Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Beauty haul from my trip to Europe


Hello again! 
I came back from my trip nearly two weeks ago, and my schedule has been pretty hectic as I basically had no time to get settled in. I got back to classes and work straight away, the day after my arrival actually, but I finally have time to sit down and do some blogging :) (in my college library, but still good enough). And what better to start with than a post about my beauty purchases from across the border?

I have been away from home for nearly two months: as I wrote in my previous post, I started out with a week in New York for my birthday, and then had one day to repack my suitcase, as I was leaving for Europe shortly after my return. There I spent 3 weeks in Ukraine with my family, and took 3 more weeks to travel around a few European cities (Paris, Brussels, Stockholm, Oslo, Berlin and Amsterdam, in that order).
I picked up some beauty products from here and there -- I was excited to get my hands on some brands that are not available where I live, or that are resold here for an insanely expensive price.


Let's start with what I got in Paris, as I also stopped there for two days before boarding my flight to Kiev. I had the chance to meet up with a few friends and also browse around some lovely French pharmacies.

I had to make sure I didn't leave France without Embryolisse's Lait-crème concentré, a very popular product across Youtube and blogs. You can see that I started to use it already (by the way, I just love that malleable tube!). I needed a moisturizer for night-time and this does the job very well.
Along with that I bought a travel-size bottle of Thermal Spring Water from Avène (refreshing on hot days but not a must-have in my eyes), as well as a tiny bottle of Bioderma make-up remover. The size makes it very easy to throw in your bag for when you're sleeping over at someone else's house. As for the product, it is good, I'm not saying otherwise. But I'm glad that I spent less than 3 euros for that little bottle and didn't buy an overpriced full-sized bottle here in Canada, because to be honest, I find that my Neutrogena make-up remover works even better.
I also got the Dissolvant miraculeux from Bourjois, which I love already: such an effortless (and quick) way to remove nail polish!  I'm not sure how long is this product supposed to last, however; any ideas?
The Nuxe Rêve de Miel lip balm is a product I added in last-minute while waiting at the cash (ugh, they got me!) and while I think it's a decent product, I could have lived without yet another lip balm. What I don't like about it is the way it's shaped: it has a slanted tip like a lipstick's; but I'm trying to "flatten" it through multiple uses.

I don't know if this is common for most pharmacies, but at the place where I purchased the skincare part of this haul, they gave me some free samples. You can see two of them in the picture (from Aderma). There was also a sample from Avène, but I'm not quite sure where it went.
Again, I did not get anything extra when buying the two last products, so I'm not sure if this is something you should expect from these pharmacies or not.


Moving on to Ukraine :). I didn't buy much products there, but I'm very happy with the two I've got! The first is the Artdeco eyeshadow base: I wanted to try it for a long time but I couldn't find this German brand in my city, so I bought it in Kiev when I saw it there. My only complaint would be the smell, which is quite strong and reminds me of the scent of a shaving cream for men. Weird, I know! Maybe it's just me. Anyway, I saw later that there existed a fragrance-free version of it, but I did not want to purchase another pot just because of the scent issue. I just hope that my skin and eyes will not be sensitive to it.
When I was waiting around for my flight back to Paris, I wandered in the duty-free make-up store (my favourite part in every airport) and purchased a product I wanted for a long time: a YSL Sheer Candy lipstick, in the colour #5: Mouthwatering Berry. I may do a separate review on some of these products so I won't write a lengthy description about each of them, but this one is a gorgeous product, both inside and out the tube. As the name foretells, it appears as a sheer wash of berry colour on the lips, which is a welcome departure from the usual pink and nude shades. It is far from over-dramatic however, and shows up as a beautiful yet subtle tint (and can also be layered to achieve a more noticeable effect).


I got a few things in Germany as well: first, a L'Oréal Rouge Caresse lipstick in #501: Nude Ingénue. I understand they've been out in Europe for a while, and I wish we would finally see them in Canada! I must say, however, that this nude colour is the only one that appealed to me out of the range they had: they mostly sell pink shades that I don't really enjoy wearing on my lips.
Then, I thought I would take part in the dry shampoo trend and got tempted by the Volume Lift dry shampoo from Syoss (again, unavailable here, as far as I know) which I've been liking a lot to refresh my hair once in a while.


I decided to try a product from the brand Catrice, another one that didn't cross the Atlantic yet. I chose a Defining Blush from their new line, in #010: Toffee Fairy. A pretty brown colour that can serve either as a blush or for a bit of contouring.


I also purchased a jar of the amazingly thick Nivea Crème, for scarcely more than 1 euro. I love the packaging, wide enough but still very thin: another must-have to throw in your bag for emergencies!


Here you can see one of the many bars of chocolate that I brought back for my family from Germany; but this one is the last survivor as of yet. Their grocery stores sell an incredible variety of flavours of candy and chocolate, it's amazing for a lover of sweets like me. I wanted to buy every sort that was on display!



I feel like this has been a never-ending account of what I bought,  but I'll just finish up with my last purchase: two of my favourite magazines, the Russian Glamour (with the beautiful Ukrainian model Snejana Onopka on the cover!) as well as the French one (which costs only 1 euro in Paris, compared to nearly 5 dollars here, sadly!).

I have to run to class, so I'll end this post here. Afterwards I'm heading to the movies to make the best of the rainy day! I'll be seeing a highly intellectual movie about male strippers. Guess which.

Have a nice day! xoxo.

5 comments:

  1. Je ne savais pas que Rêve de Miel venait également en tube - je me demande s'il a la même consistance que celui en pot, que j'adore - il n'y a rien de mieux qui réussit à sauver mes lèvres! C'est bizarre qu'il ait un bout pointu comme un rouge à lèvre par contre... je suppose que ça ajoute du luxe ahah!

    Tu es chanceuse d'avoir mise la main sur la Crème Nivea, elle est tellement dure à trouver par ici, et il parait qu'elle fait des miracles!

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  2. Et moi je ne savais pas qu'elle venait en pot! Si j'avais su c'est probablement celle-là que j'aurais achetée; je tends à les préférer (je ne sais pas trop pourquoi en fait).

    C'est vrai! J'ai aussi entendu que la version allemande de la Crème Nivea avait une composition différente (et meilleure) que sa version américaine. Je ne sais pas à quel point c'est vrai ou pas, mais pour le prix ça valait le coup de tester :)!

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  3. J'pense que les rouges Caresse sont arrivés, mais il faut regarder sur le présentoir, pcq sur le tube lui-meme, c'Est pas indiqué, c'Est vraiment bizarre!
    J'ai entendu dire que les Français étaient forts sur les échantillons, c'est probablement courrant...
    Ah! Ca me manque l'Europe, je sais toujours pas quand jy retourne :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh! Merci pour l'info!
      Je te souhaite de pouvoir y retourner bientôt :)

      Delete
  4. Vous avez besoin du chocolat and c'est tout - rien plus! ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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