WINTER PRODUCTS, spy movies & bronze eyeshadows // Faves #11

Hey!

In this post I’m sharing my thoughts on a handful of awesome and not-so-great winter products, and a list of entertainment sources that have kept me sane during the most recent lockdown my country is still going through.
I know that I’m late sharing my favourites of the first two months of the year, as it is the middle of March already. The only thing I can say in my defence is that favourites posts are full of content, so they take more time to make than other posts! But they are also very informative and, I hope, entertaining.

How are you holding up? Would you like to chat about life, makeup, or anything else? If so, leave a comment on any of my posts, or DM me on Instagram @xocaligo!

✨ fave winter products ✨

Since the start of this year I’ve used more skin and body care products than makeup. Because of that, I have many product favourites and flops to share with you today!

Let’s start with the two makeup favourites.

My most-used makeup product, besides blush and concealer, is the H&M LE Tuscan Escape palette that I’ve included in my Project Pan challenge for 2021. The product contains a wide variety of eyeshadows, and I love that I don’t need to use another palette to make it work. The formula is still as great as it was when I first bought it nearly four years ago, and I can imagine using up almost all of the shades. I also like that it comes with a large, functional mirror, not one of those warped plastic pieces that doesn’t reflect anything!

The other makeup favourite I’ve used since December is the Douglas Plump & Gloss lip gloss, which I got as a Christmas gift from my sister. It has slight shimmer and tone that’s nearly invisible once applied, and the plumping effect is slight and not painful. The formula is quite thick, longlasting, and has almost no scent, though I feel a slight tinge of mint. Do you like plumping lip glosses? If so, which one is your favourite?

Over the past couple of months I’ve found some great winter products that help my skin fight against the unusually harsh weather conditions.

The first product I wanted to chat about is the Himalaya Herbals Anti-Wrinkle cream, which I use every morning and night to moisturize my face. The product has a wonderful scent, a slick lotion texture, and it hasn’t caused any irritation or breakouts on my skin. This cream works really well underneath makeup, though it creates a slick layer of product on your skin that’ll stay there for several hours. If you want to see a more in-depth review of this product, hit the like button!

The other moisturizer I’ve used a lot is the Neutrogena Nourishing Care Cream. It quickly smoothes any dryness and ensures that the skin stays soft for several days, if not weeks. I try to purchase only cruelty-free products, however, sometimes they are either more expensive or don’t work as well as others do. I currently can’t afford to spend tens of euros every month on non essential hygene products, so I like to get something cheaper and more longlasting!

For Christmas I got the Bioderma Sensibio H20 micellar water, which is a product I’ve wanted to try for years.

Back in the early YouTube beauty guru days, everyone I watched said that this is the best micellar water in existence! After trying it for more than two months, I can say that it really is good at removing dirt and makeup without irritating skin or causing other issues, however, I don’t believe it’s any better than my beloved Isana micellar water. Yes, it is effective at removing makeup, but in my opinion, that does not justify the significantly higher price point. Plus, Bioderma is not a cruelty-free brand, whereas Isana is!

Lastly, I wanted to give a quick shout-out to my recent favourite toothpaste brand, Splat. I’ve tried three or four types of their toothpaste, and so far the Splat Sensitive and Ultracomplex have stood out to me as the best ones. Their whitening toothpaste irritated my gums, so I could only use it a few times per week, however, the two aforementioned products do a great job at cleaning teeth and freshening the breath without causing any issues to my gums. I think the “Sensitive” toothpaste has a baking soda base as it’s less foamy and minty than the Ultracomplex one, but both are equally good.

✨ products that didn’t work at all ✨

The first flop is the Bio2You hand sanitizer with ethanol (60%), essential oils and panthenol. I thought it would be nice to keep in my pocket or bag on-the-go; the problem is, it doesn’t work at all! You shouldn’t need to wash your hands before or after using it, but after feeling the slimy, sticky texture of this product, that’ll be all you want to do. The hand sanitizer feels like clear glue and leaves a sticky, soapy residue on the skin, which attracts dirt and soon forms little sticky balls of disgustingness! I do not recommend this product whatsoever.

The other product I disliked is the Superdrug Bloomin’ Barnet dry shampoo.

I use dry shampoos every other day between washes to freshen up and make my hair look fluffy, so it’s important that they work as intended. I had tried one of the Superdrug dry shampoos several years ago and I didn’t like it because all it did was give my hair a synthetic floral scent! Since then they’ve changed the packaging, so I thought they might’ve improved the formula as well; unfortunately, that was not the case. This particular shampoo smells like peach toilet paper and doesn’t clean my hair at all. When you spray dry shampoo in the palm of your hand, you’ll notice that they have a powdery, talc like texture; this product dries down leaving no powder behind, so it’s about as effective at cleaning your hair as perfume! Once I’ve used it up (and I will use it up to teach myself a lesson), I’m planning to try a dry shampoo from one of the cruelty-free brands that are available to me. For now I’m interested in dry shampoos from Isana and Gosh, however, I’d love to hear your product suggestions as well!

✨ warm eyeshadow look ✨

This year I’m participating in another Project Pan, which features one of my largest palettes I’ve loved for several years. One of you, my lovely readers, requested a warm eyeshadow look using this palette, and I’m here to deliver it!

Products used:

• H&M LE Tuscan Escape shadow palette
• a bronze cream eyeshadow stick
• a black pencil eyeliner
• Essence Correct to Perfect CC Concealer palette
• Essence Lash Princess False Lash Effect mascara

1. I filled the brows using matte taupe eyeshadow, then “carved” them using an angled brush and thick, skin-toned concealer. After applying face makeup, I moved back to eyes and swiped a generous amount of bronzy cream eyeshadow all over the moving lid. I used one of my fingertips to blend out the edges of the cream shadow, then took a flat concealer brush and patted matte cream colour beneath my eyebrows to set in place the concealer.

2. I blended a cool-toned matte pink shade in the crease using a dense, fluffy blending brush. After that, I used a small barrel brush to apply chocolate brown shimmer (upper right corner) on the outer parts of the lid, and a bronze shimmer (above lilac shimmer) on the inner parts of the lid. I felt that the look required some extra shine, so I patted peach glitter all over the lids, and used the flat concealer brush from before to apply silver shimmer (second from the bottom of the first column) beneath the brows and on the inner corners.

3. & 4. At the moment I really like smudgy liner, so I applied black pencil liner along the upper lashline, and set it in place using matte chocolate eyeshadow and an angled brush. (The eyeshadow blends out the liner, and sets it in place to prevent smudging and make it long-lasting.) Once that was done, I finished the look with a few coats of mascara on top and bottom lashes!

✨ entertainment faves ✨

In this post I wrote about almost all sources of at-home entertainment you can get except YouTube. So I wanted to know, are you interested in YouTube channel or video recommendations? If so, leave a comment or hit the like button of this post!

In the past two months I’ve watched two adult shows and two kids’ shows, all of which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed!

In January I rewatched Jackie Chan Adventures, which is one of my favourite cartoons that I still adore. I doubt that this cartoon is an accurate representation of Chinese and other Asian cultures, however, it is entertaining and suitable for people of all ages. The series follow Jackie Chan, an archeologist from San Francisco, who lives and works at his uncle’s antique shop. On the same day his niece arrives from Hong Kong to live with them for a year, a criminal syndicate called Dark Hand enters Jackie’s life, too. The criminals are looking for magic talismans to awaken a demon sorcerer, and Jackie’s family are the only people who can stop them!

I also watched The Haunting of Bly Manor, which is a paranormal drama about an au pair that moves to a haunted manor to look after two kids. The series, which are a sequel of sorts to The Haunting of Hill House, constantly jump between past and present, reality and dreamworld, and each of the episodes is heartwrenching in its own way. Most of the characters are easy to relate to, and the overall feeling of the show is similar to a well-made video game cutscene. I recommend this show to anyone who likes plot twists, crying, and well-written romance between different types of couples.

I’m still watching the two shows I started in February, and both are perfect for lunch breaks or evenings after a long work day.

I had an idea of creating Scooby Doo themed bullet journal pages, and for that, I’ve been drawing inspiration from The Scooby Doo Show. I love the lightness and naïveté of the storylines, which is hard to find in more modern cartoons!

On days when I want to watch something more serious, I’ve been watching The Crown, which follows the British Royal family from 1940s till today. So far the most recent episode is set in 1990s, but from what I’ve heard, there are two more seasons in the works. After watching certain episodes, I did some fact checking through Google and I was surprised that the plot is historically accurate! Of course, the conversations are mostly fictional, but most of the events shown in the series actually happened, like the Great Smog of London, Princess Margaret’s relationship with Peter Townsend, and Queen Elizabeth’s dance with the president of Ghana. I recently started the third season, and I thoroughly enjoy it as the 1960s are my favourite decade for fashion and music, and Helena Bonham Carter is my favourite actress!

In the past two months I’ve watched six movies, though most of them come from the same franchise.

In January I rewatched Pride and Prejudice (2005), which has quickly become one of my favourite adaptations of the story. The film is not historically accurate or as close to the book as the miniseries from 1995, but it is so beautifully shot! I’ve always felt surrounded by peace and happiness every time I’ve watched it, and the cottagecore vibes it gives off are immaculate. I used to be a total snob towards screen adaptations of classic literature works, but over time I’ve learned to appreciate almost all versions. (One of the exceptions is Jane Eyre from 1997; I couldn’t immerse myself in the story and the film felt a bit off. And don’t get me started on the ultra uncomfortable kissing scenes!)

I hadn’t watched Bond movies until now because I’m not the biggest fan of spy films.

However, I felt like it is my duty as a movie fan to know the classics of the industry, and I was interested to see why this franchise is so popular. So far I’ve watched the first five movies, and I have very mixed feelings about them! Personally, I find Bond a very misogynistic character who doesn’t do much besides strolling around in expensive suits and wooing women. The worst part is that his poor treatment of the Bond girls is shown in a positive light, and deemed perfectly acceptable by the girls themselves. The villains in the films are not given much background and they often behave irrationally, either inviting Bond to join them on holiday or letting him sit in important meetings where they chat about their evil world-domination plans. They also don’t try to kill him as soon as they find out he’s a spy, which I find absolutely bizzare! And yet, I still want to watch the rest of the movies to see if anything improves over time.

Besides movies and TV shows, I’ve also read four books, played one of my fave mobile games, and listened to some catchy tunes!

In January and February I read the first four books of The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I had read them almost a decade ago, but I soon realized that I’ve completely forgotten anything that happens past City of Glass, so I feel like I’m reading these books for the first time ever. A full review of the book series is coming in April or May!

The mobile game I’ve been loving for many years, and have played daily for the past few months, is The Simpsons: Tapped Out. I used to play it anonymously on my tablet, but my tablet broke mid January and I lost all progress I had on that game. It was quite painful as I wasn’t far from reaching 900th level, had bought Golden Goose Realty, purchased all land, and had the vast majority of houses and larger decorations! (I hadn’t used real money to purchase items in this game, which is the only reason why I don’t kick myself every day.) Thankfully, I found that you can play Tapped Out on your PC through BlueStacks, and I started a new game at the end of January. So far I’ve gotten to 40th level, and I’m sure that I’ll regain the progress I had and create an even better Springfield. If you play this game and have an EA Games account, I’d love it if you added me as a friend! My EA Games username is beadyeyedpancake. 🙂

Last, but not least, my favourite songs of the past two months have been Wires and Flawless by The Neighbourhood, and Harry Styles’ album Fine Line, especially Golden, Treat People With Kindness, and Falling singles. I also love his cover of Lizzo’s Juice, as well as his and Lizzo’s duet and the single itself. (The chorus of Juice is so catchy!)

✨ my plans for March ✨

The past months went by quickly, and I spent them making items for my shop and trying to take back control over my life, which I’ll continue to do during March as well.

The first thing I’m focusing on is the opening of my shop!

I’ve been working on this for some time now, and the recent lockdown simultaneously pushed some things back and brought forth a new wave of inspiration. For now I’m planning to sell handmade greeting cards, different kinds of jewelry, plush toys for cats and kids, and keychains, though I’ll probably add more product categories as time goes on.

My current “studio” setup includes a space for painting, a tiny oven for baking polymer clay creations, lots of storage units for different things, and a large bead display made by my lovely mum. The setup might not be as aesthetically pleasing as I’d wish, but it’s functional and makes me excited to make new things every time I enter my room.

The problems I have at the moment are related to payments and shipping, as I’m still figuring out what would work best. I haven’t yet weighed out all the pros and cons of postal services and couriers, so if you have any experience using them and you feel like sharing it, feel free to leave a comment below!

For now I’ll sell through Instagram by making posts of available items and sending order invoices to customer’s emails. It might sound more difficult than using Etsy, but after researching the pros and cons of the site, I decided to move to Etsy only if paving my own way doesn’t work out as well as I’ve hoped. Ideally, I’d start my own webshop, but that requires more funds than I have at the moment, which is why I’ll start through Instagram!

I have little ginger helpers that absolutely have to sniff and touch anything they can get their paws on! Of course, all items will be sent out clean and disinfected; I allowed the cats to take a look inside drawers while taking photos because these plushies and cards still need to be prepped for sale.

The opening process takes much more thought, work, and effort than many would think! And yet I’m excited to start sharing my creations with you all, and I really hope you’ll like them. (Here’s a sneak-peak at some of the bracelets I’ve made so far!)

The other thing I want to work on this month is creating functional routines.

Any routines I had before the pandemic are gone, and any routines I created during the pandemic went away with the current lockdown. Recently I’ve turned into a fully nocturnal being, and the worst part is that I’m actually very productive during nights! The weather outside is quite gloomy and wintry, however, spring is just around the corner and I don’t want to live like a vampire during spring and summer!

So far I’ve figured out that I can’t really drink caffeinated drinks more often than every other day, so I’ve switched to decaf coffee and herbal teas. I’ve also started making healthier lunches and dinners, and I’m trying to ween myself off sweets. Now all I need to do is finish all tasks and hobbies before midnight so I can be asleep by 2 AM!… Which sounds easy, but is very hard to do in real life.

I’m planning to share my monthly favourites once a month or every two months. #QOTD: Do you have any suggestions for future favourites posts? Perhaps you’d like to see more recipes, product reviews or makeup tutorials? What about additional categories like favourite snacks, most-used cleaning supplies, etc.? Leave your thoughts in a comment down below, I’d love to hear them!

Until later,

xoCaligo

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fave winter products

• H&M LE Tuscan Escape shadow palette
• Douglas Plump & Gloss lipgloss in Nr.1 Natural Plump
• Himalaya Herbals Anti-Wrinkle Cream, 50g
• Neutrogena Nourishing Care Cream, 300ml
• Bioderma Sensibio H20 micellar water, 500ml
• Splat Sensitive toothpaste

entertainment favourites

• Jackie Chan Adventures // 2000-2005
• The Haunting of Bly Manor // 2020
• The Scooby Doo Show // 1976-1978
• The Crown // since 2016
• Dr. No // 1962
• From Russia With Love // 1963
• Goldfinger // 1964
• Thunderball // 1965
• You Only Live Twice // 1967
• Pride and Prejudice // 2005
• The Mortal Instruments book series by Cassandra Clare
• The Simpsons: Tapped Out mobile game
• Wires & Flawless singles by The Neighbourhood
• Fine Line album by Harry Styles
• Juice single by Lizzo
• videos of Juice cover by Harry Styles & Lizzo’s performace of Juice feat. Harry Styles

This is not a sponsored post; all opinions are my own. I am not being paid to promote anything.