February favourites, updates and wishlist

L’OREAL PARIS Colour Riche Les Nus Intense Lipstick

173 Nu Impertinent

The moment I used it I loved the formula. It just feels so nice, high-end and well done. It’s comfortable, smooth and has great pigmentation, plus it lasts well, but even so the colour is close to my natural lips that the fading it not obvious. 173 Nu Impertinent is about a half a shade lighter than my favourite lip liner Essence’s Big Proposal, which I’ve been using for shaping my lips for a few years now, so this is great colour for defining and for a non-makeup makeup look. Finish is satin-creamy and this formula suits dry lips as well.

PHYSICIANS FORMULA Rosé All Day Set & Glow Illuminating Powder & Dewy Balm

Luminous Light

I have a couple of powders that are described by most as blurring and Photoshop filter in a pan, but I was disappointed by the expensive Hourglass one and somewhat underwhelmed by the Wet n Wild one. This (so far) seems like the real deal. It’s made from two parts, the radiant powder and a balmy, vaseline-like highlighter, the latter honestly I don’t like and don’t get why they included it at all. The powder is quite dense and I need to use my firmer powder brushes to pick it up, so the pretty rose pattern is already disappearing, but at least this looks good on the skin. It doesn’t look powdery, it doesn’t make the makeup look more obvious, it takes away greasy/fresh makeup shine yet leaves a nice glow on the face. It may sound cliché, but it does kind of looks like the skin has good a Photoshop filter on, but it’s not infallible because it doesn’t prevent the makeup from slipping into my smile lines around my mouth. My skin is currently more on the dry side, so I still need to see how this will behave in warmer months, but for cooler months I like it best from my powders. Some complain about the strong scent, which, granted, PH is known for including in their products, but actually at this one I find it’s more mild than their other products. It smells kind of like a floral soap.

I’ve had this one for ages and I kind of forgot about it after I found L.O.V. blushes and Revlon’s 004 Rosy Rendezvous, but it used to be one of my favourites and I think my most worn blush. Formula is nicely pigmented, it’s smooth and blends well. The colour is a natural, more muted pink that goes with everything. It’s supposed to be glowy, but on my skin this shade always looked matte.

I’ve grown to love these even more. The silkiness they create is insane for a drugstore treatment and they work so fast. While both versions work about the same, I like Oil Nutritive more because Ultimate Repair has a very men’s cologne scent. I use these either when I just want a quick hair wash or as a quick rinse after using another conditioner/treatment and I want a silky feeling. I have the L’Oreal 8 seconds one too and it just doesn’t compare to Gliss. I saw that the prices dropped a bit, which is nice to see.

PALMER’S Natural Fusions Ceramide Monoi Hair Food Oil

This became as essential in my bleaching & colouring routine. Coconut oil alone never protected my scalp effectively, but this does. I apply a generous amount it on my scalp (the nozzle comes handy) and on the lengths of my hair and this protects from irritation and drying out. It’s really a lot better than coconut oil for the job. This oil contains ceramides, as well as canola, argan, avocado, macadamia and coconut oil, plus several others and shea butter. It’s one of the heavier formulas, so I keep it for when I’m colouring or I use it on dry hair on a day before washing, while on the rest of the days I use Palmer’s Cocoa hair oil and Lazartique Dry oil.

INEBRYA Ice Cream Keratin Restructuring Mask

I don’t love this mask as a regular treatment because it’s too light for my hair, but it contains ceramides, so I use it right after bleaching on my scalp to prevent drying out and scabbing and it works perfectly. I use Olaplex n.5 on the rest of the hair, but this saves my scalp. It’s otherwise meant for damaged hair and hydrolised keratin, but I find Joico K-Pak a lot more effective.

UPDATES

MAX FACTOR Miracle Pure Skin-Improving Foundation

30 Porcelain

This isn’t a 100% favourite because it very often oxidises on me and I need to wear a primer to prevent that, but otherwise it’s a tinted moisturiser-like/low coverage foundation that looks fresh and invisible on the skin. I bought it because of the SPF, so I’ll have an extra layer of protection especially in the summer and I like it’s a lightweight formula on the face.

REVLON Colorstay Skin Awaken 5-in-1 Concealer

I got this fairly recently, but so far I like it. In terms of ingredients it’s not as nice as Photoready Candid concealer, as it lacks niacinamide, but both have vitamin C as well as caffeine and both formulas are nice on my skin. This one has a good level of pigmentation, so I don’t have to build it up a lot, meaning there’s less product under the eyes and it blends into the skin seamlessly. Coverage is medium to full and it performed well on an inflamed spot. The applicator is kind of like a smaller Maybelline the Eraser’s one and I’ve always liked such applicators, this one claims the sponge is antibacterial. I have 5 shades of these, the ones sold here and Fair is closest to my skin tone, it’s a bit darker, but I can pull it off.

FOREO UFO mini

I’m very happy to have a chance to try out this little device and since I’ve only had this a week or two, I can’t share much because as you know with skin care it takes time to see results. It’s Foreo’s version of an at home professional treatment that is used with sheet masks, so you can experience a skin care therapy you’d get in a salon, but this is also in a small portable format and it only takes a minute and a half. It combines warming (it heats up to 45°C), T-Sonic pulsations and LED light therapy. It targets dehydration, loss of elasticity and uneven skin tone. Foreo says:

– Warming opens the pores and softens the skin

– RGB LED light reduces signs of ageing and fatigue

– T-Sonic pulsations infuse mask ingredients deep into the skin

– Offers a 90-second full-facial routine at home

– Pairs with the FOREO app for maximum effect of each mask

I’m still trying to find my feet with this one. Foreo makes it unnecessary complicated, not providing instructions in the box and expects you to first register and download an app, but UFO can easily be used without all that and once I realised that, things went a lot more smoothly. This is the mini version, first one, but a new one called 2 exists already. It’s smaller than the original UFO, but provides most of the same things, except for the cooling option that closes pores and reduces puffiness. Foreo wants you to buy their sheet masks for these, which I’m not a complete fan of even though Make my Day and Call it a Night contain a pack of 6 for 10 €, which comes at about 1,7 € per mask – not too expensive, but I think one or both of these might have caused a mini breakout (it could be hormones or stress, I’m not sure, but masks were the only new thing I tried) and if Foreo uses about the same ingredients for all masks, I’m in a bit of a pickle. Foreo says that other masks might be unpredictable because the device heats up, but I found that in the settings you can completely customize your treatment by adjusting intensity of the T-Sonic pulsations, turning off heat and picking the colour of LED. Foreo has a description on their website what each colour does. Every Foreo mask has a programme that work best with the formula and with Make my Day and Call it a Night use red light, while I downloaded the one for the glowy mask and that one uses green. Masks are saturated with essence and a 90 second treatment helps absorption so much, my skin is almost dry to the touch after using one of these. If you want to know more, I highly suggest you go read reviews online. They are mostly positive, so I look forward to seeing results on my skin (and hope I don’t discover it’s the masks that break me out). Since UFO mini is an old model you can get it much cheaper than UFO original or the new 2 models.

NEUTROGENA Bright Boost Line

I was going to buy the day cream myself next time I’m in Müller and then this lands on my doorstep. Obviously I’m very happy about that, though I’m currently healing a breakout and new stuff need to wait for a proper test. The reason I wanted this line is Neoglucosamine or Acetyl Glucosamine, the new potentially it ingredient that is a super hydrator, has an anti-ageing effect and fades hyperpigmentation, especially when in combination with niacinamide. This line also contains AHA in some products, mostly the gentle mandelic acid. Resurfacing Polish combines glycolic and mandelic acid in unknown percentages, but it also has tiny scrubby particles and I think a combination of chemical + mechanical peeling will turn some people away from the product. But you can easily leave it on the skin as a mask (Neutrogena suggests to massage it in and rinse, but that’s a waste of AHAs) and then try to gently wash it off, avoiding doing much scrubbing. Illuminating Serum contains the highest amount of Neoglucosamine and it’s also the lightest product in this line. It’s more a lotion than a serum and it contain tiny shimmer – so far this appeals to me most because it’s easiest to include in routine. Hydrating Face Fluid SPF 30 is a liquid creamy product that is easily applied on the skin also in larger amounts and it doesn’t leave a while cast, however, it leaves a layer on the skin that I find peels, something you don’t want to find out five minutes before you need to leave the house while applying makeup (the only day I was happy masks are still I thing). Day Cream combines Acetyl Glucosamine with mandelic acid, PHA and squalane which leaves me perplexed why include AHA in a day cream and not night one. Obviously I switched the order. Day Cream is a light, a bit thicker than the lotion like formula and doesn’t feel heavy. The night cream has just Acetyl Glucosamine from the important ingredients and Neutrogena promises this is pillow-friendly. It’s quite thick, but has kind of a silicone serum feeling, so I like it as a part of morning routine. It’s too early to see the results and my skin is currently naturally glowy already, but I’ll report back in time.

WISHLIST

ARMANI Power Fabric Concealer – I watched this video of someone testing every concealer in Sephora (I think it was over 40 of them) and this came on top. It’s very expensive and I doubt I’ll ever get it, but I’m still interested. BareMinerals Original Liquid Mineral Concealer and It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer were rated high too, which are also on my wishlist for someday.

NYX The Marshmellow Smoothing Primer – This is one of those that promises everything apart from doing your laundry, since it’s described as a 10-in-1, but its rating is high and reviews are good. It promises to smooth, soften, extend makeup wear for 16h, hydrate, sooth, even skin tone, minimize texture, blur lines, to add a soft focus finish and keep makeup fresh. All of this without silicones, which makes me suspicious, but maybe I’ll give it a try.

BALEA Retinol Konzentrat – I’m actually not interested in this because of retinol because this has the weakest version that’s in so many products, but it has bakuchiol and squalane.

BALEA Retinol Maske – again I don’t really care about this version of retinol, but the mask looks ok for dry skin, with shea butter, squalane, panthenol, hyaluronic acid and Q10.

L’OREAL Elseve Hyaluron Pump Moisture Plump Serum – I want this only if it’s an actual silicone serum and not if it’s a spray wet conditioner leave-in. I think though it’s the latter, so if anyone knows let me know. It has coconut oil high on the list as well hyaluronic acid, so it looks both nourishing an hydrating

REVOLUTION SKINCARE Vitamin C Glow Eye Patches – This has vitamin A, a collection of vitamins B, ceramides, vitamin C, allantoin and I probably forgot something. Looks interesting enough and I like using eye patches, though I rarely actually do currently.

BALEA Handschuh Maske Urea – I’ve been waiting for ages for DM to make these. They have an another version of nourishing glove hand mask, but I’ve only ever liked their Urea hand cream. This is expensive for a single treatment, though, 3 € in our DMs.

PUPA Vamp! Pink Eau de Parfume – I have a nail polish with this scent and I said that if a perfume existed, I’d get it. So here there are, all three versions (based on the nail polish, black one should be similar to Lancome La Vie est Belle). However, it’s more expensive than I thought it would be…

BETTY BARCLAY Woman n.2 Eau de Toilette – I was sent another Betty Barclay scent and I became aware of the brand, so I went to check their other stuff. I only got to test this one because I was in a hurry, but I loved it. It’s an amazing powdery scent and it lasted well on my first. It’s so cheap too.

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