My Insta-Spring 2017 |Smugnificent

As you might have noticed it is been quite some time since I have uploaded an insta-post. I was always on schedule with these in the past but I realised that some months I just ended up posting almost all my instagram photos from that month and I did not feel like the posts offered something to the ones who follow me on instagram. Therefore, I decided to upload these in a seasonal basis. Like this, I enjoy more preparing the posts and I making a small trip down the memory lane of the last few months in order to chose some of the photos that stood out for me.

So this Spring, I travelled quite a lot for work in March and April, maybe a bit more than I wanted. I am like a house cat if you get to know me, travelling is nice provided that it is not too frequent and I get to enjoy my home... Back to back travelling with my work rhythms on top is just exhausting. However, I had quite a nice time  and I have some wonderful memories from these months, during my trips and back in Bern.

A 15sec shower mask? Sign me in! |Smugnificent

I have another skincare review for you today where I am talking about one of my favourite new additions in my skincare routine. Recently I uploaded a video with some "short" skincare product reviews on my channel (check it in English or Greek). However, after I edited the video (and deleted the footage), I realised that somehow the last few minutes were corrupted and the English video was cut off very abruptly. And why is this relevant to this post? Because these missing minutes was me raaaaaving about Blithe's Soothing & Healing Green tea Patting Water Pack; wow that's a mouthful...

So since the footage disappeared I decided to upload a blog post about this product because I am liking it a lot and I really feel the need to share the love! I ordered this recently from eBeautyandCare, a Swiss online store with a great variety of Asian Cosmetics about which I have talked many times. So let's see why I got so much into this product and why I am so excited to review it for you despite my video fail.

Trying out Lush skincare |Smugnificent

About a month and a half ago I was invited to attend the 15th anniversary of Lush here in Switzerland, at their first store here in Bern. I already loved the Lush store here in Bern; it is one of the few stores I visited my first day in the city. And that's when I got my Lush card, my first store card here even before I decided to move here. I was amazed by the renovation of the store close to the style of their flagship store in Oxford street in London. Very clean, very eco-friendly as expected by Lush, certainly a joy to shop there.

Besides presenting us the new look of the store, we had the opportunity for a very thorough presentation of the Lush skincare line with demonstration of several products resulting in specific recommendations based on our skin type and needs. I have tried very few skincare products by Lush so far and I am a known skincare junkie so I was pretty intrigued to try out the products they recommended for me and let you know how it went.

Get your daily dose of VitC with Clinique's Fresh pressed system |Smugnificent

I had said that I will try to go to a no-buy period concerning skincare products as my cupboards overflow of brand new unopened skincare stuff for me to try and use and I try to make a schedule but as a genuine skincare junkie it is impossible to stay awake from super cool launches. It was inevitable therefore, to run and search the new Fresh pressed system by Clinique as soon as it hit the Swiss stores.

 

I saw this new 7-day system from Caroline Hirons (who else?) and I thought that my week long trip to Paris in late March was the perfect opportunity to give it a go since is also in a perfect size to carry with me. The system contains vitamin C and combines a cleanser with a vitamin C booster to promise brighter, smoother, glowy skin from the first use already!

Using glass tools for your hand and foot care: my Mont Bleu review |Smugnificent

I have admitted it many times, taking care of my hands and feet is one of the beauty related things I hate the most. It is absolutely necessary and I do it but it is not something I enjoy so I am always on the look for products and tools that will make this task simpler and my life easier.

I have heard a lot about how much better are glass files for your nails and that they make filing easier and prevent split nails but so far I had only tried a glass nail file once and I was not fully convinced as it felt really different so I did not pushed myself to keep using it. But I always had it in mind that I should at least give them another decent try. Few weeks ago I was contacted by Mont Bleu, a Czech company known among others for their high quality glass nail files, to receive and try some of their products so I thought this is a great opportunity to give glass files another go.

Empty mascaras reviews |Smugnificent

Hello everyone! I will not even try to start apologising and excusing myself for being away from blogging for so long. Life can be overwhelming in different ways and one of my most important decisions for 2017 is to not let my hobbies (like blogging and vlogging) become stressful but to try my best to really enjoy them. I will still try to not be absent for so long and I will also try to keep my blog more connected to my YouTube channel since it seems that I tend to be more punctual with filming. 

So this week I have for you a video reviewing mascaras which I have used up completely. I have a series with similar videos on my channel and this is the 4th mascara review video I uploaded. I included a wide range of drugstore and high-end mascaras as well as some colour mascaras and some special types so I think you will find a wide variety for many different tastes. I hope you enjoy this video and let me know which are your favourite mascaras that I need to try. Oh and be sure to suggest your best mascaras for the lower lashes!

You can check my previous mascara reviews: 

Mascaras review No1 https://youtu.be/6EudMnUHdrw
Mascaras review No2 https://youtu.be/lruuK5z2TgE
Mascaras review No3 https://youtu.be/metriaR_Y2M

If you prefer to watch my video in Greek you can find it here.

See you soon with a next post and/or video! Take care!

Let your senses dive in a wonderfully scented home with Rituals |Smugnificent

If you follow me since long on social media you already know that I am addicted to candles. I have a considerable stock of candles I love and I know for sure that my collection would be out of control if I lived in UK or US where I could find my favourite candles in more budget-friendly prices and most importantly a larger variety. But what you might not know is that I am obsessed with all scented products and I am always a bit sad that I cannot use candles in all rooms in my house.

Rituals, one of my favourite brands for care and home products, released a whole new collection of home scented products (additionally to the extensive line they already  have). I have tried several candles and fragrance sticks by Rituals but when I saw Melissa's video with the new releases I run to get the new wardrobe sachets and ended up getting some more things; naturally. So let's dive in!

Plumper skin with Revitalift Filler |Smugnificent

I have made numerous times clear my obsession with skincare both here and on my channel. So trying out skincare products is definitely my kind of thing. As you know I was away on vacation after the last few crazy months and soon after I got back home, I got a package in the post from Coolbrandz with L' Oreal' s latest skincare line.

I didn't had the chance to read a lot about the line beforehand but the moment I read that the L' Oreal Revitalift Filler [HA] has hyaluronic acid in I was immediately sold. I was very pleased with my current skincare routine but I have been always pleased with the results of hyaluronic on my skin so I was thrilled to test a more budget-friendly line.

Another insta-post: Autumn edition |Smugnificent

I am finally back after a looooong hiatus and what is better than a recap of what I have been doing during these last few months. Well to be honest that shouldn't be a difficult recap as most of this time I woke up, I worked and I slept; oh that fascinating lifestyle hahaha. And afterwards I went on vacation; my first vacation days of 2016, finally. Although the whole last year was very stressful for me and I had to make a lot of small or large "sacrifices", retrospectively I really think that I came out stronger and more confident and more determined that I can achieve anything I want to. So that is for sure a good thing. 

I think the most important thing for me during this period was submitting my Thesis and defending successfully my PhD. I am still working in the same field as a post-doctorate fellow so I continue doing things I love from another position. For all the fun not working moments I have included a ton of pictures, mainly food related I have to admit so be prepared as this might be the most photo-heavy and mouth-watering post ever on this blog!

Slowing signs of age: Vichy's new launch, Slow Âge |Smugnificent

Skincare products were always as equally interesting to me as makeup and as the years go by and I get older the balance tilts more in favour of skincare. And not only because good skin equals good makeup as many say, which is absolutely true to be honest. But most importantly because although makeup can be absolutely fun, artistic and amazing, skincare is actually an investment for your future. And the choices you make now about your skincare affect how your skin will look not only in a few months but also in the years to come. So although I was always into skincare, recently I am becoming more and more invested in my routine and I am finding products that suit my needs and prevent skin damage.

Vichy is a major player in the skincare game since many decades. It is a brand known for the variety of quality products for different skin needs at a reasonable price. Now Vichy is coming out with a new day cream, Slow Âge, focusing on slowing down signs of ageing. Coolbrandz launched a new campaign in Switzerland together with Vichy for the launching of Slow Âge so I received a testing version of the product and I have been using it since almost 3 weeks every morning.

My Insta-June/July 2016 |Smugnificent

I cannot even believe that it's been 2 whole months since my last post but to be honest, I cannot even believe how these months past. As I have explained you in this video (here in Greek) I am taking some time off from vlogging and blogging mainly for work reasons. And I really have passed every single day working my ass off but I am seeing great results so I will not complain.

 It was hard to not go back to Greece this summer or take any vacation days but I am now 4 years in Switzerland and I know that even the busier times are filled with wonderful little moments. I just have put together a selection of photos from June and July in this double insta-post to recap all the non-working moments of these months.

My Insta-May 2016 |Smugnificent

A couple weeks ago, I uploaded a video on my Youtube channel (here in Greek) explaining why I need to take some time off from vlogging and blogging. Since some time now and for the next months, my working schedule is plain crazy taking over all my free personal time. I needed to re-evaluate my priorities for a while in order to manage keeping these rhythms long term.

But as I promised, I will still try to post an occasional post or video whenever I find a bit time and I really want to try not miss my insta posts as they are always a great recap of my months especially for you who don't follow me on social media. I still try to keep in touch through insta, snapchat, facebook and twitter though, where you can always find me as smugnificent.

A Morphe 12S: a real stand-out palette |Smugnificent

I have recently reviewed my first Morphe palette, the 35D and although I found it a good choice for its price, I was still not completely head over heels with it. One of the main reasons was the size of these large 35 palettes, I find them impractical and I tend to forget them in the back of my makeup drawers.

That is why I went with a smaller 12-pan palette this time. I saw the 12S (Soul of Summer) palette at a Cosmetics Obsession event and my mind immediately went to the 35O palette which I have always been on the fence about. Could this be a smaller version of the 35O in all its shimmery goodness?

My Insta-April 2016 |Smugnificent

Time for a delayed insta-post but it's not the first time so I will not begin with excuses. April is my favourite month of the year as it is my birthday month. This April was absolutely crazy and it passed in a second. 

And yes I know that all my months are very busy but believe me, life is certainly going to be a roller-coaster the next months until September and it is quite possible to affect my blog and YouTube channel although I promise to try and do my best.

New releases by Kérastase: Discipline Curl Idéal, L' Incroyable Blowdry |Smugnificent

I am back today with a review of many recent releases from Kérastase, one of my favourite (if not my top favourite) hair brands. I was sent these packages by Paoletti Public relations to try them out and I was very excited especially since I was looking forward to one of these releases a lot!

If you follow me since some time you know that my absolute favourite Kérastase line is Discipline, a great line of products targeting my main problem: frizziness! So now Kérastase released some additional products in the line under the name Discipline Curl Idéal targeting specifically unruly curly hair. And as the original line has Diana Vishneva as her face, this one has another great dancer with beautiful rich curly hair, Linda Celeste Sims. But let's see the products a bit closer.

EBeauty and Care Korean skincare haul |Smugnificent

I realised that it is been ages since I posted a haul post on the blog. I know that people love my haul videos and most of the times I let things gather and then they end up being too many for a post. So this time when I was opening my order from eBeauty and Care I immediately decided; this is a good amount of stuff for a haul post.

eBeauty and Care is a Swiss online store which is ran by Laetitia, one of the sweetest and nicest bloggers I have met in Switzerland. I knew since long that we shared a love about Korean Beauty with her, talking about Memebox orders when they were still shipping in Europe and when she ended up opening an online store delivering Korean products to Switzerland, Germany, France and Belgium I was thrilled. The store recently celebrated its first year anniversary and I am here to show you the things I included in my latest order.

My Insta-March 2016 |Smugnificent

I was planning to post this insta monthly round-up a few days ago, but I have spent the last 3 days laying in bed because of horrible back pain. I am still far from fine but I manage to stay seated for a while now so I will try to put this up for you as a change to my continuous circle of sleeping and Netflix.

Similarly with February, maybe because I am getting more and more busy at work or perhaps because I am getting more into Snapchat (@smugnificent), I noticed that I posted a bit less during this month on instagram. Still I post quite often, it remains one of my favourite social media but maybe I am less obsessed compared to some time ago.

Zoeva En Taupe eyeshadow palette review |Smugnificent

Zoeva is a really well known German brand mostly famous for its high quality budget-friendly makeup brushes. I have quite a few Zoeva brushes in my collection as I have got the makeup artist Zoe bag set (here in Greek) in the past and I have fallen in love with many which I have shown you in my favourite eye brushes video (here in Greek). 

But one of the most common makeup related questions I am asked has to do with my opinion about the Zoeva eyeshadows. And until recently my only answer was " I am sorry, haven't tried them yet". It is not so easy to get Zoeva in Switzerland (in contrary with most other countries the official website doesn't deliver here) so I jumped to the opportunity of ordering one of their palettes during my last trip to Germany. There is a large selection to choose from mostly of their 10-pan palettes but they also released recently some larger 15-pan ones. In the end I went with a quite unexpected choice, the En Taupe palette, leaving the darker, richer colours for another time.

Morphe 35D palette breakdown review |Smugnificent

Morphe brushes is one of the most talked about makeup companies on the internet nowadays which is a fact attributed by many to the company's great PR policies and her strong relations with many known blogging and YouTube personas. Besides all this discussion the company has a lot of supporters who find their products to have a good quality for a great price, so I think it really worths to check if there are real reasons behind all this hype. I have already tried and reviewed (and here in Greek) for you some of their eyeshadows which I got as singles and they were a selection of shades from the Jaclyn Hill favourites palette and I found their quality very decent for the price. 

But even I first tried those shadows I had always in the back of my mind a doubt about how these stand alone eyeshadows, single-handedly selected by Jaclyn compare with the non named ones contained in the large 35 palettes. I admit that since I started getting into makeup I never felt attracted to these large multicoloured palettes everyone had and I have never owned something similar. But  a couple of these Morphe 35 palettes look quite attractive and have nice colour combinations so I decided to get the 35D (35 color dark smoky palette) and put it to the test.

Fighting blemishes without getting dry skin? Kiehl's has the answer |Smugnificent

Several weeks ago around the end of January I have visited my local Kiehl's counter in Globus Bern to use my coupon from December's advent calendar and after a nice discussion about my skin and its problems, the clerk suggested me quite a few products suited to my needs and prepared me a samples bag in exchange for the coupon. You can see these as well as a round up of the travel sized products my calendar had in and I am trying in a previous post.

From all the products she showed me there was one that caught my one as I have not until now used something similar; Kiehl's Blemish Control Daily Skin-Clearing Treatment. This product claims to be a treatment against imperfections caused by acne while helping blemishes clear quicker all in lightweight cream formula which can be used twice or even three times a day. There are a lot of interesting claims here so after using it indeed daily for almost 1.5 months I have some thoughts to share with you.

The product comes in a tube of 30ml and has a creamy but thin and quite fluid consistency which makes it easy to use up without it sticking in the walls of the packaging. It contains a trio of acids, idiotic acid, salicylic acid and lipo-hydroxy acid (LHA). With a bit of online research I found that it contains 1.5% salicylic acid but the product's pH is relatively high for the acids to be really effective as exfoliants. This certainly fits with my impression that this is not the miraculous product which will kill all your blemishes overnight. And it is also not one of these drying lotions or liquids which act like this either. What it is, is a mild, easy to use in your morning and night routine creamy product, quite effective in blemish control long-term. For me the most important thing is that although they warn you that you might experience dryness (cultivating the fear of acids) this product has not in any way dried my skin out. I am using it in combination with an exfoliating toner (the Clarins one currently), an oil or serum and under my moisturiser. As a precaution I chose to use a more hydrating cream at night (the Recifis Soothing restorating cream) but I feel that I don't necessarily need to as I have not experienced any dry patches or anything like that. I apply it all over my face in particular the areas I am more "spotty" and I have seen my blemishes as well as the marks they leave go away easier. I also believe that long term it helped preventing acne outburst although I still have of course the occasional hormonal or stress breakouts (I will never get rid of those I know). 

I think what make this special is not so much that it is super potent but that it is gentle to the skin while it does its job. I see it as one of those products working on the background, slowly and quietly helping you to get a better skin in the long term. What I fear is that after using it for quite some time its results seem to reach a limit and you cannot see much further improvement, but this also makes sense based on the ingredients. I will use this up with joy and try something else for a while afterwards, before repurchasing it which I certainly plan, just so that my skin doesn't get completely used to it. If you are serious with your acids (and you should) I advise you to combine it with other products but if you want to try out a mild and not drying solution which will help you to deal with imperfections you have definitely a good candidate in this one.

Overall I am quite pleased with this product, although it hasn't swept me off my feet or offered me any mouth-dropping moments. If you live in Switzerland you can get it in any of your local Kiehl's counters in Globus or Manor or at the Kiehl's store in Zurich or order it online from their online shop or Marionnaud. It retails for 49CHF. My Greek readers can find this at the Kiehl's counters inside Attica but I am sure Kiehl's products are available in other shops too.

Have you ever tried this product? Which is your go to anti-blemish clearing product?