My little treasures of May 2014

Hi there :) 

I went shopping.. And this happened :) 

I actually need black working shoes (in which I can stand and run around the whole day), but after a couple of shopping sprees, I just can't seem to find the right pair.. So I got a bit bad and bought this lovely pair designed by Chiara Ferragni and Steve Madden. Chiara is an Italian blogger I have been following on and off for over 7 years. I looked from time to time at her Flickr account before she started her blog, and before blogging was a "thing".. I remember seeing her pictures online and thinking who is she? I don't understand :) But I liked her style and soon I got sucked into the blogging world and checked out her blogs on a regular basis. Back to the shoes: I have spotted them a while ago and I thought they looked different and had nice detailing, so when I saw them again, I tried them on and the leather is actually super soft and the heel is chunky which makes it easier to wear. I absolutely LOVE these heels for summer! 

This is a picture of my first catsuit I own :) Aah I am so excited, cause I have actually never really understood this fashion trend and when I tried out a suit, it looked weird and unflattering. This one is the first one that fits like jogging but looks very smart. 

I have always loved a touch of hippie boho chique style, and these shorts are the perfect touch of that. They are from H&M and feel very expensive (but they aren't :)

Last but not least: my little forever21 treasures :) I have been looking for bows for about 3 months and finally I saw them in store. I went a bit bow crazy and bought a black and pink big bow and smaller white and black bows.. The small ones aren't very easy to use because they don't have a good grip on the hair. 

The first two t shirts and this one are all from Forever21 as well and fit very nicely. I actually tried on a tee at COS and fell almost from my chair in the fitting room when I saw the price: 45 euros for a stupid tee without anything on it!! What?

Luckily I saw these ones that are a lot nicer and a crap of a lot cheaper!! 

Hope you liked my little treasures of May. 

Lots of Love 

XL

Smashbox Full Exposure Palette Review

The Full Exposure palette from Smashbox falls in the same range as the Urban Decay naked 1, 2 and 3 palettes: you have a lot of neutrals for a reasonable price. 

I was hesitating between getting the Naked 3 or the Full Exposure palette, and because I am suuuuper happy with the pigmentation and colours of my Fade Out Smashbox palette (I did a previous blogpost on it), I decided to go for the Smashbox one. 

To be honest, I love my Naked 1 palette, but I rarely use the Naked 2.. Just too much shimmer and the colours are too cold for me.

The amazing thing about this palette is that the colours are matched: one matte goes with the shimmer on top. I love this idea and for some reason, this palette inspires me to do a lot of versatile looks.

The left side of the palette are more warm toned browns and the middle shadows are very nice buttery beige / ivory sheen and matte colours. On the right side, you find rather cool toned taupish/beige/brown colours and a matte black and a black/navy/grey shimmer. 

Newest makeup tutorial: Khloe Kardashian & J Lo 's glowy skin

This is one of my favourite looks ever. 

Glowy skin and an orange undertone red lip.

The secret to looking great and fresh, especially for all you bright eyed ladies out there, is finding the right red lip, a lot of bronzer, and LOADS of highlighter ;) 

I know everyone always says you can't exaggerate with makeup, but this time, we can definitely make an exception :)

 

I decided to combine a fresh looking mauve/lilac eye with Lady Danger from Mac, which has a matte finish and stays put all day (even after eating!) 

I am loving the Define-A-Lash at the moment from Maybeline, which you can build up endlessly without getting clumpy.

I used Bobbi Brown eyeshadow and sparkle eyeshadow to create this look and finished it off with a combination of Mac Nude on beach/board bronzer and Hoola by Benefit to contour my face.

In the video I explain how to contour your face without it looking weird, patchy or too obvious.

I completed the look with my all time favorite highlighter in What's up by Benefit and Dior Amber Diamond on my Laura Mercier Fan Brush.

I think this will be my go to look for summer :) 

Xl

NYC fashion haul

Hi there :) 

Today I quick link to my newest video where I show you everything I got when I was in New York on a city trip. 

I have to say though: everything (except for the jeans I believe) was on sale, AND I really put aside money because I knew I was going to shop, so that is why I let myself go a little bit :) 

I am planning to do another blogpost on what I bought from Mac cosmetics, where I will review the products I bought together with some swatches. 

Lots of love 

x

Talk soon

New York City beauty haul

Hi guys, 

Because a lot of you told me you liked my Malaysian beauty haul video, I decided to do another one of these after I got back from my trip to Manhattan, NY. 

I bought some fun stuff I would like to share with you, so if you have some time, sit back and click to play the video :) 

A clothing haul is following very very soon!

Lots of love 

X

Hairdressers rant: From hair fiasco to loving the hair again!

Ok so, 

Where to begin?

I wanted to write this blogpost since a couple of weeks now, because I feel like I must not be the only one with this issue: 

Hairdressers.

Sigh. 

I don't understand most of them... 

So, for those of you who are new on my blog I'll give a quick recap: 

I am a natural ashy blond, got sick of my bleh color and decided a couple of years ago I wanted to dye it, so I did and I went to a salon to get my hair dyed. 

I asked for a Mary kate Olsen colour which is something like this:

 (the one on the middle) 

Let's say a Venetian blond. I got weird purple/brown. Yuk. That was the start of my mess, because it had purple/red pigments in it, up til a year or so ago I always had to deal with this weird red shine in my hair - this has been confirmed by professionals: red is the hardest to get rid off. 

So scroll forward in time: After a couple tries, I discovered this awesome girl at Tony & Guy who did both my friend and me, and we looked - well the hair :D - reaaaally awesome, exactly what we wanted. The celeb style blond a la Jeniffer Aniston/ Jeniffer Lopez / Sarah Jessica Parker. 

Love it.

Then I moved, so I was obliged to go to a different hairdresser, so I went with Aveda in New York. Good lord... That was some story: I had to pay +200 dollars (the plus stands for the extra 20 ish percent tip, if not more) for a hair color that was just completely messed up.

I asked for this:

(I cant find the exact picture, but it basically came down to this:)

My favorite eyeshadow palette: SMASHBOX Fade Out purples

This is my absolute favorite eye shadow palette since a couple of months now. 

It is called "Fade Out" and it is a product made by SMASHBOX.

See how beaten up this product looks like? haha, proof that I use it all the time. You can choose not to believe me, but I really spent about ten minutes trying to clean the surface and it just wouldn't come off, so sorry about that you guys.. But makeup reviews are only good when they are real, right?

I bought this a while back when I went to Paris and went to visit Sephora on Champs Elysees. 

I think I might have made a blogpost about that trip or mentioned it in one of my videos over on my YouTube channel (http:www.youtube.com/awomansaffair). 

I am not super wild about purple colors, but I was drawn by this palette for several reasons: