Pupa Milk Therapy Nourishing Moisturizer S.O.S. - Mini Review .... and more!

Hello Again! Today I am going to do a mini review of a moisturizer by Pupa - Milk Therapy Nourishing Moisturizer S.O.S.  I had been given this sample by a friend a long time ago and decided to finally give it a try :) You will have to look for it in your local perfumeries or else a wide search on the internet might get you to it.  I only found it on one Italian website and they are saying that it is out of stock!

 

My sample pouch is  not large, but I have been using it for a week now and I think there is still enough left for another week. I only apply it once every morning (I am not a big cream fan so the less the better for me)

My Experience:

This cream is supposed to nourish and moisturize dry skin, in fact it says that is it suitable for dry and dehydrated skin. I do feel my skin a little lighter and smoother but it is not exactly hydrated.  The cream is absorbed by the skin rather fast so application is quick, and it immediately feels fresh with a subtle smell of coconut.  Personally I love coconut smell, and I simply enjoy how when the wind blows in my face I smell the coconut of the moisturizer all day! For me the scent is not overwhelming, however, some people tend to find it rather irritating so this may be pose a little problem, since I do not know whether the people surrounding me like it or not. There is always the thought that someone will smell the coconut and think that I took a shower in it, at the back of my mind when I wear this cream!  The smooth feeling lasts all day but the cooling effect is rather a momentary experience. It does not feel like clogging the skin either, although sometimes I do feel my cheeks pulling a little.  It also helps my blusher stay on longer too, which is a bonus.

Overall Rating:

Pros:

• Refreshing and cooling effect is enjoyable
• Easily absorbed by the skin and doesn't feel tacky - fast application
• Little amount needed to cover all the face 
• Leaves a smooth skin

Cons:

• Coconut smell might not be to everyone's liking
• Hydration and Nourishment are not exactly felt. Skin may pull at times.
• Difficult to find online and probably hard to find in stores as well.
• Italian brand so can be slightly pricey!

 

So all in all I think that this product deserves a 3 Diamond Rating.  I will not be buying the full product because apart from the fact that it is hard to come by, I still have a stack of moisturizers and day creams to try out and this one I think that is not exactly the perfect one for me.  I will finish off the sample pouch though as I like  the smooth feeling and the coconut breeze :)

A Little Update :)

This week I decided to finally purchase a present FROM ME TO ME for being such a good girl and save up on my motor insurance :) I hopped into the W2Beauty online store and got myself all of SHINee's Be My Princess Minime perfumes!!!! I wasn't sure which one to buy and then I stumbled on an offer which said that I could have all 5 for the price of 4 and forgot all about the choosing part :) I also had a $5 coupon that I earned on sign up so I ended saving a further $5 on the whole deal which is super :)

Here is the link to the product page and if you want your $5 sign-up coupon insert this code: 2862205  when registering your account and you will be able to use it immediately :)

As if that wasn't enough, I checked out he Born Pretty Store and got myself some Holographic Nail Polish and Nail Art water stickers and embossed ones too.  As soon as I get them I will post a full haul here with pictures and links and then you are sure to see some manicures using these goodies :)  I should be receiving a parcel from another store with some Etude House polishes as well which means more manicure ideas :)

Thanks again for reading and don't forget to follow using Bloglovin whose icon is on the top right corner of this page! GFC will soon be off so it is better to migrate all your blogs.

Annyeonghigyeseyo!
Pauline

 

SHINee Cross Stitch Project 1 - Week 1 Update :)

Hello Again!!!  This is going to be the first real update on my SHINee Cross Stitch Project - Taemin. I will be replacing the '1' with 'Taemin' as it is more appropriate :)

I have to admit that I did not put a lot of time into it during the past week but I am hoping that with the arrival of the half days I will be able to get more time to stitch :)

 

Progress so far :)

I am working on Page 1 of a 30-page-pattern, and this has taken me to the bottom left corner.  I decided to start picking colours from Row 1 and move across 6 pages that contain the entire row and see where that takes me. Right now I have 20 consecutive stitches ready on row 1.  The area I am working on has a lot of different colours so it is hard to make significant progress. Working without a needle organiser surely doesn't help as that means I have to thread in a different colour all the time.  I am only using 3 needles and I am trying my best to locate a lot of stitches using the colour on the needle so as to finish the lenght up.  it will get better when I finish off Row 1 as that will create a base to build up on and colours will be more block like as opposed to single stitches here and there.

 This week's worked stitchers are marked in orange and you can see the progress in the photo above. The finished stitches can be counted easy so for those who like to play with numbers here is some technical information, maybe someone will analyse them in some way and come up with some theory ;)

Total pattern is 180200 stitches - 425 stitches high and 424 stitches wide.  In 1 week I stitches a total of 448 which is negligible to say the least. If any mathematician out there works some magic with these numbers, I would be interested in your theories so make sure to post them below !

This coming week I shall be marking the stitches using a different colour so that it will be easier to distinguish between one week and the other's progress, but I won't be counting them again :P  I am thinking that as I move towards the center of Row 1 progress will be a little faster as there are more same coloured blocks and less individual stitches.  I myself am counting my progress by keeping track of how many consecutive stitches I finish from the first row. This week it is 20, hopefully in the coming week I will clear out at least another 30 stitches.

Anyways, I guess I took enough of your time for today so I am off and leaving you with SHINee's - Forever or Never :)

Oh I just discovered that the Music Video for Breaking News has been removed from youtube so the link in my previous post will lead you nowhere  :( sooo sorry :(

Don't forget to follow my blog using Bloglovin', GFC will soon be out for good!

Annyeonghigyeseyo!

Pauline

PS I chose a video with lyrics in english so all you guys out there can compare them with the lyrics of Cinema Bizarre who had the original of this song just months before SHINee.  Lyrics are completely different :)

Manicure Monday - a little late :)

It's Breaking News!

Hello ladies, I am back with this week's manicure. I am soo sorry for missing to post yesterday but I was soooo tight on time I only managed to finish off the basecoat while going about from one errand to the next! I promised to make it up to you with a Mint and Silver Makeup tutorial and a Mini haul :)

Haul :)

One of the reasons I was so tight yesterday was a shopping trip to a refurbished Tal-Lira shop.  This is a local store that stocks almost anything at extremely cheap prices. They often get some make-up steals as well.  So here is what I got myself:

  

Left to Right: Nail Polish remover, Sanex Deodorant, Gold Body Glitter and Silver Glitter.

These are the ones that are small enough to be photographed. In addition to these I bought a laundry dryer and some pegs to match and 2 cleaning cloths as well.

I ran out of Nail Polish remover and my sister told me that this store had a good sized remover for cheap and that got me out to check the entire shop :) I am running out of my silver glitter eyeliner and when I saw the body glitters I thought I could use it to add it up to my eyemakeup same as I do with the actual eyeliner and the brand is not exactly important for such items. Here is a swatch of the glitters:

 

The front one is the gold glitter and the one at the back is silver.  They are not so concentrated as they appear in the tube but they are good enough.  The lighting of this picture is terrible, I was trying to capture the glittering effect but it wasn't so successful. Sorry about that!

 Mint and Silver Tutorial :)

So here are the products that I used:

Not all the items are branded but here we go from left to right (sort of):  Lioele Premium Silver eyeliner, Maybeline New York Master Drama in Black, Revlon lip gloss, Maybeline New York One by One Mascara in Black, Green palette eye shadow (Yeseny drugstore makeup), Phard Palette (came with a magazine a long long time ago). (PS You can buy the Lioele Silver Eyeliner from Pretty and Cute. The link is on the right hand side of this page!)

Here are the steps: 

1. Pick up a light green or mint eyeshadow and fill up all your lid. Don't go above the crease or in the crease.
2. Pick up a white eyeshadow (I found one in the Phard Palette) and gently apply it to your inner corner and swipe it a litte downwards. Blend the bottom edge with your fingers moving slightly downwords and under your eyes.
3. Take some of the same white eyeshadow and highlight just under the outer corner of your brow.
4. Pick up a very light silver or grey eyeshadow (mine was silver grey, almost white, from the Phard palette) and place it in your crease. Don't take it too far up.
5. Take the Silver Eyeliner (Lioele Premium) and line your upper lash line.  This can be a little thick. Give it a tiny wing but not too much. This look is not supposed to look too over the top.
6. Line your bottom water line with black eyeliner (Maybeline Master Drama) and then take your eyeliner and line a little under the lash line slowly from your outer corner to under the beggining of the iris. This should darken the outer part of the lash line.
7. Curl your lashes and apply mascara (Maybeline One by One).  My Mascara is quite blackening but I still prefer to apply two coats to add more contrast with the lighter eyeshadows.
8. You should have already applied all foundation and concealer and all that. (I am not a fan, On this particular occasion all I had on was Moisturizer). Apply your favorite blusher and finish off with your favorite lip gloss which is not too dark. The emphasis of the look must remain on the eyes :) I used a gloss by Revlon, peach in colour with little glitters in them.

And here is the final look:

 

Close up of eyelid:

 This is the Revlon I used. I forgot to check out it's number or name.. sorry!

 

The small glitters can actually be seen in this picture!

I hope you liked this idea and let me know what you think or whether you try it out!

On to the much awaited Manicure.

I wanted to keep it simple this week and I thought of matching it with the look above so I chose a medium colour. I used Daiquiri by Leigh :) The base and topcoat is my all time favorite Nail Hardener by Lioele :) (Lioele Nail Hardener can be bought from Pretty and Cute - Link is on the side bar)

The Daiquiri was designed by Leigh for a Limited Edition collection that was promoted exclusively by Honey Accessories. I used to work with them and bought this colour off as soon as it came out but it wasn't exactly cheap!

So the routine of the manicure is pretty simple: 1 coat of base coat, 2 coats of Daiquiri and 1 coat of Top Coat, and off you go! Here is the final look which matches well with Mint and Silver :)

I took the picture in my yard in order to get some good lighting :)

Well, that was one long post! I hope all of you enjoyed and are not mad at me for the simpleness of the manicure :)

I will say good bye with SHINee - Breaking News :)

See You!
Pauline :)

Shinee Cross Stitch Project 1 First Update :)

Anyeonghaseyo again :) This is the first update on the Cross Stitch Project.  Today I just went to buy the material for my lovely Taemin and I thought of sharing a picture :)

I will not be updating this section so fast though. I am thinking an update every wednesday :) Let me know what you think about this.. you might not be able to wait so long :)

I am leaving you with SHINee World Concert Opening :)


See you chingu!
Pauline

SHINee Cross stitch Project 1

Hello Chingu :) I am just writing a mini post to share my new adventure in cross stitch :) I stopped stitching for a while after I finished the oriental flowers that I featured in my previous post and couldn't get myself to stitching anything.  I received a pattern of a gorgeous dragon but I don't have the materials to start it and I don't feel like buying them. BUT Today I came across a beautiful photo of my Sun and Stars - Taemin and I couldn't help but download it everywhere, pc, mobile, work desktop... and then it crossed my mind... why not stitching him?  I was looking for a real good photo of him to stitch for an awefully long time and I almost settled on one of his latest Me2Day updates but he is always changing hairstyle and getting cuter so I couldn't decide.  This photo is just perfect :) Here is a mini sneak peak of what it should look like :)

 

Isn't he just gorgeous :)

I was a bit worried about converting this to cross stitch as my old program is long past its working life and I couldn't find anything online but just a few minutes ago I stumbled on www.pic2pat.com and gave it a try. The result is awesome, a good sized pattern with only 75 different colours and exceptional detail. I downloaded it right away :)

Tomorrow I shall be going on a shopping spree to buy the materials needed as I can't wait to start it off :) 

I will keep you updated with the progress but it will be a slow one as I am over busy and I haven't determined the size of the finished embroidery yet. It should be over 20 inches wide on 18count aida because it is 425 stitches wide and 425 stitches high so it will take quite some time to finish off. 

See you soon Chingu :)

 Pauline

Lioele Glittering Jewel Eyeliners Review and Mini Tutorial

Hello everyone, I hope you are all fine and not too bored from my last post :) Today I shall be doing a full review of the Lioele Jewel eyeliners and the Lioele Premium Jewel Eyeliners.  I own the complete set, except for Navy which I gave to my sister. I will borrow it for a swatch :)

These are still in their package, I haven't tried them yet!

The ones I already use

Silver and Gold

These are the Product Descriptions as show on Pretty & Cute :

I bought my set of eyeliners from eBay some time ago, before I started looking for online stores. Sometimes I still find steals on eBay so I still check it out.  The jewels and the premiums come in different packaging which is not exceptionally cute or beautiful but rather practical.  The premium Silver and Gold come in square boxes with gold or silver writing and are very easy to open, whereas the other jewels come packed in a tight plastic cover and backed up with a card showing a model wearing the particular colour. All pencils have a coloured square design at the back end to  make it easy to distinguish between them, and the Matte Black has a darker shade of pink all over to distinguish it from the Deep Black.

left to right: Silver, Gold, Champagne, Marine Blue, Aqua Green, Khaki, Glam Bronze, Brown, Deep Black, Matte Black, Navy.

I swatched the complete set above, see how they stand out nicely on my tanned hand :)  The colours are really pigmented and show up really well when applied.  They are creamy and allow me to do both thin and thick lines without irritating my eyelids. I really love to use these on my top lids and many times I don't wear any eyeshadow.  These colours are perfect for when I am in a hurry! (which is almost always the case) The colour stays on for a really long time. I tried to see how long I can keep them on and the Jewels can stay on for a complete 3 days without smudging or wearing off.  Obviously you have to be careful when removing the rest of your eye-makey as it is easy to remove these liners iwth normal cleansers.  The premiums don't stay on perfectly for so long, but they do a complete 24 hours before drying and cracking up.  I am always careful not to open my eyes immediately after applying the eye liners, otherwise it smudges with the top part of my eyelind (under my brow). So I give it some time to dry (doesn't take long) and as soon as it dries, there is no way to smudge it!

Overall:

• The eyeliners perform jus as they are meant to. The light colours are very glittery whereas the Navy and Khaki are a little less.  All of them are waterproof and smudgeproof. 
• They are very long lasting, with the jewels lasting for a complete 3 days if your are careful with your cleanser, and the premiums lasting 24 hours.
• Easy application: can be used instead of eye shadows if you are in a hurry or simply love the look.
• Simple packaging and pencils are marked so you don't need to keep the back cards. Only downside is that the plastic packaging of the Jewels is annoying to remove... at least for me as I am no good at unwrapping things :(
• Perfect for all types of personalities, whether you are an on-the-go person like me, or prefer more sofisticated looks.

5 pink diamonds for these babies which are a must have in all make-up bags!!!

You can get yours from Pretty & Cute here. This is a USA based shop which offers a loyalty reward scheme as well. Click Offer to view the current specials which change very often and don't forget to check out the deal of the week that is featured on the left hand side bar!  Shipping time to Malta is also very decent, not overnight, but decent :)

Here is a look created using only Lioele Glittering Jewel Eyeliners:

Overall Look using 4 different colours and mascara

This is a pretty simple look that you can achieve in minutes.  First up, you apply Marine Blue to 3 quarters of your top lid (the annotations are a bit small, maybe if you click on the photo it enlarges), then apply Aqua green to the last third. There is no need for blending. I did a thick line and winged it slightly at the edge.  Apply Champagne to the bottom inner corner of the eye and extend it to half your eye, staying just under the lash line.  Apply Matte Black from the centre of your bottom lash line towards the winged edge. Apply a little Matte Black on your waterline as well and extend it a little more towards your corner as in the picture above, such that Champagne will be underlining the Black waterline. Add a little bit of mascara, I used Maybelline New York as that is my current favorite and I ran out of all the others :P... And voilla you are ready to go!  I didn't apply full make-up, no concealer, blush or anything. Not even eyeshadow primer. I prepared this look yesterday evening before I went out and kept it all the way till this morning, did a little retouch to the waterline as that tends to smudge off my eyes and went off to work. Today was one of those days were I had to match the clothes to the eyemakeup instead of the otherway round (this usually happens on Mondays hihihi)

This is how it looked this morning:

Not too bad eh! Only the waterline disappeard a little  but that is normal  after a good night sleep :)

Thanks a lot for checking this review out and I hope it was useful :)

See You

Pauline

My latest Cross stitch Project which took me 1 year and a half to finish and is based on a Koran Pattern :)

Introducing Me :)

This is me without Make up :)

Hello again :)  Today I shall not be doing any reviews or share any interesting finds.  Instead I am going to share myself with you!  Thank goodness I am past the age where I had to introduce myself in round-robbins. That was dreadful, sitting in a circle with all eyes on me waiting, expecting something out of this world and the occasional smirk as soon as I start my little speach!  That used to be embarrassing... that's why I delayed this post so much.

Anyways, I believe that if you want your reader to value your opinions and trust you, they should know you!  It is difficult to trust the unknown.  So here is something about me. I am aweful at speaking about myself so bear with me and ask anything you wish me to clear in the comments below. Somehow, it is easier to answer direct questions.

........

........

I am a simple girl, or should I say woman... that would be more age-appropriate since this year I will be turning 29 years old in December.  I live on a very small island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, called Malta. We are not visible on the map, you only get to find the name written somewhere below Sicily.  We are visible on Google Maps if you zoom enough so for all the curious guys and girls out there here is a snapshot of the island :) and if you want to check out my hometown.. look up Birkirkara, it should be easy to find.

General Location of the Islands

Aerial view of the Maltese Islands (I live on the big island)

 Given the location and size of my country it is hard to come by Korean products.  We are closer to Europe and the general idea of the people here is that all good things come from the EU or USA.  Having said that, the maltese love a good bargain and are always on the look out for cheap deals.

I grew up with fairy tales and Japanese anime (Italian dubbed) and I still love them till this day. I still have the drawings we used to do back when me and my best friend were only 13 years old!  Seems so long ago!! It was Sailor Moon at the time :D This love translates itselt into the appreciation of Asian culture and art, where I finally set my sights on Korea, because their culture seems to bridge between traditional Asian and the Westernized culture.  It seems to me that in mixing the two, Koreans managed to keep the values of respect high enough and they value relationships better than us 'westerners'.  I would give almost anything to live in such a culture. The constant race for power in the west is a little frustrating!  Thank goodness internet enables me to connect to the part of the world I love best and thanks to worldwide shipping I can get hold of Korean products as well and bring a part of that country here :)

I love all things cute and sweet and I also love to make things. Eversince I was 13 years old, I concentrated on creating stuff. First I started out drawing anime.. or rather Sailor Moon (back then that was the only thing I could draw real well) and together with my friend, we used to make some really cute pictures.  Then I moved on to learning knitting, crochet, and cross-stitching. Over the years I made quite a good amount of things and pictures.  I will be posting pictures of my creations every now and again :)  I found out that there are cross-stitch kits and patterns created in Korea too so you can imagine how happy I was with the discovery :)  The problem of crafting is space and time.... I am always stashing lots of patterns and materials, thinking that one day I will get to do them but that one day never comes!  Mum litterally hates it and is alway grumbling and arguing that I should finish one project at a time instead of starting off a dozen and finish up none! She may be right but who cares hihihi  Time is always a problem for me as I am always on the run, working from 6:45am till 4pm and then from 8pm till roundabout 11pm I am at my boyfriend's (doing nothing). The little time between 4pm and 8pm is taken up by travelling from work to home, shower, eat and check out the internet, and maybe work on something in my workshop (Mum's living room in actual fact).  That is from Monday to Friday, Saturday is taken up with house chores at my own penthouse and that takes a lot of my time too and Sunday is all day out with boyfriend and doggy :) Sometimes I view it as wasting time but its the only day off I actually have.  At times I start off my manicure for the monday post on Sunday afternoon... now that summer is on the way, that is out of the question as well as I shall be basking in the sun by the sea most Sundays :)  It is surprising how I still manage to find the time to blog here :)

A keychain I made using a Korean pattern :)

I love cosmetics :) It is not a very old love, the oldest love was (and still is) Nail polish, but I have collected enough drugstore cosmetics along the years to last me a lifetime.  Now I discovered Korean brands and I was impressed with how good they reflect their descriptions, as in, if they state that something is long lasting, it really is so. So I am saving my Korean products for special occasions and weekends, and I am trying mu best to used up all the accumulated makeup in week-days (for work). It is no easy task, I only got to finish off most of my nail polishes, I am down to only a handfull and they are mostly pink.  I will get there eventually, much to my mother's happiness and even cosmetics-hoarding turns her into the everlasting nag!  The same old song is 'Don't buy anything else! You have enough and there is no room to store anymore!'

As if that is not enough to keep me busy, I am also a breeder! I started off breeding hamsters when I was a kid and now I am breeding budgerigars. (budgies)  I get some cute colours out of my pairs too.  And I am competing with Daddy who has his own breeding program! To top this off, I also grow roses and have two different plants at my penthouse.

These cuties are some of the baby budgies I got this year :)

Well I think that I covered everything. I told you where I live, what my hobbies are and how I cam to appreciate Korea. I don't think that I left anything out except for maybe a brief description of my job, which would be: I work at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, as an Environment Protection Officer and I am in charge of ensuring that the laws protecting trees and special areas of concervation are adhered with. I am also in charge of the CITES Convention which regulates trade in endangered animals and plants. In short I protect the environment and all living things :)

OK so Roundup:

28 years old, DOB 8/12/1984

Environment Protection Officer @ MEPA

Engaged.

Loves Pink and Blue, animals and flowers

Breeder - Budgies

Cross-stitcher, knitter and crocheter

Shawol - Mint and locket :)

Blogger (just started)

Loves Cars  - Own a ford focus in aquarius blue, 2006 model.

Favorite makeup : Eye and Nails

Loves high heels and booths

Favorite Clothing: Denim 

Favorite Books: A song of Fire and Ice, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit

TV Shows: Game of Thrones, Relic Hunter, Merlin, Hana Kimi (Korean), Discovery Channel (Egyptology)

Movies: Fast and Furious (all 6), Lord of the Rings (3), Walt Disney Classics, The Mummy trilogy, Scorpion King.

And that is me in a nutshell :)

Thanks for reading and I sincerely hope that this wasn't too boring and you will be coming back to my blog!

See You,

Pauline

Manicure Monday!

Hello Ladies, it's Monday AGAIN!!! For some it is nice for others it is hell and it also means back to work to most of us... or back to school :)

A little update on last week's manicure: The neon colours peel off like plastic almost instantly, so as you all remember, I tried to delay the peeling off by applying Lioele nail hardener as a base and an additional coat of the same nail hardener as a top coat.  Apart from drying up almost instantly, it proved to be the perfect sealer for the neons. I kept the manicure all week long and I only had 1 slight chip after a Saturday full of house chores :) Having said that, I confess that I just found my favorite top and base coat which is not top nor base coat but a nail hardener :)) I really love this cutey :)

Today I am going for a more simple manicure which is inspired by Bon Jovi - You give love a bad name.

I am using Lioele Nail hardener which you buy here and a red polish which I cannot show you because it fell a few weeks ago and the bottle is holding only with duct tape :( or maybe I will show it to you :D

The procedure is pretty simple: Apply 1 coat of nail hardener to serve as a base and strengthen the nail at the same time and then apply 1 generous coat of Red polish. You may want to apply two coats of your favorite blood red nail colour.  Top it off with a coat of nail hardener and off you go :)

Here is the finished look:

 I still needed to clean my cuticles here :P

I hope you enjoy this simple manicure, I am sorry it is a pretty short post but I am a little too busy at the moment.  I think you already guessed so as last week I didn't post as much either.

I will try to pick up some speed this week :)

Thanks for following, see you next time

Pauline

Manicure Monday :)

Hello everyone :)  Today I am going to show you how to make a cute manicure which is a little bit more complicated than what I have done so far.

The following are the products that I am going to use:

Left to Right: Lioele Nail hardener, Neon Nails pink and Yellow, Rimmel 60sec Vinyl Shine in fuscia pink (not the real name, it got rubbed off), Maybelline Express Finish in Saipo-to no 66. and up front is a pergamano embosser.

First step is to apply Lioele Nail hardener as a base coat. I really love this one, it dries so quick!

Next up is two coats in the neon colours like this:

When this dries out completely, it is time to start our cute nail art using the pergamano embosser and the other two polishes :)

I used the embosser to make small dots with polish to resemble small flowers. This is a first time so my hand is not yet steady and I am still experimenting.  I hope you like the idea and try it out. These little dots need to dry pretty well before applying a top coat with the same nail hardener. This top coat is not exactly necessary but since the neon colours dry out like a plastic sheen and tend to peel off, I am trying to seal everthing with the top coat.  We will see how it goes.

And that is the finished look :))

See you soon ladies :)

Saranghaeyo! Pauline