2015 is almost coming to an end, so it's time for the last empties post of the year! Empties are still my favorite post to write and read. This time, there are a few products included that seriously disappointed me, I'm happy to get rid of them. Other products are favorites. 

Nail of the Day: OPI 'I Sing In Color'

Winter is the perfect time for dark, vampy nail colors. After having my nail polish-free for almost a month and a half now, it was time to provide them with a color. Today, that is OPI's 'I Sing In Color' from the Gwen Stefani collection. Kruidvat was having a sale on a selection of OPI colors this weekend and I got this shade for €5,99 only. 

October/November Favorites

Hello everybody! Dear god, how long has it been?! My internship and school work are really taking up all my time the last couple of weeks. I've missed blogging so badly but I just wasn't able to make time. Finally, a moment to write! Today, I will be talking about my favorite products from the last couple of months. I rarely do favorite posts because I feel like I don't change it up enough to keep it interesting every month. But I'm using some new/different products the last two months. 

Decluttering My Nail Polish Collection

Hello everyone! Long time, no blogpost. I've been having a serious case of writer's block: lack of ideas and no time to write. Two weeks ago, my first internship of the year started, so I don't have time to write during the day and I'm too late back at my studio in Ghent to take photos. So I'm really sorry, I miss blogging a lot and have so many ideas... I just need to find the time to write them all down. But let's start today with a new blog post!

My name is Astrid and I'm a nail polish addict. *Hello Astrid*

But seriously, things got out of hand. I have four boxes of nail polish at home and one small box in Ghent. Ofcourse, I can't clean up the box in Ghent now but I decided to declutter the ones at home. I had lots of fun doing this. I started with a goal: downsizing to three boxes in stead of four.

Forward Helix Piercing: My Experience

Hello, sweet readers. Time for something completely different here on 'Truth About Cosmetics'. 3 weeks ago, I got my first piercing. Nothing too special or daring, I choose a forward helix piercing. I thought it would be interesting to tell about my experience with this piercing and how I take care of it.

Grocery Haul: Healthy Food & Snacks

A new school year has started for me (probably for a lot of you girls as well). With that new year, I want to make some changes in my way of working for school (more planning ahead, organising,...). But also, I want to make some changes in my way of eating. More vegetables, fruit and healthy snacks. I went to Albert Hein, which is a very nice supermarket with a wide variety of food. I found some lovely things, especially for breakfast. So, as a different type of blog post today, I'm going to do a grocery haul! 

London Beauty Haul: Boots, Superdrug & TK Maxx

Hello, beauties! How are you guys all doing? Summer has been a busy time for me and I needed to sit myself down and take the time to blog. And god, I missed it! Last week, I went to London with my parents for three days. We did a lot of visiting, walking, eating and I got some time to shop as well.

Ofcourse, you can't go to England without some shopping at Boots and Superdrug. I also discovered TK Maxx, a store where you can find fashion and beauty items for a very low price!

Goed Gevoel Beauty Box August

If there is anyting I love, it's magazines deciding to include a Beauty Box with their issue. I missed the box that Goed Gevoel (a Belgian magazine) brought out in March. I was a bit sad about it, but in July, they brought out another one. I had not seen any advertisement about it, I just saw it at the paper shop one morning. I think it was about €5,99 extra for the box and I was so excited to discover what's inside. 

The box itself is so beautiful. It's pink with a flower print and the words 'Make you day a beautiful one'. I'm keeping this box for storage, for sure! 

When I opened the box, I was surprised to see that they had teamed up with Deauty! As you guys all know, I'm subscribed to the Deauty boxes. This increased my curiosity immediately. 

Time To Recycle: Empties #9

The Empties-bag in my bathroom started looking a bit full again so I decided it was time for my favorite blogpost again! This time, a lot of mascara is included because I cleaned out my mascara box and decided it was time to toss a lot of them out. Other than that: face products, hand products, deodorants. I say we get started on recycling!

Deauty Unboxing: Juli 2015

Het ergste aan een maand aan zee zitten, was mijn Deauty doos nog niet meteen kunnen opendoen. Maar eindelijk heb ik hem gisteren kunnen bekijken en het is weer een goedgevulde doos! Deze maand draait alles rond het warme weer en voorbereid zijn op de zomer. 

The worst thing about being at the sea side for a month, was not being able to open up my deauty box when it arrived at home. But finally, yesterday, I was able to discover what's inside.The theme is month is 'summer' and it includes products to be prepared for the hot weather.

Deze maand zitten er 5 producten in de doos, waarvan er 3 full size zijn. 

This month, the box consists of 5 products. 3 of which are ful size. 

Little Beauty Haul + Summer Small Talk

Hi there, everyone. Long time, no blogpost! I'm so excited to be able to sit down and talk to you guys. How are you all doing? How is your summer going? I've been working the last couple of weeks in amusement parc 'Plopsaland' at the sea side. After work, I'm often to tired to do anyting (except watch movies on the sofa) but today, I really wanted to blog. On one of my free days, I went to Kruidvat, our local drugstore, and decided to treat myself a bit. The result? New make-up! 

Small Talk Sunday: My Internship + I Cut My Hair!

Hey everybody, how are you all doing? I just wanted to sit down and talk to you a bit, so this will be a chitchat post. So what's new? I just finished my internship at a resting home a little more than a week ago and I decided to cut my hair last monday. Those are the two topics of this chatter post. 

Summer Drugstore Haul: June 2015

Hey, lovely readers! I'm back today with a summer drugstore haul. Kruidvat, one of the drugstore chains here in Belgium, was having a VIP 20% sale a couple of weeks ago and I decided to stock up on some beauty necessities. Also, I wanted to treat myself with some fun beauty things after having a busy time at school. 

Essie Collection Part 3: Red, Orange & Pinks

Hey girls! How are you all doing? Today, I'm talking about the third and final part of my Essie collection: Reds, oranges, pinks and a few purples. I'm sorry this part is so late, I had lots of work for school the last couple of weeks. I just finished my intership two days ago so I'm back to blogging! If you missed the first two parts of this series, I'll put a link to those posts at the end of this one. 

Like the other posts, I'll talk a bit about each color and their formula, pigmentation. Reds and pink are, besides nudes, my favorite colors to wear on the nails.

Fossil 1954 Perfume Review

Hello sweeties. How are you all doing? I'm currently doing an internship at a resting home as an occupational therapist. It's fun, but at the end of the day I'm very tired. Tonight, I'm having a nice, relaxing evening and that means: blogging! I'm here today with a review on the Fossil perfume called '1954'. I got this last weekend at the Fossil Outlet in Maasmechelen Village. I've seen this one in the stores a lot, but I never picked it up until now. 
P.S.: for those of you waiting for the third part of my Essie collection, it's coming soon! 

They have a female and male version of this perfume. I got the male version for my dad's birthday this year. I liked the scent a lot and he was born in the year 1954 so I thought it was a fun and unique gift. 

My Essie Collection Part 2: Blue, Green & Purple

Hey everybody, it's time for part two of my Essie collection! Today, I'll be talking about my blue, green and (part of) purple polishes. I already talked about my nude polishes and nail care last week. I'll put a link to that post at the end of this one, in case you have missed it. Go get a snack, sit back, relax and enjoy reading! 

Empties 8: My Beauty Trash (May 2015)

Hey sweeties! Ready to look trough my beauty trash together? My empties bag started to look a little bit full again so I decided to do another empties post. As you know, I absolutely love reading and writing empties posts so I actually really wanted to do one, after a few months. Let's start talking and then recycling!

My Essie Collection Part 1: Nail Care & Nudes

Hey everybody, I have an exciting little series for you guys. If you follow me on Instagram, you probably knew this already, I posted a little sneak peak there a few weeks ago. I'm going to share my Essie nail polish collection with you guys. I have quite a lot of them so I'm going to do it in three parts. Let's get started with part one: nail care and nudes!

I have about 38 Essie nail polishes, but there is one that I can't find anywhere ('Leading Lady') so I'll be showing you guys 37 polishes in thes series. I split them in three parts: nail care/nudes, red/pinks/oranges and greens/blues/purples. Today, nail care and nude polishes will be showed to you. I'm not going to swatch each color but I'll talk about the consistency and my thoughts on every one of them.

Deauty April 2015: Glam Elfi Edition

Hey allemaal, vandaag ga ik de nieuwe Deauty box voor jullie bespreken. Deze maand heeft Deauty samengewerkt met de creatieve Elfi De Bruyn, gekend van de 'Happy Nails' boeken en de blog 'Glam At Heart'. Resultaat? Een goedgevulde doos vol full size beauty producten! Ik heb mijn Deauty abonnement verlengd en dit is de eerste doos van het nieuwe jaar. Deze doos bevestigd dat dat een goede beslissing is geweest!

Hey everybody, time for a new Deauty unboxing. This month, Deauty had teamed up with Elfi De Bruyn, known for her 'Happy Nails' nail art books and the blog 'Glam At Heart'. The result is a fantastic box filled with full-size products. I renewed my subscription for a whole year and this first new box showed that that was a great decision!

Eerst en vooral, kijk naar deze doos! Word je daar niet gelukkig van? Ik anders wel! Wanneer je doos open doet, zit er een prachtig versierd menukaartje in waar Elfi persoonlijk elk product beschrijft. De producten zelf zitten verpakt in een katoenen zakje. 

First of all, look at this box! Doesn't that make you happy? In the box is a little card included with personal notes from Elfi on every product. The product itself are wrapped in a cotton bag.

April Favorites 2015: Beauty & More

Hi everyone! How are you all doing? May has started and that means: time for another favorites post!  I have lots of new ones to share with you! April was a great month to discover some new products and rediscover some old favorites. Not only beauty this time, I also have some jewelry and a book to talk about. Shall we get started?

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat Review

Hey everybody, I'm back today with a review on the Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. I got this when I was in the United States is September, but somehow, I was hesitant to use it. I wanted to finish another top coat first, but when I couldn't find that one, I decided to try this one. And as it turns out, this might be one of the best top coats I've ever tried!

You probably have heard from Seche Vite already from lots of youtube gurus and blogs. But if you don't know what it is, it's a thick top coat for your nails that dries to a very glossy finish, prevents the nails from chipping and makes your nail polish dry faster. I was always very curious to try it out since I had heard so many amazing things about it. 

Where Have I Been? + Giveaway Winner!

FINALLY. Hey everyone! How are you all doing? I know I have been away for a while and I have a very simple explanation for that: my laptop is being repaired. My screen cracked and it needed to be replaced. I didn't have a back-up laptop, so I couldn't do anything. You guys should try living without a computer for a while, it's very boring. But you have time for lots of other things! :P Now, as it turns out, reparing a computer is not that easy... The wrong screen has been sent twice already. I can now work on a friend's laptop until mine is fully repaired but I don't know how long that will take. But hey, I can blog again! I made a list of everything I want to blog about and the list is getting longer and longer! Be prepared :D

NOW, first and very important post: The winner of my giveaway! I want to thank you all for entering, I'm really excited about it. I typed all the names of the girls who entered on a website that randomly choose a person for me. 

And the winner is... *drum ruffle*... Katja from Confessions Of A Makeup Shopaholic! 
Check you g-mail because I sent you an e-mail! 

I'm so glad to be back and I can't wait to blog full-time again!
I'll see you guys very soon ;)

xx, 
Astrid

March Favorites 2015

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? March is over and I'm a bit sad because it's one of my favorite months. But it's time to share my favorites with you girls and I'm happy about that! I don't have a lot of them, because this month, I was really into the 'No Make-up make-up' look so I kept it all very toned down and natural. I also had quite a few days where I wore no make-up at all because my skin was acting a bit weird at times. Let's get started with my favorite products of this month!

The 'I Only Needed 1 Thing' Haul: Spring Edition

You know that moment when you're concealer is running dangerously low and you need to go to the drugstore to get a back-up of it? But then somehow, you end up with a bunch of other stuff... That happened to me today! I needed to repurchase the Maybelline Dream Lumi touch concealer. Just that one product. So you walk into the drugstore... and you see the new line of nail polishes by Rimmel, the new releases from Bourjois and lots of other things. And you just accept the fact that some days, you need to spoil yourself a little bit. Let's take a look at what I got today!

1) Labello Classic Care Lip Balm: Did I need this one? No, not really. I just like these so much and I haven't gotten one in years. They feel so nice on the lips and I really enjoy the smell of these.
2) Bourjois Nude Smokey Eyeshadow Trio in 'Sable Show': Oh my god. I'm not a big fan of Bourjois eyeshadows, but waw! These new trios are so beautiful! There was also another trio with rosy tinted colors but I prefer these golden/taupe shades. They had testers available in store and I was so impressed! These are soft as butter AND very pigmented! Big thumbs up for this trio!
3) Freeman Charcoal & Black Sugar Face Mask: I've tried Freeman face mask before and I really enjoy them.This charcoal and sugar mask really intregued me. I've heard a lot about the purifuing qualities of charcoal. This face mask has two actions: purifying the skin and exfoliation. Can't wait to try this one out later tonight.
4) Maybelline Dream Lumi Concealer in '02 Nude': The only thing from this haul I actually needed. You guys know how much I love this one so I'm not going to bore you guys with talking to much about this one. I was lucky, it was the last one in the store!
5) Rimmel Rita Ora Nail Polish in '322 Neon Fest': How cute do these bottles look with the little flowers? This line of spring colors is absolutely beautiful. Most of them were sold out but I really like this bright pink one. Very nice for spring and summer!

Did you do some shopping lately? 
xx,
Astrid

It's My Birthday + My First Giveaway! (CLOSED)

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22. Yes, that Taylor Swift song will be playing on repeat today. Or 'Birthday' by Katy Perry. Or 'It's my birthday' by Will.I.Am. Why? Because today is my birthday! But this is not the only reason for this blogpost. I also want to say a big thank you to all my loyal readers. Thanks so much for following, reading, commenting. And I want to show you guys how thankful I am by giving a few of my favorite beauty products away.

The winner of this giveaway will be receiving:
1) Revlon Colorstay Nail Polish in 'Fall Mood': for gorgeous nails.
2) Garnier Ultra Doux Reconstructing Honey Serum: to make your hair supersoft and smell delicious.
3) Bourjous Rouge Edition Velvet Lip Lacquer in '01 Personne Ne Rouge': the perfect red lipcolor.

The rules (I'm keeping it simple here, because it's my first giveaway)
- This is an international giveaway, so everyone can enter! Even guys that read this blog (hey, you never know), if you want to win something for your girlfriend, sister or mom!
- It will run until the of April 23th, I will choose a winner randomly and contact this person.
- Follow me on Bloglovin' and GFC.
- Leave a comment here down below telling me what your favorite kind of blogposts are!

Good luck to everyone and have a nice monday! <3
xx, 

Astrid

Kiko Clics System: Review & Swatches!

Happy Sunday everyone! How is your weekend going? Today, I wanted to talk about the Kiko Clics System. Just like the Inglot Freedom System and with MAC palettes, you can now buy seperate palettes at Kiko and fill them up with the colors you want! This way, you can make your own perfect palette. When I visited Kiko in February, everything from the Clics system was -50%. So I decided to put together a palette for myself!

I decided to pick up a palette for 4 eyeshadows. You can pick up a palette for 1, 3, 4 of 24 colors. The palettes are quite cheap, the one for 4 colors is 2,50€. The most expensive one for 24 colors is 6€. They have a wide variety of eyeshadows, bright as well as neutral colors. The eyeshadows are 2,40€ each. It wasn't easy to choose from all the colors, but I managed to find 4 lovely colors.

Let Spring Begin: Top 5 Nail Polishes for the Season

Hello everyone! After a week of being away with school, I'm back to blog for you! Spring is almost here but after a very sunny day here in Belgium, I couldn't wait to start writing about it. On Instagram, there is a tag going around called 'The Spring Tag'. You're supposed to pick your top 5 favorite nail colors for the upcoming season. I decided to talk a bit more about each color here. 

Too Faced Chocolate Bar Review and Swatches

Hey beauties, let's do a review on an amazing eyeshadow palette today. As a big chocolate lover, I knew I had to have this palette. It was sold out in Paris last summer at all the Sephora stores, but I found it in Lille in the beginning of February. I'm talking about the Too Faced Chocolate Bar. There has been so much buzz about this beauty and I'm a sucker for nude palettes, so it had to be welcomed into my collection.

Let's talk about the packaging first. How cute does this look? Like the Naked 2 and Naked 3 palette from Urban Decay, this has a tin packaging, but with a magnetic close. It's shaped like a chocalate bar and looks delicious! But it does not only look delicious, the 16 eyeshadows included in this palette also smell delicious... as they are enriched with pure cocoa powder. And YES, that smells as good as it sounds. I sometimes just open this palette to smell the heavenly chocolate scent.

Empties #7: February 2015

Hello sweeties! It's March, yay! I love March: the beginning of spring and my birthday probably have something to do with that... Let's start this month with one of my favorite types of blogpost: empties! I love writing these as much as I love reading them.
Because my february favorites are pretty much the same as my january favorites, I decided not to do one this month. But I'll do a March favorites and I hope you'll accept this post instead of a favorites one. Let's started on what I finished in the last couple of months! :)

Most Delicious Product Ever: Lush 'The Kiss' Lip Scrub

Hi sweeties! I'm very excited to show you guys this product. Valentine's day has been over for a while, but some products from the Lush Valentine's collection are still available in some stores. I was very interested in the lip scrub from the collection, called 'The Kiss'. This was sold out at the Lush stores in Antwerp and Brussels, but I found it last monday in Ghent. It was one of the last ones they had in stock and I couldn't resist it: I had to pick it up!

Nail of the Day: Essie Splash of Grenadine

Hey everyone, how are you all doing? The sun has come out here in Belgium for a couple of days and that means: time to paint the nails in a nice spring color! I chose 'Splash of Grenadine' today by Essie today. I saw this on Essiebutton's blog and loved how it looked. This color has been sold out a few times in the drugstores but I was very happy to have found it.

Bioderma Micellar Water Review

Hello, beauties! How are you all doing?
Today, I want to talk about Bioderma Micellair Water. I got this last summer in Paris and at first, I did not like it that much. I didn't really understand what it was and thought you were supposed to use it AFTER removing make-up. So I never noticed what it did. But now, I use it to remove my make-up and I think it's one of the best make-up removers I ever tried.

Kiko Top Pairs Duo Blushes in '02 Raspberry Rose & Peach' and '03 Rosewood & Azalea' Review

Happy Valentine's day, sweeties! How are you guys spending the day? I'm going to watch 50 Shades of Grey later tonight! But for now, I want to talk about some amazing blushes from Kiko. I went to Lille last week and they have a few Kiko stores there. I wanted to find the duo blushes from last season's 'Daring Game' collection. I did find them AND they were on sale. They still had two color pairs available.

I saw these blushes on lots of blogs a few months ago and I just loved the packaging. It's a pearl white compact with hot pink metallic print on it. Gorgeous! It's quite a big compact so it will take some place in your make-up bag. But waw, they are just so beautiful!

NOTD: Neutral glitter with OPI 'My Very First Knockwurst' and Maybelline 'Rose Chic'

Hey sweeties! How is your sunday going? I'm back today with an NOTD. I was in Lille this week for some shopping and I got this lovely nude OPI nail polish called 'My Very First Knockwurst'. It was from the Germany collection a few years ago. I don't think it's available in Belgium anymore so I was happy to find it. I also picked up Maybelline's Rosy Gold, from the Crystallize collection.

January 2015 Make-up Favorites

February has already begun but I still wanted to share my January favorites with you guys. I don't do these type of posts often because I feel like I'll always show the same products. I want to do these more often this year so I'll try to write them each month or maybe every two months. Let's get started on the products!

I have a mix of old favorites and new discovered items. A bit of makeup, a bit of skin/hair care. I did not include nail polishes in this post because I haven't worn a lot of nail polish this months. I gave my nails some time to be 'free'. But don't worry, I have some NOTD's coming soon ;)

Deauty Januari 2015 Unboxing

Hey allemaal, na extra lang wachten is eindelijk de nieuwe Deauty box toegekomen. Net op tijd voor Valentijn! Deze was al enkele dagen geleden toegekomen en lag op m'n bed te wachten tot ik terugkwam van Gent. Het voelt altijd een beetje aan als Kerstmis/verjaardag als zo'n doos toekomt dus ik nam snel een kijkje!

Revlon Colorstay Nail Polish Haul + Review

It has been 25 days since my last blogpost. 25! God, I've missed you guys! How is everyone doing? I've been studying like crazy the last couple of weeks. I had exams this week and I made a pact with my friends: start studying at 8AM, stop at 9PM. It has been hard and boring at times, but it was all worth it: my exams went quite well! Now, FINALLY time to blog again! Let's talk about something very fun today: nail polish!

Earlier today, I went to a store called 'Action', where you can buy all sorts of things for a very cheap price. From cleaning goods, school stuff, food and (the best part, ofcourse): beauty stuff! I went through the boxes of nail polish on the bottom shelves. I wasn't that impressed at first, because they mostly had Sally Hanssen glitter polishes. Suddenly, I saw a Revlon Colorstay nail polish in my hand. My jaw dropped. You can't find these ANYWHERE here in Belgium, and suddenly they were here at Action? I looked further (I literally sat on my knees in the store and looked trough all the boxes) and found another bunch of them. In total, I got 6 colors. But the best part is: these were €0,99 a piece.