Winner Grande Giveaway: 1st year anniversary

Number 50: Sizbelle!

Congratulations Sizbelle! I will mail you asap for the details!

1st year blog anniversary GRANDE giveaway

Weeeey! Today I finally made it a whole year writing for my blog, and actually having more than a few people who visit me....I am slightly proud of myself, because my earlier attempts of writing a blog ended in obscurity or me slacking on writing.

I have enjoyed the year as a beauty blogger, and have 'met' so many fabulous fellow bloggers and other wonderful persons who have inspired, motivated and encouraged me...

Bloggers tradition in our community is giving out prices...lots of them...so here they are (click on the pic for a closer look)

----here is the beauty loot (part 1)-----

1. 
   Lioelle Sun Elastic Pact Spf 26 (used gently 1x)


2. Color born (Korean brand) mascara (brand new)


3. By Terry Soleil de Rose Freshtone Hydra Reviver


4. 2x Hiramisu Lifecella sheet masks


5. Kiss Celeblous Gelina Cheek in Pink


6. ELF nailpolish cream coffee (new)


7. Lotree BB Primer Tinted Control Base (travel size Brand new)


8. Cargo Blush Prague (used once)


9. Aube Sofina Couture Eyeshadow Designing eyes 505 (used once)


10. Skyn Iceland theAntidote Quenching daily lotion (Brand new 52 ml/1.72 Fl.oz)


11. Banilla Co The Secret Shimmer Pact

I haven't forgotten my fashion side, so I added this patent leather, brand new Topshop bag as well.

It is still brand new with all the packaging to protect the delicate parts.

Original price!


The inside:

The tag says: REAL LEATHER:

Ok, now I have to give out the rules again. Blah, rules...I will keep it quite simple this time:

1. Make a comment or say something small. I should be able to contact you, or you should read closely to see if you are the winner after the drawing, so you can contact me. I do not want followers just for the giveaway, so you can join even if you do not follow my blog. I just want to contact the right winner when the winner has been drawn.

2.No stories necessary, only if you would like to say something. I lovely 'hi' would be ok :D

3. Contest ends on Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 1 PM European standard time, GMT +1)

4. Winner will be announced in a new post after random selection by random.org

5. Please contact me with 3 days to claim your prize or another winner will be selected! Prizes will be shipped by airmail WORLDWIDE within 3 business days after winner contacts me!

Goodluck!!!

Pearls from Jamilla and CalicoGarden's loveliness

I have an important milestone coming up:

Tomorrow is my 1st year anniversary of the blog!

I will write about that point tomorrow, because I will have to organise a GRANDE giveaway, ofcourse...beauty-bloggers tradition!

First, dear Jamilla from makeupforprofessionalasianwomen.com had a fantastic sale of her great products. I bought the Guerlain Meteorites Mythic from her, and I had it waiting for me when I came back from the hols...

Isn't the box gorgeous? It matches my flowery blouse I put under it as the background.

Pearls Mythic...indeed.

Lovely pearls from the UK. I think I am not white enough for it right now, but in the winter I often fade away a bit, so the pearls could be brilliant to give my skin a bit of sparkle (it makes a wonderful body powder for clubbing as well, however, I do not go clubbing as much as I would like to).

I also had this Kose Fasio palette waiting for me when I came home. Purples, again...The cooler variety...

The next package was so exquisitely packed, so delicate and so beautiful! I bought a hair goodie from CalicoGarden at etsy.com.

I love her banner as well...its texts attracted me instantly.

"For all kind spirits, goddesses and bellydancers".

Ok, I do not consider myself to be a goddess nor a bellydancer, although I could work on the bellydancer part, but I hope to be a kind spirit. So I love the spirituality of the shop. And look how much love she put in the packaging, the card, the handwriting, the making of the hairclip: it's exquisite!

This card is so cute

wow, I love handwritten notes...it beats emails or mobile texting everytime

Zippers are big in fashion this fall, and I am a bit creative, but not as creative as I would like to be. So I support the economy (LOL, that is my excuse for buying cute things) and bought this supercute zipper-flower from CalicoGarden.

I adore accessories: it is such a fab way to spark up any blah or humdrum or basic outfit and lift it up to something more original.

See you tomorrow and have a splendid rest of the weekend!

lipgloss on the beach...

Hey my dears....

The soft, salty breeze of the sea is still lingering in my hear....yes, I have been on a small but uberfantastic break for a couple of days.

I was somewhere were temperatures do not go lower than 23 degrees celcius, which meant that I was able to wear my summer-clothes again, the poor fellows did not see much day of light during the Northen European summer...They needed a break as well!

I wore ridiculously little makeup, which is often the whole thing about a vacation, a total break from everything. Actually, it did not scare the men, women or children that much either (I must not be a total hag, alright, LOL).

One thing that was a loyal partner in beach-crime was my Sephora lipgloss in 16.

Here she is lying on the beach...not for too long, otherwise the lovely sparkles will turn...

My regular readers know that I love everything lippy with a natural look...so why was this babe so precious to me? Well, it moisturized the mouth after a dive in the sea. It has such a wonderful, non-sticky texture. It reminds me sooo much of the Chanel Aqualumiere High shine sheer concentrated lipgloss---->and it stays on longer as well!!!

I am still too much chilled to give you guys a whole review. Anyway, I adore the colour, that looks good when really pale or with a slight tan. The green microshimmer is intensely flattering for my mouth and the sheer coral glow is just right.

Love it, period!

Ohhh, and I missed out on something as well for such a long time. I have been reading a lot about Bubble tea lately (on the blogs of my fellow beauty mavens) and I was finally able to buy some!

Gosh, that stuff is intensely good. Why can't I find something like that in Holland?

my chilled bubble tea in Passionfruit green tea.

Ha ha, delicious and new food is always one of the better things of exploring a new area...(also beauty thingies, and I bought some as well).

Aww, the weather is so poopy at home, I seriously need to plan the next vacation...he he.

Also, I feel like starting up a bubble tea company as well...I will probably be consuming most of it myself, but who cares?

Beauty DIY: Sasa's latest brand from Taiwan

Oh my, I could not find any title that was more boring for today. Aside from not being very eyecatching (the title), it does tell what I will write about....

Almost...(ha ha, I need to keep something left for the blog itself)

Anyway, this week I was the happy receiver of a package from sasa.com: my curious eye had drawn me to a new skincare brand from Taiwan: BeautyDIY.

I looked at their promises, their packaging and their ingredients: it looked a lot like the DIY skincare that are present on some US websites (such as Gardenofwisdom.com and skinactives.com).

I ordered from such websites a couple of years ago, because I was in an incredible DIY stage and I still wanted all the nifty and high-tech ingredients that are present in high end skincare (without the ingredients that could irritate me).

Now there was a Taiwanese verson on sasa that sells skincare products with a similar approach, and with a lovely reasonable price (prices vary between $9 and $20). I could not help but adding them to my cart.

And then....
I tried to find out what was inside by looking at the boxes....mmmm....

I looked at the front: - there was just the logo and their claim)

The back...

Ah, there is some text!!!

Oh....it is just stating the philosophy of BeautyDIY (which is good, but I still have no clue what is in the boxes)

Side one: not much info

Side two: Hey, that looks like ingredients!

They are ingredients...but from what product???? (Chinese readers might actually find the clue, but my knowledge of the chinese language is just limited to certain words)

The ingredients look wonderful, though, the list is limited to the necessary elements only. Aside of the parabens, the ingredients look rather natural.

So, I opened the boxes....and FINALLY....I found out what the content was.

The pot is the Papaya Enzymatic Peeling, written down in green letters on a tiny stroke of plastic.

The right tube is my Glacial Mud purifying mask.

For the DIY phobes: there is not DIY mixing of any kind. You will receive the ingredients all mixed in the tube or jar...so no messiness. Which still makes me wonder why they used the name Beauty DIY...(where is the DIY part?)

I ordered the Glacial clay mask. Glacial clay has proved to be sooo wonderful for my skin. It draws out impurities without making it excessably dry. I once bought the powder version at gardenofwisdom once, and loved it.

The BeautyDIY version comes in a non-powder, creamy form that can be applied instantly...no mixing beforehand. It tingles a bit when applied, a minty feeling, and dries within 10 minutes. The result is a clean-feeling, soft and cleaner skin...me likey!

I also tested the peeling. It turns out, unexpectedly, to be a rub-off peeling!

I actually expected a enzymatic peeling that you have to let on for a couple of minutes, then it feels a bit like a burning/tingling sensation. It says enzymatic peeling on the jar, so I expected that sort of peeling.

But this one is a rub off/peel off peeling that you often see with Asian brands. You put on a thin layer, wait for a while, and after a couple of minutes you can lift of the plasticky layer.

I found this to be good, as it did not irritate my sensitive skin at all!!!! Bonus was, that my skin looked clearer afterwards!

(I show you the back of the BeautyDIY as well. It only has information in Chinese so I could not tell you what it states).

So far I like the two items I bought from BeautyDIY. I have to say that the packaging is very minimal, so if you feel like having a princessy packaging that enhances the feeling of luxury, I would suggest not buying any BeautyDIY (or you have to scoop some of BeautyDIY in some pretty jars).

I personally do not mind using products that come in simple jars: I love the packaging of fancy drugstore brands, but often they leave my skin a burning/itching mess, or in the best case, they do not work so much for me.

If you are liking a simple approach of skincare, and think that 'less is more' also applies to skincare, then BeautyDIY, or these particular products I have, is something you might appreciate. I cannot say anything about long-term effects, but for now, I like the two things I have bought from them. (although they could improve on their information on the packaging)

Anyway, have a splendid weekend and be good to your inside and outside self!

The name is Bond, Etude Bond...

Uhooh, I have been a bit absent lately and left my little bloggy alone.....

Actually, I have been away from my blog for more than a week...that is a record in my book. I am sorry for that, but I have been receiving too little thingies to post and honestly...my personal life was not that brilliant either.

So I am a bit in need of a special agent who will lift me into better spirits.

Which brings me to Korean Cosmetics!...Etude House has been releasing a new line and it is called Code B.

So, we have a lady in charge...she is a feisty Asian lady who is not shy to use eyecatching makeup.

I really wanted it all, however, as I shy away from Gmarket lately (Customs at my country has been hunting on Gmarket packages too much', so it was hardly worth it anymore) I had to limit my choices.

And I wanted one of the eyeshadows the most.

Although I loved the natural colour scheme of all of them, I decided to go for the Khaki one, as I have had an ungoing love afair with a khaki MAC eyeshadow from one of their Limited Edition collections in 2005...I wanted a similar colour or a dupe...

So, the Code B gadget that I bought was an eyeshadow in colour 04 in Strong Khaki.

Mmm, the case looks a bit plastic and is not as girly as the usual form that Etude B has...I is a bit cheap-looking, IMO.


The content is of a better quality!!!! Ohh, I really love the buttery texture which makes it a perfect value! This colour is really similar to the MAC one, only a tad cooler.

Mission accomplished!

By the way, I bought the eyeshadow on ebay from a seller named ohalice on ebay.

Another fab discovery has been the Maquillage Alexander Wang lipstick and lipgloss collection. I have been buying the sample card on bobodave.com.

I often buy sample cards, if they are available. Sample cards are a perfect way to discover the true colour of a lipstick or lipgloss.

Honestly, I love so many colours of this card...I have been loving the RS721 for its deeper glow on the mouth, and the tiny green shimmer. It is one of the Moisture Rouge Sheer types lipsticks.

The Moisture Rouge Colour On types are even more superior, as the deliver incredible moisture and a fantastically natural, but lip-enhancing quality.

RS305 looks quite dark on the card, but it is sheer enough to look natural and not heavily made up.

The PK 373 and PK 244 are more pigmented, however, the moisture quality and somewhat lipline smoothing ingredients makes the colour flow over the mouth. I especially love the PK 244 (middle colour) as it is my lips but 20 times better.

Overall, I have too much lemmings right now...I really want to buy a couple of the Maquillage Alexander Wang lipsticks I have on this chart...he he...How many lipsticks can a girl have?

Another thing...my blog will have its first birthday this month: How should I celebrate this milestone???