Prepare yourself for a stunning summer. A modern spin on the sexy, futuristic glam of the 1970s, the Summer 2013 Color Collection brings a cool, nonconformist color palette to warm weather season. Created by Founder & Creative Director François Nars, the collection welcomes summer with shades that are edgy, glamorous and undeniably modern.
Fashion Rebel Duo Eyeshadow, US$34 – Dandelion and African Violet
Euphrate Single Eyeshadow, US$24 – Frosted mint steel
Barrow Street Larger Than Life Long-wear Eyeliner, US$24 – Seafoam green
Puerto Vallarta Multiple, US$39 – Shimmering tangerine
BB creams which stands for beauty balms or blemish balms have been all the rage in Asia for years and more recently made their way West. Now you can pretty much find a BB cream from most major beauty brands. Both drugstore level and from more high end brands.
Before I dig deep into this review, let me just explain what a BB cream is. You know sometimes you just want to wear something really light, minimal effort that makes your skin look fresh and put together..… well that would be a job for a BB cream. It’s basically a tinted moisturizer (which is a really sheer, lightweight foundation, with minimum pigment) that’s been spiced up. They usually have additional properties like a primer, SPF protection and antioxidants to help heal skin. I rarely wear foundation. Ninety-nine percent of the time if you meet me, I’m just wearing some regular moisturizer, but sometimes I want to even out my skintone for a special event, especially if I am going to be photographed. My biggest issue with BB creams is that still, in 2013, many companies won’t bring out a decent range of colours. Usually they come in fair and light. Occasionally they will include a medium.
Back to Sleek. This brand is sold out of the UK in drugstores like Superdrug and online. So for Christmas, I got my brother to bring me a few items so I could finally get my hands on them without having to order through their website. Yay! Sleek MakeUP has gained a really great reputation for being an inexpensive brand that has high quality, pigmented products.
This BB cream touts many properties. It could be used a tinted moisturizer and it contains an SPF of 15. It could also be used as a primer under a foundation or a concealer. It also has multi-vitamins, anti- aging factors and protein peptides to aid in skin refreshment. Vitamins C and E also added to help brighten and firm the skin as well as help protects the skin from the damaging effects of UV radiation. Finally it contain jojoba oil which moisturizes the skin.
Bea Beautiful Blemish Balm comes in seven…seven shades!! I can’t think of too many brands that has such a shade range. Since BB creams have just a little bit of pigment every one can find a shade that is pretty close to their skintone. This is a huge plus for me! Here are the shades that they come in:
Fair, Light, Light 01, Light 02, Medium, Medium 01, Dark
So I visited the southern Turkish city of Ephesus, which is well known for its connection to Biblical antiquity. It is believed that this is the location of the final dwelling for Mary, Mother of Jesus. Ephesus was also an important Greek and Roman city as well as it has major importance in early Christianity. This is a haven for some amazing history and artifacts!
So while touring the ruins on a day that can only be described as Hades hot, we took refuge under one of the few fig trees.
Fig tree at Ephesus
The tour guide mentioned that the leaves of the fig tree have been used for its healing properties. Of course this peaked my interest!
Fig leaf sap and fruit have been used for centuries for their moisturizing, healing and calming properties. More recently, it has been valued for its antioxidant qualities.
Fig leaf sap
Me, investigating!
Have you tried any products made with fig extracts? Do you have any favourites?
A few years ago, matte nails were all the rage in the nail art industry. I loved having the option to have a non-shiny finish. But sometimes, depending on the colour, matte nails could look a little…you know…flat.
Now companies have come out with textured nail polish – which is a matte base nail polish but it also includes glitter/shimmer that when it dries, it leaves a sandpaper-like texture to the nails. Have you ever seen freshly laid asphalt in the summer? The matte black surface appears to be littered with tiny pieces of shimmer. Well that’s just what it looks like. So the matte polish has a sparkly effect when the light catches it. It actually looks different to a regular shimmer polish or the original Zoya matte polishes. You could actually see the sand-like texture on the nail. Very interesting!
For spring, Zoya has brought out a collection called PixieDust and it contains 6 new colours (which I received from Zoya).
From PR:
Infused with Magic and Wonder! Featuring the latest “must-have” nail polish finish – Textured, Matte & Sparkling.
This newly developed formula is sure to captivate with a magical sparkle and sugary finish like no other. The color experts at Zoya have created six, long-wearing stunners for the introduction of this look…
As with all matte polishes, make sure that your nails are free of dust and oil (swipe some nail polish remover on them beforehand) and don’t use any base coat or top coat for best results.
Zoya recommends using 1-3 thin coats and for these, and I used 2 coats for all the swatches.
Today is the first day of spring! Mentally, I am already barreling towards summer!
Here is my last dark nail look for winter. I also tried my hand at gradient nails, with one accent nail. It came out ok, but I definitely need more practice.
Main colour: Zoya Petra
Accent nail: Base: Zoya Pinta
Gradient: Zoya Ziv + China Glaze Medallion
What colours are you looking forward to using now that the weather is getting warmer?
