EOTD Black Amethyst

TKB Trading's Black Amethyst all over lid

TKB Trading's Echo just above the crease

EDM's Intensive Fair concealer as foundi

The Conservatorie's Adobe as blush.

E.L.F. mineral eyeshadow primer

E.L.F. eye pencil on the eyebrows

 mascara from Estee Lauder (E.L.F's lash curler)

About toothpaste, with some passion

Please allow me to be frank: I hate Johnson&Johnson/Procter&Gamble corporation and I think their marketing department deserves to be drowned, hanged and quartered. I fucking hate, hate, hate them! All those god-awful detergent, toothpaste, bleach and hygiene stuff commercials... I feel personally insulted by their low-class tacky advertising. They insult my (our) intelligence.

Since Estonia gained independence we have been tormented with their ugly-ass moronic commercials every time we sat in front of the TV. I've gotten at least 20years of it and I may with all confidence consider myself an expert on moroseness of commercials. I've NEVER seen commercials as idiotic on Finnish TV - oh no, Estonia is in the Eastern-European marketing block, naturally. Nobody takes into account, that Estonians are fenno-ugric people and we really, REALLY do not respond well to commercials aimed at Slavic cultural sphere.

Just imagine a lady singing (cant remember the exact words but the meaning went along these lines):

My son has bright teeth and does well in school!

my husband has good breath and he's oh so successful!

my daughters gums never bleed, shes so popular amongst the boys!

Cooolgate supperactioooooon!

all accompanied by a dance routine of some kind. Should I add the tune is quite annoying too? Of course the mouth movements of the actors (those poor people! I hope they got paid well for that embarrassment) did not correspond in any way to the actual lyrics and the people on the screen, well - let's say did not look Nordic. Why yes, of course Im going to buy this wonderful toothpaste, after all this wonderful Turkish housewife on TV is recommending it to me with song and dance and just look at those blindingly white teeth of her husband! (The translator must have passed out at least twice and probably attempted seppuku.)

This must be too much even to the other Eastern-European people. How can anyone even hold down their breakfast?!? Who is the evil mastermind behind such shit? I mean - to every intelligent person it would seem the marketing department is doing it's best to ruin the brand and bring down the company.

So I've started a little campaign of my own - do not buy Colgate or Blend-a-med! Don't buy any of the brands that have large scale annoying campaigns, buy generic shit, ingredients are pretty much identical anyway, with the same SLS and parabens (maybe you even get a tube without triclosan, a poison Colgate likes to put in all its toothpastes). You probably get the stuff cheaper too.

So in Estonia: buy Polardent. It's the only one I know that's produced in Estonia. All you other folks out there, support your local manufacturers and get their stuff instead. Remember - one should not only change toothbrushes frequently, one should also juggle different toothpastes. Ask your dentist.

At the moment I'm the proud owner of these 3 generic Russian brands, Polardent seems to be hard to obtain these days, it's mostly sold in pharmacies. Still hunting.

Kuna meie ajusid on jubedate reklaamidega komposteeritud juba üle 20 aasta, kutsun kõiki üles toetama just omamaa keemiatööstust: hambapastad, pesupulbrid, nõudepesuvahendid. Ärgem andkem oma raha ettevõtetele, kes peavad meid idiootideks. Jätkem meelde: BioEst, Mayer, Polardent, Flora jne jne.

Lisaks astuge veel läbi ka Samelini (jalatsitootja) vabrikupoest Tartus ja ostke endale talveks mõnusad mugavad ja soojad nahkmokassiinid! Soovitan soojalt!

Väike Valge Skvoo on rääkinud.
Hau.

Ricinus communis oil/castor oil

Another recent aqcuisition: a small (30 ml) bottle of Ricinus Communis oil aka castor oil (cheap (30 kr, 2 EUR, $2,5, £1,5), sold in pharmacies).

Ricinus is a highly toxic plant, has very pretty and very poisonous seeds (should a child eat 3-4 seeds, it's a goner). Tough that, since the plant is widely used in gardens and cityscapes cause it's just so pretty.

This oil has been used for centuries for it's laxative properties (when taken orally) and also for boosting hair growth (used externally). Apparently it wakes up the dormant hair bulbs or smth and therefore makes the hair thicker. People use it to regrow overplucked eyebrows and it's also widely used after fake lashes are removed and people are left with only 1 or 2 of their own.

Ricinus oil is not to be used to remove eye makeup! Although the oil itself is not toxic there's a big chance of getting puffy eyes in the morning. It's used on the scalp (not the hair itself - use something cheaper there, like ordinary olive oil with some drops of essential oil), eyebrows and eyelashes only (ok, places where you want to have lots of hair - maybe someone would like a hairy chest...). One can use an old mascara wand or a q-tip to apply the oil.

I am a big fan of removing eye makeup with oils. I always use mineral oil and not the natural oils: reason being mineral oil is very unlikely to produce an allergic reaction, eyes are a very sensitive area (mineral oil will not go rancid). Natural oils, especially those mixed with essential oils - would not do well with everyone. Sometimes when travelling I do use olive oil or sunflower oil to remove eye makeup but no matter what oil I use I always make sure I get all the oil off the lids before I go to bed (eyes might swell up otherwise). I have rather long lashes and I attribute this to the oil cleansing method - oiled up lashes are not as brittle as lashes that get in contact with eye makeup removers every day.

Riitsinus ehk kastoorõli on vanast ajast teada vahend (juukse)karvakasvu kiirendamiseks, tuleb vaid nahale määrida. Efekt tulenevat sellest, et äratab uinunud folliikulid ja nõnda tekivad paksemad juuksed. Juustesse endisse määrida pole mõtet, sinna kõlbab ka tavaline ning märksa odavam oliivõli. Viimasel ajal on paljudel kunstripsmed ja nende eemaldamisel selgub, et enda omadest pole miskit alles jäänud - siis on riitsinusest kasu küll. Seespidiselt mõjub lahtistina.

EOTD Gold with the new mascara

Felt like gold yesterday: high heels and fancy dress day.

Colors used on the eyes were:
TKB Trading's Forged Gold all over lid,
Virgo in inner corners
and Crucible Gold in outer corner and the upper lashline.

Should have picked something else instead of Crucible Gold - it looks too greenish compared to Forged Gold. Crucible Gold would complement Crucible Khaki very well but not Forged Gold. Blush is own mix, again.

EDM's Intensive Fair Concealer and Olive Fair semi-matte mix as foundi.

Liquid foundation, anyone?

The temperature has dropped somewhat - and I got some liquid foundation testers from the store. Too dark - of course, Max Factor Second Skin No 70 Natural and 75 Golden (Lightest available ones are 40 Cream Ivory and 45 Walm Almond - I guess the Ivory might be quite good on me during summer - but those testers were not offered).

Used the E.L.F.Studio powder brush for application and painted face, neck, shoulders and decollete all in one go. Studio foundation brush was good for detailed work around the nose but it did not blend as well as the flat-top does. Besides the flat top is better in covering large areas. I was surprised that the brush looked quite clean afterwards -I would have imagined it to be manky and in need of immediate washing but it still looked quite decent after use.

It looked quite good as long as I did not put my white arms anywhere near the face. I really liked applying the cream with that flat-topped brush, the result looked very nice and even. After running around a little my face became a little shiny but it still looked good. Eye makeup was gone in 8 hours, I guess I did not properly remove the oil I used for cleaning the eyes in the morning.

Coverage is about the same that mineral powders produce, and I have developed a brand new pimple on my cheek - cant blame the foundi, could be a thousand other things - like the grilled stuff or alcoholic drinks from last weekend.

Sadly this makeup kinda smeared up my pearls... they look pretty disgusting now.

Conclusion: blue eyes look better with pale skin, I don't like what I see in the mirror - I look like some cheap wannabe ghetto person from MTV. Could also be that my makeup application sucks but I feel like my face is dirty.

PS! I think this is the first time I've tried liquid foundation in over a year...

Ma pole juba ammu tavakosmeetika jumestuskreeme kasutanud kuid E.L.F. Studio pintsid vajavad testimist: soovitan lamedat puudripintslit! Jääb imekena õhuke ja ühtlane tulemus. Meigipõhjapintslit saab detailide tegemiseks kasutada kuid suurte pindade katmiseks ma ei soovitaks. MF Second Skin on kerge-keskmise katvusega toode, jääb nahal matipoolne ja püsib mõõdukas kliimas päris hästi peal (mõõdukas kliimas, kus ei higista - mu pärlid on kaetud pruuni plögaga, sest higistades tuli puuderkreem nahalt lahti ja määris pärlid ära). Valgenahksed inimesed aga peaksid vältima oma nahatoonist tumedama tooni kasutamist, sest muidu näevad välja nagu wannabe-neegrid. Olgem ausad - tulemus pole kuigi kena kui inimene püüab kardinaalselt eemalduda talle looduse poolt ette nähtud värvigammast (nahk, juuksed, silmad).

Ma näen enda arvates välja nagu räpane kodutu, tahaks nägu pesta. Siin ka link temaatiliselt sarnasele blogipostitusele Pale is the New Tan.

Lumene Natural Code Eye Dramatizer mascara

Bought a new mascara this weekend (old blueberry curl one dried up), had to take advantage of the birthday discount. I was amazed to see them priced as low as 70 kroons (5,8 USD; 4,5 EUR), usually they're close to 160 (13 USD; 10,2 EUR).

Unfortunately Lumene Natural Code had no brown mascaras so I chose a black one this time. The wand is small and slim, the entire tube has a nice elegant slim feel to it. Keeps well and does not come off easily. The wand is very long though and one has to pay attention not to smear the lids with paint. Smells good and I really like the consistence - apparently no parabens in there.

FOTD: lets see if silica microspheres make a difference...

Still 30 outside, everyone sweats like a pig, no makeup holds - smart people wear their tinted moisturizers and sunscreens and I'm still trying to get the makeup to last at least until I get from home to work (15 minutes walking). I have to go read the Indonesian/Filipino girls blogs, I cant imagine how they do it... must be some very potent primer they use. I don't use any, just the jojoba-oil to moisturize after the morning shower - I guess the primer really makes a difference.

This time I applied EDM's semi-matte Olive Fair wet, by dabbing it over with a moist (E.L.F. Studio powder) brush - effect was instant, face became very shiny. Not the result I was looking for but nevertheless, worth a try. Then the contouring (EDM's Fairly Light Neutral o-glo), DIY blush (see last post) and on top the silica microspheres (TKB Trading sells it).
After arriving to work let me say - it looks no different from yesterday. Except that the face stings a little... Sweat conquers all.
On the eyes I used the E.L.F. eye primer & liner sealer, dabbing it over with some foundation. Colors used are: TKB Trading's Echo in inner corners, The Conservatorie's Gold Earth on the lid, TKB Trading's Foliage in the crease and outer corner. E.L.F.'s " featherproof" (actually says so on the pencil) eyepencil to fill out the eyebrows.

I'm doing lots of neutral eye-do's recently, must be the Make-up Store magazine... they had some very nice 50s looks in their last issue (see issue No. 13).

EOTD neutral

I tried to make a blush for a friend. It turned out rather good but I'm not so sure it suites her... for me it's perfect. Too bad I failed to write down all I put into it, main ingredients are TKB eyeshadow base and Strawberry, some green, purple, black and golden pigments too.

On these pics I've tried contouring, putting the darker shade on the temples, just under the cheekbones and on the chin and jawline, using the E.L.F. foundation brush from the Studio kit.

Foundi is EDM's Olive Fair in semi-matte and for contouring I used Fairly Light Neutral. There's a bit of difference in the shades of my face and neck so I think I overdid it with the contouring. My DIY blush-mix is used both on lids and cheeks. The color looks very subtle on the eyes, for a change I did the lower lashline too - with E.L.F.'s eye pencil and covered it with the eyeshadow, using the E.L.F 's small precision brush. It's 33 degrees today so the pencil feels even too soft today, usually it's quite hard. Dont buy it, it's crap - impossible to make a thin line. Same pencil is used on the eyebrows. Pics are taken immediately after application and the makeup was gone in an hour: its unbearably hot outside and I sweat in enormous quantities. Terrible.

This is 7 hrs later after an entire day of sweating. My skin feels sticky, I need a bath...
Isesegatud põsepuna toon on väga kena mu nahal, sihuke tagasihoidlik roosakas. Kahtlustan, et K. tumedam nahk vajab midagi särtsakamat...

At work

Colleague: Hi, nice to see you back from vacation.
Me: Hello to you too.
Colleague: Is that a new dress, and shoes?
Me: Why yes, thank you for noticing.
Colleague: But you know, those white pantyhose you have on do not go well with your dress...
Me: Pantyhose? What pantyhose?!?

Yup, I'm still just as pale as before my vacation... The cool bit - I love it! I have managed not to burn and my skin still has the even coloring, no red lines, marks or blotches!

Nivea SPF 50 sunscreen does work but I shudder to think of what it consists of...

E.L.F. Studio line brush kit

Finally the set arrived - took it some months... The trick to get the E.L.F. 's wonderful 50, 60 and 75 % sales offers in Europe can be described in two words: custom purchase. Too bad there are bound to be some communication glitches: this explains the 2 kabukis from the ordinary line. There's also the additional shipping cost close to 20 USD but it's still woth it., especially if one orders several sets :D. I do not understand why the European E.L.F. office never offers such good deals. It might even help to deal with the UK prices which are twice to US's.

When bought on sale this set really is a rather good buy. Stinks at first, a lot (the plastic case stinks the worst) but the brushes will be scent-free in couple of days. Fan brush seems pretty useless since it's a bit too soft and cannot be used for removing eyeshadow residue.

There have been some changes in the overall design cause the flat-top powder brush in this set has a longer handle then the one I bought earlier this year. All brushes seem usable but I really do not know what to do with the foundation brush or the fan brush. All brushes are very soft and do not shed although some of them have one or two hairs poking out but those can be removed easily, just use the scissors.

The mineral line kabuki brush (right) is something else: stinks, sheds, possibly bleeds and scratches like a true brush from hell. I also suspect it eats the powder. It's in no way related to the beautiful and heavenly kabuki brush of the studio series (left). Don't buy the mineral series kabuki! Keegi soovib veidi kraapivat kabukit? Anna aga teada, ärin ära, odavalt - 50 kr tk.

I'll keep them in jars and not in their case, more comfortable to use. I'll take the brush holder out again when I'll travel.

PS! on July 6th E.L.F offered an all-over store discount of 60% from 12 to 18 pm! Amazing... Not the UK store, naturally.

Väga hea pintslikomplekt algajale ja edasijõudnule. Hea kvaliteet ja kui õnnestub E.L.F.i- soodukas ära kasutada, ka üliodav. Mineraalkosmeetika jaoks sobib suurepäraselt, mineraalpuudri pealekandmiseks sobib lame (flat-top) puudripintsel väga hästi. Suur puudripintsel ei ole meigipõhja tegemiseks kõige parem, puuder lendab minema - sobib paremini päikesepuudri ja särapuudri pealekandmiseks. Lame (flat-top) puudripintsel kannab puudri peale katvamalt (loe: paksemalt) kui Studio-seeria ülipehme kabuki. Kabukiga saab õhema, läbikumavama tulemuse. Silmapintslid pole ka pahad, haaravad pigmente hästi ja paigutavad laule, puuduseks on vaid keskmise suurusega silmapintsli puudumine, selle asemel saab ehk peitepuudripintslit kasutada.

Lehvikpintsel tundub mõttetu (väidetavalt kasutatakse silma alla pudenenud lauvärvi eemaldamiseks või väga intensiivse põsepuna pealekandmiseks), samuti ei oska ma midagi peale hakata selle viltuse foundation brush'iga - võibolla sobib kontuurimiseks (kusjuures sobibki! nina ja lõuga on sellega päris hea teha). Põsepunapintsel on veidi imeliku nurgelise kujuga, tipus on nurk, samuti on ta harjumatult väike (väga pehme, sobib täppistööks). Pintslikott haiseb alguses päris vastikult, seda on vaja veidi tuulutada. Mineral-seeria kabukid tuleks ostmata jätta, võrreldes Studio omaga on need ikka väga karedad. Samas - mõned just eelistavad karedaid, search me. Uskumatu aga hind on neil sama.

Hair conditioners

The trouble with my hair is it gets too greasy too soon and I have to wash the hair every day. This is of cource very stressing for the hair and continues to irritate the scalp even more. Conditioners are a must, otherwise the hair will soon resemble a felt.

Recently bought the all natural Sante Brilliant Hair hair conditioner - I can't really say anything for or against it. It has brilliant reviews and comes from a famous eco-brand. I guess for me it's just decent. I probably could do with a cheaper one, this one was almost 100 kr which is a bit steep for something as trivial as hair conditioner. It seems to not last long though - a month and the tube is already half empty.

See tundub mulle sihuke keskmik - ei midagi halba aga samas ei pane ka rõõmust üles-alla hüppama. Lõhn on hea ja koostisosad inimsõbralikud. Töötab.

Been travelling a little and as everybody knows, hair-care products tend to be heavy and therefore I usually do not bother to pack them.

Wonderful opportunity to try out new stuff. The first is Charles Worthington's leave in conditioner for damaged hair. Seems to be fine, hair is easily combable and does not feel heavy. It's a bit pricier, 5.49£ per tube and a little goes a long way. Contains lots of silicones and other interesting ingredients so by no means is this a nature product. It smells nice and is very easy to apply. I think I'd like to have the Balancing Act dry shampoo too - could come very handy during the summer trips. Boots - here I come!

See on väga hea asi. Ideaalne neil päevil, kui tunned et ei viitsi balsami juuste sisse mätsimise, toime ootamise ja väljaloputamise peale aega raisata. Tõin endale ühe inglismaalt kaasa. Naftat ja muud jama täis nagu vana põrguline kuid töötab. Tuleks panna vaid juustesse (otstesse) ning hoiduda nahale määrimisest. Aitab igasugustest pesemisjärgsetest pusadest edukalt lahti saada.

The one I'd like to warn the general public about is this product - the Black Orchid Bergamot herbal hair conditioner - this is almost pure mineral oil. Not usable on European hair, I guess it would only be usable for very dry and hard textured afro hair. It's basically a pot of blue grease. This you cannot rinse out - this one has to be washed out of the hair. Took me 3 times to finally get the grease out.

Tõepoolest jubedaim juuksetoode mis eales ette sattunud... pesin juuksed ära ja ei saanud aru, miks nad ometi juba ära ei kuiva ja ikka veel nii märjad tunduvad kuni mulle koitis, et nad on rasvast täiesti sorgus! järgnes kahekordne peapesu... alles ülejärgmisel päeval sain juuksed päris puhtaks. See toode on afrojuustele, krussis ja kuivadele - neil arvatavasti läheks sellist õlivanni teinekord vaja. Kui toodet ennast googeldasin, oli üks lehekülgedest vanglapoe inventory-list...

PS! Boots' should be having a sale on the Vosene dandruff shampoo - a pound per bottle. The Brotherhood of Perpetual Snowfall (meaning dad and bro) are definitely getting some.

Vosene on inglise šampoon, mida toodetakse juba vist 40ndatest alates. Lõhn on selline "herbal" kuid sisu vaevalt et seda on. Töötab ning odavam kui Head&Shoulders mida mu rahvas tavaliselt ostab.