Riga, my love! The visit to Baltic Beauty 2012, part 1

Baltic Beauty is the biggest beauty trade show in Latvia. The organizers claim, it's the biggest in whole Scandinavia, but I'd take that statement with a pinch of salt :P. This year it was held from 2.-4. November in Kipsala Exhibition centre Riga. It was my first time at Baltic Beauty: I wanted to go last year already, but then I had no time. This year, in spite of many unhappy events beforehand, I was finally there and felt like I deserved some fun and play! 

About ten minutes before opening on Sunday morning. The crowds start to pur in. 

This year, Baltic Beauty was said to be especially big with a record number of participants: 300 companies from 37 countries around the globe. Though, I must mention that there were mostly local Latvian representatives of the beauty companies present plus a few companies from Estonia and Lietuva. 

Some images of the halls, getting ready for the day.

Siberika girls, all nice and neat, ready for the crowds.

The exhibition consisted of two halls, one of them was filled with skincare, makeup, nail stuff, beauty salon equipment and health goodies, the other was dedicated mostly to haircare, but also had some cheap blingy jewellery, tights, gloves and such things. As always on these kind of events, there were lots of special shows, lots of great deals and discounts and a vast number of greedy-faced women lurking around :) 

Peggy Sage had a rather small booth...

...bur rather good deals on some items (these eyeshadows cost 10 euros originally).

Apart from that, these two exhibitions were very different. Firstly, there were less companies present at Ilu Sõnum/Beauty Word in the beginning of October, but overall Baltic Beauty seemed a bit smaller, as the stalls and boothes were not as big and fancy as they were in Estonian exhibition. I'd even say they were rather on the small side mostly, causing a lot of elbowing and toe-stepping, as by Saturday afternoon the event became very crowded. I spent a good 4 or five hours browsing on Saturday, after that I was too tired for any sensible decisions. I went back for some final pictures and purchases on Sunday morning (the advantages of a press pass, don't ask :P).

Pure Elements, natural cosmetics from Germany.

Da Vinci brushes.

Secondly, although Tallinn and Riga are only some 300 kms apart, shopping experience at Baltic Beauty was totally different from shopping in Ilu Sõnum/Beauty Word. There were so many brands, both professional and consumer products, that are not sold in Estonia. 

Inglot

Make Up For Ever

Kryolan

SLA Professional Cosmetics

There were very many salesmen and women, who couldn't speak any English, only Latvian and Russian. Let's just say that my vocabulary that consists of some very basic Latvian words like 'sveiki', 'labas dienas' and 'saldejums' was not nearly enough. At least I could understand one word 'akcija' very well :) Card payment opportunities were rare too.

There were also a lot less natural products and mineral makeup offered than in Estonian exhibition and only a few things from local Latvian beauty brands. In that sense, situation seemed a bit better in Estonia. 

Latvian bath salts and soaps.  

Riga souvenir soap.

Thirdly, it was funny that so much space was taken up by haircare, hair styling and hairdressing tools companies. It was probably due to the fact that there was International Hairstyling Festival going on during the fair. And again, many haircare brands – oh dear, probably most of them! – were completely unfamiliar to me and I guess they are not sold in Estonia. 

Farouk, at least that's in Estonia too.

Must be some very precious hair stuff :)

Salons24.eu from Estonia had as good deals as in Estonian trade fair...

... but less products were available. 

All in all, the trip to Riga for Baltic Beauty was tiring, but completely worthwhile. I had amazing time there and needless to say, bought quite lot of stuff :P I shall share some more exeptional moments from the trade fair in my next post, so be sure to check back! 

Yours Truly,
Tolmu Rull 

Just a random beautiful model.

For my lovely Estonian ladies: 

Riiaga seoses meenub mulle alati üks vana laul Vennaskonnalt: Riia, mu arm (kuula näiteks siin). Seekordse armastuse põhjuseks oli lätlaste suurim ilumess Baltic Beauty, mis toimus 2.-4. novembrini ehk siis eelmisel nädalavahetusel Kipsala messikeskuses. Ma polnud varem Baltic Beauty'l käinud, aga meie oma Ilu Sõnumist erines see nagu öö ja päev, nii korralduse kui ka pakutavate kaupade poolest. Väga palju ruumi oli pühendatud kõikvõimalikule juuksekraamile, müüdi brände, mida Eestis ei ole ja pakuti ka siinmail täiesti tundmatuid teenuseid.

Üldiselt julgen seda messi soovitada, kel võimalik, käigu järgmisel aastal ära. Arvestada tuleb aga, et kaardimaksetega sealmaal eriti ei arveldata ja kui vene või läti keele oskus puudub või on nigel, siis tuleb käte-jalgade abil asju ajada :)

Siiralt teie,
Tolmu Rull 

Question Wednesday Blog Hop {Travel Edition}

This tag originates from Nykki's Mane blog. I don't plan to do it every week, only when I find the subject inspiring. This time Questions Wednesday questions are about travelling, a much beloved subject and perfect for breaking the long silence here (hint: it had something to do with travelling :))You can see what other bloggers answered here. 

1. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be?
I have done a fair share of travelling around Europe, touched the ground in Asia and even been to Africa once. Now my radar is set on Asian and Arabian countries and Caucasus region. I would especially like to go to Vietnam, Thailand, Azerbaidjan and Georgia. Saudi Arabia or Iraq would definitely be interesting, but a bit dangerous though, so I guess it's not gonna happen in real life. On completely different note, I also crave a summer vacation trip to Croatia.

A view of Abu Dhabi coastline.

2. Where is the coolest/best place you have ever traveled?

Hmm... I think it's impossible to make a statement like this, because each place is cool and unique in an whole different way, be it close to home or far-far away.

The list of my favourite destinations is quite long. I would always visit Dubai and Abu Dhabi again in an heartbeat, because it is a great all-in-one destination: interesting architecture and world's tallest skyscrapers, huge malls and exotic souk's, beautiful beaches and a selection of cool leisure activities all within a short cab ride. Not to mention the incredible luxury everywhere. The Sex and the City girls didn't have half as much fun there as they could have had :)

Girls do some shopping in The Dubai Mall.

I also like Turkey very much for exotic food, historical sights and shopping opportunities (the biggest beauty haul of my life happened in Turkey!), Germany is great for business and beer, Barcelona and Budapest for sun, beautiful sights and wine tasting, Ireland for being such a friendly, cozy and home-like country and so on.

The Body Shop at Dubai Mall.

3. How do you feel about road trips?
I am definitely in. I have been on two really long ones, one of them was more than 8000 kms and another about 4000 kms long. It's an easy way to travel, I like the independence a car gives you and being free of stupid air travel regulations.

Indoor skiing slope at the Dubai Mall.

4. You just won two tickets to your dream vacation, who's going with you?
My husband of course.

The Dubai Laguna. World's tallest building Burj Khalifa is still being built on the background.

Nice roadsign, isn't it?

5. Airport security is only allowing you to take 3 make-up items with you, what are they?
Some face powder to control the shine, a mascara and moisturizing lipgloss.

Yours Truly,
Tolmu Rull

Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the biggest mosque in UAE.

World's third biggest chandelier with millions of Swarovski crystals. 

A segment of world's largest hand- made carpet.

For my lovely Estonian ladies:

Reisides on keeleoskus hädavajalik, siin on võimalus seda harjutada :)




Siiralt teie,
Tolmu Rull

Burj al Arab in sunset.

The beauty bucket list

Do you remember the movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman called the  Bucket List? If you don't in a nutshell the synopsis is that an auto mechanic and a millionaire escape the cancer hospital to make real all the wishes and wants they never had the courage/money to make true.

Pildi varastasin siit.

I heard that the movie was on TV tonight and started to wonder. Imagine that you'd have only a few months to live and an unlimited (beauty) budget. What would you get or do? Where would you go (for beauty treatments that is)?

The first thing that came to my mind was fake boobs. I mean, aren't we all somewhat curious about them since Pamela flaunted hers in Baywatch? Then again, I'm quite well-endowed naturally and getting these would take some pain and several months to recover. So, nay.

The other thing that jumped my mind was hair extensions. I've been blessed with quite thin and light Scandinavian type of hair, that never grows really long and if it does, it is not that thick and flouncy I would love it to be. In real life, I've always found hair extensions too expensive and troublesome, so I've never let those nowhere near my scalp. On my bucket list – yes, please!

The next obsession I have, is with Orgasm. Nars Orgasm, I mean. I know some people reckon the name to be tacky, but I have been mesmerized with it the minute I heard about it. I knew sometimes I would be one of the happy owners of Orgasm. To this day, I'm not, but getting this (ahem, an Orgasm) will definitely be on my bucket list.

Pildi varastasin siit.

Then, the third thing. I would really love to own the YSL Tribtoo kind of shoes. Several pairs, if possible. C'mon, what's there not to love (besides the constant danger of tripping over that will be really-really easy to overcome, right?). 

Pildi varastasin siit.

And a Kelly bag wouldn't hurt too. A few years ago Estonian clothing brand called Monton did a replica, but it's still merely a replica and I managed to miss this too. 

And last but not least, flying over to Thailand to get a series of Thai massages and a good soak in a pool with Mai Tai's being served constantly.

Over to you? What's in your beauty bucket list? You can list as many things or services as you like to.

Sincerely Yours,

Tolmu Rull

For my lovely Estonian beauties:

Mäletate filmi Viimaste soovide nimekiri ? Kuna see on täna õhtul telkus, hakkasin mõtlema, mis oleks minu ilu-viimaste-soovide nimekirjas. Pärast pikka kaheminutilist mõttetööd valisin välja juuksepikendused, Nars'i põsepuna toonis Orgasm (ilmselgetel põhjustel) ja YSL Tribtoo kingad, mis on lihtsalt liiga ilusad, et neid mitte nimekirja panna. Nojah, ja Kelly kott ning tai massaažid Taimaal ei teeks ka paha.

Mis on teie viimaste soovide nimekirjas (ilu osas nimelt)?

Siiralt Teie,

Tolmu Rull

P.S. Luban, et tulevikus teen rohkem toodete arvustusi ja swatche ka, aga september on lihtsalt nii neetult kiire kuu...

Blue locks trend. Are you in?

Kate's picture is from here.

Thinking of hair color, I read an interesting article about new hair colouring trends from Mama's a Rolling Stone web magazine. Guess what? Faded-away blue hair colour is in! A fair amount of celebrities like Lauren Conrad, our own Kerli Kõiv and even Lady Gaga have been seen sporting the trend.

Actually, this look is not so new to me. When I was at high school many-many years ago, I let a novelty and drama loving friend dye my lovely blonde locks dark teal in the school's ladies room. Using a pot of writing ink. Oh, the exitement! Oh, the attention I got!

In case you have forgot what a dark teal looks like, see it here.

Of course the ink started to transfer from my locks to clothes, pillowcases and to my face when it rained. The majority of it came off after washing my hair for a few times, but not from the ends, that apparently were a bit more damaged in first place. So, I ended up looking exactly like Kate Bosworth now!           

                   

Come on Kate, I did it first!

Oh, those were the days! I think this time I will pass :)

What I did with my hair next after the blue hair phase I will tell you another time, when all the trendy people are already rocking the style :P

In case anybody is interested how to achieve the blue-hair style without using the ink, get the tips from here.

Sincerely Yours,

Tolmu Rull

For my lovely Estonian ladies:

Mitme kuulsuse peas on hiljuti nähtud siniseid salke. Kui iseenesest pole sinised ja rohelised ja roosad juuksevärvid midagi eriti uut, eriti pungirahva peas, siis see meinstriim-variant on küll … hm... kole?

Mitte et ma ise oleks patust puhas – keskkooli ajal sai plikade peldikus tindiga pea tumerohekassiniseks värvitud :) Loomulikult ei tulnud see juustest enam kuidagi välja (eriti otstest) ja mul olid täpselt seda karva juuksed, mis Kate Bosworthil. Ainult et palju-palju-palju varem :P

Kui kedagi huvitab, kuidas sellist värvi saavutada tindi abita, siis inglisekeelne artikkel on siin.

Siiralt Teie,

Tolmu Rull

Marilyn Monroe and Mona Lisa made of lipgloss?

Picture is from here. 

Feelunique.com, one of the largest Europe's online beauty shops has paid artist Duncan Cargill to recreate three iconic paintings using lip gloss, foundation, eye liners, eye shadows, nail polish and so on. The three chosen masterpieces are Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Johannes Vermeer's Girl with the Pearl Earring and Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe portrait.

Each piece will be auctioned on eBay with all proceeds going to three chosen cancer charities.

The bids are currently a “meagre” £ 205 for Mona Lisa, £ 255 for Marilyn and £ 300 for Girl with the Pearl Earring. There is still 5 more days to go, so we don't know yet, what the final price will be.

Aaron Chatterley, CEO of feelunique.com, commented, "When it comes to their make-up routine, our customers know that there is an art to getting the perfect look. It seemed like a fabulous way to celebrate the connection between the worlds of beauty and art."

I think … it'is just outrageously expensive for a painting made of something as temporary as face paints. And a very stupid idea.


Sincerely yours,
Tolmu Rull

For Estonian beauties:

Veebipood Feelunique.com lasi briti kunstnikul Duncan Cargillil “taaselustada” kolm kuulsat maali: Leonrdo da Vinci Mona Lisa, Johannes Vermeeri Pärlkõrvarõngaga tüdruku ja Andy Warholi Marilyn Monroe portree. Taieste eripäraks on, et need on “maalitud” kasutades huulepulki, -läiget, jumestuskreemi ja muid ilutooteid. Odavaima maali, Mona Lisa hind on hetkel eBay oksjonil ligikaudu 233 eurot. Hea diil, mis?


Siiralt teie,
Tolmu Rull