Choosing a face powder

I'm in the process of choosing a new face powder, and the choice seems a bit difficult.

I am basically choosing between 4 variants below. I've never used any of them, but I've made some research... and still I'm not sure which one is better...

Well, these are the powders that I'm choosing from:

1. Shiseido Luminizing Colour Powder

I guess I need this tone - L.2 Apricot - the most neutral. I have a rather pale skin close to olive, normal, as far as the skin condition is concerned. What I like about this variant is that it has three colors that you can blend or use separately - I'm kind of hoping to use the white segment as a highlighter. I also like that it comes in a nice-looking box with a brush and a mirror - I actually don't hava a powder that I could safely take out of my bag in a public place to, say, take something out of my own eye :-))) This seems like a safe option.

2. Givenchy Prisme Again! Compact Powder Quartet

I want it in 01 Beautiful Pastel. To me it seems less practical than Shiseido and more of an extravagance on my part. I just like the way it looks and it has a certain magic attraction for me. It also comes with a brush and promises some opportunities with different colors - but I'm not sure about the colors themselves. Can they actually be used as correctors for various purposes? May be I need an Elegant Beige instead, but I don't want it to be too dark... I've tested them both in the stores but still not quite sure. None af them actually made me look like a goddess... eh well... I'm afraid I'm just not...

3. Guerlaine Meteorites Powder

Again I'm inclined to the classic o1 Mythic tone. Meteorites is even less practical than Prisme - and no public places for it. However it's a cult product. And I'm kind of getting under its charm and start genuinely believeing that I need it. Besides, it is very decadent - which is a good thing. And if it did level the skin tone and gave it a healthy glow - it would have been really cool. The problem is, I've tested it too and I was unpleasantly surprised with actually seeing these particles that are supposed to give you the healthy glow. I was hoping that it would just look as if I am NATURALLY beautiful and all GLOWY :-))) Nevertheless I am considering it, I don't even know why... Because it's classic. Silly little thing, useless in a way, but nice. And in the bottom of my heart I'm still hoping that the impression I got after testing it in a store was wrong and it can make my complexion look naturally good :-)))

4. MAC Mineralize Skinfinish/Natural, Light Medium

"A luxurious domed face powder with minerals, slowly baked to provide a dimensional yet natural-matte finish. Provides perfect low coverage. Use to set and fix foundation or as a touch-up throughout the day" - that's what the site says. What attracts me - I've only tried MAC eyshadows, but this brand somehow makes me trust it. It does have the cultship around it, which - susceptible to such things as I am - I find hard to resist :-))) It is a proffessional make up - which I like. And their assistants are always ready to help to select the right tone. Abd they have many tones too. It is also cheaper than the other three. What makes me doubt: they actually only had one tone in the store when I came determined to buy this powder. (Too dark.) I never got to this level of determination ever since... Also - no mirror, no brush.

So I'm debating. No, I am not tempted to buy all of them - I need just one, really. I only need to know for sure - which one :-(

Top-5 LUSH products

As I promised - My LUSH top-5.

Disclaimer: Being a newby, I haven't yet tried all the LUSH products (I suppose in a time I will :-)))), so this list is far from objective, but well, these 5 are my favourites so far.

I might update the list later.

#1 Creamy Candy Bath

It' my favoutite LUSH bubble bar so far - it smells like the Rok Star Soap, and the smell lingers for a long time. I remember after the first time I took a bath with it (by the way, I used only 1/3 of the bar and it made a vary foamy bath), I couldn't get - what is it that I smell all the time, wherever I go - something subtly sweet and gentle. Took me some time to get it :-))) Till the next bath :-)) It also makes my skin soft and nice, and my personality - bubblier :-)

#2 Aqua Mirabilis

It is an exfoliating massage bar that you use while in the shower - after shower gel, soap or whatever you prefer. You just slide it over your body or if you want it to go longer - rub it in your hands and then massage yourself with what is left on your hands. May be it's just because it was the first body exfoliator that I used in my life (long enough to be embarrased of never having used an exfoliator before), but I thought that what it did to my body was really a miracle. The thing is that the unnecessary hair that grow on my legs are very long inside (gosh, THIS is embarassing...and sort of gross... sorry), which results in me having the problem with ingrown hair since like 13. I thought it was just my bad luck and put up with it. Well. Aqua Mirabilis actually rid me of this problem! I can't even believe it myself. And it feels great too - the ground almond shells in combination with the oils produce fantastic sensation that you want to go on and on. I also adore the smell of it - something like cookies and milk - such a pity that it doesn't stay longer though.

#3 Soft Coeur

It is a massage bar that you use after shower or whenever you need a massage - or to give a massage ;-) The smell is divine - warm and sweet - it's not just honey or chocolate, but it's just something inexplicably beautiful an tasty. Makes you want to lick it. Which is ok, I guess, since this brown thing inside is the real chocolate :-)

#4 American Cream

Hair conditioner. My story about this one is a winter story. It's about how after using the American Cream on Sunday I went to my office on Monday and how when I enterd the building and took my cap off I immedialtely felt the smell of my conditioner. And not only me, but my co-workers, who smiled and said - what is this nice smell. :-)))) It's amazing how a hair conditioner (which also is VERY very good as a conditioner - that is, it totally serves its purpose, smoothing my hair and moisturizing it) can produce such an effect. Yeah, I also got an American Cream solid perfume, as soon as theay started selling SP in Russia. I like it too - would have been better though had the smell been stronger and more eh.. persistent. But it is the conditioner in my top-5, not the SP, because the idea of your hair smelling of strawberry vanilla is somewhat sexier, I guess. :)

#5 Lemony Flutter

Lemony Flutter is a cuticle butter. Actually nail care is one of my obsessions - I like nail polishes and I love it when my nails are done and are looking good. However, because I lack self-discipline and sometimes completely forget that I have nails to care about whatsoever and neglect them for TOO LONG (no exagerations), at times I was just horrified with my nails. By the time that I remembered to look at my nails, they were so awfully shabby, that it was actually stressfull to even look at them. :-))))) And since I like my nails to look nice (see above), I had to overcome the stress and do something about it. Which at this point took some effort. Well, rejoice, this long and sad story has a happy ending! Lemony Flutter! Partly because it is LUSH and I want to use it again and again - and don't forget to. Partly due to its great softening qualities - it has all kinds of oils and butters in it, and it is very thick and nourishing. But it helpd me maintain my nails the way I like them to be :-))) Effortlessly! The cuticle on my nails basically stopped growing, so all I need to do is to gently move it away about once a week. Highly recommended!

Petite Cherie - Annick Goutal

I've been crazy about perfumes for a while already, spending on them way more than a sensible woman should :-)))))
I mean, it's not like anything a sensible woman can't live without. Unfortunately for my bank account, I tend to like the perfumes that are on the costly side too.

Here's one of them - the one I fell in love with today, and still haven't had a chance to buy. But the more I think about it the more it looks like it is inevitable. Sensible as I am,... eh, no, I don't think I can keep living without it for a long time :-)


Here's my beauty -



Petite Cherie by Annick Goutal.





Official description:

A fruity fragrance, covered with a ripple of peach and pear, drunk with the scent of sensual rose musk, standing royal in its vanilla frame, all sprinkled with the powdery scent of refreshing cut grass. Sweet, musky and sassy, mischievous and mouth-watering: the irresistible fragrance of childhood.



Olfactory family: Fruity, floral, musky

Composition: Pear, peach, rose musk, cut grass, vanilla



My impression: "Fragrance of childhood" is true indeed. It's very innocent and light, tender and sweet, and fresh and wet. It feels very clean and cozy, it is a smell you want you home to smell like. This is the perfume that awakens a child in me. Actually, strange as it may sound, that is why I'm considering buying it for my mum :-)) And it is a very youthful smell too. But it would sound good on my mum too.



It also comes in a butterfly bottle, which looks almost like a toy. So pretty. So charming. So petite cherie...

Metisse - Boom Boom Ba

This is a video from the TV-show Dead Like Me, that went for two seasons only, unfortunately. It is a great show, one of my favourites, totally makes me happier :-))
It is in this show that I first heard the song by Metisse - I love it, love it, love it -

words:


Kélé, filla, saba, nani, norou: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. (Agni, an Ivory Coast dialect)

A-boom boom ba
A-boom boom ba
A-boom boom ba
A-boom boom ba
Can you hear my heart beat in this bond
Do you know that behind of this bond
Lies the deep desire I'm in love hey
Make a wonderful love if I may
All my dreams to be all I can do
Only I love, only love
And you say I knew we should find a new way
Make a wonderful love if I may
Can you hear my heart beat in this hurt
Do you know that behind of this hurt
Lies the deep desire I'm in love hey

Los Pop Tops - Mamy blue - 2 versions

Paco-Paco - «Taka Takatá» (Music video, 1974)

My LUSH Obsession

For a long time I did manage to stay away from these little black shops in the malls, and even occasionally looking into them I would just look around, check the prices and walk away with "thanks, but no, thanks"

That couldn't last forever though.

I don't even know how that happened, but I only see, that there's something worryingly close to an addiction going on - I seriously am addicted to LUSH products, to an extend that when I go to sleep I lull myself with thinking - what I am going to by next from LUSH. It is a bit of a deviation, I know. BUT actually - the LUSH products actually do make me HAPPIER. In a way. For some little time. But in the end of the day - that's what matters :-)))))

So I'm just going to keep enjoying my insanity - while I can :-)

Now I just thought I might describe some of the LUSH products that I already have. Which is not that much actually, but I'm pretty sure, that's not the end of it.

First come SOAPS - LUSH has a big range of colorful handmade soaps, and I still have a way to go to test all af them, but I already have tried some that I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy again.

1. Sultana of Soap

This was actually the first soap that I bought from LUSH - and I totally fell in love with it. It smells like heaven - as far as I can gather. It's fruity and sweet, but not heavy, it's soft and creamy and it gives a lot of foam if used with a bath sponge - which is how I prefer it. Among its ingredients are Dried Apricots, Dried Currants, Dried Cranberries, Olibanum Oil, Bergamot Oil and some chemicals :-)))))))

2. Rock Star

Rock Star - is probably my favourite soap at the moment. It's pink - as you can see :-)))) and it's super-girly. It smells very pink if that makes any sense - like a dream of a bubble-gum. However - my friend, who is very macho-man and who was very much against the idea of paying around $6 for a bar of soap - fell under its charm too, it was actually the first LUSH soap that I noticed him using - while he ignored the more masculine ones that I bought, desperately trying to make him like what I like ( in that instance - Lush). Gosh, was I happy! And he even got me some LUSH soaps as a gift recently - Rock Star included :-)))))

3. Honey I Washed The Kids

I bought it after I found out that it smells exactly like the Soft Coer massage bar - which is probably my favoutite LUSH product of all. Well, it's definitely in top-3. Top-5 - for sure :-))) I'll make my Top-5 later, I guess. Well, HIWTK soap is divine. The official LUSH site says: "On paper it`s difficult to portray the full effect of this honeycomb toffee scented soap. Suffice to say that people who fully intended to walk past a Lush shop find themselves unable to resist its tempting, mouth-watering fragrance. They inhale and say `Mmmmmm` then they exhale and say `Ahhhhh` then they pick up a big chunk and join the queue for the till."

Well, sort of :-)))

4. Bohemian

I got it in that same wonderfull gift from my friend as the Rock Star. Honestly, I myself probably wouldn't buy it, knowing that it's a lemon soap, since lemon would seem rather a plain choice for me, too flat and too fresh, I'd probably look for something more interesting (ha-ha). But now that it's mine, I know I will want to buy it again. It does smell of lemon, no surprises here. And not much other than lemon. But - HOW! The smell is so strong and so fresh, so invigorating. It is - if nothing else - a very usefull soap to have. It would come handy if you, say, haven't slept last night (and feel like dying), and are expecting guests tonight(and should be entertaining and full of life) - which is exactly what happened to me yesterday, and yes, I was entertaining and full of life :-)))

5. Skinny Dip

Skinny Dip desreves a long story. Actually on lush.co.uk it goes under the lable "butter cream", but in fact it is a soap, just creamier than you regular soap would be. I bought it, because someone recommended it as a good soft facial cleanser for everyday use. Didn't work for me - that is, for my face. And at first I even hated the smell. Which oddly, according to various lush-forums and even the official site, is very often the case. After which - probably on the 3-rd use, I just realized that it's great, that it's so MY type of smell, that it's so perfect, that I just can't live without it. Which is, according to...see above...very often the case. I wonder why this happens. I didn't even know anything about this phenomenon, when I became part of it. Weird. Anyways, the list of ingredients is pretty impressive - now wonder it's a complex bouquet - Creamed Coconut Infusion, Organic Aloe Vera Gel, Almond Oil, Cocoa Butter, Clove Bud Oil, Cedarwood Oil, Clary Sage Oil, Ylang Ylang Oil, Vetivert Oil, Palmarosa Oil , and some chemicals. Probably it's them chemicals that make up for the resulting perfect smell - don't care :-)) Personally I don't feel coconuts in it, which is good, because am not a fan of that smell. I do feel clove, but not too much, and I might describe it as somewhat herby or spicey. All in all it's very feminine and seductive and fresh at the same time. It doesn't produce much foam - which is a huge minus for me, since I like to feel foam over my body when I wash myself - I feel more washed this way :-))) But I adore the smell so much, that I'm even prepared to ignore this factor.

Well, I guess that was my Top-5 of Lush Soaps, even though I didn't plan it that way first. So be it :-))) I'll continue later with my top-5 of Lush everything and other things that I have to say about my latest obsession :-)))