Review | ZOEVA Sweet Glamour Blush Pallet

A girl can never have enough blushes, right? And when I saw this blush pallet I just knew I had to have it. This Zoeva Sweet Glamour Blush Pallet is a cool-toned beautiful trio: two enchanting, dreamy blush colors and a soft, lustrous highlight. Perfect for both an everyday make up and a more glam look.

This pallet is just so stunning. First, the packaging! It is so magical. It's glamorous and elegant and it looks stunning just laying on my desk. Zoeva's attention to details is just remarkable and mind blowing... 

One of the thinks I'm just obsessed about on this packaging is the unicorn-metallic-rainbow lettering! I just can't stop staring at it!  The pictures don't really capture it, but it's really beautiful IRL.

Both of the blushes are fully matte. They are super pigmented but extremely blendable. I know that they look rather rich and vibrant on the pan, but honestly they look quite natural when applied to the skin. The give just nice pop of color and vivacity to the face. The highlighter, is pearly white, iridescent with incredibly fine silver-ish shimmer all thru it. It's soft, and gives you a natural glow that is amazing. It works amazingly well mixed with the blushes! Specially with ideal love, which I have to admit is my favorite blush right now. 

Inbox | Embelleze Christmas Kit

Thank you so much Embelleze ! You guys spoil us with so many goodies! 

Stuck In My Head | Hourgalss

This song chills me to the bones. It does things to my brain. And describes exactly and perfectly what I want.

And I'm so impatient when you're not mine

I just want to catch up on all the lost times

And I'll say I'm sorry if I sound sordid

'Cause all I really ever want is you

Offer my hand and I'll take your name

Share my shower, kiss my frame

'Cause I wanna carry all of your children

And I wanna call them stupid shit

Almost too cute to eat, don't you think?

Origin \\ Dan Brown

I bought this book as soon as it was out. Dan Brown is on my favorite writers. I love his books. I love the mystery, the adventures, and how plausible his stories are. For me, his books are a complete escape from reality. This always happens to me: I just get completely sucked up into his stories, that I just forget about the world. It took me less than a week to read these 550 pages and when I finished I felt like I had no idea what to do with my life.

I really enjoyed this one in particular. Because it takes place in cities and places I know so very well and that are really dear to my heart...The story is really well thought. It's complex yet I feel like it could be completely true!

The cover kinda of gives away the location -- Yes, it's Barcelona. I lived there for a while, and I've had so many adventures on that beautiful Catalan city. So yeah, while reading this book I could feel and smell that city, and since Dan Brown's descriptions are always so accurate I almost felt like I was the one living this story. It's a great book. Totally recommend.

INBOX | NOVEX Mystic Curls Shampoo & Conditioner

-- how cute is this rapping?! and the little sticker! love it --

One of my favorite brands to work with is Embelleze Portugal! I love being a blogger ambassador and I love receiving and trying out all the goodies that they occasionally send me!

This time, they have kindly sent me two products from their Mystic Black line. I'm honestly excited to try these out! I have wavy hair. Not curly. Wavy. And I'm always straightening it because it's just easier to control. When I don't do it, my hair just gets all frizzy and tangled and it just looks bad. I'm going to try these out and see if they make any difference. It's says it's suitable for all hair types, so we'll see.  Oh, and I have to tell you -- these smell like magic.

How to take care of an expensive bag

Recently I bought my first expensive leather handbag. It's something that I've wanted for a while, finally I felt like it was the time to splurge. It's a Furla Like S in Onix. I spent a lot of money on this bag. And I want to give it the best care possible. I've done some research to see how I can ensure this handbag will last me a long time, and always look good. 

Here go some general tips.

The first tip is really basic: Be extra careful! Not that I'm not careful with my other handbags, but just try to avoid careless mistakes! To be more specific: 

1. Avoid handling your bag if your hands are dirty or if you have lotion on them.

2. Avoid squishing your bag or stuffing it with too much stuff, avoiding stretching it out. 

3. Avoid -- at any cost -- getting your bag wet. Apply regularly an water-repellent spray.

3. Keep your bag out of direct sunlight, or heat sources.

4. Rotate which handbag you carry regularly so that they don’t wear out too quickly.

5. Use a suede brush to clean and revive suede.

6. Regular use of a leather moisturizer will keep the leather supple and free of cracks.

7. Wipe your bag down on a weekly basis (when in use) with a soft cloth.

Keep the inside gunk free: Use pouches to store cosmetics and liquids, which will protect the handbag lining from spills. Avoid click pens at all cost, go for pens with caps instead. Better yet, put those in your pouch too, in case of dreaded ink leaks. And candy! Don't put candy in your bag. Just don't. 

Store them properly: up right position inside the cotton dust bag they normally come in. Good substitute: cotton pillow case. Never, NEVER, store them in plastic bags, because it this traps moisture. Cross the handles over each other to avoid wear on the bag and unclip any removable straps. If the bag needs something to keep it's shape up, stuff it with scarfs, or a t-shirt, or acid-free tissue paper -- it's really inexpensive on eBay, and you can keep using it over and over. I asked for some in the store where I bought my handbag and they were super kind and gave me enough to stuff my bag.

Products that were recommended to me:
- BÚFALO Leather Protection Spay. This spray nurtures and protects the leather and it can be used on anything that's made of leather around your house. It's cheap and It really helps keeping your bag smooth and beautiful. I got it a local supermarket.
- Waterproof spray for leathers. I've gone thought many cans of this -- from may different brands, I always get at my local supermarket... I apply it on shoes all the time too. It's perfect for suede!
- Magic Eraser (also known as melanine sponge). Bought a bunch of them off of eBay, really cheap. It's great for cleaning hardware and little decorations. Also works really good on shoes btw. You don't need any product, just a tiny but of water and it just makes everything shinny and lovely again.

How do you take care of you bags? Let me know your tips and what works for you in the comments!

Review | ZOEVA Cocoa Blend Pallet

Lately I've been hearing -- and reading -- a lot of good things about Zoeva products. Everybody talks about how great their brushes are, and how good their pallets are... So yeah, I caved in and I bought a pallet. Honestly, it was kinda of hard to choose one, Zoeva pallets are all so beautiful. From what I've seen, their pallets are all really complete,  meaning, I could do a complete eye look without needing any other shade. And this of course, applies to the one picked up.

I ended up getting the Cocoa Blend Pallet. Which is inspired in one my things in the word -- Paline Chocolates! 

Honestly, I feel in love immediately with two metallic shades on this pallet as soon as I saw it: warm note and pure ganache. And even tho I'm not too into really bold eye-looks, I have to admit I'm absolutely dying to wear these two on my face.

First of all, just take a good hard look at this mother fucking packaging! I honestly think it's the most beautiful pallet I've ever seen. I love how the gold picks up and reflects the light... I love the pattern, I think everything about it is just stunning.

The pallet comes with 10 shades, which is pretty good. It has 4 fully matte shades (bitter start, beans are black, substitute for love, and freshly tosted) 5 metallic shades (sweeter end, warm notes, subtle blend, pure ganche and delicate acidity) and one shade that I think we can call glittery (infusion). 

-- here are some poorly performed swatches, as usual. enjoy --

All the shadows are super buttery. They glide on very easily and they are super blendable. Really. I've been fooling around with this pallet a lot -- manly because I want to create a cool look to wear at my office's Christmas party this year -- and even these eye-shadows are super pigmented, they blend almost seamlessly with almost no effort. I am so in love with warm notes and pure ganache. 

Oh and one more thing -- although this is inspired by chocolates, it does not have that disgusting, sweet, chocolate smell that the too faced chocolate pallets have. Thank god, because I hate that. It's so nauseating. 

Overall, this pallet is awesome. And it is not that expensive. I believe was 27€ or something around that. I really think these shades are perfect for everyday, but also for when you need a little unf. And  I need unf  in my life. Don't you?