September's Used Ups

I have not been doing this for a while but I still like to share my September Used Ups: 

• Arcona Peptide Firming Complex: I absolutely loved this one. Natural and it packs a potent pair of ingredients on the face. 
•  Sunwarrior Fulvic Acid 'Immune Shield: Since Phylia's De M's Connect (read here & here) I have been intrigued in taking Fulvic Acid. Phyllia's version is a whopping £160.00 whereas this one is €31. Not sure if it works on hair-health but it helps to keep germs/viruses at bay.
•  Lierac Ultra Body Lift 10: Me and my anti-cellulite routine. I like this specific one in pink.
•  Yarok Feed Your Roots Hairmouse. Another favourite organic hairstyling tool that works even better than its chemical siblings.
• Antonia Burrell Creme Supreme: I had to get used to this cream but I loved how it smoothes my larger pores and made me feel I had actually good skingenes. Con: expensive!
• Skeen Intensive Revival Gel: One from team boys (review here) and so fab for puffy mornings! 
• Aurelia Revitalise and Glow serum: A staple when the season changes -> good at calming AND anti-ageing.
•  Tatcha Deep Brightening serum: How much I like Tatcha, I did not see a radical change.
• Kure Bazaar nailpolish in Rose Milk: a 3-free polish with the best milky pink base.
•  sample Leonor Greyl Volumising Shampoo: quite good at volumizing without drying hair.
• Makeup Forever Smokey Lash intense Mascara: I love this one a lot but I can only buy it in France or Spain. Oh well, good excuse to visit either country :-)
•  Eyepencils NARS & Marc Jacobs Beauty in Black: both travel size and both efficient & long lasting

 

 

Giovanni Perfectly Platinum Shampoo (& Conditioner) is the organic answer to all those purple un-brassy shampoos. Soft and non-irritating and it has enough purple to keep the hair fresh.

Oh, by the way. My last blogpost said something about E. So (disclaimer:) I have never done drugs in my young years...just hanging or clubbing with good and lousy friends and the occasional wine/cocktail etc. But the pun behind the E numbers is that many people who are living so healthy these days have been quite naughty before. But that's life and generation amnesia, right?

 

Juli's Used Ups

Let me start with a lippy I consequently used until I reached bottom (or tube): 

Really, this one is from MAC's 2008 collection (see Temptalia). I have a special storeage for MAC's LE's (some never used) in a dark, cool place and sometimes I revisit Zeeee Box-e and I find myself something useful or fun. Ofcourse, I'm aware of expiry dates so I use my sniffer, and some good ol' logic to see if it is still fresh. 

MAC slimshines are lovely & creamy moisturizing hints of colour for the lips. Funshine is a coraly pink that is lighter than my natural lip colour. I get a wonderful nod to lighter lips with colours like these.

The rest:

July has been somewhat unproductive, but I used up some things:

1. Fairy Drops Mascara  Platinum Mascara film type

Ok, not quite used up but logic and knowledge of mascaras told me it is time to let this one go. I know lots of women love Fairydrops but somehow most of their mascara do not really work for my type of lashes. They do not hold curl that stubbornly as the likes of Majolica Mallorca or Fasio and that is mostly what I need. It's still a good mascara, though, but only with a base.

2. Nude Nailpolish: Nails Inc Basil Street, Essie Barefoot & OPI Let Them Eat Rice Cake

With nailpolish the logic of throwing away is a lot easier, because they are often dried out or separated. I've also finished a bottle of Seche Vite Thinner which can bring some dying nailpolishes alive again. Then again, I have so many nailpolishes that I screen the ones that I really want to thin up again. Or, I need some space and will use some other nudes before possible repurchase.

3. Tatcha Restoring Eye cream (right corner- small sample)

Lovely, but also a bit too pasty/thick for summer time.

4.  Saniflore Aqua Magnifiqua toner (review here)

Absolutely delicious for congested [summer] skin. I can feel it doing something extra when my skin is congested, but without having that stripping feeling those generic anti-acne potions have. It smells so herbally fresh too: repurchase!

5. Rene Furtherer Naturalia Dry Shampoo

I gotten into this one thanks to MostlySunny's rave. AGREED!  It's so delightfully thin and mops up the right amount of grease. And, hardly no white residue! For the supermajority that doesn't have blonde roots it is so wonderful to have a spray that doesn't make you look like you have grey hairs. Even blondes will get a slightly greyish look with about most dry shampoos so I have no idea why companies don't make them better like this one.

6. Vichy Cellu-destock Serum Flash

6%! 

-> 

for the ones that read my neverending stories of battling the ghost of cellulite (albeit very alive) know that I have a serious Caffeine habit. This serum has 6% Caffeine in it. I liked it but it also felt like my 1st tube of Cellulite-busting potions from 1993: perhaps the scent or the texture. I didn't feel it was too effective but I've been slightly inconsequent with it. It's also quite expensive per ml so I think I'll try something else next time.

7. French Girl Organics Rose Noir Cleansing Oil

I featured this baby as a part of my Organic black bottle collection (here). It's a dense cleansing oil that does not foam: I always expect a foam as I'm used to Asian cleansing oils, but Organics seldom do. It cleanses up heavy duty makeup and/or sunscreen but I do need a sudsy cleanser afterwards for rinsing off the oily feeling. It smells lovely like a soft rose.

8. REN Radiance Perfection Serum

This serum is actually meant for younger skins in need of a radiance boost. However, I often serum up twice a day so I really liked this one in the morning: it has some antioxidants (eg: Bitter Orange, Lingonberry) that combat the oxidant effect of sunrays during the day.

That has been my round-up of July's Used Ups. It has been wonderful to take a step away from my normal lipstick routine by taking up a paler hue like MAC Funshine: it does take some more work with the rest of the face (more eyemakeup, etc).  For this month I'm thinking to step out of the box again with lipcolour: perhaps a good berry hue for Indian Summer? We'll see ; )

Colour Coordinating Corals

Summertime! Coral-time!

There is something about corals looking better in summer: they have this uncomplicated air that goes as light as your summerdress.

Still there's something about summer that gets me into a complicated mode: the ingenious structure of coordinating layering will fall away (like the layers); thus, I colour-coralinate!

 

So let's do the clique-ing...Summer also means more cliques in groups of friends, etc. I've been grouping up my corals based on compatibility...It's almost like the tables of a summerwedding:

Group 1: the Flushed Corals

The conversation starter is my precious Jadilla J My Ball Cubical Face blusher in Shinny Peach 2 -> and no, these spelling errors don't come from  Rosé-inspired blogwriting but they are adorable Koreanglish. So why do I have to giggle with 'my ball'? This Cheeky fellow is NOBB [NARS Orgasm but Better]. There is the perfect mixture of peach & pink, but the glitterfest has been left out. (original review here). 

I hope I've nailed the setting by adding Essie Plaza Sweet to this group. It's slightly a deeper pink than Jadilla but they have the glowy gold sparkle into them.

An eye for detail, MeowCosmetics is a mineral makeup company who're easy to sample: Paddle Pink absolutely matches. I hope it won't be too boring with so much compatibility!

Group 2: the Everything's Peachy's

 I want to keep it dusky by starting with MeowCosmetics Clawset Case: it's the mysterious one...Essie Anniversary Gala is the equivalent of the bubbly girl: She is perfect on her own but will add a sparkle to another. My latest rediscovery has been Lunasol Creamy cheeks in ex 4 Tender Pink Glow. It's like a cheekbone filler & glow-i-fying peel in a bottle, with the right hint of tender pink (review here).

Group 3: Dusky Corals

I like to think of this group as the mature ones: but not the mature in the Ikea-kind-of-way...These ones have travelled the world and had a couple of drinks too many. They are a sultry bunch and prefer to spend their money on another holiday than botox...They have stories to tell.

 

I love the way they look, but I like to have a special mention towards Julie Hewett's Thandi lipstick.  It's named after Thandi Newton and has a similar subdued beauty & intelligence over it: the right amount of coral without getting too ditzy & a good amount of burning terracotta without venturing on the middle age territory. The Radiance blush is a highlighter, but I love this one when lips and nails get more sultry

4. The Young-n-Beautiful Sheers

I have Lana Del Rey in mind...the young & beautiful crowd. Untarnished, hopeful and sheer.

Group 5: The Happy Oranges

There's something comic about orange. Perhaps not for the ones who watch 'Orange is the new Black' or my fellow comrades from Holland who saw the championship Soccer gone right through their fingers...awwww. Burberry Lipglow in Coral 22 is a colour I got last year (see here) and it returned for summer again. The Bourjois is older...no idea how old. But it makes a perfect match for Burberry. As for Tongue in Cheek, how to resist such a name and such a rusty glow to fake flaunt a bit of sunburn on a summer night?

And to conclude, these two resisted the cliques and made their own little togetherness:

Coral pants gets the girls on the fence

Cuteee!

Newly Danish & Italian: Gosh Lip Laquer [YSL dupe?], eye crayons & Collistar Nailpolish

I'm not one of elaborate titles but today I wanted to reach the core of the post.

Essentially, I'm still too bummed not to have access to most of the spring lines of the haute makeup-esque-ness yet. However, I won't fret as the other lines have some good launches too:
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The Bourjois Color Boost on top in Fuschia Libre hasn't been that new (winter '13), but I included it for aesthetic photographic purposes. 

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Collistar has  some excellent duochrome nailpolishes in metamorphic hues: the Gloss Effetto Camaleonte: I've picked 632 Ametista Camaleonte

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Then there is Danish fave Gosh with a new Lippolish...will it give YSL a run for its money?

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And because it looks so nailpolish-like, Gosh lippolish, I added Essie Spagetti Strap to pose next to it...a sweet pinkish neutral

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Another Gosh! The Forever Eyeshadow Pencils have some surprising shades around. I picked a tealish green for lust-have sake.

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Hakuhodo portable brush for carrying around

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far distance zoom on 632 Ametista & 634 Verde on pinky

More about it tomorrow  this week...

Birkinbagbeauty's Best of 2013: Body

I have featured a lot of body-products, hair-related products and other potionalities in 2013. So here is the list of my favourites [also with some newbies]:

Nails:

I became familiar with Ciate thanks to UK Fashion magazines' GWP. Ciate nailpolishes stand out for: 1. fab coverage even after 1 coat 2. dries fast 3. superb colours 4. longevity. I got the Ciate Advent-set and found some favourites: Pillow Talk is the more-than-just-a-neutral Mauve that suits both warmer & cooler oufits. Cutie Pie for that creamy basic that looks luxe without being too fuzzy.

Perfume

In autumn I regretted not been able to find my yearly fragance-infatuation. Then I remembered testing Caligna in the exquisite Parisian l'Artisan Parfumeur shop during summery 30°C weather and liking it. Testing it this winter in colder weather made me even love it more.

I know, showing a paper sample doesn't show that much enthousiasm...But Caligna only comes for the hefty pricetag of €120, which needs some more sampling before I will resist that #nobuy.

Body Moisturizers:

Darphin Nourishing Satin Oil with Ginger and delightful vanilla fragance has been one of those 'special occasion' luxuries that moisturizes as a dream and fragances you so softly. Yes, I'm getting poetic about this and it needs a better review. 
This Works Really Rich Firming Lotion is one of the few (nicely) fraganced products that work when I'm supersensitive: with the added bonus of putting tons of moisture on the dry parts. I have a partial fondness of jasmine so that makes it wonderful for hydrating the body.

Hair:
Oh dear, I've been completely obsessed by reconstructing my hair (see here). Conclusion beginning '14: I have some hair again...!  It's not perfect yet, but it is a major improvement on the sad 'do I used to have.

I've started Phylia [de M] Connect mid '12 and the result is that my the hairgrowth from that time, an estimated 25/30 cm, is full and thick. It's literary 'gettin' it to your roots': the vitamins and the minerals. I haven't been using it since spring but I think it has been the key to my healthier hair.

Hair Styling:

Healthier hair needs some direction, aka styling. I'm still a sensitive person and not everything on my head agrees with my picky scalp. I consider Rene Furtherer Volumea a gorgeous natural alternative on volumizing my 'do, adding some wonderful gloss as a bonus.

Tools:

Since my new hairstyle my priorities switched from 'smoothing out damaged hairs' into 'extra volumising the fresh hairs': that needed a fabulous blowdryer! Reviews gave such positive marks on both T3 (superexpensive) & Parlux 385 (under €100) that I went for the last: also for the cute array of colours!
This latest version is both lightweighted and has a industrial motor inside (techie story here). In my non-techie terms: I love the various settings, heats-'n-coolnesses, and with the right techniques & styling products I'm able to experiment more with hairstyles.

These have been my 2013 body favourites and I could probably list a ton more, but I'll keep it relatively simple with "the excellent of class '13".

Merry Xmas

♥... Wishing all my readers a wonderful Christmas ... ♥

 I know it will be Christmas tomorrow as I am on my last nailpolish of the Advent Calender...Well, I'm not that ditsy but I really enjoyed giving myself daily mani's for the month of December. 

Besides of cheating sometimes by the occasional Chanel Red Dream  & I switching days if the colour would not match my outfit, I have been quite faithful to the calender. I've posted a couple of them daily on facebook with their matching story->those I have featured above.

I hope all manicures will be gorgeous, all dishes will succeed, but most of all that the love will be there whatever you do...

November Empties & December Full's

My empties of November: 

1. Inner Me Pretty Locks haircapsules:

The cute packaging of a Zoe Deschanel look-a-like in animation + the promise of bountiful hair = purchase. I'm not sure if I repurchase as similar ingredients come cheaper in other formulas.

2. REN F10 Smooth and Renew Mask: 

I really liked the thicker texture of this mask/exfoliator and it removes enough skincells without going overboard. I'll consider repurchasing as REN is easily available in Holland and it works quite well.

3/4. Intelligent Nutrients Body Elixir in Attune & Restore

I bought both on sale and I liked both (review here). They are oils with a slightly sticky texture, so it works wonderful as an evening oil. I prefer Attune's fragance as Restore is a bit too pepperminty. They're both smaller sizes 50 ml so I'm not sure if I'd repurchase when full priced.

5. Sophyto Exfoliating Treatment

Yes, another exfoliator and another good one as well: I often exfoliate more after a holiday and during autumn. The texture is so much thinner as REN: a lotion-like substance that gives a bit of a tingle after 10 minutes. It works just as adequate as REN in exfoliating terms and is slightly cheaper, but I have to order it online.

6.  Neil George Indian Gooseberry treatment for hair (the whole package of 6)

I once received a free sample and liked it a lot. I love it for my dryer (highlighted) hairs close to my scalp: it adds moisture and seems healing without making it loose volume.  I think it is an expensive set so I tried the pure Amla (Gooseberry) oil but that version was so intensely fraganced and quite heavy & oily in the pure form. So I'd repurchase but only after payday.

6. Aveda Invati Exfoliating Shampoo

A wonderful & slightly herbal scented shampoo. It adds a certain degree of 'thickness' and it never feels stripping. I use it in combination with their Revitaliser so I cannot tell how it works on itself. But my hair on top looks a lot healthier these days.

7.  Pai Echium Eyecream

My second bottle used up (1st review here). I am not sure if I got this one for free or that I bought this one and got something else for free. I love this thicker eyecream but curiosity made me buy the similar looking Nourish RevitalEyes with Kale.

8. RapidLash Eyelash growth Serum

I've gotten eyelash extensions during summer and for my last holiday. They're handy for the beach but at a certain moment I get tired of them: as they feel unnatural after 3 weeks and the constant refreshing is expensive and time-consuming.  I think they slightly wreck your own eyelashes so I'm trying to recover them by RapidLash. It worked lovely the last time as they grew normal and even more sensually long after a month: wonderful!

Those have been my empties, so I bought myself a Ciate Mini Mani Advent Calender to surprise myself every day:

It's really a good value if you like Ciate with a couple of newbie colours too. 

I already 'cheated' and added day 13 to my nails (spoiler: it's Ferris Wheel).

But as a good girl I added day 1 on top today: Snow Globe, a gorgeously greenish-silver holo flecked goodiness:

And that will absolutely not be the only newbie beauty product for December: I'll keep you updated : )

Last Week's Cosmetics

Let me share some of last week purchases, samples and re-finds:

Clockwise:

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The Essence nailpolish is one those sparkly multicoloured glitters in purple hues: perhaps that's why it is called "Only Purple Matters".

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Mac Dainty Mineralize blush has been last week's rediscovery.

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I bought Rimmel Moisture Renew lipstick 'In Love with Ginger' after testing various orangy reds, ranging from Givenchy Le Rouge Carmin Escarpin, L'Oreal Perfect red and Chanel Rouge Coco. My actual favourite has been the Givenchy but pricewise I think I'd rather save on a colour that is not a staple of mine.

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The Kanebo Sensai Cleansing Essence has been a free sample: I haven't used Kanebo for a while and I hope that my organically infused skin is up to the more chemical concoctions of Kanebo.

Caviar & Icecream

Mmm, you've probably seen these before with some other brand (hint: it also starts with a C) but Catrice has done a gorgeous nail collection:

Pretty pearlies for nails

But I couldn't go for Caviar alone, so I went for Ice cream too:

Catrice C01 I scream Ice cream!

I fell in love with the pretty pink glow inside of the pale lavendel colour...

Meal for the day for the nails: Caviar & Icecream

Turquoise Gathering

Revlon Turquoise Tango | China Glaze Passion in the Pacific | Catrice Virgin Forest | [b] basic 471 | Topshop Lead

Last week I have been into turquoise nailpolishes :D.

Mauve-ing into 2013

I have reached for a whole spectrum of mauves lately: holographic mauves, sparkly, matte, red-toned, pinkish and purplish...

Bottom exposure: (how cheeky)

Opi My Big Break | Opi Merryberry Mauve | MAC Violet Femme | Orly Minds Eye | Colour Club Uptown Girl

So have you been reaching for a particular nailpolish in the first week of 2013? Or were your nails on a break after high Nail-tenance Holiday season?

(N)artsy continued...

I got more active in being (Nail)artsy and found a new blog and excellent tutorial recreating a probably most definitely expensive dress of style-Guru Miroslava Duma on nails...

So, with the help of missladyfinger's tutorial and some sponges I actually got this result: Sunset nails!

mobile cam blurry Artsy app

MissLadyfinger has some really fun and fashion-collection inspired tutorials. Because we all like to afford the dress but something it's not that reasonable, so the nails can be lots of fun too.

Thumb(s) up...

I wouldn't post a link to a tutorial without trying it myself. I used the colours featured in my previous post and added Nails Inc Basil street for a dash of nude1

Ehm Military? I think it's more Safari right now, so my nail should be dashing around spying up lions and antilopes, that suits me better than being in the army anyway.

Basically I'm not that good with nailart anyway but it looks fun from a distance. And I guess practice makes perfect?

1.Actually Nude is a disciminating name because it only suggests that nude comes in the pale (Caucasian) colours whereas the Caucasians are really in the minority with their colour), but let's not get too political and keep it Shakespearean that "A rose is just a rose, by any other name it would smell as sweet". So Nude for a paled out brown?

Autumn nails: what's new?

Most beautybloggers have an eye on fashion as well. I'm no exception and I was quite curious what I would be going on for face makeup...

But somewhat easier, how to accessorise my nails?

courtesy Vogue Fr

I went to Vogue Fr. and they showed some returns of the classics: (link)

• Red nails- quite big during Fall. No extras with nailart-caviar, etc...just classic reds.

As for the returns of previous seasons:

• Khaki, blacks and taupes: ah great, not that much investments.

I did buy the latest Chanel in Vertigo:

I couldn't resist, even though I probably have a dupe. I love the reference to the film with Kim Novak building up the tension in true Alfred Hitchcock style. Will his films ever date?

I really like the trend they called 'outsider', but basically quite logical with the so-called 'winter-pastels'...a sweet candy pinkish lavendel: 

As I said, there is not that much nail-art featured. Somehow I was surprised about that, because I have seen a lot of Military clothing in the shops. I personally wouldn't like to dress up like someone who has to defend the country against possible enemies, but I thought it would be fab for nails and so I googled and found this blogger doing this tutorial: CrazeGlaze

Wow, supercool: I brought up my other murky greens that I can pair op with my latest Chanel Vertigo:

left: Brazilian brand Ludurana in L001, Essence 68 High Spirits, Illamasqua Hectic, Creative Nail Design in 340 Okey Dokey Artichokie

Swatches in similar order: Ludurana in L001, Essence 68 High Spirits, Illamasqua Hectic, Creative Nail Design in 340 Okey Dokey Artichokie.

 In general, I think that Illamasqua Hectic will qualify as the most military based. It will look awesome on it's own but I really want to try to do my nails in somewhat similar way as Crazeglaze.

So, what beauty-actions are you going to apply in order to go with trends, or perhaps go against trends?

Chanel-ling

First I would like to apologise for the lack of interesting reviews I haven't been doing lately.

I'm trying to live a bit more modest and I believe my closet still needs some more space before I will add some newbies. However, I'm waiting for another sasa order, so I think there will be a good review coming up soon!

In the meanwhile, I'm not so modest that I never spend anything anymore. A certain cosmetic store had 25% off a while ago, and I bought myself some Chanel:

First I wanted the nailcolour in Mimosa. I already tried it in the beginning of the summer, and opted out because why would I spend 20 euros on a yellow nailpolish. However, I've been trying lots of yellows and no yellow comes close to the complexity of Mimoso. So, after spending approximately 10 euros on a good replacement on Mimosa, which I didn't find (but got some other good yellows too), I still bought this one before it would dissappear.

I already had a sample set of the Chanel Rouge Shines, which has Boy, Adventure, Monte Carlo and another colour in it. It would be the easiest and most neutral option to go for Boy. Still, I have plenty of MLBB options from Japanese brands, so I tried out Fétiche 52, which has a hint of pink in it, and liked it a lot.

I'm looking forward for the autumn range of Chanel. From the pictures I saw online I saw lots of things I would like to get my hands on. I haven't seen them here yet, but hopefully they get here soon and I will be Chanel-ling some more Chanel.

The Silvery Greys

This summer I slowly accumulated a small collection of silvery greys

Silvery Greys

The small Mavala nailpolish was given as a freebie with the ElleUK September edition. It's a opaque colour without any shimmer.

The sparkly bottle in the middle is another nailpolish from Dutch brand Heröme. It has holographic shimmer and that makes it quite interesting.

You will absolutetly recognize the third: DiorAddict Lipstick in Couture. I purchased this one early summer when I thought the summer would be as bright as this colour. Actually, it is a bit of a muted cherry-pink so it represented this summer quite accurately: still bright, but not as summery as a fuschia colour.

And although I am open to many makeup-options, I would not really like to wear grey lipstick ;D

Pretty Polish of the Week

This week's polish crush goes to:

Kohl nailpolish in Bronzation 149

Bronze nailpolish is at risk of becoming a bit mature-ish on me.

But with that dash of multicoloured flakies inside, it has that hint of unexpected fun...

Any colour you were particularly attracted to this week?

Newbies tries...

Nothing much has been going on, beautywise!

But I still like to share some new things I accumulated lately...

Yey, one of my ol' Korean loves...Lotree!

I bought a set, which included this dainty lipbalm with the fantastic Korenglish name "Kissing the Lipbalm Macademia".

Right, I only want to kiss the lipbalm and not the lips behind them ;-)

I know it looks so cute and girly, but I would not recommend this for the inside. It is a plain vaseline like lipbalm with some weird substance included that makes your lips burn a bit.

Another cute and girly item I bought in the local drugstore is this floraly blush from Catrice.

Au contraire the lipbalm, this is actually really good and gorgeous product for a cheap blush...

To continue on the girly path...Look at this adorable cover from Dainty sheetmasks!

This is their Lotus mask, and it is quite good! It smells lightly soapy but tolerable. The sheet is thin, but the essence is in abundance and sooo soothing. (bought it here)

Unlike the Coffee mask of Dainty I tried...

No allergies, fortunately :D, only a weird smell of coffee breath mixed with soap...bleerg. (bought it here)

I also have been wearing Ruffled Bottoms....

Just the nailpolish version of Jessica.

If I would post my ruffled bottoms in a blog, I would have created a different kind of blog, right?

So, have you been trying some new cosmetica lately? And, did you like it?