Body Shop Re-Opening Event!

 If you're free tonight, visit The Body Shop store on Mariahilferstraße!

They recently clompletely rebuilt the whole store and this is the celebration. :-)

Between 6 and 9 pm you can shop, get a massage for your hands, a quick makeover and if you purchase something a goodie bag (if your fast enough)! There is also a 20% discount on gifts.

Now that's a lot of stuff for free. *gg* I'm definitely gonna go. I wanted to check out their newly released BB cream anyway and this way I'll get a free hand massage and probably even a goodie bag too. :-)

Love,
Guinevere

Last Chance for the Giveaway!

Hey lovelies,

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! It ends at 01.09.2012 at midnight.

Be a follower and just leave your comment with your favorite item of the giveaway under this post: GIVEAWAY TIME

Love,

Guinevere

Garnier Fructis Heisses Volumen 48H Review

Hello lovelies,

It's review time. :-)

Garnier surprised me with those right after they were released and I was quite suspicious from the get go I have to admit. I don't blow dry my hair, I always let it air dry. 

All in all, I end up blow drying it a couple of times a year. Mostly, during winter. So when I saw that these were "activated" by heat I wasn't happy.

Blow drying isn't good for your hair and having a product that makes it mandatory is rather unlikeable for me. So I started using it without blow drying it afterwards. *g* 

I really like it as a normal shampoo. It cleans well, feels nice, has that pleasent Garnier smell and foams just right. There's no volume afterwards, but okay. After all heat is needed, so I didn't mind.

After the product was half empty, I tried it the way it's supposed to be used. I blow dried it and ended up with a complete volumeless hair..

I made photos, but they are lost somewhere on my laptop and honestly, you don't see anything, cause there is no volume.. No nothing.. I was really disappointed, cause I expected it to have at least a bit of an effect.

The packaging on these wasn't that durable as well.. One time, I don't take pics before using the product and of course this happens.. Luckily, as you can see above, it can be smoothed out.

Conclusion:

Don't buy it if you want a product that gives you volume.. It just doesn't work.. Get the John Frieda Volume products, they are great. 

Sorry Garnier, I truly love you, but this time you completely failed.. As a normal shampoo it's great and I'll happily use it until it's empty, but there is no effect in terms of volume.

I hope this was helpful. I also got the Heisses Volumen 48H dry shampoo for testing and haven't used it so far, cause I can't stand greasy hair, but I've heard great things of it and will review it soon.

Love,
Guinevere
Products were sent for review

NOTD

I actually bought this one on a bet. *gg* My fiancé and I argued whether or not the BIPA at Retz would still let me in at 18:58. (I wanted a nail polish). lol

They did, although I was informed about the fact they will close in 2 minutes. I'm sure they hated me that moment. *gg* I worked at as a make up artist at The Body Shop for a while and we all hated it when customers came in at the last minute.

But I was a good customer and only stayed in that 2 minute window. I was too cheap to buy an expensive polish without thinking about it first, so I grabbed the first affordable colour I "might" not have. lol

I ended up buying B Pretty's "Hazel" and was surprised by how awesome it is. Opaque after one freaking coat! Lasting time gorgeous as well!!

Here we go:

So, if you like the colour - buy it! *g*

Love,

Guinevere

Essence Colour Arts Pigments Swatches & Haul

I was pretty excited when I heard about this collection and shocked when I saw that empty display. And I thought those will be permanent..

Luckily, when I stopped at the Essence counter I saw that I was right. Permanent!! :-)

So many colours and not just boring ones..

They also created bases for nails, eyes, and lips and mixing jars. How cool!

For the awesome price of 2,45€ I had to buy some even though I know those will be around forever. Of course I bought the bright ones and was shocked by their gorgeous quality.

Broadway Starlet

Miss Piggy's Lollipop, Wow It's Orange

Paparedzzi

Surprisingly, they had different lids, the pink one with the plastic was the best.

You can get the right amount of product out of the jar without having it all over you hand. Another plus:

Now on to the swatches which will blow you away, at least they did me:

Miss Piggy's Lollipop, Paparedzzi, Wow it's Orange, Broadway Starlet

They had this pigmentation after one coat! 

Unfortunately, you can't see the golden shimmery undertone on the orange colour and the slight purple on the pink one, but I'll do a look with them soon. They might even be MAC dupe material.

The red stains a bit, which can be annoying. I removed it with my cleansing oil, I guess a waterproof make up remover might be the better choice.

All in all, I'd say: Simply AMAZING. They truly exceeded my expectations. That pigmentation and no crumbliness. I can't say anything about creasing and longevity yet, but I'm quite positive they'll perform good as well.

So what do you think? 

Love,

Guinevere

Manhattan Range Extension

I won at a blogger "who's the fastest" giveaway thing and so Manhattan sent me some gorgeous lip products from their new permanent range. :-) Prepare for some reviews and swatches!

What do you want me to review first??

Love,
Guinevere

Balea Raspberry Every Day Shampoo Review

I saw this at a DM and just HAD to buy it, Raspberry and Limited Edition!

I loooove the smell of raspberries and I mean for that price you don't risk much.

So what do I think??

While it does smell lovely in the bottle, it did have quite an artifical smell while I used it. What a disappointment.. I usually wash my hair twice, first for cleaning, second for nurturing.

Since Balea didn't release a raspberry conditioner which I would have bought I let it sink in several minutes.

After I was out, I thought, okay no repurchasing, how sad, but after my hair was dry (I never blow dry it) I brushed through it and couldn't believe what I saw in the mirror..

HUGE volume, I can't remember when I had that much volume just because of a shampoo! It was 12pm right before bedtime, hence that no-make up face. The picture doesn't even do it justice, simply incredible..

So what do you think? Great and that for 75 cent! I might get a back up..

Love,

Guinevere

Garnier Anti Flecken

Garnier was so kind an sent me one of their new products. I was really surprised, cause I didn't expect anything. This is quite interesting. It's a face cream which is supposed to help with pigmentation blemishes, pimple scars and general discolouration in your face. 

Let's look at it:

The packaging feels and looks quite "professional/medical" since it's a metal tube, not plastic. 

It has a fine tip so you can really control the amount of product you wanna use.

I only used it twice so far and it smells amazing and obsorbs immediately. Luckily, I don't have any issues with my face, so I can't truly review it, BUT my beautiful mother just started to get some pigmentation issues on her cheek so she will test it for me and I'll report the results in a month or so. 

First, I thought this might be interesting for mature women only, but since it's also against pimple scarring and general discolouration this is a product for everyone. Garnier say it's for every skin type, so let'r trust them with that.

Even, I can't really give a personal review with a before and after picture, I thought it is more than worth mentioning, cause many people deal with those problems. And again, my mum will test it, so in a month or so, I will have a review, just not with my face. :-)

If you try this product and it works, please let me know. I'm really curious!

Love,

Guinevere

Summer Favorites

I thought you might be curious about my current favorites I don't wanna be without. :-)

It parted them - beauty and other favorites. Let's start with the beauty ones:

Garnier HautklarAktiv Face Wash, Balea Grapefruit shower gel, John Frieda Luxurious Volume Blow Dry Lotion

Let's talk about them: 

• Garnier: This is an amazing face wash, I have dry skin, but sometimes my skins breaks out and I only have to use it once or twice and my skin shuts up again. :-)
• Balea: I bought it last year and started using it this summer and absolutely love it!! It smells and feels amazing! Reminds me of the one from The Body Shop and this is so much cheaper. Unfortunately, they didn't release it this year..
• John Frieda: This is one gorgeous product and I'm gonna review it seperately soon. It's a spray that you spray onto your hair and scalp before you blow dry your hair and it gives you tons of volume!

Catrice Liquid Eye Waterproof Eyeliner, L'Oréal Volume Million Lashes, MAC Perky Paint Pot, Essence Fairytale LE shadow, Bourjois Healthy Mix serum, Certain Dri Anti-Perspirant Roll-On. 

I own many, many eyeshadows, but especially during summer I always end up using this combo. It's so lovely, fresh looking. A perfect duo:

• Mascara: I reviewed it here *click* A gorgeous product that seperates and lengthens perfectly
• Bourjous: I love this serum/foundation mix. It looks and feels like a second skin.
• Certain Dri Deo: I hate sweating and this is so strong, there's nothing. :-) 
• Catrice Waterproof Liner: This one is gorgeous, more than affordable and it lasts incredibly well. My eyes tend to water and this liner survives that without troubles.

Now on to the non-beauty favorites:

• I love drinking fancy (non alcoholic) drinks and 2B is my absolute favorite. It's like Red Bull, but mostly made out of natural ingredients. 
• Yes, that's a Kiwi *gg* Lately, I've been eating so many fruits I can't see most of them anymore. So I stopped eating the usuals - apples, bananas and fell in love with Kiwis *g* I eat them almost every day. 
• The movie "Türkisch für Anfänger" was the funniest I've seen this year and it finally was released on DVD/Blu Ray. Of course I had to buy the fan edition with tons of extras. :-) Love it!
• The Hunger Games series is my recent obsession. I saw the movie and fell in love, I bought the books and read all of them in 4 days. A couple of days ago I bought the set. I'm reading them for the third time now and still can't stop. The last time I was that captured by a story was Harry Potter and probably the Twilight books. I think about getting a Mockingjay tattoo, cause it stands for so many things that are important to me. 

And that was it. My favorites. :-)

Hope you found it interesting and I definitely can recommend all of the mentioned items.

Love,

Guinevere

!!!!!!!!!Giveaway Time!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY.

I promised you a giveaway ages ago and it wasn't that I was too cheap or lazy to do it. My need for perfection, which borders on an ocd, got in the way.. I just couldn't decide what you would want or be excited about the most.

A blogger friend gave me a tip that finally helped me make a decision. *gg* "A good mix is always nice" - how true.

So here it is, a mix between different categories and high end/drugstore products. I thought it would be nice to include some local drugstore items for those who aren't from here and can't get them:

My favorite cuticle remover - "Look By Bipa Cuti Clean Gel", the fancy Wella "Repair Emulsion", Balea's famous and sadly discontinued "Zuckerschnute" shower gel, Essence's "Miami Roller Girl blush in Dates on Skates", the Catrice lipstick in "Blood Red" from their Revoltaire LE and the Smashbox "O-Gloss Gold" lipgloss. 

the shade of the lipstick: 

Of course all products are brand new and unused. The giveaway is open worldwide!

So the interesting question: How to win??

• You need to be a follower. Just click on the blue button over the members list labelled "Join this site". You can log in with your google account i.e.
• Leave a comment under this post telling me which is your favorite items of the giveaway and what products you would love to win in general.

That's it, quite simple. :-) The giveaway will be open until the 01.09.2012. Again, it's open worldwide, so all my lovely international followers have a chance too!

I can't wait to read your comments. 

Love,

Guinevere

L'Oréal Shine Caresse Glosses!

L'oréal is releasing a new product and was so kind to send me some for testing. Those are pretty genius - a mix between lipstick and gloss. It immediately reminded me of Chanels Rouge Allure Laque. 

The packaging is quite fancy, which I love, let's see some pictures. 

I got three lovely colours: I only know two by names, cause the third had no name tag on. From top to bottom: 102 Romy, 300 Juliet, 402

The applicator is oval shaped which makes it easy to apply.

They do seem to be a lot like the laquers from Chanel, but there is one big difference: the opacity. 

While the ones from Chanel are extremly pigmented, those are a more natural. They are still amazingly pigmented and I'll show you on-lips swatches soon, but they aren't completely opaque after one coat. For those of you who were wondering. :-) 

Let's see some swatches: from top to bottom: 300 Juliet, 402, 102 Romy

They do stain a bit.

All in all, I think this is a genius idea and I'm sure much more affordable than the ones from Chanel. I will give a full review and some on-lips swatches soon. 

Love,

Guinevere

Products were sent for review

Updated Nail Polish Collection and Storage

Sorry for the silence, but our internet connection was gone almost all week.. A nightmare for a blogger..

Here is my updated nail polish collection and the new storage I was forced to use. *gg* It's (hopefully only currently) impossible to find the acrylic nail polish racks in Austria/Germany, so I had to improvise. 

Those shelves are from IKEA and okay, but not perfect. You can't see the bottles that well, especially the second row. Nevertheless, I like it better than hiding them in a box or something like that.

Those are cheap as well, so no huge investment. We'll move in march 2013 and then I'll build custom shelves. As one can see I need more shelves. *gg*

I must admit I was a bit embarrassed when I realized how many polishes I own... Surprisingly, there are STILL colours I don't have. *gg*

How many polishes do you own??

Love,

Guinevere

Catrice Cucuba LE

Just a quick reminder: Catrice's new LE "Cucuba" is out:

I didn't buy anything, cause I own already enough products like these, but they do look promising. :-)

Love,
Guinevere

Manhattan Blogger Edition

Manhattan's new Blogger Edition nail polish collection is available. Two blogs "Modepilot" and "Styleproofed" got the opportunity to create their own polishes. What a dream come true! :-)10 shades each. I must admit I've never heard of those fashion blogs before, but they released some nice colours.

All of them are wearable shades. There is no colous which I'd call unique or new, but still some nice shades one can never have enough of. 

The only colour which screams odd (and I love odd) is this one:

"Green Chai" - It's a pale green with green, red, purple and golden sprinkles. I was tempted, but resisted. It's a funky-weird mix, but it's not a beauty for me.

The mail I got says they will be 3,49€ each. Unfortunately, Müller disagreed and so you have to pay 4,99€ if you want one. I'll let you know if the other stores charge the same. 

The polish I will get is the weird yellow mustard colour named "Mashed Potatoes". It might be a dupe for Butter London's "Bumster". A shade I wanted for ages!!

All in all, I think those are lovely colours. Actually, one could buy each shade and it wouldn't be a mispurchase. Nevertheless, there are no "new" colours. Sadly, those are limited edtion, so if you want one, get it now.

Love,

Guinevere

China Glaze "I'm With The Lifeguard" and his cousins

Green is one of my favorite nail polish colours and so this had to get a new home.

Lovely, right? But of course, this isn't the only green neon polish China Glaze ever released. Here are two comparisons of previous LE's and there is a difference, even if the pictures didn't capture it that well.

From left to right:

Kiwi Cool-Ada, I'm With The Lifeguard, Limonyte

Not easy to see, but there is a difference which is enough for polish addicts to get all three: 

Top to bottom:

Limonyte

I'm With The Lifeguard

Kiwi Cool-ada

The difference between those three is the undertone.

While Limonyte has a yellow undertone, I'm With The Lifeguard has a silver one. Kiwi Cool-Ada has not really an undertone at all, it's a quite clean neon.

So which one is your favorite? Of those three, I like Limonyte the best, but I'm happy to own all of them.

Love,
Guinevere