Lorac Pro and Lorac Pro 2 Palettes: Review and Swatches

Lorac Pro and Lorac Pro 2 palettes

I'm finally ready to write a review of these 2 awesome babies. I won't keep you guessing and tell you straight away that these palettes are fantastic and have already become one of my most frequently used and favorite ones.

Each of the palette comes with a mini Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer. The packaging of both of the palettes is super sleek and functional. It is slim and very compact yet sturdy enough for traveling. It has a magnetic closure and a big mirror inside. The only difference between Lorac Pro and Lorac Pro 2 palette is that the 1st one is black and the 2nd one is grey.

If you hold both of these palettes together they will be the thickness of any of the Naked palettes, which is awesome, because it means that you can take both of them when traveling without sacrificing the space in your luggage.

Now on to the colors. Here's the comparison of the two palettes one next to the other.

Lorac Pro and Lorac Pro 2 palettes: comparison

As you can see the 2 palettes have similarities but are different enough to justify buying both of them :).

They both have 16 gorgeous shadows with the top row of mattes and the bottom row of shimmers. The colors of the original Lorac Pro palette are more basic nude-type ones, although not boring at all raging from white to black, so you've got the whole spectrum of different shades from light to dark. Same goes for the Lorac Pro 2 palette, although it definitely feels more cool-toned with some fun pops of color. However, it does have its share of basic neutral and warmer shades too. It also features this super star bright intense navy color. With both palettes you can achieve a multitude of looks from daytime to super smokey and dramatic ones. By the way, the colors in these are all different except for the black one which is present in both palettes.

The finishes of these shadows are beautiful: the mattes are super intense and creamy as well as shimmers. However, the shimmers aren't so frosty and metallic that it turns you away. I'd say it's a more refined shimmer with gorgeous pearly-metallic grown-up finish. There is no chunky glitter in any of those shades. What amazes me most is that ALL the shades are consistently and equally soft, creamy, smooth, pigmented and blendable. Consistent quality is a rare thing in a palette with so many colors and different finishes.

Here are the swatches for comparison.

Swatches: Lorac Pro palette - top row, Lorac Pro 2 palette - bottom row

The pigmentation, the blendability and the staying power of these shadows is just top notch without any primer. With a primer it's unbeatable. Seriously.

One note though, since these shadows are so fully packed with pigment, they may seem powdery if you're not careful and squish your brush into them and won't tap off the excess. BUT they're NOT. What you may consider powdery residue or fallout is the super fully packed and pressed together pigment. All you need to do is just touch the shadow in the pan with your brush gently ONE time, then tap off the excess and that would be enough to pack enough color on your eyelid. If you do that you'll see that a little goes a long way indeed with these shadows, and there is no powderiness, or fallout or chalkiness at all.

Now let's take a closer look at each palette and it's swatches.

Lorac Pro palette

Lorac Pro palette (closer look)

Lorac Pro palette: swatches

A here is a look I created with Lorac Pro palette WITHOUT any primer just so that you'll get a rough idea of what kind of look you might get with it.

The look using Lorac Pro palette

Now here is the Lorac Pro 2 palette.

Lorac Pro 2 palette

Lorac Pro 2 palette (closer look)

Lorac Pro 2 palette: swatches

...And the look using Lorac Pro 2 palette...

The look using Lorac Pro 2 palette

If you asked me what palette to get if you had to choose only one, I'd tell you to get both. They're equally beautiful and are different enough to serve you separately and together. If you really-really have to choose just one then go for the one that appeals more to you in the color selection. I personally am in love with both.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I bought these myself. You can get a hold of them here (Lorac Pro palette) and here (Lorac Pro 2 palette). Each of them costs $42.

In conclusion I'll say if you don't own any palette and not many shadows at all, I'd strongly suggest you invest in one of those or even both. I honestly think they're better than the Naked palettes. They'll give you the variety and the quality you can only dream of.

Rating by category (out of 10, 10 being the highest score):

• versatility - 10
• product quality (pigmentation, blendability, staying power etc.) - 10
• packaging - 10
• travel-friendliness - 10

Phew. I hope you enjoyed reading this review and it will help you with your future purchases. If you have any of those palettes, please, let me know what you think of them in the comments below. Thank you for reading.

What's Your Go-To Small Eyeshadow Palette and Default Makeup Look (+ Wet-n-Wild Eyeshadow Trio in 335 Silent Treatment: Review and Swatches)?

Hi guys! I thought today I'd share my kind of default makeup look and do a short review of my go-to small eyeshadow palette. It's the Wet-n-Wild eyeshadow trio in 335, Silent Treatment  and it's from drugstore. Yay! for reviews of affordable products!

To be honest, I rarely wear the same makeup twice. I usually use different products and do something different every day both for the eyes and lips. However, there are times when I just

• don't feel like thinking too much, or looking for some particular product, or
• I'm in a hurry and just want to do a quick and easy nice neutral but flattering all-occasions look that I can easily update during the day if I want to, or
• I need to go to work, job interview, some important formal or semi-formal meeting, or meeting my boyfriend's parents (hypothetically speaking, because I'm already happily married), or anywhere, where I'm not really sure how to look and it is best to stick to a natural daytime look

Whatever the reason might be for such a look I think it is a wise thing for everyone to have one of such saving default go-to looks that they feel comfortable wearing and don't get tired of in their makeup wardrobe.

So, here's what I usually wear in such cases:

Face:
1. Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 51 Light vanilla
2. Too Faced Absolutely Flawless Flexible Coverage Concealer in Vanilla
3. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light
4. theBalm Cindy-Lou Manizer

Eyes and Brows:
1. Anastasia Beverly Hills brow pencil in medium brown
2. Wet-n-Wild eyeshadow trio in 335 Silent Treatment
3. Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara

Lips:
1. Chanel Rouge Coco Shine lipstick in 54 Boy

As you can see, it's just a few products and a very simple look. For the eyes I just use a taupe color all over my lid and blend out in the crease, also I put it on the bottom lash line. Then I use the darkest brown and tightline my upper lashline with it and put just a tiny bit of it on the outer 2/3 of my lower lashline and smudge it. Then I use the highlighter shade to highlight my inner corners and a tiny bit under my brow-bone.

For the face, I put foundation on, then concealer, then powder lightly all over the face to set the makeup, and then use the same ambient powder as a bronzer around the perimeter of my face and a bit as a blush. At the end I put a highlighter on tops of my cheekbones.

Lips don't need any explanation. Just slap a neutral easy-to-wear color that you love on 'em. By the way, you can always change it up for a bright or dark one for the evening (that's an easy change in this look if you have a bright lipstick with you in your makeup bag).

And here's the finished look.

My default makeup look

Now on to the short review of the Wet-n-Wild eyeshadow palette.

Here are the eyeshadows in the pan and swatches.

Wet-n-Wild eyeshadow trio in 335 Silent Treatment

Wet-n-Wild eyeshadow trio in 335 Silent Treatment: swatches

As you can see from the pictures this palette is well loved and has been used a lot. I've had it for more than a year now. I think that the colors in this trio are gorgeous. I'm speaking to you, all you taupe lovers out there! It is a perfect neutral but not boring trio with a nicely balanced from light to dark color combo that can take you from day to night easily. You can make a very simple daytime look or a very smokey one as well. The taupe shade in there is my favorite one for a one eyeshadow look. The pigmentation of these shadows is great and they blend like a dream, they have very smooth silky texture and beautiful shimmery finish that is not too much or obnoxious, and they wear nicely. I also haven't noticed any major fallout (if at all) with them (but I always tap of the excess product from my brush). By the way, the swatches were made with no primer as usual. Overall, there isn't a single bad thing I can say about those shadows and for the price of just a few bucks (!), they are a gem. I'm officially obsessed with them.

So, that's it. That's my short review and my default look. I hope it was helpful to some of you, maybe it gave you some ideas. Let me know if you have your default look? What is it? And what is your favorite small eye-shadow palette? I'd love to know that.

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you are having a great day. At least, I wish you have a great one :).

Stand the Heat Beautifully (Part 3): Less-Than-No-Makeup Makeup

Less-Than-No-Makeup Makeup

This is the the last part of my little Stand the Heat Beautifully series. I know it was short, and I would love to post more on this subject (I had ideas for at least a couple more posts) but summer just decided to end too soon :).

If you want to catch up on the previous parts you can do it here: part 1 and part 2.

Ok. I almost feel bad posting it now, since the weather changed drastically since I started this series and now it's raining, it's windy and cold and looks exactly like fall, so this post will seem absolutely irrelevant. But since it is still officially summer for another 4 days, I'm still officially good to go (or I can just use it as an excuse). Plus, maybe for some of the readers from hot countries it will be relevant. Hopefully... :).

So, imagine it's +45°C ... +50°C under the sun. You are literally melting and dreaming of only one thing: to immerse yourself in the cooling water and not get out of it. Obviously, the last thing you'll be thinking about is putting on some fancy makeup or, in fact, ANY makeup at all. But... for several reasons you still have to wear makeup, whether it's because

• your skin isn't perfect and you just feel more confident wearing at least a little bit of makeup that perfects the way you look,
• or you have to go to work and look groomed and professional there,
• or maybe you just PREFER wearing at least a little bit of makeup even if it's only out of politeness and respect for others looking at you.

What do you do? You don't want to feel any foundation or makeup on your skin, you just want it to breathe, but you have to wear some makeup.

Well, ladies, you can do that if you use just these 4 products that I suggest, or similar ones. The goal here is to use as little as you can possibly get away with and keep the skin on the face and on the eyes as makeup-free as possible, but still get the effect you're after. As to the lips, I'm sure that having something hydrating and protective on them won't bother you too much if at all.

Step 1. For your face, just skip foundation and spot conceal only where you need. This step alone will keep your face almost makeup-free and breathing yet nicely perfected. To set it and add a little bit of color I used my Hourglass powder. For my skin tone this particular shade turns out to be a fantastic multitasker. Because it is so finely milled and has such subtle refined shimmer that translates to the skin more like a barely-there sheen and has the right tone for me, I can use it in 4 different ways without feeling it on my skin:

1. when used very lightly all over my face it acts as a setting powder without changing the color of my face really
2. when used more strategically and built up I can subtly contour with it
3. when used a bit more on the high points of my face where the sun would naturally hit me, I can bronze with it
4. and when used on the apples of my cheeks, it turns out to be a nice neutral blush/bronzer (oh, and you can also sweep it lightly on your eyes or in the crease)

If you don't have this particular product, you can find something that will work in a similar way for you or just use a lightweight translucent powder only in the oily areas of you face and for the cheek color just use a touch of the lipstick you'll be using in the next step.

Step 2. For the eyes just put loads of waterproof mascara on and nothing else. Forget the brows, embrace your natural brows. Chances are, under such heat most brow products might melt or break down.

Step 3. For the lips you can choose whatever you like, either a tinted lipbalm with SPF or a sheer lipstick or anything really. However, I would steer away from lip glosses, because when you're sweaty yourself, having something sticky or liquidy on your lips, where your hair may stick accidentally, is the last thing you'll enjoy. So a lipstick or a lipbalm is a more fuss-free option. Also, try not to go too nude. Choose a midtone color that will brighten your face, since you don't have much else there.

So take your hair out of the way and enjoy your pretty fresh face being nicely and subtly made up in a way that you will not really feel.

Here is the full list of products I used:

1. Too Faced Absolutely Flawless Flexible Coverage Concealer in Vanilla

2. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light

3. CoverGirl Lash Blast Volume Waterproof mascara
4. Lumene Raspberry Miracle Lip Sorbet in 16 Wild Raspberries

On the final note, I want to point out that there is a ton of great completely waterproof makeup, and if you wanted to you could do a full on face of makeup. It's up to you. My suggestion is only applicable for times when you don't want to wear makeup at all or at least you don't want to feel it at all. So it's a survival type of makeup :).

I hope this was helpful to some of you. Leave me your comments on how you survive the heat and what beauty tricks you use. Thank you for reading.

Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!

Huge Makeup Haul

Ok. This doesn't look like too many products, but given the price it turns out to be a huge haul for me and wallet. All of these products, except for Makeup Geek's ones are high-end and are expensive, so I can still hear my wallet squeaking "ouch" :). Anyway, these products were purchased over the past few months in 4 different purchases, so it's a collective haul over a period of time. I just wanted to share that with you as a teaser for upcoming reviews.

I will list the products below with the links to where I bought them (if available), where you can check the prices. Not all the things were easy to get (I'm talking to you here, Lorac palettes!), so my colleagues from the U.S. and from the Lviv office, where I work, helped me to get my little hands on them (thank you so much, Niki, Andriy and Andriy).

As you can see a few of my cravings mentioned here found their new home in my makeup collection :). I'm so excited about that. Can you tell, from what I bought, what I have a thing for? Yep, I cannot resist a good palette. (Sigh...) What can I do? They're beautiful. I love them. Even though the reviews are yet to come, I can tell you straight away, that ALL of these products are very lovely. I am happy with each and every single one of them. There's no dud in this list. They're all amazing. Woohoo to good buying choices!

Ok. Here's the list:

1. Makeup Geek eyeshadows in Moondust, Taupe Notch, Unexpected and Corrupt.

2. Makeup Geek blush in Honeymoon

3. Makeup Geek pigments in Sweet Dreams and Insomnia.

4. Z Palette Large - Black

5. Urban Decay Smoked Eyeshadow Palette

6. TheBalm Cindy-Lou Manizer AKA "The Con-tour Artist"

7. TheBalm timeBalm Concealer in Lighter ThanLight (I bought 2 of these for backup)

8. Lorac PRO Palette

9. Lorac PRO Palette 2

10. Mally Beauty Evercolor Shadow Sticks in Taupe and Plum.

11. Mally Beauty Volumizing Mascara (this was a gift with purchase, awesome, isn't it?)

12. Mally Beauty High Shine Liquid Lipstick in Blossom (this was a gift with purchase, yay!)

13. Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Stay-in-Place Makeup in 0.5 (I bought it in my city, not sure where to buy it online for UK and Europe, but it is easily available in the U.S.)

That's it. Please, let me know in the comments, which products would you like me to review first. Thank you for reading.

Recent Looks 3

I've been playing with a lot of new products recently and having a lot of fun with them (a blog post about my latest purchases is coming soon :) ). Here are a few of my recent looks. Many of them can be good transitional summer-to-fall or even just straight-up fall looks. Hope you enjoy.

1. Neutral daytime super light taupey-plum smokey eyes.

Look 1.

2. Edgy smokey eyes with undone brows.

Look 2.

3. Glamorous berry lips with simple eyes. I'm in looove with this color from Lumene collection I reviewed earlier here. It is just PERFECTION.

Look 3.

4. Natural.

Look 4.

5. Copper-bronze-gold smokey eyes and clashing light pink lips.

Look 5.

I hope you liked the looks. Let me know in the comments if there is anything that inspired you. Thank you for stopping by my blog :).

Stand the Heat Beautifully (Part 2): Going to the Beach

Beach look

This is a continuation of my little Stand the Heat Beautifully series. You can read the 1st part of it here.

There are still a few summer days left to enjoy the sun and water at the swimming pool or beach. This post is just my idea of a perfect beach outfit.

When it's hot and I dream about the only thing, that is to immerse myself in the water, I always try to wear as little clothes as possible not to turn into a hot mess, so a light beach dress is what I'm going for. It's a one-piece thing, it's super light and airy, and it's easy to put on and take off. You can also put it over your swimsuit, which is a great bonus for a beach. Since it's not very short (knee length) and is loose-fitting, it looks appropriate in the city in hot days too. I'm also in love with the colors and the print on this particular dress.

When I'm off to the beach or swimming pool I don't really care about wearing sandals and carrying my flip-flops for the beach additionally, so I always just wear flip-flops. And I can always wash the sand off of them at home.

A cute hat and sunglasses are a must to protect yourself from overheating.

I also like to take something to cover my shoulders on my way home or whenever I feel like I got too much sun, so I take my light white scarf.

To fully enjoy yourself you definitely need to have a cute swimsuit, in which you are not only comfortable, but also look great and love. This one with geometric black and white print and pops of colorful neon beads is hard not to like. I love it and it won't go out of fashion too fast since it's quite simple but not boring.

Now just grab your beach bag with your towel and whatever else you might need and enjoy the sun. Don't forget your SPF! It is crucial!

Just to summarize, I'd like to point out that the key pieces here, that I think, make the whole outfit are the swimsuit and the dress. If you find the ones you love, consider yourself having won the jackpot, because I find that finding your perfect swimsuit and beach dress can be quite challenging (or maybe I'm just very picky :) ), whereas beach accessories, like hat, sunglasses, beach bag etc., are everywhere and are much easier to find and complete the look.

I hope you have been enjoying your summer, because if not, you better start to since there's not much left of it :). Hope you found this post helpful. Please, share what your go-to beach outfits are in the comments.

Stand the Heat Beautifully (Part 1): Heat Friendly Accessories

Hi guys! Before I move on to the post, I want to give a quick update. I'm sorry for not posting for soooo long: it has been a tough month in terms of work and other things I had to do with my kids in this past few weeks. Right now I'm on vacation though and hope to get back on track with my posting. Just for the note, I do try to post at least once a week, but usually I'd post more (2 or 3 posts if I'm feeling super energized with a lot of extra time), however I committed to posting minimum 1 post per week, so now you know what to expect from me :).

Ok. Today I'm starting a series of posts on how to remain beautiful during unbearable heat - Stand the Heat Beautifully. There are a few reasons for it:

1. It's summertime (really? doh... lol)

2. I'm on vacation and enjoying it (yay!)

3. The heat in here is unbearable now, almost to the point that it is making people sick.

So, how do you survive in that kind of heat and do it in a graceful way? Let's talk about accessories today. Well, when it's hot and you feel sweaty and sticky, the last thing you want to think about is putting anything on your neck or wrists to make yourself even more sweaty and hot. But... if you're like me, you can't live without accessories at all. And I have a trick for you.

What's the one type of accessory that isn't really touching your body much and causing you to be even more hot but yet creates a statement enough to make you feel pulled together and like a girl?

Earrings!

Yes, my darlings, earrings are the way out for us. They don't touch your neck or wrists or anywhere else, so they can't make you more hot. Yet you can totally wear them instead of a necklace when you want to add some interest around your face, especially during those super hot days when you put your hair up or dream to get rid of it altogether. In fact, they can make even more statement than a necklace sometimes. It can be a loud or a very soft statement, whatever your heart desires. It can also help you elongate your face if the shape of the earrings is right.

Below are a few earrings from my collection that I love for that purpose and wear a lot right now.

Summer friendly statement earrings

These are the larger statement earrings. However, if you prefer smaller more delicate earrings, don't think that they cannot make a statement. They absolutely can. Check those out below.

Small statement earrings

Summer is a fun time and it's time to wear fun edgy earrings even if you don't tend to do it during the rest of the year. Have fun with your earrings and make your beautiful statement even in the heat :).

Thank you for reading. I hope this post was inspiring to some of you. Please, share your thoughts in the comments below.

Lumene Raspberry Miracle Lip Sorbet: Review And Swatches

Lumene Raspberry Miracle Lip Sorbet

If your local drug stores or other makeup stores carry Lumene, you've probably seen the new recent launch from them: the Lumene Raspberry Miracle Lip Sorbet. It's one of those typical jumbo pencil type lip products that only the laziest makeup company doesn't carry or come out with these days. So on to the review.

There are 8 shades available in total, and yes, I got all of them. This is how much I liked the colors. This has never happened to me before, but I find this color range very beautiful and universally flattering for everybody, there is no dud shade in this line. They all look gorgeous and actually very good on me (all of them!), which is phenomenal, that's why I got all of them (I also had a 30% discount, which sort of encouraged my splurge). In fact, I can really see myself wearing each shade at some point.

The formula of these lip products is kind of a hybrid of a lipstick and a lipgloss with moisturizing properties. It has a pretty nice color payoff and a really lovely finish, super shiny and juicy, oh, just BEAUTIFUL. I will say this: it actually feels very high end on the lips, very smooth, doesn't dry out my lips AT ALL, which can sometimes happen with such products not when you wear them, but after. This didn't happen to me. I felt that they were indeed very moisturizing and comfortable to wear, so texture-wise these are great. They also wear nicely and fade quite gracefully, without any white lines or patchiness or dryness or flecks of glitter remaining on your lips, none of that unpleasant stuff. Wear time is nothing super outstanding, 2-3 hours, if you don't eat, so it doesn't have any staining effect like, say, the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains (these are great ones if you're looking for a staining product). Note: the only one shade that I found leaving a pretty decent stain behind and lasting for quite some time on the lips was the red one in #15 Full of Berries. Overall, I'd rather have a comfortable lip product on my lips and be willing to re-apply than anything drying. I just DON'T LIKE DRY LIPS. Period.

So, here are all the colors available.

Lumene Raspberry Miracle Lip Sorbet (from left to right): 10 Spring Beauty, 11 Sandy Beach, 12 Summer Sky, 13 Blooming Meadow, 14 Fresh Morning, 15 Full of Berries, 16 Wild Raspberries, 17 Come Into Flower

I feel like this is such a nice shade range with a balance of warm, cool and neutral colors, each shade actually being suitable for most people. It is a rare thing, I hardly ever like the whole shade range, it's usually 1-3 shades max that I think will look good on me, finding others being geared more towards people with warmer or darker skin tones only and not for us, cool girls :). So these are very well thought out to please both worlds.

Here are the swatches from 2 slightly different angles.

Lumene Raspberry Miracle Lip Sorbet. Swatches (from left to right): 10 Spring Beauty, 11 Sandy Beach, 12 Summer Sky, 13 Blooming Meadow, 14 Fresh Morning, 15 Full of Berries, 16 Wild Raspberries, 17 Come Into Flower

I should say a few words about the finish. It is just perfection. It is so shiny, just a perfect summer lip finish. Do bear in mind that some shades have shimmer in them, but not all (some are just creamy), so if you want to steer away from it, just know it. However, when applied to the lips the shimmery shades look very nice without the visibly detectable annoying particles of glitter. Instead, they just look playfully shiny and flirty in a good way.

That's about all I have to say about these lip pencils. I don't have a single bad thing to say about them. I'm in love with them. If you can put your little charming hands on them, do so. I cannot think of anyone who might not love them.

Thank you for reading. I hope this post was helpful. Please, share your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to read them.

Summer Whites

Summer whites

Hello, you gorgeous ones! I think that it's time to make post about something other than makeup. Today, I want to suggest to you one simple way to update your summer wardrobe.

It is simple - add white accessories. I think that we often forget how classy and chic white color can look in accessories. Plus, white is the color to wear in the summer, when you want to look fresher, younger and lighter. It's also a very safe and mistake-proof variant to choose. Below is a list of 5 things that you can use from your closet or from the store (why not buy something new for yourself, right?) to upgrade your look to the ultimate lightness and airy summer spirit.

1. White light summer scarf

White summer scarf

To be honest I haven't seen a lot of summer white scarfs at all, and I don't know why. I recently picked up this scarf from Reserved and am so happy I did. What can look more crispy and pulled together than a lightweight white scarf over a casual bright T-shirt or blazer, or anything really. White looks so good close to the face, it freshens everybody, and makes the whole look... instantly summery. There's just something very chic and relaxed about this simple accessory that just puts any outfit to the next level, making it a bit more dressed up and crispy even though it keeps it in the casual family. It would be a great addition to any pastel outfit, or a two-colored look (coral-white, blue-white, red-white etc.) and a must have for black and white lovers. Just try it, you'll be amazed at what a simple white scarf can do.

2. White sneakers

White sneakers

Ok. Who doesn't know that white sneakers are a huge trend this summer? Yep. You can wear them with anything. Yes, ANYTHING. That's another trend: rocking sports shoes with casual, classic or even dressy outfits. Fashion is so caring this season, you don't have to sacrifice your comfort to look fashionable. There's something very girly about pure white converse or sneakers. Even if you love color and wear simple casual clothes, white sneakers can get you anywhere (super handy when travelling) leaving you looking sharp, fashionable and clean, without messing up your style really. They are actually timeless and won't ever look out of style.

3. White clutch

White clutch

Another item you can't go wrong with. A white clutch will look great with any light summer dress, or even jeans and a T-shirt. This one is super versatile, not just because it is white, but particularly because it also has a long strap that you can attach or de-attach. Love this clutch. Looks great with a white scarf by the way :).

4. White pearls

White pearls

I feel that nowadays, pearls are being unjustly neglected. And it's a shame, because I don't know of any other jewelry that would make ANY woman beautiful, make her eyes sparkle, and make her look more feminine and dressed up in a blink of an eye. It's the kind of piece that should be a must have in any wardrobe in my opinion. It suits any woman, skin color, age, style and occasion (day time or night time, you name it). What more could you wish for?

I find the long thread of pearls particularly handy, because you can wear it as is, or wrap it around your neck 2 or even 3 times, or wrap it around your wrist multiple times to turn it into a bracelet. It's very handy. If you have a dilemma about what accessories to wear with your evening dress or outfit and you just don't know - wear pearls and nothing else. They'll be just enough and will do all the job for you. Period.

I actually have a lot of different pearls in different colors and lengths: I love them that much. I would sing a whole ode to pearls if I could. If you're thinking about getting pearls, my advice to you would be: get real ones, don't get fake ones, they'll ruin the whole effect. Just get real ones. It makes all the difference. It's a timeless classic chic piece that you won't regret investing in.

5. Any other white accessory (earrings)

White earrings with black cats

Now I have to admit that I posted a picture of these not so much because they are white, but because they are super fun and cute. They just make me smile and think of summer :). Who can tell me they're not cute? Cat lovers, are you with me :)?

Ok, so there it is. A small list of whites to lighten up your summer. Now, you obviously don't have to wear them all together at the same time, but most of them are pretty classic staple pieces that make good candidates for a small investment and will serve you faithfully individually or in a team.

Phew! First fashion related post - done! Yay! I hope you found it helpful or maybe inspiring. Please, share your thoughts in the comments. I would love to read them. Do you have any white accessories? Which one is your favorite?

Enjoy the summer and be blessed :-*.

Current Makeup Cravings

What is it that you crave at the moment? Is there anything in beauty or makeup that you absolutely wish you'd have right here and right now? I definitely have a few things like that.

So here goes. All these things are recent launches.

1. Lorac Pro Palette 2. It is a younger sister of the widely known and dearly loved by many Lorac Pro Palette that has successfully been around for many years. They're both available at Ulta for $42. I don't have the original Lorac Pro, so I want both of these beauties. Oh... just look at them, aren't they gorgeous! And together I think they create the perfect tandem of everything a girl could wish for on her eyes.

Lorac Pro Palette (top) and Lorac Pro Palette 2 (bottom)

2. Second one - Charlotte Tilbury's Beach Sticks. Ok. All I can say to this is AAAAAAAA! I want it and I want it now! They are to die for amazing. I'd want to have all the colors. The one horribly horribly unfair thing is that they're not shipped to Ukraine :(, otherwise they'd already be in my claws, despite the sky-scraper price, 30GBP, ouch.

CT Beach Sticks

CT Beach Sticks

3. 2 palettes from Too Faced, one of which has been around for a while, and the other one being the new launch. They are the Boudoir Eyes Soft & Sexy Shadow Collection and the Country Nashville Nudes Eye Shadow Collection correspondingly, both available at Ulta for $36. The Boudoir Eyes Soft And Sexy Shadow Collection is also available at LookFantastic. The new one however isn't available there yet.

Too Faced Boudoir Eyes Soft & Sexy Shadow Collection 

Too Faced Boudoir Eyes Soft & Sexy Shadow Collection

Too Faced Country Nashville Nudes Eye Shadow Collection

Too Faced Country Nashville Nudes Eye Shadow Collection

All the Too Faced eye-shadow palettes are really lovely indeed and there are a lot more that I like, but these 2 ones particularly appeal to me because of their beautiful colors. Very pretty!

I just dream that those companies would somehow all at the same time become so generous and miraculously find out about my blog that they'd want to send me those items for a review :)... Awww, dreams-dreams-dreams. Oh, well, maybe I'll get something from this list in the coming months :).

Is there anything you would like to try? Anything you're desperate to try? Let me know in the comments.

Recent Looks 2

Hello, beauties! Are you enjoying the summer? I hope you are, because I certainly am. This is one of those seasons when I love to experiment more with my makeup and go either lighter or brighter and just try out all different things and summer palettes. So, here are a few of my recent looks. Hope you'll find them helpful and maybe inspiring.

#1. Summer pastels

Summer pastels

I love this look. It screams "Summer!" to me. It is bright, feminine and interesting yet soft enough to wear even every day, if your dress-code at work is not too strict. It can also be a great look for a summer party or a date night. The pictures don't do enough justice: the color combo here is just so yummy, I loooove it. I used the Balm Voyage! palette for this look.

#2. New smokey eyes

New smokey eyes

I called these the "new" smokey eyes, because this time I've tried a new technique on myself. I've seen it a million times in numerous beauty blogs and videos, but somehow I never tried to apply it to myself. Anyhow, I smoked the eyes out on both sides: both in the inner corner and in the outer corner pairing it with a contrasting light shade in the middle of the lid. I really like the effect, I find it pretty cool looking. It adds dimension to the eye. I used the Naked 3 palette for this look.

#3. Soft cool and warm neutral look

Soft cool and warm neutral look

I really like how a mixture of cool and warm shades on the eyes work together in this look + a slightly warmer tone of the lipstick than I usually wear. So together it still looks very neutral but not boring and quite sophisticated, I think. I used my favorite Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Wardrobe Dual Decker Colour for Eyes and Cheeks (it was already featured in this post).

#4 Summer red

Summer red

This look is all about the lipstick, the eyes are matte and very simple. And this red for me is THE RED for the summer. I feel like it is perfect for the season. In fall and winter we tend to use very opaque full color reds, maybe even deeper and more matte. For the summer, however, I think it is good to update and freshen up your red and make it look not so heavy. For that use something less opaque, and more sheer, shiny and juicy with slightly lighter and pinker undertone, just like this lipstick I've used. Of course, there will be girls who just can't live without their matte lipstick and that's ok, but you can definitely extend your red collection for the summer. After all, it's a good excuse for a new purchase :). For the eyes I used the Naked 3 palette.

#5 Big eyes with a cat eye-liner

Big eyes with a cat eye-liner

Big eyes with a cat eye-liner

Big eyes with a cat eye-liner

I've posted so many pictures, so that you'd be able to see the eye-liner well enough from different angles. I think out of this bunch this has to be my favorite look. I'm so happy with how it turned out, because I rarely wear a winged eye-liner just because it is so time consuming since I'm not as skilled and experienced in wearing it as, say, Alexa Chung. And for my eye size and shape (my eyes are very different one from the other) I have to work hard to find the right balance (size, thickness and shape) of it with my eyes, otherwise it can actually make my eyes look smaller.

Anyway, I recently watched one of Lisa Eldridge's videos actually featuring Alexa herself doing her signature winged eye-liner look.

So I got inspired and thought to myself, "I need to try and do it". If you haven't watched this video yet, you have to, so just click right now and enjoy.

I wasn't trying to re-create it exactly and didn't even think of using the same colors or anything, and my liner is obviously thicker and not even black, and the lipstick is different (oh gosh, looks like everything is different :) ), but I just wanted to mention, where my inspiration came from, because I sort of had it in my mind when doing my look :).

I think it turned out really well. I love all the colors in this look and it's softness. I think it's very feminine, sexy and just grown-up, if I dare say so. Not in the sense that it will look bad on young girls, but in a sense that it just looks very chic, flattering, without anything screaming at you, intelligent and well balanced. Plus, I think the eyes look huge here (at least mine, I know my eyes :) ). This will look good on anybody, any age, skin tone and occasion. It's timeless. Again I used my lovely Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Wardrobe Dual Decker Colour for Eyes and Cheeks (featured in this post).

So, which looks did you like? Would you wear any of them? What have you been wearing recently? Share in the comments below, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you for reading and have a lovely day.