Review | Essie After School Boy Blazer

I have been eyeing this one for a while now. I love Essie nail polishes. The colour range is lovely, the names are just too cute and the staying power is amazing. Although I do think that €9,99 is bit expensive for a nail polish. That is why I sometimes buy on as a cheeky present for myself. This one however was 30% off (BARGAIN ALERT), so I decided it was now or never.

What Essie says:

‘It’s back to cool when you're back in blue-black. This academy blue lacquer is the prep-school chic must of the season’.

As you expect from Essie nail polishes the colour payoff is amazing. After one coat my nails have a gorgeous dark blue colour. You can go for a second coat, but this is not necessary. Because of the wide brush, that all the Essie nail polishes have, the application is very easy. Even for me, I always struggle with getting a nice application and this brush just makes that very easy.

I have been wearing this colour nonstop since I got it. This has been two weeks ago and I only needed to redo my nail polish once. Normally my nail polish always chips after three to four days. But not with this one! I have just put a base coat underneath and layered it with two coats of the nail polish.

I also love the fact that it is really dark. You need to look close to see that it is a dark blue. I have had dark blue’s before, but they do not compare to this one.

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I love the way a manicure can give a total different look to your outfit. I always feel more fashionable when I wear nail polish, I know this is weird but I just do.

This nail polish will be perfect for fall and winter time. Even though winter has just begun I feel like I am going to wear this one a lot.

What is your favourite nail polish?

Review | Physicians Formula Shimmer Strip in Vegas Strip

Highlighters have been a huge trend the past couple of years. It took a bit of time before the affordable brands picked up this trend, but this time around you see them pop up everywhere.

I had my eyes on the Dior Amber Diamond highlighter. I saw it been used in a lot of videos and I just loved the colours, the packaging and the glow it gives your skin. The only problem, it is expensive and it is hard to get hold off here in Europe. There was a dupe on the internet for this: Physicians Formula Shimmer Strip in Vegas Strip. The only problem is that it is only available in the US. Luckily I have amazing friends that brought some US goodies with them. Including the shimmer strip in Vegas Strip. I decided not to go for the Dior Amber Diamond, since it was 45 dollars.

I ripped the sticker while unpacking the product

Ingredients:

TALC, MICA, OCTYLDODECYL STEAROYL STEARATE, ZINC STEARATE, DIMETHICONE, WATER, BIS-DIGLYCERYL POLYACYLADIPATE-2, CETYL DIMETHICONE, SORBITAN SESQUIOLEATE, PHENOXYETHANOL, METHYLPARABEN, ETHYLPARABEN, PROPYLPARABEN. MAY CONTAIN: TITANIUM DIOXIDE, IRON OXIDES, ULTRAMARINES, FERRIC FERROCYANIDE, CARAMINE, YELLOW 5 LAKE.

-       - Hypoallergenic

-       - Fragrance free

I already saw that these colours are very warm toned. If I saw this colour in store I probably walked past it. Since I am very pale the colours can be a little bit too dark for me.

Looking at it in the pan I see a lot of warm toned gold and browns. However the colour isn’t as bright on the skin as it is in the pan. Normally you want things to be pigmented, but these are workable for my skin right now.

I love how versatile these shimmer strips are. You can use them as bronzer, blush, highlighter and eyeshadow. Blush doesn’t really counts for this strip, but I have seen other strips with pink shades.

I think this product is well worth its price. I have to say this time of year I will probably not use it very often. I think these shades are perfect for summer, but with this cold weather they are not very suitable for my skin. I am very pale, so to wear bronzy shimmery colours are not my thing at the moment.

I love that it is a multi-purpose product. The highlighter however is a bit too yellow for my skin. So I will go for something more pink toned instead.

As for eyeshadow I wouldn’t use this to create an eye look since the colours can look very similar on the eye lid. But as an individual colour they are very nice. You can swap them on your lid or add some other eyeshadows to create the perfect look.

In the end it is a beautiful product. I think this will be at its best when you have darker skin. Otherwise you should go for a different shade that suits your skin tone. But since I can’t buy them here I will just have to go with it. I hope that in the summer when I have a bit of a tan, and people still think I am pale, this will look amazing.

I am already looking forward to have bronzed glowy looking skin with a hint of shimmer on the eyes. That will be the perfect summer look for me. But I need to wait for about five months before that is ever going to happen.

What is your favourite highlighter?

Skincare | My experience with benzoylperoxide

As you know from my skin treatment posts, my skin isn’t the best. Before I went to the doctor my mom bought me a tube of benzoyl peroxide 50 mg. She just bought it at the drugstore from that same drugstore brand. I had no idea what it was and what it did. I googled it and red some reviews from other people. They said that it burns on your skin, it gets red and you get extremely irritated skin. But it does help with acne.  

 For people who have no idea what benzoyl peroxide is. It is a white gel substance. I have 50 mg, but you also have them with a higher concentrate. It peels your skin off, clears pores and reduces the acne bacteria. It can bleach you hair, clothes etc. So you have to be careful when you use it.

I started to use it and thought I would feel a burning feeling on my skin, but nothing happened. I thought well I don’t feel anything, maybe those people were wrong. Well I made a mistake by thinking that.

 The next day my blemishes were a little bit dried out, but they were still there. I also didn’t experienced any burning, redness or irritation. The third day I still didn’t had any of the symptoms, but ‘o boy’ when I washed my face I felt and saw it: parts of my chin were completely dried out, red, irritated and there was a very unpleasant burning feeling. You could see the dryness threw my foundation. It was not really flakey or anything, but it was very tight that you could see lines that my skin was very dry and tight. I didn’t feel comfortable about my skin at all. One day later some parts started to get really flakey.

I had the burning feeling for about two days and then it disappeared. The dryness however didn’t leave. I had a sample from La Roche-Possay Effacler H for oily skin that is dry because of treatments. I started to put that on those areas. Which made me break out even more on my chin, at least I think it was the cream. After about two days using that cream the tightness of my skin was gone. All I was left with was red and flakey skin.

I stopped using the benzoyl peroxide and three days later my skin was a bit red, but normal again. No pain, no flakiness and no irritation. That same week I started my other treatments which helped a lot.

They say that the longer you use it your skin doesn’t get as dry anymore and the burning feeling goes away. I haven’t used it for that amount of time. So I can’t say if that is true or not.

 I don’t think it is the best solution for acne. In the end it didn’t solve my problem. I still got blemishes while I was using the benzoyl peroxide. It dries them out, but I still got new ones. I don’t think the burning and the dry/tight-ness is good for you skin. However I didn’t use it for a long period of time, so maybe it does work in the end.

I am happy I didn’t go through with it. I feel much happier with the treatment I am doing right now.

I would love to know if you used benzoyl peroxide and your experience with it.