because of the price tag), but this primer feels very luxurious to me. Probably because of the sheer weight of the container. 


So here is what they say: 

Our gel formula retexturizes skin, creating a perfectly smooth, visibly transformed complexion. Our gel formula instantly lifts and diminishes the look of pores; retexturizing skin’s surface for the smoothest looking complexion – with or without make-up.

And this is what I say: 
First I would like to mention to price. £9.99 for a measly 7ml when normally primers come at around 30ml (or is it me who just happens to buy those at 30ml?) is a little steep in my book. Just to illustrate my point, the US equivalent of this primer comes in a 27ml tube. What's up with that Maybelline? 

I love the gel formula and it is clear in color, so you can't see it on the skin once applied. I had a lot of fun photographing it because the texture was coming out sooooo nicely.

See? You can't see it all, but it is there! And not even blended.

I applied it with a brush from this set by dipping the brush in the primer and then transferring  it to my face in circular motion. I have to dip it in several times to get the coverage I like, especially paying attention to the nose area since that's where my foundation usually looks the worst. 

This is NOT how much I use for my whole face. I dip it in several times

I didn't notice any visual difference in my complexion after applying this primer but then it's not like I have a lot of wrinkles and large pores yet. But my face did feel very smooth and nice to touch. However, my face feels exactly the same when I use GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation Primer. They are both very similar in consistency, except GOSH one is more runny when Maybelline is more solid.

The foundation glided on top of this primer very smoothly and lasted the usual amount of time it lasts for me - the whole day with minimal powdering on the nose throughout the day. I also cannot comment on how it would feel for someone with dry or oily skin, since I have a normal skin. I do believe that it might be better for dry to normal skin because it felt very moisturizing.


Overall I am impressed with this primer, but I will not buy it again. Why? Because to me GOSH Velvet Touch works in exactly the same way and for £12.99 I get 30ml of product vs. £9.99 for only 7ml with Maybelline. Yes, it lasts a long time and a little goes a long way, but so does GOSH and at 30ml it will last a LOT longer. 


What do you think? Have you tried Maybelline Instant Anti-Age The Smoother Skin Retexturizing Primer? 


~ Lyuba

Review: e.l.f Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Raspberry

Hello Ladies,

Usually e.l.f. products are hit and miss with me, and I still have a LOT of products to go through after my two Black Friday and Christmas orders. Today I'm reviewing e.l.f Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Raspberry and it is a hit. You can see me wearing it here.

I realized I misspelled lipstick in every photo lol, but I didn't feel it was worth the trouble to redo the whole thing

I wanted to try some e.l.f. lip products, and since I'm not a big lip gloss girl I didn't feel bad about spending the whopping $1.00 (except it was half off when I bought it lol) on a lip gloss that potentially wouldn't work for me. This is what e.l.f. says:

e.l.f Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Raspberry therapy is here. Intensive hydrating agents along with natural pigments leave lips with long-lasting color and moisture. This luscious liquid lipstick creates wearable color that flatters a multitude of skin tones and looks.

This is what I say:
I had my doubts about it, well... because it is a lip gloss even if they call it liquid lipstick, and I always have my doubts about lip glosses. However, this liquid lipstick really impressed me. First, the color swatch on the website is off, but the little square of color is closer to real thing. The smell is sweet minty something, but I'm very bad with smells so I can never describe them precisely.  Either way, the smell is not very strong and disappears almost instantly.

It took a lot of turns for the product to finally to come out, but to e.l.f's credit they do tell you to twist 10-12 times before first application. By the time something came out, it looked like half a tube was gone. Maybe this is a product waste, but for that price I will not complain. Plus, I like to feel like I can actually finish the product. I do not enjoy spending a lot of money for little of product, but for a $1 bargain it is not that big of a deal to me.

I am happy with the color pay off too, it makes my lips look nice and pink but still natural. I like my lips more natural looking, mostly because I can't be bothered to reapply the lip products except a lip balm. I actually reapplied this without a mirror and it worked just great. I love that, because I rarely have a mirror on me.

The staying power is ok too, it lasted for at least 2 hours until I ate something. The color was gone after eating, but moisture was still there.This is probably the most important consideration for me, because I am obsessed with my lips being moisturized at all time.

So overall I am pretty impressed. The quality of the product for the price is amazing, and you can have lots of colors without breaking the bank.

Have you tried any of e.l.f's Luscious Liquid Lipsticks? If yes, what do you think?

~ Lyuba

First Look with UD Naked Palette

Hello Ladies,

Few weeks ago I was finally able to get me the Urban Decay NAKED Palette after month of waiting for it to come back in stock. I didn't use it right away because I was on a general no makeup hiatus (or makeup hiatus?), but now I feel like I'm back to normal so here is a FOTD look using Naked Palette. Actually I have to confess that it's not my first look, but it's my first look that I photographed.... :) :) :)

I will not review the palette since it was already done numerous times, but aren't these colors just GORGEOUS? For someone who likes crazy colors, I sure like my nudes too :)

I desperately need a haircut, so I hid my terrible looking fringe by pulling it back with this cool headband/fascinator from Primark. I love me some Primark for accessories ;) I think it looked pretty cute, but sadly it doesn't have anything to hold my hair down so it's only good for a short time.

Face:

• MAYBELLINE The Smoother Skin Retexturizing Primer
• MAYBELLINE Dream Satin liquid Air-Whipped foundation in Ivory
• No 7 Instant Radiance Concealer in shade II 
• e.l.f. All Over Color Stick in Percimmon on cheeks

Eyes:

• NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Auburn/Red - used Auburn
• URBAN DECAY Primer Potion
• UD Naked Palette
• No 7 Exception Definition Mascara - black

Lips: 

• e.l.f. Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Raspberry

So what do you think? Show me your looks with Naked Palette :)

~ Lyuba

January and February Empties

Hello Ladies,

I'm sorry for the long absence. I could say that my recent beauty blogging drama kept me away, but  that's not true. It's more like I'm going through my every-few-month low right now, and I should be ok in a week or two. I mean, I haven't wore makeup AT ALL in over a week! Got ID'ed at Waitrose though, so maybe I should go makeup less more often huh?

So to get myself back on track I'm posting something nice and easy and what doesn't require too much of thinking, otherwise known as finished products post. I got myself a new storage thing for the bathroom so now I can keep track of all the empty bottles much easier, and now they just seem to pile up so fast!

Mittens is investigating the new smell

1. DeadSeaSource De-Tox Seaweed Salt Scrub
Love this stuff. Can I say that again? LOVE THIS STUFF!! Sadly I can't use it when my husband is around cuz the weirdo hates the smell. I really don't get why, he was right there with me when I bought it and approved the smell, but when I actually used it he said it makes him gag. *sad face* So I can only use it when he is gone. Next time he goes away for few month I'll be buying another one. I love it because not only it scrubs very well, but afterward it leaves my skin feeling very moisturized and soft. I think it's because of the oil that's in there, and because of that I usually tap the moisture off with the towel instead of rubbing. I love the smell too, regardless of what my husband says lol.

Mittens is at it again :)

2. VICHY Purete Thermale One Step Cleanser
Boots is having their 3 for 2 sale again and I'm having a hard time resisting buying more of this and other thermal water stuff. Sadly, being unemployed I gotta watch how I spend, plus I also have other cleansers that I need to use first. But fear not, once I ran out I will go out and buy more of this because it love it. It removes the makeup very well and leaves my skin feeling very clean and fresh.

3. Simple Kind to Eyes Eye-Makeup Remover
I am on a quest to find the perfect (for me) eye makeup remover and I bought the sample size to try. I'm not that impressed. It removed my eye makeup, but I think it could be better so I'm still on lookout for something else.  Even after holding cotton pads to my eyes for over a minute, I still had traces (a lot) of eye makeup and I don't even wear anything waterproof.

4. Batiste Dry Shampoo in Tropical and Boho
I regret not buying more of those when Superdrug had their sale, because these are lifesavers for me! I will be buying and buying them, although I don't particularly care for the ones above because of their smell. I like Blush the most so I'll just stick with it from now on.  

5. Aussie Take the Heat Leave-in Spray
Another product that I will be buying over and over again. It smells great and doesn't weight my hair down and protects it from heat. Perfect in my book :)

6. Botanics Soothing Eye Makeup Remover
After reading raving reviews about this eye makeup remover I decided to give it a try. To me it's OK, it's about the same as Simple Eye Makeup Remover except this works a little better. Still I will be looking for a better one, but if I'm in a pinch I can always come back to this.

7. fcuk Body Polish
Am I the only one that starts giggling when first glancing at the brand name? I bought this on offer along with Ted Baker Sugar Scrub a while back, but just now got to use it up. And I used the whole thing up in one time, but guess that's not that surprising. Entire thing is only 50ml and it supposed to cover my whole body. So I gave myself a nice 'polish' and pamper. I didn't notice too much of a difference, maybe because it is too fine and I like a good scrub. I might buy it again.

8. Ted Baker Invigorating Sugar Scrub
I used this as a facial scrub, although I suppose it is not. But it didn't say not to use it on face, only said not to get it in my eyes. I love the subtle smell and the texture. It gave me a great scrub and didn't irritate my face (but things rarely irritate my face to be fair). I will definitely buying it again, but I really wish it came in a bigger size. No matter how many Boots I check all I see is this travel size tube.

9. Simple Regeneration Age Resisting Eye Cream
I guess it worked because I didn't notice much difference in my eye area but I'm not sure what the "age resisting" part supposed to do. I think my under eye area was moisturized, but that's about it. I won't be purchasing this again since I'm trying other eye creams from Simple right now.

10. AHAVA Mineral Foot Cream
Ever since my cousin brought me AHAVA's hand cream from Israel I've been in love with everything AHAVA. I had this travel size tube for over 2 years but it was lost in my kimono room and only recently found. I love everything about this, the smell, how it sinks into my skin without feeling oily and how soft it makes my feet feel. Too bad it's on the expensive (for me) side, but given a chance I will buy more.

So what stuff did you recently finish? Leave a link to your blog in the comment, or just tell me. I would love to read about it :)

~ Lyuba

Looks like it's my turn to get in some blogging drama

Hello Ladies,

I wasn't sure if I wanted to write this post at all, I ranted about it on Facebook, I ranted to my friends via chat, and I probably going to rant about it some more today at work. It made me feel better enough to where I didn't see the need to write anything, but then I slept on it, and when I woke up this morning I still felt just as strongly about the issue (not angry though) as I did yesterday. And I feel that as a blogger I am here to stay and I want to make some things clear from the start.

Be warned though, some of you might get offended at what I say. I would like to apologize in advance if I do offend you, but not for what I'm about to say as like I mentioned before the issue is one I feel very strongly about.