My Top Nail Polish Picks for Spring

I don't usually divide nail polish colours for particular seasons. I always choose the colour I'm in the mood for. However, in this blog post I thought it would be nice to show you some nail polishes from my collection that I think are most suitable for the up coming warm weather outside.

    Here it is, my selection :)
Basically, my choices consist of different shades of pinks and nudes, because I do not own any mint greens, sky blues or lavender colours. Definitely, need to include some variety of colour this spring!

My Barry M choices: I've selected a bright coral (296 Coral)and two pastel shades: a light pink(119 Baby Pink) and a light peach(318 Peach Melba), which seems to be everyone's favourite.

My OPI choices: Sweet Heart (my most viewed post http://focusonthequiet.blogspot.com/2011/04/opi-sweet-heart-nail-polish.html) and San Tan-Tonio from the Texas Collection.

A raspberry red from Nails Inc in Picadilly Circus

And the last one is a mattifying top coat from Rimmel.

Don't be afraid, experiment with colour, because spring is soon here to cheer us up with its warmth and beauty!

Focus on the Quiet,

           xx

Nails of the Day

Today I felt like wearing black. That doesn't happen too often. If I go for dark nailpolishes, I usually reach for my burgundy or red black polishes. But since I've purchased a Rimmel Matte Topcoat I was excited to see how those two are going to look together.

  The two nail polishes I've used were: Barry M in 47 Black(£ 2.99) and Rimmel Mattifying Topcoat(£ 4.59).

And this is the result

I've applied two coats of black nail polish and just one of the matte topcoat. As you can see the application came out to look even and I'm really impressed by that. The only problem I have is getting nice lines around my cuticles(but that is just me and my clumsiness, I guess).

I'll write a proper review on the Rimmel Matte Topcoat next week!

Focus on the Quiet,

              xx

         

Gym Make up

With spring coming in like 7 days now(Wow, that's fast!), everybody is getting prepared for the warm weather to show some toned skin.

Running in the mornings, working out in gyms after uni or work, whatever you do, you want to look flawless even then. I know, I do :) And of course because of all the sweat, heat and other nasty stuff throughout the process of working out you can not wear a full face makeup because eww and because it isn't good for your skin and you definitely wouldn't look beautiful with your mascara coming down your cheeks. Just imagine how embarrassing is that!

The perfect thing to do is not wear make up at all, but for those who can't even bare the thought of this, I came up with a solution. I'm going to share with you 2 products that will just enhance your natural beauty without coming off and streaking.

I've selected the products from high-end and drugstore products range.

So here we go,let's start with  High-end products:

Okay, yes there are 3 products in the picture but I've put two lip products just to give you more choices.

Mac Studio Moisture Tint SPF 15 is just perfect for gym. When applying it almost comes to a matte finish, it sinks into the skin really fast. It evens out your skin tone however provides a really light coverage, but that's what tinted moisturizers do. It comes in 6 or 7 shades and I got it in the shade Medium. It retails for £20 at Mac counters, however I got it in Duty Free for about £16.

Benetint by Benefit is a holy grail product for me, because it is so versatile and multitasking. You can use it on your lips and cheeks for a rosy-red tint. Because it is a tint it sinks into your skin without transferring and it is quite long wearing too. Mine is a mini, travel version but when I'm done(I don't know when's that going to be,it lasts for ages) I'll save for the full size product. It retails for £24.50(for the full size) which is a lot, but for me it is totally worth it, because I use it all the time.

Mac Lip Tinted Conditioner SPF 15 is another favourite of mine. A buttery lip balm which also gives a little bit of colour. It comes in 3 shades and retails for £11.

And now on to my Drugstore choices:

Nivea Daily Essentials Tinted Moisturising Day Cream. Nivea has always been one of my favourite skin care drugstore brands and this product has been a proof of that,too. It is a great product and it does what it says on the tube, it is really creamy and soft,evens out the skin tone, but the only downside is that it comes just in one shade- Natural. It will suit medium skin tones, but do not buy it if you are really fair. I would advise testing the colour on your hand before buying the product. It retails for £3.66 in Boots.

Blistex Tint & Shine Lip Balm is a tinted lip balm with a little bit of mint going on. It is not the most moisturizing balm I've ever tried but it is good and has a type of 'my lips but better' colour to it. Retails for about £2.40.

And finally Max Factor Lipfinity Lasting Lip Tint which looks like a marker pen and is really fun to use on your lips. I have mine in the colour 03 Pink Princess, but they have other 8 colours in the range. It is easy to handle and apply because of its design. It retails for £7.99 in Boots.

That is all for my selected gym products. I've shown you tinted moisturizers which are perfect for evening out your skin tone without looking cakey and heavy and 2 choices of lip poducts: a tinted lip balm for colour and moisture and a lip tint for colour only. 

Because all these products are really light, I think they are more than suitable for working out.

Focus on the Quiet,

         xx

My 2012 Project

In 2011, I was all about buying a lot of new products, trying them, finding favourites and then buying again.  Even though my collection was not that big compared to other beauty bloggers' stashes, I started feeling guilty of spending money on products and not using all of them. So this year, 2012, one of my new year resolutions was to start a project which has as its main idea to use up the products I've already got and ban myself from buying stuff.

Certainly, it will take a lot of time to use up all of them, but I'm quite excited to see how it goes.
An important thing while on this project is to save the used bottles and tubes to see how many products you've used up in a whole year.
I saved myself a box and wrapped it with pink paper and I just keep it under my desk so that it doesn't get in the way.
I started the project this January, but it's never too late to start. So take a shoe box,an Asos box,anything will do and try for yourself.

The only products I purchase while being on this project are the basics like creams, toners and mascaras.
Also this project helps me bring you, my readers, a more in depth and honest review of the products I've got and love.

This is The Box (as you can all see I'm not really good at wrapping ha)

How I'm doing so far: I've used up four products (a toner, a shampoo, a conditioner and a body butter)

The products were all really great and did their job to my expectation (I even changed my mind on the Body Shop body butter, it is actually really good. However, the smell gets quite sickening when you are almost done with the butter.)

So, here you go a solution for those who have got a lot of products and are never using them or a solution to save some money for that summer holiday you're dreaming of :)

Focusonthequiet,

          xx

  

CK One Shock For Her Eau de Toilette

I never shared with you any of my favourite fragrances before. I guess there is a time for everything.
I present to you my recent love between scents: CK One Shock For Her Eau de Toilette.

                                    This is the box: front

and back

and the actual bottle

I quite like the packaging of this fragrance however it is not travel-friendly because it doesn't have a closing lid for the spray pump. In order to take it with you you have to take out the spray pump and just then you can close it. That is why I am really keen on trying those Travalo perfume atomisers.

You fill them with your favourite fragrance and these are really convinient weighing just 13 g. They usually cost about £10 in shops, but you can find them online for about £7. Check them on Amazon by clicking on the picture below.

And now to the actual scent, to me it smells fruity, it always reminds me of blackberries. It is not in any way a strong scent, because it is eau de toilette the smell is subtle.

I am not really good at describing scents, but here you go a better description of the top notes and ingredients:

Fragrantica.com actually says that 'CK One Shock For Her is an opulent oriental - floral fragrance with top notes of passion flower, pink peony and poppy. Its heart is made of feminine jasmine, narcissus, blackberry and dark cocoa. The base consists of amber, vanilla, musk and patchouli.'

The fragrance retails for a very affordable price. It costs £34 for a 100ml bottle, which will last you a lot! However you can get it even cheapier if is on offer:)




                                      Tell me in the comments below what is your favourite scent?
                                                                 Focus on the Quiet,
                                                                                             xx
                                                                                       

Spring/Summer 2012 Makeup (Part 3)

This will be the last part of my Trend series. I might write a post on Hair later, because there is a trend this season which I particularly like. It is easy to recreate and looks really pretty and flirty. We'll see.

But let's move on to the makeup trend which was seen on catwalks of Spring/Summer 2012 at Preen, Issa, Michael Kors and Marni( who's excited for their H&M collaboration?)

Some pictures:

This look is quite similar to the Flushed Cheeks one, however it is more about sunny and bronzy shades on the eyes and tangerine- orangy on the cheeks and lips. These shades add warmth to your complexion and are known to suit every skin tone.

Of course, I would recommend applying the colours more sheer, because you don't want to look too brown or too orange. You have to find that perfect balance.

Recommended products for this trend:

Guerlain Terracotta Bronzer in Brunette

Rimmel bronzer in Sun Bronze

My absolute favourite eyeliner- Saddle from Topshop.

Multi purpose stick in Ray, also from Topshop.

 Revlon lipstick in Kiss me Coral

                     That is it for today's post I hope you have a great and relaxing Sunday!
                                                              Focus on the Quiet
                                                                                           xx

Spring/Summer 2012 Makeup (Part 2)

Do you like your cheeks? Whatever your answer might be-Let's make you adore them!

This next makeup trend I'll be reporting about has it's main accent on the cheeks and it is all about looking healthy, glowy and beautifully sun-kissed. The trend is known by the name Flushed Cheeks.

                    Let's take a look at some pictures from the Valentino S/S 2012 catwalk:

As you can see from the pictures I've posted, there is minimal makeup but there is that pop of colour on the cheeks. 

 To achieve this look you should probably skip the part when you apply setting powder after your foundation and instead of a powder blush try a cream one to make your skin look more smooth and hydrated.

Try Maybelline's Dream Touch Blush in Peach

 


it has a mousse consistency which is really light and easy to apply with your fingers or a stippling brush.

Another tip for this makeup trend is to try and match your blush with your lipstick or lipgloss for more effect. So for this peachy blush I would recommend Revlon's Smoked Peach matte lipstick or Revlon Peach Petal lipgloss.

And for powder blush lovers I got something to recommend too - Illamasqua's Tremble powder blush.

It is one of my favourite blushes and I should be ashamed of myself from not wearing it more often.

In conclusion, I have to say that this Flushed Cheeks trend is perfect for those who prefer minimal makeup and are not afraid of accentuating their cheeks. It doesn't require a lot of time which is always good.

Look sunkissed in winter!

Spring/Summer 2012 Makeup (Part 1)

As spring is on its way, I think it is my duty as a beauty blogger, to share with you some of the Spring/Summer 2012 makeup trends.
I'll divide this topic into three or four posts for this week, so stay tuned. Each post will feature one single trend, this way giving me more time and space to discuss it properly. I hope you won't get bored :)

And without further ado, let us move on to number one beauty trend and the most talked about lately: Pastels.
Firstly, I'd like to show you this editorial from Flair (Austria) magazine, which in my opinion is the best representation of what Pastel makeup should ideally look like.

(Pictures from fashiongonerogue.com website)

Of course it is not everyone's cup of tea and in the magazines the makeup is quite exaggerated to give a better understanding of the trend and in order for it to be more vital.

 My advice to you is don't copy the makeup exactly how it is on the paper, just be inspired by it to create your own, with a little twist. 

I don't know how about you, but I think the first look from the editorial seems most realistically wearable for every day. A beautiful porcelain base, two coats of mascara, a barbie pink blush and a glossy pink lip that' s all you need.

I've selected a few products, both high-end and drugstore, which might encourage you to embrace the pastel trend this spring/summer. Let's look into them:

Dior's Spring Garden Party 2012 collection 

Revlon Matte lipstick in Smoked Peach

Revlon lipgloss in Lilac Pastelle

Revlon nail polish in Sunshine Sparkle

I hope these gorgeous spring colours brightened up your day,

Focusonthequiet

xx