I recently ventured off to re-stock on a few beauty items and found myself owning a few new lovely products. These weren't all bought at the same time or at the same place, so I guess that justifies it all (not).

First of all, I repurchased a tube of my beloved Dior Diorshow Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum (which I even blogged about in February 2013!). It really is that good that I've been using it for a straight year. I'm facing the fact that I have crappy lashes and I'm embracing this serum and letting it thicken my lashes before applying mascara. I have no clue if it has any further effects but I like that after applying this, I "only" apply two coats of mascara and I'm good to go (especially when I'm doing my makeup at 6am, I really don't feel like wasting time applying coat after coat of mascara). And this way there's also no risk of the mascara crumbling.

In the summer of 2012, a friend and I went on vacation to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and I hit the MAC counter hard - and I mean real hard. It was then I purchased a life-changing product and therewith starting doing my brows: MAC Brow Set in Beguile. A colored gel is the easiest thing to use on your brows, in my opinion (unless of course you're lacking in eye brow hair and need to fill them in / draw them on). But if you do have enough, a gel is awesome. I used my MAC brow set from 2012 for way - and I mean way - too long and finally got a new one. I was in Globus (department store in Switzerland with high-end beauty counters) and picked up the Bobbi Brown Natural Brow Shaper & Hair Touch Up in Rich Brown. I'm really liking it so far! Pretty much does the same job as the old one, so I'm happy.

Now, I'm going to tell you a little story about how Fabienne's blog persuaded me into spending money - once again. I stumbled upon this post of her's and she gave the shadow such a rave review that I decided to just go and look at it (emphasis on the word look). Of course, I then had to touch and I was sold.

Left: Fresco // Right: African Violet

Top: Fresco // Bottom: African Violet

The texture of these shadows is so amazing. Absolutely soft to the touch and with a primer they didn't crease on me in the slightest. Laura Mercier African Violet is a  luster eye color and I find this shade to be so unique. I certainly don't own anything similar so that obviously justified paying that awful price tag. The Laura Mercier Fresco is a matte eye color and I thought to pair these shades together, using African Violet on the lid and Fresco in the crease. I've worn them paired together once already and really liked it! What I also like, for a very natural, easy look, is using Fresco all over the lid and a neutral light beige/brown in the crease (which I'm wearing in my lil' artsy GIF at the beginning of this post). Once I've tried these out some more, I'll maybe do a blog post on one of the eye looks :)

 

Something definitely worth mentioning but isn't too pretty to photograph: the Smashbox Jet Set Waterproof Eye Liners in Dark Brown and Deep Black.  I ran out of my MAC black gel eye liner and decided to try something new and since I got these Smashbox eye liners I've only used the dark brown shade, as you can see in the photo. It's the perfect shade of brown and makes your eyes look so natural. This liner also doesn't crumble and stays put for the whole day, so thumbs up from me!

Last but not least, I caved into all the raves on YouTube and ordered two lip glosses from Tanya Burr's new collection of lip glosses and nail polishes. I got Afternoon Tea (swatch on top) and Champagne Toast (swatch on bottom).

And the packaging is super cute, too :)