Current Favorite Beauty and Fashion Items

I haven't done favorites post in a while so I thought it's time to change that but instead of doing monthly favorites I decided to show you some fashion and beauty items that I love and use pretty much on daily basis.

I will start with my beauty products. Revlon Colorstay foundation is an oldie but a goodie. I loved it since the very first time that I bought it and and it's exactly what I want from a foundation, good coverage with great longevity. I'm almost out of it and while I will definitely purchase it again in near future, for now I bought another foundation which turned out to be really good and I will review it on my blog really soon.

Another makeup item that I use on daily basis is the Catrice Liquid Liner Waterproof. Lately I've been a fan of the simple winged liner look with no eyeshadow so I need an eyeliner that will stay put without primer and this bad boy doesn't budge throughout the day. It's very opaque, easy to apply plus it's quite cheap, what more could you want from an eyeliner?

While I'm not a lipstick girl there are some times that I decide to rock some bold lips specially now that Spring is here. The lipstick that I mainly tend to grab is the Maybelline SuperStay 14hr in Infinitely Fuchsia which, as the name suggests, is a bright fuchsia color. This baby is not only opaque but stays on for really long, definitely not for 14 hours but still it has great longevity for a lipstick.

The perfume that I been wearing almost everyday since I got it is the Body Shop White Mush Smoky Rose. I literally felt in love with it from the very first sniff; it's a light floral - musk and definitely  seductive scent.

First fashion item that I want to feature is my watch. Although I'm not a huge fan of gold accessories I simply adore this watch; it's the Swatch Full Blooded. It's definitely on the chunkier side but I never liked dainty watches so you will never see my wearing one of those barely there watches. The little rhinestones that have replaced the numbers is a really pretty detail which makes this watch less casual but you can still rock it at day and night.

Here in Greece it doesn't matter whether it's Winter or Summer and sun is pretty strong so you need to protect your eyes. The sunglasses that I tend to opt for are the classic RayBan Wayfarer in matte black simply because they go with everything. The funny thing is that before I try these on I didn't like this design at all and never thought that they would look good on me but apparently I was completely wrong because now I want to purchase them in more colors.

The last favorite is an really odd one for me considering the fact that I'm not book person at all. I'm sure by now you all know the Girl Online by Zoe Sugg aka Zoella. I was really tempted to buy it online but then I found out that there is a translated in Greek version of it ( For my Greek readers: Η μεταφρασμένη έκδοση του βιβλίου κυκλοφορεί απο τις εκδόσεις  Α.Α. Λιβάνη. H μετάφραση είναι πολύ καλή και το βιβλίο διαβάζεται εύκολα.) so I decided to give it a go. The story is good and enjoyable; it's about a teenage girl who decides to blog about things that happen in her life. To my surprise there were parts where I could actually relate myself to and overall even for me, person who rather hates reading, this was a really pleasant and easy to read book.

So these are my current favorites things that I use pretty much daily, well except for the book which I finished reading. Let me know in the comments below if you have tried any of the products that I mentioned. Till next time, love Anna

Everyday Spring Makeup Look

Hello lovelies. So calendar based Spring is already here but here in Greece it doesn't really feel like Spring at all, it's still pretty cold outside -boo hoo-. Though that doesn't mean that I can't change my everyday makeup look to make it more colorful and cheerful. So here is one of my go to makeup looks for daytime.

Although I typically choose fuller coverage foundations even for daytime, this time I decided to go a bit lighter and let my skin pick through. For that I choose the Loreal Skin Perfection BB Cream in Fair. It's has light to medium coverage when I applied with brush and I use the Sigma F80 brush to buff it into my skin and then I go over it with a makeup sponge for more natural finish.  To set my foundation I use a big fluffy brush, the Powder brush from e.l.f., and the Rimmel Stay Matte. For concealer I have two options and I choose depending on my mood and how dark my under eye circles look. The first option is for when I don't need a lot of coverage and don't want that brightening effect, I choose the Maybelline Fit Me concealer in #15 which is my current favorite everyday concealer. The second option, which I used for these pictures, is the Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection in Fair. It gives a really good coverage and because the shade is quite lighter that my skin tone I get that brightening, Kim Kardashian like, effect. If you want to try the Collection 2000 concealer bare in mind that the shade tends to get slightly darker as it sets, unless they changed the formula because I bought mine quite a while ago.

For my eye makeup I kept it simple but with a pop of color. The eyeshadow primer which I used in the Essence I Love Stage, which is an ok primer for it's price. On the lids I used the Inglot #397 and #402 which I blended in the outer corner and slightly into the crease. On the lower lash line I first used the NYX Jumbo pencil in Milk as base and on top I applied the Loreal Infallible #051 Paradise Orchid, a beautiful lilac eyeshadow. The eyeliner that I used is the Avon Super Shock gel liner in Blackberry. It's seriously one of the best liners I have tried so far and I definitely need to buy the other colors too as it applies and stays on like a dream. Lastly the mascara that I used is the Maybelline The Colossal Go Extreme Volume which has been my go to mascara for the past couple months.

On my cheeks I kept it, again, kinda simple without any bronzer and I used a matte pink blusher from MUA in shade 2 and to highlight my face I used the same Inglot eyeshadow that I used on my lids, the #397.  Now, for my lips if I want to go with more of a nude-ish look I will choose the lipstick that I wore in these pictures NYX Ceto. Though there are times when I want to channel my inner Kylie Jenner, so to speak, and I grab a more brown-ish lipstick the Essence Barely.

This is really my everyday makeup look, well at least for the days I feel like putting makeup on and have somewhere to go. Personally I don't wear bold lipsticks during day time and I keep those wow shades like Maybelline Infinitely Fuchsia for night outs. Let me know what you think of this makeup look in the comments below. Till next time, love Anna.

Epilating Tips and Tricks

I guess all women will agree with me that hair removal is a procedure that we all wish we wouldn't have to do. Shaving is one of the easiest and less painful methods of hair removal, in fact it's not painful at all unless you are careless and you accidentally cut yourself. The big downside of it though is that you have to do it pretty much daily is you want silky soft results. Unfortunately I'm not one of those lucky ladies who barely have few hairs on the legs, like my mom - ugh stupid genes-, and because of that I had to shave daily and the whole routine became really annoying because I wasn't 100% happy with the result. So one day I decided to buy an epilator hoping I would manage to get used to it. To be honest I feel that I kinda skipped one step/stage in hair removal, the waxing but here I'm talking to you about my experience with epilating. 

- If  you are like me and you have never used an epilator before I have a couple tips that might help you. First is important to find a good epilator. I was lucky enough and the one that I first bought worked and still works wonderfully. Mine is the one in the picture below, it's the Braun Silk epil 7 xpressive. It's a wet and dry epilator, meaning you can use it under water, and it comes with 3 different heads, one for trimming/shaving, one for epilating small areas ( it's the one you see in the picture) and one  for epilating large areas which I use to epilate my legs. You definitely don't need an epilator like mine but to be honest I use all of the 3 heads and I barely even reach for my razor now. I also wouldn't opt for one of the cheap ones,it's not that they are not that good but that's just my personal opinion.

- Like I mentioned before I went straight from shaving to epilating but to make the transition easier I did a small trick. I first waxed my legs and then as the hair started coming back I started using epilator. You see, the hair has different growth cycle and not all come back at the same time. So when you will epilate, having less hair will result in less pain and that way you can build your pain tolerance and it won't hurt as much.

I've been using the epilator for nearly a year now and if you ask me if it will ever be a painless procedure I will say no, but the pain will become more bearable over time. Now while it still hurts when I'm epilating, the pain doesn't bother me that much anymore. Though a great factor when it comes to pain is your pain tolerance, obviously the greater your tolerance is the less painful it will be. 

- I can't stress enough how important is to exfoliate especially if you get ingrown hair even with shaving. Personally I don't think that you need to exfoliate only before you actually epilate; what I do and what I would suggest is to use loofah when you shower and maybe 2 or 3 times a week use a good body scrub. 

- While when you are waxing you want the hair to kinda long when epilating you want exactly the opposite. Not only it will be less painful but you also minimize the chance of having to go over the same area multiple times because the epilator couldn't remove the hair and instead cut it. 

- When you will start epilating I would suggest you doing it at least the night before you want to flaunt your legs or whichever area you epilate. Epilating will most likely cause some redness, specially the first few times, so by doing it a night before your skin will have time to calm down. As for me, now I can epilate whenever I want, even right before I go out because the redness is pretty much minimal and barely noticeable. Actually I find that waxing causes more redness that epilating, which I guess makes sense since you are pulling skin too not only hair. 

- Two last tips. I find it important to hold my skin taunt when epilating because not only it hurts less but also I think that doing this kinda lifts the hair so it's easier for the epilator to catch them. Lastly, don't forget to moisturize after you are done with epilating. If you have sensitive skin I would opt for a fragrance free moisturize to avoid any further irritation.  

So those are the tips I could think of and believe that are useful for someone who is looking into starting epilating. I believe that epilating is more effective because you don't need to wait that long before you can epilate again and also cheaper because you will pay once and it will last you for at least a year. Let me know in the comments below if you epilate and which epilator you use. Till next time, love Anna.