End of Project Samples Week 11 *

Hi my dolls,

It is the end of project samples week 11. This week has been a crazy busy week for me with a ton of things I had to do. Therefore there was a lack of posts. But hopefully I will get into a more steadier schedule and can plan things in advance.

As I said in my project samples post I did some research on the Payot brand and found out that it is a Parisian spa brand that was founded in 1927. So they have been around for a while.

I am going to try to make this post short and to the point reviews because I am pretty tired and all I want to do is go to bed with a hot water bottle and fall asleep.


The first is the My Payot Masque which is a very nice face mask that claims to give you a radiance look after using it. I have to say I really like this mask a lot and it hydrates nicely without it being oily. And cleans your face very well. Your face feels fresh and rejuvenated.

The next is the My Payot Créme de Jour which is a daily moisturizer. And I got a couple of uses out of this one, it has a soft apricot yoghurt scent to it and really moisturizes your face nicely without it being oily.

The next is the My Payot Créme de Nuit which is of course the night cream that goes with the day cream. It has the same scent but a thicker consistency and feels a bit heavier on the face. But moisturizes really nicely as well. Especially with these dry nights we have been having with the heavy winds and having to have the heaters on.

Let me know what you think of these Payot products.

Thanks to JohnBeerens.com for giving me these samples to try out.

Glossybox March & Glossybox Young Beauty

Hi my dolls,

I have to sincerely apologize for the lack of posts this week. I thought I could prepare a few posts and just post them but apparently I cannot do that for some reason. Unless I really take the time for it which this week has been so busy I have been just doing a lot of things. One of them involves my first day at work. 

After me posting the project samples post I actually took photos of some products I had lined up for review purposes. I guess those posts will be prepared maybe for next week but I am not too sure. Because I will be working most days of the week. I am happy to be busy but I am also a little bit sad because it cuts my time to write for my blog. A good thing is though that I get to try out much more products more thoroughly because I will have to get ready every single day for something and not just slouch around. 

Now I received my March Glossybox on Thursday, I have to say I was pretty excited about this because I knew it's theme was Bio-tiful meaning we would be getting all bio products and all very environmental friendly.

Glossybox March 2013 Unboxing

The next unboxing is a special box from Glossybox called Young Beauty this box is specifically aimed towards teenagers and contained all fullsize drugstore products. This box is also cheaper than the normal Glossybox and it was an one-off box so you weren't stuck with a subscription. 

Glossybox Young Beauty Unboxing

Enjoy the unboxings if you have not seen them yet. I will try my best to resume back to regular posts.

Project Samples Week 11 ''Payot Edition''

Hi dolls,

I am putting some new life into project samples again. And for this week I have decided to do an one brand samples that I received from the beauty package I received from www.johnbeerens.com.

Payot seems to be a French skincare brand, I have not heard of this brand before so I will have to do some more research on it. But one place to buy it is from Payot at JohnBeerens.com

Now onto the samples.

There is a day cream, night cream and a face mask. I can probably get a couple of uses out of the day and night creams but only one use from the mask. Of course more details will follow at the end of the week.

Let me know if you have heard of Payot before and what you think of this brand.

Lip Factory Inc March 2013 Unboxing + Review

Hi my dollies,

Today I finally edited my Lip Factory Inc March unboxing + review. You have no idea how this new laptop, how much easier the editing made my life. Everything is just much faster. If you edit videos for YouTube you know exactly what I am talking about when I say things can go very very very slow sometimes when editing a video.

Now as some of you may already know Lip Factory Inc is a monthly subscription service that costs $ 22.- per month plus additional shipping costs when you live outside of US. It usually contains all makeup products and on occasion you get a skincare item but that is pretty rare. 

Lip Factory Inc March 2013 Beauty Kit Unboxing + Review

p.s. if you like this month's beauty kit there is still time to get it. Closing date is today at midnight US time of course.

No more Sephora? + personal update

Hi dolls,

so my last posts were all pre-written and posted whilst I was in Sevilla. I came back about a week ago and have been extremely busy ever since. I was sorting through photos I had taken in Sevilla which if people want I can post. I went and visit my cousin who became a father, it is so strange to see someone who I have known since I was a baby (we are the same age only 10 days apart) have a family of his own. Especially in my mind I still see us as kids and not grown up at all. 

Other than that, I also have been super busy with sorting out finances and also stuff going out with a new job which I will tell you more about once I have signed the contract.

Of course I have been resting and trying to relax a little bit because the trip was a bit more hectic. I did however do some shopping of course. Sevilla has a huge outlet center which I am in love with. I did not buy any makeup except for 2 MAC items. I was surprised I was so well behaved, I guess shopping with family is not always a good thing because they want to buy everything for you. In a sense that is a good thing but I don't want to take advantage of my family. 

So after that I was entirely ready to start Monday off with a brand new project samples and just get back in the groove of things but my laptop thought otherwise. It kind of died on me a little bit and then on Tuesday it died completely I could not do anything even if I wanted to. I could not even sign in or it would shut itself off. I do have an ipad so I was not completely cut off but it does not have the functionality that I like when using a laptop. So I had to go laptop shopping on Wednesday, I thought I could get a laptop right away but that did not happen either. I had to wait until today to receive my laptop and even then I had technical difficulties, I don't know why but I guess one of the programs I wanted to install I think it was adobe did not install properly. So I had to go back to the factory settings which took about another 4 hours. By the time I rebooted everything I had to re-install everything again and now I am here typing this. It is currently almost 11pm and I received my laptop at 2 pm. 9 hours I have been busy with this laptop trying to do everything and explore because I don't know about you but windows 8 is about a world apart from windows vista.

Now onto the shocking news of the week besides my laptop dying on me. According to the Sephora.nl website Sephora is closing all of their Dutch branches so they can focus on international expansion. I am shocked because I thought Sephora was doing fine and I even thought they had expansion plans for the Dutch market. To my knowledge Sephora is French and I thought The Netherlands is international.... So yeah I don't know. All shops will be closed on June 1st and we cannot enjoy the luxury of Sephora, which means these brands will disappear off the Dutch market, urban decay, too faced, makeup forever, ciate and of course the Sephora own brand. I can still buy urban decay and too faced in the Netherlands (Nars was never sold here) and apparently they are referring us to the french Sephora website, but shipping costs are through the roof!! If they could change the shipping costs to 5 euros I would totally order from the french Sephora website. For 13 euros ehh... maybe not, I will have to find other ways to get some of my brands. 

So that's it, that's all I know for now. Let me know what you think of Sephora closing all of their Dutch shops.

New Dove Cream Mousse Review*

Hi dolls,

I know the past posts seem all about reviews, but these posts are best to prepare for when away as it doesn't really change my opinion about something. I could have done a couple of upcoming products blogposts but I thought those were a little boring and really not that interesting especially if there are 100s or even 1000s of other blogs doing the same thing. 

So another review, no makeup review this time but it is the new Dove Cream Mousse, you all know Dove is one of my favorite brands when it comes to bodycare. And I was super excited about this new innovative bodywash.

Dove have been doing the cupcake challenge when promoting this and I believe they launched this product in January of this year. So it is still a pretty recent product.

To really show you the difference I did do some comparison photos so this post is going to be picture heavy just a little warning there.

It is the usually clean white creamish packaging that you expect from Dove, it has a flip cap opening on the bottom of the bottle. Mainly because it is a thicker consistency this way it comes out of the packaging much easier. 

There are 2 different types of the cream mousse you got the original which has the classic Dove scent (which is nice and powdery soapy) and there is the pure & sensitive version which is hypoallergenic that has a fresher scent but still powdery soapy. I am glad that they thought of the sensitive skin because I have that! Especially in the winter with the radiators on and the cold icey wind outside.

This is the original, so funny it stands up right!

This is the pure & sensitive.

Now as you can see it is a much firmer and thicker consistency. Which means that you have more control on how much you use when showering. And also it means you don't need to use too much. Because we are all guilty of putting too much bodywash on a loofah. This lathers really nicely and you feel nice and fresh after the shower.

As a little comparison I have put their original bodywash in winter care next to the new cream mousse from Dove. And as you can see the regular bodywash really is just very liquid but creamy. And the new Cream Mousse can really stand up right like whip cream. Although I would not recommend eating it!! How much it looks like whip cream DO NOT EAT THIS!! lol 

The Dove Cream Mousse is in stores now and is the usual Dove pricing, as this is Dove we are talking about. They usually launch these sort of products almost everywhere so it is worth checking out. 

Maybelline ''The Rocket'' Mascara Review & Demo

Hi dolls,

I put up this review and demo of the Maybelline the Rocket mascara a week ago or something like that. I know this mascara has been reviewed by most of the beauty bloggers because that is what we all do. As soon as something new comes out everyone makes a review about it. And I decided to make a video because I am planning to do more videos like these this year because people seem genuine interested in them and they are fun to make and I can go in depth with all the information and my thoughts about the product.

Maybelline The Rocket Mascara Review & Demo

Rimmel Stay Matte in 003 Peach Glow Review

Hi dolls,

This Rimmel product is a golden oldie but I still wanted to give you my opinion about this product. As most people talk about the Stay Matte in 001 transparent I don't really read a lot about the peach glow.

Rimmel is a drugstore brand from the UK and when bought at the right time can be pretty affordable. Some of their products can be overpriced depending where you buy it. I know when I buy it in stores here in the Netherlands most of the time I am paying way too much for the product. Therefore I usually order from asos.com to save some money and also asos.com sometimes have Rimmel products on offer or they have a discount code. I think the best deal I ever got on any Rimmel products here in the Netherlands were their lipsticks when they are 2 for 10 euros. Although I have seen their mascaras occasionally for buy one get one free. But I am not a huge fan of their mascaras.

Anyways I bough this Rimmel Stay Matte on Asos for about 4 or 5 euros I believe. Where I normally would have to pay about 8-10 euros here in the Netherlands. 

As you can see it is very simple packaging. I don't really like the plastic lid as it falls off quite easily. But I keep in drawers so I don't really have the problem of the lid falling off. I don't know if I would recommend traveling with this thing. 

It claims it holds up to 5 hours shine control which means if you are planning on wearing it all day expect to need to touch up during the day. This product is good for 30months which is quite long. 

As you can see I have hit pan and that to me is a huge achievement. Because I normally never hit pan on anything. I do really enjoy this product and usually use this over foundation or when I don't feel like I need to much coverage over bb cream. It does mattifies the face and to me it holds quite nicely, I do not feel the need to re-apply during the day. I apply this after foundation or bb cream with a kabuki brush, it buffs out the cakeyness of your face if you feel like you applied too much foundation. It is also really nice to use it as setting powder for your concealer.

Now would I say it is peach glow like it name says not really. To me it is a more clear powder to put on your face to set your makeup with. So it does not give you extra coverage and it does not give you a glow. But it does mattifies your face. And a nice setting powder is a musthave for everyone. 

What are your thoughts about the Rimmel Stay Matte? Or what powder do you use?

xox Ellen

I am going to Sevilla, Spain!!

Hi dolls,

when I am typing this I am preparing multiple posts ahead so you are not without posts like you were when I had my little breakdown. When this blog post goes online I am already in Sevilla, Spain.

I am super excited to go because it has been several years since I last been in Sevilla. Normally when I go to Spain, I go to my aunt and her family in Valencia. But I also have an uncle who lives in Sevilla with his family. Now the main reason why I am going is because my cousin who is the same age as me actually we are only 10 days apart. He and his wife just got a little baby boy and me and my mum are going to visit. 

So I will be leaving on friday morning and I will be back on wednesday. It will be a trip of a couple of days and I hope to put in some sightseeing activities besides shopping and drooling over the baby. 

Any posts that are put up between friday and wednesday will be pre-written posts.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

xox Ellen