Biotherm, Aquasource Deep Serum - Sample Sized

Hello everyone!

I'm back with a mini review from another Biotherm product, this time the Aquasource Deep Serum.

It reads:
- Deep hydration and luminosity
- Try it out!

 If you’ve read my last Sample Sized post, then this name will feel extremely familiar. That’s because this Serum is also from Biotherm’s Aquasource collection and I got this sample when I purchased a couple of things at Sephora (see my Sephora Haul).

It reads:
- 3 times more concentrated
- A new source of light is born...
- *concentration in Thermal Plankton water and Mannose in comparison to Aquasource Gel

So, what does the brand have to say about this product?

“3X more concentrated (than the Aquasource gel) and 24hr hydration”

“For the first time, Biotherm has managed to concentrate Thermal Plankton water 3X more and associate it with mannose in a formula, to create Deep Serum. This elixir helps to improve the appearance of skin quality and leave skin looking more radiant.”

“Visible skin results: skin feels intensely hydrated and looks healthier; skin looks more luminous and complexion looks more even; skin looks more hydrated”

It reads:
- Discovered in the French Pyrenees
- Skin regeneration properties as no other
- Protected by 12 patents

And what are my thoughts on this?

Well, I really liked it. It was a white gel type of product. It felt even lighter on the skin than the High Density Hydrating Jelly and it also got absorbed faster. The smell was pretty similar to that of the Hydrating Jelly deliciously sweet and citrusy – loved it. I used it for about 4 nights (how long the sample lasted) and noticed my skin looking more luminous and hydrated in the morning. I didn’t notice my complexion being evener – but I just used it for such a short amount of time that it’s difficult to tell if it works or not.

Ingredients

Will I purchase it?

Even though I liked this product, I’m not sure I’ll be buying it at least on the near future. I am almost done with my last bottle of my Holy Grail, the Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex (which featured in my August Favorites and a proper review will be coming soon). I used this product as my nighttime serum for more than a year non-stop – that’s how much I adore this product. However, I wanted to try something new in order to share more opinions on products with you and I ended up picking one serum/oil in my last Feelunique shopping spree (as soon as I get the products I’ll post a haul with pictures). Besides that, the new Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex II (ANR II) has arrived to Portugal about two weeks ago and as soon as I finish testing the new serum I ordered at Feelunique.com I’ll run to Sephora to buy the new ANR II.

So, all this blabber just to tell you that: I don’t know if I will buy this product because I can’t think that far ahead.

Do I recommend it?

From what I could test I would say yes. It didn’t cause any allergic reaction nor did I notice it clogging my pores. It’s very light but very hydrating at the same time. You can use it mornings and/or nights before your moisturizer (or on its own if you prefer keeping things lighter) and it’s recommended for all skin types so it’s great if you want to share it with a sister, your mum, your friend, basically anyone you might live with (that’s a really great idea if you can’t spend that much money on one product on your own). If you want to buy this product online, you can find it at Feelunique.com for 46,25euros (50ml).

Please let me know your thoughts in case you have tried this product. I’d also love suggestions on how to improve the quality of the blog and products you’d like me to review.

Yours,

M.

Disclaimer – I know that I’m always talking about Feelunique.com but I’m in no way affiliated to them. The reasons behind my mentions of Feelunique are, its offering: free shipping worldwide, a large variety of products at very competitive prices, great service.

Beauty Haul 2 - Feelunique

Hello,

Today I wanted to share with you a couple of items I bought from Feelunique.com, before I went on holidays. I've been testing these products and I'll be reviewing them as soon as I have a proper opinion formed on them.

I've also purchased some products during their Sales period. I've already received a couple of them but I'm waiting for the rest to arrive to then do a joint haul.

Their old packaging . products are packed differently now

To begin with, I bought a Spiezia Organics Muslin Flannel to compare with the ones I have from Liz Earle and the Primark face cloths recommended by Caroline Hirons herself.

Then I decided to pick the Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector Oil Free B.B. Cream in Light because here in Portugal I could only find it in the color Medium.

Since I was very curious to try the so raved about Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Khol Kajal Eye Liner in Nude, I figured "why not now?" and to my basket it went.

Last but not least, I decided to grab another Real Techniques brush, this time the Stippling brush, to add to my collection.

And that's all for today.

Please leave your comments and suggestions down below to help me develop this blog. I really appreciate it. :)

Yours,
M.

Garnier Ambre Solaire, Golden Touch After Sun - Product Review

The end of summer is fast approaching but since I know some of you are yet to go on holidays, I think/hope it’s not too late to do a review on the after-sun lotion I took on holidays with me this year: the Garnier Ambre Solaire Golden Touch After Sun.

 For the past couple of years my go-to after-sun lotion/body moisturizer was Sephora’s After Sun Moisturizing Balm. I fell in love the first time I used it. It’s just amazing. And since the price range was so close to that of the drugstore versions, I didn’t even bother to look up for another. This summer I couldn’t find it anywhere – I just hope it hasn’t been discontinued!

 However, this summer when I went to buy my sunscreen (I’ll be reviewing it soon), every single sun-related product was at a major discount (75%!!! What??). There’s no need to tell you, I couldn’t not bring an after-sun with me as well (they were just so super cheap!) Anyway, I looked around and went for this one.

It reads:
- Shimmering hydration lotion enriched with nourishing Monoi oil and a luminous pearl shimmer

-Is the hydrating lotion Golden Touch After Sun for me?

-Yes, if your skin feels tight after sun exposure and you want to moisturize it and enhance your tan at the same time. The Golden Touch Lotion is specifically formulated to nourish and soften skin that has become drier due to sun exposure.

It reads:

- How does it work?

- Its formula is enriched with nourishing Monoi oil and a luminous pearl shimmer.

- Original from Tahiti, Monoi oil results from the combination of Tiaré flower and coconut oil. Monoi oil is recognized worldwide for its nourishing properties as well as ability to restructure the superior layers of the epidermis that were damaged by external aggressions.

- Its texture is subtly enriched with luminous pearl shimmer to illuminate your complexion and enhance your tan, after sun exposure. Its sensual perfume leaves in your skin a sense of being on holidays. Nourished and soothed, your skin stays hydrated for 24 hours and your tan is enhanced.

- How to use it?

- Non-greasy and non-sticky, the Golden Touch lotion is quickly absorbed and leaves your skin with a golden touch and delicately fragranced. Apply to clean skin, after each sun exposure.

 

The description was quite catchy: “Shimmering hydration lotion enriched with nourishing Monoi oil and a luminous pearl shimmer.” Who doesn’t want that?

 It also promised to:

·         Illuminate tan

·         Soothe the skin

·         Provide 24 hour hydration

·         Have a cooling sensation

·         Be dermatologically tested

All good things, right?

Ingredients

 So, what’s my final verdict?

It’s really nice (BUT in all honestly, it doesn’t even come close to the Sephora one, just saying!):

-          My skin didn’t react to it – in a bad way (which is known to happen – I have atopic skin and had my share of allergic reactions)

-          I love the scent, it’s really lovely – quite fresh and summery – but not strong enough to interfere with your everyday fragrance.

-          The lotion is super light and absorbs quickly onto to skin, which is great.

-          It did feel cooling (a little bit – if you are on the look for a cooling product I wouldn’t recommend this).

-          It was hydrating but I guess I’d prefer it if it were a bit more moisturizing – I have normal to dry skin (I’m talking about my body, obviously). In a day-to-day basis this would probably be enough for me but the sun, sand, salt and chlorine always leave my skin feeling much drier.

-          It didn’t hydrate my skin for 24 hours but maybe 6 to 8 hours.

-          I don’t think it prolonged my tan – but can’t be sure. Anyway, it doesn’t promise to do it either, I guess.

-          It soothes dry skin but it isn’t particularly good with soothing your skin if you have been sun burnt, it cools the area a bit but nothing special.

-          All in all, quite an average product but for one thing: the shimmering part. This moisturizer has tiny little glowing golden particles on it. They are only visible on the skin if you are under direct sun light or bright lighting. They give a nice subtle slightly shimmery look to your skin. I liked it but didn’t adore it. Some of you might love it, or hate it though. It’s certainly not for everyone’s taste – if you apply it just to the legs and/or arms maybe – but for an all over body lotion it might be a bit too much if you go clubbing after applying – the lighting effects might make it less subtle (but I haven’t tested it so they may not).

 

The shimmery particles
- Keep in mind that in the picture they are a bit more concentrated than usual - it was just for me to be able to show you more or less the look of them

Do I recommend this product?

-          Maybe. It’s not the best product I’ve ever tried but it’s good enough, just not as good as my beloved Sephora’s one. I’d say, quality wise, it’s quite similar to ones from other drugstore brands such as Nivea. The only difference is that this one has shimmery particles and the Nivea one doesn’t – so if it were me undecided between Garnier’s and Nivea’s after sun I would use the shimmering detail as my decisive factor. If you want subtle shimmer just go for this one, if you don’t the other one might be better for you. If you are interested in buying it, I’m sure you can find it in any supermarket or drugstore that sells sunscreens or you can buy at Feelunique.com for 12,49euros (now, on sale, for only 8,74 euros!)

 Will I repurchase it? 

-        Once again, had I not “met” my darling Sephora’s After Sun Moisturizing Balm I’d probably would but as I have, I don’t think so. Unless Sephora has discontinued it (please, please no!) which would break my hard and put me back on the market for a new “Holy Grail” to replace it.

  

Yours,

 M.

Biotherm, Aquasource Nuit High Density Hydrating Jelly - Sample Sized

Hello everyone!

As you may have already noticed, I decided to create a new rubric called “Sample Sized”.

In this new rubric I’ll talk about samples of products that I received: either with a purchase, for example, or through those monthly boxes.

I didn’t want to call them product reviews because the amount of product is not enough for me to understand how a product will work in the long run. Will it actually do something? (most products, particularly skincare ones, need to be used for at least 6 weeks before you see any results on your skin) Will it clog my pores? Will it alter the appearance or texture of my skin? Is it worthed the money? And I want my reviews to always be thorough, never rushed opinions.

So, I felt tempted to just use my samples, throw them away and don’t say a thing about them. However, there might be reasons behind me not buying a certain product after having tried the sample that could be useful to you. On the other hand, I may not need a certain product at the moment but might have been very impressed with its sample and so could perhaps advise you to ask for a sample yourself if you are on the hunt for that type of product.

Now you know: those were the reasons behind this new rubric. The first one of the type will be about the Aquasource Nuit High Density Hydrating Jelly.

To be honest I had never tried any of the Biotherm products before and therefore was pleased to find this little one at the bottom of my Sephora bag when I got home (I posted about, if your curious about it: Click here!).

According to the brand:

•    Your skin loses more water at night than during the day. Biotherm Aquasource Nuit High Density Hydrating Jelly helps to replenish skin with moisture and hydration all night long. Wake up to fresh looking, luminous skin which feels more elastic and radiant, as if reawakened.
•    Biotherm introduces P.Antarctica, a microorganism able to survive the extreme conditions of the Antarctic due to its incredible capacity to retain water. Enriched with P.Antarctica, Biotherm Aquasource Nuit High Density Hydrating Jelly helps the skin maintain its natural water reserves all night long.

Ingredients

Pretty impressive, right?

I can’t know for sure if it ticks every box from that description but after using it for a week these are my thoughts:

•           The product itself is a light and refreshing blue gel that smells deliciously like a citrusy dessert.
•           It provokes a very nice cooling effect when applied to the skin, which is particularly nice in the summer time.
•           It doesn’t feel heavy at all when you first apply it. (I don’t think this will be moisturizing enough, were my first thoughts – I was mistaken, though). However, even after the product sinks it leaves you skin glowing (a tiny bit greasy looking even – but nothing that isn’t worth suffering through) and if you touch your face, your skin still feels like you’ve just applied moisturizer. 
•     In the mornings after having used this gel, right from the first one, I could notice a visible difference on my skin. It looked and felt as moisturized as when I first applied the gel. Nothing like other night creams I’d tried (high-end, drugstore, good or bad…), usually by the time I got to the bathroom in the mornings my skin wouldn’t look or feel as plump, as smooth or as radiant as right after having applying my night cream. Much less would it look plumper, smoother and more radiant – yes, that was what this product did.
•         I believe it doesn’t clog your pores either – but keep in mind I have only used this for a week (the amount of time it took me to get to the end of the sample).

Will I purchase it?

I strongly believe, I will!

I have 4 night creams to finish before I can even think to buy a new one, but certainly this will be one of my first choices when I allow myself to get another moisturizer.

Do I recommend it?

Very much, I loved it from day one! Moreover, this product suits every skin type!

However, and since this is a quite pricey product (35euros for the 50ml bottle at Feelunique.com – 29,75euros now, on sale!) I’d advise you to ask for a sample first and see if your first impressions match mine. I think it might also be helpful to see reviews from people that have actually used the full size product. I know that the famous Brazilian youtuber Camila Coelho does use this product, at least in this video, she does – Removendo a Maquiagem!

Please leave a comment down below with your thoughts on this new rubric. Also, since it’s the beginning of September and both Catrice and Essence are coming up with new stuff, let me know which products you would like me to purchase to review here on the blog!

Yours,

M.

Garnier Skin Naturals, Ultra Lift Eye Firming Anti-Wrinkle Eye Care - Product Review

Hi!

Today I am going to talk about the Garnier UltraLift Anti-Wrinkle Eye Cream. This is a drugstore cream with Pro-Retinol that promises to visibly decrease wrinkles and improve the appearance of the under eye area, making it look younger.

I’ve been using this product every single night for a couple of months and here is what I think:

• Even though it didn’t cause any allergic reaction and had a very subtle scent, which is good, this cream did not only cause puffiness but it also didn’t decrease any of the annoying wrinkles under my eyes – reason why I bought it (I usually say that I have young skin – I'm 22 - but an old lady’s under eye area).

The puffiness might be due to some plumping properties the product might have to temporarily disguise wrinkles (this is just a wild guess!). That caused me two problems: 

• First, the mornings after applying this eye cream I’d find my eyes particularly puffy which doesn’t look nice at all; 
• Secondly, by the end of the day the products effects would have worn off and by the time the puffiness had decreased I had been left with more wrinkles.

Besides that, this cream wasn’t particularly moisturizing either.

But let me know, if you have a different opinion about this product!

Would I recommend this product?

Not, at all. It might be that the reason I have an issue with this cream is my young age, maybe if you are older and have sagging skin that needs plumping it will work for you. But anyway I don’t believe too much in that – I can’t see how constantly plumping and de-puffing the skin might be beneficial - in my (non-scientific) perspective, it could even be the cause of more wrinkles.

But if you want to try this product anyhow, you can find it at local drugstores or supermarkets or you can buy it at the feelunique website for 13.39euros (at the moment it is at a discount price of 11,38euros – 15% off).

Will I buy it again?

This is a reverberating no! Even though I like some of the Garnier products I don’t think this particular one is worthed and there are better drugstore eye creams out there.

Yours,

M.

L'Oréal Professionnel, Solar Sublime After-Sun Nourishing Balm - Product Review

Hi!

I am so sorry I couldn't keep up with my promise of twice-a-week posts but since I am on holidays I have limited computer time and Internet access but by next week I should be home and the posts will be more regular from then on.

But let’s get down to business! Today I am going to talk about my favorite of the moment after-sun hair mask: the L'Oréal Professionnel Solar Sublime After-Sun Nourishing Balm (this is the current name of the product. The mask shown in the pictures is still in the old packaging, but the product remains the same – at least this was what the Lady at the counter told me when I bought it, reason why I was able to get this mask at a discount - which is always nice! J).

This package contains 150ml of product. The new one has 200ml.

About the product itself: I have used it for the past 3 years and still love it. Why? Firstly, it smells amazing – a peachy fragrance that lingers on your hair a whole day after you have washed it but the scent is not overpowering enough to interfere with your perfume of choice.

It reads:
- After-sun hydra-source mask

Besides loving to have my hair smelling like fresh peaches, I real love how it ends up being a multitask product. Every time I’ve brought this product with me on holidays I didn’t use any other conditioner or mask.

It reads:
- Hydra-Source Mask: enriched with active cosmetic and hydrating elements of the scalp. Repairs and nourishes sun, chlorine or sea salt-exposed hair. As a result: your hair recovers its softness and shine.
- Application: Apply to washed and towel-dried hair. Distribute from roots to ends. Leave it 2-3 minutes. Rinse it off.
- Ingredients List

I have very fine hair and as such have to be particularly careful about conditioning products. However, after being assaulted by chlorine, salt and sun my hair is also exceptionally dry. This can be a tricky combination to work with: I need enough hydration to have my hair looking healthy but not too much or it’ll weigh it down. That’s why this product is right up my alley, it achieves that perfect balance – I just need to use it every single day after washing my hair, but in different ways.

I’ll explain: from Monday to Saturday after arriving home from the beach or the pool I wash my hair with an after-sun shampoo (I’m currently using one from the Portuguese brand My Label) and after rinsing I follow with the mask which I use as a conditioner – I apply a little bit solely to the ends of my hair and wash it off right after; on Sundays after washing my hair I towel-dry it and apply the mask to the lengths of my hair up until a little bit above my ears (when I apply masks I don’t worry too much about not getting it too close to the scalp) leave it for about 3-5 minutes and wash it off afterwards.

By doing this my ends are always deeply nourished and tangle free - as such they’re much less prone to get split. Once a week I replenish all my hair leaving the product for longer and applying it to drier/less wet hair which makes my hair look shiny and healthy all throughout summer but never limp. Also, since I’ve started using this product I have never again felt the need to trim the hair after the end of summer because it isn’t damaged at all. As a plus I don’t need to carry as much weight as I would if I needed both a conditioner and a mask.

You can buy this mask at feelunique.com for 16.56 euros (12,43 euros now during the Summer 2013 sale they're running!) or on a hair saloon.

Do I recommend it?

Absolutely! I believe it will work amazingly with all hair types you just have to adjust the way you use it. If you don’t wash your hair everyday during the summer and have very fine hair I would recommend skipping it and choosing a lighter conditioner in the days you don’t go the pool or sea because otherwise your hair may look a bit limp or greasy on the second day. On the other hand if you have thicker or drier hair I would recommend upping the number of days a week you use it as mask until you reach your perfect balance.

Will I repurchase it?

I definitely will. I am curious to try other products of the same type but I think that I will end up going back to this.

Yours,

M