Instagram post

My first Instagram post on the blog. I post daily on my instagram page but I do not know how many of you are actually following me. Even if you are not I will occasionally share some of the photos on the blog too. Enjoy...

Fossil Cecile watch - since I saw it on Fossil instagram page I could not get it out of my head. It is such a beautiful contrast between rose gold and mint color. It was sold out everywhere and I had it on backorder from Nordstrom. I think it will be perfect for summer.

Birthday gift from my love <3 

First ever Tory Burch purchase. Randomly ended up at her outlet store and snatched these two. I saw some beautiful wallets, sweaters and some shoes that I liked. I have a feeling I will be going back (yeeeks).

Liquid gold called J'adore. One of the best fragrances on the market. Cult classic. And I love Charlize in this add, she is simply stunning. 

Currently using Lancome Energie de vie both for night and day. Love how my skin is finally moisturized enough and feels plumped and has healthy glow. Full review coming up.

Old time favorite. Reminds me of  my college years. It was love at the first smell.

Another birthday gift. I picked it myself. MAC small rectangular bag and 4 MAC brushes. 

Layering is the key to longer lasting fragrance. I love using same shower gel and body lotion. Sometimes even without a perfume. 

Sneak peak of Lancome Golden riviera summer 2014 collection. I need this bronzer in my life! 

Sign on the wall in Ronald McDonald house where I have spent all together 4 months. My home away from home. Never loose hope.

You can tell I am slightly obsessed with L'occitane Almond shower oil. No I did not buy all of these. Two of them I received as a gift with purchase (one small and one big one). Other two big ones I bought for 16$ together! What a steal! Originally they are 38$ each but I found them in the L'occitane outlet 2 for 36$ and I had gift card on top of that. I could not pass a deal like this one.

Swarovski bice pendant is finally mine. I have been looking for it for past 7 years. I am not kidding. I saw it on my wedding day, one of the guests was wearing it. I went immidieatly to buy it , but it was so expensive and I could not afford it at the time. When we came to USA both me and my hubby were trying to buy it, it was discontinued and I even had Swarovski store call their stores and warehouses across the USA to find it, and no one had it.  Recently Swarovski outlet opened close to our home and often we would look around , but never bought anything. Couple of weeks ago hubby wanted to go there again and I told him "What is the point of going to their store when I never buy anything? You are just bothering me every time". But we did go in and the first thing I saw was my long lost love called Bice pendant! I could not believe my eyes I think I screamed out loud! It's finally mine <3 I am really not big on jewelery and don't really care about it but this was one of the rare pieces that I actually wanted so bad.

February and March 2014 hauls

I can easily use my birthday month as an excuse for excessive shopping... Anyway life became very difficult again and as always I had a need to shop like there is no tomorrow. I never get any gifts for my birthday from other people - or rarely ever so I decided couple of years ago that I will start treating myself. 

First up my MAC fix - small haul including re-promoted Perfect topping - unfortunately not as good as original release. Why oh why does MAC do this? Lately they have been promoting some amazing old products. Well actually they would create completely new product and just use a name of the old one. So irritating. Old Perfect topping was very unique and I was so excited to be able to buy it again. I am not saying new one is not nice but it's not the same as the original. 

Mineralize blush in Petal power - This one is stunning with it's beautiful golden sheen. I can't wait to review it. I can see myself wearing it often especially during warmer months. It sold out quickly but I can tell you this is back up worthy.

 Dior amber diamond <3 My first ever HE makeup purchase. Long long time ago I think it was 2007. I still have it but I bought another one when I realized it was gone completely. I know it got discontinued a while ago in EU but was hoping it will stay permanent in the US. Well since they are coming out with two new shimmer powders they got rid of Amber diamond. I will never forgive you Dior!! So I went on a hunt trying to find it and thankfully local Nordstrom had two left and shipped one to me.

Now my real birthday haul from Ulta. I restocked on some skincare. My skin is terribly dry, like a dessert. I decided to switch to Tonique confort (btw I love it! what a pleasant surprise) from my Tonique radiance (will go back to it when this never ending winter ends). Also wanted to try hydrating mask for a first time - let's see if it will make any difference, I am not big believer in masks.  Binefait UV is my choice for this summer when it comes to sun protection. Previous two summers I used clinique and shiseido and I loved both, but wanted to try something new.  Juicy tubes are one of my favorite glosses and I added Hallucination to my
collection.

Second part of my Ulta : OPI avoplex oil - buying it for the second time. When I originally got it I did not like it at all. Lately I have been using it often and it is great when applied right before I make nail swatches. Great for on the go to. Clarisonic cashmere cleanse will replace my sensitive brush - can't wait to try it! CK one mascara is birthday gift from Ulta. I have never tried anything from CK one line but I have heard some amazing things about their foundation. Too faced revamped they Natural eyes palette and I had to buy it. I am huge fan of the first one. It has been my mostly used palette of all the eyeshadows and palettes I have (reviewed here).

 Lancome added another product to their Visionnaire line. So excited to try Visionnaire blur! I wore it today with Lancome teint miracle foundation over it and first impressions are that this can easily become my all time favorite primer. Makes skin super smooth and silky without heavy silicone feeling. 

 NARSSisist eyeshadow palette. They pretty much hit it out of the park with this one. Lately NARS has been killing my wallet. Selection of their best eyeshadows all in one palette. What morec oould one NARS fan ask for? <3
I love the looks Lauren created with his palette http://www.lcmakeupblog.com/2014/01/fotd-using-new-narsissist-eyeshadow.html  http://www.lcmakeupblog.com/2014/01/arabic-eye-inspired-fotd-with.html

Giorgio Armani blush number 10 has been sitting on my wishlist for months. Or maybe a year? I keep delaying to buy it but when I found out that they will discontinue it and come out with new line of blushes I had to order it right away. I am sure it sold out quickly among it's loyal fans. It is very pretty shade for light skin tones. Not to beige not to pink with subtle shimmer. Why do companies discontinue such a classic products? This is my first Armani product.

Couple of new fragrances. I needed another one like I need hole in the head. Manifesto was such a surprise. I have tried it many times on the blotter and it was just ok, not worth buying. It has this annoying top note. I liked how it smelled on other people. Couple of weekends ago I sprayed it on my skin just for fun even though I already had perfume on... First it completely overpowered what I had on, it had amazing staying power and smelled better and better as timed went by. It is extremely sweet, yummy and sexy at the same time.

I have been eyeing Valentina for over two years. I remember trying it when it came out and I liked it right away. Simple, feminine, soft. Easy to wear and great choice for springs. Main reason I did not buy it was that staying power is not so great. It's not terrible but not as good as I would like it to be. Well I broke down and finally got it. I will make sure to use it often this spring. 

Finally I treated myself with one of the best perfumed body lotions out there - Prada Infusion D'iris. I've had small bottle long time ago and loved it. It smells exactly like the perfume which I find is very rare, mostly ancilery products smell similar with some added "plastic" scent to it. I assume it's hard to recreate the same scent used in actual fragrance and transfer it to body lotion, shower gel etc... And huge plus is that it is actually very moisturizing which is almost never the case with this type of body products. Only thing I find annoying is that there is no pump. Seriously for 50$ body lotion they could at least put a pump on that bottle! I used Infusion D'iris EDP 4 years ago and brings beautiful memories back on our vacation to Hawaii. Can't wait to use it again this summer! 

January 2014 MAC Hauls

I have been neglecting MAC for a while. I get really overwhelmed with their 354524 collections a month and I turned to other brands like Nars, Chanel, Lancome... I love MAC staple products that are in their permanent line and there is always something I haven't tried yet and it's been on my wishlist for a while. 

I found out that they are discontinuing Strobe lotion. WHY OH WHY MAC? I can't believe it. I love mixing it with my foundations to give a nice glow or when foundation is too dark it helps make the color lighter. I previously reviewed it here . Instead of buying a back up I wanted to try Strobe cream and decided on getting a travel size - 30ml compared to full size that's 50ml. These last super long anyway. Cream should be better for my skin type - dry during the winter. I will post review soon and comparison to Strobe lotion.  

Another thing I wanted to try is Moisture infusion. It's very lightweight gel that can be worn before your moisturizer, or after, or on it's own before makeup. 

I was sure I am done with Magnetic nude collection but somehow It's physical fluidline ended up in my cart. Other two items I purchased from this collection I already reviewed here. I will have review of the fluidline up shortly.

I have been lemming these paint pots for a while and I finally bite the bullet. The only one that was not planned is Vintage selection but when I swatched it I was surprised how come I never noticed it when it's so beautiful. The only one I forgot to swatch is Perky. This is my first time getting more paint pots, I only have one so far that I only use as a base color, so let's see how it goes with these. I saw many beautiful soft looks created with these. I will try to make it work for me too, hopefully. 

L'occitane and Sephora VIB Sale 2013 hauls

Time for another haul post.  I had my eye on a couple of product for a while but most of items were bought on a whim... which is unusual for me. I like to plan my purchases. Especially since Sephora has their annual VIB sale in November.

I got : 

Clarins one step exfoliating cleanser - had it long time ago and been wanting to buy it since then. Love to use it in shower, love how gentle yet effective it is. 

NARS Orgasm illuminator - had a mini one, wasn't really impressed but Adrijana convinced me that I "need" it :)

NARS Dolce vita lipstick - been wanting it forever! Such a beatiful MLBB shade. Nars makes great lipsticks

NARS Mississippi mermaid eyeshadow - new "cinematic" formula is mind blowing! It's not a cream but not a powder either. It's hybrid and feels smooth like a butter and shade is not so unique, but very wearable champagne with multi colored shimmer. I can see myself hitting pan on this one.

Bobbi Brown blush in Washed rose - fell in love with it over a year and finally bough it! For me it's a unique shade I do not have anything similar to it, plus I wanted to try more Bobbi Brown products. 

Hourglass Ambiend powder in Luminous light - this is probably the product that I "need" the least but all the crazy hype around Ambient powders made me try at least one and Luminous is right up my alley. (I also tried Dim in store and it's beautiful especially for cool skin tones).

Guerlain Maxi shine lip gloss - this is my first Guerlain lipgloss. I actually wanted to buy Dior but when I saw this shade in store and swatched it I fell in love - such a wearable mauve color with amazing shimmer. Kind of remind me of Rouge coco shine in Boy but in a gloss version.

I am on a L'occitane roll. I keep getting more and more stuff. The only thing I avoid from them is face care. I always brake out terribly. Thankfully they have enough amazing body and hair products. This is my fourth bottle of Citrus verbena shower gel - my husband loves it too, it's such a fresh scent. Great for summer or morning showers to boost energy.  Hand cream is their cult Shea hand cream but in special holiday limited edition (not sure that I really like this year's design). Recently I bought their Repair shampoo but after that I tried the sample of Volumizing one and actually liked it much better so I decided to buy it. Almond shower oil was gift with purchase - woohoo! I love how generous L'occitane is. I always get a great deal plus I was able to use my gift card. 

Before these two hauls I also bought NARS Daydream blush - this was love at first sight! I will be reviewing it soon!

Holiday season is the worst when it comes to cosmetics. So many great deals, palettes, sales, gwps... my wallet is crying in a corner. 

I am back! My hauls in past two months...

Life has been hard in past two months. Not to go into details, some of you already know what was going on but simply it was my and my family's toughest time. I did some serious retail therapy, please be aware this post will be picture heavy!

Chanel made some serious damage to my wallet.

Chanel samples

The body shop always sucks me in to buy tons of stuff since it's so cheap when on sale. I am excited to try beauty oils. Mango shower gel and foot scrub are re-purchases. 

Lately I have been giving L'occitane a lot of love. Shea body lotion I got on 50% sale! Who doesn't love a good deal? I have been wanting to try Almond scrub since it came out last year, but since it was LE it was sold out fast. I heard some great things about Verbena scrub and I have been eyeing it also for a while. I was waiting to ran out of scrub I had. Also I got nice GWP - cosmetic bag, Verbena mini shower gel and body lotion as well as verbena cooling hand gel (not pictured) and verbena roll on perfume (not pictured).

And how could I ever resist good deal with Lancome? I planned to get Juicy tubes in Raspberry ice for a while, and as soon as I saw they offer free shipping and two free samples - Bienfait day and night cream I went ahead and ordered it. How generous is this? I love how Lancome treats and spoils their customers. Absolutely the best customer service in the industry.

New addition to Lancome line finally in the US! Energie de vie face cream and lotion. I think it's currently exclusive to Sephora where I purchased it. 

 I finally got my hands on it - Blush subtil palette in Nectar lace

I love layering fragrance and I was so glad to snatch this Chloe shower gel. Mini body lotion and edp were GWP.

My favorite MAC items - Mineralize skin finishes. L-R : Adored, Soft and gentle , Porcelain pink. This is my second Soft and gentle. First one I had for over 4 years and it's still one of my top 5 MAC items. I haven't got pigments in years since I realized I never use them. Yes they are messy and colors I got a while ago are so dark and crazy and I do not know what to combine them with. So this time I chose Vanilla - cult classic and Naked - simple and wearable shades.

And completely unplanned purchase... Kerastase shampoo. I just had very bad day and got this as soon as I saw it at Nordstrom rack. Hopefully I like it (especially for the price). 

As I warned you this will be picture heavy! 

I want to thank my readers who reached to me asking what is going with the blog, is everything ok... etc. It is really appreciated and hopefully life has some good things in future for me and my family.

I am so happy I am back to blogging, I really missed it!