Travel | Lisbon, Portugal

-- Carmo Convent, view from Rossio Square, Lisbon --

Lisbon is such a stunning city. 

Every corner full of history. Every building full of stories. 

I love this city. 

REVIEW | FLORMAR Extreme Matte Lipstick & Waterproof Lipliners

I've been really impressed with Flormar products. You all know that I'm a sucker for high-end, luxury brands. Therefor if I'm saying that I really like a mid range brand, it's because it's actually good...

You know that I like natural looking lipsticks... you know -- my lips but better kinda of thing. And since I've heard too many good things about these Extreme Matte Lipsticks, I decided to pick one up. After swatching every lipstick on the display I settled for this dusty rose shade -- 03 Urban Rose. First of all, I knew I wanted one of this lipstick from the moment that I took the cap off. The unique shape of the lipstick sold me out completely. I love -- LOVE -- this shape. So unique and edgy.

This shade is really beautiful. It is fully matte and it glides on very smoothly. I like it and I think it goes very nicely with my skin ton. It's not super long wearing -- it's a regular lipstick! When people read "matte" they always assume long lasting, non transfer, hard to remove. But that's not the meaning of that word! Matte means not glossy or shimmery. So yeah, it transfers and it wears out. 

Since I was there, I ended up picking up two lip lines as well that I thought would go great with this lipstick. I got these two Waterproof Lipliners that are just gorgeous. And honestly I've ended up using them more on their own, rather than combined with any lipstick. Application is really easy, they go on really smoothly as well, and you don't have to press hard at all to get color out. Nr 202 is completely matte, and alone looks almost just like a subtle shear stain. I like so much. Nr 203 is a similar shade, slightly more pink-ish and it's shimmery. It's really beautiful and, for me, perfect for a night out with friends. 

EAT | Nicolau, Lisboa

Although I love Portuguese pastry -- I mean, who can resist a warm, cinnamon covered, flaky Pastel de Nata or a traditionally Ham&Cheese toast soaked in butter -- but the truth is that sometimes I just crave staple american-style breakfast food that is not that common to have here, unless you go out for brunch. And this was one of those times.

I visited Nicolau with Girl in The Clouds. We get together once in a while to talk about life, shop, and eat tasty food. Nicolau is always busy and there is almost always a line at the door. The space is really cool, very well decorated, with some odd, quirky and vintage pieces. 

I opted for something that I'd been craving for a while -- Eggs Benedict, while the Girl in Clouds had a Bowl with red rice, avocado and chicken, that looked delicious. We both had a nice warm cup of Kusmi Tea.

My eggs were amazing. The hollandaise was velvety and creamy, and it tasted like lemon -- just the way I like it. The eggs were runny and just perfect. The only thing that I have to say is that the muffin wasn't tosted, and I like it better when it's toasted -- but that's just me being picky.

EVIAN Brumisateur Facial Spray

If you have never used a facial mist before, you've been missing out on something good.

It's a great way to quickly rehydrate your parched, dried skin, or even to set your makeup.

My favorite is definitely the Evian Brumisateur Facial Spray and this has been a stable on my beach bag. I like to use it to refresh my skin when I'm just sun-bathing. It's a spray, so I just mist my face, décolletage and chest area, and this leaves me feeling cool and refreshed as it quickly gives back some of the moisture my skin is loosing by standing under the sun. 

I've also enjoyed using it as na extra step for cleansing and toning my face, along with my regular skincare routine. It's supposed to help balancing the skin pH because of it's unique mineral balance. 

There are other face mists -- or thermal waters -- on the market, but this is the cheapest I've found. And it can be bought at you regular supermarket. 

Review | NIVEA 1 Minute Urban Detox Mask Pore Refine

This 1 Minute face masks are really picking up. And thank god. I love face masks, but honestly I don't always have time or patience to wait 20 minutes for a face mask to take effect. And because of this. And since I've been loving the the +Purifing Mask so much, I've decided to try this Pore Refine version. 

This is really easy and straight forward to use --  Just squirt out a decent amount on your fingers and apply it to your face. I, personally, focus more on my nose and forehead, because that's here I have more visibly pores, but I am sure you can apply it all over your face (avoiding your eyes and lips, as usual). The mask has a gel like consistency, that doesn't drip and actually stays where you put it. You wait around one minute and you remove it with warm water. 

This product is not a miracle worker. Don't think that you are going to use this two or three times and that your pore will magically vanish. No. But if you use it for a few days straight you will notice that your skin will feel smoother and that some pores apear to be more closed up.

BENEFIT Brow Bar

For a while now, I've been getting my eyebrows threaded. BUT that hurts like hell. I mean. LIKE HELL. It hurts so much that I was literally trying to wait the most possible amount of 

time between apointments because I was litreally dreading the pain. So I decided that it was time to move on. And also, I felt like my brows were getting thinner -- the girls there get carried away sometimes.

Anyway, I just wanted to give the Benefit Brow Bar a try out and see what I might be missing.

Actually this was very much a spare of the moment decision... I was walking around El Corte Ingles, swatching everything at the Sephora Counter as usual, and I noticed that they have a Benefit Brow Bar there, so I made an appointment for the next day.

I got there right on time and sat at the bar. The first thing she did was asking me if I had any allergies or if had done any treatment to my face recently. Next she cleaned and prepped my skin, and followed with the brow mapping. She marked 3 lines on my brows, representing where they should start, end and where the highest point should be. And then she proceeded with waxing my brows according to those markings. The first thing she did was applying an oil to my skin to insure that the waxing product only grabs onto the hairs and doesn't pull on my skin. The product they use is not exactly a traditional wax, it's more like a paste infused with zinc oxide, which is great for your skin. And the waxing per se is really gentle. Believe me I've been getting my brows waxed for a very long time, and this was one of the more gently waxes I've had.

She was picking up the wax from a large wax pot, BUT evrytime she would dip in the pot, she would use a new wood stick: She picks up wax with the stick, apply it on my skin and trows away the stick. I mean it's a little wasteful but this way the pot isn't actually shared by a bunch of people. It's pretty hygienic. And even when applying any product to my face, she'd use a long q-tip, with the same method. 

After the waxing she applied a little cream and, since I told her I don't fill my brows -- just comb them with tinted gel -- that's exactly how she finished them off. She also covered some of the redness on my face with a bit of concealer and powder, and applied a little bit of bronzer just to give my face a little color -- and that made me feel brand new!

The only thing I didn't like about this experience was the fact that the brow bar is right in front of the entrance. I mean, everyone passing by could see me. I felt a little uncomfortable having her wax my upper lip while a few dudes were walking around, you know. But I can live with that. Specially because I really liked the end result. Oh and another thing -- yeah, this is a little bit expensive. Upper Lip and Brows costed me 25€, but she did my make up and gave me some tips on how to comb my eyebrows. She also gave me two samples of their eye-cream -- I DIDN'T KNEW BENEFIT HAD SKIN CARE!! And I ended up buying the eyebrow gel and the concealer (they were both on my wishlist for a while, she didn't push me into getting any product.

Honestly, if you can afford it, I really recommend this service. It's definitely expensive, but it's definitely worth it. Specially if you are a bit sensitive when it comes to facial hair removal.

Instagram Giveaway!

For the last few days I've been running a small giveaway on my Instagram @thenotsogirlygirl8. Don't miss the chance of winning this goodies! 

The rules are pretty simple: 

- Follow my Instagram account 

- Like this photo

- Tag 2 friends in the comments (I’m not picky, just don’t tag famous people or brands)

The winner will be announce on June 15th! Good luck!