Back in the summer of 2008 Bagaela sent me a sample of ArtDeco's Eyeshadow Base after she found out that I had not tried it yet despite the fact that by that time I had heard enough people rave about it on different beauty forums and MUA. The reason for that was simple though: 1.) I was not particularly inclined to spend thousands of Forints on something that might still turn out to be a miss, especially considering how oily my lids can get during the day, and 2.) I was not yet acquainted with the wonderful girls on the Krémmárka thread and was a solitary little beauty addict with highly restricted access to the true gems of the cosmetic industry.


Now, almost a year later, here I am, sitting at my desk with a little black jar resting on it right next to me, meant to provide inspiration for this post, though that is hardly necessary anymore: I'm a convert.

Look, oh just look!


Pure Luxe's "Dream on..." is a beautiful and intensive color (somehow the picture doesn't do it justice though), but just look at what it becomes once it's applied on a properly primed surface. Glamorous, isn't it?

Just to illustrate how much your eyeshadow will want to stick to you and your lids, here's a picture I took after having scrubbed my arm with soap twice.




The above picture might, of course, provoke different reactions in different people. Depending on whether you're a slightly crazed makeup junkie or a devotee of all things natural, you'll either go "Holy Makeup Palette! Bring it on!!!" or say "There's no way in hell I'll put that vile concoction anywhere near my eyes!". You'd both be right, I guess: I often wonder what the long term effects of putting something like that on my eyes might be, but then I'm overcome with this desire to have my eyeshadow last an entire day, and I give in to the lure of this amazing primer.

Here's the list of ingredients:




By the way, yes, you heard it right: lasts an entire day. For me, that means at least 12 hours, but more often it's 15, as I usually put makeup on at about 5:30 AM and wipe it all off at around 8 or 9 PM, when class with my private student ends or when I get home from the company I teach at in the afternoons. Now then, believe it or not, no eyeshadow I apply onto this base will ever smudge, sit into the creases or simply disappear into nothingness during the course of the day. It will stay where I put it and will be just as bold and bright as when I carefully painted it on in the morning. It doesn't matter if it's a high-end brand or just a cheap 1 buck product: come rain or scorcher, it just won't move. How's that? ;-)

I was told that the 5 ml of miracle cream in the jar is enough for a lifetime, and since I purchased my own, I've been more and more inclined to believe that. You only need the smallest amount for an eyelid: something like running your index finder over the surface and using what it had picked up will do the trick. Like this:




Don't use more than that though: it won't make your makeup last longer (the thin layer above will cover you for 15 hours at least) and will only serve to make it really difficult to put on your eyeshadow.

Just to help you imagine how big your jar will be, here's a life size image of the jar (give or take a few millimeters). Its size is minuscule, but it'll go dry long before you finish it all up, so sharing with some friends is always a good idea. I already have and am still planning to. :-D



What I've noticed though while using this product is that it quickly grabs onto the e/s you put onto it, reducing its smoothness and making it more difficult to spread on your lid. You will thus need more powder to cover the same area if you use this, meaning that a pot of eyeshadow will probably last you a little less than it would otherwise, but I still wouldn't give up my Base for anything in the world: having eye makeup that remains untouched during the entire day is too big of an asset to just throw away for the sake of making my shadows last a few weeks longer. I have too many of those for my own good anyway. ;-)

As far as I know, Bagaela also sometimes uses this to make concealer stick to her skin and blend in better, an unorthodox method I have tested and found perfectly effective, though I can't use it in the long run as silicones of any kind really aggravate my skin. (Not on my eyelids, thank heavens...) Otherwise I recommend you to try it: it works!

So, let's hear it from you dear readers! Have you tried this product yet? What were your impressions? Have you tried something else? Share your experiences!


Oh, here's another swatch from a previous post of mine, just to further illustrate what a huge difference ArtDeco's Eyeshadow Base can make.

 

Gah, I have to stop listening to Sounds of the Universe or else I won't be able to write a single coherent sentence... ;-) I can't wait until the 20th April to buy the album!!!

Anyway, who wants to see my Everyday Minerals brushes? I know at least one person who does, so here they are in all their glory (or at least looking as good as my photography skills could make them) with commentary from yours truly. :)

From the two brushes that are meant for applying mineral foundation, I like this one much less. Yes, it's a wonderfully dense and soft brush (just like all of EDM's brushes), but I can't shake the feeling that this one is better suited for applying some sort of finishing powder or maybe even bronzer. I don't like the way its head is slightly dome-shaped, resulting in uneven distribution of any kind of powder on my skin which leaves my face it splotchy and the brush downright useless in this department. I think, however, that that's just me. Other might have much better luck with it, but I have already gathered from trial and error that EDM's Flat Top Brush is the only one for me.

Length: ~10.5 cm
Diameter of head: ~4cm







Exactly because of its flatness it fits to every nook and curve on my face, and enables me to reach even the area next to and around my nose. It follows the angles of my face quite nicely and distributes an even amount of powder everywhere which makes it much more suited for applying foundation (in my book at least). Imagine stenciling a pretty motif on your wall with the Kabuki and then this one: as someone who knows her way around art and different kinds of brushes I can safely say that while this one would leave behind a nice, even layer of paint, the Kabuki would definitely smear and color with varying intensity.

Length: ~10 cm
Diameter of head: ~3.5 cm









I bought two of these as I had thought it would be practical and less time-consuming to have one for shimmery blushes and one for mattes. (You know, not having to wash my brush every time I want to apply a matte blush after a shimmery one.) Now I think maybe I should have bought one for cool-toned blushes, and one for warm-toned ones, and another for bronzers, and a further one for highlighters, and so on... Although for really intensive colors such as Wake-Up Call and Sunday Brunch I will probably use a fiber optic brush, this brush is still a great little tool to work with. I like that it's relatively flat and angled: this way I can cover a rather big portion of my cheek at the same time and distribute the blush evenly. Nice work, EDM!

Length: ~11.5 cm
Diameter of head (width): ~3.5 cm
Diameter of head (length): ~2.5 cm









This one should have been included in my 10 piece eyeshadow kit, but alas, it wasn't. As far as I remember it was out of stock at the time, so I reconciled myself to the thought that I just managed to miss out on it and would perhaps buy one some other time. (So I'm a loser, so what's new? :)) Then one day, the postman turned up with an envelope, and as I wasn't expecting anything at the time, I was a bit surprised. Upon opening the envelope it was my missing eyeshadow brush that fell out, which only built up my trust in EDM's ways of doing business a bit further.

Anyway, EDM's eyeshadow brush is nice, but it's a bit too inflexible and tough for my liking. It's very easy to have a lot of sparkly eyeshadow end up on your cheeks using this one as it just springs back whenever I try to bend it and make it follow the contours of my eyelid. I used to apply concealer with it, but when I got my Eye Kabuki I tossed this one altogether and never looked back. (Okay, maybe I did use this brush for contouring once or twice, but that's it.) I say you'd do much better with a softer, easier to bend brush.

Length: ~16.5 cm
Head (width): ~1 cm
Head (length): ~1 cm




Lovely, only I use it as a concealer brush.

Just like EDM's other brushes this one is also very dense and soft, making it perfect for applying any sort of powder, especially concealer, as the size of the brush head allows for buffing and perfect blending. Unlike the previous brushes, this one already has a bamboo handle (I got this for myself for Christmas), just like all brushes EDM will sell in the future.

Applying eyeshadow with this one is not entirely impossible, but I just wish it were a bit smaller as working with it in its current state is a bit awkward to say the least. It comes in handy though when you want to apply a base color quickly or just blend two colors, but you have to be careful while doing the latter one: the size of the brush doesn't allow for much precision unfortunately.

Length: ~13 cm
Diameter of head: ~1.5 cm



 

Fine, I don't have that many reasons to celebrate Spring yet: after all, the sky is cloudy today and it might start raining any second. Then again, about two weeks ago on a Friday evening I was heading home from a quick meeting with a friend, and there was just something in the air, something that had not been there before. The lights were different, the air was unusually warm and fragrant with the scent of damp earth and fresh sprouts, while the birds were singing a song I had not heard them sing for almost a year. I knew right there and then that Spring was not much farther away, and lo and behold, I was right:



Now, I've been absent for a good while, but I have managed to pick up a lovely assortment of new things to write about. I promise I'll get to them soon, but for now allow me to show you the contents of a small, sort of experimental order from Stars Makeup Haven. This online store offers a wide array of MAC pigment samples to play with, not to mention cheap but usable brushes, makeup palettes and full size products by many well-known brands.

What drew me to them first and foremost were the MAC pigment samples, but I was also glad to discover that at the time they were selling empty lipbalm tubes for as little as 0.5$ per tube, the kind that's easy to work with and that I'd been wanting to have for ages, as I wanted to save some of my not-so-perfect lippies and create some unique shades of my own. I have yet to claim the kitchen mine and experiment, but sooner or later I will get to it.




The following brush (White Angle Taklon Eyeliner Liner Brush) is their version of a MAC one, only as they don't have it in stock at the moment I can't tell you which. One thing I can tell you, however, is that it's a great brush that's definitely worth the 2.5$ I paid for it. Since I got it, it hasn't shed a single hair, and the bristles and soft but firm, allowing for great precision and enabling me to draw a very fine and smooth line relatively quickly and easily.




The last item in my parcel was the most eagerly awaited as well: a 1/4 teaspoon sample of MAC's Sunnydaze pigment, my first MAC pigment ever. I'd been really curious about these colorful concoctions and wanted to know what all the fuss was about, but I was never really inclined to cash out on them. Well, now I know what I'd been missing all my life. ;-)

The pigment itself is an insanely adhering little thing: as you can see in the picture, it sticks to everything it touches, from the sides of the jar to my eyelids. It is also astonishingly pigmented (Well, duh!), meaning I need only the smallest amount to cover my eyelids, and also that this 1/4 tsp sample will last me quite a while.

The color is gorgeous: a lovely light brown shimmer with a dark brown base, which lends it a multidimensional character and makes it seem I'm wearing at least two different colors on my eyes, when I'm wearing only one. Unlike most MAC pigments which are usually too bold for me even to consider wearing them at work, Sunnydaze is a sophisticated pearly brown that can be worn in many different ways:




Foiled (mixed with water, some sort of mixing medium or Visine :-) it acquires a metallic sheen and has the most intensive color. Applied on top of ArtDeco's Eyeshadow Base (the ultimate eyeshadow primer; thank you Bagaela!) it lasts an entire day without creasing, fading, or sliding off my lids, while putting it on bare skin will result in the most subtle but probably most wearable finish one can get. The exact shade is so very difficult to capture and I had to fiddle a lot with the settings of my camera before I managed to take the pictures below:





Stars Makeup Haven:
Shipping time to Budapest, Hungary: 1 week
Shipping costs: here
+ pigment samples from the new Hello Kitty collection are already available!

Another online store that sells MAC samples is The Body Needs: their shipping costs are a bit higher, but the samples themselves are priced much lower than those of SMH. True, I haven't ordered anything from them yet, so I wouldn't know how much pigment their 5g jars actually contain. I'll test them once our currency gets a bit stronger. ;-)

...

Just as I predicted at the beginning of my post: it has started raining...

Gah, I love these smileys!  

Winter has finally arrived to where I live, though it probably won't stay for too long (again). True, it has already snowed in other parts of Hungary and even in Budapest, but so far that shimmery soft layer of prettiness has always vanished overnight leaving this snow-lover hung up on winter (or more like, on the lack of it).

I have always loved winter: on my list it is second to spring, my favorite. If you have a penchant for wanting to wrap yourself in a fuzzy warm comforter and withdraw into yourself, you probably love it too. It is grey, it is dark, it is frightfully cold and sometimes downright merciless, but it is also the only season that wraps you into it's own soft grey comforter and makes you almost invisible to the other passers-by on the streets. Under tons of warm fabric and among so many other bundled up people one easily gets lost in the crowd, but I actually prefer it that way. When spring finally breezes in giving people their very own spotlight to sing and dance under, it almost feels like a brutal attack on one's piece of mind and temporarily expanded personal space.

Winter, then. What exactly does it bring to the mind of a cosmetics-crazy woman? The answer probably depends on whether she has enough time-tested and effective companions in her bag or not. It can bring to mind chapped lips and cracked hands, but it can also leave her unfazed, calling up snowball fights, snow angels, and icicles used as drumsticks. (Hey, why not? :-)

Let me introduce you to my current companions then. Though they have been with me for only a little more than a week, it seems they have settled in for the long run and will probably be enough to save me from the two aforementioned (and very dreaded) side effects of the season. They are:











Buying a new lipbalm is always a much anticipated adventure for me. My previous balm had been rubbing me the wrong way for years by smelling like lard (and tasting like it too...), so this time I decided to buy something that would make me purr and nuzzle up to its pretty little tube for hours. The girls on my fav cosmetics thread had been raving about Bioderma's lipbalm, so I figured I would give it a try.

It comes in a white (4 g) tube with blue text on it (who would have thought, right?), and it smells exactly like raspberry-flavored bubblegum. I did not detect any taste though, which is definitely for the better, as I imagine I couldn't contain myself for too long if it had any and would be sorely tempted to lick it off in a matter of seconds.

The ingredients are a bit different from Alverde's in that paraffinum liquidum is first on the list, but sometimes I just can't be bothered... In any case, I haven't spotted any adverse effects yet. (This is the moment when lovers of anything that's organic and 100% natural would wisely all-knowingly point out: "Oh, but you will soon! Veeeeeery sooooon..." I mean no offense though: I'm in a "who-the-h*ll-cares" phase right now, but I used to be devoted to "pure" things too. :-))

On with the show then. Bioderma's "Lip Stick" is noticeably thinner than Alverde's and glides on effortlessly, leaving a slight whitish cast that disappears the second you smack your lips together and warm it up a bit. After that, it'll be perfectly inconspicuous for any casual onlooker. You, however, are definitely going to notice the difference: it softens the delicate skin of your lips and spiffs them up in no time. I only use it at night though, as I'm still adamant about Silk Naturals' lippies being the best ever lip treatment and lipcolor rolled into one. (Btw: 'Tender' is the most gorgeous my-lips-but-better shade ever! Forget about EDM's 'Cozy Night'. 'Tender' beats it any day of the week.)

One other thing I like about Bioderma's lipbalm is the slanted design of the stick: nice touch.

At the moment, it doesn't seem to have any drawbacks; we'll see in a couple of weeks, but I have high hopes for it.

Here's the INCI list if you're curious. (Boy, this sure beats typing. :)








Apparently, product designers have decided to make allowance for the needs of working women who are constantly on the go and practically carry their entire offices with themselves in a bag. Incidentally, I happen to be one of them: my haversack is always filled with various coursebooks, CDs, photocopies of all sorts of complementary material for my students, and lately I've even been hiding a small red rubber ball in there. (Who would have thought that adults like to play ball too? ;-) Now, it's a relief to only have to carry an additional 50 mls worth of product instead of 100-150 mls. What is not a relief, however, is that one has to fumble with a screw-off cap instead of being able to just flip it off and on at one's pleasure.

The product itself is your regular white hand cream, unscented and nothing extraordinary, but I mean that in a good way: it does do its job perfectly as in it moisturizes your hands and seems to form a protective barrier on them (again, paraffinum liquidum, but there's some shea butter in there too), while it doesn't add another extra scent to what you're probably wearing already because of your body-lotion, facial moisturizer, shampoo and conditioner and perfume. My only qualm is that it needs to be reapplied quite often, and while it's been holding up fairly well in a milder sort of weather (usually above 0 C° or 32 F), I'm not quite convinced it'd be enough for my hands should temperatures drop below -5 C° (23 F).

All in all, Bioderma's new hand cream is a very nice product, and I definitely haven't regretted buying it as it'll probably be a real asset to my bodycare regime in spring. However, once winter decides to hit us full force (if ever...), I'll turn to La Roche Posay's Lipikar body lotion for help.



 

I've probably said it before, but I'll say it again: perfume is not one of my strong ones. Sure, I love testing different fragrances and wearing them even more so, but my knowledge of the fine art of perfume-sniffing (not to mention -making) is limited to the very basics, such as "Hmm, that's nice..." or "Yuck, I wouldn't be caught dead wearing this!!!".

I also know that the subject of different smells and scents and what appeals to whom is a very subjective one, with plenty of chances for misunderstanding or even offending the other person. Thus, I'd like to ask you to only read the following post at your own risk, lest you should 1.) find that I've slashed your favorite perfume and have the sudden urge to come after me with an axe and/or 2.) faint from the many different headache-inducing scents this post shall be loaded with. Have Advil at hand just for good measure. ;-)

All of the above means that the following content should not be taken seriously: I'm mostly just having fun here. :-)

So on Wednesday I visited Ázsia Center for the first time (a kind of mall full of Asian shops in Budapest) and dragged my mother with me who's been pining after this perfume ever since she smelled it once in a perfumery (into which I also had to drag her, by the way). My main (and admittedly only) goal was to pick up some samples of perfumes I've been dying to own for ages. I just cannot be bothered to buy the full-size versions, you see:

• They're too expensive for a poor English-teacher like me.
• An entire lifetime wouldn't be enough for me to use them up.
• I'm usually fed up with any scent after finishing a 1.2 or 2 ml sample size, so why on Earth should I buy a whole of 50 or 100 mls?
• I like small samples much more as I can carry them around in my bag.
  

Also, my best friend has some requests of her own, so I brought her some things too.

I was (and still am) quite curious about some famous scents though, so I headed to a particular shop (C+C Perfumery) I heard had a great selection of samples. I was not disappointed and I'm already planning to go back and get some more.






Another scent that can be worn by men and women alike, but I can't really imagine this on a woman to be quite honest. It's such a sharp scent, and my first thought when I smelled this was that this must be what mummies' armpits smell like. (A preposterous image, I know, but I couldn't help it.) Mum likes it though... I just hope she won't be using it very often.







Yummy! Now that's more like it!

I used to have a sample size of this, but alas, I used it all up. Now how could that have happened?
Perhaps it was the fact that I have a softer-than-soft spot for rosy scents of any kind, and when they're infused with a hint of spice to boot (i.e.: star anise in this case), I can't help but stick to them until the bottle is empty.

Perhaps it lacks fruity elements and is instead enriched with patchouli, but I don't think I mind. I can do just fine without the sometimes overly feminine nature of sweet fruits, while I've been acquiring a taste for patchouli lately and really don't mind its presence in perfumes anymore.







I'm wearing this one right now for testing purposes. It's been on me for approximately 6 hours but it hasn't changed that much along the way. It has kept it's characteristic aldehydic notes, only it's acquired a slightly sweet, powdery trait along the way.

Many winters ago I tested this in a perfumery and immediately thought "What all the fuss about? It smells like bug-repellent..."

Then a few years later a very kind saleswoman in her own cosmetics store made me try it once again and practically forbade me to sniff at my wrist for half an hour. I heeded her warning and after the 30 minutes were up I simply fell in love with aforementioned wrists and couldn't stop sniffing all day. That was in the summer of 2007.

Now this winter I have it again and I really have some mixed feelings about it. While it doesn't remind me of bug-repellent anymore, it also doesn't do anything for me right now, except remind me of the bathroom in my godmothers' summer cottage. She used to keep a few perfume bottles there and while I don't remember them anymore I'm quite certain she owned a bottle of this classic scent.

Who knows? Maybe I'll fall in love with this again in the summer...






I need to quote Sephora here:

"Radiant, sensual, sophisticated, J'adore is a fragrance that celebrates the renaissance of extreme femininity and the power of spontaneous emotion with a brilliant bouquet of orchids, the velvet touch of Damascus plum, and the mellowness of amaranth wood."

Extremely feminine? Definitely, and so the first time I smelled this years ago I immediately knew it wasn't a fragrance for me: too feminine, too in-your-face, too fruity in an overwhelming sort of way. I washed Chanel 5 off about 30 minutes ago and put this on, and while it is definitely a very nice scent, I cannot imagine myself wearing this anytime soon. Since the moment I put it on I've been feeling a sort of dry, scratchy feeling in my throat, a sure sign of my whole olfactory system not liking this perfume.
(My Mum who loved it, however, so she got a 5 ml mini bottle.)

I can definitely understand why women and men alike are captured by this fragrance though: it radiates happiness in a sophisticated sort of way and embraces you like a purple cloud of plummyness. I also like that it doesn't turn sharp on me, but remains a fruity, plummy, rich kind of scent. Oh, and the bottle. Gotta love that bottle. :-)

(Why, oh why must I detest fruity scents??? Every research points to the fact that men like these kind of scents the best, and here I am, unwilling to hold out the carrot to them. Wait. Forget it. That's a vegetable... Peaches then! Yeah. Peaches...)







Allow me to be trite for a moment: "My precioussssssssssssss..."

Sorry but I just had to. :-P

My recent addiction to the invigorating scent of grapefruit has led me to reach for my sample of Bright Crystal, which seemed to be a lovely blend of citrusy notes, only to find that it actually has nothing to do with citrus, much less grapefruit. Oh well... To me it still smells like a slightly bitter, juicy ball of grapefruit bursting with freshness and energy.

In the summer I loved this for its cooling and refreshing properties, and now that it's cold and cloudy all day and night I admire it for its ability to transport me back/forward into summer and bring me the promise of warmer days.







My immediate reaction to this perfume was not that bad, although it did come across as strange and unusual. As it dried down it quickly developed a component I can only describe as something smelling like the pine-scented bubble-bath I used to have when I was about 4 or 5 years old. It's a fake pine smell and it's only half a surprise I should detect something like that in there, because even though pine doesn't appear among its notes, cedarwood and patchouli certainly do, and they must be the ones responsible for its woodiness. There's a hint of rose in there too, and while I have a hunch that ELLE won't be a favorite for me, I think it's a actually a very pretty and pleasant perfume, not to mention rather unique.
Mum's.






I'll be totally random here as I have no other way to describe this scent. When I close my eyes and just inhale it, it makes me think of:

• gold
• velvet
• an ancient Ming vase
• an expensive hotel's foyer
• honey made of some exotic flower
• a movie star in her thirties
• a blend of slightly overheated sugar and musk
  

I guess if you take a look at the above list you'll conclude that 1.) I'm off my rockers and 2.) it's a rich, heavy, and sweet fragrance that brings lavish things to mind. (To my mind at least...) Now if you take a look at Sephora's assessment you'll see that I'm not very far from the truth, as it is a "golden" scent and a very fruity one at that.

It has plum in it just like J'adore, and indeed there's a certain likeness to Dior's creation in that it is a rich, deep kind of scent; you can almost cuddle up to it and feel as it pulls you into a welcoming embrace. You don't surrender though: there's something else in there that warns you not to. Something that lets everybody know that the wearer is a powerful person who should be treated with respect and approached with caution.

Weird. Kind of old lady-ish, but then again, perhaps not. Maybe it's just classic elegance and timelessness that comes through every time it hits my nose. It's nice (more than nice), but not me. It'll never be me. Or I'll never be it.

This one's going to my best friend, who adores it.







Again, let's start with some associations:

• giggles
• bubblegum
• cotton candy
• cream-colored lace
  
• oh yeah, and cherries too... :-)

Might come across as a frivolous scent, but I'm pretty convinced that even serious people need to have fun now and then, and Miss Dior Cherie is just the thing to make them lighten up and relax a bit. I also find that along with Cacharel's Amor Amor it puts me into a creative mood: some of the prettiest pieces of jewelry I've ever created were made under the influence of the above two fragrances.

Love it, it's mine, all mine! Mwhahahahah!!! ^_^





My best friend is so lucky: she can wear fragrances like this and pull it off. It smells just right on her: the cinnamon, the woody notes and the musk all come through. On me, however, it's a very one dimensional scent that can be summed up in two words: sugar overdose. It reminds me of Aquolina's Pink Sugar and I wonder why I didn't end up swinging upside down on the chandelier with a big grin on my face singing some annoying never-ending song... Okay, perhaps because I'm not 5 anymore and I've never had hyperactive tendencies, though I wouldn't have been surprised to see this smell create them in me anyway.

The cinnamon was so alluring, but I'm afraid this perfume and I can never be... So, does anyone know of a wearable fragrance with cinnamon in it?








And finally, a perfume that seems to divide women and bring out strong emotions from us all. People either love it or hate it, there's no middle-of-the-road here.

According to Sephora, this was the fragrance that set oriental gourmands off, and while I generally tend to love everything in this category, upon first try this one had me exclaim "What the heck?!?! Burnt pine and rotting pineapples?!?!?!" and use quite a few expletives while running to the bathroom to wash the whole thing off.

Next day I decided not to do the exact same thing I dislike about others after all: I gave it another chance and sprayed it on again around noon. A few minutes went by (excruciatingly slowly) and most of the exclamation marks disappeared from above my head. Whew. After a good half an hour I began to smell something much more akin to chocolate, but the predominant note on my skin over the course of several hours turned out to be musk. It was quite pleasant actually, and by the time 6 PM rolled around it was a musky, soapy, warm and clean kind of smell with hints of sweetness here and there.

I think I can safely say that Angel is the weirdest perfume I've ever come across in my life, but I'm willing to experiment with it further, because there's something about it that doesn't allow me to just write it off as another 300 HUF that went down the drain. My ultimate goal is to make it smell the way its box does, just on my skin: a mix of cocoa, baby-powder and flowers.

A word of warning though to anybody who's planning to try it for the first time:
This is a very concentrated perfume and should be used very, I repeat very sparingly: I used half a drop and it was still overpowering in the beginning. Also, it might not be the best idea to just spray it on in a department store and then throw a hissyfit. Get a sample, take it home, be prepared to gag when you first put it on, but persevere and you'll find it's not as bad as it initially seemed to be. It's a fragrance that is unique in its own way and should be treated as such: it can either function as a perfectly legal biological weapon, or you can tame it and make it become your best friend. Your choice.



Stuff I'm planning to get next time:

• Burberry Brit
• Chanel Chance
• Thierry Mugler Alien
• Guerlain Insolence (just to be able to use it again: it invokes some very nice memories)
• Clinique Simply
• Armani City Glam

Whew! That was a lot of typing... :-)

I'll probably spark some controversy with my subjective little reviews above, so now I'd like to hear your opinion on these fragrances. If you've smelled, tried, or ever owned any of them, please do share your two cents with the rest of us.

Take care!
Izar