October favourites, updates and wishlist

nedelja, oktober 31, 2021


This is one of my most reached for palettes (the other being Artdeco's) and it's for one reason - matte taupes. It's an great palette for a simple look with some sculpting taupe in the crease, either alone or with another eyelid shade I grab from the Artdeco palette. Shimmers in this palette are nothing special, apart from the darkest Constrictor, but mattes are good cool tones in various depths and hues with a smooth, easy-to-blend texture and a quick colour pay-off.  


RIMMEL LONDON Natural Bronzing Powder Bronzer
022 Sun Bronze 
I don't wear bronzers and for years I only had (or kept) one ancient one from Estee Lauder that I got specifically because it's a shade that fits very pale skins (I tested all bronzers in our drugstores back then. Not that we had many). I've been avoiding getting a new one because I assume most aren't suitable for me, but this was 3 € and reviews were good, as it's praised by those with a pale skin tone and even those that aren't very light skinned. This was an unexpected good buy. The colour looks natural, it's got good pigmentation, it blends so nicely and I particularly love how smooth it looks on the skin. 


AFRODITA PROFESSIONAL C10 Vitamin Super Shot Concentrate
I've been using this every day for 6-7 weeks and I thought it's not working, but when I was taking pictures for a before/after foundation reviews, some images were partially corrupted, so I went into my older folders for a before picture and I noticed that my freckles and pigmentation marks/sun damage do indeed look lighter now. It's subtle, but something is happening. Afrodita says that it takes 16 weeks to remove pigmentation marks and it visibly reduces pigmentation caused by UV rays in 56 days, so we'll see the results after the bottle is empty, but so far I think it's going in the right direction. The difference started to show after week 3, while between pictures before and week 3 there is nothing. This is very expensive, since it's a part of the professional line/brand and is also used in salons, but they also have a vitamin C serum under the "regular" Afrodita brand that's sold in drugstores and supermarkets (and online). Concentrate contains 10% ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate, while the serum is weaker (I don't know the percentage). 


OLAPLEX N°4 Shampoo
Shampoo was one of the last Olaplex products I haven't tried because I was convinced that it's just a basic shampoo that doesn't do much, but I was wrong and now I think it's one of the nicest products in the Olaplex lineup. The formula is so thick, I think it's the thickest shampoo I've tried and it creates a very rich, dense foam. I like it a lot. Since it's silicone free, it doesn't leave that silky feeling when I'm rinsing it off (like L'Oreal's Extraordinary), but it's rich enough for my very dry hair. 

OLAPLEX No.8 Bond Intense Moisture Mask
This is thinner than the Olaplex conditioner, so I was initially scared I made a miss buy and that the cheaper and larger conditioner is a better choice, but I like this this. Maybe more than I want to considering the price and the fact in comes in a measly tube with 100 ml, but it's better than conditioner. I have to mix the latter with Pantene Hair Rescue mask to add slip, but the mask leaves my hair nourished and feeling silkier despite being without silicones. I just really like the combination of n.4 shampoo with this mask.  

REPURCHASES


I made quite a few repurchases this month, these are my favourites that I regularly repurchase and some that I've bought for the second time. 


A liquid, strongest Olaplex that is applied before n.3. I find this combination works considerably better than just n.3. They have to improve the packaging though because using the nozzle is painfully slow. I just unscrew the bottle and pour it on the hair. 

OLAPLEX N°3 Hair Perfector 
I'm not a big fan of this on its own because the results are pretty bland on my hair, but in combination with other products it's great. Since I'm bleaching my hair, this is a must in my stash and I've bought several bottles so far. I always have one full one in my backups, so I'm never without it. 

OLAPLEX N°5 Bond Maintenance 
It's not the most amazing conditioner in terms of visible results because it's silicone free and my hair doesn't like that, but I just use Pantene Hair Rescue mask either over it or after it so I get that slippery silkiness when I'm rinsing it off and it's a nice combination. The mask is better, but this has 250 ml and probably about the same percentage of bis-aminopropyl diglycol dimaleate.


A oil with a little bit of retinol. I don't know if Palmers changed something or Feel Unique sent me an off bottle, but it doesn't smell right. My first bottle had a cocoa butter/chocolate batter scent, but this one smells like oil, close to rancid. It feels the same on the skin though. It's one of thinner textures that absorbs quickly for an oil when applied a drop or two, but I always use a lot because I use it for a face massage. 

I bought this back in March, but only recently discovered how amazing it is also on damp hair after washing. It keeps my ends nourished longer, so it became an essential product for me. It also smells nice like mint chocolate. This time I also bought the matching conditioner and Palmer's oil with ceramides that I ended up using a lot. 


NUXE Huile Prodigieuse 
Florale 
A regular repurchase, though this is only second Florale bottle, since it's a newer scent. I've been buying the original for close to a decade I think and I use it as a face oil. It just works well with my skin and I consider it one of my standard basic products. I always buy the 100 ml ones because of the spray packaging (50 ml) are just plain annoying with the tiny hole.


This duo are my ultimate saviours after I bleach my hair and have better touchable results than Olaplex. I don't know why because it should be the opposite, but Olaplex can't fix that stiffness that hair gets after bleaching, while these two make the hair more pliable and softer. Olaplex then starts to work more like it should. Reconstructor is an intense keratin treatment, so it leaves the hair stiff on its own, so I always combine it with Intense Hydrator that adds moisture and makes the hair soft. Hydrator works fantastically on its own too.  

JOICO K-Pak Liquid Reconstructor 
Liquid version of Reconstuctor that's meant for use on thin hair or as an extra after using the creamy version. I had break for this, for no reason other than I was trying to use up other stuff and I noticed my hair started breaking more. So now I'll try to always include this in my routine because it's keeping excess damage at bay. It's not a miracle, but it's preventing things from getting much worse. 

WISHLIST


IT COSMETICS Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream with SPF 50+ - I said I won't get a full size of this because the lightest shade is too dark, but the more I use it, the more I realise it's one of rare formulas I can rely on not looking odd on my skin right now. I discovered they added new shades, though I hear they might not be the lightest. My review of this CC is from a time before I came to love it. It looks like my skin changed in the last year.

MAYBELLINE Instant Age Rewind Perfector 4-in-1 Glow Makeup 00 Fair light - I shamelessly admit it's the sponge applicator that drew me in. I know they're supposed to be unhygienic, but I've been using the Eraser as a foundation for many years and never got breakouts, and I love it because it's so fast and easy to apply. Maybelline says this is a  primer, concealer, highlighter and BB cream all in one, so might end up either as a dewy foundation or a liquid highlighter that acts as a primer.

MILANI Baked Blush 14 Petal Primavera - I've always been intrigued by these. I'm almost certain the famous Luminoso is too orange for me, but Petal Primavera looks beautiful on swatches, a type of natural pink I like to wear. I still need to see this in person. 

REVLON Colorstay Light Cover Foundation - a new foundation by Revlon. Their formulas usually don't suit my dry skin, but this sounds more like the formulas I wear. I like it has an SPF 35.

MILANI Color Statement Lipliner 03 Nude - I got a shade Spice which isn't the type of colour I'd wear, but I like the creamy pigmented formula of it. Nude looks more like my colours on swatches. I'll see how I like it when I'm finally in front of the Milani stand. 

BALEA Niacinamide Serum - Finally DM jumped on the train that almost everyone is on. They released their own niacinamide 10%  + cink serum. I've tried a couple from other brands and they tend to break me out, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed this is finally the formula that doesn't. I don't think it's here yet. 

THEBALM theBalmFire - this release passed me by, I guess people don't talk about theBalm anymore. I love their blushes (well almost everything I've tried) and these are are highlighter + blush hybrids, so my favourite type of shades. There are three duos available and I'm most interested in Game Day or Beach Goers. 

MILANI Green Goddess Makeup Melter - it's become a struggle to get a cleansing oil in our drugstores, since they discontinued Biobaza, I don't like Balea's and Nivea's has mineral oil that breaks me out. This sounds interesting, I've had a few balms before and they are on the same level as oils to me. It's expensive for drugstore, but reviews are good. 

WELLA Color Fresh 8/81 Light Blonde/Pearl Ash - I didn't manage to bleach that well this time because I ran out of my strongest developer and left my roots go wind for too long, so my usual stash might not cut it on my roots. I'm not sure if Wella uses their numbers in a traditional way here, but if I get this right, this should be a level 8 shade, thereby suitable for my medium blonde for cooling down warm tones. 

WELLA Colour Fresh Mask Pearl Blonde - Wella is just another brand with a newly released temporary colours in a nourishing mask form. I've seen a video using this and I think the shade of hair the woman who was using it was similar to mine (hopeful it's not just bad lighting) and she managed to tone her blonde really well with this. Might be worth a try. Based on this chart it should work on level 8 blonde. I like some of the other shades as well.  

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2 comments

  1. Do not buy the last wella mask. Even on my super light (white) blonfd it does not give much of neutralizing, and as a mask.. it’s just not there for processed hair. Useless.

    OdgovoriIzbriši
    Odgovori
    1. Really? On that video it looked so promising. Oh, well... To be fair, it does look so pale straight from the tube, it should have clued me in. The stuff that works on me is intense purple-blue. Thanks for the info :)

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