Aliexpress Haul and Review

Hi everyone!

Lately I've been shopping a lot on Aliexpress.com and I've found some great stuff! A lot of the things I have bought are designer "dupes" or replicas. If you don't like replicas, then this post is not for you.

My goal with this post is to show people that there are great dupes out there, that looks very close to the real thing but cost a lot less. The best way I can describe it is "champagne taste on a beer budget", meaning you like expensive things but can't afford the huge price tag so you buy cheaper alternatives.

Anyway, on to the good stuff!

I've been wanting the Zooeva rosegold brush set for a very long time, but I never felt like I wanted to spend that much money on a brush set I wasn't sure I would use. So when I saw it on Aliexpress I quickly ordered it!

I ordered the set without the case which was a lot cheaper, but you can get the whole set with case or even just the case by itself.

The brushes are super soft and they all feel and look very much like the real thing. I highly recommend checking this set out, if you've been wanting to buy the real thing but don't want to spend that much money on it.

I got my set here

Recently I've been seeing a lot of these Chanel acrylic bags on celebrities and thought it would be a cute bag for formal events or even to spice up a boring outfit. However the real Chanel bag cost 9000$ and sells for even more on eBay! I would never in my wildest dreams pay that much for an acrylic box with a chain and logo on it, so when I saw this on Aliexpress for around 25$ I bought it right away!

The bag is absolutely stunning! The chain feels heavy and luxurious and the magnet close on the bag is perfect, and doesn't pop open on it's own. The seller has listed the measurement of the bag in the product description, but for easy comparison this bag fits my iPhone 6 perfectly!

I really love this bag, the only thing is the bump on the gold logo, but it's very small and not really noticeable when you wear it.

The bag also comes in black which I will also be buying in the near future!

I got my bag here

Lastly I got the Lorac Unzipped palette. I love the colors of this palette so much but since I can't buy Lorac in my country and the palette is expensive on it's own, there was no way I'd pay extra shipping to have this sent to me. So when I saw it on Aliexpress and looked up a couple reviews online I decided to buy it.

It's not a 100% dupe of the original Lorac palette, but I thinks it's very close. The top row isn't as pigmented as the bottom row but all in all I like the palette and the colors in it. The palette came with a small primer as well and that's pretty good as well.

(top row)

The top row is a bit powdery and not that pigmented, but I do think they are nice as crease and blending shades. The shimmer shades a good for all over the lid. 

(bottom row)

The bottom row is a lot more pigmented and feels nicer. These shades would be good for smokey eyes or even all over the lid.

If you don't mind buying and using makeup from China then I think this is a great palette. And I think I'll be getting some good use out of it. 

I got my palette here

Alright thats all I have for now, but I will be doing another post like this, since I have more stuff coming in the mail!

I hope you liked it, and found my review helpful.

~Kira

Bobbi Brown Corrector dupes!

I've featured these YSL dupes on my blog before, but just recently I found out that the two Bobbi Brown correctors I've been using are the exact same color as the YSL dupes. They are not texture dupes, the Bobbi Brown correctors are thicker and very creamy, and the YSL dupes are thinner in texture.

Honestly since I bought the YSL dupes I haven't touched the Bobbi Brown simply because I like the thinner texture. It's super easy to blend and the applicator makes it so easy to correct the right places without caking a lot of product on your face.

In the picture above you can see the color and how much alike they are. It's also easy to see that the YSL dupes gives more control in how much product you apply. 

From top to bottom:

YSL dupe in shade 2

Bobbi Brown in Porcelain Bisque

YSL dupe in shade 1

Bobbi Brown in Light Bisque

If you want to read my earlier review on the YSL dupes and get the link to the seller please click here.

I hope this was helpful!

~Kira

Best Shampoo for Oily hair + Dry shampoo

I've always had oily hair as long as I can remember. I used to always wash my hair every day, because my hair looked oily and dirty within just 8 hours of being in school or work. Every summer I'd try to wash my hair every other day but it didn't do any difference to my hair, it was still oily.

About 2 years ago I started using dry shampoo every other day so I didn't have to wash my hair so often, and doing that for a couple months made my hair less oily. Then about 6 months ago I saw the Klorane shampoo with nettle. It's a shampoo for oily hair and I saw a difference the first time I used it. It smells really bad in my opinion, but the smell doesn't stay in your hair when it's dry.

The day after using this I didn't feel the need to use dry shampoo, which is a big thing for me, since I always use dry shampoo on the days where I don't wash my hair. The shampoo doesn't lather up that much so I find myself using a lot more shampoo than I normally would, but I does a good job so I don't really mind. The texture is very liquidy and it's bright green (you can't really tell from the picture because I've used most of it already).

On the days where I need dry shampoo I use the Klorane dry shampoo with oat milk or the Batiste cool and crisp fresh. These dry shampoos are good at soaking up the oils and doesn't have a smell, which I prefer in my dry shampoos. The Klorane oat milk dry shampoo also comes in a tinted version which I also really like, it's very easy to blend into the hair.

I did try the Klorane Nettle dry shampoo from the same range as the shampoo but it smelled so much worse and stayed in the hair until you washed it out, and it didn't do any better than other dry shampoos.

I get my Klorane products from cocooncenter.co.uk
They ship worldwide, and have the best prices on French beauty products I've ever seen online.

Batiste should be pretty easy to find in most drugstores.

Hope this was helpful!

~Kira
 

Boscia Makeup Breakup Cool Cleansing Oil - Review

I've had a travel size of this cleanser for months, but I was afraid to use it since I didn't like the Boscia Detoxifying Black Cleanser (review here). But I've been pleasantly surprised by this product.

I has a scent of menthol in my opinion, though it doesn't irritate the skin which I like. It's easy to massage into the skin and it is really good at breaking up makeup and cleanse the skin. When you add a bit of water the cleanser turns milky and I think this really helps making the product easy to wash off and prevents you from having an oily film over your skin.

I do like this cleanser, but for the prize I think there are a lot of other cleansers out there that does the same thing for less money.
I've done a review on the Una Brennan cleansing oil and I think that's a good affordable option. (review here) 

I hope this was helpful

~Kira

Lip oils - comparison

My lips have been dry lately and I've started to use my lip oils more. Even though both products are lip oils there is a big difference between them.

Clarins make amazing lips products and these oils are no exception. They feel moisturizing on the lips, and give a glossy finish.

YSL made the tint in oils, but the oil is not as moisturizing as the Clarins oils, and honestly I don't like the smell of the YSL oil, to me they smell like chemical fruit.

The Clarins oils look like they would give a color to the lips but I don't see any color when applied to the lips.
YSL has a lot of color and they give a really nice tint to the lips if you choose one of the more vibrant colors like the two shown above.

If you're looking for a moisturizing oil that will hydrate and stay on your lips longer than a lip balm Clarins is the way to go. But if you want some color with a bit of gloss and moisture then go with YSL, if you don't mind their smell.

~Kira

Clarins - Radiance Plus Golden Glow Booster - Review

I've never been a fan of self tanners. I can't apply them right no matter how hard I try, so when I saw this I was curious to see if this was easier to apply.

I've put this to the test for a couple of months now, and honestly I have a love hate relationship with it. The first many times I tried it with a Clarins body cream and I hated it. It didn't sink into the skin. It would get streaky and if I scratched my leg the tan would come off.

Then I tried it with my Nuxe dry oil and now I love it! It sinks into the skin super fast and it doesn't transfer to clothes and the color is so much easier to get even because it's easier to mix the tanning drops into an oil instead of a cream.

I usually mix 6 drops of tanner into a coin size amount of dry oil and rub my legs with the mixture. My legs get a golden glow immediately and if I do the same mixture the next day my legs look visibly tan.

I usually just do the tan 2 days in a row since I find that it gives the most natural results for my pale skin. But you honestly wont get self tanner results with these drops. They're good for prolonging the tan you already have or just give the skin a healthy glow.

Clarins also do these drops for the face but looking at the ingredients it's the same product just in a smaller bottle, so if you want to try these tanning drops go with the big bottle, it'll work for both body and face and you'll get more product for your money.

All in all I do like this product as long as you remember that it's not going to give a whole lot of color, probably why they named it "golden glow" cause that's exactly what it will give you!

~Kira

Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette - Review

So highlighter is all the rage right now and I've seen this palette in a couple videos on YouTube, and people seem to love it. I've never really been into highlighters because of my oily skin, but since this is a drugstore item I thought I would give it a go.

First off, this is absolutely stunning inside and out. The shiny gold packaging makes it seem very luxurious and the colors in the palette are beautiful.

There is one cream highlighter a powder and two baked powders in this palette.

Ecliptic - cream bronze
Hemisphere - baked lilac
Subsolar - powder yellow
 Equinox - baked champagne gold

(bottom to top: Ecliptic, Hemisphere, Subsolar, Equinox)

On the box you get a guide on how to use every shade, but you can of course use any shade where you prefer. The directions on the box are - Ecliptic on the browbone, Hemisphere on the cheekbones, Subsolar on the bridge of the nose and Equinox on the cupid's bow. 

Personally I do not like to highlight the bridge of my nose, so instead I used Subsolar in the inner corners of my eyes and that looked very nice. I used the other shades as directed and I liked the look except Hemisphere didn't look that good with the brown blush I was wearing that day, so I would suggest matching Hemisphere with a pinky blush. The Highlighters does not show up as colorful as they are swatched in the picture, only Hemisphere has a slight pink purple hue when blended out, which is why I think it would look great with a pink blush.

I've heard people say that it is not possible to use the cream highlighter as an eyeshadow which is true if you're trying to use it as an eyeshadow base. I tired making an eyeshadow look with the cream highlighter as an allover color and dabbed a bit of the purple highlighter on top and it looked great! And it lasted like all my other cream eyeshadows with a primer underneath, but you will need a primer for these to stay on your eyes. 

I really love this palette and I think it has many uses, plus I've seen another blogger say that Equinox is a Becca Champagne Pop dupe, but she didn't include a picture of the two compared though she had both products, so I'll just take her word for it. 

I hope this was helpful!

~Kira