September's Used Ups

I have not been doing this for a while but I still like to share my September Used Ups: 

• Arcona Peptide Firming Complex: I absolutely loved this one. Natural and it packs a potent pair of ingredients on the face. 
•  Sunwarrior Fulvic Acid 'Immune Shield: Since Phylia's De M's Connect (read here & here) I have been intrigued in taking Fulvic Acid. Phyllia's version is a whopping £160.00 whereas this one is €31. Not sure if it works on hair-health but it helps to keep germs/viruses at bay.
•  Lierac Ultra Body Lift 10: Me and my anti-cellulite routine. I like this specific one in pink.
•  Yarok Feed Your Roots Hairmouse. Another favourite organic hairstyling tool that works even better than its chemical siblings.
• Antonia Burrell Creme Supreme: I had to get used to this cream but I loved how it smoothes my larger pores and made me feel I had actually good skingenes. Con: expensive!
• Skeen Intensive Revival Gel: One from team boys (review here) and so fab for puffy mornings! 
• Aurelia Revitalise and Glow serum: A staple when the season changes -> good at calming AND anti-ageing.
•  Tatcha Deep Brightening serum: How much I like Tatcha, I did not see a radical change.
• Kure Bazaar nailpolish in Rose Milk: a 3-free polish with the best milky pink base.
•  sample Leonor Greyl Volumising Shampoo: quite good at volumizing without drying hair.
• Makeup Forever Smokey Lash intense Mascara: I love this one a lot but I can only buy it in France or Spain. Oh well, good excuse to visit either country :-)
•  Eyepencils NARS & Marc Jacobs Beauty in Black: both travel size and both efficient & long lasting

 

 

Giovanni Perfectly Platinum Shampoo (& Conditioner) is the organic answer to all those purple un-brassy shampoos. Soft and non-irritating and it has enough purple to keep the hair fresh.

Oh, by the way. My last blogpost said something about E. So (disclaimer:) I have never done drugs in my young years...just hanging or clubbing with good and lousy friends and the occasional wine/cocktail etc. But the pun behind the E numbers is that many people who are living so healthy these days have been quite naughty before. But that's life and generation amnesia, right?

 

Last Empties 2014!

Before I'm gonna wish you all a wonderful 2015, I'm gonna share some of the last Empties of 2014:

1.  Yarok Feed Your Roots Mousse for hair: This mousse is absolute love for me. I have a mild psoriasis condition and every bit of chemical on my hair can trigger my skin into producing more. This mousse is totally natural, but works even better than any chemical I tried so far. #repurchase in bulk!
2. Lierac Body-slim Destock Nuit: ahhh, those French and their thin thighs. So if you question me if/whether their anti-cellulite works, I would say: Yes, but...The but(t) is always the problem (area) about: so I think it gets the extra results with the training, the green juices and the lack of alcohol. Mind you, I'm still taking my sugar too much and I'm certainly not a skinny thighs. However, it will help with some millimeters and sometimes that's all a woman needs. This particular version is for the night: it helps, but it smells a bit funky. I will  have already repurchased the daytime version with my famous 10% caffeine.
3. Rituals Heavenly Hamman Bathoil: This brand from Holland sure gotten far and popular. I love the combination of fresh & mild of this blend.
4. Rouge Bunny Rouge Metamorphosis Mattifying primer: I really like this one, however, it's pricy and I found a lovely dupe. Btw, I'm gonna try to find an organic primer that functions well.
5. FutureDerm Time-Release Retinol 0.5: This retinol potion really is gentle for the skin and I can still see a good result when using it: smoother, more decongested skin.

I had more things I've used up, but I couldn't be bothered photographing a zillion of samples that were simply nice, but not earth-shockingly special.

Sooo, Happy 2015:

Lierac Body-Slim firming Serum *for my potion-ality?*

Hello Lierac! Nice to meet up with your caffeine-infused (super?)powers:

There used to be a time when nobody could get a bikini during autumn or winter. Or 'nobody' is that part of the "ladies-who-cruise" that could happily hop to the designer stores or the likes of Michael Kors & others to pick up their ensemble: ofcourse, not the one people had seen them in during the summer season, quelle horreur!

 These days the 'cruise collections' & 'pre-summer-collections' (in freezing January!) and other alluring frilly clothes are around the corner for most of us. Similar to warm & sunny holiday destinations. It might be a positive thing but the thighs declare an official "sight of tediousness' for they cannot rest under oversized coats and boyfriend jeans yet (or ever): workouts, squads-'n-lunges and the anti-cellulite creams are in the game, again! 

My thighs too: I booked a last-minute flight for about 2 weeks in advance and noticed that mine could use some serious toning again. I am an afficionado of anti-cellulite creams during summer and Vichy had been my fave. However, for those two weeks I needed a higher dose of caffeine to kick-start those lazy legs into action/shape. Lierac has a whopping 10% Caffeine embedded, so I tried that one.

Lierac Body-Slim (Caffeine= the 2nd ingredient so quite potent!)

And the promise: Result after just 14 days!

There goes the question: did it help? 

*drumroll*

But first...A swatch of the orangy jelly *potion-ality*: 

 

The zingy feeling of the caffeine is noticable after application and massaging it in. It does take some massage, though.

I combined this jelly with some strenuous workout. I joined a bootcamp workout which has nothing to do with pleasure at all. (like Zumba can be)

The good thing is that my trainer looked like this

 Sometimes it is a positive thing to have a really cute trainer because you want to impress...Then again, I really did not want to do some squads because I know I would look "fat in that position"/"my makeup's gonna smudge!" bladibla...Then again, I told him I wanted similar abs as he does, which might need about 15 years of extra training...hehehe.

After two weeks I had lost about 0.75mm to 1 cm. It is not that much but at least my jeans felt a bit more comfortable.

As for the thighs:

thighs: "darn, that was too much squatting, want coconut water!"

I normally wouldn't do a photo like this but since whole twitter and every celebrity does this, thank you Rihanna & Nicky M. I wouldn't be like a real virtual human anyway: pun & oxymoronish  idea intended. Or the modern version of cogito ergo sum is Instagram corpus meum, ergo sum ="I instagram my body, therefore I am!".

Now my thighs will have some rest until I have to worry about the Christmas LBD again! It is either that or I have to spend on a new LBD.

Pros:

• high(est) amount of scientifically proved effective Caffeine (10%)
• smells fresh & zesty
• thighs look firmer & booty appears less bumpy after 2 weeks
• almost 1 cm loss of hips and each thigh about 0.75 cm
• not that time-consuming: takes 3 minutes massage each time.

Cons:

• expensive: I went through a whole tube in just 2 weeks (150 ml/2.7 fl.oz is not that much)
• Results are similar as the cheaper Vichy Destock
• more difficult to get than Vichy/Clarins etc.
• Not that much result for all that massaging/training and juices/superfood: I expected 1.5 cm at least.

Conclusion:

Wonderful to kickstart yourself into a slightly slimmer you in a short amount of time. However, it will probably not do that much on itself so keep your diet/training in synch for results.

Availability:

Sasa has a rather good price on it for $33.60 (here)

mini-review Lierac Cohérence night cream

Today I will review a rather large sample size of the Lierac Cohérence night cream.

I received this cream with a whole sample size kit from lookfantastic.com: it was a deal when you bought 2 Lierac products.  

My sample was rather generous: 15 ml. So I had the opportunity to test it for a month in order to give it a proper review.

About the brand:

First, Lierac is a French brand. If you put French and skincare into one phrase it often gets a lot of attention. Well, because French women are known to be stylish without trying too hard. Or they call that the Je ne sais quoi...

Still, I am a bit more pragmatic over these things, because I won't believe in the hype just because it is French. For the record: I really like  La Roche Posay suncare, but I wasn't too enthousiastic about Embryolisse. 

What Lierac has to say about their brand themselves:

LIERAC Laboratories’ philosophy is to use the extraordinary power of nature and plants to deliver a specific solution and precise answer to every skin requirement. 

LIERAC Laboratories are partners of Eco-Emballages and participate in European program to eliminate and recycle all components of their packaging. Join us in our eco-friendly approach by sorting your recyclable waste materials (glass, plastic, paper, etc...) for selective collection.

 

All of it sounds environmentally friendly and almost like an organic brand. However, it is still quite synthetic on a couple of fields.

The Lierac website's claim: 

This luxurious pink-tinted cream is enriched with a complex of magnesium and potassium hyaluronate for specific night-time relaxing action.  It contains 4% COHÉRENCE™ vectors to help reactivate the production of type III collagen – the specific collagen of younger skin.  You wake up to more rested facial features and a refreshed complexion.  Night after night, the skin appears as if “lifted”, feeling tauter and firmer, and looking visibly smoother.  The facial oval appears gradually redesigned. 

Nothing but impressive. 

The ingredients:

Type III collagen accelerating vectors:  4%;  micro-emulsion of vitamins C, B5, B6, E;  potassium hyaluronate;  magnesium;  ultra-repair protective base.

 I am quite sure these cannot be the only ingredients but these were listed on their website.  I mean, even products for overreactive skins (that need as little ingredients as possible) have more ingredients. And the scents I am smelling isn't listed either. 

But I'll guess they mention the high-profile anti-agers only for their public.

The cream is light pink in colour:

You really need a tiny bit for enough product to cover your face and neck:

Scent:

It has a soft powdery scent, which I find similar to its soft lilac colour. The scent is somewhat synthetic but feminine and not too obtrusive. However, I think that if your skin is more sensitive or has a sensitive period it might be a bit hindering.

texture:

I think it is creamlike, rather thick and stays sticky for quite a while. I personally do not mind, because my skin can be dehydrated but I wouldn't recommend it to combination to oily skins. On the other hand, very dry skins might opt for a balm-texture, although for hydratation I think a cream is normally more efficient.

Anti-Ageing:

As mentioned before, I had a trial size and have only used this one for a month. I am not sure it did something effective on the field of anti-ageing. Sometimes you hit a product (for example the Nude Cosmetics serum) that you can really see working when you use this, and this cream wasn't so effective. It didn't do any harm either.

However, I always advocate to have your anti-aging products in pump-dispensers or in serum form. Why? because the active ingredients that have to work for you stay fresh longer in a pump or drop-bottle display. I do buy cream-pots, but only if they target for hydratation/moisture or are products that are for sensitive skins. The content of a pot is exposed to air and light in a higher extend than a drop-bottle content or sealed pump-bottle, so the active ingredients will lose their powers sooner.

Price and availability:

I got my sample for free with lookfantastic.com. so it is relatively easy available for online shoppers. People in France and Belgium even have bigger access to Lierac, but some Dutch pharmacies seem to sell it as well. The price is rather expensive on lookfantastic, that is £49.00.

Conclusion:

It was a lovely cream, but I would not repurchase. It smells a bit too synthetic and I don't think the ingredients target my need for rejuvination at night.

Most importantly, I didn't wake up with a fresh and plumped skin the next morning. I find this to be the dealbreaker: a night-treatment is the most important time to target your skin-goals because the skin is at rest.

I could see the difference on days I used another nightcream: Often I alternated with Jurlique Purely White Skin Brightening Night Treatment,  which gave me better result the morning after: I woke up much fresher and more plumped. I have to review that nightcream soon because I really like the whole experience of using that nightcream, and Jurlique has a more holistic feel (and scent) too. Plus, it really rocks at targetting pigmentation-spots.