The Conservatorie's sale -30% on the private label line until July 2

To celebrate 4th of July the Conservatorie is offering -30% off their private label collection: foundations, blushes and whatnot. 30% sale is not to be sneezed at. I have no idea whether the foundations offered in the private label collection are the same as the bulk foundations they sell - therefore one may not decide based on the swatches I have on this blog.

Conservatorie'l on allahindlus 2 . juulini - 30% nende private label kollektsioonist, seal on nii pulber- kui pressitud tooteid ning isegi lauvärvi aluskreem. Seda viimast tahaks proovida aga ei viitsi suurt hunnikut osta. Ma ei tea, kas need puudrid on samad kui hulgimüüdavad puudrid, mille testrid mul olemas ja siinsamas blogis ka swatchitud.

e.l.f. haul

entire haul

e.l.f. UK works really fast, ships in a day and items arrive in a week. Nothing was missing! :). I have to add, I got quite a good price during the -20% offer :).

This time the parcel had been mishandled by the mail carrier though - it was soaked wet, no need for scissors to open  the box - I could pick the cardboard loose with my fingers (not the fault of our local mail carrier - Eesti Post even added a note of receiving the parcel soaked through).
Some of the packagings suffered (mostly nail polishes, lip-stuff and the Essential-line blushes). Am very glad the Beauty Encyclopedia survived (saved by being tucked in the midst of brushes) and that packaging took all the damage on itself.
Products seem unharmed but I guess I'll find out more specifically when I try to use those blushes. I do not worry about the lip-stuff or nail polishes, those can handle moisture. I just have to discard the packaging when I give them away.

Ühishaul läks hästi - mõned asjad olid tellimise ajaks otsas kuid seda ikka juhtub. Seevastu olid kõik tellitud asjad olemas ning midagi polnud katki. Saime päris hea hinnaga :) 
Pakk oli transpordi ajal kusagil päris korraliku vihma kätte jäänud - lausa Eesti Posti sellekohane akt oli juures. Nood mässisid kogu kupatuse omakorda kilekotti ja see aitas kauba läbivettimisele muidugi veelgi kaasa. Kannatada said huulepalsamite, küünelakkide ning Essential-sarja põsepunade pakendid.


PS! Loodetavasti annavad tellijad ka oma tellitud asjade osas pärast tagasisidet :).

EOTD Simply Naturals Umber and Raisin

Cant remember what I used all over face, pic's done on Tuesday.

Colors used on eyes (Simply Naturals' Umber and Raisin) are too similar  and the overall look is therefore too bland. Will try different color combinations next time. Perhaps Umber and TKB's Totally Teal.

When is the best time to shop at e.l.f's UK store?

Here's some calculations for NON UK people. (UK peeps have slightly different calculations because their shipping cost is lower and they receive free shipping on orders starting from £30.) 

First column contains the price of items, second the entire cost of the purchase including shipping, third describes the situation during free shipping and fourth allows us to see, how much we should purchase for the -20% offer to really start paying off. Please let me know should there be any miscalculation on my part.

Of course there are several other offers, recently there was a -25% offer on all Studio products but those are totally random and cannot be predicted. Free shipping and -20% storewide are predictable, both of them are launched as e.l.f. UK store's FB page reaches another 10 000 likes.

Igaks juhuks seletan ka Eesti keeles - e.l.f.'il on teinekord soodustused, tavapärased on postikuluta saatmine või siis 20% odavam ostukorv. Selles tabelis siin on näha, et milline neist pakkumistest on soodsaim mingi tellitava koguse juures. Seega kui soovid tellida üle 20 naela eest, on mõistlik ära oodata -20% soodustus samas kui väiksema ostuga tasub "free shipping" end rohkem ära.

20% sooduskood või free shipping kukub siis, kui järgmised 10 000 Like'i FB kodulehel kokku kogunenud. 


PS! Here's the calculation for UK peeps as well:

Simply Naturals - old flame, new haul

This was one of the first places I shopped when I first entered the MMU world - cheap piggies! Most of them I have given away by now, kept only a chosen few. A makeup beginner usually purchases "cool" and "interesting" colors but "cool"  and "interesting" do not always mean "suits the skin tone". ;)

Tina sells some piggies straight but also makes her own blends. One of those I absolutely adore - Cafe Satin. For me it's the perfect dark taupe ever. Since it's jar is becoming more and more empty I decided to get a refill and one more just in case. Lately I had been eyeing rest of Tina's brown colors as well and here they finally are:

Two of them are more in the purple category: Ladylike and Devine. Ladylike is a variation of TKB's Smokey XXX and Devine is silvery dark gray with a tiniest tint of pink. 

wet swatches

Umber and Raisin look utterly delicious to me - delicate neutral brown and matching beige. Plum Tree is based on TKB's Chameleon Glitter (I guess) - hard to make a wet swatch and extremely glittery - needs a sticky base. This one will probably look a lot better when applied on the eyelid. I'll try tomorrow :). Monarch - like a very expensive camel wool coat, beautiful light pinkish-beige taupe, lovely silvery sheen. Beachwood is your typical warm dark brown but it has some shimmer in it - this one should be tested on the eye as well. Hazelnut and Cafe Satin look like a perfect pair. Hazelnut somehow reminds me of TKB's Athena but it's not quite it. They could be sisters. Cafe Satin has no equal - no MMU wholesaler carries a mix like this, it's subtle, elegant everyday wear for a classy look - I LOVE it. 

The jars are packed to the brim as usual (no sifters) and pigments fall all over the place when one takes off the plastic wrapper and opens the jar... I usually depot them into larger jars but this time I'll press them - what a lovely neutral palette this will make! :)

tiny Simply Naturals eyeshadow haul

Odavad lauvärvipigmendid = Simply Naturals'i eBay pood. Kiire ja lihtne, soovitan väga soojalt. Infot selle kohta, kuidas tellida, tuleks vaadata mu jaanuarikuisest postitusest. See konkreetne 10-topsine posu läksmul maksma 19,99 dollarit  (saatmiskulu seal sees), mis teeb ühe värvi maksumuseks 1,53 eurot! (ca 24 kr 5 gr per volume tops).  Kohale tuli ühe nädalaga (tavaliselt tuleb USAst pakk kaks nädalat).


PS! Here are swatches of the free samples that also made it to my parcel: Lizard, Golden Poppy and Aqua Marine.

Külalispostitus: An4 räägib e.l.f. Studio Corrective concealerist ning Full Coverage Concealerist

(Märkus: hea mahlakas stiil, jätan originaali :)

Niih asjad siis käes ja tegelesin nede katsetamisega.
Jumestuskreemi pintsel (Märkus: e.l.f. Essential seeriast) on täiesti rahuldav jah..- tulemus aga kipub jääma triibuline - vaja käsnaga üle lasta, et ühtlustuks.
Bronzing pintsel (Märkus: samuti Essential seriast) esimese hooga lausa shokeeris mind - no mida sudi :D aga kusjuures kasutama hakates üllatas ta mind tõsiselt hästi – väga hea katvuse tagas ja ühtlase veel pealekauba.
(Märkus: e.l.f. Studio) Warm Bronzer - seal see kõige heledam on täielikult highlight – kui seguneb ülejäänud toonidega, siis jääb tulemus natukene liiga helendav - pruunid toonid on aga päris ilusa õhetava tooniga – sobib aga rohkem meie põhjamaistele kodanikele - kuna ma olen nende toonide jaoks suvel liiga tume, siis jääb vaid selline aimatav helendus mulle näha... Minu jaoks ideaalne toode lihtsalt nahatooni ühtlustamiseks (karbis on kohe peegel olemas).
Peitekreemidepalett (Märkus: e.l.f. Studio Corrective Concealer) - eemmm- kahtlane kaup, millel pole katvust pmst mitte üks gramm, minu päevitunud nahale ei andud see isegi mitte teist tooni... :D
Jumestuskreemide palett (Märkus: e.l.f. Studio Complete Coverage Concealer in Dark) - 2 tooni on sealt sellised, mis sobivad ideaalselt minule, kui olen kasutanud alla peitekreemide paletti... Jumestuskreemide palett on aga jah isegi mulle 2 tooni kohapealt natukene tume aga suvi on alles ees :D neil on aga jube hea katvus ja väga vastupidavalt on need nahale kaetud - tegin triibud nahale ja nühkisin ikka isuga kätt ja need triibud läksid vaid natukene heledamaks... :s tea kas pesuga maha tulevadki :D

click to biggify

Panen sulle ka kaasa paar pilti... tumedam käsi on minu oma – seal sõrmede pool on natukene näha Warm Bronzeri erinevate toonide jaotust, üleval pool on peitekreemide paleti toonid minu nahal :D:D, allpool on siis dark jumestuskreemide paleti tulemus.
Heledam käsi on sama värvijaotusega tehtud ja seal kasutasin ma oma meest katsejänesena - tema on see, kellel on tavalise põhjamaise inimese nahk :D
Highlightereid pole nahal nähagi ja sama seis on ka selle Bronzer'iga (Märkus: ega mina ka neid pildil näinud, croppisin rõõmsasti välja aga ma olen šokeeritud! Warm on ju minu jaoks kuramuse tume toon!) - need tooted vist sobivadki seetõttu rohkem päevitunud nahale. Aga see eest minu ja tema nahal need dark toonid on ikka megahüpergiga tumedad :D:D

Päris tore oli eksperimenteerida... peitekreemide palett on vaid väikene pettumus... ei toimi päris nii nagu vaja...

This was a guest post by An4, let me recap it for you. 

e.l.f. Essential foundation brush leaves streaks and the skin must be patted over with a sponge to get a more even result. Bronzing brush from the essential series was a positive surprise - it covers evenly and does the job superbly well. e.l.f. Studio Warm bronzer is too light for An4 (she's really dark for an Estonian, really  :D) but it's not showing up on her better half's hairy hand either (and I always considered it a suitable bronzer for medium skin tones - An4 can use it as a foundation to even out her skintone!). e.l.f. Studio Corrective Concealer may work on snow-whites like me but is totally useless for An4. e.l.f. Studio Complete Coverage Concealer in Dark on the other hand covers well and will not budge easily, 2 of the shades are totally wearable by An4 (especially when using the corrective concealer underneath) and she hopes to use the other 2 shades during summer as well. Overall she liked her haul although the corrective concealer was a bit of a disappointment :)

Terrible lazyness...

I have made some EOTD's and FOTD's but never gotten around to post them. By the time I actually had the time to sit down and blog I had already forgotten what it was I used to do the look with. Recently I have come out with a brilliant solution :D - it's so easy, all I need to do is take a pic of the stuff used! This way  anyone interested can just biggify the pic and see the details for themselves.

So last Wednesday I looked a bit red in the face (e.l.f.'s mineral foundation in Fair does that to a pale person):

still have "long" hair on this pic

And the stuff used to look like this was all this:

I think I did a lot better job on Friday, of course this time I used EDM's Intensive Fair instead (Fairly Light Neutral was for contouring, e.l.f. Studio foundation brush is very good for the purpose).:

TKB's Apple Blossom as blush - it only has a pink sheen, no particular coverage

Conservatorie's Brown Coco in the crease and TKB's Dusty Rose al over lid,
Satin White as lower liner blended downwards with Pearl Sunlight

Even though I say it myself - my skin looks friggin' amazing!
Perhaps now I've grown out of puberty?

And yes, I have a new haircut - a very short pixie.Why? Because my hairdresser returns from holidays in September - I need to look decent all summer long - bangs this short will start to annoy me in August at the soonest :). I look like a little boy when without makeup and dressed down. :D

e.l.f mineral glow: bronzer and highlighter

These are a bit more expensive then the rest of the mineral line - those are some pretty big jars. I'd say 40 gr per volume, twice the size of a foundation jar.

e.l.f. mineral bronzer

Bronzer is a tad too dark for me - I tried to use it and my face just seemed dirty. Highlighter on the other hand seems very handy.

e.l.f. mineral highlighter

It's not sparkly enough to give you a discoball effect, it's just adds some luminescence to the skin. Comments on the e.l.f homepage also warn women of color for the white cast it leaves so people with a better tan should watch out when using this. I guess this problem will soon be mended and a more suitable product launched - something with a slight golden overcast perhaps. One simply shouldnt overlook such a big customer group :)

Kahjuks on päikesepuuder minu jaoks liiga tume - purgis näeb heledam välja, nahale kandes oli üllattavalt tume laik. Helendaja aga on minu puhul täiesti oma ülesannete kõrgusel - see ei sädele nagu diskopall vaid pigem annab kerge kuma. Tugevalt päevitunutele see kindlasti ei sobi.

Brushes from the e.l.f. Essential line

When thinking whether to get face brushes from Essential or Studio line - Studio is the way to go. Essential line face brushes are harsh on the skin (scratchy) and cannot be compared to the divine softness of a brush from either Studio or Mineral line. 

From left to right: Studio foundation brush, Essential foundation brush,
Studio blush brush, Essential blush brush,
Studio Complexion brush, Essential Total Face brush

e.l.f.'s quality control issues are well known but they most often occur in the Essential line. Eyeshadow brushes are badly formed, same type of brushes bought at the same time vary in size and shape, they shed or are broken the moment one takes them out of their packaging. There's a chance you'll get crap but there's also the chance of getting a decent eyeshadow brush for $1/£1,5. When brushes are this cheap one is tempted to play the lottery :)

e.l.f. Essentials total face brush:
please note the protruding hairs - this brush is out of shape

My suggestion - Essential line's foundation, concealer and eyeshadow brushes are worth a try but Total Face brush, Blushing, Bronzing and Blending brush and especially the ordinary (red) kabuki should be left at the store! Even 1 $/£ is too much for that horror, do not buy.

Essentiali pintslitest lähemalt. Essential on see, millega e.l.f. alustas - odav kraam odava hinnaga, kvaliteet muidugi vastav. Viimasel ajal on nad püüdnud sarja upitada kuid on kõrvale loonud ka kvaliteetsemad Studio ning Mineral sarjad. Essentiali sarja näopintslid on kriipivad, tüüpilised odavad naturaalkarvast pintslid mida tõesti kellelegi ei soovita. Arvamused on olnud kaunis kehvapoolsed: annavad pestes värvi, teinekord haisevad, poetavad karvu jne. Kaunis levinud on ka see, et ostes korraga 3 sama tüüpi pintslit on lõpuks peos 3 kaunis erineva suurusega ja kujuga asja.

Kui e.l.f'i e-poes pintsleid vaadata, siis tasub tähelepanu pöörata eelkõige Studio ja Mineral sarjade näopintslitele ja võibolla panna korvi ka mõni Essentiali lauvärvipintsel (naturaalne karv haarab  pulberpigmenti suurepäraselt, paremini kui Studio sünteetilised lauvärvipintslid, mis omakorda sobivad pigem vedelatele ja kreemjatele toodetele). Kindlasti tasub Total Face brush'i asemel võtta Studio Complexion brush ning Blushing-Bronzing-Blending õuduse asemele enam vähem sama kujuga Mineral seeria Blush brush. Iga hinna eest tuleb vältida punast tavasarja kabukit ja selle asemel võtta Studio Face Kabuki.

L'Oreal Happy Hour kaubamajades 9. juunil

All Estonian L'Oreal fans should visit the local department store Kaubamaja on June 9th and stock up - there's a sale -25% off. Happy Hunting!

Soodustus läheb veelgi vägevamaks Partnerkaarti kasutades, sünnipäevanädalalistele on aga lausa poolmuidu (eeldatavasti siis 25%+15%).

e.l.f. mineral eyeliner pencils

The fact that I have been such a lazy writer of course has nothing to do with my actual purchases - those have been piling up since February. So embarrassing.

From top to bottom: e.l.f. Feather Proof eye liner,
e.l.f. mineral eyeliner in Ash,e.l.f. mineral eyeliner in Coffee,
Manhattan's Extreme Last eyeliner, Lumene mineral eyebrow pencil in Gray Brown

Here are all my eyeshadow and brow pencils. I have to admit I'm quite happy with the latter - my Lumene mineral eyebrow pencil (with protecting arctic amethyst, mind you)  in  gray brown. (Lately everything has to be "mineral", have you noticed?) Of course, it could be a tad cooler and less red but that's besides the point since my eyebrows seem to have a slight reddish shade as well.

Main heros here are the latest acquisition - e.l.f. mineral eyeliners in Coffee and Ash. They are soft and spread well which also means they kinda spread all over my browbone should I forget to fix them with some eyeshadow. Ash is a quite dark gray blackish color, no medium gray as could be expected by it's name.

Nice texture and I quite like them. Unlike the e.l.f. "feather proof" one which is a true pain on the lid, extremely harsh (came with the mineral eyeshadow set). Manhattan's eyeliner pencil is dark black and also very soft. I still want a white or cream eyeliner but e.l.f. does not carry one in their mineral line. The Essential line I'd frankly rather miss and the Studio one does not seem very tempting either.

I am rather old fashioned (or new fashioned, perhaps) - I prefer pencils to liquid and cream liners - they seem easier to control. These I do not need to sharpen, a big plus.

e.l.f.'i Mineral seeria silmapliiatsid on pehme tekstuuriga, kanduvad kergesti kulmuluule üle (halb, eksole) kuid minu meelest siiski kaunis ok. Ei ärrita silmi ja kestavad kaua. Ausalt öeldes pole mul veel õnnestunud kohata silmapliiatsit, mis kulmuluule ei kanduks - alati tuleb lauvärviga kinnitada.

Everyday Minerals no longer ships to Estonia

Everyday Minerals no longer ships to Estonia and asks all clients to shop at the local webstore.  EDM does not care much for it's clients, so what else is new. This was to be expected.

Now I have to find an alternative to all my friends... I think I'll start recommending MAD Minerals again... or e.l.f's mineral line for those people who do not have sensitive skins (bismuth) and do not need much of a coverage. Too bad e.l.f. does not have much to offer for pale folks.