Photos of the Month : August 2014

Hello everyone. I hope you all have had a good long weekend so far. The weather is pretty hot right now and I don't find it too pleasant to be outside. Hopefully it gets a little cooler. It's around 30 to 35 degrees Celsius and that is too hot for me...

But the hot weather doesn't mean that I don't have any pictures for you. I still enjoy taking pictures when I'm out and about... and I have a good few selection for you guys for the month of August.

It has been mostly cloudy this month and hot and sometimes rainy, so that doesn't give me a lot of opportunities to take good pictures. 

So lets just enjoy these two pretty flowers that are my two favourite pictures in this blog post. I love taking photos of flowers but these two are my absolute favourite. Looking at them, it just makes me really happy.. maybe I'm weird like that? anyways..

I hope you guys had an amazing month of August. It was pretty uneventful for me. Just normal life stuff.

Have an amazing long weekend and start of the week! Stay safe

Lots of love,
Dina

♥ 

Photos of the Month : July 2014

It has been a very long time since the last time I poster a "Photos of the Month" blog post and I really miss it. I just took a several month break, so to speak and I am back, hopefully fingers crossed, to be posting blogs and actually staying. No more breaks!!

Month of July was my birthday and also cottage month! haha I had such a great month of July with my family and friends and I am so thankful for everything and I thought to share some of the pictures I took during my cottage trip/vacation with you.

I love to do landscape/ nature photography and I love sunsets. The cottage we were staying at had such an amazing view and it got better at sunset.

The food was amazing, it was just a very relaxing and joyful month for me.

The cake was amazing as well. Who doesn't love a good chocolate cake? well, I know I do. I would just eat the whole thing since it was my birthday and all. DUH ;)

Short blog post, I know, I know but I like to keep my "photos of the month" blog post short. I just mainly want to share the photos and that is basically it.

I hope you guys had a good month of July.

Stay safe and happy :)

Lots of love,
Dina

♥ 

Summer Scents - Favourite Perfumes

Sephora Website Description : 

Lancome La Vie Est Belle (Life is Beautiful) - made with the most precious natural ingredients, it entwines the elegance of iris with the strength of patchouli and the sweetness of a gourmand blend for an incredible scent with depth and complexity.

Notes: Iris, Patchouli, Gourmand - Style: Free, Happy, Deep

My Thoughts: this one is my absolute favourite. I had tried a sample that I got from Sephora and wanted it really bad and my dearest friend got it for me for my birthday and I am really happy to have this perfume. The name really suits how this smells. When I spray this on, life feels beautiful. It smells amazing that's how I know to explain it!

Juicy Couture La Fleur - sheer veil of sparkling mandarin and wild berries, combined with luminous florals of lush honeysuckle, gardenia petals, and soft jasmine. A whisper of creamy gourmand reminiscent of the classic viva la juicy elicits an addiction that envelops the skin.

Notes: Wild berries, mandarin, honeysuckle, gardenia petals, soft jasmine, vanilla, caramel, sandalwood - Style: sheer, modern, addictive

My Thoughts: This perfume smells floral and very springy, but I use it in summer as well. It is sweet but not too sweet to make me feel nauseous. It last a long time on me when I spray it on. It makes me happy and fresh when I have this on and it feels like I'm in a field full of amazing smelling flowers on a springy day.

Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy - combine of delicious wild berries with creamy vanilla and bright jasmine

Notes: wild berries, mandarins, honeysuckle, gardenia, jasmine, amber, caramel, sandalwood, praline- Style: tantalizing, teasing, tempting

My Thoughts: This smells sweet and chic but youthful at the same time. I really like this perfume especially for early spring when it is still a little chilly outside but works great in the summer as well.

Dolce & Gabbana - surprisingly coloured with liveliness of Sicilian citron, the happiness of granny smith apple, the spontaneity of bluebells, intensity of jasmine, freshness of bamboo and charm of white rose

Notes: sicilian citron, bluebell, granny smith apple, jasmine sambac, bamboo, white rose, cedarwood, amber, musk - Style: deep and true

My Thoughts: I have a very small bottle of this that I got with my points at Sephora. I like to use this on the days that I just want to smell fresh and kind of beachy. It smells you just came from a long day at the beach and you just showered, does that make sense? so yea sunny day showering at the beach maybe? haha okay.

I prefer body sprays over perfume in the summer time to be honest. It just feels more light weight and easy but I still like to have some favourite summer perfumes as well for a longer lasting finish.

What are some of your favourite summer perfumes?

Lots of love,
Dina
♥ 

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion - Review

For a very long time, I heard people talk about this product and really love it. I never really gave it a thought but about a few months ago, I got really interested in this product and actually decided to go to the website and search for it. I actually found out that if I wanted to try it out, I had to order it online and I just thought why not? I gave it a chance and was hoping to be lucky and like the actual product!

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion is a pink powder in a yellowish liquid. When I received this in the mail, the powder and liquid was kind of mixed together so I sat it aside and the pink powder sank at the bottom of the bottle. You are not supposed to shake the product before using it or anything. The powder actually has to be at the bottom in order for it to work and be in the right way.

When you want to use it, you just take a cotton swab and dip it into the bottle and it will pick up the pink powder. Now that pink powder is supposed to help with any white-heads and pimples on the skin. So what you do is that you take the side that has the pink solution on it and just place it where ever you have pimples or white-heads. You have to leave it on overnight and wash it off in the morning. 

description of the product in the pamphlet that came in the package

So, for me personally, I use this product two or three nights in a row and my pimples/white-heads are pretty much gone. Now my skin is very easy to get hyperpigmentation, so I still have that but the bump that was there because of either the pimples or the white-heads are completely gone. I used to try out a lot of different acne products and the ones that had salicylic acid, did nothing for me. It didn't make it worse but it didn't make it any better either. Benzoyl Peroxide in the acne products worked better for me. So when I gave this product a chance and tried it out, I was surprised that it worked so well for me since it does have salicylic acid in it!!!

So overall, I am very pleased with this product. This was my very first time that I tried anything from the Mario Badescu skincare line and I am very happy that I did.

Have you tried anything from the Mario Badescu skincare line? What are your thought about this Drying Lotion?

Lots of love,
Dina

♥ 

Summer Scents - Favourite Body Sprays

Bath & Body Works Website Description : 

White Citrus - inspired by the sun-drenched citrus groves of the Mediterranean coast. Is invigorating blend of crisp citrus and water lily.

top notes: lemon zest, sparkling grapefruit, juicy tangerine

mid notes: ginger flower, water lily, apricot nectar, lily of the valley, freesia

dry notes: clean woods, sheer musk

my thoughts: this is my absolute favourite. I am totally obsessed with this one. it smells fresh and I can definitely smell the lime/lemon which ever. this is the perfect spring/summer scent.

Maui Hibiscus Beach - a refreshing mix of star fruit, mango wood and tropical hibiscus

top notes: mandarin, star fruit, bergamot, pineapple

mid notes: guava, Brazilian passion fruit, hibiscus, watery watermelon

dry notes: mango wood, creamy musk

my thoughts: this one smells like a perfect day at the sunny beach. it smells fresh and a little sweet and perfect for spring/summer.

Beautiful Day - as beautiful as the perfect spring day with sun-kissed apple, wild daisies and fresh pink peonies

top notes: sun-kissed apple, dewy pear, sparkling cassis

mid notes: wild daisies, lily of the valley, fresh pink peonies

dry notes: white beach, blonde woods

my thoughts: this smells like a fresh smelling shower in a field of flowers. it is so fresh and cool smelling that is the perfect spring/ summer scent. when you spray this on, it feels like you just smell good yourself not because you put on a body spray.

Secret Wonderland - a whimsical blend of luscious strawberry, frosted jasmine petals and white amber. inspired by a world you never dreamed of

top notes: luscious strawberry, wild goji berries, ripe raspberry

mid notes: gardenia petals, jasmine, peach nectar

dry notes: coconut musk, creamy vanilla, sandalwood, white amber

my thoughts: this smells sweet and magical which absolutely suits the name. I like this more for spring time which the weather is cooler but I still use it in the summer as well.

Forever Sunshine - captures the romance of warm days that linger into cool autumn. blend of juicy tangerine, pink peonies, sweet praline

top notes: juicy tangerine, golden apricot, sparkling mandarin, exotic berries

mid notes: gardenia petals, freesia, pink peonies

dry notes: vanilla bean gelato, creamy sandalwood, nuzzly musks, sweet praline

my thoughts: this smells very sweet but not in a way to make you nauseous. it smells like a sunny day and a hint of vanilla.

So overall, I am really bad at describing scents so I really tried to bring it to words what ever the body spray smelled like. I hope it gave you guys a new list of body sprays to look for and smell for yourself the next time you are at a BBW store!!

What are some of your favourite summer scents? 
Love,
Dina

Ole Henriksen 3 Little Wonders - Review

I have been hearing really good things about Ole Henriksen skin care and when I was at Sephora and saw this kit sort of packaging with three products that looked interesting, I decided to try the "3 wonders" and see how it goes...

Truth Serum Vitamin C Collagen Booster : 

• serum consistency 
• light weight
• absorbs quickly to skin
• brightens hyperpigmentation / acne scarring / dark spots on face (saw changes after using for about a week)
• would definitely repurchase

Sheer Transformation Facial Moisturizer :

• gel consistency 
• absorbs quickly to skin
• can have a burning sensation if there is an open acne/ wound that is open (I was applying it and had a paper cut and it actually burned like an alcohol would, maybe has alcohol..)
• did not see that much of a change
• would not repurchase probably

Invigorating Night Treatment Gel : 

• light weight
• moisturizes well but nothing too exciting just a normal moisturizer.
• did not that much of a change
• not sure if I would repurchase

So those are all of my thoughts in point form so it is easy to read. Over all, out of all these three products my favourite would have to be the truth serum. I could really see a change when I used it but with the other two, they were good products don't get me wrong, but they just didn't do anything special that I could really notice. So I will use all these products but as for repurchasing them goes, I would just get the truth serum and skip the other two.

Have you used any of these products? what are your thoughts on it?
Love, Dina

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation + Concealer - Review & Swatches

Hey everyone, it has been a very long time since the last time I actually sat to write a new blog post! It is good to be back and hopefully I will be staying and no more 'blog break'.

Recently my face has been more on the dry side specially on my cheeks and chin so I was searching and watching different videos to find a good drugstore foundation and I think I have found a pretty good one. 

Foundation: 400 Natural Beige, 303 True Nude, Concealer : light/medium

I finally picked up this wake me up foundation from Rimmel and it is actually my first time to try anything from the foundation part of Rimmel brand if I'm not mistaking and I have to say I am pretty impressed. Even though the drugstore I went to had testers for this foundation I still couldn't really decide which shade was best for me so I went for the last two shades they had because my colour is right in between the two. My drugstore had only four shades available for the foundation and the concealer so I still have to mix the last two darkest shades to get my skin colour but this whole process might be worth it.

First of all, it comes with a pump applicator which is always a plus in my book. The concealer has a spongy applicator like how lip glosses are usually so that is also a good easy way to use the product.

As you can see in the picture below, the foundation in the bottle has a nice sheen to it. So this foundation is no where near matte finish. It is more like satin finish and it is medium coverage and it is buildable so you can be able to get full coverage with this but I usually use a small amount to just even my skin tone and then use the concealer on the spots that needs more coverage.

One pump is more than enough for my full face but since I have to mix the two colours, I usually have a bit more than I need to use so I just wipe it off with tissue or something. 

It has a slight pink finish to it which is so not my skin's undertone but I manage to work with it since I actually like this foundation. I just use a full coverage powder that has a yellow/golden finish to it and lightly apply it to my face to cover the pink finish of the foundation and it has worked so far!

This foundation has a light perfume-y smell to it. It is perfect for dry skin which I have, also it doesn't accentuate dry patches if you have any.

I tested this foundation with no primer or setting spray and it lasted for more than 12 hours on me. I did my foundation at around 8 am in the morning and took it off at around 11 pm at night the same day and the foundation looked good after all those hours. No fading or anything. I just had to blot my T-zone one time during the whole day which is pretty amazing. I usually have to blot two or three times a day because I like to look matte in my T-zone which tends to get a tiny bit shiny during the day!

So overall, I would say this is my new favourite drug store foundation so far. It does have some down sides to it but it also has some good sides to it as well, so I would say it is worth the little hassle that comes with it. Such as mixing the two colours to get my match and also apply a golden toned powder to match my skin. Since it looks good when I am fully finished with my makeup, I try to be patient and take the time so this can work for me.

Have you tried this foundation? What are your thoughts on it?
Love, Dina