Review: Lumene Vitamin C + Energy Cocktail - Serum

My review today is for a product that saved my skin last winter when we were using the heater. Even the humidifier alone couldn't save me...This product came in a much better size back then (the bottle was fatter) and it was discounted at around $12 so I bought it just to check it out. Turned out to be pure bliss on my skin.

It's a weird oil combination that requires some shaking before use. The top part is orange and the bottom part magenta pink, when mixed the solution turns orange (such critical information, eh?).  The price is around...$20-30 ish and it can be purchased at CVS. If you use it day and night it lasts about two months (one squirt at a time), but if your skin is not dry (mine gets dry) I recommend only using it at night in which case it lasts 3-4 months. My calculation is always a little skewed because yobo sometimes squirts a little too.

The basics:

+ nice scent
+ doesn't make you break out even though it's "oily"
+ moisturizes well
+ good packaging (one squirt is perfect for your whole face!)
+ has anti-aging effects (cloudberry and Vitamin C)
+ prevents dry, flaky skin (a problem I sometimes have)

- new packaging not as nice as old packaging
- price (it's pretty decent if you take advantage of their Buy 1 Get 1 50% Off deal)

Overall I think this product is awesome for the winter months if you live in a dry climate and tend to have dry skin. When I stopped using this in the daytime I noticed my foundation did not go on as smoothly (and I do use a primer but it's kind of dry since it has SPF)....So I do recommend this to anyone who has similar skin to mine!

Review: Lumene Vitamin C+ Radiant Day Cream

As you may have noticed (and if you haven't, you will!) I have a special preference for Lumene products because it is a Finnish brand, which means I trust the brand (more) and everything smells refreshingly like Finland (and it's not just me! yobo says so too!).  If you have ever used The Body Shop's Vitamin E Moisture cream you will find that Lumene's Vitamin C cream is superior because it is not as greasy (when applying or after) but it has the same effects and can still protect you from the cold dry winter. I know, because back when I was in Finland the Vitamin E Moisture Cream was a recommended moisturizer/primer for winter months. Now I find that with the heater on California is not that far from Finland when it comes to lack of humidity so making winter arrangements is definitely necessary.

For the winter months I have been using these tiny little bottles of day cream that I found at CVS. The entire collection has been on some kind of BUY 1 GET 1 FREE sale so maybe by the time I go through all my reviews you'll be rushing over to buy some too!

This product is said to contain Arctic Cloudberry, and thereby has anti-aging effects. I don't know about cloudberries but I know what Vitamin C does and I think this cream is perfect in brightening one's complexion!

This is actually the third one I'm on...I used the first one months ago, then I bought two and just recently I got two more. What happened was that yobo tested it out one day and discovered he quite likes Vitamin C creams...so now we go through these like crazy....

The Summary:

+ nice refreshing scent
+ moisturizes well (dry skin/dry weather/both)
+ good price (~$4 for 15 ml before discount)
+ well sealed (you know no one stuck their finger in there at the store...hate that)
+ anti-aging effects
+ vitamin C brightens skin
+ vitamin C prevents aging
+ non greasy
+ perfect size for travel or keeping in your purse as back up

- can't find larger equivalent...there is something similar at CVS but it's not clear to me whether it is exactly the same or just...similar

I recommend!

Review: Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum

I mentioned a few times that I would be writing a review on this highly esteemed Estee Lauder product. When I went to Macy's to pick up this sample (we bought a full bottle for my aunt) there were so many people there for the sample that I felt claustrophobic and incredibly lucky to get any at all. I even purchased a few of these tiny samples on Ebay for about $7-12/each, which is not at all a good price given that you can get the full size for about $85 at their website (but if you shop around you can get it for less).

The summary:

+ simple scent
+ goes on like...water
+ blends into skin well (really sinks in)
+ lessened discoloration (I think my skintone is more balanced now)
+ my skin is smoother (I think)

- a little pricey, but then again if I hunt long enough I shouldn't have to spend more than $40 on it (also Macys always has good gift sets)
- very small bottles (comes in 1 oz and 1.7 oz, 0.24 ml samples)
- suspicious color (yellowish clear?)
- scent is an acquired taste

Overall I am planning on buying it  :)

Have you tried this product?
Makeup Alley reviews 4.1/5

Review: Vichy Aqua Thermal Light 24 Hour Hydrating Care

I don't know why, but I am under the impression that I have already blogged a review on this moisturizer about two months ago, but going through my posts I see that I haven't....I must have planned on doing so and then not written it...?

Anyway, since I've been finishing up this moisturizer and am about to begin using a new one I really should get this review going. I purchased this product about two and a half months ago for about $20 at the outlets and it's lasted me this long as my evening moisturizer.

On the website, this lotion retails for $27, and is supposedly for "dry sensitive skin", but using it I feel that it's more suitable for combination or even oily skin.

The summary:
+ light
+ hydrating
+ nice minimal scent
+ price is decent
+ packaging is easy to use. squeezed out most of it already and it's easier than squeezing toothpaste
+ I tend to have dry skin and I didn't end up with dry patches

- maybe too light? as I mentioned, perhaps better for combination skin rather than dry skin
- maybe seasonal? better for summer than winter?
- chemical feel (not used to it anymore)

Would I buy it again? Not for myself, maybe for yobo who has combination skin. I think I prefer a "heavier" moisturizer, like creams instead of "lotion".

Do you find my reviews useful at all?

Someone once told me DARK EYELIDS are a direct result of excessive MAKE UP

My friend told me about her dark eyelids, and she looked me, and said "Oh I guess you don't have them 'cause you don't use as much make up". That was two years ago.

Now I find myself seeing slightly darker eyelids, I mean really they're only bad when I don't sleep enough, most of the time they're not too ugly. However, it does make me feel like I need to wear eye shadow every day, even if I'm just going to the grocery store on a Sunday afternoon. I've always thought that it is wrong to think you need make up. Make up is an accessory, just like you shouldn't think you can't walk out the door without earrings, you should not worry about exiting your home without make up.

So first of all, to cover your dark eye lids is really easy with make up, I mean all you need is a colored primer, such as the MAC ones that everyone seems to like. I personally use a cream shadow as a base, sometimes Clinique Touch Base for Eyes (mine's silver), but I have been eying the Urban Decay Primer Lotion in Champagne (pictured) as well.  Some people just use concealer, and others choose a specific undertone for their skin type, like bluish for warm skin and yellowish for cool skin.  I think it really depends on your make up routine. I had purchased one of those complicated concealer quads before and it was just too much trouble figuring out how to mix them that I ended up giving it to my sister (wonder if she uses it...).

But what if you want to get rid of them so that you don't have to apply something just to look normal at home or outside? Well, have you ever wondered: WHY CUCUMBERS? I have--but no longer! Cucumbers apparently have a lot antioxidants and really help reduce hyper pigmentation.  Raw slices of potato placed on your eyes have been successful in achieving results, as well as applying aloe vera on your eyelids, or even used mint tea bags (which also helps reduce swelling).  You'll notice that often toners often have cucumbers, rose, or lemon as their main ingredients. Since rose water and lemon juice both have "brightening" effects, when mixed equally together they will do your eyelids wonders! And when in toner ingredients (I have used all three types of toners :3) your whole face will be brightened! I've also read that almond oil, diffused with water, and applied with Q-Tip helps. These are home remedies worth trying on a Saturday or Sunday morning while you are still half asleep ;D I'll let you know when I personally have the time to try them!

Let's not forget that beauty comes from the inside! So to reduce hyper-pigmentation you should eat healthy (lots of fruits and veggies), take your vitamins (B, C, Omega 3), and drink a lot of water!

Let me know what has worked for you! I'll try them all!

Homemade Face Mask and Scrub

I have always wanted to try making my own slimy face mask, but I am too lazy to make anything for just one face.  We had a girls night in on Saturday and one of the plans for the night was to try some homemade masks. There weren't many of us, so we only tried a few. Each recipe, even after halving the ingredients, ended up being too much for us.

Here's what we tried:

Tomato scrub
1 (small) tomato
2/4 cup of sugar or sea salt
2 tablespoons of yoghurt

Now I know this does not exactly look appetizing, but it's this weird color because I added brown sugar instead of white sugar. The recipe stated 3/4 cup of sugar, but I added 2/4 and it looks like it could use a lot more, no?  I think I will have to improve on this recipe because I really would've preferred a more paste-like scrub.  We all felt really clean after massaging this into our skin, though, so I'm sure it works.

Egg-White & Yoghurt Mask
1 egg white
1 tablespoon of yoghurt (unflavored)

I've heard of using egg whites at night to relieve dark eye circles before, Asians especially like using eggs and milk for skincare at home.  However the combination proved to be a winner! We left it on our skin for about 20 minutes and after washing it off our skin was more radiant, more "translucent", and definitely just brighter.  My dark eye circles, which I had covered with concealer in the morning, had almost disappeared! Such an improvement! We all had a subtle glow to us!

So this is a mask I definitely will use again, and I heard that at least egg white alone can be preserved in the fridge for a long time!

Have you tried any homemade masks?

Review: Lavera Organic Calendula Balancing Face Cream

Lavera is a great natural cosmetics brand that makes vegan and certified organic products.  I've mentioned that I'm very interested in organic or natural products because I think I'm too young to be slathering chemicals on my face. Because for me it's cheaper to use organic skincare than to change my entire diet to organic, I'm starting with organic skincare.  I've followed organic diets before and it's easy to get used to, but pricey to maintain, so my goal is to eventually be in the habit of using organic and eco-friendly everything.  Maybe I will achieve such status by the end of my life. Haha.

I think I mentioned that when I purchased this online I was running out of night moisturizer...? Well I used this as both for a while and it made me break out.  I don't know why, but it does not have SPF so I didn't see the harm in it but clearly we should all just follow directions, eh?  Since then I have been using a different evening moisturizer but I can't say I'm too pleased with Lavera.

Why?

• Because it doesn't do anything special. It's not terribly moisturizing (though I don't feel dry either) because it's for Normal to Combination skin. 
• Does not smell good. I'm big on this, I don't like skincare products that smell like nothing.  But maybe this is the cost of organic? I don't know, it's the same reason why I don't like Clinique.
• The product claims it will give you "radiant complexion" which I have not noticed.
• It is not "refreshing", nor does it provide "intensive moisture"

I just feel that I could have a much better moisturizer that will actually help me improve my complexion rather than a product that only offers the bare minimum moisture. So no, I will not buy this product again.

But I want it! More organic skincare!

It's time for me to buy a new face cream to transition into again, and I decided I'm going to stick with almost-organic/organic products.  I had a serum in reserve, but it made me break out so I bought the same serum I recently reviewed for about $15 online, and I bought Lavera's Calendula Balancing cream for Normal/Combo skin for about the same:

Seeing it on the website, it's apparently for daytime use, so I now have to hunt for a night time moisturizer as well...

Instead of doing that, however, two things caught my eye:
1. Tinted moisturizer for $21

...I'll probably want this soon. When I no longer have so many foundations...

2. Did you know that US skincare companies are not required to list all ingredients? But in Europe they are. So want to know what you cosmetics have? Look it up from a European site!

Lavera's the brand of mascara and eyeliner I use at the moment, by the way. It's a well established brand even though I haven't seen much of it sold in stores (Wholefoods, maybe?). If any of you have tried their hair products I am very interested.

And I would be interested in their sunscreen too, except I just recently purchased an "organic" mineral one (SPF20) by Nature's Gate (which I understood is a local company). And even though it retails for $9.99 with only 2.5 stars, I got it for 99 cents so for now I am satisfied. It goes on dry like Neutrogena, doesn't have a strong scent, and didn't make me tan much.

How do you feel about supporting local brands?

Amarte Aqua Veil Pure Hydration Serum Review

Another product I received in my Beautyfix order that I have been wanting to rave about.  Since yobo started using it a few weeks ago when he ran out of his own product, it's been going fast and I suspect that in a week or two I will have a new serum to test out.  This serum is by Amarte, which is evidently a brand that uses the "Korean Sulfur Medicine System", and while it is not organic, it feels very natural.

This product retails for about $45.00 on their website and has the following ingredients:

hexagonal water, cyclomethicone, dimethicone copolyol crosspolymer/dimethicone, glycerin, propylene glycol, dimethicone, betaine, cucumis sativus (cucumber) fruit extract, malva sylvestris (mallow) flower extract, sambucus migra flower extract, arnica montana extract, parietaria officinalis extract, hedera helix extract, sodium hyaluronate, dimethicone, biosaccharide gum-1, lilium candidum flower extract, orchis mascula flower extract, phenoxyethanol, cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1, sodium chloride, fragrance, FD&C blue #1, FD&C yellow #5

 Wherein the key ingredients are:  Natural Betaine, Extracts of Cucumber, Mallow Flower, Sambucus Nigra Flower, Arnica Montana, Parietaria Officinalis, Hedera Helix

...When using this product all I could tell was that it definitely had a lot of cucumber, as it only has a cucumber scent to it, and gives a refreshing "cool" feeling when applied to your skin. So refreshing, in fact, that yobo insisted on using it for his sunburn because we couldn't find our after sun lotion (misplaced, I'm good at that). 

Overall this has been very moisturizing, great buy for summer, and I would definitely buy it again as I find it so much better than the others I've used so far. I'm also interested in trying out their other products, specifically facial moisturizers! I noted that they have UV creams and "natural" BBs as well! 

If you've ever tried any of their other products please let me know!

Review: RAW Skincare Ambiaty Facial Cream

 I got this RAW Skincare organic face cream from BeautyFix (if you remember my post) and "loved it the moment it touched my face". It's supposed to be 100% organic, admittedly their website is not that convincing (it looks like a scam, quite honestly), but their product certainly has been good for me so I'll ignore it for now.  I wouldn't say that it does much anti-aging, although it reads "revitalizing". Rather, it feels cool on your skin, very "moist", and the first week or two I used it I was completely amazed  by how smooth my skin became. It was almost as if someone just put silicon on my face (like a primer)!

 

The box has a good organic feel to it. It is 30ml and I have been using it for about a month now, with no complaints. I use it day and night (with a separate SPF for daytime) and even though I tend to get dry skin at night I have had no such problems with this product. 

 I'm about half way through, so we'll see in another month if my skin will "deteriorate" and "miss" the product (which is the claim with brands like La Mer, that claim to revitalize and moisturize at the same time).  This product evidently uses Ambiaty, acai extract, myrtle extract, hibiscus extract, brassicaceae extract, and andiroba oil. The company that produces this product seems to be from the Netherlands. 

I found from The Best Wrinkle Creams a review on this product that had more details such as the price ($130!) and a complete list of ingredients! There is a free 30 day trial available, but it is for the serum and the eye cream, neither of which is the product that I am using.  If I ever manage to find this product on the market, I will let you know, meanwhile Beautyfix is sure to have it.

Recommended: Face masks from China

I thought I had taken these pictures before but I can't find them anywhere, I'm actually missing a few "colors" and masks as we're slowly running out (waiting for a package from my mother-in-law XD). Besides these I also have a "box" of Japanese face masks (in blue):

Over the years I have used the individual packs by Kose as well, but they are overpriced and not that great. I really prefer Korean masks, my aunt had given me bird's nest masks three years ago that I still find far superior to anything I use today, but when I went to China in 2008 I picked out a lot of different types of masks in the supermarket and having tested them decided on these:

The big ones (silver) are my favorite as they're not "too big" (like some Korean ones are on my face) but not too small (I find some Japanese brands too small for my face).  There's a lot of extra "juice", which already makes it better than Kose's masks. Normally we have this brand in 3-4 types (everything except anti-aging), but now we evidently only have Rose and Lemon left. I tried looking online but didn't find them anywhere, so if you ever see these--try them!

The second brand I think I've only used once, it was not as good and has a medicinal smell to it.  Yobo always gets these "Chinese herbal" masks for eye and face because they come highly recommended, but I like to leave my masks on for as long as I can tolerate them (or until they dry) and I don't want to have to smell like Salompas for half an hour or more.

Near the 99 Ranch market there's a really big cosmetic store (I should show you?) with Korean masks that I sometimes get. I think I'll get them next time and show you. They come in big packs and individual packs, but with ziplock so they remain fresh and juicy! What type of mask do you use?

PAI Organic Skincare Review

Recently I purchased a lot of "organic" (or close to) products...

I recently ran out of my L'occitane day moisturizer so I decided to try out those little PAI samples I bought. The other skincare brand I've only recently begun using so I will wait a week or two before reviewing.

So I ordered a sample set for my skin type (combination) from Pai Organics, which is a UK based business. You can order one too, basically you get one small cleanser and one small moisturizer for free, but then you pay for international shipping (to California), which was about $9.70 for me. The samples would last about two weeks, I think.

Pai Organics does not contain any of the following: artifical colors/fragrances, formaldehyde, mineral oils (is this a bad ingredient?), parabens and other synthetic preservatives, petrochemicals, phthalates, sodium lauryl sulphates, which makes them a truly organic brand compared to other brands that might be lacking parabens but contain other non-organic ingredients.

Now, I normally use a Clarisonic brush for my skincare routine so in order to try the cleanser I actually had to stop using the brush. The reason for this is that the cleanser does not foam (which is normal for organic cleansers, if you try the shampoo you'll know what I mean) so the brush would not glide well on my skin.  I'm not sure if the cleanser did much on its own since I didn't get a "clean" feeling afterwards. I'm guessing this was just a very "mild" cleanser, which is good for those of you with sensitive skin, but I have large pores that I need cleaned out so I want real action done.

The moisturizer was the creamy sort and made for combination skin but I found that it dried my skin within two days to a point where I was flaky and I had more than five dry patches on my face. It was too scary for me to continue using so I ended up stopping. I then gave it to yobo to try, since he has oily skin and he prefers "dry" moisturizers (oil-free) but even he said it was too dry. I don't know if it's that our skin type is different than the developers, or that it's just a lot dryer here in California than it is in the UK, but the moisturizer was far too dry for my combination skin and yobo's oily skin. It basically feels like a sunblock, if you know what I mean, in that it feels creamy on your hands or when it first comes out of the tube but as soon as you lather it on your skin it starts to dry and even your hands feel dry...This is certainly how Neutrogena's UV block makes me feel (I use SPF50).

Both were white, they had very strong scents, where the moisturizer smelled like thyme and the cleanser like camellia. I preferred the smell of camellia to thyme, but I admit that tea tree oil is worse. I would not recommend this brand to anyone living in a dry climate, and maybe if someone tried the jojoba oil one and reviewed it (if someone has already, please let me know) I would consider giving Pai Organics another shot, but for now I'm convinced that I need to move on.

No worries though, I switched two nights ago and have been using Nature's Garden (in picture) along with my Origins so my skin has been slowly rejuvenated. Prior to applying make up on Saturday I even did a 20 min. face mask, which really helped. Trying this product has made me realize though that I would not want to review a lot of non-organic "regular" products, because the consequences of a bad product, or one that does not suit me, could be much worse. At least now I'm trying out organic products so I'm dealing with low damage.

[PS. Participate in my Giveaway! The rules have changed since!]