I get these urges every now and then and I try a new foundation. It usually ends up badly, because most of them don't turn out well for me. This one didn't either. It just didn't mash with my combinations skin and I so wanted it too. It would be lovely to have a good stick foundation, because it applies so easy and quickly. 

I stay away from L'Oreal mascaras, because they are on the pricier side of the drugstore spectrum. Even though I feel like they were cheaper a long time ago and I especially loved their Volume Million Lashes as well as Telescopic versions. But the hype around L'Oreal Paradise Extatic mascara was so high, that I knew I needed to try it. I was hesitant to buy it because of the price, but then I found it on offer in Austria.

I believe it's called Voluminous Lash Paradise mascara overseas and it has different design. Pink to be exact. Our European version comes in a rose gold box, which is unusual for drugstore mascaras, and it has a copper design with rose gold metallic top. I don't mind the color, just the font is a bit off for me.

In it is 6.4 ml (very small amount compared to other brands that have from 10 to 12 ml in their mascaras) of product and the full price is a bit over 14€ in Slovenia. However I bought it on offer for 8.96€ in Austria, where the full price is 11.95€.

It is marketed as volumizing, lengthening and easy to apply mascara. I hear some compare it to Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara and I can see why. Even the box packaging is extremely similar in design. 

The wand is one of those natural bristled ones and the bristles are quite dense. They actually catch a lot of the lashes, even the smaller ones and I think it's the reason why it doesn't look overly clumpy, even if you apply more coats. 

The formula is not wet nor too dry, but definitely more on the drier side. Which means it gives a lot of volume. It almost makes my lashes a bit thicker, adds a bit of length and doesn't look too clumpy. It doesn't give me the definition that I like with Maybelline Lash Sensational mascara, but it definitely gives more volume. I was actually a bit hooked on how thick my lashes looked with this one that I may have over-apply it. But it's actually good for really building up the volume without it looking clumpy. I find this a rare trait among volumizing mascaras.

It has a regular black color.

On the photo below from left to right: my curled lashes, one coat of mascara, two to three coats of mascara.

The major problem that I have with this mascara, besides the hefty price tag, is the fact that it dries up so quickly and becomes crumbly on the eyes. The drier it gets, the more crumbly it is, harder to build up the volume and small pieces of it start to fall under my eyes, which is never a good look. I've had it for about 2 months and it's almost unusable. Most other mascaras last me at least 3 months. 

When it's still fresh enough, it holds onto lashes well and stays put for the whole day. I also feel like it kept my lashes curled all day.

Definition and volume exclude from one another when it comes to mascaras, but it's the combination that I usually go for. Since I love Maybelline Lash Sensational which is more defining, but gives volume too, I was awed by the volume effect from L'Oreal Paradise Extatic mascara. If these two had a baby, that would be my all time favorite mascaras.

I really like the drier formula that gave me great volume from the start, the fact that it didn't make my lashes drop and that it was long lasting. The price is way too steep for my liking of drugstore mascara prices and the fact that there's little product in it and it dries out so fast, is just another contradiction for my argument of repurchasing it. If you like mascaras that give you volume, can be build up to oblivion and don't mind the price tag, you'll definitely love this one. I might give it a go, if I find it on sale, but I'm definitely not buying it full price. 

I have been coloring my hair since I was about 14 years old. It started with wash off foams, a few highlights here and there and all the way up to experimenting with permanent colors. My natural hair color is what I call cool mousy grey brown. Some may even call it dark blond. Obviously I hate that color. If you know my makeup style, you know I'm all about warm tones and that's how I like my hair as well. Anyway, I saw that L'Oreal launched a huge Colorista range. You get effects colors, which are permanent and you can choose among balayage, ombre or bleach. Then there are temporary colors in a spray (last you only one day), washout temporary colors and permanent colors. You can also get a fader shampoo which washes out temporary color quicker - which I don't get the point of using, unless you're really unsatisfied with your result. I was intrigued and tried out Balayage as well as Peach Washout color. 

In the box you get developer cream (60 ml), lightening cream (20 ml), lightening powder (18 g), brush applicator, gloves and conditioner (I forgot to include some on the photo). The price in Slovenia is 7.49€.

The brush has three rows of bristles, which are silicone and really bendable. I guess the comb is designed to give you that balayage natural look by just putting it on your hair and pulling it downwards. I wouldn't know, because I don't believe you can create a natural look with that. That's why I got my boyfriend to color the hair and I chose the balayage technique that Guy Tang uses. Btw if you need some hair inspo, you should definitely check out his YouTube channel. If I could, I would scrap up my last savings and go to his salon. 

These balayage sets are sort of like a pre-step before applying on washout colors. You can use balayage to create natural highlights, ombre to get a more intense color or bleach to completely blank out your natural color. After that they of course advise you to apply one of those washout colors for a more fun colorful effect. 

I have to apologize for my photos. I work with natural lighting which changes often and I took photos myself, so it may not be perfect. But I think you can still see the before and after effect. 

I usually use Golden Brown color (Garnier Olia 5.3) for my hair and I've recently just been coloring my roots, so the length of the hair has been kind of washed out, a bit lighter golden brown than usual. On that base my boyfriend applied balayage color. The highlights started a few centimeters from the root to look more natural. I should state that I only used half of the color, because I wanted a really light effect and because my hair is shorter and very fine. The color itself is quite thicker and is nice to apply. It won't drip down at all.

I left it on for about 25 minutes. On the box it says to leave it on 25 to 35 minutes. If you want the color to be lighter, leave it on longer. 

I hope you can see the difference. I got very natural looking highlights and they were more concentrated at the ends. The color that came out was like a golden yellow strawberry blond color. It's actually the same color that I get once my hair color either washes out or gets lighter naturally on the sun. I usually come home from beach holiday looking almost blond, but very yellow or as some would say brassy.

Be realistic when buying this color. It will either react with your natural color and pigment in your hair or with that base color that you have. Because I have golden brown color, I got golden highlights. If you have a lot of red pigment in your hair, you'll probably get warm highlights as well. I think it's unrealistic to expect that perfectly toned cool blond color from it. For that I would advise you to get it done by a professional. 

It did make my hair slightly dry, which happens with most stronger hair colors. Especially ends, but I didn't see a lot of damage, which was nice. My hair is a bit more tangled now, which I assume is due to some damage, but it's definitely not bad and not really visible. 

Btw the hair conditioner that comes with these hair colors is the bomb. Always keep it and reuse it the next time you're washing your hair.

L'Oreal Colorista Washout Peach

Washout colors are inviting you with colorful hair models and simplistic design. There is 13 shades to choose from and you literally get all you could possibly want - mint, pink, lilac, blue, turquoise and many more variations. Some are pastel and some are slightly darker designed for darker hair. These should only stay on your hair for a few washes about a week or two, depending on how often you wash your hair.  

It comes in a much smaller paper box, because there is just one main product inside and that is the actual hair color in a pretty peach plastic tube. With the box you also get set of two gloves, one for applying the color and one for using when you're washing it off.  

You get 80 ml of color for the price of 7.49€. 

In the tube is 80 ml of color and I think this is too small amount to use on your whole hair, even if you have it as short as I. I used only one tube and came out with a bit uneven result. It might just be due to a non-permanent color formula, but I think I would need two tubes to perfectly cover every strand of my hair. But then again, L'Oreal had it designed to only be applied on top of that highlights that you create with effect colors. 

I also got my boyfriend to apply this color as well, from the roots to the ends. I just wanted the same wash effect all through the hair, because I knew it won't be that visible, since I didn't have as light base as I should have for a pastel peach color.

This cream is darker peach shade when it comes out and it's thinner and a lot wetter. It won't drip and you can definitely apply it yourself, because it's not meant to look perfect. It also has a built in conditioner, so there's very little chance of damaging your hair with it. It's definitely very gentle to use on all hair types.

I left it on my hair for 25 minutes. It says to leave pastel colors on for 15 to 20 minutes. While I was washing it out, it felt like I was washing out hair conditioner - which is actually what it was, just a tinted one. My hair was ultra smooth. You definitely don't need to use any conditioner after using this. The hair is left hydrated and smooth.

Hair color showed up more on some strands and less on others. As I said, I think this is due to the fact that I would need two tubes to completely cover every hair. I got slightly yellow toned golden highlights, some looked light orange peachy colored and some looked a bit more pinkish peach colored (coral). I guess a proper peach color is a mix of orange and pink and that's how my hair came out. Obviously the color is lighter over those highlights from balayage and darker on my other hair. 

I actually liked the color, it screamed fall to me. I've had copper hair many times, but this color has a tint of pink in it, although it's still very much a golden peach. I think it would look coral on proper blond hair.

Since I've applied this color, I've washed my hair two times and it has mostly washed off. I'm back to my balayage result. There's a hint of peach color here and there, if I look really closely, but mostly it's all gone. So the 2 to 3 shampoo claim on the box is right.

As I said the lighting is different in all three photos, but I hope you see the main difference. I think my phone picks up color difference better than my camera. Again from left to right: my golden brown color, added balayage highlights and added peach color. 

Here are my final thought for those of you that got through that. I just wanted to be informative, because I sometimes search for hair color reviews and there are none. Hopefully mine is a bit helpful.

L'Oreal Colorista Balayage

If you've always wanted to add subtle highlights to your hair, but didn't want to damage it too much, I recommend you to check out this set. Keep in mind that you don't know what kind of lighter colors you'll get, unless you've already experimented with hair colors. I assume it will mostly come out warmer yellow blond shade, unless you have a very cool natural undertone to your hair. It's not too damaging - my copper hair colors usually did even more damage than this one. It's permanent effect, so don't do it, if you don't want it to last. You can obviously apply another color over it, if you don't like it, and it would look just slightly lighter as a base. The price point is also not bad for the effect and the fact that there's enough product in it, to do a subtle highlights all through your hair.

L'Oreal Colorista Washout Peach

The color that is shown on the box is pretty accurate, but will look like that only if you have a proper almost bleached out blond base. Otherwise this will just look like a slight tone of peach on top of your base color. I think it won't show up on medium to dark hair. In my opinion this is overpriced, because you get a small amount of color (especially if you want to apply it all over your hair) and it's a washout, which means the effect will only last you for about 2 to 3 washes. To me this is too expensive to experiment with a lot. I think L'Oreal could easily priced it at like 4€ and they would have the income they want and we would experiment more. But obviously they saw the appeal of it and the fact that people would want to use it, so they overpriced it, knowing it would sell out anyway. I would rather buy a permanent color for that effect, because washout color is not that noticeable on hair that is not bleached and it doesn't last either. It's more of a special occasion fun color to do or something that you can try on before getting a permanent color to see if those kind of colors even suit you.

I also hate the fact that these colors are sold only in certain DMs. In Murska Sobota no DM has it, the nearest one that has it is in Gornja Radgona. You might as well go to Austria for it - I saw it in Bipa. I don't get their logic on deciding which stores would have it and which won't. Kind of confusing. Here is the list of DMs in Slovenia that sell this Colorista range.

I'm glad that brands are coming out with these fun colors and it's nice to experiment, but I just wish these fun colored washout colors would be lower priced. These are also more or less designed only for blond hair, it kind of defeats the purpose on anything darker than blond. I guess I think they're really fun and unharmful, but just overpriced for a hair color. But grab those effects kits, if you've always wanted to experiment with highlighting your hair. If you do it right, the results look really natural.

L'Oreal came out with this Fine Flowers skin care range. I haven't seen any of these products in our drugstores, so I'm assuming we don't have it in Slovenia. But I did find it in Austria as well as online stores. I bought Gel-Cream Wash on a whim, because it was on sale and sounded good. A quest to find the perfect washing gel comes over me every summer. Some cleansing milks just feel to heavy and I want something that does the job, but doesn't feel too heavy or leave my skin dry feeling.

It comes in a half pink and half transparent tube. The tube is slim and long which means it will start falling off your shelf as soon as you touch it. But I like the practical tube packaging anyway.

In it is 150 ml of product and the regular price is 4.79€ on Feelunique. I bought it there, but when it was on sale, so it cost me 3.36€.

The opening is small enough and it doesn't spill the product all over, which is nice. 

Here is the ingredients list. 

L'Oreal says that the wash contains extracts of rose and jasmine flowers. It should make your skin soft, comfortable and fresh. The gel-cream texture emulsifies in the water and creates creamy foam that cleanses and softens the skin without drying it out.

Rose is known for its soothing and comforting properties and jasmine for protective and moisturizing properties. 

It also doesn't contain any alcohol or soap.

The gel-cream is actually like a mix of thinner milk and classic gel. It's pearly white and very runny. Once you massage it in the skin with a bit of water, it turns into a milky white consistency that foams, but not too much. 

I like it, because it doesn't sting my eyes. It has a subtle soothing scent and I don't smell any flowers, which I like. On the skin it feels soothing, but also efficient in removing leftover makeup. I do a double cleanse, so oil cleanser and then this. I also use it in the morning to wash off any leftover dirt and product and it does the job well. I wouldn't use it as a first cleanse when removing makeup, although you can and it does remove it well with a bit more effort.

After I wash it off, my skin is left feeling clean, fresh, soft and not dry nor does it have any nourishing layer on top (like some cleansing milks tend to leave behind). It's a perfect cleanser for hot summery month in that it feels lightweight, does the job and doesn't dry out your skin. I have sensitive skin in general, but it's less irritated in the summer. This cleanser doesn't irritate my skin right now, but I can't say for sure for those of you with really sensitive skin.

The Fine Flowers range includes products like facial wipes, cleansing toner, cleansing milk and cleansing balm. Most of these products also have two versions, one for dry and sensitive skin and one for normal to combination skin.

I have to say I like it. It cleans well, feels lightweight, doesn't irritate and doesn't dry out my skin. What more could I wish for?! It's perfect for hot summer months as a morning cleanse or a second cleanse in the evening. The price point is also quite nice. 

Hey Beauties!

When it comes to styling my hair, I am really lazy. I do love to treat my hair with leave in treatment and hair masks, but I don't like to style it. Part of the reason is, because I have very fine and flat hair, so nothing holds. If I curl my hair, it holds for maybe one hour and then it starts to vanish. It's almost like magic (sarcastic me). You can imagine how hard it is to add some volume to my flat fine hair. That's why I decided to share some hair products that in combination give me the best result that is possible.