5 things that everyone seem to enjoy but you don't

Eyeliner
I've been into makeup for only 3 years (yep and I'm 26 years old) and my relationship with eyeliner has always been bad. I've tried different brushes, liquid, cream, pencil eyeliners, watched dozens of tutorials - I still don't get how you do that cat-eye\wing magic. It takes me a lot of time to draw even line and it never works when I'm in hurry, so usually I just define my upper lashes with black eye shadow or skip eyeliner at all.

Highlighter
Only defines big pores and acne scars. You have to have perfect skin to use this product.

Permanent makeup/eyelash extensions
I don't know about other countries, but permanent makeup and eyelash extensions are quite popular here in Estonia. A lot of women around me are obsessed with the idea that you can save time on your makeup routine and "stay beautiful 24/7". But personally I love to spend my time on doing makeup, there's something very relaxing about the whole process. I love to create new looks depending on my mood and I love going out without anything on my face too.

Wearing makeup in gym
The idea of getting sweat while having full face makeup is just disgusting.

Liquid eye shadows/blushers
Oh I always have problems with blending these ones.

Long time no see

Oh, it's April already. No new post in March, I am so sorry about that. It's not like I don't have anything to write about, it's just I don't know, lack of motivation to update this blog? Now I don't buy as much beauty products as I used to, because I'm trying to save money for something else. Items are good and it can make you happy for a while, but experiences and good memories are much, much better. I've recently read Zoe's post about travelling and I can't agree more with her. Read it here.

Also since February I've been working for new company and I don't really have much time to dig through beauty blogs 24/7 as I used to do on my previous job (lol). Less beauty blogs reading = less feeling pressure that you NEED to own something.

Nevertheless, here are few items that I bought and loved in February/March.

The Body Shop Strawberry Body Sorbet - I've started going to gym lately and I wanted to bring body lotion with me that I can use after shower. This one is perfect, since it absorbs into skin very quickly making it soft and moisturized. It also has unobtrusive strawberry scent, so I guess even ladies who are very sensitive to scents should love it.

Lush The Kiss lip scrub - I got Lush gift card for Secret Santa during Christmas period from my ex-coworker, so I used it for this lip scrub from limited St. Valentines collection. I have never tried Lush lip scrubs before and I need to say that it is totally worth the hype! It smells like candy, removes all dry and chappy skin from my lips and makes it soft. A little big pricey, but very good product.

Ecotools Rectable Kabuki Brush - I wash my brushes once a week and sometimes it takes a lot of time for my Bellapierre kabuki brush to dry out, so getting another kabuki brush wasn't bad idea. As a result I'm using Ecotools one all the time now. Its bristles are much softer and it's easier to get even application of mineral foundation all over your face because of brush's small size.

Nars Dragon Girl Velvet Matt Lip Pencil - I don't think that this product need any introduction. "I've got that classic red lip thing that you like"- it's Taylor Swift's favorite lipstick after all ;) Red with pink undertones, similar to MAC famous Russian Red, but cruelty free matte lipstick, which lasts for very long time even if you eat/drink. Since we don't have Nars in Estonia and I didn't want to pay ridiculously high shipping cost (Net-a-porter, what the heck?), I asked my friend from UK to buy it for me. For 26 euro it's not cheap lipstick at all, but well, I really wanted red lipstick of high quality.

Going organic with Antipodes

In January I've decided to change my skincare routine, mostly because my love relationship with Natio Daily Moisturizer came to its end. I don't know why, but it started making my face shiny after two hours straight away. My skin was so oily that my glasses started slipping down my nose :D Ugh, I hate that feeling.

So yeah, I was desperate for new day cream. Still I wanted to have one with spf - we don't have much sun during winter in Estonia, but it's better to be protected from damaging UV light anyway. After making good research I decided to try Antipodes - it's organic cruelty free skincare brand from New Zealand. Their products are suitable for vegetarians.

Immortal SPF15 Natural Sun Protection Face & Body Moisturizer (€32.60 for 60ml) is physical sunscreen which contains zinc oxide. It has been told that physical sunscreens are less harmful than chemical ones, because chemicals absorb UV light into skin and in the process some DNA-damaging chemicals that may lead to cancer can be generated. Unlike chemicals, such minerals as zinc oxide stay on the surface of the skin and physically block UV light (you can read more about different kinds of sunscreens here).

The moisturizer has light consistency which absorbs very quickly into skin making it soft and well hydrated. I usually have combination skin, but during cold winter month I suffer from dry patches. It does good job moisturizing my skin, but I think that it won't be enough for dry or very dry skin types so additional moisturizer will be needed. Immortal SPF15 doesn't leave any white traces and, which is most important for me, doesn't make my skin shiny. No foundation creasing or glasses slipping anymore! I would even say that it makes my skin matte. Oh, and it hasn't caused me any breakout yet (I've been testing it for 2 weeks).

Also it contains bunch of good stuff like sweet almond oil, apricot oil, jojoba oil, pomegranate extract, raspberry seed oil, vitamin e and Antipodes special ingredient - super-antioxidant Vinanza Grape & Kiwi extract which helps to decrease redness and the effects of excess melanin production like freckles and age spots.

In general, Immortal SPF15 Natural Sun Protection Face & Body Moisturizer is very good day cream and I'm very happy with this purchase.

The next star of this post is Antipodes Divine Face Oil  Avocado Oil & Rosehip which I got during sale on naturisimo.com (€16.70 for 30ml). I have never used facial oils before and was quite excited to try this one because a lot of reviews said that it helps reducing post-acne scars. It doesn't absorb very quickly into skin, so usually I use it instead of night cream before going to sleep. You need only few drops to cover your face and neck area, so I guess it will last for a while. I hasn't really seen any major changes with my post-acne scars yet, but it definitely helps with dry patches. My skin is very soft and moisturized in the morning. This product have herbal scent and contains avocado oil, macadamia nut oil, jojoba oil and vitamin - all of these ingredients have good effect on skin.

Have you tried Antipodes? What do you think?

Drugstore or high end?

Getting into cruelty free makeup doesn't mean that you need to spend a fortune on new products. There are a lot of good, cruelty free drugstore brands like e.l.f, Wet n Wild, Gosh, Physicians Formula, Milani, Nyx, Pixi, Ecotools, etc. The list goes on and on. However for some reasons 80% of things I own are high end. Why is it so?

I got into makeup about 3 years ago. I didn't really bother with makeup during my teenage years, because I had really bad acne and my dermatologist said that covering it with foundation only will make the whole situation worse (I guess I can argue this now). But anyway, I had no interest in makeup until 23 years. At that time, I read one blog article where one Russian girl living in Japan was compering Japanese women and foreigners. You know, in Japan women put a lot (and by 'a lot' I mean A LOT) of efforts into their looks, because there's very huge pressure from society and media that only woman who looks and acts feminine can be popular among men. That Russian girl said that all foreign women that she sees on the streets of Tokyo don't bother with their looks at all - no makeup, no fashionable clothes. She was asking - why most Western women don't care? While I can argue with this by saying that even in Japan there are a lot of people who don't use makeup or have interest in fashion and otherwise (well, look how many beauty/fashion bloggers or youtubers from US and UK out there), I asked myself: why I don't wear makeup? And suddenly I really, really wanted to try doing it.

While I don't think that expensive means better and cheap means bad quality, there are a lot of miss/hits among drugstore products. For example, you never go wrong with Urban Decay Naked palettes, but cheaper dupes might be quite disappointing. My whole makeup game has begun with Original Naked palette. It was my first eye shadow palette and I'm still in love with it. Yes, it was expensive - but if you divide 50 euro by 12, you'll get about 4 euro per 1 eye shadow of high quality. Personally, I think it's better to spend 50 euro on one Naked palette that you will love and use daily, rather than 50 euro on 5 different Sleek palettes (I'm sorry to all Sleek fans, but ugh, I had really bad experience with everything I tried from them).

Also packages of high end products are so well made. On the photo above e.l.f blush package looks almost identical to Nars blush, but not really. E.l.f's package is made of cheap plastic which is much more light weight than Nars. Nars package is more matte and it gives you an impression of expensive, elegant item. It's like wearing expensive underwear - using beautifully packaged high end products makes me feel very good and special (haha).

Also, marketing part. I know that a lot of people hate admitting that marketing has effect on them, but let's face the truth. How many times did you read someone's blog post and feel like you can't live with the item introduced by author? I have a feeling that there are much more bbloggers who writes about high end products, rather than drugstore ones.

Drugstore or high end, what do you think?

Personal notes #1

I know that this blog should be focused on makeup, but maybe it won't hurt much if sometimes I will post something personal, right?

So, what was good so far?

1. I don't really believe in "New Year = New Me" stuff, but I this year I've decided to treat my skin/hair more than I did last year and bought a few things from Antipodes, Out Of Africa, Badger Company, Dr. Hauschka, Paul Mitchell and Avalon Organics. All brands are cruelty free with 100% vegan Out of Africa. I'm still waiting for packages to come and hopefully more reviews are coming to mymakeupiscrueltyfree.

2. I'm marathoning all movies nominated for Oscar Academy Awards 2015. Going to see Birdman today and Whiplash next week, so excited for them both. I also saw Unbroken - movie directed by Angelina Jolie about the life of USA Olympian and athlete Louis Zamperini. Despite bad comments on imdb, I did enjoy the movie and it made me think a lot of things about the Pacific War. You know, all my life I've been studying Japanese language/culture and I lived in Tokyo for one year, so everything Japan-related has my interest. Now I really want to read Eien no 0 ("The Eternal Zero") a novel by Naoki Hyakuta about Japanese soldier who volunteered for Kamikaze Attack.

3. I'm not all that in youtube videos, preferring to read blogs, but this lady has caught my attention recently. Laci Green talks about sex, body images, feminism, relationships and more. Her videos are funny, informative and short (which is important fact for me lol). Love her so much :)

4. The 5th season of my most favorite tv-show Shameless has started!! Oh, I've waiting for this moment for so long. It's so good to have your favorite characters back and I'm really excited to see what the Gallaghers will be going through this time. If you don't know, Shameless is Showtime tv-show revolving around an alcoholic man and his six children in the poorest part of Chicago.

5. Fall Out Boy will be releasing their new album "American Beauty/American Psycho" on the 19th of January, but you can listen their songs on their youtube channel. I don't know how it's even possible, but EVERY SONGS IS SO GOOD. I can't even pick the most favorite one. I saw them live in Russia two years ago and I really hope to see them again in the nearest future.

6. I can't stop watching reviews on new Too Faced Semi Sweet Chocolate Bar palette. I don't really need it in my in life, because I already own two neutral eye shadow palettes, but there's something very appealing about this one (so many matte shades, for example). Maybe one day, maybe one day.

How was your life recently?



Lush Honey Trap lip balm

I went to Lush store the other day to re-purchase my favorite Coalface cleanser and ended up buying Honey Trap lip balm too. As you know, I've promised myself to stop making impulsive buys, but sometimes you just need to treat yourself. And I'm glad that I did, because Honey Trap is the best lip balm ever. Combination of honey, shea butter, beewax, white chocolate and different oils makes your lips soft, very moisturized and protected from cold winter wind. I still love my lip balms from Hurraw! but apparently they don't give me enough of moisture :(

The package isn't hygienic because you have to dip your finger into tin in order to get product, however you get 8g of lip balm so no complains here. Honey Trap has very strong smell of honey and mint and if you don't like harsh scents I guess it's better to avoid this product. Personally I love how it smells and it doesn't bother me at all (I can feel it only when applying lip balm on the lips).

Ingredients: Fair Trade Shea Butter, Almond Oil, Beeswax, Honey, Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, White Chocolate, Glycerine, Flavour, Organic Cold Pressed Wheatgerm Oil, Oatmeal, Peppermint Oil, Fair Trade Vanilla Absolute, Sweet Wild Orange Oil*, Limonene

You know, I was under impression that all Lush lip balms contained methylparaben in it. Despite Lush' claims that parabens are safe to use, you still don't want to have something that may lead to cancer in your products - especially in your lip balm, especially when there's a lot of cheaper alternatives that don't contain parabens in it. I googled a little and found out that not long time ago Honey Trap did contain methylparaben and that the tin was 10g. It's sad that now you get much less of product for the same price, but it's good news that Lush decided to change their formulas.

This lip balm isn't suitable for vegans since there's beewax in it (sorry, guys!) and price is quite high (7 euro anyone?), but still your lips will thank you if you treat them to Honey Trap. I'd totally recommend this product especially if you live in the Northern country like me.

Have you tried Lush lip balms?

Best of 2014

2014 was "make up" year for me. I bought a lot, tried a lot, watched tons of videos how to use all the stuff I own. The most used brand this year was Urban Decay for me. I expanded my eye shadow collection by buying their Naked 3 and Basics palettes, used their famous eye primer potion, loved their Revolution lipstick range. I know that a lot of cruelty free beauty bloggers don't buy their products, because UD is owned by L'Oreal, but still I choose to support them. High quality products, last for a long time, can be easily bought at almost every online beauty store, is certified by the Leaping Bunny... so yeah. I love it and will use it in the future.

For base I have found my holy grail - Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation SPF15 in Warm Peach*. To tell the truth, I don't use liquid/cream foundations because I had bad experience with them in the past (they made an emphasis on dry skin areas or big pores), so for a while mineral foundations have been my best friends. If you don't know, mineral foundation looks like loose powder, but has good coverage ability. Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation is affordable, evens out my skin tone, covers everything I need (I have combination skin with dry cheeks & oily T-zone, breakouts happen time to time). 

The best concealer this year was e.l.f. Maximum Coverage Concealer*, because it is so easy to blend + definitely gives very nice coverage. Best facial primer award goes to Too Faced Primed Poreless Skin Smoothing Primer* (no parabens, makes makeup stay in place all day long). For fixing eye brows - Anastasia Beverly Hills Beverly Hills Brow Fix and for filling - Urban Decay Faint eye shadow (Naked Basics palette).

For contouring I love using The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder in Medium 03 because it doesn't make my skin look orange and blends very easily. And it smells like honey, I can't get enough of it!

My most favorite blusher was Nars Orgasm, but I also love Too Faced Pink Leopard Bronzer which I bought at beautybay.com when they had Black Friday sale. Since it's too shimmery it can't be used for contouring, but it gives beautiful golden-pinky glow to the cheeks.

What about mascara? Pixi Large Lash Mascara is something I'd recommend to try if you need to add volume to your lashes. This mascara can be used by contact lenses wearers.

Next year I'm going to focus on skin/hair care products. Stay tuned!

What are yours 2014 beauty favorites?

Product marked with * are 100% vegan.