My Empties #2

Hello everybody !

I've been finishing a lot of products lately, so it's the perfect time for an empties blog post ! I've got hair products, face products, moisturisers... Quite a few essential items ! But are they good ? Let's see...

1/ Dove Hair Therapy Intensive Repair mask

I heard of the quality of Dove products through Faye's blog. She said their range of skin and hair products were really good, so it made me curious. After all, they're quite cheap so if they are efficient, that must be worth trying !

I went for their Intensive Repair mask, as my hair is dry I want to moisturise it as much as possible. And it is indeed a good product ! It leaves your hair shiny and soooo soft, that's amazing. I already bought it again !

2/ Huile Prodigieuse by Nuxe

(The label has come off but I hope you recognise the iconic bottle !)

Everybody knows the Huile Prodigieuse, I'm sure - and so you all know how good it is. It is a dry oil that yoy can use for pretty much everything : your skin, your face, your hair. It smells really good, and what I love about it is the fact that even though it's an oil, it sinks in the skin very quickly. It works very well as a hair treatment : you can use it as a mask, leave it for a few hours, and it definitely moisturises your hair. 

I bought it again because I can't live without it, and I'm thinking about buying the glittery oil for the summer, it would look absolutely wonderful on the skin under the sun!

3/ Moisturising hand cream by Sephora, cotton flower

I'm always trying new hand creams, because my hands are dry all the time and I like to take care of them. I had never tried a Sephora hand cream before, and I've got mixed feelings about it. The thing that I love the most about it is its smell : I love anything that smells like cotton or light flowers.

For the moisture however, this cream is not the most effective : it does give you some moisture at the beginning, but it is not enough for me, especially during the winter when you need a super protection from the cold. This cream is more of a "light spring hand cream", but as it is not moisturising enough, I won't buy it myself (I got this one for my birthday from a lovely friend).

4/ Nivea Aqua Effect refreshing cleansing gel

I've already made a blog post about how I love this cleanser, so I won't be too long for this now !

This Nivea Aqua Affect cleansing gel works so well for me, it really purifies my skin and leaves it soft and clear. It's the only cleanser that I'm using at the moment, and I've probably bought it over four times already, but I'm happy with it so I'll stick with it until I find one even better !

5/  L'Oreal Skin Perfection 3 in 1 Purifying Miscellar Solution

I made a review about this miscellar solution a few months ago saying how good it was, so if you haven't read it made you should check it out, if you're interested :)

This is a very nice product, it does its job well and if you're looking for a nice, neutral makeup remover, this is the one for you ! By the time I'm writing this, I've already finished my second bottle and I've repurchased it again haha.

6/ Garnier Moisture Match, combination to oily skin

The Moisture Match range has a lot of different creams, for all types of skin. The green one is for combination to oily skin. I'm always on the hunt for a good mattifying cream, and even though this one is nice (smells good, quite light and moisturising), I'm not impressed by it and it doesn't really have any mattifying power. I didn't rebuy it, but it is a nice product anyway, it would suit combination skin better I guess !

7/ L'Oréal Ever Pure Shampoo, colour care and moisture

I dye my hair red, and it is one of the most difficult colours to keep. And I heard that sulfate-free hair products helps the colour to stay bright longer, and of course this L'Oréal shampoo was mentioned as a good product to use. Now that I've tried it myself, I'm quite disappointed because it didn't do anything more than the shampoo I used before. The colour didn't stay on longer than before, my hair wasn't smoother nor healthier, as it was supposed to be because of the absence of sulfates.

I didn't repurchase it, and I'm still hoping I'll find the perfect shampoo for coloured hair one day !

8/ Kiko Invisible Powder

To end this post on a more positive note, I really recommend this powder if you're in a country where you can find Kiko stores (I konw they aren't everywhere yet).

It mattifies the skin very well, sets the makeup on and gives a really nice finish to the skin. Also, it lasts a long long time, I've had this one for more than a year before running out of it. I don't remember its price but I can tell you it's cheap (nothing like the HD powder by Make Up Forever !) and the quality is really good compared to the price. Needless to say, I bought it again already and I can't go out without having applied it on my makeup !

***

Well, that was a long one ! I've been collecting these over the past few weeks, but still, I think I have never finished so many products at the same time before haha.

I hope this can be useful to you, to give you an idea of what could be worth buying and what is not !

Julia xx

My empties #1

Hi everyone !

Today I'm trying a new type of posts that I've seen in many other blogs but that I never thought about doing before. Empties posts are quite nice to discover new products or see if something is worth the try or not.

I've got five things that I've finished recently, so I'm going to show them to you and tell you what I think of them and if I'm going to repurchase them or not !

1/ Le Volume mascara, Chanel

I've spoken of this mascara in my all times favourites, some months ago. It is a really good product, makes your lashes look great. The brush is quite thick and takes every lash perfectly.

Although because of its price, I won't be buying it again for now (and I have a sample size of the great They're Real by Benefit to use hehe). But I'll surely buy it someday, because I loved it !

2/ Blueberry body butter, The Body Shop

I've had this body butter since last year, and I finally finished it ! I only used it during the autumn/winter times, so that's probably why it lasted me so long.

The smell is quite good, not too strong nor too sweet. And it lasts a few hours on the skin, which is always nice ! But I won't rebuy this one, because I want to try new scents from The Body Shop.

3/ Exfoliating body scrub, Galeries Lafayette

I bought this last summer during the sales, mainly because it was cheap and smelt good haha. It smells of iris, so a very floral and light scent. I used it as a scrub before using my shower gel, and it did a good job and left my skin soft. The exfoliating bits are tiny so they don't hurt your skin as some scrubs could do. But I won't be buying it again, because I have another one of the same brand to use !

It is only sold in the Galeries Lafayette in France I guess, but it is maybe something to try if you are in France and want a nice shower product !

4/ Gliss Ultimate Repair mask, Schwarzkopf

As I have curly coloured hair, I'm always on the hunt for a good mask that will moisturise my hair and leave it soft. I've tried sooo many that I couldn't list them all, but as I've just finished this one I can really say what I think about it.

It is one of those masks that you apply after your shampoo for a few minutes - I always left it for about three to five minutes. It does make your hair soft, and pretty shiny too. But this effect doesn't last, at least on me. If you have normal to dry hair I think it should work well - but if your hair is damaged or frizzy, it probably won't be enough.

Not sure I'll rebuy it because I'm always changing my hair routine (at this point this is not even a routine haha), but I can say that it's a pretty good product anyway!

5/ Vanilla dee-lite body lotion, Lush

I got this lotion on the Lush box I received for my birthday. I was excited to try it out, because I haven't had the chance to use a cream/body lotion from Lush before.

First, the smell is amazing. Although it is called Vanilla dee-lite, it doesn't smell of vanilla, but rather of jasmine, and it even reminds me a bit of lilac, which is my favourite flower ! So as you can imagine, I love the smell of it. It is very light-weight as it is a lotion obviously, and it is very refreshing. I would recommend it for the months of spring especially, because it is not at all a winter smell.

As it is very light, it doesn't moisturise your skin deeply, and if you have a very dry skin I would probably advise you to use a thicker texture. But I'd love to buy this again for spring and summer, I love it !

***

That's it for my first empties ! A lot of shower/body products as you can see, but naturally these are the ones we can finish the most easily. 

I'll do another empties post in a few months maybe, see if I can find new interesting products to show you !

Julia xx

Wishlist : August '13

Hello everyone !

As it is summertime, I've been posting less regularly these past few weeks. I'm enjoying the sun as much as possible, because we didn't get the chance to have a good weather before.

That's why my August wishlist is a bit late ! I've stopped doing wishlists every month, because surprisingly I don't always have special things I want to buy, and these months I couldn't think of items to include in a wishlist. But this month I do have some things I would love to buy so I put them all together in here.

 

1. La Riche Directions semi-permanent hair dye, in the colour "flamingo pink". I'd like to try a pink ombre !

2. Models own nail polish, in not any particular shade. I'll just see what colour attracts me the most ! 5.99 € at Monoprix (here in France).

3. The Match Perfection concealer by Rimmel, around 8€.

4. Misumi black tile print skater dress, New Look, £17.99. The pattern looks amazing !

5. The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green. Everybody seems to love this book so I'm getting more and more curious about it !

That's all for this month. Hopefully I'll get to try all these bits soon !

Julia xx

What I'm loving right now #2 : dyed hair

Hello there !

I find that hair is such a good tool for developing creativity and imagination, you can do anything with it, and even if you try and doesn't like something, in the end it grows again so nothing is definitive. But so many people I know are so fearful about changing anything about their hair - not just because they already like it as it is, but sometimes because their minds are stuck with "if I don't like it I will have to live every single day with this fail on my head". It's so sad...

So this post is a homage to unconventional coloured hair. Because when I see someone in the tube with green hair, I feel happy because of this pop of colour that just came out of someone's head, "it would be so cool if I dyed my hair green, I should try that !".

For example I really love Charlotte Free's hair, I'm not really into models and stuff like that but she's the first model I saw in the magazines who was especially described by her unusual hair colour.

And here are a few other pictures I really liked. They all come from Tumblr or Pinterest :

I think bright coloured ombre hair are fabulous !

Blue and green hair always make me think of mermaid hair, I love it. Because I looove mermaids.

  

But it can remind of fairies too. I love fairies. (Do I sound like a five-year-old girl here ? that's alright though.)

But my favourite haircolour will always be red... Bright red, dark red, pinky red, ginger. All kinds of red !

 

*

*

 

And finally a beautiful pink colour which I would totally go for if my skintone allowed it ! It just looks wonderful.

 

***

Julia xx