Review: Ciate Caviar Rainbow

I mentioned that I had managed to get two Ciate Caviar manicure sets a while ago, and now I have had a chance to try the first one out of them, the set called Rainbow, with a light pink base and multicolored pearls.

Since I had been dying to try these manicure sets for a long time, my hopes were obviously quite high, but I must say that even though I followed all the instructions that came with the set very carefully, this manicure set was rather disappointing for me. I mean, it was very easy to apply the polish and the pearls and make it look nice, but the look really doesn't last for very long. My pearls started falling off the same evening, and the next day (which is when I really wanted to have cool nails), over 80 % of the pearls had fallen off, leaving the nails looking rather ugly, since you could see little traces of the pearls where they had been, but the pearls were long gone.

So I would only apply the products from this set again if I needed to have "caviar nails" for a very short period of time only, like when I am going to this wedding that I wanted to have white caviar nails for in a while. But generally, I prefer for whatever I add to my nails to stay there for quite some time, meaning at least a week, so I don't think I will be using this set on a regular basis. Because not only do the pearls fall off very quickly, it also takes quite a long time for the manicure to dry completely so that you can use your hands again after you've applied the polish and pearls, much longer than it takes for a regular manicure to dry.

So if very short term results are ok for you, and you have a lot of time to spend on waiting for your nails to dry, the Ciate Caviar sets might work for you, but I would say most women would probably prefer something else in their day to day lives.

The look is very pretty though, so I really can't complain about that at all, and I've read other Ciate Caviar reviews that say that you get better and more durable results if you use this set on your feet, as a pedicure instead of a manicure, so maybe I will try that before I give the sets away.

Review: Moschino Light Clouds

I mentioned that I had gotten a pack of several Moschino scents a while ago, and now it's time to review the first of these. I decided to go with Light Clouds first, since this is a scent I have gotten so many compliments for since I started wearing it, so it seems I am not the only one who likes it!

I always find scents rather hard to describe, but I would say this scent is light (which I like, I've never been a fan of heavy musks), warm yet also kind of sporty, youthful and fresh. It sort of reminds me of those perfumes that are supposed to smell like fresh laundry, but this scent definitely has a character of it's own as well!

The scent is rather subtle though, so I would say Light Clouds is a great scent to wear during the day, but you might need something a bit heavier for the evening. And the lasting power is not very impressive, I am afraid, but the scent is lovely, so much so, in fact, that I don't mind re-applying after a few hours.

So I would say this is definitely a good addition to my collection of scents, and I would definitely get this again. It's not my favorite Moschino scent, but it comes close. So I'm pretty sure this will not be my last Moschino Light Clouds bottle. And I think several of my co-workers are interested in getting a bottle of their own after having smelled this on me! If that's not a good sign when you're wearing a new scent, I don't know what is!

I would definitely recommend this scent to anyone who likes light and airy scents, with a warm undertone, and to anyone who has liked Moschino scents in the past.

Review: Tangle Teezer

I've heard a lot of good things about the Tangle Teezer, so it's really no wonder I really wanted to try it. But to be honest, I thought this would be one of those products that are really hyped for nothing. I just didn't think any brush would make a big difference on my hair. But now, after having actually tried the Tangle Teezer, I really have no problem at all admitting that I was wrong.

Because this brush really does untangle everything! No other brush I've ever had has ever managed to do that, because I have very long, very dry and very thick hair. But this one does!

If it's actually more gentle on my hair is hard to say though, I think you only notice that after you have been using it for a while, but it does brush my hair in a really pain free way at least, and my hair looks great afterwards. So that makes this brush by far the best brush I have ever tried, I must say!

But like I said, there might be some long term effects I am not fully aware of yet. If that is the case, I will have to get back to them after a while, when I have been using the brush for a longer period of time.

Finally! Two Ciate Caviar sets are mine

I have been wanting to try a Ciate Caviar set since I first heard of them. But it's been hard for me to get a hold of one, since the online stores that sell them don't ship them to where I live due to some regulations, and because most cosmetics stores where I live don't have these sets yet. So I looked really hard for these sets when I was travelling recently, but didn't manage to find them. So imagine my surprise, after having spent so much time looking for these sets all over the world basically, when I noticed that my local beauty parlor actually started selling these sets!

I was thrilled, however, and decided to get 2 sets to start with, one multicolored one, and one white, pearly one. I plan on using the multicolored one as soon as I can (meaning when my manicure that I had a couple of days ago goes bad), and the white one for a wedding I am attending in a couple of weeks.

So I will be reviewing these sets a bit more thoroughly soon, but even though I was thrilled to get these, I haven't actually had a chance to actually try them yet, so I have no idea what I think about them yet, I am afraid, except that they look really cool.

Review: Lumene Triple Stay Matt Makeup foundation

As you may remember, I reviewed a Lumene shampoo not long ago. But this was not the only new Lumene product I bought recently. I also gave one of Lumene's foundations a try, the Triple Stay Matt Makeup foundation, for oily and combination skin.

Now, what's special about Lumene is actually that they make products for Nordic skin, which I obviously have, since I am of Nordic origin. However, I now live outside of Scandinavia, which means I often have trouble finding foundations that are light enough in color for my skintone. So I was kind of thrilled when Lumene's foundation matched my skin perfectly!

However, while the Lumene foundation looked good on the outside and gave nice coverage initially, it isn't that good. Here is why:

It made my skin break out. I know this for a fact, since I used the foundation for 2 to 3 days, then broke out, so I stopped using it, but started using it again after a while, and the exact same thing happened. So I stopped using the foundation again, but wanted to be really sure that my breakouts were indeed caused by this foundation, so I started using it again after a while, and sure enough: Another breakout. So somehow, my oily/combination skin does not get along with this foundation at all!

I would also say that the lasting power of this foundation is pretty bad. I would feel the need to reapply foundation at least 3 to 4 time during one single day if I wore this to work, because the foundation just turns ugly (it's still there, but looks nothing like it did when I first applied it!) after a while, which means you basically need to wash it all off, and re-apply after a few hours.

But there are foundations out there that you can wear for a whole day without any problems, so I really see no need to even consider continuing to use a foundation that has these issues.

Also, the result was kind of blotchy and less than natural looking even when you just applied the foundation.

So I would definitely not get this foundation again! And I won't even use up the rest of it that I have. So sorry Lumene, you really did not impress me with this one..

Shopped: Moschino 5 scent set

I love shopping in duty free stores at airports. Which is kind of weird, because I really, really don't like airports otherwise. But the duty free stores often have really cool sets that are hard to find elsewhere, products I probably wouldn't buy for the full price, but don't mind trying if I can get them for a really good price, as well as a lot of miniatures of products I've been dying to try.

So I do try to go to the duty free stores whenever I am travelling. And the last time I was, one of the sets I got was this 5 scent Moschino set:

It has miniature bottles of 5 different Moschino scents:
Pink Bouquet (which I have been dying to try for quite some time)
I love love
Light Cloud
Glamour
&
Cheap and Chic.

I will be reviewing all of the scents separately, I think it's just easier, but I must say this is a really excellent set! I need smaller perfume bottles, that I can carry with me when needed anyway, and most of my other scents are all in full sized bottles, so I really should try to get these miniature sets more often!

Review: Lumene Angry Birds raspberry shampoo

I mentioned that I had gotten some products from Lumene's Angry Birds range a while ago. And now it's time to review the first one of them!

It's the raspberry shampoo, which I got because I had recently tried another raspberry shampoo, from Eclipse, that I really liked the scent of, so I decided to get another raspberry scented shampoo as well. And the packaging of this one was really quite cute, so I thought it seemed quite a good fit for what I wanted.

And this shampoo is actually very nice! It washes your hair really well, smells nice, even though the raspberry scent is not very strong, I wouldn't have minded if it was a bit stronger even. It also leaves your hair very soft and untangled, which is not very common for me, since I have rather dry and problematic hair.

The only downside to this shampoo is that the tube is not that nice to use, you have to press quite a lot to get the shampoo out of it, but since you don't need that much to get your hair nice and clean each time, it's not really a big issue. But if anyone at Lumene is reading this and are looking for ways to improve this product, the packaging is what you should focus on!

All in all, this was a really nice shampoo, and a very nice introduction to the Lumene Angry Birds range for me, I wouldn't mind trying more of these products at all.

Also on my wish list right now...

... is the amazing sounding Kerastase Elixir Ultime line, for damaged hair, filled with nourishing oils. In fact, I might go looking for this today even!

(pic from Produkte-Lifestyle)

On my wishlist right now

Is a range of hair care products from L'Oreal Professionel Paris, called Keratin Refill, that is sold mostly at salons I think. I heard it's very good for dry and damaged hair, and as I've mentioned here on the blog before, my hair is not in the best shape right now, which is why I am trying out a lot of different hair care products. But so far, I haven't found quite the right one, I am afraid, so I would really want to try this, to see if this could be what I am looking for!

And I don't have so much experience with pro-Keratin products either, so it would be nice to have a chance to try them a bit more.

(pic from Purity Beauty)

Review: Soap & Glory Slimwear

I've been using Bliss' anti cellulite products for a while now, and have been really pleased with them, but since I have found many of Soap & Glory's products to be better than their Bliss equivalents (even though both companies are founded by the same woman), I decided to give Soap & Glory's anti cellulite product a try too. I know Soap & Glory make several different anti cellulite products, but it seemed most people liked Slimwear more, so I decided to get that.

Now that I've tried Slimwear, I must say it's not as good as Bliss' Fat Girl Slim range, but it smells quite nice, it has a minty smell quite similar to the Scrub Your Nose In It scrub, which I really like, but it might not be for everyone. It also absorbs very quickly, I would say faster than Bliss' similar products, but the results are just not as noticeable as with the Bliss products, so I think I will continue using those instead.

I would still like to try Soap & Glory's other anti cellulite product, Sit Tight, though, it is supposed to be quite different compared to Slimwear, so maybe it will give me better results?

Review: Soap and Glory Hand Food hand cream

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might already be aware of the fact that I absolutely love Soap and Glory, but it still took me a long while to try what is probably their most well known and iconic product: the Hand Food hand cream. That's mainly because I am not a huge fan of hand creams, I've never had any big issues with my hands, so I don't really use hand creams that often. But recently, my hands dried up quite a lot, so I decided to give this a try.

And well... to make a long story short: I loved it! I can easily say it is the best hand cream I have ever tried! It sinks in really quickly, smells divine, which is not so surprising since it's a Soap and Glory product, and those all smell wonderful in general I think. The scent Hand Food has is also Soap and Glory's signature scent, so if you like that, Hand Food is definitely worth trying!

I must say the scent is not very over powering though, in my opinion the scent could have been a bit stronger even, but I guess most people don't like strong scents in their hand creams, so I can see why Soap and Glory have chosen to tone it down a bit.

As far as I can tell, this hand cream really has no negative sides, so I definitely think I will start using hand cream more often now that I have found a really good one!

Review: Eclipse Happy Raspberry shampoo

I love raspberries, as well as the scent of raspberries, so anything raspberry scented immediately appeals to me. This is why I was very pleased when I had the chance to try the Eclipse Happy Raspberry shampoo recently while travelling.

This shampoo is actually intended for children, since it is a "no sting" kind of shampoo, which you should be able to get in your eye without it hurting too much. I actually did not try putting this shampoo in my eye, so if that's true or not, is something I would rather not answer, but I will say that the raspberry scent is absolutely lovely, and I think it would be appreciated by children and adults who liked raspberries (like me) alike. It's a pretty basic shampoo, though, I can't claim it did anything miraculous for my hair, but it did get it clean and smelling nice, which is pretty much what I wanted, so I was pleased with this shampoo for sure!

My latest perfume obsession...

... has to be the Balenciaga Florabotanica. I actually tried this scent (that comes in an absolutely adorable packaging!) at a duty free store at an airport recently, and loved it, but opted to get some other scents, that I was more familiar with, instead. That's really something I regret now, because the Florabotanica is really a very unique smell! So I think I will just have to order some Florabotanica online now!