Sigma Brushes - Haul and First Impressions

 The mailman must have thought that I was kind of crazy, jumping up and down like that when he delivered my Sigma brushes some days ago! You should have seen me... or his face :D ok, no, I didn't really jump up and down... but I did so in my heart ;)

I ordered two sets of brushes, one "Make Me Blush", which holds the classic twelve brushes from Sigma (in pink!), as well as a genius brush carrier which snaps into two brush holders! I also bought the "Synthetic Face Kit" (also known as the "Sigmax brushes"), which holds three differently shaped kabuki brushes, made for giving you an airbrushed finish.

Brushes from "Make Me Blush"

• Small Angle - E65
• Medium Angled Shading - E70 - (This is a dupe for MAC 275, which I love!)
• Large Shader - E60
• Pencil - E30 - (Great for a cut crease, but a tiny bit scratchy...)
• Large Angled Contour - F40 - (I love this for both my blush and contour colour!)
• Large Powder - F30
• Duo Fibre - F50 - (Comparable to MAC 187)
• Foundation - F60
• Concealer - F70
• Tapered Blending - E40 - (Good for blending, but I find it way too big for applying colour to my crease.)
• Eye Shading - E55
• Eyeliner - E05

 

Isn't that mouse just so adorable?

And of course I had to get them in pink! I did think about it for a while, and was afraid that it would be too pink and I'd get bored with it after a while. However, it isn't too pink at all, and I don't see myself getting bored with those brushes anytime soon! Pink is so much more fun than black :)


Brushes from the "Synthetic Face Kit":

• F80 - Flat Top Kabuki - Probably the most multi-purpose one of the three, but I mainly use it for buffing my foundation in.
  F82 - Round Top Kabuki - I have found this one great for blending in tricky places, like around my nose and even under my eyes.
• F84 - Angled Top Kabuki - I use this for blending together blush and bronzer (or just blush/bronzer, depending on what I'm wearing).



Here they are, in the same row as in the description above. They all feel very sturdy and are actually quite heavy. I've been really loving those since I got them!



And finally, Sigma sent me a gift with my purchase: A travel sized E25 blending brush. It's so cute :) I haven't gotten around using it much, but from what I've tried, it's a good size for my eyes, both for blending and for applying shadows to my crease.

Whew, 16 new brushes! I get overwhelmed just thinking about it :) And I love them all :P

Don't forget to participate in my giveaway!

Love,

Miss Diorista 

P.S. I will post reviews on those brushes once I've used them a bit more :)

In life, we all have unspeakable secret, irreversible regret, unreachable dream and unforgettable love. - Diego Marchi

(I love this quote, because sometimes, all those things combine into one...)

Giveaway from Berlin! (CLOSED)

It's time for my first giveaway, and I can't tell you how excited I am! Make sure you read the rules before you enter!
I chose those shadows for the giveaway since you can most likely already get high-end brands where you live. German drugstore brands are probably something a bit more new and fun for most of you!

The winner will get:

• 1 Manhattan Multi-Effect Eyeshadow in "Earth" (109N), a beautiful, shimmery, greyish brown.
• 1 Manhattan Multi-Effect Eyeshadow in "Metal Green" (89W), a gorgeous forest green, with green and multi-colour shimmer.

Both shadows come with applicators, are well pigmented and very smooth and soft. I actually couldn't resist buying a second set of those two for myself!

Giveaway Rules:

1. The giveaway is international.
2. If you are under the age of 18, you must get permission from either your parent or your legal guardian before you participate in the giveaway.
3. You have to follow my blog (it's easy and completely free, just click the "Follow" button to the right).
4. The giveaway closes the 25th of March 2011.
5. There are two ways to enter, you can use both or only one:

• Comment on this post, telling me your fave beauty product right now. Leave your e-mail! OR/AND:
• Blog about this giveaway on your blog, linking to this post. Remember to leave a comment telling me about your blog post with a link to it, so that I can see it! And leave me your e-mail!

Important: Leave your e-mail in your comment, but not your address (for the sakes of your personal privacy). If you win, I will e-mail you and ask for your address.


So that's it, I think I've covered everything :) If something is unclear, just ask away!

I hope you have fun with the giveaway, I'm sure having fun trying to give back to you all the love that you have given me!

Yours,
Miss Diorista

Depend Cosmetic - Cracked Effect in Red

Since I have yet to find OPI's Black Shatter here in Iceland, I purchased two "Cracked Effect" colours from Depend Cosmetics, red and blue (see my polish haul here).

I was rather pleased with the blue one, except for the fact that it stained my nails badly (I still have those stains!). This red one, however, I'm not quite digging... in the bottle, it looks like a bright, bold, absolutely gorgeous red colour. On my nails, it is so dull and flat, and has a "rusty" feel to it. Disappointing, to say the least.

The polish dries extremely quickly, but to a matte finish, so I would definitely recommend using a top coat with this.



Without top coat



With top coat

This one did not stain my nails, and the weartime was a bit longer than with the blue one. Getting it off was average, not extremely easy but not hard.

Product (65%) - 6/10
Value (10%) - 9/10
Would I repurchase? (15%) - 7/10
Packaging (10%) - 8/10

Overall - 6.5/10

Love,
Miss Diorista

P.S. I feel kind of bad giving those two polishes such low scores - so I will say that those are fun to play around with.

Being brokenhearted is like having broken ribs. On the outside it looks like nothing's wrong, but every breath hurts. - Behrendt

Weekly Gratitude - Music, writing and irreplaceable friends

• Thank you for the beautiful, beautiful rosy sky outside my window right now. I'm speechless.
• Thank you to my aunt for introducing me to a new type of fish - I love trying new food!
• Thank you to the musicians who fill our world with beautiful music and inspiring lyrics. Nothing perks up your mood like a meaningful and beautiful song.
• Thank you for my pens and paper - the beauty in sitting alone at my desk, in the middle of the night and in absolute silence, writing, is something I could never be without.
• Thank you to my friend for braiding my hair so prettily today :)
• Thank you to God for all the truly amazing new heights he has allowed me to experience in the last three weeks.
• Thank you to a friend of mine, for making me laugh and giggle every single time I see you!

xox,
Miss Diorista

Star Gazer - Nail Polish in Nr. 132

Isn't this polish pretty? It took me a good few days to get used to it, and I kept going from "wow" to "blah" with this... but I think I like it now :)

The colour is hard to describe. I think a part of why it took me so long to make peace with this colour, is the fact that I was expecting a plain, shimmery grey colour. Instead, I got an almost golden colour, with hints of grey to it, as well as some shimmer... you can even spot some green undertones in there, too.

So just be aware, that the colour you see in the bottle is not the colour you get on your nails!



Looking grey-ish with some beige and green



Here you can see the gold to it

As far as the formula goes, it is def above average. It didn't start chipping until after about four days, and it dried fairly quickly.

The packaging is pretty, it looks like a crystal ball, especially with all that shimmer floating around! Not good for storage I guess, but then again, few polish bottles are.

I can see this becoming a staple of mine... I'm already craving it again!

Product (65%) - 7.5
Value (10%) - 8.5
Would I repurchase (15%) - 8
Packaging (10%) - 8

Overall - 8/10

Love,
Miss Diorista

It's better to lose your pride with someone you love rather than to lose someone you love with your useless pride. - John Ruskin

Weekly Gratitude and I'm back from Berlin!

Ever been to Berlin? I visited over the weekend (which is why my weekly gratitude post is so late and I haven't been answering your comments ;) and the city is absolutely beautiful. I will be posting some of my favourite pictures from there (I took so many!) in the next few days, as well as showing you all the beauty products I bought (I bought way too much... you know me!). And I even have a small giveaway with two German drugstore eyeshadows coming up soon, so stay tuned! It will be my first giveaway, and I thought I'd make it drugstore, since most of you can already reach high-end brands where you live. German drugstore brands are harder to reach ;)

But on to some gratitude!

• Thank you to the lovely group of people who travelled with me!
• Thank you to God, for allowing me to return to home safe and sound.
• Thank you for the massive snow we received two days ago - I love snow!
• Thank you to the lady at the Benefit Cosmetics' counter, who was nicer than nice and so helpful!
• Thank you to God and my own heart, for allowing me to feel the presence of loved-ones, even when they are nowhere near.
• Thank you for the bag of m&m with peanut butter which is sitting here beside me... you taste delicious!
• Thank you to the special people in my life. I am who I am because of you.

Stay tuned the next days for a giveaway, as well as hauls and reviews - I don't know if I'll ever finish my gigantic list of to-write for this blog! That's a good thing, right? ;)

xox,
Miss Diorista

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it. - Groucho Marx

February Favourites!

Yes, I am perfectly aware of the fact that every single one of my favourites posts begin with me wondering where all the time went... so let's not break that lovely habit of ours, gals ;) Where on Earth has February gone?! It feels like I was writing my January Favourites just this morning...

As always, L-R :)

• MAC Satin Taupe - I've had this shadow since last summer, but I never really understood what the hype was all about until this month, when I found out how amazing this colour is! I love this in my crease with just the highlight colour on my lid and the browbone, with a side of heavy liner... lovely!
• MAC My Highland Honey - this was LE with the Tartan Tale collection (Holiday 2010). It looks almost orange or yellow in the pan and I never thought that I would be able to pull it off, but on my face, it just gives me this beautiful warm glow (it's a satin finish). Haven't really been feeling the regular pink blush look this month, so this blush came as a breath of fresh air into my routine!
• Make Up Store, Tri Brow Color - I know, I know, this is in almost every blog post here! But that's how much I love it. I´ve been using it on my brows for quite some time (read how I use it here), but this month, I started using this as eyeshadow too - which works brilliantly! Those colours are the perfect colours (for my skintone) for just contouring my eyes, without giving me a made-up look, which regular shadows tend to do. Love, this is so multi-functional! Review coming up soon (though we all know that the word "soon" has a different meaning here on Miss Diorista than in the rest of the world!).
• L'Oréal's Volume Million Lashes - Really like this mascara, the wand is great and easy to use, and the formula works. You do have to be a bit careful though, so that it doesn't clump (especially with 2+ coats). And it's really black!
• The Body Shop Liquid Eyeliner - Nothing to say except love :) I've even learned to love the almost-felt tip this has, which I hated at first!
• MAC 275 - How I ever did my crease without this brush remains a mystery to me. I could do my eye makeup fast asleep with this one - it's amazing, just creates the illusion of a perfect eyeshape with a few brush strokes!
• Manhattan Eyeshadow Primer - love, love, love. Simple. I don't wear eyeshadow every day, and on a non-shadow day, this keeps my lids non-oily and bright. It also gives any shadow staying power and a satiny sheen! Review coming up ;)

And two non-makeup related things!

• Lemon Curd - Have you ever tasted it? It is basically a sweet lemon paste... which tastes divine on a toast with some cheese! My every day staple this month ;)
• The Big C - This TV show is really good. It's about a woman who finds out that she has cancer, decides that she doesn't want to tell anyone, and just sets out to enjoy life as much as possible. But it's harder than it sounds...

That's it for February, I hope that you all had the best month, and wish that March will be even better for you all!

xox,

Miss Diorista

If your heart still hurts, it means that you still care - Anonymous