Shopping My Stash, Pretty Boxes and a Tea Party

I cannot believe it; the sun actually came out today for an hour or two and I had the unique opportunity to take some blog photos without digging out my light box! So now for something completely different... I just wanted to quickly show you how I've been trying to shop my make-up stash recently, maybe that'll be somewhat inspiring? If not, there are pretty boxes to look at further down and also some Valentine's Day info for local readers :)

After coming back home from our Christmas trip, I decided my vanity table needed a little reorganizing; yes, that's also when I realized just how much unused make-up I have. So in an attempt to rotate my stuff regularly, I purchased this little basket ($.3.99 from Cost Plus World Market) and have been putting my everyday products in it ever since. I don't really change my face products out a whole lot (because I'm desparate to use them up!), but I try to pick out a different eyeshadow palette and blush every week, and I also rotate my lip products even more often. Here's what's in this week's basket:

This way I not only feel that I get much more use out of my products, but it also pushes me to try some new looks once in a while. The result can be seen below - I did a one-eyeshadow smokey eye using a beautiful blue/grey from Sleek's Oh So Special palette. To be honest, I still can't quite decide whether it brings out my eye color more or I just look like someone punched me in the face, but it is fun to shake things up a bit sometimes.

I also purchased two more pretty boxes at Marshall's. I use the black wooden box with an 'M' initial (yep, my real name is not actually Rocaille... sorry to disappoint) at my bed-side table for all my medicines, because I don't really like looking at them. I still haven't found a purpose for the Paris photo/shoe box, but having spare boxes never hurt anyone, right?

Lastly, for all my local readers looking for fun girly things to do over the Valentine's Day weekend, there's an awesome trunk show coming up on February 11 (Sat) at Sweet Anthem Handmade Perfumes atelier in West Seattle. From 12-4pm, you'll find flowers, perfumes and candles by Meredith Smith of Sweet Anthem and Nikki Sherritt of Gabriel's Aunt/Rebel & Mercury, as well as chocolates and truffles by Anne Dowell of Garden Bon Bons and Lydia Love of Chakralat. There'll be tea, gifts with purchase and an opportunity to chat with local artisans. Perfume and sweets? Sign me up, please! Learn more and RSVP at the event's FB page here.

Have you found any new storage solutions for your make-up area? What are your plans for Valentine's Day? Please let me know in the comments!

Review & Swatches: Sephora Collection Nano Eyeliner

You know the feeling of desparate browsing the Sephora website after having realized your order is just a couple bucks short of qualifying for the free shipping (ing, ing...)? Yeah, that is what prompted me to get these Sephora Collection Nano Eyeliner pencils in Azur Blue (no. 16) and Nuage (French for 'cloud', no. 14) on two separate occasions - they have decent reviews on their website and fit the bill perfectly, being just $5 each.


This is what Sephora claims about the product: 'A highly pigmented eye pencil. Sephora Brand Nano Eyeliner glides on smoothly and comfortably, creating a lovely line of color. Shea butter and rosemary extracts make this formula soft and easy to work with.'

What I like:
- the wide selection of shades and finishes (25 in the range) makes it easy to find exactly what you're looking for
- the end of the pencil is marked with the shade of the eyeliner, and it even matches the finish of a given shade (cream vs. shimmer)
- the formula is quite soft and smooth; I was especially impressed with the shimmery Nuage, which had a much better consistency than Urban Decay's Gunmetal, a possible dupe (see swatches below)
- the reasonable price

What I dislike:
- the amount of the product you get is quite small (but I cannot find any information on exactly how much you get, strange); after all, Nano is just a marketing strategy driven way of saying 'mini' or 'travel-size'.
- the size of the pencil doesn't fit into two of my sharpeners (I learnt that the hard way by ruining 1/3 of an already small pencil) - so now I'm forced to buy a Sephora Nano Sharpener for another $3. How. very. annoying.
- the pigmentation is not the best; I need at least 3 swipes to get my line saturated enough.
- the patchiness: the pencil somehow seems smudged and faded in the outer corners of my eyes; however, it doesn't get any worse throughout the day.

Will I repurchase? No, thank you (although the necessary investment in the sharpener might change my perspective). Honestly, I believe there are better eyeliner pencils at the drugstore with a comparable price and shade range (another eyeliner review coming soon!), and if you ever need something to bump up your order total, please add that Jack Black lip balm to your cart - the additional $2.50 is really worth it.

Have you tried the Sephora Nano Eyeliners? Any inexpensive liner favorites you'd like to share?

Make-up Haul: The Best Things Come in Twos

I've been doing a little bit of damage recently; nothing major, but shopping in Poland over Christmas and some minor drugstore purchases have managed to accumulate enough for me to post a small make-up haul - just to make up for that recent empties post, right?

Setting up those multi-product photoshoots is always a lot of fun - I like to play with colors, shapes and textures (that short sentence should come with a warning 'confessions of a beauty blogging nerd').

First up, I picked up two of Sephora's Nano Eyeliner pencils in 'Azur Blue' (no.16) and 'Nuage' (no.14) for $5 each - a review with swatches is coming up very soon.

Then, a long while ago (in October!), I purchased these two Sleek Make-up Mineral Eyeshadow palettes in 'Au Naturel' and 'Oh So Special' from a Polish online beauty retailer Alledrogeria.pl and had them shipped to my parents' address; I had no problems whatsoever with my order and can safely recommend it if any of my Polish readers are looking for a good source of Sleek products.

I was also craving another nude blush, and after successfully resisting Tarte's Exposed, I settled on NYX Powder Blusher in 'Raisin'; but buying just one on eBay is so not effective cost-wise that I had to get another one, 'Spice'. So, by paying more, I actually saved more - a typical case of female logic, my husband would undoubtedly say. Again, photos and swatches of my entire collection of NYX Powder Blushers coming soon.

Obviously, I could not ignore the hype any longer and gave into Revlon Lip Butters; this is 'Peach Parfait' and 'Berry Smoothie'. I don't think I'll spam the blogosphere with another review, so my quick thoughts are that these are not moisturizing at all, but they have a nice shine, good selection of shades and are very wearable. If you manage to find a good deal on them and like the colors, you could definitely do much worse.

And lastly, two odd ones out: a Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation in the shade Light Vanilla (no.51) and an Inglot Freedom System eyeshadow no. 467 Double Sparkle; fortunately, not overly shimmery/glittery at all. I was impressed with my make-up restraint in Poland - I got some cute clothes and accessories (would you like to see my favorite purchases?), but in the make-up department, nothing really caught my eye. I think I might be maxxed out when it comes to Inglot shadows now.

There you have it! Overall, I'm starting to feel a bit saturated with make-up shopping for a while (says she after getting a few more things in the last week...). I think I'd maybe like to focus more on clothing/ accessories for some time; so many things in my make-up collection are not getting enough love while I sport the same outfits over and over. What are your thoughts on make-up hauling? Are you lusting after the Spring releases or are you done for a while?

Review & Swatches: Wet'n'Wild Silk Finish Lipstick in 'Dark Wine' 522A

This is probably the last dark and bold shade of lipstick I'm posting about this winter; to be honest, after last week's snow storm, I'm feeling a bit over the cold season (snowboarding excluded). I've posted about the Wet'n'Wild Silk Finish lipsticks before (swatches of the summery 'Hot Paris Pink' shade here), and for $.0.99, I really do think they're the perfect drugstore pick-me-up. I just wish Wet'n'Wild came out with more cream finish shades!

As you can see, the packaging really does look quite cheap, and I've never been brave enough to just throw these in my purse for a longer time - the bullet is a bit wobbly inside the tube. I'd also prefer Wet'n'Wild put the name of the shade instead of number on the bottom of the tube. I like however how they come packaged in this protective plastic film, no unsanitary surprises here (hello, Rimmel!).

The formula is creamy and comfortable on the lips, and doesn't feel too drying at the end of the day; Wet'n'Wild states these are enriched with conditioning ingredients such as Vitamins A&E and Aloe Vera. Without eating and little drinking and a more thorough application (working the lipstick into the lips, blotting, applying again), it lasts about 4-5 hours on my lips - or more, I cannot really go without eating for more than 5 hours, even for the blog testing reasons :)


The shade 'Dark Wine' 522A is actually not as dark as I'd expected, it's more of a darkened, slightly dirtier pink with red/brown tones. I think this would be a good choice for someone just venturing into the world of bold lips, even more so because the investment is really minimal. For me, a bold lip lover, it's all right - a bit less bright than I would like, somehow it doesn't lift my face the same way Sleek Make-up Cherry does, for example.

As you can see below, the lipstick can be also lightly worked into the lips for a pretty yellow-toned pink stain; below is the full-on opaque lip swatch for comparison. For swatches on a different skintone, check out Citrine's review here.

I really like these Wet'n'Wild Silk Finish lipsticks, the value for money just cannot be beat. I have my eye on two more shades, but honestly can't justify the purchase right now - my lipstick drawer doesn't close anymore! Have you tried these lipsticks? What are your favorite shades?

New Year's Empties!

Oh, another empties post - it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (guilt-free would be another way to call it). While I've broken my loosely imposed no-buy from November, I've actually managed not too accumulate too much crap, plus I'm still working hard on using up a lot of my stuff. I think I like that way of reducing my spending more than a very strict and regulated ban; I just find that if I really want something and think it's unique enough that my collection could still expand to include it, I'd rather go for it than torment myself with thoughts of beautiful things escaping my greedy fingers. I don't impulse buy at all anymore, so I think I'm not doing too bad in general!

Back to my empties. These have been collected over a couple months now, gathering in this paper Bath & Body Works bag under my bathroom sink. As a sidenote, Mr. helped to empty some of these as well, like the shampoo and hand creams! Also not depicted, I've managed to use up two half bars of soap and two facial cleanser deluxe samples. I deserve a golden handshake :)

Hair and bodycare. As stated above, the shampoo was a collective effort; the Alaffia Body Milk and an exfoliating body wash from a Polish brand Joanna that authentically smells of strawberries are all my own. Actually, the body lotion is only half empty - it started to give me a burning allergic reaction, so in the bin it goes.

Hand creams. 4 hand creams!!! Ok, one is a mini. This just shows how indispensable hand cream is in our household of two. I won't recommend the Aveeno or that weird Philosophy rip-off I bought in New York, but the Neutrogena and Ahava both worked quite well.

Skincare and perfume. Alas, two are only samples; but I swear it takes me at least two weeks to use up a regular perfume sample, what the heck? That La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo was kicking for such a long time that in the end I used it up on my elbows and knees, and the Mario Badescu Special Cucumber Lotion worked ok for drying up more pimply areas when I had bad skin days. I won't repurchase either of the skincare bits, but really liked that Tocca Cleopatra perfume...

Used-up make-up. Two deluxe mascara samples - YSL Faux Cils and Lancome Hypnose Drama, won't repurchase either. Also, my eternal pot of MAC Studio Finish concealer; I loved it, but it was nearing 3 years (sic!) since I started using it. I used that stuff almost every day for those 3 years, and see, there's plenty of it still left. Unbelievable.

Tossed make-up. Some very, very old make-up items from my collection that I hadn't even touched for over a year and that simply needed to go. A cheapie and awful no name lash curler, a Bourjois loose powder that smells very old school, some Avon chocolate-scented lip gloss, a Coastal Scents gloss/lipstick in a pot, NYX glitter liner, a Victoria Secret loose eyeshadow I got in a swap and hadn't used a single time... I won't miss you.

I have a lot more products that are literally on their last legs, so I hope there'll be another round of empties to show off to you rather soon. How are you doing in terms of reducing your make-up collections/ bathroom clutter? Any victories to report? I'd love to know!

Diaries of an Obsessive Compulsive Picker: Month 2

I can't believe so much time has passed since I started my fight with picking! Time really must magically fly faster toward the end of the year... But anyway, enough procrastinating, I guess if you're reading this, you do want to know how I'm doing with trying to combat my compulsive skin picking.

Well... I think I'm doing really well! I'd say I've managed to cut back about 80% of my picking :) In other words, I still occasionally pick, but mostly whiteheads that look like they could be easily extracted; I'm more capable now of letting my skin do its own thing and I also don't seem to mind every tiny bump or clogged pore anymore. Yay!

Not to let this post turn into a lenghty public display of patting my own ego on the back, I decided I'd share some things that I (retrospectively) think have helped me come closer to my goal of stopping the skin picking.

1) Getting away from it all. I definitely believe that our Christmas trip back home helped me gain some perspective and shift the focus away from my appearance woes. Being home, surrounded by my family, always busy doing things together didn't leave much time on my hands to obsess over every new pimple. However, I did relapse one or two times, and I could clearly see how strongly stress-related my picking is.
2) Addressing built-up tension. Being away and talking to my family also helped me realize some issues here at home that were making me unhappy but which I didn't know how to face. I think I was feeling like I had no longer any control over some aspects of my life, and was trying to regain that by forcing control over my own skin. Addressing those problems and releasing the tension just made me a bit happier and calmer all around, so that I don't feel the urge to pick as often as I had in the past.
3) Getting dermatologic help. Truth be told, my trip to the dermatologist was a direct result of an awful hand eczema flare-up I've been experiencing this winter, but I decided to discuss my acne with the doctor as well. I'll be writing a separate post devoted to my treatment and all that jazz, but just knowing that you're under professional care and things should be improving from now on is a vast relief and a huge source of hope.

And there you have it! I'm not exactly sure how often (if at all) I'll be posting new updates on my fight with picking, just because I'm pretty sure I don't have that many more refreshing thoughts and tricks to share that could be helpful to fellow pickers; there have been some amazing suggestions in the comments to previous 'Diaries' posts though, so go check these out if you're looking for inspiration!

Before I let you go, I'd just like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your amazing support, gracious comments and crossed fingers. They all helped tremendously and I'm really grateful for having such a fantastic bunch of readers and blogging friends as you, ladies. Thank you!!!

Review & Swatches: Physicians Formula Nude Eyeshadow Palette

In all honestly, I'm really glad that drugstore brands jumped on the Urban Decay 'Naked' bandwagon and started coming up with their own versions of neutral eyeshadow palettes. See, I prefer my eye make-up quite boring, and then I like to play up my lips & cheeks a bit more, which is why I'm always looking into new neutral shades to add to my collection.

Hence this Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Nude Eyes palette ($10.99 for 0.26 oz). I just couldn't resist, it's so tiny and cheeky with that lace overlay, meow.

As you can see, the palette is not much bigger than a tube of Revlon lipstick, and comes with 9 shades of eyeshadow in one single pan. I'm not a huge fan of this solution, because the individual strips are rather narrow so it's difficult not to mix shades when picking them up with a brush, but I can still live with that for the price of portability. Physicians Formula suggest these 9 shades are in fact split into 3 trios, Natural, Playful and Dramatic, for achieving different looks. Personally, I just like to mix and match.

In terms of formulation, these are definitely not my favorite. They seem a bit bumpy under the brush and after swatching with a (clean!) finger, it looks like there's a bit of a greasy film left on the surface, which makes it difficult to pick up pigment with your brush. It's almost as if they're too hard, but creamy. As a result, the pigmentation is not the best, but can be built up for more intensity. Physicians Formula also claim these can be used wet, however I personally never bother to do that.


I still really enjoy using this little palette for its shades - I'm sorry the swatches are not the best, I couldn't get them to show up exactly right. The shadows perform best over primer, here they're swatched on top of Benefit F.Y.eye base.

Overall, Physicians Formula Nude Eyeshadow Palette is definitely an interesting foray into the world of neutral palettes from a drugstore brand, but the shadows themselves could be better formulated. Does it replace my Urban Decay 'Naked' Palette? Hell, no, but I think I actually enjoy the 'Nude' palette shade selection better; I mean, look at those taupes, people. If you're a neutral palette collector and prefer cooler shades, I do recommend it, but if you're looking for a 'Naked' alternative, look elsewhere.

What are your favorite neutral eyeshadow palettes?