Target Beauty Box May 2016

Tilasin kokeeksi taman kuun Targetin Beauty Boxin ja kirjoittelin siita sivublogiini.

Joten jos boxin sisalto tai sellaisen tilaaminen kiinnostaa, lisaa juttua loytyypi taalta :)

Mukavaa viikonloppua kaikille!

Opettelisiko sitä vihdoin meikkaamaan?

Instragramia seuraavat jo ehken huomasivatkin, etta sain joululahjaksi kasan meikkeja. En oikein keksinyt mitaan hyvia joululahjatoiveita, joten ehdotin sitten kosmetiikkaa. Ja sitahan tuli :D

Tallaisia lahjoja tuli, joukossa muutama joulun jalkimainingeissa ihan itse ostettukin. Osaa ehdin jo vahan testaillakin, tykkasin kovasti mm noista Makeupgeekin pigmenteista!

En ole koskaan osannut meikata, joten meikkaaminen on yleensa jaanyt sipaisuun jotain luomivaria ja ripsariin. Joskus olen yrittanyt taiteilla eyelinerilla jotain, mutta tulokset eivat ole olleet kovin rohkaisevia. Olen panostanut ihonhoitotuotteisiin, en meikkeihin.

Tassapa vertailun vuoksi aiempaa meikkipussin sisaltoani :D Olen suurimmaksi osaksi kayttanyt meikkeina mita nyt olen ilmaiseksi naytteina tai lahjoina saanut. Kuvassa siis pari Cliniquelta ilmaiseksi saatua luomivaria ja Cliniquen nayteripsari. Loput olen ostanut ihan itse eli Rimmelin eyeliner ja pari jotain luomivaria, olisikohan Sokokselta joskus ostettu halpismerkki Miners? Ja vuosia vanha Benefitin Lust Duster, jota olen kayttanyt kylla paljon.

Sain myos joululahjaksi vahan rahaa, joka oli tarkoitettu ehdottamiini meikkilahjoihin. Nailla paadyin pihina ihmisena ostamaan e.l.f halpismerkin tuotteita, joista osa nakyikin jo ekassa kuvassa. En halua satsata viela  laatumeikkeihin, kun en tieda kuinka kauan jaksan meikata heh. E.l.f-merkkiin paadyin niinkin aikuismaisesti kuin katsomalla youtuben makeup tutoriaaleja :D Kuten osa blogia lukeneista on huomannutkin, olen ollut nyt jo muutaman kuukauden sairaana. Sangynpohjalla maatessa on ollut aikaa katsella youtubea ja tutoriaalien suositusten perusteella paadyinkin sitten ostamaan e.l.fia.

Tassapa e.l.f saalista. Melkein kaikki e.l.f-meikit ovat heidan nettisivuillaan $1-$6 eli eivat ole hinnalla pilattuja. Osa naista tuli muuten kaupanpaallisina, kun tilasin e.l.fin verkkokaupasta eli ihan ok diili.

En aio tehda tasta kosmetiikka-blogia, koska no, en osaa meikata, mutta tassapa ensimmaisen e.l.f testailun tulos (pahoittelut kuvanlaadusta, otin selfiena puhelimella ilman mitaan filttereita heh):

Hain tuollaista luonnollista meikkia, koska olen tallainen meikkinoviisi, ja kylla tama meikalaisesta itsestani oli ihan onnistunut kokeilu. Minulla on tosiaan hyvin vaalea pisamainen iho. Kulmakarvat ovat hieman tummemmat, mutta ripset ovat vaaleat ja harvat. Kuvassa kulmissa on e.l.f Eyebrow kit in Fair. Pitaisi ehka miettia irtoripsia, mutta en ainakaan viela uskaltaudu mitaan silmiini liimailemaan, koska olen aika tumpelo :D

(Jos jotain kiinnostaa mita tuotteita kaytin, niin aluksi peitin mustat silmanaluset e.l.f HD Lifting Concealerilla, savy Fair. Pohjalla kaytin e.l.f:n Sheer primeria, sen jalkeen Bronzing powderia (savyna Fiji-matte) pohjana, jonka jalkeen Baked eyeshadow trio in Brown Bonanza pronssivaria liikkuvalle luomelle. Varjostuksena kaytin Baked eyeshadow in Chocolate Dreams. Eyeliner ei ole e.l.fin, koska sellaista minulla ei ollut, vaan Almayn intense i-color in brown topaz. Alaluomella kaytin rajauksena Baked eyeshadow trio in Brown Bonanzan tumminta varia. Kulmaluulla ja silman sisakulmassa on Baked highlighter in Moonlight pearls. Lisaksi kaytin High Definition Undereye Setting Powderia, joskaan en huomannut mitaan eroa ennen ja jalkeen. Ja ripsarina oli se Cliniquen nayteripsari, nayttaa olevan Lash Doubling mascara in black.)

Tasta ekasta kokeilusta innostuneena saatanpa meikata toisenkin kerran ;) Onko joku muu kokeillut e.l.fin tuotteita? Olisiko ehdotuksia mita kannattaisi hankkia? Tai joku muu halpismerkki, jota kannattaisi kokeilla?

Mukavaa viikonloppua kaikille! 

Guilty pleasures: celebrity scents, part II

About a year ago I confessed in an entry that I have several celebrity scents. I think it's time to confess again; I have more celebrity scents :) I've acquired some new ones thanks to trips husband and I have made. Celebrity scents are great for a person like me that gets tired of a scent pretty soon and does not want to wear the same scent twice in a row. They're very affordable and many of the scents in my collection have been less than ten dollars a bottle in places like T.J. Maxx. And now that I actually have a life outside home again, I've been using the scents a lot more.

Here are some pretty pictures of my scents :)

Four times Paris Hilton! Actually I have fifth Paris scent somewhere as well. But here are, from the back left, "Paris Hilton", "Siren", "Can Can" (introduced here) and in the front a small bottle of "Tease." 

My first roommate in Nebraska loved "Paris Hilton" and I do remember it sometimes smelling rather pleasant in our room. It seemed to be The Scent among college girls that year. Years later I cave in and bought the scent myself and I really liked it. Nowadays it's my go-to scent, it's so non-intrusive that it can be worn anywhere. It's not too strong, but strong enough and is very pleasant indeed. It's a subtle and watery fruity-floral (apple, melon, mimose) scent .

"Siren" is a blindbuy, it was only a few dollars, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I really really liked it! It's a bit stronger than "Paris Hilton" and I often wear it when I head out in the evening. It's another floral-fruity (frangipani, apricot, vanilla) scent.

"Tease" is another few dollars blindbuy, and not such a success. It's an alright white floral (jasmine, tuberose, bergamot) scent, but I'm not that into white florals in general.

 The Britney Spears scents from the left: "Hidden Fantasy", "Midnight Fantasy" (introduced here) and "Curious: In Control"

I first bought "Midnight Fantasy" and since I really liked it I decided to invest a few dollars on another of Britney's scents. I chose "Curious: In Control" since I actually do like vanilla, just not the plain The Body Shop Vanilla, scents. This one is a sweet vanilla (vanilla, tonka bean, orchid). It's borderline tacky sweet though, so I don't really wear it to the office that often. But I'm not going to deny, I love it :)

I saw "Hidden Fantasy" on sale at Cheapsmells.com a few months back and decided to check it out. I figured it might be a bit similar to "Midnight Fantasy" and I was right, but in a good way! "Hidden Fantasy" is a bit more grown up, spicier version of "Midnight Fantasy" and I wear it to the office a lot. It's a sweet, but not too sweet (tangerine, vanilla, amber) scent.

Jessica Simpson "Fancy" and one of my newer acquisitions, Taylor Swift "Wonderstruck Enchanted"

I received "Fancy" as a present a few years back, but never used it much. I rediscovered it last year and found myself actually liking it. It's a sweet (caramel, vanilla, apricot) scent and rather strong. I can't make up my mind whether I really really like it, since sometimes it smells really great, sometimes I can't stand it :D I don't wear it too often, since it seems to be scent you can overdose easily with. I've also had "Fancy Love" and "Fancy Nights" from Jessica Simpson, but ended up not liking either of them (the first one was too sharp of a floral and the second one had too much tobacco scent in it) so I sold them forward.

"Wonderstruck Enchanted" is my newest purchase from last week and so far I've liked it a lot. It's another sweet vanilla (I see a pattern here haha), but it's got a twist that I haven't quite figured out yet. I think it has berries and passion fruit, which makes it a bit different from my other vanilla scents.

And the non-celebrity scent gang, from the left Lancôme "Tresor Midnight Rose," Grès "Cabotine Floralisme," Escada "Magnetism" and Van Cleef & Arpels "Féerie Rose des Neiges." The last one I already introduced here.

 "Tresor Midnight Rose" is one of the few scents I've actually paid more than a few dollars for. You can read the rather gross story why here. 

"Cabotine Floralisme" is another blindbuy from Cheapsmells.com, since it was priced nicely. I remember the original Cabotine from the cruises to Stockholm when I was a kid. I always found the green bottle cap kind of weird looking :D Since it's launch, they've launched a number of different Cabotines. I picked "Floralisme" just because of its price and for the low price it was alright. Definitely not my favorite, but a nevertheless pleasant floral (grapefuit, plum, jasmine) scent.

"Magnetism" is one of my all time favorites. It's really inviting scent with spicy vanilla, red berries and pineapple. It's somehow a very warm scent and I tend to wear it more during the winters.

Whimsically cute packaging of "Hidden Fantasy"

I read somewhere that distinguished nose would not be attracted to celebrity scents, but would prefer designer and niche scents. I like niche scents as well, they're just out of my price range right now. As for designer scents, I don't honestly see a whole lot of difference between them and celebrity scents. The latter might lose in longevity, but I've found them to be just as pleasant otherwise.

What do you guys think? 

Do you have any of the scents pictured here and what do you think about them?

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Lip Balms

I have superdry lips and have to constantly apply lip balm, if I want my lips to look like less like the Grand Canyon. Needless to say I've gone through quite the array of different lip balms and am always looking for new ones.

Here's my current collection:

From the left:  Rosebud Perfume Co's Brambleberry Rose, Rosebud Salve and Strawberry Lip Balm with Rose & Co's Zam-Buk Herbal Balm. Weleda's Everon Lip Balm, Burt's Bees Nourishing Lip Balm with Mango Butter and The Body's Shop's Vitamin E Lip Care. On the right Fig & Rouge's Sweet Geranium, Aloe & Mint, Rambling Rose and Coco Vanilla Organic Balms. 

Rosebud's balms are all pretty much the same, with just different flavors and scents. The original Rosebud Salve might be a bit more vaseline-like than the others. Brambleberry Rose's scent is my favorite of these. Zam-Buk is also similar, but it's green and has a herbal/pine scent. All of these work in pretty much same way, since they're petroleum jelly based.

The Body Shop's Vitamin E Lip Care is my oldest favorite, I've used it for I don't know how long! I love it, it fixes irritated lips and gives them a subtle shine. It's also easy to use, since it's in a stick form. I've also used a ton of different lip butters and sticks from The Body Shop, but Vitamin E remains my favorite. My other favorite is Burt's Bees Nourishing Lip Balm with Mango Butter and I also like their Honey Lip Balm. I'm not so much a fan of their original Beeswax Lip Balm, it's bit too minty for me. Weleda's Everon Lip Balm was an emergency purchase once, and while it does it's job just fine, if not great. I'm just not a big fan of the scent.

The Fig & Rouge's Organic Balms are a new acquisition. I ordered them from Lookfantastic.com, since they had 4 for the price of 3 deal. I'd never before ordered from Lookfantastic, but decided to give it a try since they do offer free shipping to Finland. Everything went well and I think their prizes are pretty reasonable. The balms themselves are definitely different from my other lip balms. They are petroleum jelly free and have a grainy texture that melts on your skin, leaving just a hint of shine. Worth trying!

After taking the first photo I realized I had forgotten (at least) one lip balm that's currently in use:

C.O Bigelow's Lavender Salve, which is another petroleum jelly based balm. Works the same way as the others, but has a subtle lavender scent to it.

Besides these balms I've also tried a bunch of other lip balms and vaselines, but I'm always up for trying new ones. Does anyone have any good suggestions for lip balms to moisturize extra dry lips?

Féerie Rose des Neiges

I wrote about celebrity scents a while back and decided it was time I got myself a new one with the birthday money I got. This time I didn't venture to the celebrity scent isle. Instead I decided to do a "blind buy" based on fragrantica.com suggestions. I wanted something rosy, but not too little girly or grandma-ish, and I wanted something that I could use this fall and winter. I chose the notes on fragrantica note search and bought this through Amazon.co.uk for £14 + shipping:

Van Cleef & Arpels' Féerie Rose des Neiges

I wasn't disappointed, it was exactly what I hoped for. A sweet rosy scent without being too sweet or too rosy :) Fragrantica describes the scent, which was launched last year: "Feerie Rose des Neiges is a clean, pure and delicate fragrance of floral - fruity composition. Top notes of pink pepper and litchi bring icy freshness, while the heart of rose and magnolia provides refinement. The final trail consists of cedar wood and tonka bean.", which is pretty much accurate. Although I don't normally buy scents without trying, this blind buy was a success!

Have you bought scents without trying? Was the scent what you hoped for?

Sugary celebrity scents

It comes as no surprise to anyone that this blogger loves things that are sweet :)

This is also true when it comes to scents, for the longest time I used to wear Sephora's Scented Spray in Chocolate Toffee as my only scent. That was until once when I had just applied, a friend came over and asked me if I had baked a chocolate cake. I gave up on the scent after that, since no one wants to smell like food ;)

But I still love sugary scents, only lately, as in the last couple of years, I've developed a very picky nose and some scents start bothering me soon after applying. I used to wear Calvin Klein's Eternity in my teens and after that I loved Dior's Chris 1947 and Forever and Ever, until they became almost impossible to find. I also loved Escada's Tropical Punch. After those I played with multiple scents until I found Paco Rabanne's Black XS, which I really liked. I often bought perfumes that had bottles I like without even really trying them :) Then I got tired of scents altogether and all the scents I had at home started bothering me.

Since sometimes the bottle distracted me from the actual scent I started trying out scents without checking the packaging. The first scent that I bought this way was surprisingly enough, Paris Hilton's Can Can. I never though in a million years I'd buy a scent from Paris Hilton. I tested it on husband too and he loved it as well, until he heard it was Paris Hilton :D Anyways I bought it and loved it. After that I ventured on to other inexpensive celebrity scents and found myself liking Britney Spears' (I know!) Midnight Fantasy. These two celebrity scents are surprisingly good, but the only downside is that they don't last as long as the designer scents. This suits me just fine, since I don't mind reapplying now and then, and I like that fact that they are not that strong. But not all celebrity scents are to my liking, I tried Britney Spears's Fantasy and that was way too sweet for me, I also got Jessica Simpson's Fancy Love and it was a bit too sharp floral for me. 

Here are my currently favorites, Clinique's Happy Heart (light scent with a heart of water hyacinth, followed by mandarin and blond woods), Britney Spears' Midnight Fantasy (sweet scent with a heart of night orchid, freesia and iris followed by amber, musk and vanilla) and Paris Hilton's Can Can (another sweet scent with a heart of wild orchid and orange blossom followed by soft musk, amber and precious woods). None of them are new scents, but are still available.

What do you think of celebrity scents? Have you found any that you like?

p.s I made husband use the "blind selection" method to choose his scent as well and he ended up with Versace Pour Homme :)

Beauty potions

I admit that I'm a beauty product junkie, I love moisturizers - a lot. I also admit I have no beauty school background and know very little about the chemistry behind all these products. But I've tested a huge amount of moisturizers, toners, eye creams etc. (I love free samples), because I have very dry skin, atopic eczema, and not a whole lot of products work for me. I've nevertheless found my absolute favorites, products that work on my extremely picky skin, and here are some of them:

My beauty routine starts with Biotherm Biosource clarifying cleansing milk and hydra-mineral lotion-toning water for Normal/Combination Skin. Both are amazing, especially the toner, I've yet to find a better one. It's refreshing and the skin feels clean afterwards. During the summer I use the toner several times a day to get that refreshed feeling.

Some might say eye creams are for the more mature, but I disagree. I love eye creams, they work miracles. I apply every morning and evening, except when I'm on an airplane. There I apply before each landing (or whenever necessary) and feel instantly refreshed. This is my absolute eye cream favorite, Clinique All about eyes rich, it does wonders to dry, tired eyes.

My daily moisturizers: Biotherm Aquasource during summers, and Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion during winters, when my skin needs the extra moisturizing. Both moisturize amazingly well, I haven't had an eczema on my face in years. The only sucky thing about these two is that there is no SPF on them. And with a super-fair skin like mine, I have to wear sunscreen all year round. Biotherm's Age Fitness and Clinique's Superdefense both have an SPF, so I might try those at some point.

I also have a separate night cream, which is Biotherm's Skin.ergetic night. It's a detox night cream and I've only used for a while, but so far I'm liking it. It smells really good (well, all Biotherm stuff does) and seems to be working well. The only complaint I have is that the jar is odd shaped. I have trouble getting stuff out with my long-ish nails.

I also use Clinique's Turnaround skin renewer every couple of days. I noticed that they now have Turnaround Overnight, which I might try next.

And here are my trusty companions from The Body Shop. I lovelovelove the Almond Oil hand and nail cream. Most hand creams smell yucky to me, but this one is very tolerable. I love the pump bottle and apply multiple times a day. The Body Shop's Vitamin E Lip Care Stick is the best there is! It has yet to meet it's match and I've probably tried about a 100 different lip balms. It doesn't sting even when my lips are red raw, and it's not sticky. Couldn't live without it :)

Basically I like Biotherm and Clinique :) But that doesn't stop me from testing other brands. For example, I've really liked some of Philosophy's stuff and I might take some into regular use.

I'm not much of a make-up person, I've just never been very good at applying it. But I sure do love my beauty products. I also have a ton of nail stuff, but I'll save that for another entry :)

Sonisphere - testing sunscreens :)

I totally forgot that we are going to Sonisphere and I needed the sunscreen for that. I tried out the Biotherm SPF15 and it is a gift from heaven! Smelled sooooo good, was easy to apply and worked really well!

Sonisphere itself was a fun, but melting experience :) It was way too hot, there wasn't a whole lot of shade and there weren't enough spots to fill your waterbottle. You weren't allowed to bring drinks to the area and had to empty your bottles at the gates, so the lines to get water were huge. I honestly felt like if you pay 85e ($118) for the tickets, you should expect not to spend half the time in line for water. Anyways, I had a great time with my hubby and my friends and the bands were mostly good, meaning Sonata Arctica was awesome and Opeth not so.

Honeymoon to Greece next week!!!

I might be a bit of a beauty product junkie...

If there is something I like to spend money on it's bags and cosmetics. Especially the latter. Just yesterday my husband and I had a discussion on how youthfulness is beauty, especially in the U.S and this is something those girls who tan excessively are not thinking about. They'll be leather faces by their mid-20s and there's no turning back. I'm a big spokesperson for sun protection, since I want to avoid wrinkles as long as I can :) I rarely go tanning and I use a moisturizer with SPF year round. I fake a slight tan with bronzing powder during the winters and during the summers I get a natural tan while wearing sunscreen. I'm not much of a sun worshiper, but I sure do love my beauty products :) Here's some recent acquisitions:

Biotherm Lait Solarie SPF 15
We are going on a honeymoon in two weeks and I just love Biotherm products so I got us a big pump bottle of Biotherm Lait Solarie SPF 15
. Their whole product line is just amazing, absolutely love their toners and moisturizers, especially during the summer.

Biotherm Lait Solarie SPF 15


Now I'm a little cautious when it comes to Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream Sun Defense for Face SPF 50 Sunscreen, since I've never tried it before. I read somewhere that it has a strong smell to it and I hate weird smelling beauty products. In fact sometimes I choose a product based on how good it smells :) Anyways, this was on sale, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I like the fact that it is SPF 50, since I want to protect my face especially from the aging effects of the sun. I'll get back to you when I've tested it out.

Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream Sun Defense for Face SPF 50 Sunscreens


After getting "brand" stuff, I decided to buy a cheaper brand after sun. I chose Nivea Sun Moisturising After Sun spray solely based on the smell :D I smelled a ton of different After Sun products at the department store and this had by far the most neutral smell to it. I also like the fact that it is a spray.

Nivea Sun Moisturising After Sun Spray

I'll report back when I've returned from the honeymoon :)