The Beauty Bloggers Convention 2016

On the 23th of April, forty beauty bloggers all over Estonia got together in the restaurant called  Al Bastione. I was also among the forty.

The restaurant Al Bastione hosted us from morning to afternoon. In addition to the restaurant, the event was sponsored by some of Estonia’s cosmetic and skin care companies  We had an amazing opportunity to be part of their representative´s lectures about the newest beauty products in their lines.

Photo by Lauriina

Each beauty blogger also got a little gift bag. Well, not so little. The gift bag was quite big and impressive. So grab a drink, and make yourself comfortable. It’s going to be a loooooooong post.

Photo by Lauriina

Previous photos of the event are made by Lauriina. You can follow her blog here

Few words and pictures of the convention.

Al Bastione treated us with delicious pizzas and snacks, while John Lemon and Vitamin Well, made sure we weren’t dying of thirst. Vahvlihaldjad took care of our sweet tooth. Vahvlihaldjad in English would be waffle fairies. Isn’t that an adorable name? 🙂

 

 

 

Now let’s get into the products. 

 

 

NYX

I was so happy and excited when I saw NYX Baltics was one of the sponsors of the event. I´ve been waiting for them to enter our local market from the time I first saw the products, swatches, and the day I got my first butter lipstick.

From the gift bag I found three products from NYX.

Vivid Brights Liner in the tone Vivid Halo. It is a pastel yellow eyeliner. At first I was skeptical about the product, I have never been on good terms with liquid eyeliner, mostly because of my hooded eyes. It takes me quite an effort to draw a nice eye with a liner.

After eyeing it for a day, I decided to take a chance. I thought, if it works, then it’s good, if not then still, everything is good.

Boy, I was pleasantly surprised!

The brush was fine and precise. The handle was longer and thin, which made guiding the brush where needed, easy. I also liked that it dried quickly, and still was slow enough to apply smooth coverage with two brushings. The finish was matte yellow. I had to admit, it was still a slight challenge to get a nice eye, but it was easy enough not to give up. I think it is a good product for beginners in the liquid eyeliner world.

Butter Gloss in the tone Cherry Cheesecake. It is an orange lipgloss. At first I thought it would be in-your-face orange but luckily for me it was not. I loved how it had a milder tone on the lips than in the bottle. The lipgloss was easy to apply thanks to its doe foot applicator. I could reach to the corners of my lip as well, without smudging it over the lip line. I imagined if I wore a matching tone lip liner under it, the tone would be more vivid.

The tone is perfect for summer.

HD Studio Finishing Powder. On the NYX Cosmetics homepage it says “A miracle in a jar!” and I have to agree. The powder had a really really really really fine mill. If I was not careful with the brush and accidentally took too much on it, I might find myself in a powder cloud. If fairy dust was a real thing, it would look like that.

The powder set my foundation beautifully, giving it a matte, luminous glow. I have quite oily skin and sometimes it can get shiny throughout the day. With this powder I didn’t have to worry, It kept my skin’s shininess at bay without a problem.

To apply the powder, I used Real Techniques Powder brush. It grabbed the powder well and covered my whole face.

I am glad that this powder found its way into my gift bag. I love it!

I combined my Vivid Brights Liner with Butter Gloss lipgloss to get this look. As a foundation I used Covergirl Outlast Stay Luminous in the shade Classic Ivory 810, which I set with HD Studio Finishing Powder. I also used Lumene Mystic Volume mascara, but more about that product later.

 

 

Turbliss

From Turbliss I found a Bioactive Peat Toner. It is 100% pure peat water. It cleanses, refreshes, and tones the skin. The peat water is packed into a dark glass bottle, and it has a spray pump for convenient use.

A few months back, I reviewed Turbliss´ Bioactive Face Mask for Problematic Skin. As I wrote there, one of the most important things is, not to let a peat mask dry on your face. It needs to be applied on moist skin and kept moist through those 5-10 minutes. The Bioactive Peat Toner is an excellent way to do that. The peat masks and the toner compliment each other well.

 

JOIK

From JOIK I got three products to use and test out.

Moisturizing Day Cream – It is a day cream with rosehip, wheatgerm, and carrot oil. The cream was in a bottle with a pump. It made sure that the cream wouldn’t be contaminated with bacteria or dust particles when I used it. For me, it took two-three pumps to get enough product to moisturise my skin.

The cream soaked into my face quickly. This makes it a good cream under my foundation for days when I don’t want to use a primer. I usually use Smashbox Photo Finish More Than Primer Blemish Control under my foundation, and I can easily say that this cream can do as good a job as the Smashbox primer.

When I decide to have a no-makeup day, I like when my face creams give me matte finish. It is unfortunate for me that it didn’t give me a matte finish. Since I have oily skin, my skin already looks shiny after a few hours. This is the reason I like when products have matte finish.

The cream had a slightly sweet scent but nothing overpowering. The colour was a nice sunny yellow, a good positive colour drop into our still grey mornings.

Regenerating Night Cream – It is a night cream with calendula extract, sea buckthorn, and jojoba oil. Like the day cream, this was also packed into a bottle with a pump. I prefer all my face creams and serums in a bottles with a pump. These two definitely got two thumbs up for that!

The night cream soaked into skin quickly, leaving a nice moisturized feeling. In the morning my skin had a healthy glow.  Sad thing is, it made my nose area slightly break out, but other than that, it was a good cream.

Another good thing about the packaging was, you can see when you start to finish the product. The inner workings of the bottle bring the product up as you use it. This guarantees you will get all the product from the bottle without wasting any. As you can see on the picture, I’ve used the night cream a few millimetres more than the day cream.

Overall, I think the day cream and the night cream are better for people who have dry skin.

Lemon & Vanilla Body Lotion – It is a body lotion with sea-buckthorn, and yoghurt extract. This product was in a small plastic bottle with a pump. Thanks to the pump it was easy to get the product out, without letting bacteria in. It smeared easily and soaked in quickly, and left my skin smooth and moisturised.

The scent was like a sweet lemon. I have to admit, at first I wasn’t a fan of the smell. It seemed to be too sweet. When I smeared it out on my skin, the sweetness got milder and I could sense the lemon too. After I was done moisturising my skin with the lotion, it had nice lemony scent to it.       

 

Nurme

 Organic Grapefruit Body Lotion – On the bottle it says “Provides a pleasant skin feel, excellent for mature, dry and, sensitive skin”. It did provide a pleasant skin feel, but about the rest of it, I don’t know. I don’t consider myself to have mature or dry skin. The body lotion moisturised well,  the product sunk in quickly and had a grapefruity scent.

All Natural Rosemary Hair Conditioner – On the bottle it says “Encourages hair growth, helps alleviate dry hair, and eliminates itchy scalp”. If it encourages hair growth I might notice in a few months, but it did moisturise dry hair tips. I don’t use conditioners on my hair roots or scalp, so I can’t comment on the third claim either. I think it applies more to the rosemary shampoo.

The conditioner was packed in the bottle with a pump. I usually like products in bottles with a pump, but not when I have to use them in the shower. When washing my hair, my hands are wet and slippery, which makes using bottles with a pump challenging. That is a minus for me.

The product itself had a rather strong herby scent. The consistency was thick like almost every other conditioner. It moisturised my hair and made brushing easy.

 

Protective Vitamin Lip Balm – It smelled like mandarin and lemon. The scent was pleasant and fresh. The lip balm glided easily on my lips and made them soft. It’s a good product.

MOSSA

Cleansing Micellar water with raspberry vitamins – On the bottle it says “Removes makeup, tones, and moisturises. With natural raspberry vitamins and hyaluronic acid”. Hyaluronic acid, in laymans terms, are anti-aging agents .They bind moisture, improve firmness of skin, and prevent any aging symptoms. I am not worrying about that yet though, it’s too early for me, but I don’t mind using a product with said agents in it if I like it.

The toner smelled like fresh raspberry water. It did it’s job well, although I had to use three cotton pads to get all my makeup off. After that I still washed my face with The Body Shop Tea Tree 3-in-1 Wash.Scrub.Mask, but the micellar water did most of the work.

Moisturising Antioxidant Day Cream with blueberry vitamins – It is a day cream which has a light, sweet blueberry scent. I liked that it came in a plastic container with a pump. The cream soaked into my skin quickly giving it a matte finish. It is a convenient product to take to a trip with you.

The cream is from Youth Defence series which is meant for more mature skin than mine. Although they say skin begins aging at 25, so I am golden. I like this cream.

BB Nude Skin Protector – It is a light BB cream which is good for days when a full face makeup isn’t needed. On the skin it felt nice, it applied easily and gave light cover. For me the tone was a bit too dark. I really needed a lighter shade. Despite the discolored tone, the consistency was nice, and if they had a lighter shade, I would use it.

Vitamin cocktail day cream – It is a good day cream. It soaked fast into skin and smelled nice. Between this and blueberry day cream, I would choose blueberry cream. The reason is simple, I like matte finish more.

Vitamin cocktail face oil – I was very skeptical when I saw the packaging of this sampler. I wasn’t wrong. To test this out was a messy experience. I would have liked it much more if it came in a small bottle or container. The plastic pouch got oily all over after the first use and then the oil was everywhere.

The oil itself had a good scent. I think it is better to use as a nighttime moisturiser if you are sleeping on your back. It didn’t soak in as quickly as I would have liked. I found it would be good to apply a few hours before going to bed. Then it can do its magic without you having to worry about getting it all over your pillow.

 

Lumene

True Mystic Volume mascara – It was a mascara which promised to give a mystic volume, hence the name. In reality, it gave volume, but it was not that mystic. I liked that the brush was rather large. The bristles were in two lengths which helped get the mascara everywhere it was needed. With one swipe I got all my lashes covered. With two-three coats it gave enough volume and length to consider lashes done. I also liked that my lashes didn’t clump together when I applied more than two coats. Throughout the days I´ve used it, I haven’t noticed any flaking or smudging.

The mascara came off easily with a makeup remover. I have heard some people remove it also with just water but that didn’t work for me. I found using a product to remove makeup easier.

Overall it is a nice everyday mascara, and I am definitely going to use it until it’s old or empty.

Arctic Glow Lip Oil – It was a very light lip gloss. The formula was smooth and only a bit thicker than an actual oil. Despite having a tone, (mine is in Dew), it was completely sheer on my lips. The appearance while wearing it was nice and glossy.

A huge minus for me with this product was the applicator. When I opened the tube, it looked like any other doe foot applicator. Then I applied it to my lips and I was confused. I actually took a closer look at the applicator. In the middle of the applicator was a little divet. I don’t know if that was the reason, but something made the applicator hard. It almost scraped the product off my lips when I applied it.

I wanted to like the lip oil because it looks pretty and has a cool name, but I didn’t.

 

Blistex

Intense Moisturiser Cherry – It is a lip cream with the vibe of childhood. On the lips it had a pale pink tone. While it moisturised, it looked nice too. The product had a sweet artificial cherry scent which took me back to elementary school. Back then I used cherry flavoured chapstick. It was a good moisturiser back then, but the scent is not for me anymore..

Protect Plus Lip Care – The product is a lip balm which has that “down to business” vibe. The packaging wasn’t fancy or flashy, it didn’t have any particular scent. It was what it was- it was a lip balm meant to sooth cold-chapped lips, form a wind-resistant shield, and give UVB sun protection.

At first, it tingled a bit. Later the tingling went away but the protective magic was still there. I liked this chapstick.

Intensive Hand Cream – After discovering my holy grail hand cream (The Body Shop Almond Hand & Nail Cream) I have become very picky when it comes to hand creams. I want it to be light and with a pleasant scent. This hand cream, unfortunately, didn’t make the cut.

The cream felt smooth and had discreet scent. It smelled like a classical hand cream.

The Blistex hand cream is glycerin based which made my skin feel heavy. It felt like my hands were covered with some kind of layer which didn’t soak in nor go away. I imagine this is the exact reason, why the cream is suitable in cold areas.  I know people who like this cream a lot, but it was not for me.  

 

Moshi

Lemongrass Mint Body Lotion – The lotion is packed into a plastic bottle with a pump. I think I have mentioned at least four times now, how I like when creams are in a bottles with a pump.

The consistency of the lotion was runny. It soaked in quickly and didn’t leave my skin sticky afterwards. Now, if you are sensitive to smells, you probably won’t like it at all. The scent was “in-your-face” type of strong. The mint scent was very overpowering and it lingered a while after using the lotion. Despite being a good moisturiser, I don’t see myself using it on more than few areas of my body at once.

 

Placent Activ

Shampoo and conditioner – When I read the tube, I thought that it was going to smell like medicine, but I was wrong. The scent was fresh and nice. The shampoo washed my hair well, and the conditioner did its job. With all that, there was a “but”. Maybe it is just me, but it made my hair full of static. It was just awful. I haven’t had that with any other shampoo in the past. I washed my hair twice with these and I think those will be the last two times. I just don’t have time to deal with fly away hair in my life.

 

Macadamia Professional

Blow Dry Lotion Thermo-Protector – The lotion smoothed, defrizzed, and gave thermal protection to my hair. It smelled nice and was easy to use. The formula was colour safe, as well. The lotion had a light control factor but it made handling hair easier.

I have used it few times now and I can tell you, I liked it a lot. I think in a few months, I will be able to say a lot more about it.

 

Lirene

Physio-Micellar Cleansing Gel for normal, allergic, dry face and under eye skin. The formula was soap free and I could use it in two ways. One way was to take the product on a cotton pad and swipe it around on my face to remove makeup. The other way was to apply it straight on my skin, rub, and rinse. When cleansing with cotton pad, rinsing was not necessary. I used it couple of times now and I am on the fence. I can’t tell yet if I like it or not. I mean, it did its job but I felt something was missing.

I liked that I could use it with or without water. I liked that it was in a bottle with a pump. I didn’t like that I had to cleanse my face twice with it to get that clean feeling.

On a positive note, it did remove makeup as promised. Like I said before, I’m still on the fence with it. Currently I am tilting to the “like” side.

 

Dr Irena Eris

Micellar Solution Makeup Removal – I liked this micellar water. It removed even the thicker makeup layer without a problem. The water had a fresh, slightly rosy scent. I loved that it didn’t make my skin feel oily after using it. I have noticed, a lot of micellar waters tend to do that. The packaging looked sleek and classy as well.

 

Disclaimer: I received this product for reviewing purposes. Opinions expressed are solely my own.

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Thank you for reading,

Adryana