Two Simple DIYs - Poor Man's Z Palette and Labels

Hi Lovelies!


Welcome back, and if you are new here, welcome! 💕💕💕

Today I am coming at you with two cheap DIYs that maybe useful for some of you perhaps? I posted the pencil tin DIY “palette” on my Instagram and it got a good response, so I thought maybe I should make a blog post out of it?
Both DIYs will cost you next to nothing, and will last you an eternity, trust me. All of the materials came from Amazon or 1.50€ shops. Let's begin, shall we?


DIY Pencil Tin Palette or Poor Man’s Z Palette

(actually I was told to change "Poor Man's to "Smart Woman's on Instagram! Love it)

You will need:
Pencil tin (came with pencils that I didn't need and gave them to my kids) x1.50€
Magnetic tape (Amazon)


This is pretty self explanatory, take out the pencils, measure the magnetic tape and tape it inside in any fashion that you want, I settled on three stripes, but you can do whatever you want, cover the whole bottom with magnet or just cut the individual pieces for your make up pans. Now my Pure Anada blush has finally has a place to live!
All I need to do now is to decoupage the top to make it pretty and press some of the eye shadows and blushes in loose powders I own.
Man, I feel like this is the slippery slope for DIYs to come, haha!
As you can see, this DIY cost me a grand total of less than a fiver! Sweet or what?
Want to see what I filled up the palette with? See the update with lots of pictures below, I admit I went a bit crazy and broke a few things in the process! /Insert ashamed emoji here/

Second DIY - Expiration labels

 This is even simpler and I am not even sure whether I should post it or not to be honest!
As I mourned my expired 100%Pure items (see my latest Empties post here) who don't even have the best before date on the products (instead they have some complicated barcode system where only they can tell if the item is expired or not) I thought of introducing some sort of labeling system in my make up and skincare collection, in fact I already did put some dates on new products with a sharpie prior to coming up with this, but that not always work, for example some make up items are too small for sharpie writing or I didn't want to ruin a pretty design, so these cutout labels are working so much better and I am happy with it! No more guessing if the product is going off and trying to remember when on earth did you get this or that product?

Here’s what you will need:
A roll of sticky labels or any stickers
A hole puncher, mine happens to be a butterfly shaped. You can skip this all together and cut the label by hand.

Again, both of these items cost me a grand total of €1.50 each. Hole punchers generally cost way more than than, so shop around. And before you tell me, I know I can get those pretty circle labels, but they cost around 2-3€ per sheet, and you get what, like 24 of them? So I decided cut the cost once again, having in mind I had those items in my house for months already, but even if you had to buy them, you will get endless supply of them.
And again, pretty self explanatory thing, cut the label to size (or punch it), stick on to product and write down the date you got them. Or the date it has to be kissed goodbye, it is up to you!


So here were are with two impromptu DIYs. Next post will be my 200th blog post and we will celebrate with my first ever Favourites post! 💕💕💕 Are you excited? I know I am!



*Update a day later
Seems like I went a bit cray cray depotting things, and while I had lots of fun doing so, I also broke a few things in the process, including my favourite blush!! Oh, well, there is the first time for eveything, and I will still continue to use it, because a) it is my favourite b) it is sadly discontinued. but let's just say I won't be trying to lift it from it's pan anytime soon, haha! You can see my destroyed love in the photo here, as well as the first configuration of things.

You live and learn, eh?

 Having said all that, I am really excited and pleased with myself, because we all know that buzz you get when you create something, don't we? And I think I will use the shadows much more frequently now, as this definitely won't be showed to the back of my drawer, so I am excited!

Have you created your own palette? Not necessarily DIY like mine, but have you created your collection of depotted (clean beauty) items? Share with me below or tag me in your Instagram posts, I want to see that :)

That is all for now,
Lots of Love,
Renata.

My Nude & Brown Lip Products Collection

Hi Lovelies,

Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕

Natural and Organic Lip Products. See more on my FB page

Natural & Organic lip product swatches. See more on my FB page

Today I wanted to show you swatches of my lip collection, nudes and browns. Those are pretty much all I own when it comes to lip products, with a little exception of red lipstick by 100%Pure in Poppy, a couple of their Gemmed Lip Glosses and a Lip Shine by Pure Anada in Berry. I will link reviews to the products where apt, so you can check them out if you are interested?

And the #swatches as promised! This is my green beauty lip collection of browns and nudes. From top to bottom:
💕💄 100percentpure Lip Caramel in Truffle
💕💄 Und Gretel Cosmetics Lipstick in Apricot
💕💄 Red Apple Lipstick in Twist 'N' Pout
💕💄 Zao  Organic Makeup Lipstick in 464 (matte)
💕💄 Naked Lips Tinted Lip Balm in Rose Quartz
💕💄 Pacifica Color Quench Lip Tint in Coconut Nectar
💕💄 Purely You Minerals Lipstick in Dawn
.
See any faves? What lip products you are enjoying?


That is all for now, see you here shortly!

Lots of Love,
Renata.
.
.
.
.
This post contains affiliate link to 100%Pure. Buying via this link would be at no additional cost to you while being great help at running my blog, as I am yet to make money from my blog. Thank you.
.

Red Apple Lipstick Review

Hi Lovelies,


Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕

I am way overdue for this review, as I received these products months ago and I am only writing about them now, but hey, it is better late than never, right? Let's just say I took my time testing these beautiful products, haha!

Now, I am sure all of you know about Red Apple Lipstick company (please feel free to peruse their website) as we all hear the buzz that surrounds this wonderful company for a good few years now.
Their products are all natural, gluten free and free of any harsh chemicals you can think of. Their lipsticks are what green beauty legends are made of! Don't believe me? Just google "red apple lipstick review" and you will be floored with the onslaught of positive reviews, both in written form and Youtube videos. Want to know my two cents on it? Please keep on reading!

I got advantage of their beauty blogger's program and I chose two products from their range, which are lipstick in Twist 'N Pout (don't you just love the name?) and eye shadow in Down To Earth. When I contacted them they told me they don't ship to international bloggers anymore (or was that temporarily?) but they made an exception for me, so that obviously put a smile on my face! I have to be honest upfront, while the lipstick is very well loved and used, I didn't use the eye shadow much, as it turned out to be different shade than I was expecting, and I don't have much use for it in my every day life. Let me correct myself, I wanted a "everyday neutral" colour, the one that I could use all over the lid in two minutes flat without even thinking about it and be done for the day (I love these type eye shadows) but it turned out to be much more sophisticated brown-meets-aged-gold one, and it is so pigmented, I can't do even a single sheer swipe of it without getting or looking too much (for me). But this is in no way a company's shortfall, rather my own mistake in choosing the product. I remember originally wanting another shadow but a good few (neutrals) were out of stock at a time, so I went with this one. All of you make up lovers/collectors would love it, as it is a truly gorgeous colour, and you can do so many looks with it, but when it comes down to little old moi, I don't have much use it in my every day life. The formula is gorgeous, very natural and pigmented though, but be careful when choosing the shades for the first time.

RAL Down To Earth eye shadow swatched. In real life it is even more pigmented and shimmery!

Now, lipstick is the whole lotta of other story though! I freaking love it! I wore it all day everyday all summer long, I sent carefully scraped bits of it (sanitised of course!) in a few green beauty swaps, I got compliments about it in non stop stream, and more importantly, I really love it on myself, and that is the first time ever I can say that about a lipstick! I was never a lipstick person until I came across this beauty, all the others I have tried were not quite right for me and I would often give them away come first opportunity. This is an exception and it is the only lipstick I want to keep. And I will probably cry crocodile tears once it will finish. It is my baby, you know? It is that sort of your-lips-but-better shade, truly gorgeous, and it seems to suits every skin tone. Here you can see me modelling it, what do you think? I think it is gorgeous!

Red Apple Lipstick in Twist 'N Pout

So what are my final thoughts of RAL and their products?
Now, these are absolutely gorgeous products, all natural, vegan, cruelty and gluten free, and I do truly enjoy their products, but I would not repurchase them, and let me tell you why - their shipping to EU is mind boggling 49.25$ and I wasn't given cheaper option. Admittedly it is priority mail, but still I would never pay that much for shipping, and I think they need to sort it out! Customers these days sort of expect free or low cost shipping, and I truly think Red Apple Lipstick are losing a lot of customers purely because of this. I added two items to my cart, a lipstick and an eye shadow, and together with the shipping it came to 91.50$!! And I am not even kidding or making stuff up - see screenshot of it below! Now, anybody in their right mind would see no value in that (it is only two items!) and us EU gals who shop outside EU, we are taxed 35% custom tax plus another 10€ for handling fee (what??) so that would total me 133€!!!! I won't rant here, but I do think that would be ridiculous price, don't you think? Red Apple Lipstick, you need to get EU distributor or sort out your shipping price, and you will have a loyal customer in me. Until then, I am sorry.. Ours is one income family and my play money is so small is practically non existent, so 133€ for only two products is an unthinkable amount for me. I do hope they will get an EU distributor very soon, so all my European sisters could enjoy these beautiful products too.

So that is all for today, see you again soon! I counted and turns out I have 70 drafts for blog posts, so I better dish those out, cha cha.
P.S. I hope this does not come across as me bad mouthing the brand or their great products! Far from it! I do think they are a great company that make wonderful products, and I really am grateful for a chance to try them! It is just that those damn custom charges and the postage costs ruin everything! I mean custom charges is a political thing and too broad of a subject to get into, so let's leave it at that. I mean i would happily pay for the products, but I just don't want to pay that much more extra charges, I hope you can understand that!

Lot's of Love,
Renata.