Make-up brushes I use

I thought it would be interesting to show you which make-up brushes I use on a daily base. Before I start I like to point out that everybody can use brushes the way they want to. I do that as well; the packaging can say whatever, when I discover something else is easier , I will use it my way.
Face brushes:

120 Kabuki by Zoeva

What a kabuki brush needs, is a lot of hair very close to each other. That’s exactly what this brush offers. This brush can only cover large areas of my face, because it’s very big. I use this brush to apply loose transparent powder over my foundation. Oh, and that is Sensai by Kanebo loose powder (translucent), not the cheapest but a very good quality powder.

127 Luxe Sheer Cheek brush by Zoeva

This is the softest blush brush I have ever felt. What I really like about this one is the angled shape. The shape makes it so easy to apply blush, and I also use it for shaping with bronzer. This brush allows me to blend as well, it is such an amazing quality. The only disadvantage; the hairs are white, meaning when I wash this thing and I use it once it looks like I haven’t washed it in months. But I don’t mind, because this brush is just amazing.

122 Petit Stippling brush by Zoeva

This brush is perfect to apply cream-blush, highlighter and concealer. I use this blush for highlighter (MAC mineralize skin finish soft and gentle), because the brush is so small I can apply the highlighter to the exact right zone of my cheeks.

Eye zone brushes:

MAC 263 Small Angle brush

Five years ago, when I went to a MAC counter for the first time, the lady that helped me, told me that my eye brows would be way prettier with a little colour. So she sold me this brush and some powder. But after a while I realised that, for me, this brush is not easy and a little small for the eye brows. Now a days, it’s still a very good brush that I use to make an eyeliner with eye shadow.

Anastasia angled cut duo brush #15

Anastasia is the eyebrow expert from America, so it’s no surprise that she created the best eyebrow brushes ever. This one has the brush to fill in the eyebrow on one side and a bristle on the other side. So when I used a little too much powder on my eyebrow I can comb it out. I have this brush for 2 years now and wash it every week, the quality of the hairs is unbelievable.

231 Petit Crease Shader brush by Zoeva
234 Smoky Shader brush by Zoeva
235 Contour Shader brush by Zoeva

These are all eye shadow brushes, depending on what kind of eye look I want, I choose the brush. Every brush has his own effect, but I do have a favourite and that’s the 231. I use this brush for applying eye shadow and blending as well, It’s a 2 in 1 awesome brush.

MAC 224 Tapered Blending brush

I bought this brush the same time I bought the other MAC brush, and I am not very happy with this one. The brush got old very fast and for that price, I have to say it hurts my heart. The hairs are very thick, when I’m blending eye shadow one hair falls out and it just sticks to my eye shadow. It’s so annoying because I try to remove that one thick hair from my eye shadow, and then I remove half of my eye shadow.

These where the brushes I use, I think you noticed I have a lot of brushes from Zoeva. But let me tell you, these are the best brushes I have tried and I have tried a lot of them. Check the brushes out at www.zoeva-shop.de or www.themakeupspot.nl (where I bought my brushes). I didn't write the prices down because they vary on every website.

I hope you enjoyed reading this! See you next time!

Calden

Things women should know

• Generally we use bobby pins to hold our hair in place, but you can also use them as hair accessories.

• What a lot of people don’t know and what I actually recently discovered is that you use the bobby pins with the wavy side down.

• When you have just washed your hair and you’re sensitive for frizz hair, don’t dry it by rubbing your wet hair with a towel. Dry your hair by pressing it with a towel instead.

• Use shimmer eye shadow in the inner corners of your eyes, so your eyes look brighter and more noticeable.

• Flat iron your braids to create beautiful waves. Do this with around five braids, depends on how thick your hair is.

• So we women want our perfume to last all day. The best places to apply your perfume are: base of your throat, behind the ears, inside your wrist, inside your elbow and behind the knee.

• The metal things on elastic hair ties will pull your hair out. So use hair ties without metal, because it’s a lot better for your hair.

• We blow dry our hair because that’s how we style and dry our hair. The heat is very harsh and damaging for your hair though. So when you’re done with blow drying your hair, finish it off by blow drying your hair with the ‘cool option’. This causes less damage and makes your hair shiny. 

“Beauty is about being comfortable in your own skin. It's about knowing and accepting who you are.”  ― Ellen DeGeneres

Mariska

High end wish list

So, I’ve been dreaming about a lot of ‘way-to-expensive’ stuff. It’s just beautiful when you google the products you love and you watch the pictures of it. I do that a lot haha, dreaming on and on about that product and then I see myself walking around with that beautiful bag or shoes. But afterwards I am so sad that I can’t pay for it. But anyway, it seemed a fun tag to me. Without further ado, here we go.

First off, the Guardian Angel bag in purple from Vlieger en Vandam. I love the whole collection with the fake guns on the outside of the bags. But this one is just GORGEOUS to me but unfortunately it costs €359.

Something that could absolutely not lack this list, is Nars Albatross. Unfortunately Holland has no Nars counter, that means that everybody who sells this product asks way too much money for it. And shipping from somewhere will be way too expensive as well. So that means I have to wait patiently, because one day I will go to London or New York and buy this beauty. On Sephora.com $30.

The Jeffrey Campbell Lita’s are so beautiful. Because they are very striking for the eye, I like the ones that are totally black. These are made from black cow suede and are a little different from the normal Lita’s. Jeffrey Campbell calls it higher quality leather and a slightly thinner heel. Anyways, I love them! It depends on which website you want to buy them but their around €180,-.

I have heard from various bloggers Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupté lipstick is the best high end lipstick there is. Well, I must say I am very curious now. They told me the pigmentation is beautiful and the texture is very soft and smooth. And look at the packaging, I mean: Isn’t that just WONDERFUL? I really love to try these. But unfortunately it costs €33, 95 per piece.

Every time I walk into a perfume store, I just have to smell Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb. They call it: flower explosion in a bottle, then you understand the name. The fragrance is flowery but fresh as well and it includes: freesia, bergamot, green notes, patchouli, jasmine, orange blossom, rose and orchid. It costs € 92,50 for 50 ml.

I hope you enjoyed reading my (pretty pathetic) wish list.
Thank you for reading and I will see you soon.

Calden

The fight with liquid eyeliner

Liquid eyeliner makes a huge difference and is a gorgeous make-up look. But everyone who uses eyeliner probably has (had) a battle without honor or humanity with it. Finding the exact right liquid eyeliner and the most important thing: being able to apply it. Surprisingly, I got used with applying eyeliner pretty fast and it didn’t took me very long with finding the right one.

I used ‘the Rimmel London exaggerate eyeliner’ in black 001 (€7,49) for about three years. This one is so good, because it gives a beautiful thick pigmented black line en dries very fast. Apart from that it makes it so easy to apply. The applying stick is a sort of stylus, so you have a lot of control over your hand. But for the last three months I wasn’t so flattered by this one anymore, because it dried out really fast and it literally crumbled when I put it on my eye. This eyeliner is great for beginners though, because you can really get used to the applying very easy.

So those months I had to find another eyeliner that I would fall in love with. I didn’t have to look far, because I saw the’ Rimmel London Glam’ eyes professional liquid liner’ (€7,49) and wanted to try this one out. I’ve never regretted that decision, because I am really happy that this one draw attention to my eye. It’s really pigmented, deep black and doesn’t crumble at all. You can make very thin lines and thicker ones. The only drawback is that this is a professional one and the stick consists of a little brush, so it’s a little bit harder to apply the eyeliner. But I think everyone can get used to the applying.

How I apply my eyeliner:
In the first period when I started using eyeliner, I really had to get used to the way of applying it. What I thought was the easiest way. For this way, you’ll need an eye make-up remover of your choice, a cotton pad and of course your favourite eyeliner.

You just start with applying the eyeliner on your eye. It makes it a lot easier when you rest the elbow of your ‘drawing hand’ on a sink, crane or table or something. This ensures that you have a lot of control over your arm. Start with drawing a line on the inside of your eye and stop when you get to the outside. You can make it end with ‘a wing’ or without one. Make sure you draw the line as close to the eyelashes.
If the line isn’t beautiful and there is some eyeliner above, then you can easily use this way to remove those ‘outliers’ or to make your line straighter.

Grab a cotton and put some eye make-up remover on it. Then fold it in half and now you’ll have a nice point with remover, so you can easily remove the remains on your eye and get a straighter line when you go along the drawn line. Hopefully, a beautiful line is the result.

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

Mariska

Review Essence all – in - one CC cream

Hi there, the new collection of Essence is in store now. I had heard a lot about their CC cream, so I just had to test it. There was a sale and I got another foundation for 1 euro more. That’s when I figured it would be fun to review them in one article.

What they promise us:

“The future belongs to multifunctional textures that conjure-up flawless results instantly and pamper your skin. As the name reveals, the all-in-one CC cream clear & correct covers irregularities of the skin, spots and redness as well as providing a smooth and soft complexion. The formula is airy and light, yet offers a high coverage. With an SPF of 30, it is the foundation for a fresh complexion in the springtime.”

Well, that are a lot of promises. Let the testing begin.

What mostly surprised me about this foundation, is that there is a SPF 30 in it. That’s a full sun protection. This also means that this foundation is not suitable for a photo-shoot.

It only comes in the shade “10 Natural” and honestly it’s a little too dark for me but I can make it work . The coverage is high, and I get a beautiful healthy glow out of it. This foundation feels very soft on the skin, and blends in very easily. You have to powder it off because It’s shiny.

The package was supposed to be clever thinking because the tube is very thin. But unfortunately it’s not ideal, the hole is to big because the foundation is very liquid. Before you know it there’s a big puddle of it all over your hand (yeah, I speak from experience here).

Ingredients:

AQUA (WATER), DIMETHICONE, ISODODECANE, NEOPENTYL GLYCOL DIHEPTANOATE, TITANIUM DIOXIDE (NANO), GLYCERIN, DIPROPYLENE GLYCOL, ETHYLHEXYL METHOXYCINNAMATE, SORBITAN ISOSTEARATE, HYDROGENATED TETRADECENYL/METHYLPENTADECENE, C15-19 ALKANE, DIMETHICONE/VINYL DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, SORBITOL, CETYL PEG/PPG-10/1 DIMETHICONE, BUTYL METHOXYDIBENZOYLMETHANE, DIETHYLAMINO HYDROXYBENZOYL HEXYL BENZOATE, SODIUM CHLORIDE, SILICA, ROSA GALLICA FLOWER WATER, PRUNUS AMYGDALUS DULCIS (SWEET ALMOND) OIL, PRUNUS AMYGDALUS DULCIS (SWEET ALMOND) PROTEIN, BUDDLEJA DAVIDII EXTRACT, MANNITOL, METHICONE, MICA, ALUMINA, TALC, PENTAERYTHRITYL TETRA-DI-T-BUTYL HYDROXYHYDROCINNAMATE, CITRIC ACID, POTASSIUM SORBATE, SODIUM BENZOATE, PHENOXYETHANOL, CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499 (IRON OXIDES), CI 77891 (TITANIUM DIOXID.

When you need a new foundation with full coverage for a low budget price, you should definitely try this one. Swatch it before you buy, there is only one shade. I think this is a very good foundation for the price of € 3,99. You can buy it at Kruidvat (NL).

Calden

Favourite lip products

So recently I bought a new lip product and thought of reviewing it. Then I surprisingly came up with this idea to review all of my favourite lip products, so I can review them all at once.

The product that I bought recently is the baby lips from Maybelline new York (€3,70). I have the product in the shades ‘Cherry me’ and ’Hydrate’. First I’d have to say that they smell and look amazing! This product says that it takes care, protects and makes your lips baby soft. I got to say that it absolutely does! Actually the product does more than it says. It hydrates really well. So it’s really good for preventing dry lips. But I also love how useful it can be to put a matte (more dry) lipstick over this product, so your lips get this more softer touch.

Another Maybelline new York product that has earned a little place on my shelf is the Maybelline new York colorsensational in the shade ‘coral tonic 422’ (€11,99). This product says that it has a nurturing honey extract and vitamin E, which leads to hydrated and soft lips. I think that is completely true as well. (Good job Maybelline J..). What I really love about this lipstick is that it gives a beautifully bright coral/pink colour on your lips. I am not  flattered by the smell though. It smells a little like clay, but that is definitely not stopping me from wearing this product.

Next one is the Revlon colorburst lipstick, 080 coral (€10,99). This coral coloured lipstick has more of a red tone, which is really lovely. It’s really pigmented and matte. You only have to go like three times over your lips to get the full pigmented colour. Which is great of course. The product hydrates a little tiny bit, so it’s not so dry on your lips.

Now let’s talk about the Chanel one! This is the Chanel rouge allure ‘fabulous 33’ (around €23,28). I don’t know if this one is still available, because I do have this expensive one for a while now. This product is more of the darker kind of lipsticks. It has a red/dark-purple deep pigmented colour with little golden glitters. It’s absolutely stunning. But this product is a little bit dry though, so I like to put one of my baby lips as base first.

Out of all these favourite products I have one lip gloss. It’s the Biotherm glossy splash 415 (around €8,99). The scent is amazing, it’s smells like apricots. It gives an orange colour with golden shimmerings. This product, as it says, moisturizes your lips pretty well. The package is really simple, but pretty though.

Last but absolutely not the least favourite product on my shelf is the Shiseido sheergloss lipstick in the shade ‘S2 clear orange’ (around €23,00). I love this colour the most, because it gives a nice light pinky touch to your lips. Apart from that it moisturizes really well and it’s super soft. I can’t really explain the scent, because it doesn’t really have a scent (??!) Really weird, but that doesn’t matter because it’s really beautiful and the package doesn’t lay behind as well.

Mariska

Dates cake

Ingredients:

• 500 gr dates without stones
•  200 gr biscuits
•  250 gr butter
•  150 gr soft brown sugar
•  1 egg
•  2x 100 gr coconut grater 

Cut the dates in julienne, and break the biscuits in medium pieces. Butter in a spring cake tin and put baking paper on the bottom.  After you’ve done that, melt the butter in a medium – large pan.

After that you add the sugar and directly add the egg as well. And then the hard part of this cake: immediately when the egg has touched the pan, you have to stir stir stir very well. Because when you stir bad, you will get big pieces of omelette in your sauce and you can throw away the whole mixture.  

      Then you will have a thick dark brown sauce and you add the dates. Mix it in with the batter and leave it cooking very slowly for about a minute. 

When that’s done, you can take the whole mixture off the fire ( I put it out) and add the cookies and 100 gr of the coconut. Now you have to stir very good so everything mixes together.

When you have a smooth batter, you can spoon it into the spring cake tin.

Now you are going to push the batter in all the corners and make sure you divide it very nicely. Then you take a piece of plastic film, and you put it on top of the cake and start pushing with your  hands. You are doing this to make sure the batter is tightly together.

After this you put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Decorate with the last 100 gr of coconut  grater and enjoy!

Calden

11 things that make me happy

The first thing that makes me happy is the sun. Not only because it looks so beautiful when the sun is shining, but also because of that warm feeling you get on your face when the sunrays touch your face.

One other thing I really love is the feeling just after you’ve bought new clothes. For some weird reason it’s  just an indescribable feeling, that you can’t wait to wear your new clothes. Wearing my new clothes makes me as happy as having them. Because for me, wearing those new clothes, is like having a robe of confidence around me. Which makes me really happy.

Next thing is scents that smell so good, you just wanna smell it whole day long. I think it’s just really funny that a smell can make me smile for a second.

Fourth is waking up with the sound of singing birds. I love waking up with that beautiful noise, because that gives me a good start of the day. But unfortunately that’s unlikely to happen every day because most days I have to throw myself out of bed and turn off the alarm….

Beautiful and meaningful movies make me really happy as well. One amazing movie I can watch every day is ‘Titanic’. It’s a pretty sad movie but for some reason it’s just such a beautiful movie with a heartbreaking story that it makes me happy to watch it.

Of course laughing has to exist on this list. But the best laughs are the ones that are unstoppable and the ones that don’t even have a reason.

Flowers….. when I see those bright colorful flowers inside or outside, it gives me instantly a ‘happy boost’ for some reason. Especially when I see those really beautiful ones that when you see them, you can already smell the sense of flowers and roses even though you’re not nearby.

Tea is something that really makes me happy as well. I can drink tea every hour because I just really love the warmth and the taste of tea and the fact that there are so many flavors you can choose from. Cherry and strawberry are definitely my favorites.

The ninth thing is taking pictures and watching old pictures. I love capturing beautiful moments with my friends or just making a picture of random things. Because watching back all those old pictures I’ve taken and then remembering all those beautiful moments just because of seeing one photo, makes me really happy. I think it’s just really amazing that you can remember whole stories, that you wouldn’t think of by yourself, because of seeing one image.

One other thing is lights. I love it when it’s dark outside and seeing all those beautiful sparkling lights, like if I’m watching  the bright stars at night. The lights of dancing candles in a dark cozy room, also makes me really happy.

My last ‘happy-maker’ are my friends. The fact that you share almost the same thoughts and hobbies as some other people is just amazing. Sometimes you gotta work hard to find them. But the big reward you get is you have people that mean so much to you and who you can trust, so you can tell them everything that’s on your heart.

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha

Mariska

My top 5 ultimate favourite series

I told yall that I love TV series, so I thought; why not start with my favourites. It was very hard for me to just pick five, because I like(ahum.. love) a lot of series. After some blood, sweat, tears and heartbreaking I finally did it. ( BTW there can be some spoilers in here...)

                                                             1) Grey’s Anatomy <3

Well yeah, what should I say about my absolute most favourite? I just love love love it. The friendship between Meredith and Christina is so beautiful that it hurts my heart. I have to say that right now It’s kind of disappointing. Because Christina will leave the show in season 11, but every good thing has to come to an end. That's why I think the best times of this show are in the past. I love to start over at season 1, and I have to tell you a little secret or actually a guilty pleasure of mine: I know exactly what they are gonna say and then I just start talking with them.


                                                                       2) Bones

We had to wait like forever before Bones and Booth kissed for the first time. Until that happened there was tension all of the time between the two of them. And now they are so adorable and have a daughter. But of course it’s also about the murders they always know to solve. It’s just a great show.


                                                                   3) Rizolli & Isles

This show is about two best friends, who also work together; a detective, Jane Rizzoli, and a medical examiner, Maura Isles. They solve murders and live under the same roof for a while. If you don’t understand sarcasm, you should probably not watch this one.


                                                                          4) Girls

Girls is like, what happens to us women in real life put in a TV- serie. I watch this and I am like: “OMG! That would totally happen to me too.” It’s mostly about Hannah, an upcoming writer, her boyfriend and her friends living in New York, and just trying to make the best of life. Of course they have a lot of struggles, that’s how life really is.


                                                                    5) Covert Affairs

Annie Walker, a young CIA trainee, gets send to work in the DPD as a field agent. Auggie Anderson, a blind tech operator, will help her in her new life. Throughout the series they fall in love, but she has to do illegal things sometimes and that makes it hard for them to be a couple.


 So that was it! These are my big loves. It was so hard to choose. Now I’m writing this, I’m like “No, I’m gonna put this series in it instead.” But I’m not going to. Well, see you soon, bye!

Calden

Homemade Starbucks frappuccino

When someone says ‘Starbucks’ or when you see a Starbucks store, you probably get crazy like an addicted animal. And you shouldn’t be ashamed of it, because it’s just really good. Now I have a starbucks in my school and I can tell you that it’s so not good for my wallet. After getting some coffee at starbucks two or three times, I am already broke. But then I got this (genius) idea to make a starbucks coffee at home!

So my twinsister and I got a friend over to make a starbucks coffee together. It was going to be the Starbucks caramel frappuccino. Because that one is just a life-saver. I can tell you that it’s so easy to make! For one caramel frappuccino, this is what you need:

1. A cup with a lot of ice cubes

2. About two spoons of caramel syrup

3. One cup Espresso or just coffee

4. One glass of milk

5. One teaspoon of sugar

6. Some whipped cream

7. And some caramel sauce

First we started with a cup of coffee and let that cool down, because it has to be cold when you put it in the blender. Then you put like a whole glass of ice cubes in the blender. When the coffee or espresso is colder, you can put that in the blender as well. After that.. you add one glass of milk, one teaspoon of sugar and two spoons of caramel syrup. If you don’t have caramel syrup like me, than you can use caramel sauce for that. Now we blend!!

Next we pour it in our favorite cup and top it off with some whipped cream. Last we finish it off with the caramel sauce on the top and we got our wonderful starbucks caramel frappuccino! Maybe you will have more than one cup, but that’s even better.

  Homemade frappuccino                                                                       Real frappuccino

Homemade Starbucks frappuccino

Real Starbucks frappuccino

Mariska