My latest blush crush: Benefit Bella Bamba review and comparison swatches + a sale alert

I love blush. I'm easily enchanted by new products and can almost always justify the purchase. I'm a blushaholic!

I hadn't tried any of Benefit's cult-worthy blushes before. There were several reasons for this: partly because they are difficult to get your hand's on in Estonia, partly because their price tag, partly because there are many other great blushes out there...the list goes on and on.

Bella Bamba became mine (oh, mine!) this summer (read more about it here). I don't care that it has been reviewed a million time or so, it's my latest blush crush and I'm going to say a few words about it! 

Bella Bamba is not Benefit's latest creation in terms of blush, but it's their only 3D “brightening face powder” (they call their blushes “face powders” for some reason that remains mysterious to me, guess that's a part of their retro attitude). 

The first thing that catches the eye in Bella Bamba is of course it's colourful rectangular box with holographic effects. It is one of the famous cardboard boxes of Benefit's blushes: sturdy enough for keeping on your vanity, but will probably get ugly quickly if carried around in handbag in daily bases. But it sure does endure some dropping. 

The blusher comes with a natural hair brush, mirror in the flip over lid and plastic separator to keep the blush and brush apart. The brush is quite big and clumsy, but would do in case of emergency.

Bella Bamba itself is a most gorgeous watermelon-coloured blush, more bright pink than coral. I love the vibrant hue! The 3d part simply means it has lot's of pale gold shimmer-sheen in it, not holographic particles or anything. The shimmer is so fine that looking from some distance you can barely see it, you'll just notice a nice glow, the so-called brightening effect.

See the beautiful golden shimmer and holo effects on the box!

The blush is very-very pigmented, but it's texure is soft and well-blendable, so you can apply it with a light hand for only some rosy sheen on your cheeks or go for full on bright colour. Benefit says it amplifies cheekbones and creates the illusion of sculpted features: it sure does, you probably won't be needing any separate highlighter with it.

The blush is lightly scented (a sweet candy scent, doesn't remind watermelons to me), but you can only feel it when smelling the box directly, not on your cheeks.

Bella Bamba in the left, Nars Deep Throat on the top and Nars Orgasm below.  

I think Bella Bamba tends to beat Nars blushes, as it's texture is softer and even easier to blend. Don't get me wrong, I love my Nars too, but Bella Bamba just has something special about it. 

It is a lot more bright and vibrant than Nars Deep Throat and has a lot less of the golden-yellow sheen than Orgasm does (personally, I don't find the yellow sheen flattering on me). I hope you can see that from the swatches. Surprisingly, in the box Nars Deep Throat seems a lot lighter, but in swatches it came out really similar to Bella Bamba, minus the sheen. Maybe just a tad more red, whilst Bella Bamba leans more to the pink. 

Bella Bamba heavy swatch on my NC 15/20 skin.

From left: Nars Deep Throat, Bella Bamba, Nars Orgasm heavy swatches. Click on the picture to make it bigger ( as always).

Also, Bella Bamba is surprisingly a lot more affordable than Nars blushes (especially when you get it in a kit, like I did). Bella Bamba has 8 g (0,28 Oz) of product in it, Nars blushes have only 4,8 g (0,16 Oz). The prices in Europe are about 32-33 euros for Bella Bamba and 28-29 euros for a Nars blush. I don't know the US prices, according to Sephora.com they both cost 28 USD, but that makes Bella Bamba still a lot cheaper, as you get roughly twice as much the product. 

BTW, there is major Benefit discount going on on Cheapsmells.com website! They sell genuine perfumes and quality beauty products at affordable prices and deliver all over the world. So if you want to get your hands on some Benefit products at quite affordable prices (for Benefit of course), check this out! They have Bella Bamba individually and also some blushes in travel sets, but these are going fast! 

What do you think of Bella Bamba? What's your latest blush crush?

Yours Truly,
 Tolmu Rull

For my lovely Estonian ladies:

Ma olen täielik põsepunahull! Minu viimane "armastus" on Bella Bamba Benefit'ilt, kuidas ma selle omanikuks sain, loe siit. Arbuusitooni, külluslikult õrna kuldset sädelust sisaldav Bella Bamba on veel ilusam, kui kultuslikud Narsi põsepunad (piltidel näed võrdlust). See on Narsi punadest pisut pehmema tekstuuriga, sädeleb rohkem ja on pakitud suuremasse karpi. Benefit'i tooteid saab Eestisse tellida näiteks CheapSmells'i lehelt või kõige lähemalt osta Poolast Sephora poodidest.

Milline on teie suurim põsepunalemmik?

Siiralt teie,

Tolmu Rull

Grimas meigitooted ja pintslid 40 % soodsamalt!

This post is in Estonian only, as it concerns a voucher deal of Dutch professional make up range Grimas in Estonia.

Minu blogi pole kindlasti mingi reklaamiblogi, kuid ma lihtsalt ei saa häid soodukaid ja diile teiega jagamata jätta :) Ja sügiseti on neid palju.

Tänane lemmikpakkumine tuleb Hollandi profimeigisarjalt Grimas, mida saab Chilli.ee voucheriga soetada tervelt 40 % soodsamalt! Pakkumise, tootenimistu ja hinnakirja leiad siit.

Grimas'e Eesti edasimüüja Tartus ilumessil. Pilt näpatud FB-st.

Grimas on proffidele mõeldud teatri- ja lavameigisari, mis loomulikult sobib ka tavameigi tegemiseks.  Mina tutvusingi selle sarjaga meigikoolitusel. Kuigi Grimas'e sari oli vahepeal Selverites vabalt müügil, pole see Eestis eriti tuntud, kuid ma tahaks seda viga veidi parandada.

"Professionaalidele mõeldud" tähendab Grimas'i puhul, et valikusse kuuluvad ka näomaalinguvärvid, kunstninad, -silmad, -kõrvad, lateksist "kiilasparukad", kulmu- ja habemeliimid, haavade ja kortsude tegemiseks mõeldud vahendid ja muu selline kraam, millega igapäevaselt eriti kokkupuudet pole.

Pildid on näpatud Chilli.ee kodukalt. 

Samas pakub Grimas'e sari ka laias valikus nn. tavakosmeetikas kasutatavaid vahendeid: lauvärve, põsepunasid, huuleläikeid- ja pulki, sädelusi, kunstripsmeid jne. Mina olen vaimustuses Grimas'e lauvärvidest, mis on tugeva pigmendiga, väga pehmed ja hästi hajuvad ning laias toonivalikus. Kiidan väga ka tolmpuuderid, mille toonivalik on väga lai ja müügil on ka täiesti värvitu tolmpuuder. Minu arvates on Grimas'e tolmpuudrid parima hinna-kvaliteedi suhtega tolmpuudrid, mida näinud olen. Mainisin tolmpuudrit ka oma lemmikute postituses. 

Ma usun, et ka muud tooted väärivad tshekkimist. Täpsemalt saab sarjaga tutvuda nende kodukal ja Eesti edasimüüja FB lehel, kus on toodetest palju pilte. 

Ahjaa, hinnast: profimeigisarja kohta on Grimas väga soodne, 35 g tolmpuudrit (jätkub igapäevase kasutamise korral aastaks kindlasti) maksab 10.35 euri ja lauvärv 2,5 g 7.75 eur. Täpne hinnakiri on siin. Ja nüüd voucheriga veelgi soodsamalt!

Igatahes soovitan. Kui tahate Grimas'e toodete lähemaid arvustusi, andke palun kommentaarides teada.

Siiralt teie,
Tolmu Rull

P.S. Ma pole Grimas'e ega nende edasimüüjaga Eestis kuidagi kommertsiaalselt seotud.

Sale at The Body Shop! Body Shopi sügisesed kliendipäevad -- täna veel jõuab!

Sleek Makeup has a new website and 20 % off everything!

Sleek Makeup's eyeshadow palettes and blushes have aquired quite a cult status among beauty bloggers because their mainly top notch quality and reasonable prices. Surely, everybody has heard of the company already and no need to tell more, right? 

Myself, I've been meaning to order their 2012 Collection dedicated to London's Summer Olympics since I first read about it sometime in June. Well, I'm glad I had postponed it until yesterday, when I discovered that Sleek Makeup has launched a new website and to celebrate it offers 20 % discount of everything on the site! The offer is valid until September 5th.

They have sales or other promotions next to never (at least on their website), so I think it's a good offer.

Even better, Sleek has adjusted the shipping charges. It used to be ridiculously expensive 10 euros per package for International Signed For and it was stated on the website that you can order only four items at a time : S So if you wanted one or two things, it made more sense to find somebody to order with you or get your items from eBay. Now they have reduced the shipping and calculate shipping costs according to the weight of package aka number of items ordered. I paid 6.50 euros for the shipping of quite large order, but I checked that for one palette it would be 2.20 euros, so it still pays to order several items at a time.

As for yesterday, everything was nicely in stock, but that may not last long.

I have a few good words for the website itself. It's quicker and more logical than it used to be and they have added swatches on different skin tones for most items. Well done, Sleek!

Yours Truly,
Tolmu Rull

For my lovely Estonian ladies:

Briti päritoluga Sleek Makeup (kõik on neist kindlasti kuulnud, eks?) annab kuni 5. septembrini kõikidele veebitellimustele 20 % allahindlust. Vähendatud on ka postikulu: kui varem oli see kõigi tellimuste puhul 10 eurot paki pealt, siis nüüd arvutatakse postikulu paki kaalu järgi. Näiteks ühe lauvärvipaleti tellimisel tuleb postikulu maksta vaid 2.20 eurot. Sleeki lauvärvipaletid ja põsepunad on väga hea kvaliteediga, soovitan juhust kasutada!

Siiralt teie,
Tolmu Rull

Osta soodsalt: Green Nature kreemid ja õlid laadalt ligi poole odavamalt!

This post is in Estonian only, because it concerns a local natural cosmetics company that sells it's products roughly about two times cheaper at open air fairs than in mall. Unfortunately they don't sell their products outside Estonia (yet).

Külastasin eelmisel laupäeval Vanamõisa käsitöölaata ja muu hea-parema-toreda seast avastasin sealt Green Nature kreemide ja õlide letikese. No muidugi äratas see minus huvi ja ajas näpud kohe sügelema. Ikkagi oma ja eestimaine, öko veel pealekauba :)

Tegelikult olin Green Nature nime poodides varem ka silmanud, aga põhjalikumat tutvumist polnud kunagi viitsinud ette võtta. Laadal oli lahke müüja kaupa tutvustamas ja soovitusi jagamas, pakkus testreid proovimiseks ning (loomulikult!) ma sealt ostuta ei lahkunud. Soetasin endale jumet andva ja nahka toitva porgandikreemi ja rasust nahka reguleeriva jojobaõli. 

Kodus pöördusin truu abilise Google poole, et Green Nature'ga põhjalikumalt tutvuda. Teada sain järgmist: 

“Green Nature on aastal 2009 asutatud Eesti looduskosmeetika ettevõte, mille eesmärk on pakkuda oma klientidele 100% naturaalset ja puhast kosmeetikat. Green Nature tooted ei sisalda sünteetilisi lõhnaineid, värvaineid ega sünteetilisi säilitusaineid. Seetõttu on kõik tooted lõhnatud või õrna tooraine lõhnaga. Green Nature tooted ei tekita nahaärritusi ning sobivad ideaalselt ka tundlikule ja allergilisele nahale.

Põhirõhk Green Nature sortimendis on naturaalsetel, 100% looduslikel kehaõlidel. Green Nature valikus on 15 naturaalset õli kehale, juustele, küüntele ja ripsmetele.” 

Kõlab väga ahvatlevalt, eks? 

Nüüd aga jutu poindi juurde. Eile Tallinna Kaubamajas läksin uuesti Green Nature riiulit uudistama, sooviga nende argaaniaõli soetada ja pidin pepuli kukkuma. Kui mina maksin laadal kreemi ja õli eest kokku 15 eurot, siis Kaubamajas maksis jojobaõli 11 eurot sentidega ja porgandikreem 14 eurot sentidega ehk siis kokku üle 25 euro! Vau! Päris suur vahe! 

Pole vist vaja mainida, et argaaniaõli eile minuga koju ei tulnud...

Porgandikreemi ja jojobaõli ma praegu pikemalt ei arvusta: olen neid selleks veel liiga vähe proovinud, et arvamust avaldada. Kirjutan hinnatähelepaneku siia hoopis seepärast, et ka kohe-kohe algaval augustikuu eelviimasel nädalavahetusel peetakse mitmel pool laatu ja muid rahvaüritusi. Kes vihmaseid ilmu trotsides minemas on, hoidke silmad lahti!

Kas olete Green Nature tooteid proovinud? Mida sellisest hinnakujundusest arvate?

Siiralt teie,
Tolmu Rull

Quum.ee has a supersale! Warning: great beauty bargains

This morning sucked. Opening my eyes, I saw that my nail polish job from last night has sheet marks all over it. I found some cat pee on the floor, discovered that my shower gel had exploded in my gym bag (on top of the white yoga pants, which are ruined: the stain won't probably come out ever again) and my Lush facial cleaner had grown a thick layer of mould in the shower. And all that even before nine in the morning!

But then the day grew much better. My Elsa Hjeronymus facial care procedure was as great as I had expected (anyone fancy a review?) and I was even given a free Guinot eye cream sample from the salon. And once back at my computer I discovered this Quum.ee supersale with great offerings starting from 1.39 euros. Yay!

Some great finds:

• Clinique Take The Day Off makeup remover, 50 ml travel size, 4.80 euros.

It is a highly praised makeup remover, some even say, the best in the world. Although this is a travel size, the price is great: full-sized 125 ml product costs 21 euros in Strawberrynet. Get three from Quum and you'll get more product for a lot less and have some money left for other bargains. Plus, you can take  it on a plane.

• Jean Philippe Wild Honey Body Scrub, 170 g, 139 eur.

I have never heard about this scrub, but I like the price and packaging seems nice too :)

• SJP Covet Body Lotion, 200 ml, 4.80 eur.

• Christina Aquilera By Night body lotion 200 ml, 7.70 eur.

Well, these are the prices of a ordinary drugstore body moisturiser, but perfumed body lotions are rather perfumes than ordinary moisturisers and therefore usually cost much more. If you are a fan of these fragrances, then run.

• Tigi Love, Peace and the Planet Freak of Nature Volumizer and Thickener, 250 ml, 7.92 eur.

A great volumizer, that usually costs around 15 euros (at least in Estonia). You can find my review here.

There are also lots of L'Oreal lipsticks for 4.80 euros, Anatomicals and Manatomicals stuff starting from 4.44 euros and so on. I might fall for some bargains myself :P

Quum.ee is quite respectable Estonian web shop. They sell discounted beauty items like Strawberrynet.com  does, but have often better offerings. I have ordered several times from them and have not been disappointed with the service or goodies yet. Sometimes they even include free samples with the order (always a bonus in my eyes!). Quum delivers all over the world and in my opinion the shipping is reasonably priced. The only minus is that the delivery time is a bit long sometimes.

Note: I'm not affiliated with this shop, just took my time to share this information. All images are press pictures from internet. 

Did you find anything from this supersale?

Sincerely Yours,

Tolmu Rull

Edit: Now, more than a month later, these items are still not in my hands. So I must say that the delivery time is more than a bit long. I made an inquiry about my order and received a very vague answer about them being delayed with no exact arrival date. Hmm...

Edit 2: I have been extremely patient and waited more than four (4!) months by now. Still my goodies are nowhere in sight and the company doesn't know when they will be. I've asked for a refund and will let you know if or whether it arrives.

For my lovely Estonian ladies:

Tänane hommik polnud mul just parimate killast. Aga pärast ülimõnusat ja loodetavasti ka tõhusat Elsa Hjeronymuse näohooldust arvuti taha naastes avastasin, et Quum.ee veebipoes on supersale ja seal leidub väga häid pakkumisi, millest mõned olen ka ülalpool välja toonud. Soovitan uurida!

Siiralt teie,

Tolmu Rull

NB! Praegu on tellimise kuupäevast möödunud juba enam kui kuu ja tellitud tooteid ikka veel pole. Järelepärimiseks sain pealiskaudse vastuse, et saadetis hilineb, kuna telliti palju. Ütleme nii, et ma olen selle olukorraga väga rahulolematu ja Quum.ee poodi enam soovitada ei julge.

NB! NB! Nüüdseks olen oodanud juba neli kuud, aga mu tooteid ikka pole. Samuti pole teada, millal need saabuda võiks. Palusin oma raha tagastada, mida ettevõtte juht Sven Palm ka teha lubas, ehkki ta arvas, et võtku ma parem mingeid asendustooteid nende lehelt. Tänan, ei! Ehk pean neid jälle mitu kuud ootama. Vaatame siis, kas ja millal ma raha tagasi saan :S Kindlasti annan teilegi teada!

Bye-bye Essie ehk hüvasti Essie!

This post is mostly in Estonian again, because it's about Essie's nail polishes sale being discontinued in Estonia.

For my lovely Estonian ladies:

Nojah, nagu lugesite, siis lõpetab BeautyPro Essie küünelakkide maaletoomise. Täna kinnitati mulle BeautyPro'st, et hetkel on käimas lõpumüük, kus iga lakk maksab 3.50 EUR ( muidu poodides 8-9 EUR). Soodusmüügis - 40 % on veel kõik Essie alus- ja pealislakid (neid on võimalik osta ka nn. hulgikoguses suurtes pudelites). 

 Vähemalt Tallinna esindustesse on jäänud müügile valdavalt küll “igavad” roosad, tumepunased ja valged/läbipaistvad lakid, aga näiteks osad sügiskollektsiooni 2010 lakid olid täna veel olemas. Kes toona ilma jäi, siis nüüd on veel võimalus. Soovitan kindlasti tšekkida ka alus- ja pealislakke! Näiteks To Dry For kiirkuivataja-pealislaki kombo tundub mulle väga hea ja praegu imelise hinnaga 3.50 EUR.

Hetkel ei osatud BeautyPro-st öelda, kaua lõpumüük jätkub ning kas edaspidi keegi hakkab Essie't Eestisse maale tooma või ei. See selguvat, kui neil on leping Essie'ga täiesti lõpetatud.

Minul on sellest muutusest kahju, sest Essie lakid meeldisid mulle. Aga nagu klassikud juba ütlesid – we'll always have eBay!

Siiralt teie,

Tolmu Rull

* Palun taas vabandust nõmeda pressipildi pärast, aga tahtsin uudise kiiresti teieni tuua ja pilti teha täna õhtul tõesti enam ei jõudnud. 

** BeautyPro'l on hetkel sünnipäevanädal, seega ka palju muid soodustusi. Vaadake soodukaid ja lahtiolekuaegu siit.

Looduskosmeetika allahindlus

This post is in Estonian, because it concerns a sale in natural cosmetics shop that delivers to Estonia only.

For my lovely Estonian ladies:

Looduskosmeetika poes Natural Me on 1.- 8. veebruarini allahindlus -- kuni 50 %. Tegelikkuses tähendab see küll, et suurem osa allahindluses olevaid tooteid on alla hinnatud 15 - 25 %, aga noh, pole paha seegi. Natural Me müüb mitmeid väga tuntud looduskosmeetika kaubamärke nagu Weleda, Dr. Hauschka ja Ecotools, aga ka selliseid asju, millest ma kuulnudki polnud, nagu Santaverde ja Miessence. Eesti oma tooted on esindatud GoodKaarma eeterlike õlide ja seepide näol.


Poe veebisait räägib:


"Natural Me e-pood on esimene ilutoodete edasimüüja Eestis, mis on eranditult keskendunud vaid puhtale orgaanilisele kosmeetikale.


Pakume üle 1000 orgaanilise make-up, aroomiteraapia-, näo- ja kehahooldustoote 22-lt maailmas tunnustatud kaubamärgilt. Seega, Natural Me e-poest leiate suurima valiku orgaanilist kosmeetikat Eestis."


Ma ei ole orgaanilise kosmeetika- ja nahahooldustoodete sajaprotsendiline fänn, sest allergiaid mul pole ja edevus jääb loodusearmastusele peale (khm, häbi, aga nii on ...) Siiski, viimasel ajal on eelistused naturaalsuse suunas kaldunud, sest looduskosmeetika on sageli lihtsalt nii hea lõhnaga ja toimelt nii mõnus :)


Kokkuvõttes, mina kasutan juhust ja tellin mõned asjad looduskosmeetika allahindluse raames. Ecotools'i pintsleid ja Goodkaarma seepe ja veelpaar asja, mis jäägu siinkohal salajasse. Loodan, et sellest infost oli abi.


Siiralt Teie,
Tolmu Rull

Body Shopil on kliendipäevad!

This post is in Estonian only, because it concerns The Body Shop sale in Estonia.

Panen siia The Body Shopi kliendipäevade reklaami. Veel täna on võimalik kasutada päris head allahindlust -- kõik tooted miinus 20 % ja juuksehooldus isegi miinus 30 %. Pildil klikates saate selle suuremaks ja soodustustest täpsemalt teada. Mina igatahes lähen uurin asja. Põnev-põnev!


Siiralt Teie,
Tolmu Rull