Mac's Paint Pot vs. Pixi Eye Bright Kit

For many, Mac's paint pot is considered an unbeatable miracle tool when it comes to primers. I won't deny that I love it and that I am hard to please when it comes to primers. I was never into any of the urban decay, benefit, or too faced ones. 

However, before I bought my paint pot, in painterly(of course) I used some random eye bright kit by pixi that it seems noone knows about. I have to say that this product is completely underrated and that it almost made me regret buying paint pot, feeling that it was waaaaay too hyped up.

Here are the pros and cons for each:

Pixi Eye Bright Kit in No. 2 Medium/ Tanned

1. WAAAAAAAY Cheaper(you can buy it at Target or online)

2. You get four shades, including a shimmer and different tones depending on your complexion or the eyeshadow that you are wearing that day.

3. Nice soft glide when applying,without being too oily.

4. Doesn't crease

5. Has a stickier finish, so your eyeshadow will definitely stay put.

6. Contains more white pigment, which you may or may not like, I love it as it does BRIGHTEN up my eyes way more

7. Has a natural translucent finish

8. Is light on the eye, doesn't feel like makeup

9. Lasts foreeeever(i've had my first one for 2 years!)

Cons:

1. only sold in america

2. isn't as opaque

Swatch for Pixi's Eye Bright Kit in No.2 Medium/Tanned

Swatch For Mac's Paint pot in Painterly

Mac's paint Pot in Painterly

Pros

1. Opaque Finish

2. Beautiful natural shade(less white pigment)

3. easy, oily application

4. Nice matte finish

Cons:

1. Expensive

2. Oily application is uneven and makes for uneven eyeshadow

3. Opaque finish, not natural looking for days you want to use it on its own as an eyeshadow.

4.Only one color

5. no shimmer

6. Isn't as sticky

                                                 And the Winner is: Pixi's Eye Bright Kit!!!!!

                                            Mac's Paint Pot                              Pixi's Eye Bright Kit

A Quick tip on Shampoo and Conditioning Hair

If your trying to grow your hair out or if it's dry and coarse(like mine) then shampoo and conditioning should be avoided at all costs. Instead you should opt for co-washing, or using a conditioner to cleanse your hair. However once every few weeks you should use a shampoo and conditioner to remove build up and bring back that shine!

Here are some quick tips on Shampoo and Conditioning.

1. Pre-condition your hair with olive oil, coconut oil, leave in conditioner, argan oil or any type of Grease! This will protect it from the drying lather of a shampoo.

2. ALWAYS opt for a sulfate free shampoo. Washing your hair with sulfates is like washing your hair with dishwashing soap, it strips your hair from its natural oils and breaks down the Keratin bonds in your hair, leaving it dry and damaged.  Here is a sulfate-free shampoo/conditioner combo that is an absolute favorite in the beauty world and I personally love it too!

3.  When Shampooing, focus on your scalp and when conditioning, focus on your ends.

Enjoy your New Years!!!

Parrot Zik Wireless Headphones Review

These headphones were by far my Favorite Christmas present!

Here are the Pros and Cons.

Pros: Sound is beautiful and crisp, perfect for good techno or any high wav file music

Headphones come with an App that you can use to customize the sound and equalize it however you want to. There are some preset templates for vocal, club, pop and other types of music.

The right side of your headphone is a touch pad that you can use to pause, skip to the next song, raise and lower the volume and answer the phone if you're hooked up to your iphone.

They are WIRELESS so no more clutsy moments with your headphone wire.

Different levels of surround sound going up to 180 degrees really make you feel like you're in a club or concert.

They pause when you remove them

Headphones are made of cushiony, comfy patented leather

Although high tech, you don't have to be a tech geek to figure this gadget out


Cons:
They're made of metal so can be heavy on your head and can give you a headache

The touchpad on the right headphone goes bizurk if you happen to be laying on your right side

You can't stretch or retract them

Be careful, they're very powerful, the first day I got these I went a little crazy and my ears were ringing the next day.

They are rechargeable but the battery life was not as long as I had hoped(about a day and a half)

Overall these headphones definitely have more pros than cons. The cons that really stand out are the weight and the touch pad not being lockable. The pros that stand out are the Sound(they'll take your music to the next level as far as quality) and the fact that they're wireless, you have no idea how much better it is not to have to wrestle, trip up, untangle or leave an opening in your purse for your headphone wires, until you go wireless!

These are definitely worth it for me, but then again they were a gift.


                                               

Top 3 Non-LuxeryPerfumes

I was always skeptical when it came to lower end perfumes and celebrity scents. I pictured them smelling like those uni-shaped multi-colored bottled perfume collections that you find at the counter of your local pharmacy, the ones that always smell like a combination of deoderent and grandma perfume.

However, I was all wrong. Now I know that you don't have to pay a fortune to smell like luxery. Celebrities and  clothing brands such as playboy and Nike have worked very hard to create scents that are worth the purchase. I think it's because people already have the belief that celebrity scents are just gimicky ways to promote themselves, so many stars have worked extra hard to break through that notion.

Their hard work has paid off, and I'm grateful for it. Apart from my eternal signature scent(Insolence by Guerlain), I now ONLY buy a couple of lower-end scents to complement an even mix with my signature so as to create an unforgettable aura!

Here are my top three Lower-end Scents

1. Play it Rock by Playboy. I do not endorse the bunny ears, because of their cheap hoe-bag connotation, so naturally I assumed their scents would be just the same. WRONG! This scent is amazing, fresh, powerful and unique. It is a summer and winter scent. I'm not going to read you the undertones and overtones, because that stuff never makes sense. It smells like vanilla warmth and orange soda with a touch of lipstick(yes, lipstick has a scent!). It is 100% mixable with Guerlain's Insolence and even amps up the scent. The vanilla warmth makes it cozy and wintery, but the orange pop makes it perfect for a summer's eve. It smells even better as you sweat it out throughout the day. And the deodorant that comes with it in some box sets is to die for, it's even better than the perfume itself. It retails in supermarkets and department stores for about 14 euros and the box set which either come with pretty good headphones or the delicious deodorant is only around 24 euro. So worth it!

2. S by Shakira. This is a beautiful scent, that just like Play it Rock, I have re-purchased several times. It smells like warm vanilla and feminine luxury. It's a summer scent which reminds me of warm tanned skin, baked bronzers and golden lip gloss. It is mixable with Dior Addict and amplifies it's vanilla undertone. The scent retails for 14 euros and comes with a cute golden bracelet.

3. Taylor by Taylor Swift. This scent is very hard to describe, however what I can say about it is that it definitely took me by surprise! I expected Taylor, being an all-american beauty, to make a scent reminiscent of Tommy Girl or something florally like Estée Lauder Pleasures. However she created a scent that is mysterious, memorable and also quite powerful. The scent opens with a summery, tangy fruitiness and is said to have notes such as lychee, tangerine and apricot, which it definitely does. However after you spray it, it pulls you back in with musk, vanilla and sandalwood, with a little bit of florally orchid. So the feel of the scent is tangy fruit and woody memorabilia. It is definitely unique and worth a try. The scent retails for 20$/15 euro.

      

Benefits Porefessional vs. Cliniques Pore Refining Solution Correcting Serum

So, everyone and their mother raves and raves and raves about the benefit pore-fessional as a pore minimizing serum that you apply under your makeup. Just to clarify, if you have combination or oily skin, like myself, and don't use a pore-minimizing serum under your foundation you will find yourself with blotchy, oily, pore-spotted skin halfway through the day.

Back to my point, people love professional and act like it is the end all be all to pore minimizers, which is why, I of course am here to squash the hype.

I recently got a sample size of both Benefits Porefessional and Cliniques Pore Refining Solution and only went back to buy the full size of one. Can you guess which one?

Let's compare both products:

1. Benefit's Porefessional is described as a pro balm which minimizes the appearance of pores. It retails for 30$/30euros ( no that is not a conversion error, we are obviously getting ripped off out here in europe). The formulation glides on silky smooth and appears to leave your skin fairly matte.

2. Cliniques Pore Refining Solution Correcting Serum is the real deal. It promises to help skin bring healthier cells to the surface for a tighter, smoother, younger look and minimize 58% of the appearance of pores within two weeks of use(twice a day). So rather than a balm this is an actual correcting serum, but hey, they're all just goop in a jar with different promises. For a steeper price of 50$/46 euros, this serum glides on beautifully, gives skin a silky balmy touch, keeps makeup put and highly reduces pores and oil from showing through your foundation.

Now I decided to test both out, I applied Clinique's serum to the Left side of my face and Benefit's Porefessional to the Right

And the Results......Drum Roll Please!

                                                 Clinique                          Benefit

                                

So as you can see, although I am wearing a highlighter on both sides and the lighting is slightly different on each side, the benefit side is mega shiny and feels a lot greasier whereas the Clinique side feels matte without looking dry.

Clinique Pore Refining Solutions(correcting serum) WINS!!!!

                          

Glitter:Fun Holiday Kit from Sephora

The Holiday Seasons are all about friends, family and of course Glitter!!!
From obnoxiously sequined sweaters to confetti, to straight up sticking the stuff on your face, wearing glitter during the Christmas and New Years is as Politically correct as is dressing like a hoe-bag on Halloween.
You have to do it, because as inappropriate as it may be all year round, the fact of the matter is, it looks damn good!
Ofcourse living across the pond means that we are limited to most makeup launches, and this year that meant that the incredible urban decay launch of glitter liners did not happen yet out here in Spain. So like every good survivor abroad I had to improvise.
Luckily, sephora launched an awesome and inexpensive three piece kit, which includes a silver glitter liner, a volumizing mascara and kohl pencil.

Here's how I worked with it

I like to put the glitter under my eyes for a smokey eye, it makes me look more awake and tones down the heaviness of the dark eyeshadow.

I found the mascara to have an incredibly good brush. It's a rubber brush with both short and longer bristles, however the formulation is wet, which when used alone made my lashes clump however when used with other mascaras or a lash primer, gave me incredibly voluminous lashes.

The kohl pencil however was not my favorite. Although extremely black and beautiful it did irritate my sensitive eyes. if you do not have sensitive eyes, you are in luck, the pencil has a beautiful dark black shade and does not smudge.

The three piece kit can be found at all Sephora stores and department stores which carry Sephora or amazon.com for as low as only 22$/ 16 euros.

Happy Holidays!!!

Hair Pills: What works and What doesnt

Now I know many want to hear about just one end all be all miracle hair growth pill, but it ain't gunna happen simply because hair growth can't be stimulated(otherwise there wouldn't be so many baldies, hehe) we can only create a surplus of all the nutrients needed to grow healthy hair.
Ever since I went to seville and was graced by gorgeous women with fountains of lushious locks, I have been obsessed with growing my hair. Its been about a year and after trying many different combos of vitamins, pills, diets, scalp massages and hair regimes, I feel that my efforts are paying off. My hair is not exceptionally long, I'm still at mid length, but it is a hell of a lot healthier than at any other period of my life in which I had this length. I'm damn proud of that and because of it I'm going to share with you what i've learned from the pills i've tried; what worked for me and what didn't.

Oenobiol: Hair and Nails and Anti-hair loss
I took both of these at the same time for several months. One is a b-complex that stops hair loss and the other is a hair and nail strengthener. Both worked very well, I noticed way less hair fall and my nails became super, super strong, which means my hair did too. The only thing it didn't do was add any kind of luster to my hair. Also, another con is that they are expensive(24 euros each for one bottle).

Inneov Masa Capilar +Fuerza Brillo: There are two versions of this supplement. One is just a hair supplement and the other has a fish oil pill that adds shine to your hair. The first one contains two powerfull green tea/taurine infused hair volumizers. This didn't do much for me. It didn't strengthen my hair, but since it has so much caffeine it made me nervous, grind my teeth and made me nauseous.
But I did like masa capilar+Fuerza Brillo, simply for the fish pill, which made my hair significantly shinier and more moisturized, although I could've just saved myself the trouble by taking a basic fish oil.
The plus is that these are less pricey than Oenobiol.

Pilfood: These were expensive, taste disgusting and made me put on a whole bunch of water weight. I took it for about four Months and then gave up. They did nothing for me but give me a fatter ass!

Brewers yeast: This REALLY works for strong hair growth....but all that excess yeast gives me an infection in my hoo-ha, which is never fun. I would seriously use this if i didn't get an infection EVERY time!

My personal Recommendation and What I'm doing now:

After trying everything on the market i say screw it all and screw taking just one multi-vitamin, you don't know how well or naturally that stuff is mixed. Heres what I do, I individualy buy Vitamin E, B-Complex, Vitamin A, Biotin and one basic hair,skin,nails supplement and make my own hair vita cocktail. So fair it has given me the best results with the least amount of side effects. if you don't want to take AAAlll that then i recommend a basic hair and nails supplement plus vitamin E. I swear by Vitamin E for SKIN and Hair, it has seriously improved my skin and given me great shine.

Hope that Helps Beauties! MWAXXX