November favourites, updates and wishlist

torek, november 30, 2021


I didn't love this from the start, but I still included it in my regular routine and it's so far always worked with other makeup I usually wear. On its own or applied first before other makeup I feel it's not smooth enough or at least it wasn't when I was trying it first (the cause may have been my skin). But over foundations it looks ok. It covers my under eye circles, redness around the nose and my old red blemish marks. Finish is natural and it doesn't dry fast, which suits my dry skin. What I like most about it is that is combines skin care with makeup. It contains niacinamide, vitamin C, caffeine, resveratrol, hyaluronic acid, peptides, salicylic acid and a couple of extracts, so it's a nice looking list of anti-ageing & brightening ingredients. I have shade Flax, which is a match for my skin.


I think I found my new favourite cleansing oil. I still like Hada Labo, my usual cleansing oil that I have a backup of, but Nuxe removes waterproof mascaras more effectively, so it works better for me. It's also a product that is sold in local pharmacies and online shops, which means faster & cheaper to get. Formula is thinner than I usually like, but what matters is that it removes makeup well, it leaves no film on the skin and it doesn't irritate my eyes, though it can occasionally leave my vision foggy for a short while. I'm also glad that despite the name it doesn't have a rose scent (it's not scented).

My old favourite that in recent years I wear only occasionally because it needs separate removal with an oily dual-phase remover and I don't like torture my skin around the eyes. But now that I found Nuxe, I've been wearing it a lot more often, since it's so easy to get it off with a basic double cleanse. I can always rely on this formula holding my lashes curled and it creates quite big, voluminous lashes for a dry-ish waterproof formula.  


SUBRINA PROFESSIONAL Scalp Detox Scrub
I've tried several scalp scrubs and this is the best I’ve found so far. I was concerned when I first squeezed it out that it won’t do anything because beads looked sparse, but more gel than beads makes it easier to apply on the scalp, I use far less than sugar scrubs and it does the work more effectively. I already ordered a backup. 

MOROCCANOIL Smoothing Mask
Just another fantastic Moroccanoil mask. I already love Intense Hydrating and Restorative versions, while this is made for thick, unruly hair. It's the richest of the three, though Restorative is similarly thick, but at this one I have a feeling it's only for thick hair, as it may be too heavy on thin hair. Though I've used other products with it and I can't say it was just this, but my hair dried smoother than with my other stash (excluding the combination of Moroccanoil Blow dry concentrate + L'Oreal's Professional Liss Unlimited cream). It again smells amazing like all Moroccanoil products, but at this one scent lasted for days on my hair (when I touched it), which very rarely happens with any product on my hair. I'd love to try the Smoothing lotion now. 


SUBRINA PROFESSIONAL Colour Silver Mask
I know I can rely on Subrina for a good cool blonde toner/mask. I use Colour Refresh mask in Diamond Blonde from drugstore brand Subrina that's already really good, while this in the Professional brand is an even more intense purple-blue mask for neutralising warm tones. In 7 minutes it left my lengths a nice cool blonde and I have a medium blonde hair on which most such products either need a lot more time or can't tone well because they are too light. It couldn't deal with my orange roots, which I couldn't bleach enough last time I coloured, but it's not designed for that anyway. If you have very light bleached hair with yellow tones, this will create an ice blonde shade, but based on experience it may need to be left for a short time on the hair, since it's so strong.  

Freshly coloured with L'Oreal Excellence 8.11, but my colour was washed out by now, so more golden || After diluted Moroccanoil Lilac Color Depositing Mask

MOROCCANOIL Color Depositing Mask
Lilac
This did not turn out the way I expected, but I'm happy with the results. I bought just the 30 ml because I assumed it's has the same extreme pigmentation like Subrina Colour Refresh masks where I need a small amount of colour mixed with about 100 ml of conditioner for a pastel, but this is weaker and I should have bought a whole tube and use most of it for purple hair. I used the whole 30 ml + 1 spoon of Moroccanoil Smoothing mask + Pantene Repair conditioner, so I had about 80-100 ml of mask. Immediately when I started applying it on the hair I suspected this won't look the way I wanted, but I still left it for only 7 minutes (as recommended) because I heard from some this is difficult to wash off and can turn green like cool shades usually do (that's why I avoid blue & green temporary shades. Subrina's CR in Violet is a rosy warm purple and washes off completely). What I got was the shade I expected L'Oreal's 8.11 to be and it looks much closer to the shade on the box now. I got a very ashy medium blonde, which means this is the strongest toning shade I've found and perfect for a level 8 blonde. It managed to tone my orange roots more than anything I've tried, though in certain lights they are still visible, but much less intense. So this not what I expected or what I originally bought it for, but it's a great discovery for a medium blonde and brunettes that bleach & who deal with very strong brassy tones. 


LANEIGE Lip Sleeping Mask, BLISTEX Conditioning Lip Serum and PALMER'S Cocoa Butter Formula Swivel Stick
As soon as I started using A-Game my skin got drier, along with my lips, though I take care it doesn't get near them. I rarely use lip balms because my lips are generally fine, but this is my stash for when I experience dryness. Laneige is a quite a popular product that people swear by and it is indeed very good for very dry lips, but in this recent bout of dryness I find Blistex has a quicker result when used overnight. Laneige is a thick product that can stick on the lips for a long time, while Blistex is a very light cream-lotion, so I'm a bit baffled why it turned out to be a bit better. Palmer's is my usual lip balm for daily use and I've been loyal to it for many years even though it looks like a glue stick. I have the actual Palmer's lip balm, but Swivel stick is better.

UPDATES

My skin isn't oily, still I blot my skin before applying makeup because it takes so long for my skin care to absorb fully. This is so easy - it's like a face massager that I just roll on my face and it absorbs the excess of stuff on my skin. Before I used tissues, but this is a good substitute and can be washed, which also means less tissues to buy. Based on feedback a lot of people with oily skin love this, while I only have a little oil in the morning and this absorbs it fully, leaving my skin matte - still, I'm not the best person to ask how it works on oily skin, so check other reviews for that.

This isn't here because of results, since I don't think I see any extra new length, but since I started using it my lashes have been more ready to curl, something I've been having trouble with for a while now. All the other such products I've tried just made the situation worse, so this is so far the best serum I've tried. I actually don't know if my lashes are any longer after weeks or a month of use because I didn't see how long my lashes were before, since they were always so straight, so technically this did make my lashes longer by just helping them curl. Essence I <3 Extreme does the second part of the job and holds them up. Formula is light and easy to apply. I can wear mascara over it, so I can use this 2x a day.


FOREO Luna Mini 2 & Micro Foam Cleanser
These are now in our drugstores and I recently included it in my routine. It's currently in the trial stage, so I can't report yet how it fares long term, but so far it's going well. The silicone and bristles feel soft, and this is pleasant to use, so that minute almost passes too quickly, as this feels like a great face massager. The first time I used it, my skin glowed like never before. This leaves my skin feeling smooth and softer than a regular cleansing routine. It promises to reduce blackheads, which is something I'm hoping will happen with long term use, but considering nothing has ever helped before, I'll keep my expectations to a minimum. This model needs to be charged once every 5 months and has 8 intensity settings. It vibrates every 15 seconds to let you know to move to another area on the face and pulses 3 times when the cleansing should be over, which is after a minute. It designed for all skin types, the back is for oily skin, so I use the front side which is for sensitive & dry skin. The cleanser is very thick and I need to use a small amount - I like it, but it's very expensive. I'm not sure if this cleanser made my skin glow or was it just Luna, or both.

WISHLIST

OLAPLEX N°4P Blonde Enhancer Purple Shampoo - I really like the regular Olaplex shampoo and they just released a purple version. I currently mix Olaplex with L'Oreal's purple shampoo, this would just combine the two. 

MOROCCANOIL Smoothing Lotion - The mask turned out to be really good, so now I want to try this too. I am a little worried because it says it has some hold and that usually means it doesn't leave the hair silky and may leave the hair stiff, so I want the 75 ml version first.

 PUPA Scented Nail Polish Gel Effect 203 - I have two of these, a nude and a purple-pink one, which are nice. I like that they make my nails smells nice, even though it's just for a couple of days. I'd like a red shade now, since it's the third scent I haven't tried yet, but pastels appeal to me too. 

REELLE Tönungsshampoo Platinblond 8.1 - I doubt this will be here, since Reelle isn't in our DM, but finally someone made a toner for medium blonde hair - provided they use the numbers like colours are usually marked, so level 8 and .1 means ash. Everything is made for very light blonde hair, so us with stronger more orange tones can't do much with the stuff in the drugstores. I can find products for my lighter lengths, but I can never bleach my roots enough in one go and maybe this is finally a dark & ashy enough solution for this problem. But a mini bag is a bit of a joke for my hair. 

MOROCCANOIL Color Depositing Mask Copper - this is the last shade I'd pick from the selection - well, until I saw this look. I've been thinking about trying being ginger temporarily (fight orange tones from last failed bleaching with orange tones), but Colour Refresh orange was too yellow toned for my taste and this looks more natural. It's diluted with a lot of conditioner because this is a shade made for dark blonde-medium brown hair and on light blonde it's straight up carrot orange, so I think in this case 30 ml bag will be enough. 

BALEA Niacinamide AHA Peeling - I saw we got both the new niacinamide serum and this AHA peeling on DM Slovenia website. There's only 3% AHA in it, so it's very weak and it has 5% niacinamide, so might be nice for beginners. I might try it, well see, ingredients look nice.   

BALEA Beautiful Long Magical Water - I'm not really interested in getting this because Balea hair stuff is often a miss for my hair type, but I'm just showing what's new in the drugstores. It was bound to happen - copies of L'Oreal 8 Second Water springing up and this will be the cheapest one. Ingredients are very similar as the other three I have, so L'Oreal, Redken and Gliss. I use L'Oreal and Redken every time I was my hair as a rinse before applying conditioner and I don't know if I see a difference, while Gliss is good enough to be used on its own and it's my favourite. I may get Balea for comparison if we get it. 

MOROCCANOIL Magical Minies - This contains a mini hair oil, which I'd love to have in a full size, but a new mini would suffice, since I'm obsessively saving mine, and the new fragrance mist also in a mini form. I love the scent of Moroccanoil and this has their traditional scent.  

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