Hair-mail

I feel kinda 'America's Next Top Model' by announcing in that skinny-perky way: "Tyra Mail". A slight alteration on this theme is that it's "hair-mail".

"Hello Hair" is a handy, portable treatment based on coconut-oils. The difference is in the fact it is creamy instead of solid and a slightly lighter consistency. 

I feel it rinses out easier: pure coconut oil needs several sessions to really be clean whereas this one is clean in one wash. I still think it penetrates as effectively as pure coconut oil. Moreover, it smells nice (either neutral or a scent of your choice) instead of cooking. I cook a lot in coconut oil so I often feel like a hot dish when going for the pure version treatment.

I also love the portable size. This is the perfect treatment to carry around during beachy holidays. I can see myself carrying around on the beach to protect my hair before swimming. Or in the evening as a potent treatment.

The only con will be a higher price compared to pure coconut oil, but the Aussie $ is favorable right now. Or perhaps the wait, but actually I just love the idea of old-fashion mail from Down Under country. Especially in perky turquoise envelopes. 

I bought it from HelloHair.com.au and it has a lot more than just coconut oil with added Almond, Argan, Castor oils and more. And sometimes a lot of effective oils is what a dry mop of hair needs.

Becca Beachtint Raspberry/Opal in Vine

Sometimes moving images say more than the still ones.

So I would like to Vine-review Becca Beachtint in Raspberry/Opal I gotten in July (here). It started out as a cushiony dream but I have some reserves I will share later. Let's Vine first:

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 Pros: 

• love the colour-payoff: cannot get enough ofa  berry-ish glowy cheek
• blends easily on my skin 
• Fits my Adesign Pointed Foundation brush like a dream

Cons:

• dents easily: I've only used it about 10 times to get this dent!
• Not really fingerproof: this one needs a proper brush for applying

I'm slightly dissapointed to have this effect when I only had it for 3 months. The result is pretty but the Cons make it a blush I do not reach easily for it. Also, It looks I only have 50% left after only 10 uses, which makes it quite pricy per use.

unlike the bird, the early pan doesn't get the worm

I really love Becca as a brand. I prefer their matte eyeshadows over Rouge Bunny Rouge's, I love their illuminators and they have some awesome blushers. This formula is neither fish nor fowl.

It also dissapears faster than my other blushes.

Conclusion: Love at first sight can be deceptive if the substance looked more than it eventually is

Resolution '14: Going to Australia (or vv)

Oh how delightful it would be to visit Australia. 

And yet, planning, the endless journey, the dehydratation during the flight...the kick-[**] kangeroos...

I'll took the easy route in the sense of "if Muhammed will not come to the mountain..." and ordered something

 1. Australian 

2. Organic from The Little Alchemist 

3. Serum! or it's actually an oil! (also good)

Yes, I declared my De Mamiel oil as the Best of '13 but I will continue in archaic terms "know thyself", or in this case "know thy skin". How much I love to stay utterly faithful to one brand, there will be a time when laziness of the skin wills set in: a switch in skincare might get the cells working again.

Also, my priorities will switch soon to Winter calming to Spring reviving: that needs a good boost of Vitamin C.

Ultra C is not just vitamin C: it's Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, which is one of the stable forms of vitamin C that is able to penetrate the skin (see here & here). Moreover, Ultra C is claimed to be one of few organic serums that totally goes into the anti-age (gah, now this word will become politically incorrect soon) youth defending spectrum with Goji Berry, Co Enzyme Q10 & Chia Seed: my face already starts to tighten by hearing of these ingredients...

So that is my Australian adventure for the time being. I'll bring out a review when I started my Ultra C, in the meanwhile, find more information of it here.

last week in beauty

I actually want to make a general post today about the things I (re)discovered in beauty last week.

First, I ventured on Sleek blush in Flamingo, which, pricewise, was not an expensive venture. After reading many descriptions of it being terribly bright in the pan but subtle on the face I decided I wanted this particular poppy pink. Ehm, people who follow me know I'm spoiled with my high-end blush and that is my first disclaimer: I'm a blush-snob! 
To me, this one looked as scarily on my face as in the pan, probably worse because the pigmentation went bezerk on my unmadeup face (tryout). A good quality blush has the ability to look good on an unmadeup face, because the pigmentation will even out, but yeh...I looked like a kid playing with the makeupbox..
So this one can be used, only with a stippling brush/care/lots-of-time-on-my-hands. Somewhat, I expect it will end up far away in my beautycloset or I will add it in a giveaway.

Already feeling spring-like by adding lot's of pastels to my nails. Catrice is quite cheap but I really like the quality of their nailpolishes.

Another good-quality Catrice is that blue-ish eyeshadow I added. Also, I varied the safe neutrals with a pop of colour...

I almost finished my second tube of the Jurlique Purely White Skin cream. I think it really works: I already noticed this the first time when I had to correct some odd pigmentation on my forehead due to forgetting to add sunscreen that day. This time I noticed, cheapskate me, that my neck was darker than my face. Reason: I only slathered it on my face instead of the neck.

I finally jumped upon the Ellis Faas lip -hype, the glazed versions. I already have her foundation (post here) and I really liked the look of the L307 after seeing it on Kate (drivol). On me that L307 looked like a weird apricot muddy pudding, so testing is always good before you buy. Anyway, I loved to go a bit more red and I found a rather perfect red in the L303.

Ellis Faas L303

The best thing is that it fades in the most beautiful way: reds are always so dangerous with fading and they are normally so high-maintainance but this one really fades into a stain...so gorgeous.

Mini-review: Darphin Anti-Fatigue Smoothing Eye Gel & Antipodes Rejoice cream

Again, after yesterday's post I will be featuring another Antipodes product. But to make it a bit rounder I will add the Darphin Anti-Fatigue smoothing eyegel too.

Perhaps not entirely visible on the picture above, but I finished the Darphin Anti-fatigue eye gel completely. In contrast: the tube of Antipodes Rejoice is still half full, and I probably won't be emptying that one either.

Starting with my finished one:

Darphin Anti-Fatigue Smoothing Eye Gel

I think I bought this based on lots of positive reviews. I only have to say that I really liked this as a thin eyecream for in the morning.

 What I liked about it:

It does what it tells you: ok, sort of! I live a healthy lifestyle so I couldn't test it after a night out or when having a hangover, because I almost never have that. Still, my eyes are prone to hang a bit, especially the eyelids, and I feel the cafeïne working and slightly lifting it in the morning. Without any irritations.

As far as the anti-ageing:  oh, I seem to forgot to smile in my life so my eyewrinkles are not as developed as my frown and surprise wrinkles...hahaha. But it seems to be working as well keeping everything tightened and hydrated. Another plus: it's almost scentless.

Let me include a chart/claims from their website:

Meh:

Nothing specifically. Perhaps it could be cheaper or a pump-tube, but I the plastic tube was convinient enough.

Antipodes Rejoice cream: 

So the love for one product of a brand doesn't have to end up in liking all of their products. For the record: I did like it enough to empty half of the tube. If it would be totally craptastic I would have binned it after a couple of uses.

What I liked about it:

The scent is a very soft vanille. It was also rich enough for my skin and it was conforting in period when my skin was not so sensitive

Meh:

The richness of the cream translates in a sort-of semi-balmy texture, but still a cream. Now, approaching wintertime, my skin gets more sensitive and the stickiness of the balm that seems to linger on my skin too long begins to become not so pleasant. 
I also do not like the old-fashioned handcream-type of tube. It is one of those metallic-type tubes.


Availablity


I got the Darphin eyecream from feelunique.com and the Antipodes is available over there too...It seems they updated the tube into a plastic one so that has improved at least

Review: Antipodes Divine Face Oil

In this post I will review one of my latest finished discoveries: the Antipodes Divine Face Oil.

So why go natural or organic?

Natural skincare or organic skincare has become a whole lot better through the years. Lots of effective ingredients in skincare these days are...GASP...actually found in nature...(e.g. here).

So I believe in the power of (some) natural and organic brands and products and find some to be quite effective for sensitive and trying-to-prevent-ageing skin.

Antipodes Divine Face Oil

The Antipodes bottle already has some kind of organic-brand exterior with it's brown bottle and green label. Also, the stamp of approval being organic is one of the main parts of the label.

The  main  ingredients are listed on the front: Orange rind, jasmine petal and pure advocado oil.

Antipodes is proud to be an organic brand and to be certified as such as well.

Clearly, they only use organically produced ingredients:

Avocado Oil, Macadamia Oil, Jojoba Oil, Rosehip Oil, Ylang Ylang Oil, Amyris Balsamiferia Bark Oil, Sandlewood Oil, Jasmine Oil, Orange Oil, Vitamin E, benzyl benzoate, benzyl salicylate, cirtnellol, d-limonene, farnesol, geraniole, isoeugenol, linalool - all components of the essential oils. This skincare product is certified organic by IFOAM. Contains certified organic ingredients. 100% natural & 95% organic.

They do recommend to finish your product within 3 months after opening to guarantee freshness and the effectiveness of their ingredients.

Promises Promises:

Scientifically shown to stimulate Type I collagen in human skin fibroblast cells by up to 51%*.

Give a lift to tired, stressed and sun-damaged skin with this nutrient-rich, certified organic face oil that helps to deliver essential nourishment for fresh, healthy skin. The superior collagen boosting action of avocado oil helps reduce the appearance of lines and age spots, while added rosehip helps avocado oil target scars and wrinkles.

old-fashioned but effective dropper

On the Antipodes website is an elaborate explanation of the properties and the benefits of each ingredients.

Also, they claim it is a light oil that penetrates easily without being too greasy. I have to agree on that note.:

Oil on the skin:

My opinion:

I used this oil for two months and I finished the whole bottle -> that says something about that I liked the product.

Fair enough!

Why did I liked this oil?

I had been using oils before for nighttime care, normally on top of my chosen serum. If you are not used to oils as skincare, it can take some time to get adjusted to it...but never wait too long because it has to suit you- your skincare ritual - and your personality as well.
However, I like how it takes care of dehydrated to somewhat dryer parts of my skin at night. And for the people who claim their skin is oily/combination -> not all oily serums are created equal so there are oils that are super-beneficial for combination to oily skins as well.

So I had tried their more expensive Joyious oil in the past (review here). The scent of this oil was slightly different: actually more suitable for nighttime snoozing than their refreshing berry of the Joyious oil. I particulary smelled Ylang Ylang and the soothing Jasmine. Both I find relaxing for nightime. So I like the scent a lot.

I used it combined with other serums so I cannot say too much if it was anti-aging - soothing - etc. However, it gave my skin that wonderfully healthy and somewhat plumped texture in the morning. I know I don't get that from a thin serum alone, so it had to be the oil.

Also, I noticed that my excema dissapeared during the time of use. I don't know if it was by very healthy eating and summertime, but it I found it to be soothing on my sensitive skin.

It is also reasonably priced. Scentwise and price-wise I prefer this one over the Joyious oil. It retails for £18.99 for which is a good price for effective skincare. (the Joyous I used before was almost double the price by £36.99).

I bought this serum from Lovelula.com.

Nars Laguna illuminator & Becca Topaz-> bronze battles

A bit late to have a review/comparing battle in Autumn, I know. Still, I have readers around the world living in perinially summery countries, or living in the Southern hemisphere delightfully having their spring now, or just people like me who sometimes feel a bit too pasty...

So here it goes...I will size up two liquid bronzers: my Becca Topaz Shimmer Perfector SPF 25 and the NARS illuminator in Laguna.

NARS illuminator Laguna & Becca skin perfector Topaz

I bought them in the beginning of June this year. I was planning to go for Fraxel CO2 laser treatment for the first time. I also noticed that I wouldn't be allowed to have a tan or even a fake tan for 2 months, so I had to sample in some seriously good products that would avoid me getting 'are you ill?" remarks.

Eventually, my dermatologist disadvised me against Fraxel before summer. I wanted to explain to her that I shun the sun like a superpale redhead wearing floppy heads when needed and safeguarding my skin with Japanese skincare but she thought I would be better of doing in Autumn. That's a different story, but I still have my bronzers that come in handy when I don't want to fake-tan and I still look too ghosty for Dutch aesthetics in winter.

So Becca Topaz and NARS illuminator Laguna:

This time I am not going to say they look like twins. They don't even look related looking at the bottle. Becca is a bronze cooler shade whereas NARS has some orange tones.

This difference is even more noticable when looking at the blobs of product:

No doubt about the fact they differ when applied thickly or by blobs.

left: Becca Topaz - Right: NARS Laguna

Strangely, sometimes really different products have the tendency to go somewhat similar on the skin.

Haven't you noticed that before with some cosmetics products, e.g. BB creams or foundations?

In this case, these two liquid bronzers kind of have a similar effect on my skin, even though they look totally different on first sight.

When you spread them out a little, they already become this morphy bronze.

(sorry for this picture: I always find half-unblended bronzers look a bit dirty on the skin but I wanted to show you 1. the difference that starts to dissapear 2. ALWAYS blend blend blend your liquid bronzer)



left: Becca Topaz - Right: NARS Laguna

 And in totally blended form they look alike:

click on picture for better view of flecks/sparkles/hues

I intentionally skipped some skin underneath to show you I used liquid bronzer on my pasty skin.

Conclusion:

• They are convincing bronzers that look like real bronzy skin. Both NARS and Becca.
• Both NARS and Becca contain some flecks or sparkles. Becca is the least sparkly and most natural
• They are effective in faking a temporary bit of a tan that you can wash of when you want to, HOWEVER, both have some flecks that are noticable in stark sunlight, so they are not super-natural looking like a (fake) tan can do on itself
• Becca has SPF 25 in it, being a bit better against sun-rays
• NARS illuminator is created for body and skin, still they have similar coverage
• Amazing how two totally different shades look so similar in effect
• Becca has a pump-bottle and NARS a flip-open tube. I prefer Becca for it's pump bottle.
• Becca is more expensive but has more in the bottle as well.

Availability/Price:

Becca Topaz is available on the BECCA website <here>  for 50ml/1.7 fl oz $41.00.
NARS illuminator is widely available, eg on HQhair <here> 30 ml/ 1.0 fl oz  for £21.50 or KissandmakeupNY <here> for $29.00 or various Sephoras throughout the world (not the Netherlands, yet)