This month I've been loving wearing a very simple summery make up. Even though I don't even like wearing foundation, I wore Bourjois Healthy Mix serum every day. I absolutely adore this foundation, it's just perfect for me. Definitely HG material. Then I used a bit of ArtDeco Perfect Teint Illuminator under my eyes and set my make up with Givenchy Mattisime powder. To keep my cheeks still glowing I only powder the T-zone using IsaDora powder puff. I literally haven't been wearing anything on my lips all month apart from Blistex Lip Relief cream (I like how it tingles a bit).

Next thing I used is Estee Lauder's Soft Matte bronzer in combination with Jemma Kidd Ice Gold highlighter and a touch of NARS Orgasm blush. This combo gives THE perfect summery glowing cheeks effect. I just adore this combo right now, I've been wearing it every day for the past three weeks.

After watching this video by gossmakeupartist I finally got the hang on how to keep my eyelashes curled all day. Using a waterproof mascara without curling the lashes again basically had no effect on my stubborn lashes. However, curling lashes and applying mascara in this way keeps my lashes perfect all day. I use Helena Rubinstein Lash Queen Feline Black mascara which is awesome, but really difficult to remove.

If I felt like I need something more then just mascara I resorted to eyeliners. For a regular black liner I used Gosh waterproof eyeliner in Black Ink (one of the best black and long-wearing liners out there). If I felt black might be to harsh I used the Max Factor one in Brown. But it was the other two I wore the most - Revlon in Antiqued Gold and Urban Decay 24/7 in Baked, both brilliant colours for grey/blue eyes. Baked reminded me how much I love 24/7 eyeliners. They are seriously long-wearing, so soft and pigmented.

Half Baked from the Naked palette is another brilliant shade for grey/blue eyes. I've been loving wearing this shade on it's own.

And my two favourite finds this month - Magnetism and Fantasy. I adore these two fragrances. Both are fruity floral gourmand fragrances, super sweet and just gorgeous.

I'm loving the mint green/teal shades right now. I found two tops in the same shade as Essence nail polish in Replay. See on the pictureˇ how they match :) Isn't it a gorgeous colour?

I'm sure most of you have already heard about Sleek's Pout Paints. I've been patiently awaiting  the day they'll finally started selling them online and when it came, I ordered three shades - Milkshake, Peachy Keen and Cloud 9. For years I've been searching the perfect peachy shade for me and I decided to custom mix it myself. I was very much inspired by Katie's blog post which you can find here (and here is another post of hers about Pout Paints). I ordered them from the Sleek web site. The order took four work days to arrive, which is super fast. The only thing the bothers me is the super high shipping cost. They charge 9 € for signed for delivery which is more than one Pout Paint (7 €).

Pout Paints are supposed to be OCC Lip Tar dupe, personally I don't know because I don't own any Lip Tars. These are super pigmented, you literally only need a small dot of product. I use either fingers or lip brush (I have one from The Body Shop), both methods work just fine. They feel a bit like Soft Mat Lip Creams (both from NYX or Manhattan since they are essentially the same), they don't feel sticky, but just sort of creamy. They don't dry out my lips, but they aren't particularity moisturising either. Unlike Soft Mat Lip Creams these do transfer on the glass/bottle when you drink. I love the fact they have such a precise applicator and you can easily control the amount you want. The tubes are nice and sleek with see-through plastic, so you can see how much is still left in the tube. They last a really long time on the lips, much longer than your run-of-the-mill lipstick. They don't have any scent or taste. Here are swatches of all three and one where I mixed them:

Milkshake is a bright bubble gum pink. On me it looks super bright, but mind you I am very pale. Out of the three it is the most wearable.

I've gone a bit fragrance crazy recently as you may have noticed. But I found this great UK based web store that offers fragrances for really low prices. I ordered all three fragrances and some S Factor stuff from cheapsmells.com and they all arrived in four days (although one package is still missing, but I blame our post service. Fingers crossed it arrives soon!). After loving my Euphoria for so long, I just wanted some more sweet and young and candy like scents (I was a bit inspired to go in this direction after I purchased Escada Magnetism, which I absolutely adore), so I picked  three 30 ml bottles of Britney Spears Fantasy, Midnight Fantasy and Jessica Simpson's Fancy. Apart from Fantasy I never had the chance to test the other two so I purchased them in blind faith I might like them. And guess what - I do.

Midnight Fantasy is actually my least favourite out of the three, but still I quite like it. I adore the dark blue packaging (dark blue is one of my favourite colours) and I love the crystals adorned bottle. I know many find it a bit tacky, but I really like it. The scent is the least sweet out of the three, I get mostly fruity notes rather than vanilla. On me it smells like a mix of blueberies, plums and sour cherries, the drydown is a bit more vanillary, but it is fresher and more sour than the original Fantasy. It lasts about a half of day on me.

Fantasy is my absolute favourite. I like it almost as much as my beloved Escada Magnetism. I don't like the pink bottle, but that's not really that important. What's important is the super lovely sweet smell. The funny thing is that about three years ago I picked up a bottle and tested it and it smelled horrible on me (everyone agreed), but now it's so lovely (again everyone agree, lol). I guess my body chemistry has changed. On me it smells of kiwi and lichee mixed with vanilla and white chocolate (the dry-down is more vanilla and white chocolate that fruity), just super sweet and candy like. It lasts longer than Midnight Fantasy since it is a stronger scent. I think I'll wear it all year round, I really don't find it too sweet even now when we have 35 degrees weather. My cousin pointed out that Magnetism and Fantasy smell the same to her, but to me they really don't. I mean they are in the same floral fruity gourmand group of fragrances, however Fantasy is sweeter and doesn't have those green and caramel notes that make Magnetism so fantastic.

Fancy is the strongest out of the three. Initially I smell apricots and pears mixed with vanilla, but the dry-down is a darker vanilla scent with caramel. It not super sweet like Fantasy, it more sharp. I do get a hint of flower notes (gardenia and jasmine). Staying power is really good, it lasts almost a day on me. I find the bottle quite pretty, but the box with Jessica's image is a bit much. I find Fancy a bit strong for summer, it more appropriate for autumn/winter/spring time than summer. 

Thanks for looking!

I ordered Ciate's Paint Pot in Sugared Almond together with Barry M's Pink Flamingo (which I already swatched here) from Ličila.si. It costs 12,95 € for 13,5 ml, which is quite expensive for a nail polish. Sugared Almond is a pink nude shade, I would describe it as a light dusty pink with a creme finish. It's a great everyday colour, demure but it still adds that little bit of colour. The bottle is really cute with that little black bow. 

The formula is a bit on the thicker side. I need two or even three coats for full coverage. It tends to go a bit streaky.

When I saw this post on Make Up & More blog, I immediately put Coral Pop on my ''to check'' list. When I swatched it in Műller I was overjoyed over the fact it matched my favourite nail polish Miss Sporty's 370. It literally looked the same shade, a perfect mix of pink and coral. Damn those deceiving lights! So imagine my disappointment when I put it on in actual daylight and it looked, well, orange. Plain bright orange. I had a feeling something will go wrong, I mean considering I'm pale (NC 15) I shouldn't expect anything else. Oh well, what's done is done. I have no idea what I'll do with the lipstick, maybe one day I'll feel like wearing an orange lip colour. At least it brings out my eyes (if you aren't too distracted by the bright orange lips, lol). I did try it as a blush and strangely it looks great on my cheeks, a proper coral shade.

Quality-wise it's not one of my favourite formulas. It's quite a dry formula and it clings to every dry patch and imperfection and emphasizes them. However, it's very long wearing, on me it lasts about 4-5 hours. The tube looks quite cheap and plastic. It costs around 9-10 €.  

Pink Flamingo is a fantastic summer shade. Seriously, it's gorgeous. It's a bright pink shade mixed with some coral, similar to Miss Sporty 370 just pinker and with a cream finish. I get full coverage with only one coat and the formula is super easy to work with. The swatch is pretty accurate, in real life the colour is just a touch more coral.

I've been loving my Euphoria and Escada fragrances and those were actually the only ones I wore for the last year. But I wanted some more variety and I turned to imitation/fake fragrances the likes being sold in Refan/La Gusta. I'm going to be honest and say that I personally don't notice the difference between the originals and the ''fakes'' either in longevity/sillage or in the scent themselves. Sure the bottles are really, really plain, but hey at least they're cheap. Even though I've been in Refan several times, I never bought a bottle for myself, it's always been for someone else. The ones I bought so far are: Chanel No.5 (Love it! I'm so getting a 15 ml for myself too), Givenchy Organza, Gucci Guilty, Pacco Rabbane Lady Million and D&G Light Blue (both for men and women). I already wrote something about some of them here, also the list of the fragrances they sell can be found here.

I Slovenia we have Refan, but I found a chain of shops called La Gusta whilst on a holiday in Croatia. I noticed the bottles in which they keep the fragrances are identical to the ones in Refan. However, the list of the fragrances sold there was a bit different. I was overjoyed to see that they hold the imitation of Escada Magnetism. I bought the 30 ml bottle which cost 60 HRK (8 €). I love it! It's my favourite out of the four I got. Initially I smell some strong fruity-berry notes, but the dry-down is a warm vanilla and caramel with some berry notes still lingering in the background. The scent itself is very, very sweet and strong, so I intend to wear it in autumn/winter. I can't find a website of La Gusta anywhere, hence I have no idea where their shops are. I know there is one in Pula and one in Medulin, perhaps some Croatian readers might know more. I scanned their list of the fragrances they sell, you can find it here.

These three bottle were purchased in Refan (all are 15 ml), I put the labels on them myself just so I know which is which. I got Versace Bright Crystal, Gucci Guilty and Pacco Rabbane Lady Million.

Bright Crystal is the lightest of the three. It's more of a spring/summer fragrance. On me it smells like a bouquet of flowers mixed with some fresh fruit notes. The notes of the original I get are peony, magnolia, yuzu and pomegranate. 

Guci Guilty is the sweetest and strongest in the bunch. I smell peach, pink pepper and patchouli. Notes of the original according to fragrantica.com are mandarin, pink pepper, peach, lilac, amber and patchouli.

Lady Million is my favourite of the three. It's a difficult scent to describe, I get mostly honey mixed with some flowers (african orange flower I guess). I imagine I'll wear it a lot.

I plan to get some more fragrances, but 15 ml bottles mostly. And what are your experiences with imitation fragrances. Do you like them? I hope this post was helpful. Have a great day!

I'll start with the eyeliners. I finally got the chance to see the Essence 50's Reloaded TE. I was super excited about the lipsticks and eyeliners, and honestly both left me a bit disappointed. Quality-wise lipsticks looked great in a sense that they felt very moisturising,  but the lighter shade looked completely orange on me (the red one was cute, but I prefer my Manhattan Soft mat lipcream).  I passed on the lipsticks and decided to get only the eyeliner and one nail polish. The eyeliner is in the shade 03 Love Me Tender and the colour is gorgeous. It's a dupe for ArtDeco 245 eyeshadow that I love so much. But this is where the excitement ends. The quality is just rubbish. I barely get any colour on the lid (and you can't just forget about the waterline) and it's so hard. So I have to heat the tip with a lighter to make it more manageable, but still it's a big disappointment.

Second eyeliner I bought is the s-he stylezone khol kajal in 012 which is a gold shade. Again another disappointment. Although it's softer than the Essence one, it's still barely shows up. Just don't bother.

Blistex Lip Relief Cream is a great lip balm. I find it really moisturising and it tingles after application. It leaves a bit of a white cast on the lips, but I like that. Currently I'm loving the combination of E.l.f. Runway pink topped with Blistex. 

Nail polished I picked up has the same name as the eyeliner. Love Me Tender is a frosty silver with a touch of old gold tones, but mostly it just looks silver. The bottle is quite big as it holds an impressive 15 ml of product (well done Essence!). I get almost full coverage with one coat and it dries pretty quickly.

Here is how it looked on my nails the second day after application with no base or top coat. (This picture was taken at the altitude of about 2000 m (about 6500 ft) and that is Mangart in the background.)

The last thing is my absolute favourite purchase in a while. It's one of the Lush powders called Silky Underwear. The scent is just gorgeous, I smell mostly jasmine. It's a great thing to have in this heat since it absorbs moisture (all thought you could use just plain baby powder). There are many ways of using this powder, I suggest reading some reviews on MUA for some ideas, but I use it to absorb the extra moisturiser before I go to bed (it leaves your skin so soft) and I sprinkle a bit on my pillow so it smells nice. On the skin it leaves a subtle but still noticeable fragrance, but I wish it was a bit more powerful. The are a lot of reviewers that complain about the packaging leaking even when shut, but I don't have those problems at all.

 As you can see it's just a plain white powder (with no shimmer, unlike Candy Fluff). Be careful with dark clothes as it leaves white marks.