Nope, no typo in the title. It was intentional. :-)

Today I'm going to show you some things that I'd probably adore if I had the money to buy them, or if they were available in Hungary.

Price: n/a (Couldn't find the product on their website...)

Should I spell it out? G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S ! ! !
By the way, it is available in Hungary (at least it was the illustration on the coupon in the April issue of Glamour Magazine), I'm just too frugal at the moment to even think about buying it. :-P


HOLD ME
LES FLEURS MAKEUP BAG



Available here for $100.
(You can choose from 4 designs.)
It's what I'm looking for in a makeup bag: easy to wash, holds my brushes, has a spacious interior and it's pretty in a not in-your-face kinda way.
(Image taken from http://holdmecompany.com)



DIOR
CRÉME APRICOT
FORTIFYING NAIL CREAM



Price: $23
There was this post on Blogdorf Goodman that got me smitten with this stuff. There's just something about a rich, peach-colored cream that lures me in and doesn't let go until... Well, either until I actually purchase it (which, considering the price is highly unlikely), or find some other stuff to lemming. :-D
(Image taken from Sephora.)



HOURGLASS PRODIGY
LIPGLOSS


Price: $26.
All that science fiction I read and watch has made me a sucker for everything high-tech and ultra-modern, and Hourglass's Prodigy lipgloss definitely fits that bill. I can imagine how it would fit into my palm smoothly and how I would grab every chance to flaunt it in front of my colleagues... Mwahahahah!
Okay, I probably wouldn't, 'cause I'm not that evil, but still, it's definitely something that'd be nice to own.
(Image taken from www.hourglasscosmetics.com)

This post is the result of a heap of small things happening at the same time on Sunday:

• I was just writing a post for this week...
• ... listening to Depeche Mode's album 101 when...
• ... Miss Munchkin burst in* through the door and demanded that I play with her...
• ... so I started to chase her around the flat (which is a pretty big feat considering our flat in 49 m2)...
• ... and suddenly a song came on that, despite it being one of my favorite ones, I had completely forgotten about until then.
• At the same time, the sun came out of hiding and reminded me of all the pleasant things in my life, all the great things I am planning to do.
  

1. ♥ The song in question: Nothing by Depeche Mode.
   
   
   
   
2. ♥ My Also Vandini Sensitive hand cream. During the short time I've had it, it saved my hands from the cold, bitter wind on more than one occasion. Love it: the scent, the texture, the formula, the way it makes my hands silky soft! Thanks Ladybird! :-D
   
   
3. ♥ The guided bus tour I went on last Saturday. I saw Budapest (my home-"town") in an entirely different light and have an entire list of places I want to go back to and check out again.
   
   
4. ♥ The LUSH shampoo and conditioner I'm going to buy this week. I've been pining after Veganese for a while now, because I'd finally realized that it's the only stuff on the face of the planet that makes my hair shiny. I used up several bottles in the past and then started experimenting with other conditioners, but I'm starting to think that it was all in vain.
   
   
5. ♥ Tretinoin. I love the stuff. It's got rid of my cystic acne for good, has made my skin smooth and its tone more unified, and has even cleared my face up for a few weeks before some still unidentified stuff messed it up again in Nuremberg. But it's starting to calm down again... :-DDD
   
   
6. ♥ Star Wars. I've been doing a Star Wars marathon these last couple of days (one movie per night) and love being transported into this imaginary world of heroes, villains, aliens, princesses, "scruffy-looking nerfherders", spaceships and wise, green little midgets. ;-)
   
   
   
7. ♥ My salary. Not that it's that much, but it gives me a freedom I haven't really had before. I'm going to visit museums, go to the theater/opera once of twice, and see a movie or two as well. Oh, and I'm soooooo going to buy myself a pair of good quality sunglasses the first chance I get. :)))

Sometimes even the prospect of good things to come can make me happy. Like yesterday, when I discovered another German blog full of really nice reviews and swatches.

[I'm on a roll nowadays: I've realized that 1.) there are excellent German blogs out there reviewing brands that are actually available here in Hungary, and 2.) with a good dictionary and some time invested I usually manage to understand 100% of what they're saying. It seems like all those German lessons weren't for nothing after all.]

On Innen&Außen I found tons of pretty new Alverde products that I've never seen before, but I'm hoping to find at least some of them in our DM drugstores eventually.

1. ♥ The new Alverde Clear product line: All right, it is already here in Hungary, but I haven't managed to get a hold of their moisturizer and mask yet, which irks me to no end. :-D I do, however, own the cleanser and will soon write a review about it. (It's very good actually.)
   
   
2. ♥ Alverde shower gel with chocolate and peppermint (or moroccan mint?): Despite my hatred for all thing minty, I absolutely adore After Eight (or any kind of mint thins for that matter), so it's really no wonder I should jump with joy at the mere knowledge that such an Alverde shower gel exists. Thus I'm begging whichever deity concerns him/herself with such flimsy and profane things as the avilability of certain cosmetic brands in Hungary that it be brought in here soon (my arbitrarily set deadline is December 1), or I won't be held responsible for the things I do... *ominous glare*
   
   
3. ♥ Alverde hand cream with cranberry and a shower cream with macadamia nut oil: A dream come true really: a hand cream from Alverde that doesn't smell like calendula and lard, and a shower cream that might actually be able to lock in some moisture... :) (Also, check out the new palettes!)
   
   
4. ♥ A new eyeliner set (gel liner and bent brush): I've always wanted to try a liquid eyeliner so here's the opportunity to do so. By the way, I find that brush particularly appealing.
   
   
5. ♥ New haircare products: There's a line with green coffee for fine hair, then one with avocado and grapes for people with coarse and over-processed hair, and another with walnuts and maroon for brunettes, and finally one that contains honey and hopflower recommended for blondes. A hairmask with lemon-flower and apricot has also been introduced: it's meant to help people with brittle and lustreless hair.
   
   
6. ♥ Some fascinating makeup products: This round-headed mascara, for example (Givenchy has something like this I think), and a lip-plumper and a lip-base.
   (Quite frankly none of the above intrigue me that much, but we'll see...)
   
   
7. ♥ Oh and check this out: Alverde nail-polish! This might just be the beginning of a new trend. :)

What's not to love about products that have been tried, tested and have proven themselves worthy of being repurchased several times because they're so good and soooo what you've been looking for all your life.

1. ♥ LUSH Squeaky Green shampoo bar
   Until recently I had been using Ultimate Shine (by that time I might have bought it at least 5 times), but now I felt the need for a change and decided to pick this one up instead. The shampoo bar smells of wood, smoke and all things green (sort of like a forest really), but in the end my hair just smells clean and fresh and much nicer than with Ultimate Shine.
   
   
2. ♥ Silk Naturals lippies
   I've gushed enough about them already, so I won't get into it this time. Suffice to say is that they're the best lip products I've ever used, and however much I love lip products in general, I don't think I'll be tempted to try others very often.
   
   
3. ♥ Freeman Barefoot Peppermint and Plum foot lotion (and scrub)
   I wrote about the lotion here and here, and I still consider it the best foot lotion yet. The scrub is just as good, with lots of exfoliating particles and the candy-like scent. Since writing those posts I've realized that the 30 ml packet has a thin metal (probably aluminum) layer that keeps in scent much better than plastic so that's probably why the two smelled different.
   
   
4. ♥ Clinians Cleansing Foam Gel With Mandelic Acid
   Wrote about it here and here, and let me just add: I'm on my fourth tube now. ;-)
   
   
5. ♥ Bioderma Sensibio H2O micellar cleanser
   You can read a bit about this stuff in this post, but I've gotta confess I haven't gotten around to writing a real review about it yet. It's on my to-do-list though, so it'll probably appear soon on Binary Star. (I'm using my fifth bottle at the moment.)
   
   
6. ♥ Cléo Chocolate and Yoghurt shower cream
   The packaging is a bit different now, but the product is still the same yummy, chocolate pudding-scented goodness I wrote about here. (Third bottle. :-D)

We should do this more often. Instead of dwelling on the disheartening things in ours lives, why don't we sit down every once in a while and go over all the things, big or small, that cheer us up and help us stay sane?

As this is first and foremost a beauty blog, I'll try to keep future posts such as this on topic, but I'm sure that venturing into other areas once or twice will only do us good.

♥ ♥ ♥

1. ♥ My brand new Bioderma Photoderm Sensitive 50+ sunscreen: I’ve finally found a sunscreen with an impressively high UVA and UVB protection factor that, at the same time, is silicone-free and doesn’t make me break out. What’s more, it’s full of antioxidants and even has an ingredient that is meant to treat acne. Also, it only gives my complexion a very slight, almost unnoticeable, white tint and the shine is easy to keep at bay with Silk Naturals’ Oil Control Primer. I highly suggest that all people whose skin is acne-prone or haven’t been able to tolerate sunscreens up until now to give Bioderma’s Photoderm Sensitive a try. I have a fairly good hunch you won’t be disappointed with this one.
   (I’ll elaborate on this product in a future post.)
   
   
2. ♥ Coastal Scents 'Chisel Detail Mini Brush': As the name suggests, it’s originally an eyeshadow brush, but it’s too flimsy and bendy for me to use it for that purpose. For a while I ignored it and kept using my other CS brushes; recently, however, inspiration struck and I realized that it would serve very nicely as a lip brush. Then I thought it over and remembered that using a brush to apply lip products of any kind has never been (and never will be) a part of my makeup routine. At the same time, I was in search of the HG creamy concealer and thought I would also need to find a handy little brush to apply it with. From here on I suppose you can guess where my thought process led me. It’s the perfect concealer brush: nice and soft, allows for precise application, and it’s no bigger than a slightly oversized toothpick.
   
   
3. ♥ Alverde Anti-Age Lipstick in ‘Primrose’: I was a bit hesitant to buy this one because I already own another Alverde lippie and don’t much use it since it possesses every feature that made me hate lipsticks from the start: it’s thick, drying, accentuates every little line on my lips and is absolutely impossible to wear without some lipbalm underneath or lipgloss on top. Now this one is from a different line and is much creamier and more sheer, not to mention that the color goes wonderfully with my light olive skintone. It might just stop me from ordering yet another Silk Naturals lippie I’ve been craving: ‘Infatuation’. ;-)
   
   
4. ♥ A really cool discovery: according to which if I mix my two least often worn Silk Naturals lippies ‘Nectar’ and ‘Berry Nice’ (the former too brown, the latter too purple, and both too dark), then blot it a bit and apply a smidgen of clear lipbalm, I get a really-really lovely “my-lips-but-better” shade. Because I mixed a warm and a cool toned lippie, I got a go-to neutral shade, something that’s always welcome in my repertoire of makeup items. I will probably try to simplify this tedious process in the near future by actually melting and mixing the glosses used, then adding a drop of peppermint essential oil to the mix and finally pouring it into an empty lipbalm tube. I’ll let you know how it went.
   
   
5. ♥ Silk Naturals Oil Control Primer: Don’t you dare use this is you want shiny complexion that looks like an oil-slick. Otherwise, feel free to indulge in a pot. Just know that there are no miracles when it comes to controlling shine: no product will keep your face silky and matte for an entire day (that’s about 16 hours for me), but there are some that can significantly increase the number of oil-free hours you experience each day. :-D (More on this primer very soon. And by the way, I ordered the refill bag, so what you can see in the picture is the SN primer in an old Everyday Minerals pot. Thought you'd want to know. :)
   
   
6. ♥ Essence Simply Clean Anti-bacterial Hand Gel: It’s nothing special really, but since I’ve been traveling a lot lately, I can really appreciate a quick, hassle-free means to get rid of germs even in the absence of water. I don’t have many classes nowadays and have temporarily set up residence in our summer cottage while I patiently wait for fall to come, and with it lots of new projects and classes. One drawback of this is that because of ridiculous ferry schedules and multiple transfers, it takes almost 3 hours to reach Budapest, and vice versa. Also, the farther we move from the capitol, the less civilized our surroundings become, which in lay-man terms means that washing hands before a quick bite in the bus-stop is pretty much out of the question. No need to worry though: this gel is only 50 ml and easy to carry around in my bag, so I can make bacteria and other germs on my hands give a short little scream of panic and then promptly expire whenever I want.
   On a sidenote: any other such gel will do as they all contain alcohol in massive amounts, an ingredient which almost exclusively accounts for their antibacterial properties.
   
   
7. ♥ Essence Mobile Charm Mirror: It fits the bill and comes in handy when I want to touch up on my makeup and the mirror in the office bathroom is too far away. ;-)