Garnier Ambre Solaire BB Cream Review

Hello my beauties!

How are you doing?

I know some of you already had their first swim on the hot beaches of Greece!
I hope I will in the next days during Easter vacation...!

So as the weather is getting hotter and hotter many things keep popping in our heads such as sun protection, oil free, long lasting, color, coverage and other stressful words!

As many of you have noticed, BB creams are popping out like crazy!!

Today I will talk to you about Garnier Ambre Solaire BB cream*.

You all know and most of us love the classic Garnier BB creme but this one comes from a different series.

It says it provides sun protection for the face & neck, with a very important SPF30, illuminates your skin, evens out any imperfections, hydrates and has an anti-dark spots formulation.

Personally, I think that it feels a lot like a sunscreen than a bb cream, which means it is a little heavy, at least for my combination skin.

It has a decent coverage, certainly evens out my skin and it takes at least 5 minutes to dries on your skin before you set it with powder, which is something I think you must do with this bb cream.

It comes out in one color as you see in the picture which is quite dark and difficult to match all skin colors, but you can blend it really really well and set it with lighter or darker powder.

Before I started using this bb cream, I was wearing the classic Garnier bb cream for combination skin but as I had bought it during winter in the shade light, now it is a little light for me.

Sooooo the thing I started doing is mixing the two Garnier bb creams and guess what.

It gives the perfect color, an extra SPF protection and evenness!

I would certainly recommend this bb cream for those with drier skin and wanting to look flawless on the beach! 

Actually yes. I now think that it is a Beach BB cream not a City BB Cream as the first one.

But I am really happy with the result so I think I found my everyday summer bb cream!

Well, that's it from me.

Have you tried this bb cream? What do you think?

As always
stay healthy & beautiful
xxx

*PR sample

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Guerlain Fresh Bronzing Gel

Hello my beauties!

How are you? 

I am doing great as long as I see that sun popping outside my window!

But even though I adore the sun and its glowing effect on my skin.......

we all have learned by now that it is not good for our skin. Not good at all....

We have figured out many many ways to "cheat" the sun effects on our skin and this is exactly what we were discussing with my very good friend Vicky and she just happened to have the most brilliant idea ever! 

She would review her new bronzing gel for my blog and all you!

Let's hear it straight from her!

"Hi everyone!

My name is Vicky and today I will be sort of a "guest lecturer" in Laoura's Beauty Blog. The reason for this, is that I tried a certain product and wanted to share it with everyone else.

I am talking, of course, about Guerlain's Fresh Bronzing Gel, from the Terracotta series. 

It is not a foundation, not a self tanner, and not a primer. It is pure magic, in my opinion!

There are two ways to use it.

First, you can apply it on your face (or neck, arms, and wherever you wish) by itself and achieve a beautifully bronzed skin tone and a healthy glow. This is great for the months of summer, when we usually don't need heavy coverage. 

Second, you can combine it with a foundation of your choice and apply it on top of it. You still achieve the bronzed skin tone and the glow, but now your face looks flawless and healthy.

It is extremely light and easy to use. Due to its gel-like texture you hardly feel like you have anything on, but it stays in place for several hours. 

There is also a bit of sunscreen there, which is always good.

As a downside, it is a bit expensive so keep an eye out for sales and offers! At least, that is how I got it and I haven't regretted it at all.

Thank you for your time, and a special thank you to Laoura, for letting me use her wonderful blog!"

Thank you Vicky for the lovely review! 

As always

stay healthy & beautiful

xxx

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Maybelline SuperStay 24hr Review

Hello beauties!

I hope you are well and prepared because summer is getting closer and closer!

As most of us do, we tend to change our skin routine because of the weather changes and the temperature rise. We start from our cleanser, our moisturizer and our foundation.

I will start from the last. The foundation. 

Now that the weather is getting hotter and hotter we are searching for a light yet with good coverage, durability, staying power and SPF protection! You think it’s too much? No.

Most cosmetics brands are aware of our needs and the conditions change and they adapt. And evolve.

This is what happened with Maybelline. 

They created a modern foundation with many benefits.

Maybelline Superstay 24hr micro-flex stretch formula foundation with SPF 19

&

Maybelline Superstay 24hr Concealer

Let me start from the foundation.

It has one of the most velvety consistency I have ever felt in a foundation.

It applies very easily giving you the time to work it in your skin and once you are done blending it, within 2-3 minutes it transforms from liquidy to powdery, giving a really really nice finish. 

I have combination/oil skin and it does give me a matte finish that stays without touch ups for a 3-4 hours. 

But I really want to say something here. If you have combination/oily or even very oily skin, you should know that there is no magic potion/foundation/powder that will take away the shine for the entire day. Seriously. The only thing we can do is to always use a good primer, try different foundations for oily skin in order to see which one sits well on our skin, powder and take that powder with us in order to touch up when needed. Just saying, so you know. 

Back to the review. 

Its coverage is medium but you can build it up, although if built a lot can look a little cakey and make your pores more visible than before.

It comes in a 30ml glass bottle and has a pump which is a very good thing for our hygiene.

As declared by its name, it has very good durability and does not fade away or slide off your face.

It has an SPF 19 which is something really good if you are wearing this as your morning foundation. It's not enough, you have to use a regular sunscreen underneath but an SPF is always a plus! Unless you will be photographed!!

I gambled and ordered it online in the color 021 Nude. It is not the perfect shade but suits quite well on my NW25 skin but it is a little pink which I hate. I make sure I mix it with a hint of a lighter yellowy foundation and blend it all the way down to the neck.

As I was quite happy with the foundation I thought I would try the concealer as well.

I first tried it on my under eye area. That didn’t work very well.

Even though I don’t have visible dark circles and don’t need to cover something, I want to put something there!

But my skin there is rather thin and this product is a teeny tiny heavy for an undereye concealer, at least for me.

But as I noticed that it has a quite good coverage I tried it on my blemishes and minor flaws that need extra concealing. It was great. It covers up anything you have, although you have to put little by little because it will cake and blend really well around the edges with your brush.

I like it very much. Once it set with a powder, stays on really well and for at least 6-8 hours.

I am really happy that the last years drugstore brands come up with such quality cosmetics for a good price. We can try out new things without making our bank account to bleed!

Well that’s it from me!

Have you tried the Maybelline SuperStay 24hr?

What is your opinion if you have?

stay & beautiful

xxx

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Mac & Sephora Eye Brighteners! Lighten Up Your Eyes!

Hello everyone! 

How have you been doing?

Is the season transition makes you feel a bit sleepless and tired? 

And the worse…does it shows in your eyes? 

Well if this is the case, boy I have good news for you! 

Eye Brighteners! 

If anyone of you has not heard of them before, let me give you a heads up.

Eye brighteners are light textured colored cremes that go very smoothly under the eyes. 

Their main goal is not to cover your dark circles but to brighten and light reflect the under eye area, creating a more fresh and clean appearance.

I don’t have any dark circles so this is perfect for me. But it is also useful for the ones that have, by using a light layer of corrector (peachy), concealer (beige) and brightener (light pink) which you will success by applying a small amount of each to have a natural highlighted under eye area.

The ones I have and use are:

 MAC Prep + Prime Highlighter Pen in Bright Forecast & the

 Sephora Smoothing & Brightening Concealer in 03 light.

As you can see from the photos the one is really yellowy and the other is rather light pink.

The yellow tone is more suitable for darker skins and the light pink one is perfect for fair skins.

I use to mix them together and I end up having the perfect highlighting shade for my skin.

It is almost like second skin. 

I bought both of them on sale so I am not sure what their price is but I can tell you approximately that the MAC is about 20-22 euro and the Sephora is about 10-12 euro.
 

Their quality is equally good even though there is a big price gap! 

So, what do you think? Do you use eye brighteners?

If so, which one? I am open to suggestions!

Stay healthy & beautiful!

xxx

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Clinique Chubby Stick Intense Review

Hello everyone!

How are you? I hope you are enjoying the good days and the rise of the temperature!

Summer is on the way, which means sun, glow and color!

When I think of summer my mind goes to bronzed skin and bright lips! I am that kind of girl!

So today I will show you a better version of a product that I loved last summer.

Clinique Chubby Stick Intense*

I am sure you all know the famous Chubby Stick Lip Colors, see post here, and whoever of you tried them, I know liked them very much and in many cases became a staple of your everyday makeup.

They only thing I did not quite much like was the not long wearing fact. Because they are very moisturizing, the color did not stay for long on your lips.

So when I heard that a new version, more intense & colorful version, of Chubby Sticks came out I was thrilled and impatient to try!

I tried the shade 04 heftiest hibiscus which is a bright coral red color that goes very intense on the lips.

It is a great summer color that has a quite satisfying duration for its very conditioning formula.

I woud love to try the other shades too!

It comes in 8 bright shades and as usual they are allergy tested and fragrance free.

Release date on March 2013 and its price is € 21.90

If you have tried the first Chubby Stick I would suggest you give this one a go.

Stay healthy & beautiful

xxx


*PR sample

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Clinique Moisture Surge Overnight Mask Review

Hello my beauties!

How are you? The last days in Athens the weather is sooo cold. I hope you keep yourself warm and comfortable!

Another thing with the all this cold weather is that our skin, dry, normal, combination or even oily, suffers… and we need to moisturize our skin even more in order not to feel it cracked or thirsty.

And just in time while having these thoughts, this baby knocked on my door.

Clinique Moisture Surge Overnight Mask*

It is the new addition to the Clinique Moisture Surge family.

It is a very moisturizing overnight face mask that surprising is not oily at all! It sinks in your skin and you can feel the moisture that very moment when you put it on.

During the night, our skin becomes vulnerable and the humidity levels drop low. This mask claims to calm and soothe the skin from all the irritation it faced during the day.

I am using it for the last week and here is my opinion.

Its consistency is neither heavy nor light.Oil-free. It boosts your skin with many ingredients such as seed butter, olive extract, shea butter, mango butter, pomegranate strols, hyalouronic acid and many many more!

Absorbs very easily depending on how thirsty is your skin, though with this weather all types of skin need it.

I was very reluctant at first as I have combination/oily skin and thought it would made me worse. But that was not the case. It moisturizes my skin during the night when no makeup on and when I wake up it feels refreshed, glowy and elastic, if that makes any sense to you!

You do not change your skin regime at all. Well, maybe for some will spare you the night cream step cause it is enough by itself.

It does not need rinsing off as your skin will absorb it and work with it all night long!

I like it very much and I will continue to use it but will limit it down to two times a week as I do not need it more.

As we get older, we learn one or two things about the skin and how to take care of it and one of the most important things to do is moisturize.

This overnight mask is a great addition to our daily skin routine. It gives that something extra that we may or may not need but will try anyway!

I would especially recommend those with normal or dry skin to try out this mask cause they will be surprised by how well are going to feel their skin after.

It will be available in stores by February 2013 and the suggested price is 34.90 €

How do you like it so far? Would you give it a try?

As always…. stay healthy & beautiful. xxx

*PR sample

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Revlon Colorstay Foundation Review

Hello my beauties!

I know it's been a long time but now I am back with many posts ready to come!

Without any further delay, today I want to talk to you about the famous Revlon Colorstay Foundation. I have been wanting to try this foundation for a long time now after I was hearing about it so many things everywhere, and I mean it. Everywhere!
So as it is ridiculously expensive in Greece, I told a friend of mine who studies in England to get it for me. She bought it 12 pounds and here is about 20-22 euros. ts ts ts...classic.

Anyway!
We guessed my shade through photos via whatsapp, ;-), and took my chances with shade 330 natural tan.
We were right. At first I thought it must be dark for me as it says natural tan and during my internet search about the shades, I came out to be sand beige. The truth lies between.

So here we go.

As you can see it is a very pigmented foundation and thick. I have used it 2-3 times and the truth is I don't seem to get used to it on my skin.
It is a little hard to apply as it tends to dry rather fast but that is not a problem. You can do quick. 
Although it is a thick foundation I wasn't impressed with its coverage. To be fair, after all the ravings about it,  I was expecting something like a miracle on a bottle. That was not the case for me.
I have tried other foundations less famous with better coverage. This one did not have the coverage I expected and still felt heavy on my skin and flat.
As you can see on the picture I chose the combination/oily formula as my skin, esecially the T zone, tends to gets oily after a few hours. 
Sorry again but I did not noticed any difference. I got shiny after a few hours as well. To be fair again, !, it was during the extremely past humid days in Athens. The weather is not helping us to make a proper review!
One of the things I liked was that, besides my skin got oily, the foundation did not melt or moved. It stayed there, which means it is a rather difficult one to take off!
I was hearing a lot about a strong awful smell but I noticed nothing. Ok, it does not have a creamy high-end  scent but I did not bothered me.

Below I am showing how it looked on my skin.

no makeup

with Revlon Colorstay on

As you can see I had nothing big to cover up but still my face does not look flawless.
You might say that it looks good, and it does, as you can see my skin through which makes it a natural looking foundation. But.....
When I was dreaming about this foundation I had in mind something like my dreamy skin on a small bottle.

Overall, it is a very good foundation with medium coverage that you can build it. 
It stays for hours without moving around. It is a good price-good quality product. (if ordered online)
I know that many women around the world are raving abut this foundation but it simply did not impress me. 
Well, that's the thing when you are expecting too much! I thought I had find the One but to me is just a simple heavy-feeling foundation. 

I hope I helped you and strongly recommend that you give this foundaton a go. 

Have you tried Revlon Colorstay Foundation? 
If yes, what do you think?

Stay healthy & beautiful
xxx

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