September 2016 – Mystellavalentine

You may think I am exaggerating with the title, but my recent trip to niche-beauty.com was literally this. I lost control and all I wanted was some ol’ Eyeko.

I love NB.. They have an amazing buying team who are obviously very on it. They have free delivery in Germany, and even better for me, same day pick up in Hamburg from Uzwei.

So what I did was, set out to buy my sweet little mascara but ended up buying a whole of By Terry, Perricone MD, Lipstick Queen, Percy&Reed and Face Stockholm. And no mascara. I forgot to buy the mascara.

I started off with my Sunday Riley primer (which I love and is also from NB, what do you know! The foundation I use very sparingly because By Terry doesn’t have a foundation for my skin shade of brown and the darkest shade is still too light for Indian skin, what.do.you. know!)

I followed it up with some Perricone MD No Blush Blush which is a horrifying small bottle for something that retails for 37 something bucks but I got over it. I had Mexican food to get me through the shock.

So post Guac, this happened and I was quite happy with it. I had to dab on way more than 1-3 dots on my cheekbones but then this happened and I was quite happy with it.

I moved onto By Terrys Touche Veloutée in Sienna around my eyes and dabbed it along with my guac-ey hands (no makeup blender, no worry) and went a little monkey crazy on the Aqua Lip and Cheek tints. Those are truly fantastic. It reminded me of the Bourjois tints that were all the rage back in University, helping trick people into thinking you were healthy and ate apples and such. And whilst no one is buying into that lie anymore, these are still worth their buck! Its on sale on NB for 29 from 40 something, if there were more shades, I’d get them but there aren’t so I’ll let my wallet breathe.

The Touche Veloutée was important because the only concealer that has ever truly worked for me was Nars creamy concealer in biscuit. But no cruelty free, no go. I quite liked this one. It was closer to my skin shade and didn’t get chalk-ey. I did blend it like a miserable ol’ bat so hopefully with a better blending job, I’ll know more. So far, the shade matches and that’s all I care for at this point. Saving the best for the last, I tried my lip colours. I love them and had high expectations.

I tried Lipstick Queen Endless Summer in Hang Ten. (Also on sale on NB). This was unfortunately not pigmented enough for me. It made me look a little sickly but with some of that lip tint in orange, it was all good and dope and in order again! Happy times. It passed the usability test. I can use it, albeit with some help but I can use it and that’s important.

Wearing the Hang Ten by Lipstick Queen with By Terry Aqua Tint in orange. I look grumpy but I am actually really pleased.

And finally. The lady of the hour. The By Terry click stick. Also the one that got me the cool new By Terry pouch. A. Thank you! B. This one is a true winner. I used the #6 or Rosy Flush and it was a fantastic matte pink. Very pigmented, a little light for my skin, but honestly most pinks in Germany are, so I’ll stop complaining about that. This is the best buy of the lot at 29,50. It gives great matte coverage and that which passed the burrito test! (It’s not really a ‘test’, I just ate a burrito after I wore the lip colour) and it looked fine. I am a little finicky about lip colour looking as flawless as possible so I did reapply it after but it was fine without it. I love this one by* By Terry(?*) and I am really excited to try the other shades. Finally something to shake up the good old NYX Matte Lip Cream boat. After a couple of uses, you do notice the massive difference in how much more moisturised the lips are with the By Terry though.

Just Rosy Flush on

Rosy Flush with some Aqua Tint in red. Do I look pleased enough?

ps. how many times did I use the word excited in that last paragraph? rhetoric question, do not count and answer ffs.

point being, good times!

As the lot of following me on Twitter or/and on Instagram would know, I’ve had a skin debacle earlier this year dabbling with the Sunday Riley Power Couple combo. My skin was an itchy, acne filled mess, and I do not usually have to deal with acne unless I’ve been eating past 10 or sleeping poorly. I have had to invest a massive portion of the summer trying to get my ‘normal’ skin back and thanks to Peach and Lily, I did!

Now all you know about the Korean way of skincare is most probably true and here’s why it works for me. I adore fussing over my skin and the process of applying multiple layers of different consistencies of serums and creams make the entire process so… pamper-ey and great.

Now, my task was to keep the combination of 10+ products under 100 euros and do my best in assuring they are cruelty free. A lot of Korean products retail in China so this was an elephantine task, but I had a week off of work and was raring to go!

Thankfully amazon.de is a babe and I had all my products in 25 days – from Korea!

Started off with good ol’ double cleansing, ampoule, essence, eye cream, emulsion, cream and sunscreen!

Awkward family photo. Photographed in order of usage.

The winners of this set are the cleansing duo of DHC oil and Su:m 37 rose cleansing stick – they are great for makeup removal and cleansing dry skin, and since I am still on the lookout for the right toner (on the move for Be the Skin Botanical Power Toner), I follow it up quickly with Mizons Snail repair Intensive Ampoule. Here is where it got tricky for me because whilst I can live with products that don’t ‘do much’ for me, I loathe products that set my skin in reverse. Bentons Snail Bee High Content Essence made me break out into red inflamed acne and so now, I skip over directly to the eye cream. Not Korean, but still the best I’ve used. Institud Arnauds Youth Eclat Eye Contour cream is a fantastic product that I first bought it in India a couple of years back when it was still available there, and it has magically lasted me until now! Also makes for a dope lip moisturiser.

But my true star, my true love from this set is the Skinfood Sake and Peach emulsion. As the name suggests, it has the consistency of emulsion and smells like slightly boozy peach. Perfect! This product has singlehandedly changed my mind about ‘runny’ moisturisers, and my skin! I love love love it. I got the Mizon Snail Recover gel for a double whammy of moisture for nighttime but unfortunately, it only works well solo. It is a great moisturiser on it’s own, but along with everything, it’s another inflame-ey nightmare, so with a heavy heart, it rests on the shelf with the Benton essence.

I use the Korres Emulsion Yoghurt with SPF 30 for sun protection. It smells of mango lassi to me and with that, and I am good to go!

I am very happy with my current routine, it’s 15 mins every night and every morning and with the right toner and essence, I think I’d be gold!

Winners.