Buying stuff from Alverde is a rather hit or miss affair: some women like their stuff (me included, most of the time), some not so much. Complaints from members of the latter group include (among others) that Alverde's products smell weird, and I must concede that they're right: most of Alverde's products do need a little getting used to smell- and texture-wise.

However.

*pregnant pause*

I really can't imagine anyone not liking the smell of this:




That bottle up there is Alverde's newest and, as far as I know, limited edition body oil scented with blood orange and passionfruit (also known as 'maracuja'). :) It's a blend of many fine vegetable oils such as soy, olive, sweet almond, jojoba and sunflower, and it has such a zesty fragrance that every time I sniff it I go thirsty. (I dunno, some scents just have that effect on me. ^_^) It has this incredibly sweet orangey fragrance that reminds me of a type of orange-flavored hard candy I used to eat when I was a kid. The candy itself actually was shaped like orange slices, came in orange and yellow colors, and I suppose it was perfect to shut kids up as it was much too big to fit into the mouth of an average child. (And it might also be responsible for the Pavlovi-reflex I seem to have developed for zesty fragrances... :-)

Anyway, the oil comes in a matte glass bottle which has ridges on both sides so as to prevent it from slipping out of your hand. (The bottle is in a box, but I managed to throw it out before taking a picture, jeesh...) The oil itself has a really nice consistency, although perhaps it's just a teensy-weensy bit thicker than I would prefer my body oils to be. It's definitely more viscous than jojoba oil, probably about as thick as almond oil.

It feels really nice on my skin ( I apply all my body oils and butters right after taking a shower while my skin is still wet), but as with all body oils my gripe with it is that I just can't spread it in a thin enough layer. (NOT Alverde's fault though!!!) My solution to that is creating all sorts of yummy body scrubs: take a scrubbing agent, add some fragrant body oil (all other goodies are optional) and treat your whole body with it while still in the shower. Somehow, with the help of the added particles I'm able to spread the oil/butter in a micro-thin layer on my body and it feels just like having grown another (much softer) layer of skin to protect me in the cold, hard winter.

All in all, I can only recommend that you try this body oil if you can get a hold of it. The scent itself is enough to make you fall in love with this stuff, I promise, aaand it's perfect for massages too. ;-)

Ingredients: Glycine Soya (Soy) Oil, Passiflora Incarnata (Passionfruit) Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Heliantus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Parfum, Limonene, Linalool, Citral, Citronellol

Price: 1200-1300 HUF??? (yikes, I honestly don't remember) for a 100 ml bottle
Available: in Drogerie Markt stores only
Rating: 5 out of 5  

I'm one of those (seemingly) crazy chicks who use sunscreen even in winter, reason #1 being that I use chemical exfoliants every day (or rather night) which thin my skin considerably and expose it to more sun damage, while reason #2 is that every time I look at my Mother I am reminded of the cr*ppy genes I carry and want to give my skin all the support I can in fighting off aging, the cause of which, as we all know, is sun-damage. (I also feel love, gratitude and a general warmth near my heart when I look at her, but I really do think that's self-evident. :)

Believe me, I will get to my point. Eventually.

So we all know that Tinosorb molecules (the active ingredients in Bioderma sunscreens) are oily (or at least NOW we all know ;-), and also that oily stuff is best removed by... well, oil. Now, in April I still had a job and had the luxury of not really having to think twice about shelling out around 4000 HUF for an oil cleanser. (This oil cleanser, to be more precise.) Nowadays, however, I don't, so while I did allow myself to go a little crazy with the X-mas money I got from my Dad and placed a Silk Naturals order, I have not yet reached such levels of insanity that would justify throwing 5000 HUF out the window for a ratty 200 ml bottle of sunflower and almond oil, plus some emulsifier. (Hmm, I hear emulsifiers are more expensive than diamonds these days...... Not.)

I've been searching high and low for an affordable alternative in the past few months, but whatever I found was usually either one of the following:

• not available in Hungary
• available on EBay, but insanely expensive
• available on EBay, doesn't even cost much, but seller ships for a ridiculous fee
• available on EBay, is affordable and P&P is acceptable, but...
• ... it contains mineral oil
• ... it contains silicone (O_o ???)
• ... isn't really the best candidate for the job after all.
  

I almost caved and bought the d*mn thing again when inspiration struck. Actually, it was one of Ladybird's comments about sometimes using Bioderma's cleansing milk to remove makeup and sunscreen. Alas, that stuff has mineral oil in it, but the idea stuck in my head and from then it was only a matter of time before the following conversation ensued in my mind:

Me#1: - "We've been a self-proclaimed Alverde girl for a while now, right?"
Me#2: - "Right!"
Me#1: - " That brand has always had something to help us in situations like this, right?"
Me#2: - "Right!"
Me#1: - "So why ever shall we not look around among their products and see if they have something that can help us in our current predicament?"
Me#2: - "Errrrr... Right!!!"

And boy were "we" right...!

Here's the little darling, Alverde Reinigungsmilch Wildrose:



It's a cleansing milk with wildrose extract and a really nice list of ingredients ('alcohol' tagging along somewhere at the end of it, hooray).

For me, the typical way to use a cleansing milk has always involved copious amounts of cotton pads and swearing, so I was a wee bit hesitant about buying this, but then I had a great idea: I would use this stuff exactly as I used my cleansing oil.

And it WORKED!!!

1. Remove most of the grime with micellar solution (and a cotton pad...).
2. Rub in oil/milk, wet hands, massage face with wet hands, wet again if necessary, rinse.
3. Wash with foaming cleanser.

Yeah, you heard it right: exactly as I would use a cleansing oil. I spread it on dry skin, and though it will sink in a bit and become dry pretty fast, have no fear, because once you wet it, it'll be slippery again and really nice to give your face a massage with. It removes all of the remaining dirt/foundation/eyeshadow/mascara/sunscreen and can be easily washed off with water with practically no residue left.




It's a white creamy substance, but not thick at all. Its consistency reminds me of a daytime moisturizer and it would probably double as one if it weren't for the small amount of sugar tenside in it. It also smells of roses which is always a bonus and I didn't break the bank either. :)

I too was skeptical about this (meaning lots of little conversations between Me#1 and Me#2 before I finally committed to buying it), but Alverde's cleansing milk has proved to be an excellent alternative to L'Occitane's Almond-Apple Cleansing Oil and has become a staple in my collection.

Thanks Ladybird!

Where to get it: in Drogerie-Markt stores exclusively
Price/amount: 799 HUF for a 150 ml bottle
My rating: 5 out of 5
Ingredients:


 

I don't know what the weather is like where you live, but here it's been raging at us for a week now: high wind, rain, cold (below 10°C/50°F), and darkness all over the country. It came out of the blue, and sooner or later I'll have to accept that summer is officially over and dig my winter clothes out of the wardrobe.

As I mentioned in a previous post I don't mind the greyness that much: it feels like a cozy blanket has descended on the city and I can walk among the crowd unnoticed. For those who are not particularly fond of this kind of weather, here's something you can play with: colorful, smells good and protects your skin from the cold weather.

Alverde have really proved their mettle with their latest products. I'm nowhere near the end of trying them all, but I've been using a few and I'd like to share my findings with you.

These were the products I was most curious about, and I'm happy to say that all of them have met my expectations.



Let's start with the two body products.

This has got to be their most liquidy lotion to date. (I just wonder why they can't produce something similar for facial moisturizer.) It's pink and smells exactly like their facial moisturizer with acerola cherry and carrots (=Vitamincreme Acerola Karotte).

Somehow Alverde's body lotions are the only ones that keep my skin hydrated during winter. Bioderma has some really cool body lotions and I also really liked La Roche Posay's Lipikar, but I'm on a tight budget now and don't exactly have the money to spend on those products. Alverde's products have always worked for me, and this one's no exception. Every time I put it on in the morning (on slightly damp skin) I can practically hear as my skin drinks it all up and gives a contented little sigh afterwards. It sinks in fast and leaves only an extremely thin layer of oil on my skin which, contrary to what you might think, does not feel like a layer of oil at all. It's more like a protective barrier that feels velvety and doesn't allow my skin to tear itself apart from dryness.

So far this stuff has even kept my hands silky soft, but for extended periods spent outside in the cold weather I recommend Alverde's new body butter to be used as a hand-cream.

Ingredients:
Aqua, Alcohol, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (almond) Oil, Vitis Vinifera (grape) Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (jojoba) Oil*, Butyrospermum Parkii (shea butter)*, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Palmitic Acid, Stearic Acid, Xanthan Gum, Parfum**, Sodium Lactate, Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Tocopherol (vitamin E), Helianthus Annuus (sunflower) Seed Oil, Lactic Acid, Vaccinium Macrocarpon (cranberry) Fruit Extract, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Lithospermum Erythrorhizon (borago-like plant) Root Extract, Linalool**, Limonene**, Geraniol**
*ingredients from certified organic agriculture
** from natural essential oils






Like I mentioned above, this doubles as a superb handcream. Since I like to carry some around with me in my handbag and have an empty 30 ml pump-bottle laying around, I'm considering mixing the two (the body butter and the lotion) to create a cream that will both moisturize and protect my hands. (And not annoy above mentioned pump bottle too much. Aaaand smell like walnut cake with cranberry sauce on top. And... No more wishes. :-))

Anyway, what can I say? I'm glad I bought this one. :)

True, in the beginning I was somewhat hesitant about the the smell: it had something in it that reminded me too much of a product I hated because of its smell (Alverde Körpercreme Mandel Teerose). Somehow, though, my initial aversion to this product quickly faded away as I gradually began to tolerate and then later like its scent, and also because I soon discovered how much my skin and this product like each other. Well, who am I to argue with my skin, right? So now this body butter and I are best buddies: I put it on before I got to bed in the evening and I swear it's more comforting than a teddy-bear. :) It's really does smell like a slice of walnut cake (or my favorite, "Eszterházy-cake") and makes my skin silky soft. It needs about 5-7 minutes to sink in, but afterwards it's perfectly grease-free and lovely.

I can't recommend it enough. :)

Ingredients:
Aqua, Glycine Soja Oil*, Glycerin, Alcohol*, Cetyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil*, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter*, Theobroma Cacao Butter*, Olea Europea Oil*, Xanthan Gum, Calendula Officinalis Extract*, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Extract*, Rosa Damascena Flower Water*, Tocopherol, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil, Ascorbyl Palmitate Parfum**, Limonene**, Benzyl Salicylate**, Linalool**, Citral**
*ingredients from certified organic agriculture
** from natural essential oils


There's not much to say about this one. Smells mouthwatering, though I'm not sure it actually reminds me of pineapples, but whatever... It's Alverde's usual shower gel formula, this time packed in a 200 ml tube.




An excellent brush and unbelievably enough it was a mere 700 HUF! It's fine, hard and easy to line your eyes with. Judge for yourselves:



Aside the ones I mentioned here, there are some other new products to look forward to:

Two new bubblebaths.


Cleansing foam with silk.


Two lip and cheek stains.

And a shower cream with figs and raw sugar. Yummy!

 

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. :)

A big thank you for the author of Innen&Außen for the excellent Alverde posts and swatches! ♥  

Now here's the big question: If your skin doesn't tolerate silicones in any form and amount, what should you prime your skin with before putting on mineral foundation? (What you should do if your skin doesn't tolerate mineral foundation at all is a different question altogether, one I still can't answer...)

There were days when I wanted to put on some of my EDM Light Almond foundation to make my skin look a bit smoother and more even. I used to have 2 options:

1. apply the powder foundation on skin that had been primed already with some moisturizer containing silicone, and my skin would look great for a while, but by the end of the day it'd be full of small zits that were only small glipses into what havoc aforementioned silicone would later wreck on my face (=cystic acne, anyone...?)
   
   
2. put on some silicone-free moisturizer, apply foundation and witness the great, big splotches of makeup on my face

Recently, however, I picked up Alverde's Tagesfluid Perle and my problems were immediately solved. Before buying it, I read some German reviews, and one of the bloggers said about Alverde's Tagescreme Seide how she thinks it's very much like a primer, sinking in instantly and leaving behind no sticky residue, only silky soft skin ready to be made up. In a fairly comprehensive post about Alverde moisturizers I found some of them downright sticky and film-forming, others not so much, but even when there was no sticky residue, there was always something that just sat on my skin, no matter how inconspicuous it may have been. Not so with Tagesfluid Perle: it's the first Alverde face-cream that leaves absolutely no residue whatsoever, but sinks in almost instantly (especially if applied onto wet skin), and creates a perfect and even canvas for any kind of makeup to follow. There are absolutely no splotches of foundation, and it's actually a dream to put make-up on it. :-D

Now, about the name: Alverde is not very bright when it comes to naming their products, now is it? Their Feuchtigkeitsfluid Aloe Vera is supposed to be, as the name suggests, a "fluid". Let me tell you, however, that it's anything but. The same is true of Tagesfluid Perle.

Is this reeeeeally what a fluid is supposed to look like...?




I don't think so... :-S

Before you get disappointed and throw your newly-updated shopping list out the window, bear with me a little longer. This stuff may not be anywhere near liquid form, but it is a gel-cream of sorts, very light, absorbing into the skin with ease and staying quite matte throughout the day.

The scent is light, sort of aquatic and fresh (smells kinda like salt-water, actually), and thank heavens it disappears pretty fast too. (Aquatic scents and me just don't get on too well I'm afraid... ^_^ )

I wouldn't have bought it normally, seeing its ridiculously high alcohol content, but because I don't put on foundation very often either, I'm willing to make an exception and use it on those rare occasions after all. At some point along the way Alverde changed the formula of all their products, and now "alcohol" is sitting at 2nd and 3rd places on their INCI list, looking smug and bugging me to no end... Why the heck did they have to ruin something that used to be so good, I ask??? Their talk about all that alcohol having been derived from natural sources does not impress me much either... Alcohol is a severely drying and sometimes downright irritating ingredient, and where it comes from does not make any difference at all. Therefore, I can't really talk about its moisturizing properties, though I must admit it's not as bad as it may seem upon first glance at the INCI list. Still, I probably wouldn't even consider it if my skin were dry or sensitive, but as it is, my skin's oily and pretty tough, so I'm willing to risk it on occasion in exchange for its other benefits. :)

Where to get it: Drogerie Markt stores
Price: ~ 845 HUF
Amount: 50 ml (since it's Alverde's 20th anniversary, they gave an extra 20 ml)
My rating: 4 out of 5 (ditch the alcohol and I'll be willing to give it 5 ;-)

Ingredients:

Aqua, Glycerin, Alcohol (?!?!?!), Elaeis Guineensis (Kernel Oil), Olea Europaea (Oil), Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cetyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cellulose, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Butter), Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Oil), Maris Sal, Hydrolyzed Pearl (Extract), Xanthan Gum, Helianthus Annuus (Seed Oil), Tocopheryl Acetate, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Parfum, Linalool, Limonene, Geraniol, Citronellol, Citral, Coumarin


 

Well, not really, but every once in a while I get this urge to buy some pretty things for myself and not spend 3-4000 Forints in the process. That's where Drogerie Markt comes in. :-) It's not a Bergdorf Goodman or a Sephora, but it's still a lot of fun, and time and time again I re-descover their brand called Alverde and realize that it wasn't for nothing that I had kept buying their products before I turned to more high-end brands like Bioderma, Avéne, or Clinians. (Sorry, my financial situation doesn't allow me to get any "higher" than that right now... :-)

Let me show you today's haul:

What I both love and hate about Alverde is that they keep introducing new product lines and yummy new concoctions all the time. On the one hand, this often makes for a refreshing change and satisfies my need to try new thing all the time. On the other hand, unless you stock up on a lovely new product that has captured your heart (and nose), at some point in the future you'll find it gone from the shelves, allowing you yet another chance to practice the find art of "letting go"...

I hadn't been to DM for a good while, and when I stepped foot in one of their stores close to where I live this morning, I noticed with not-so-thinly-veiled excitement (Can you say "Squeeee!!!"?) that some of their products had got a makeover while others were completely new to me. But of course, the beauty-blogger in me got a little crazy (in an innocuous sort of way) and went on a rampage (a silly sort of rampage, mind you) to discover things herself.

The first thing that grabbed my attention was that Alverde's soaps got a makeover. They used to have lame packaging and even lamer scent and didn't appeal to most people I know (me included). Now their rose and lavender soaps might still smell boring and old-ladyish, but they have added two new soaps, one of which I have already had the pleasure of buying and trying. The two new scents are Grapefruit&Lemon and Pomegranate, though I haven't yet seen the second one around, just read on a forum that it exists.







Above you can see the end result of a silly photo shoot I conducted with my new favorite soap. :-) It was a lot of fun, although why I'm fixated on this lemony piece of goodness I don't know... Maybe it's the fact that it looks like a humongous piece of candy with its semi-opaque yellow stripes, and also that it smells like a fresh, ripe piece of grapefruit ready to be devoured. And oh, devour it I would if it weren't for the fact that it'd just give me the hiccups... ^_^

It truly does smell like something LUSH would come up with: no artificial smell in the background, there's absolutely nothing unpleasant about this 100 g soap despite the 0.7 € price tag. The ingredients list looks pretty harmless too and the soap itself is no more drying than any other soap on the market.

Verdict: I simply love it and will most likely hunt down the pomegranate version too while stocking up on this one as well. :-)

Sodium Palmate, Aqua, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Sorbitol, Coconut Acid, Parfum, Citrus Paradisi Fruit Juice, Limonene, Linalool, Phytic Acid, Sodium Chloride, CI 47005 / 77891






Oooh, this reminds me of Alverde's gel cleanser I used to love so much! (I bought several tubes of it back then which is a truly momentous thing if I say so myself.)

It has this gooey, gloopy consistency; it's like some sort of marine lifeform sitting in your palm waiting to do wonders for your skin. The fragrance is lovely: warm and sweet, with notes of vanilla and something mildly citrusy in there, the two of them together forming a pleasant and harmonious whole.

I also bought a shower mitten by DM's own brand Ebelin (sorry, no pic!), which is surprisingly soft compared to the much pricier one I bought at Douglas a while ago. The shower gel and this mitten are a winning combination: they exfoliate while being gentle to my skin.

All in all, this new shower gel turned out to be a lovely surprise, well worth its price (~1.4€/250 ml), my only grievance being that it contains alcohol.

Aqua, Alcohol, Glycerin, Coco Glucoside, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Coco-Sulfate, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Vanilla Plantifolia Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Extract, Citrus Tangerina Oil, Parfum, Citral, Citronellol, Limonene, Linalool







Again, it's not the first time that I have bought this facial scrub, and although I do have St. Ives' Apricot Scrub at home, I really don't think that that one is gentle enough to be used on one's face. True, I swore vengeance on physical exfoliants a while ago, I realized that I still need to use one every once in a while (i.e.: once a week or every two weeks) for the sake of removing dead skincells completely from my skin. (I am planning to try microfiber cloths though...)

This scrub is basically a handful of silica beads and a little bit of linden extract mixed into a natural base of apricot kernel oil, shea butter and olive oil, and it's very gentle on your skin so people with less sensitive skin might be able to use it daily or every two or three days.

The scent is pretty much impossible to describe: it's the slightest bit sweet with some herbal undertones in it, and there's an additional element that brings to mind small, scrubbing particles diligently working to polish up your skin and make it glow. Well, the smell doesn't lie: that's exactly what this scrub does. :)

Aqua, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Glycerine, Palmitic Acid, Stearic Acid, Parfum, Silica, Prunus Armeniaca Kernel Oil, Coco-Glucoside, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Olea Europea Oil, Tilia Cordata Extract, Alcohol, Sodium Hydroxide, Tocopherol, Limonene, Linalool






I reviewed this once already about a year ago, and my opinion hasn't really changed since then: it's still essentially a lovely splash of rosewater that can be applied onto your face, hair or even body. I say "body" because this one seems to have a stronger smell and can thus be effectively used as a light everyday scent, which also moisturizes your skin to some degree. The packaging got a nice makeover and the ingredients list has a new item on it: silver citrate. It's colloidal silver that is used as a preservative here, and while some might have scruples about this particular ingredient, I really don't think it can do much harm in such small amounts. (Do share your opinion and knowledge with us though! I'm pretty much undecided about this whole colloidal silver issue, so any info is welcome and thanked for.)


Well, that's it for today. It was a fun post to write, probably because of the fun (and cheap!) products I got to enjoy and review. (What is it with people and getting more stuff for the same amount of money anyway? )


Now take a look at the chocolate truffles I made for Dad's B-Day and run to get your own fix! :-D



 

I promised you yesterday that I would soon return to the DM store in Europark and get some more Alverde makeup. Today, after teaching, I went and got myself a lipstick in Shiny Terra and a lipgloss in Cool Red. I also managed to look around a bit better, and I already have a few other Alverde makeup items on my list of things to buy in the near future.

In this post you'll find:

• reviews of all three products I've bough so far
• the ingredients list of Alverde's makeup line
• a list of prices in Hunagarian Forint (for my curious Hungarian visitors)
  

This is what I have so far.








Well, I'm happy to report that I've found yet another HG lip product.







I think I've been dreaming of a lipgloss like this all my life, I just didn't know it. Yes, yes, I know, it wasn't so long ago that I couldn't stop raving about EDM's Cozy Night lipgloss, but this one's even better.

This gloss is like having jojoba oil on your lips: extremely moisturizing, and as sticky as previously mentioned oil. (That is, it's not sticky at all. The wind could be raging, and you could have all your hair blown into your face, and you still wouldn't have to move a finger to extricate it from the clutches of your lipgloss.)

Also, it's somewhat more pigmented than EDM's Cozy Night and more glossy as well, though still not so much as to look unnatural. Colorwise it's very similar to Cozy Night: a beautiful plum red with a barely there cool undertone, which only serves to counteract the warm one, making this a perfectly natural my-lips-but-better shade. It's also a somewhat brighter shade, which makes it a cross between EDM's Cozy Night and Bourjois' Rouge Sunset.

Here, take a look! :-)



I couldn't detect any kind of taste (good thing in my book), but it did make me raise an eyebrow by smelling exactly like Mum's moisturizer (Sante Feuchtigkeits Creme Bio-Sanddorn + Papaya). It's not an unpleasant scent, however, so I just shrugged it off and kept admiring it in the mirror. ^_^






This one looked so much better in the store... (Oh how many women had uttered this sentence before me!)

It's a brownish-mauveish-beigeish mix with subtle shimmer. (Do forgive me for raping the English language like that...)

Also, it's a bit on the dry side, and when I got home, my lips were in no condition to wear lipstick, yet I put this on, because I couldn't wait to see what it was like. Well, guess what you get if you mix cracked lips with a dry lippie... After thoroughly exfoliating my lips and applying a little lipbalm (LUSH Chocolate Whipstick), I gave it another go and was pleasantly surprised to see that I finally have a pretty beige lipstick to go with smokey-eyes.







 

I don't have much time to write today, so I'll just bring you up-to-date on things.

The reason you haven't heard from me for a good while is that I've been having some trouble with my eyes recently.

You see, about six years ago it turned out that my retina likes to detach itself from the surrounding tissue and gets a kick out of scaring me to death by producing small holes and tears near the periphery. Nothing that modern medicine cannot deal with though: the doctor has to seal the many layers of the retina together by burning the area around the tear with a highly focused laser beam, which will leave scars on the tissue, which will, in turn, keep those layers together and basically makes sure that I don't become blind anywhere in the near future.

A few weeks ago I noticed a slight loss in my field of vision and had to have another laser surgery. It's not serious in the sense that it only takes about 5-10 minutes, and patients are allowed to go home right after the treatment (mostly just to recover from the splitting headache caused by the flashes of intense light...), but I really didn't want to take a risk by reading more than necessary. The rapid eye movement that accompanies reading is not something that's very good for a freshly burned retina, so I had to cut down on it and do only as much as was essential for my job as a teacher...

Anyway, I'm back now, and have lots of new stuff to report on, but I postpone that to Friday, because it's 22:17 here in Budapest, and I still have some housework to do, and hope to get in a good eight hours of sleep as well. :-)

I just want to thank my dear friend Grayburn for the quick message she sent me two days ago: you're great and thank you for thinking about me! A "Thank you!" and a big hug to Seeker for another award she gave me a few weeks ago. I haven't forgotten about it, and of course, I'm honored. *hug*

Another big, big hug goes out to Bagaela, who sent me a parcel full of "yummy" stuff which, in my case, can only be cosmetics. I got a very generous sample of ArtDeco's famous eyeshadow base and lots of Bioderma samples (mostly sunscreen). Among them, there was a 5 ml sample of Bioderma's Sensibio Light moisturizer, which I liked so much that I bought the full size product a few days ago, and I'm really very happy with it, so thank you dear! More on Bioderma soon!

Another great piece of news is that starting today the long-awaited Alverde make-up line is finally available in Hungary. I saw the stand in a nearby Drogerie Markt store and quickly checked out the products. My first impressions:

• The packaging and design is really cute, looks even better in real life.
• Not many colors to choose from, but hey, this is not Chanel, or Bourjois, or EDM...
• People in the Alverde laboratory obviously haven't heard about olive skintone yet...
• The lip products (especially the glosses) feature some really natural colors: I can hardly wait to go back tomorrow and buy a few items!
• Their kohl eyeliner pencils are a bit too soft for my liking, but they're very pigmented. (Yeah, I got myself a brown one today.)

I also bought a facial cleanser by Clinians, containing mandelic acid: I think it'll be my morning cleanser as it's very gentle, but I didn't have much luck with it when trying to remove makeup. (I didn't expect it to perform well in that area, so that's okay.)

Whew! So much for today, I guess. Talk to you tomorrow! Till then, I'll let you have a few glimpses into my life nowadays. ;-) Enjoy!

Lots of love,
Izar





















































On an unusually cool summer day, Munchkin decided that my bed is the perfect place to get cozy and warm. We weren't happy...









My preciousssssssss.... My second attempt at baking (the first one was kinda forgettable, though the family gobbled it up), and I'm proud to say it's my own recipe. And that it was gobbled up even faster than the first batch. :-)



Third attempt, this time a traditional Scottish cookie. This one's yummy too, just tastes a little bit like ghee (I think I used way too much butter).  

Hi gals!

Back in February I wrote about Alverde's new make-up line, which back then was not yet available in Hungary. Well, it still isn't, but to all of you who were interested back then I can tell that according to the people at the Hungarian Drogerie Markt, Alverde's make-up items are going to be introduced here on 4th September.

On another note: I recently blogged about the arrival of my most anticipated brand Bobbi Brown to Hungary, and how Douglas is planning to bring in a few other brands as well. Now we know what they are:

• Bobbi Brown (make-up)
• La Mer (skincare)
• Giorgio Armani (make-up)
• Kanebo (skincare and make-up, but only in August)
• Rancé (fragrances)
• Yves Saint Laurent (skincare and make-up)
• Frederic Fekkai (haircare)

The list looks really exciting! I'll keep you posted!

Cheers,
Izar  

I've been planning this post about Alverde facial moisturizers for a while and it's been ready for ages, it's just that I could never get myself to type it in as I usually write my posts by hand and this particular one turned out to be pretty long. However, after a day in our summer cottage and a cup of strong coffee I feel I can tackle anything. :-)

My skin type (and point of view):

1. combination skin (oily at the T-zone: nose, forehead, cheeks, chin)
2. tends to be quite dry around the edges
3. oily but oftentimes not moisturized enough, especially after washing
4. prone to zits and blackheads
   

I'll start my review with the lightest lotion of the six and end it with the thickest.