Hello everyone! January is almost at an end and it's time to post my monthly newbies. As this month was really special for me (my 25th birthday was on 15th Jan) I must warn you that this post is picture heavy and also that here are some extreme goodies I woudn't have purchased otherwise, but now I felt in the mood to splurge and treat myself to the fullest. Plus let's not forget, the most important part of the month were all the gifts I have received, you guys are amazing :) I will start with some random goodies, some of them were gifts, some of them I simply wanted to buy. :P I will not post my usual list of newbies at the beginning as there were too many.
My first gift this year was from my bf's mom and it's a water heater with adjustable temperature by Russell Hobbs, which I had on my wishlist for a very long time and I am really happy to have it now, as it makes tea preparation so much easier and I can finally know when the water is right for my green teas. Very useful and I hope it will work for a very long time. Also you can see another gift here, Pajoma cherry scented candle, which I have already used up but I am thinking of repurchasing. :)
Some kitchen stuff I bought myself. I really liked the Jamie Oliver cups and I bought two different ones with discount at my local Spar store. I use them daily now and they are just the right size for breakfast or lunch. Also I bought this big box with Le Chat Noir painted on for my cereals, I like to keep them tightly closed and safe from kitchen moths ( I had some serious problems last year with getting these little creatures out of my food and I hated that I had to throw away so much of it). And last one here is a gorgeous Kenzan bowl with cherry motive inside. There's also one with pastel light blue and cherry motive, if you like. You can get both of these at CHA.
As my bday gifts I also got this set of jewelry and hairband and they are looking pretty good together. I really like the headband, but need to get used to the feeling of having something in my hair. Usually I just wear my hair in a ponytail :P I think both of these are from H&M, also under you can see my new scarf, which I also bought at H&M. :)
The most important part of my birthday gifts (mostly regarding the future of my blog) is this huge white cube and lights :) I asked my boyfriend to see what he could find to help me make better photos for my blog and he didn't just look, he got me the whole set for professional photographing :) I am one lucky gal :P Also, I am still learning how to make good photos with this, but they are much better and the best bonus is I can take them whenever I have time, there is no limit for me anymore and this is amazing, I can finally take photos even at night. :P
More beuatiful goodies I got as gifts, let's say these are all in the category of skin care/body care:) Here we have Marie Colette Bodylotion Zuckerpuppchen, L'Angelica Istituto Erboristico Officinalis purifying shower gel with tea tree oil, L'Occitane Hand cream Delightful rose, LUSH Lemony Flutter body/hand butter, Mineral Spa trio in a lovely package, Balea Bodybutter Nuss. I have already tested the L'Occitane hand cream and I keep it in my bag at all times, as it's really small and portable, prefect for when you are on the go all day. Also I have tested Lemony Flutter and I really like it so far, especially the scent is amazing! I also really love the scent of nuts in this Balea body butter, and it's really interesting as all the guys that had an oppurtunity to smell this said they didn't like it, or it smelled wrong/bad and all the girls were opposite, we all liked it.
Some more skin care/body care I have pampered myself with. I got a new Balea Dusch-bodymilk vanille in-shower body milk, which I actually use as a shaving gel. Really like the gentle scent and the just right amount of creaminess. Next is Palmolive Thermal SPA mineral massage with dead sea salt and aloe vera. I wanted to buy this one for a long time, and lately I was really just waiting to find it somewhere on a discount and when I did I immediately bought it. I simply love the scent so much and I already had this years ago and really wanted to repurchase again. Also when at Lidl, I remembered some people really praised this Cien body butter with coconut, so I kinda wanted to try and see what it's like, plus I really like the big packaging that could be reused again. Last item here is a body brush from Muller, I didn't have one before and I wanted to use it to massage my legs with it. Will see if it does any difference to my skin.
You are probably wondering why so many hair products. Wel this was not really my inteniton but I misunderstood the discount at DM store and I took the two shampoos to the cashier and she said oh you get free hair balms with it, do you want them? And I was like well, yes why not, and as she was getting them for me I realised I completely misunderstood the discount. So I got two new shampoos and two new balms, for half the price. I have not tested them yet, but I was really satisfied with the Fibrology line and wanted to try some more and see which one my hair will like best. So I got L'Oreal Paris Elseve Extraordinary Oil nourishing shampoo and conditioner plus Nutri-gloss Light shine shampoo and Nutri-gloss Crystal shine conditioner. I could just say no, I will not buy soo many products at once, but than again why not, it's not like they are going to turn bad, I will use them up, plus I share my shampoos and hair conditioners with my bf, so I think we are good for some time :P Also I don't exactly remember when I ordered the Avon Planet spa Luxuriously refining hair mask with black caviar extract, was it December or January? Well, I currently don't have any hair masks at home and these will soon go out and Avon won't sell them anymore, so they were on a "proper" dicount and I wanted to give it a try. For hair I also got L'Oreal Paris Casting Sunkiss Jelly in shade 01, a product that promised to help you create sunkissed looking hair. Well what really happened is nothing. I used almost half of the tube in one test and no change was visible so this was pretty much a waste of my money. Well, you can't have it all, there must be a bad purchase every month or so.
A mix of random new things. I got two new planners and a pen this year, both were a gift, one for my bday and one for Christmas. I am using both, one is for more serious stuff, like when do I need to be somewhere and stuff related to my studies. And the other one is for my blog, just to keep everything organised, so I don't forget about a lipstick and such :P Also I really liked the scent of this candle, so I bought it at DM store, they still have them on sale at the moment. I actually needed to buy a new nail polsih remover and I got one from Aveo, never had this brand before, usually I buy Ebelin one. Last product here is my only new nail polish this month, it's by Catrice and their Rock-o-co limited edition in shade C01 L'Ombre a Sanssouci. I have already posted a photo of this one here :)
As for eye makeup I have fulfilled my wishlist regarding eyeshadow palettes. I got myself two new ones, one is by Deborah Milano and it's their latest one Secrets of the Smokey eye shade 1 Nude Rose and the other one is by Sleek (what a surprise :P) and it's their Arabian Nights palette. I have already been using the Deborah one and I must say I don't like it as much as I hoped I would. It's simply too dusty and the pigmentation of all of the shades is not of the smae quality. The shades are really pretty and I like it but I kinda hoped they would be like the Deborah quattro eyeshadows, which are really really good. I have not tried yet the Sleek one, I know I must be sick or something :P I only had one eyeshadow base for a long time now, about a year, teh Essence one and I must say now that I need my makeup to stay still all day not just half a day this doesn't work for me anymore. So I bought myself the new Catrice Prime and Fine eyeshadow base. And so far, I am not impressed. Not bad, but also not that good, that I could actually say I notice a difference between the two of them. I need to test it some more, with some of my favourite eyeshadows, So far I have tested it with the new Deborah palette and maybe these two just don't work well together. I bought a new mascara, MaxFactor Masterpiece Transform high impact volumising mascara. It's good, very good formula that makes my lashes really black and the brush really catches them all. As for the volume or lenght, well not so good. My natural lashes are too stubborn even for this mascara, I need to practice some more tricks to get a better effect. Last one here is a new eyeshadow by Avon, Extralasting eyeshadow pot in shade Forever bronze. This seemed like my type of shade and I have already tested it. It is truly amazing! Easy to apply, easy to blend and actually stays put all day. The Maybelline ones are good, but this is better. Even though my contacts started to get too dry and I was rubbing my eyes a lot, like pressing my fingers directly in the middle of my lids, this still wouldn't go off. Pretty impressive if you ask me, I would buy more shades, but I think there are only 4 different available and this one is the best choice for everyday makeup.
The first thing I got myself for my bday, a bit early but still, was this face brush by Braun. I had a 50% discount coupon, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it (90 euros for something you don't even know will work for you is quite a lot) and I have been using this one for almost a month now. I have not tried the epilator yet, and I might never really try it, because what I really wanted to try was the brush. I must say my skin got really used to it and if I don't use it for two or three days straight my skin really misses it. I got so used to the feeling that I really like to use it and it's actually very gentle. Some say it's even more gentle than Clarisonic ones. I will post a more detailed review, but this is definitely helping my skin getting better. I can really see it by looking at my pores on my forehead and cheeks, they look smaller and a lot more clean than they ever did before. Also I have received a couple of compliments to my skin just after a week or so of regular, everday use and there really is a difference. I do however worry how will this brush effect my skin in lets say, 10 years time?
Some products for my face. I got Schaebens Schoko maske, chocolate face mask as a gift and also this Weleda Hautcreme Skin Food, that is said to be really good for your skin in winter tiem or in general, if you have dry skin, dry patches. This one was also on ym wishlist for some time now and I am really happy to be receiving this as a bday gift. At E.Leclerc I got another bottle of Inelll Visage Lait Demaquillant douceur, face milk for removing my makeup. I have almost finished my previous bottle and I have been repurchasing this for about a year now and it's really good and especially cheap. For my mourning cleaning routine I wanted to try something gentle and I read at Mateja's beauty blog that this is pretty good and also one of the cheap thrills, so I got Inell Visage Mousse Nettoyante Hydratante as well.
From Oriflame Slovenija I received a big package of goodies to test. I got a really lovely, ladylike perfume Eclat Femme EdT 50 ml, for skincare I got Bio Clinic Adult Skin Anti-Breakout day/night cream. And my favourite part, as always, I got two new lip products. I got Lip Spa care lip balm in shade Nude and Giordani Gold Jewel lipstick in shade Dusky Nude. I have already tested and opened everything :P I love both lip products, the lipstick is amazing! The perfume is really lovely, I would describe it as grown up but chic. I have already started to test the face cream treatment but it will take at least a month before I can say how and if this works on me. :)
Ok and this is emmm... a photo of a lot of lippies :P Well, if you don't know yet I have a lipstick/lipbalm/lipgloss/lipstain obsession and they are my favourite part of any makeup look. I simply love lip products and this month I had a good excuse to really spoil myself :P I got Oriflame Giordani Gold Iconic Liquid Lipstick in Rose Petal and also Oriflame The ONE BB Lip balm. From Avon I bought one of their Luxe lipsticks, in shade Joie and also a new product by them, tinted lip balm in shade Soothing Strawberry. From Revlon I have four new lippies, I got Colorstay Moisture stain in 055 Stockholm chic as a gift, and this is my third shade from the range. Really love these, they have amazing pigmentation and feel so light on the lips. On sales I got Just Bitten Kissable balm stain in 001 Honey Douce, which was on my wishlist for a long time and essiebutton finally convinced me into purchasing it. When I went to pick up my order I saw that they had shade 010 Darling Cherie on discount at the store, but not also online, and it was even cheaper than the one I got online, so well, I got this one too. While waiting for my order I was checking the site again, the discount was still valid and well, caved in and got another one of my long wished for products, Colorburst lip butter in shade 027 Juicy papaya. So instead of what was initially just a purchase of one lippie, I bought three :P At DM store there was a "purchase candy", 1+1 on MaxFactor lipsticks and I bought two more, now I have total of 5 shades and all of them are really good. I got shades 615 Star Dust Pink and 833 Rosewood. Essence started spring sales before the change of the regular offer and I got myself one lipgloss, a very unusal bright colour for me, but I was really into spring mode already and wanted to buy light, fresh colour so I got XXXL Shine lipgloss in 25 Bright side of life. Also from Essence I got two lipsticks from their limited edition I love nude, shades 03 Come Naturally and 05 Cool Nude, which I have already reviewed here. From Catrice I got one lipstick as a bday gift, it's their Ultimate Shine 290 Chestnut tree and it's an amazing brownish-nudeish lipstick, perfect for the upcoming spring trend. Also from Catrice I bought from their new products Pure Shine Colour lip balm, I have not tried any of these before, in shade 100 Sheer your mind!
And more gifts for meeee :P I got this lovely mortar for my kitchen/home made beauty and so far I really loved using it, for cooking as well as making my own homemade face masks in it :P It's a very useful little item to have plus it looks pretty good :P To keep me healthy I got Spirulina, a dietary supplement I really like to use in winter time to help me stay healthy and well, feel good in general. It's also supposed to help out with skin problems, help your hair, nails. Plus some chocolates I got, I got lots more :P My parents got me a huge 1 kg large chocolate with whole nuts:P
The most "student" gift I got, along with the two planners, I asked for coloured markers as I really didn't have any left that still worked and well, I got them :P
And finally, this is a mix of goodies I have received this morning. I have won a giveaway at Beauty of A Lemon blog and got these Beauty Sweeties goodies :) Thanks again Simona, and you guys should go check her blog out, she's amazing! Also from Formona Slovenija I have received some testers, including body care, shampoos, a lot of different stuff I will be happy to try out. :)
Sorry for a very long and picture heavy post but a quarter of a century deserves a longer post and some more of my ramblings. Thank you all for taking such a great care of me and for all your gifts :) I am a really lucky girl, am I not? :P
Thanks for reading!
Love, UniqaPoly
