Showing posts with label Rene Furtherer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rene Furtherer. Show all posts

Friday, 8 August 2014

Juli's Used Ups

Let me start with a lippy I consequently used until I reached bottom (or tube): 


Really, this one is from MAC's 2008 collection (see Temptalia). I have a special storeage for MAC's LE's (some never used) in a dark, cool place and sometimes I revisit Zeeee Box-e and I find myself something useful or fun. Ofcourse, I'm aware of expiry dates so I use my sniffer, and some good ol' logic to see if it is still fresh. 
MAC slimshines are lovely & creamy moisturizing hints of colour for the lips. Funshine is a coraly pink that is lighter than my natural lip colour. I get a wonderful nod to lighter lips with colours like these.

The rest:
July has been somewhat unproductive, but I used up some things:

1. Fairy Drops Mascara  Platinum Mascara film type
Ok, not quite used up but logic and knowledge of mascaras told me it is time to let this one go. I know lots of women love Fairydrops but somehow most of their mascara do not really work for my type of lashes. They do not hold curl that stubbornly as the likes of Majolica Mallorca or Fasio and that is mostly what I need. It's still a good mascara, though, but only with a base.

2. Nude Nailpolish: Nails Inc Basil Street, Essie Barefoot & OPI Let Them Eat Rice Cake
With nailpolish the logic of throwing away is a lot easier, because they are often dried out or separated. I've also finished a bottle of Seche Vite Thinner which can bring some dying nailpolishes alive again. Then again, I have so many nailpolishes that I screen the ones that I really want to thin up again. Or, I need some space and will use some other nudes before possible repurchase.

3. Tatcha Restoring Eye cream (right corner- small sample)
Lovely, but also a bit too pasty/thick for summer time.

4.  Saniflore Aqua Magnifiqua toner (review here)
Absolutely delicious for congested [summer] skin. I can feel it doing something extra when my skin is congested, but without having that stripping feeling those generic anti-acne potions have. It smells so herbally fresh too: repurchase!

5. Rene Furtherer Naturalia Dry Shampoo
I gotten into this one thanks to MostlySunny's rave. AGREED!  It's so delightfully thin and mops up the right amount of grease. And, hardly no white residue! For the supermajority that doesn't have blonde roots it is so wonderful to have a spray that doesn't make you look like you have grey hairs. Even blondes will get a slightly greyish look with about most dry shampoos so I have no idea why companies don't make them better like this one.

6. Vichy Cellu-destock Serum Flash
6%! 
-> 
for the ones that read my neverending stories of battling the ghost of cellulite (albeit very alive) know that I have a serious Caffeine habit. This serum has 6% Caffeine in it. I liked it but it also felt like my 1st tube of Cellulite-busting potions from 1993: perhaps the scent or the texture. I didn't feel it was too effective but I've been slightly inconsequent with it. It's also quite expensive per ml so I think I'll try something else next time.

7. French Girl Organics Rose Noir Cleansing Oil
I featured this baby as a part of my Organic black bottle collection (here). It's a dense cleansing oil that does not foam: I always expect a foam as I'm used to Asian cleansing oils, but Organics seldom do. It cleanses up heavy duty makeup and/or sunscreen but I do need a sudsy cleanser afterwards for rinsing off the oily feeling. It smells lovely like a soft rose.

8. REN Radiance Perfection Serum
This serum is actually meant for younger skins in need of a radiance boost. However, I often serum up twice a day so I really liked this one in the morning: it has some antioxidants (eg: Bitter Orange, Lingonberry) that combat the oxidant effect of sunrays during the day.

That has been my round-up of July's Used Ups. It has been wonderful to take a step away from my normal lipstick routine by taking up a paler hue like MAC Funshine: it does take some more work with the rest of the face (more eyemakeup, etc).  For this month I'm thinking to step out of the box again with lipcolour: perhaps a good berry hue for Indian Summer? We'll see ; )

Sunday, 19 January 2014

Resolution '14: Improving my French (read: using more French Products)

The "learning a new language" is often one of the more fun and advantageous resolutions a person can have. I mean, you only might meet one person in your life that speaks the language, but you'd always have the opportunity to really eavesdrop upon them, or *shock* reply them.

I'll take it easy and will try to improve my French:
L-R: La Roche Posay mineral water spray - Rene Furtherer Naturalia dry shampoo - Nuxe Lipgloss -Phyto Secret de Nuit - Rene Furtherer Laque Vegetale (hairspray)

I'd like to focus on Rene Furtherer's Naturalia Dry Shampoo. It has been Belgian Blogger Mostly Sunny who gave it major heads up. The Belgians are as lucky to get full access to most French cosmetics, the Dutch only partly. So she has the opportunity to try out the multitudes of French skincare and compare them to other brands.See her review here.


I really like it and I agree on it's grease-mopping cum volumising strenghts without leaving white residue:
Selfies with products are soooo 2014!
I also have the Nuxe lipgloss 02 Rose Legendaire. Nuxe is mostly famous for its buttery lipbalm; the lipgloss is the smoother & coloured sister:
It optionally plumps out lips and feels like a treat instead of lipgloss.

And something more common; my road-size La Roche Posay thermal water:

A nighttime hairbalm: Phyto Secret the Nuit (fr= Night secret)
I really didn't like this one first because it smelled like lavendel-on-a-chemical-trip and made my hair greasy and unglossy. Then I just added it in the dryer ends, SPARINGLY, which made a difference.  It couples up as a stylingcream if you opt for a braid -> waves on straight hair that last...

Are your 2014 resolutions as intellectually challenging as mine?

Sunday, 5 January 2014

Birkinbagbeauty's Best of 2013: Body

I have featured a lot of body-products, hair-related products and other potionalities in 2013. So here is the list of my favourites [also with some newbies]:

Nails:
I became familiar with Ciate thanks to UK Fashion magazines' GWP. Ciate nailpolishes stand out for: 1. fab coverage even after 1 coat 2. dries fast 3. superb colours 4. longevity. I got the Ciate Advent-set and found some favourites: Pillow Talk is the more-than-just-a-neutral Mauve that suits both warmer & cooler oufits. Cutie Pie for that creamy basic that looks luxe without being too fuzzy.

Perfume
In autumn I regretted not been able to find my yearly fragance-infatuation. Then I remembered testing Caligna in the exquisite Parisian l'Artisan Parfumeur shop during summery 30°C weather and liking it. Testing it this winter in colder weather made me even love it more.
I know, showing a paper sample doesn't show that much enthousiasm...But Caligna only comes for the hefty pricetag of 120, which needs some more sampling before I will resist that #nobuy.

Body Moisturizers:
Darphin Nourishing Satin Oil with Ginger and delightful vanilla fragance has been one of those 'special occasion' luxuries that moisturizes as a dream and fragances you so softly. Yes, I'm getting poetic about this and it needs a better review. 
This Works Really Rich Firming Lotion is one of the few (nicely) fraganced products that work when I'm supersensitive: with the added bonus of putting tons of moisture on the dry parts. I have a partial fondness of jasmine so that makes it wonderful for hydrating the body.

Hair:
Oh dear, I've been completely obsessed by reconstructing my hair (see here). Conclusion beginning '14: I have some hair again...!  It's not perfect yet, but it is a major improvement on the sad 'do I used to have.
I've started Phylia [de M] Connect mid '12 and the result is that my the hairgrowth from that time, an estimated 25/30 cm, is full and thick. It's literary 'gettin' it to your roots': the vitamins and the minerals. I haven't been using it since spring but I think it has been the key to my healthier hair.

Hair Styling:
Healthier hair needs some direction, aka styling. I'm still a sensitive person and not everything on my head agrees with my picky scalp. I consider Rene Furtherer Volumea a gorgeous natural alternative on volumizing my 'do, adding some wonderful gloss as a bonus.

Tools:

Since my new hairstyle my priorities switched from 'smoothing out damaged hairs' into 'extra volumising the fresh hairs': that needed a fabulous blowdryer! Reviews gave such positive marks on both T3 (superexpensive) & Parlux 385 (under €100) that I went for the last: also for the cute array of colours!
This latest version is both lightweighted and has a industrial motor inside (techie story here). In my non-techie terms: I love the various settings, heats-'n-coolnesses, and with the right techniques & styling products I'm able to experiment more with hairstyles.

These have been my 2013 body favourites and I could probably list a ton more, but I'll keep it relatively simple with "the excellent of class '13".