Recharging my batteries...

Picture from travel catalogue

... guess where?

A hint:
it's two hours by plane from Vienna and it's an island in the Meditarranean...

¿Habláis Español? Catalán?

This is the hotel we're staying at, I also booked a car for the entire week so we are able to go wherever we want.

I've been dragging myself to work everyday, I am so ready for a break, I am going to relax and do nothing and just worry about when I'll have my next meal :o)

So long my dear readers, have you already guessed where I am? :-)

*smooch*
Blusherine


P.S.: The solution will be provided in the next post... :-)

*edit: here it is!

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China Glaze "Second-Hand Silk"

China Glaze Second-Hand Silk

is a cool toned pink shade and it's what's on my nails right now.

Somehow I feel like singing: "I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world..."

:-)

It has a cream finish, which is my favorite finish in a nail polish. Two coats made for a smooth and even coverage.

I used:
Base Coat: Seche Clear
2 Coats of China Glaze Second-Hand Silk
Essence Better than Gel Nails Top Coat


They predict 30 degree weather for the upcoming weekend (approx. 80 degrees Fahrenheit), so Danube, here I come! (Where my boyfriend lives, you can go bathing in a branch of the Danube!)

xoxo
Blusherine

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Catrice Made to Stay Longlasting Eyeshadows

Hi there everyone!

I hope you had a great weekend!

I got the Catrice Made to Stay Longlasting Eyeshadows from the Modern Muse Collection last week and I thought I'd post swatches.

They will be part of the permanent range of Catrice products so no need to rush. I got all three because I liked how neutral and wearable these are.

So let's get right into it, the shades in the pots look like this:

040 Lord of the Blings
is a brownish silvery shade

060 Jennifer's Goldrush
is a golden olive shade
(it took me a while to get the punchline... Jennifer Rush, do you remember her? :o))

050 Metall of Honor
is a chocolate brown shade



(click to enlarge)


Catrice describes them as longlasting metallic creme shadows.

I find them more gritty than metallic and a little sheer. They remind me of the MAC paint pots that came out with the Cham Pale Collection earlier this year, lots of frost but not too much color. They're only 3,49 euros though, compared to the MAC shadows, which were 19,50 euros!
(*edit: both the Catrice shadows and the MAC paint pots contain 5 g/0,17 fl oz)

I also found that they are a little hard to spread evenly. They dry down very fast and you have to be precise with your application or you'll end up rubbing them out with your fingers. I apply all cream shadows with my MAC 217 blending brush and I realized quickly that I had to be really precise the first time around. Because once they're on they're on!

It could be that these are already a bit dried up because when I bought them at Müller drugstore the lids were loosely sitting on the pots, I don't know how long they have been standing there like this, half-open! So it could only be that only mine are a little hard to work with.

I can't tell you much about how long they last because I tested them on my eyes when I got them but removed them right away. They were not removed that easily, so I bet these stay put.
Today I used them for a complete eye makeup on top of Urban Decay Primer Potion. So far, after 2 hours of wear, no creasing whatsoever! I predict that these are really longwearing, due to the fact that they dry down so fast and do not budge after that.


So pros and cons:

Pros:
Nice neutral and wearable shades
At 3,49 euros very affordable
Probably longlasting, from what I can tell so far
(*edit: they absolutely are longlasting, I am able to report now, one day later, they held up perfectly)

Cons:
A little gritty and sheer
A little hard to spread evenly
A little hard to blend


All in all I think they you get good value for your money. If they bring out more neutral shades like these, I will definitely be looking into them.


xoxo
Blusherine

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How to budget for your beauty expenses

Hi everyone!

Since us beauty bloggers all share SOME kind of addiction - be it cosmetics - or clothes (or even both :-)) - I thought I'd do a post about budgeting.

Does it happen to you too, that you don't keep track of your costs and think you're totally within your monthly budget, but then, when you get to the end of the month you realize that somehow it just doesn't add up? :o)

Well, it does happen to me! Sometimes, at the beauty counter, I just get carried away...

I read on Yvonne's blog yesterday, that she couldn't decide which blush to buy from the MAC Semi-Precious Collection so she got them all... :o))
I had to laugh, because it sounded so familiar. Sometimes there is just no holding back.

But to keep me from financial trouble I do plan ahead, and I thought, why not share how I do it. I'd love to know how you budget for your beauty expenses!

So, in order not to disclose too much personal information I'll use fictional numbers. Let's pretend I am a billionaire and earn 1.000.000 a month, and let's call the money Mickey Mouse Dollars...

So first thing I do is write down how much money is at my disposal every month. I have done it like this this ever since I went to college and had to make ends meet. Since I have a full-time job now, it's a lot easier to get by each month, but I still have to plan.

I used to do my calculations on a sheet of paper, now I do it on an Excel sheet. And I update it every day! First thing I do in the morning when I get to my office desk is update my budget. So here we go, Step 1:

Ok, Step 2 is write down all the monthly expenses beneath:


Once you have figured out all the monthly costs, deduct the costs from your income, there is a specific Excel formula that you can look up on the internet:



Now every time something gets withdrawn from your bank account, you have to correct it in the Excel sheet too. Say, if your rent is withdrawn, you correct the income number and at the same time you delete the row "rent". Your remaining amount will not change, because all you do is subtract something that you have planned for.

For clothes and makeup it's the same. When I buy something and the money gets withdrawn from my account, I correct the income number and at the same time reduce my budgeted number. Sometimes I spend the money all on makeup, sometimes all on clothes, it doesn't matter as long as I stick to the general budget that I planned for both!

So say I use up all my budget for clothes and makeup, then my spreadsheet will look like this:

As you can see, my income amount has become less, but the money at my disposal for the rest of the month has remained the same.

Sometimes it gets a bit challenging, like when MAC released the Hello Kitty Collection, I didn't really stick to my budget! :o) When that happens, I usually try to skip the upcoming collections.

I plan ahead for months, so I not only do this for the current month, but for months ahead, because I want to be aware of what's coming up, say I have extraordinary expenses that are coming up like maintainances at my apartment or a trip and so on, I will put that down way ahead in order to be prepared.

I hope this helped.

Oh, one last tip if you're on a tight budget:

Try to avoid any stores that are dangerous :o) Don't even get in the door! Once you're in and see things that you like, your nice little Excel sheet is going to mentally burst into flames... :o)

And if you're easily caught up in the wonderful world of other bloggers' makeup swatches, try to turn off the computer and read a book instead!

;-)

Blusherine


P.S. If you do a post about budgeting, please link it in the comments, I'd love to read it!

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A Spinning Transformation

It took me a while, but here it is, the anticipated green look! :-)

How are you all?!

It's been kind of cold and chilly for July here in Vienna, I am hoping for better weather every day, in the meantime, to make me feel a little better, I put turquoise nail polish on my toe nails and heavily tanned myself with self tanner. It feels a little bit more like summer that way! :-)


Aaaaaaaanyway, I used the MAC Valiant Quad for my eye makeup today, it came out earlier this year with the Wonder Woman Collection. I used one additional MAC (LE) color - Magnetic Fields - to deepen up the crease.

Products used:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Shadows from the Valiant Quad:
Valiant (on the lid and lower lashline)
Spinning Transformation (in the crease)
Manila Paper (as highlight and in inner corner)
Magnetic Fields (LE) (for outer v and outer lower lashline)
Maybelline The Falsies Mascara


Here is how I placed the shades:



And here is a picture of MAC Valiant Quad:

Have a great day everyone!

Blusherine

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