Update: Giveaway Reminder and a bit of News!

SOURCE
Wanted to do a little update and share with you some great news and what better way to do that than to include a cute duckling picture, to thanks you all for the support so far! Matter of fact, when I was younger I had two little duckling pets and they are the cutest bird ever, in my opinion 🙂 Moreover, I thought it would get us all in the Easter celebrations at an early stage. Next I would like to remind all the followers of this blog that I am currently having a giveaway, so please enter if you haven’t already as it ends on 16th April! You can do so by clicking on the image below, it will take you to the corresponding post.


Next I have some exiting news to share with you all! The gorgeous people at The Cosmetic House have contacted me and offered a little bit of a discount code for all my lovely readers! I will shortly be running some competition for which the prize will be a discounted amount of money that will be donated by the website to the winner of this competition. So keep a look out for that!


Moreover, they have been kind enough to offer a 5% discount to all my readers. All you have to do to benefit is to go onto the site HERE and register to the website (this is for free). While registering, you will be asked how you got to know about the website. All you have to do is put my blog as the referral and they will contact you for your discount! This is so very exiting for me 🙂 please let me know if you make use of this offer and what you think about the service.

Charlene xxxx

Haul: Revlon and Rimmel

As I mentioned in a previous post, I love buying online and this is another case of online shopping that I could not restrain myself from doing. Not long ago I heard a YouTube guru LegallyBrunette214 talking about the Revlon Colorstay Active foundation, which is an oil free, sweat proof formula with light coverage. I love my Revlon Colorstay foundation, but I do not find it feasible to use for everyday as it takes some time to blend and offers high coverage, which you don’t really want for everyday necessarily. I was very sad to realize however that the product was being discontinued.

Thus, when I came across this product in my exact shade on The Cosmetic House website I was trilled to be able to give this product a try. I also was looking for a good concealer and I had heard so many good things about the Rimmel Match Perfection that it went straight to my cart. And last of all came the Revlon Colorstay 12 Hour Eye Shadow in Sterling Rose, which I had been in my wishlist for some time.

Left to Right Clockwise: Revlon Eyeshadow in 345 Sterling Rose,
Revlon Colorstay Active in 220 Natural Beige and
Rimmel Match Perfection 2-in-1 Concealer & Highlighter in 060 Natural Beige

The Revlon 12 Hour Eyeshadow was for £3.95 (review HERE), the Revlon Colorstay Active was for £5.25 and you get 30ml of product in a plastic squeeze out tube and the Rimmel Match Perfection was for £3.99 and you get 7ml of product. Reviews for all these products will follow shortly together with swatches 🙂

Have you tried any of these products? What do you think?


Giveaway: For my Followers :)

This is my very first Giveaway and I am hosting it in honor of getting so many followers on this blog ‘A Cosmetic Affair’. This is a very small giveaway to show all of you my appreciation for showing your support and reading and commenting on my posts. I value each and every person who leaves a comment and wanted to give you a little something to thank you all! I will keep this very simple so that everyone has an equal chance to win.
Angel Cosmetics London – 3 Colors Blusher
Elf Plumping Lip Glaze – 2909 Peach Passion
Revlon Age Defying Instant Firming Face Primer – Sample
Montagne Jeunesse – Fruit Smoothie
The Rules:
1. Must be a follower of this blog (I will check).
2. Leave a comment below this post, telling me what you like to see on this blog and what changes would you suggest.
3. Leave your email address so I can contact you.
4. Open internationally.
5. Ends on 16th April, 2011.


Status: CLOSED

Good luck to all of you!

Charlene xxxx

Favorites: Online Shopping Sites

I have an obsession with shopping! I try to limit myself and always try to set a budget when I’m shopping but online shopping can get more out of hand! Especially lately since I am more at home and on the computer due to having to work on my dissertation! I find myself getting frustrated and bored more often and end up searching the web for what to buy. Most of my cravings come from watching YouTube Beauty gurus or reading blog posts about products. Today I wanted to share with you the sites I visit often to buy from and hope that you find it useful!
eBay website
I use this website for the most random products and end up buying often! I have bought my hair straightener from this site to my Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. I also buy many cosmetic items, such as my Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Asian products, Avon products and much more. You have to be careful and make sure that the seller has high ratings to ensure your products get to you in time and are genuine.

EyesLipsFace UK website
I am obsessed with this site and with the products. Everything is so affordable and the quality is good for most products. I particularly like the Studio line and the Mineral line but the standard affordable line has many great products too. I love their Mineral lipsticks, their Studio single eye shadows, their Mineral Infused Face Primer and many more products. Moreover, on the Elf Facebook page they give promotional codes for free shipping or discounts on the website weekly.


ASOS website
I love this site to buy clothes and even better I love it to buy cosmetics. The site is now offering free shipping worldwide and there is no minimum spend required. The prices are also very reasonable and you can find luxury and high end products on it too.

New Look website
This is another fashion website that I love! Recently a store for New Look has opened here in Malta too. But since it is a bit of an inconvenience sometimes to go to the store, I find it very easy and accessible to make use of the online shop. The shipping is at an affordable price and it takes a very short time to get to you. Moreover, on the site you can find more stuff than what is available at the store!

Sigma website
I love this website and have been craving many of the brushes from the site. However, right now I have only the SS219 now renamed as the E30 which is the pencil brush and I adore it and use it nearly every single day. However, last week I ordered the F82 which is the Round Top Synthetic Kabuki and I can’t wait to get it and try it out! There are many other brushes which I really would love to get as the quality is really good.

feelunique website
This is a website that offers luxury and high end products for a reasonable price and offers free shipping world wide too. There is a wide variety of brands that you can get from this website and list keeps on growing. I have recently made a very interesting purchase from this website that I will soon talk about on this blog.

The Book Depository website
I am a huge book worm and like nothing best than to curl up in my bed and lose myself in a romantic or fantasy book before going to bed. The Book Depository is a website that allows me to buy many books but at a very good price. Here in Malta the price of books is high and I can get books from this site for as much as more than half the price you would find them here. Moreover, if you need some school related books, there is a wide variety on this site.
Eyeko website
This is a fun website that offers cute and unique makeup items. It also offers free shipping to UK and Europe and if you spend more than $55 you get free shipping world wide. Their big eyes mascara is especially amazing and if you want to get a free gift you can use my code at the checkout which is E14368.

Cheap Smells website
This is a website which offers a huge variety of products. Mainly it offers perfumes at a very affordable price. But it also has a variety of cosmetic brands and limited stock of items at a reduced price. I am not a huge lover of the name but the quality is really good and the site offers shipping for most countries.
Play website
I love the Play.com website for books too and for other things like buying DVDs. As with most things, original DVDs are overpriced here in Malta and this is a very safe and fast site to get them.

The Cosmetic House website
Last but surely not least is The Cosmetic House which is one of my favorite websites to buy cosmetics from. The prices are hugely reduced and you can get many deals from this website. You can also get some discontinued items and high end items that have been available for some time. The shipping is calculated on the weight of the products but the time it takes to get to you is really good. I have already bought more than once from the site and love the products and their quality.

I hope you have found this helpful and that you visit these sites and see for yourself the quality of the products offered.

What are your favorite sites to shop from? Have you used any of the mentioned sites?


Product Review: Palmer’s Fade Cream

I have a problem with hyper pigmentation in my skin, that means that acne blemishes take a long time to fade and every mark I make on my face stays dark for quite some time. I have been looking for some way to lighten my scars and help to even my tone for a long time and not long ago I came across this product which is aimed to reduce the appearance of age spots, sun damage and unwanted discoloration. It is the Palmer’s Skin Success Even Tone Fade Cream, and I decided to give it a try.
 
I have also started using some lightening face masks and tried to increase my Vitamin C intake as this is supposed to help reduce hyper pigmentation in the skin. More over this product contains Vitamins C and E, Alpha Hydroxy and Sunscreen as ingredients.
 
Plastic jar containing 75g/2.7oz of product
What they claim:
Recapture your skin’s most radiant, balanced tone with Palmer’s Skin Success Eventone Fade Cream. Uniquely formulated to reduce the appearance of age spots, sun damage, freckles, dark spots or any other unwanted skin discoloration, resulting in skin that is luminous, clear and even.
 
I apply this before going to bed, however this can be applied under makeup too
Active Ingredients are Hydroquinone as a skin lightener and Octisalate as a Sunscreen
Cream consistency – dense and a little goes a long way
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What I think:
This product is meant to reduce dark spots, now this process takes a while to work. The leaflet suggest you apply the product every day and expect results in a month’s time. It also says that this product will make your skin more sensitive to sunlight and thus you have to be more careful and use sun protection which is not a problem for me since I use products with SPF and also a sunscreen daily. I have been trying this product out for a little over a month now, since I wanted to give my honest opinion on this product. I did notice some lightening of the skin with this product. Nothing too dramatic but that is to be expected. However, I noticed that when a blemish is formed and I apply this product to it, the skin lightens in as little as two days which is a great improvement for me. It does not totally remove the blemish but makes it so much easier to be able to hide it with a little concealer.
 
I do recommend this product, as it does have a very reasonable price especially compared to many others on the market. I got mine from eBay but was very confident in this product as I love the Palmer’s brand and have used hand creams, body creams and even hair masks. In addition they are also a cruelty free brand which I firmly endorse. You can check more information on the brand and this product on the Palmer’s website.
 
Do you use any lightening creams? What would you recommend?
 
 

Update: 100 Followers! Look out for a GiveAway

SOURCE
I am so grateful to each one of you that takes the time to stop by and read my posts and leave me comments! You are really amazing and I love to read all your comments and reply to each one of you! As a thank you for your awesomeness I will soon be hosting a Give Away! Sorry for the delay but I need some time to get what I want to give to you the Followers and right now I am really busy with my dissertation and have not gotten all the items I want to giveaway. Look out for it, by next week the Give Away will be up for sure!

Lots of Love,

Charlene xxxx

Product Review: Avon Ageless Results

About two months ago, I have bought the Avon Solution Ageless Results Overnight Renewing Cream. I usually have combination/oily skin but since the coming of colder weather, my skin has been drier than usual and I had no face moisturizer to deeply hydrate the skin. My day face moisturizer is all about controlling the oil in my skin, but during the night I wanted to hydrate the skin and help it look as healthy and bright as possible, so I decided to give this a go. 

A glass jar with 50ml of product
What they claim:
Smooths the look of visible lines and wrinkles. Reveals improved skin texture. Visibly minimizes pores. Protects against future age damage.

Protective plastic cover
My Conclusions:
This product comes in a nice glass jar, with a protective plastic cover with the Avon logo on top. It is a quite a thin cream although it is a night cream and I was expecting some thicker consistency to it. I helped balance out my skin well as I usually apply it during the night and wake up to skin that feels nice and elastic! However, I don’t really care for the smell of this product. It does not have some heavy fragrance to it, but it has that smell that I usually associate with face creams your mother used. I don’t know how to better explain it, I like my products to be fragrance free preferably as I am quite sensitive to scents. Said this, the smell is not so overwhelming that you can’t get over it. It is not pleasant to me but after some time using it I got used to it.

As to minimizing my pores, I have seen no results in that area, but it worked for the purpose I needed it just fine. I don’t know if I would repurchase this product specifically. I will definitely repurchase a night cream when this ends but not sure yet what to try. I got this product from eBay for an affordable price, but you can find all about it on the Avon website where it retails for $15.00 for 50ml/1.7fl.oz.

Do you use a moisturizer during the night? What do you recommend?