Products I've used up August '13

Welcome back my dear blog readers,

As you've read the title you know what to expect from this blog post. Today I'll be talking about my empties. Let's kick this into high gear, aight?

Koji Dolly Wink mascara

Lately I've been experimenting with mascara's and trying to figure out which mascara will do my lashes good. The Koji Dolly Wink volume mascara sure has done my lashes good :)

It's a simple black mascara that doesn't smudge, gives volume, gives me the natural look and has a cute packaging.

Vichy Normaderm

I've talked about this before. I mostly use this whenever I have a breakout. I have to admit that this worked very good in the beginning when I started off using this, but lately it just hasn't really done much. I'm not sure whether it's because it dried out a little bit. I already purchased another one. If that doesn't do the job anymore, I definitely won't be repurchasing it anymore.

Eucerin sun fluid SPF 50

Every summer my face becomes one big freckle, haha! I've become more aware of my skin condition this year and I started wearing SPF...finally! I saw this sample laying at my dermatologist's office and decided to give it a try. The word 'mattifying' got me over the fence. Don't you have the problem as well that a lot of SPF's leave a rather greasy feeling on your face? I'm not saying this one doesn't, but it's just not as bad as others. You may think the SPF 50 is rather high, but I prefer a high SPF for my face just to make sure no freckle gets through. Admitting that I haven't seen one new freckly appearing on my face, yay for SPF!



 

Signal White Now

I've been using this tooth paste for a few months now, and I must be hallucinating, but it's like my teeth are a little bit whiter than before. I'll be switching to another tooth paste, so I'll wait and see whether it was the tooth paste or not.
I liked the blue gel combined with the white. If you didn't know, if you have a blue sheen on your teeth it'll give the appearance of them being whiter.

Those were my empties of the month. I've been experimenting with a lot of products lately. I'm guessing this year my empties will be accumulating, so keep an eye for it if you like these kind of posts! :)



I've been using tons of goodies the last couple of months, so keep your eyed peeled for more empties posts! :)

Favorite products of the month: July 2013

So, how did we already pass half summer? Time literally flies by!
But you know what the end of a month means, right? Yup, another listing of my favorite products of the passed month! :)

The month July hasn't been very nice to my skin at all. I had breakouts and I needed treatment, not just for the face, but for the entire body. It's been a while since my body was in such a bad condition...

Let's work from the top down and start with facial products:
Lately the oils in my skin have been going out like crazy. I know during summer my skin has the tendency to go all nuts, but I've been on the look out for good mattifying products to keep my oils at bay.
The Bioderma and the Shu Uemura Pureness mattifying moisturizer have been good to my skin, because they're very light moisturizers but they've been keeping my skin fairly matte.

Left:Bioderma Sébium moisturising mattifying fluid
Right: Shiseido Pureness mattifying moisturiser

Besides that, pimples had several parties on my face. Costume parties. As in, they were everywhere and in all forms. Whenever I'm need of a good zit killer, I take out the big guns: my Benzac Gel. This hydrogel contains 5% of benzoylperoxide. If you haven't heard of this chemical, it mainly dries out the zit causing it for it to DIE, mwoehahaha! Honestly, it's THE bomb diggity to get rid of any breakouts.

Benzac Gel

This passed month I had to go to the dentist, and I had to sit there for about 2 hours with my mouth open. This caused the sides of my mouth crack, and believe you me... it hurts like hell afterwards! I've done some research and I found out that Sudocrem appears to be a very good treatment for healing cracks. After walking around with those cracks for weeks, it healed after applying Sudocrem for just 1 day! Holy moly guacemole, right?
It's known to be a do-it-all for several things, such as soothing a baby's nappy rash, treat dry, cracked feet, get rid of red spots from acne, ... A big plus? It's hypoallergenic, so this will be fighting against those annoying allergic reactions!

Sudocrem

This month I've discovered my epilator and my tweezers again, because you know how we girls be, huh? :) I like to get rid of any excess hair that bothers me, and I have my Tweezerman to thank for. I used to use cheap tweezers and I must admit, nothing beats a Tweezerman. They're so sharp that they can get every hair out, yet they're not as sharp they can cut you. Great stuff!

Tweezerman

If you haven't read the recent last blog posts yet, I've been going on and on about how important SPF is. Recently I've discovered a sunscreen that can keep my face matte, and it has a high SPF factor. It's the Eucerin SPF 50. I'm not going into it too deep anymore, if you would like some more information on it, go ahead and give this one a read.

Eucerin sun fluid SPF 50

As for make up, since this is still a beauty blog, I have 2 drugstore eyeliners, and they're both from the brand Essence.
On the top you'll see the waterproof eye pencil that claims to be: waterproof, partyproof, lifeproof, lasts up to 16 hours and it's sharpenable. It's supposed to stay on NO MATTER WHAT. I must say that this does stay for quite some time.
The second eye pencil is a longlasting one. It's a supersoft eye pencil which is good for precise application.
They're both very good drugstore eye liners that's definitely worth the money! They're cheap (I only paid 1€ for each pencil), they're long lasting, they have a good pigmentation, they're easily accessible (drugstore). Worth giving a shot!

Top: Essence stays no matter what waterproof eye pencil: 01 midnight black
Down: Essence Longlasting eye pencil: 01 black fever

During the summer sales, I often have a peek through the sales boxes and this year I found a YSL cream blush. It's pretty pinkish color that will leave your skin dewy. You don't need too much of this: one or two swipes and hello healthy glow! I'm really glad I found this because I've been on the hunt for a good cream blush and I think I found my blush of the summer.

Yves Saint Laurent cream blush no6

As for lips, I have discovered Bourjois' Color Boost Peach on the Beach. It's a coral lipstick in a crayon form. A great color to wear for those who have been wearing lip balm forever and just started to wear lipstick :) A review of this goodie will be coming up soon!

Bourjois Color Boost: 04 Peach on the Beach

I like bright nail polish colors during the summer, especially for my toes! I've been rocking NYX's hot pink for the entire month of July. It's a fun color that will make your feet look more tanned than they're already are, 2 in 1, yeah baby!

NYX - Dance in Havana

Last but not least, I've been using an oil spray to tame those fly aways down and to make my hair more shiny. I spritz this oil in my damp hair and this makes my hair softer and gives it some shine which my hair has been lacking of. I'm not a fan of the scent, although a lot of those beauty bloggers love the Macadamia scent, but I'll keep on using this because it does the job.

Macadamia - Healing Oil Spray

These were my favorite goodies of the month. Mind sharing yours with me?

Me against UV rays

Hi there everyone!

If you've read my last blog post, you know I'm whined over and over on UV rays and how it's important that you should protect your skin from any damage.

Today I'll be talking about a couple of items I've been using this year to protect myself from those evil rays!

First off, the face!
If you've read this blog for a while, you may know by now that I have a combination to oily skin type. In other words: the kind where you can fry your fish and chips in!
During the summer the oils decide to have a party in my face and stay there for a about the entire season.

Eucerin sun fluid mattifying face - SPF50

When applying a sunscreen on the face, the oils are dying to come out. That's why I've been on the look out for a mattifying sunscreen. Believe me, I never knew about its existence until I accidentally bumped into one when I was in the doctor's waiting room. It's the Eucerin sun fluid mattifying for the face.

Turns out this sample is a pretty darn good sunscreen for me :)

It leaves a semi-matte finish on my skin and it has a high SPF of 50. What more can my skin ask for?

And yes, I'm planning on getting a full size bottle!





Before discovering this baby, I actually did some research on a good sunscreen and I heard/read several good reviews on the following:

 

Shiseido Expert Sun Aging Protection Lotion - SPF30

The Shiseido sunscreen is known for its blue bottle and the orange cap. This sunscreen is meant to be applied for the face as well as the body. When going to the beach, I thought it would come in handy to get a 2 in 1 and one which is very water resistant and sand-proof.

It's a light, non-sticky sun protection lotion that will fight against the UVA and UVB rays. Don't give those wrinkles and sunburns any chance by protecting you against both rays!

I did try to apply this on my face, but my face became rather greasy after a few hours. I prefer this sunscreen for my body and will be using the Eucerin one for my face :)




And something you often forget to protect from UV rays as well: your hair!
I have black hair, but after getting a perm the sun damage has caused my hair to turn slightly dark brown. I must admit that I like the brownish hints of colour, but honestly... I know that the discoloration is merely a sign of sun damage.

Wella Professionals Lifetex vitamin shake

When going on a sunny holiday I make sure to bring along my hair protecting vitamin shake!
This is a vitamin shake that will nourish and protect your hair from sun damage. As you can see on the picture, it has a milk base and an oily base which you should shake up (hence the name vitamin shake) before spritzing it into your hair.

The milk base has sun protection ingredients, while the macadamia seed oil protects your from damage from the sun, sea and chlorine.

It gives a lot of moisture to the hair so the hair doesn't dry out. Do keep in mind that this shake contains a UV filter, to make sure it combats those UV rays!
 




These were my 3 essentials that I'll be rocking this summer.
Tell me, what are your must haves for the scorching hot season?