Using, Used, Gonna Use...

Happy Friday!

 

About a year ago I had a regular column for each wednesday called 'Midweek Quirkologies': it was a way to counteract the midweek blah's, and I hope nobody had them this week. If you did, this friday will probably feel more anticipated which is a good thing. So I hope you will have the Friday Jitters and the anticipation of a good weekend, which might be rewarded with a good weekend in reality.

Using:

Easy one: NARS Riding up the Moon has been my favourite for eyes this week! I love Argentina for highlighting and Isolde for the peachy lid colour. I shade my crease with Fez but I use some of the bottle-green Night Porter for the edges of my eyecrease too. 

Used:

I finished my Personalised MyCodage serum  some weeks ago but I forgot to mention it until now. I think it has been wonderful in targeting some priorities I have listed: * Improving skin comfort and * combatting signs of ageing. One sidenote is that it is quite fraganced. I have switched to another serum again: I prefer to alternate my serums so my skin doesn't get too used and lazy to its ingredients.

Another staple during summer is my Jurlique Purely Bright Night cream. My 1st time using it was in 2011 during holidays and I noticed that it did a good job at brightening the odd pigment spot at my right temple. I try to avoid new pigment spots, but summer & high sunscreens does not always guarantee a no-sun exposion. Hence, a good brightener can step in to avoid new pigment spots to reappear.

Gonna Use:

I haven't gone for Asian BB creams for a while and the few Western BB's I tried were either organic (see here) or samples that I didn't like that much. Sharlynn from BlackMentosBeauty recommended her readers the The Face Shop Power Perfection BB Cream. I think she has one of the glowiest complexions out there, even without makeup, so I gladly took this recommendation.
(ps: I 'm trying it today and *gosh*...it has high coverage! As I said: I haven't used Asian bb's for a while so this one even covers more than my Armani foundations/etc)

Ok, again a happy weekend!

My Codage: Personal Potion!

 Beauty is getting more personal these days

French brand My Codage has jumped to this opportunity to create a customised serum for the needs of each specific customer.

Personal serum: Initials on the box (boohoo for Fedex by wrinkling it) and plenty samples

I haven't seen this service for a reasonable price yet, neither that much in Europe either. It might have been for a longer time for the North-American market, as companies like Three Customs Specialist have been creating personalised lipstick colours for a longer time.

So this service was totally up my alley:

• SERUM!! (my magic buzzword these 30+ era)
• Personalised & Bespoke (anyone loves a bit of VIP)
• My Codage (tried and liked this French brand last year, see here)
• Affordable, around €50! 
• created by a Jérôme: (Francophiles know you have to place the 'accents' right on the letters!)

I had to fill out a questionaire of about 26 questions:

 that varied on the colour of your skin:

Mor

To the skinzones:

Moreover, there's attention to the fact whether you are planning to go sunbathing or not:

Sunbathing is, ofcourse, the big no-no in anti-ageing tactics. But truth it that it happens and sometimes it feels nice to have some warmth on the skin. Hence, My Codage also has a variety of skincare supplements and ingredients that can help you tan more safely (by protecting it better).

At the end, you have a lot of freedom by stating your own preferences in the targets you would like to tackle:

This all ended into my beautiful and personalised serum:

 The ingredients:

I still have to try out my new personal mix...

MyCodage.com has a code up until tonight (saturday, 29th June 2013): 15% off with code SEASIDE. It goes upon their whole product line, whether you like something tailored or something from their standard line.

Codage Summertime Serum: recap

I'm all about mysteries...and cosmetics: combine this and we have a fascination for trying out French skincare. It's just that one of the mysteries is that most French women stay quite beautiful even they claim to have more hedonistic lifestyles. With their pharmacies full with cosmetic beautifyers you will think that the products must be doing something right.

As for the mystery of Codage Summertime, it plays a bit of smoke-and-mirrors of what is actually in there. It's a bit like that other mysterious Esthederm brand that Lisa Elderidge is so fan of. She likes their sunblocks but they don't state nowhere what the actual factor of protection is or whether they have PA++ or not. I actually tried their No Sun sunblock, and it's not that good because I returned from the beach with some 'lovely' new pigment spots. When that happens my interest in a brand is soon over: it might be mysterious but it has to do something that claims it will do.

sorry about the grubby label: I took it on travels, etc

I disgress, Codage has been a brand not often reviewed and Summertime was so new when I bought it I just had to research it for my own curiosity, vanity and for the blog ofcourse!

Their claims:

better view on their website

I totally agree upon these elements more necessary towards summer skincare. The only thing I am quite puzzled about is the Chemistry part.

The only chemistry I wondered about during Chemistry lessons was whether I had chemistry with my oh-so-unattainable-beautiful-bad-boy in another class. but I actually have no idea if these numerics have any real value. I think the actual percentage of people who use this product and actually know it the numerics (are they called like that, see? too much dreaming) are real or fake. But they look "scientific" and that is often enough.

The actual ingredients:

 The bottle:

I have been using it somewhat regularly and sometimes not so continiously for a month:

• silicony feel to it: somewhat similar as the Korean or other Asian nightime masks
• easy to dose droplet: press out as much or as little as you'd like
• as the slippery feel stays on for more than 10 minutes, I used it as a nighttime product
• So their claim "01 moisture without oiliness"? is somewhat true: it doesn't look too oily on the skin and somewhat false: it feels oily and if you use it in the morning it might interfere with your makeup
• I like it for warmer days: oils are normally my way to go but when warmer I need something not-a-real-oil but slippery enough to get some moisture in
• Whitening/brightening: not sure because I use it with plenty other brighteners, eg vitamine C serum.
• "02 Sooth the skin from agressions?": Somewhat! the slightly silicony feel in the beginning is somewhat calming but I think that the Nude Advanced Cellular Renewal Serum does a better job at penetrating into the dermis (=skin- hey, I did pay some attention at Chemistry!) and providing the skin with soothers/anti-agers/brighteners than this serum.
• "03 protect from heath & pollution": I changed my routine to use it merely for nighttime, so I cannot really reflect on this part as the daily protector. 
• "04 Increase tanning and protect from the sun". Somewhat an oxymoron: but I understand some people like to get a real tan but a gradual one that doesn't really harm or damages their skincells a lot. I never tried it without sunblock and I wouldn't test it either because of my proneness to freckles & pigment spots. I think the slightly slippery feel has some protection factor in itself and the sunrays will take more time to penetrate into the skin.
• Minimizing pores (not a claim, but relevant for the review)? No, not really.
• Softer skin? Yes, it makes the skin feel soft the next morning
• Minimizing wrinkles? Somewhat. But they don't claim to be an anti-aging product. Thus,
• I think this product is more suitable for age-group 18-32! It protects against the fact summer & summer behaviour can wreck havock on skin and younger people can prevent or correct their sun-tastic times.

Conclusion:
I like this product, only more as a "supporting actress" instead of the "main player",  because my skin needs something more at the mature age of *-censored-by-author-*. It's on the cheaper side of skincare and I think it can be a welcome addition to people aged 18-32 as an easy way to keep their dermis young. I think I won't repurchase, but I might repurchase it as well. I'm fickle with these things.

Availability:
Colette.fr has it for € 45 but on the Codage website they have a sampling program, so you can try out this or the other products as well for less €.

Skin Haul Colette

Colette Haul
(predominantly skincare and a bracelet from Momo & Me)

I hauled from Colette.fr. It has been more than a year since I ordered from them but it was the lure of another gift with purchase again in the month June.

Eventually, the shipping took a longer time because the bracelet was OOS and they forgotten my freebies: maybe they were finished or because of the delay in shipping they didn't find it necessary to list me under the freebie-action of the June-month anymore.

However, most of my curiosity and the reason I ordered it is for skincare: I had read a couple of raves on Joelle Ciocco, but this one is available in Holland as well so that is not why I ordered from Colette (besides of the beautybox I didn't get). My biggest curiosity goes to My Codage Summertime. Similar as the Springbreak they released this spring, it is a limited edition targeted for skins in (duh) Summertime.

This actually brings me back to when Will Smith was still the "Fresh Prince of Bell Air" 

I like the laidback-ness & happiness of this song.