I went a bit crazy with shopping this week, but who really cares :). I'll try to review most of the things as soon as I can. Today I'll just talk a bit about my skin care routine which I changed a bit.

I bought:

Incorporating baking soda in your skin care routine seems to be all the rage. Since I read Sam's post on makeupandbeautyblog.com I decided to try it out myself. I mixed about a quarter of a teaspoon with my regular cleanser (Nivea Baby Kopf bis Fuß wash lotion) and then gently rubbed the mixture on my face. I left it on just for a couple of minutes (leaving it too long can irritate your skin and for the same reason don't use it too often, about once a week). My skin felt amazingly soft and so polished. No face scrub that I tried can compare with the effect of baking soda. However, I will use it only a couple of times a month because using it too often can destroy your protective acid mantle.

I bought a micro peeling cloth, which feels very soft to the touch and really removes all make up. All you have to do is to use it damp in a gentle circular motion. After I used a cotton pad soaked with my favorite make up remover Bioderma Sensibio and it was completely clean, so no traces of foundation what so ever. Plus it leaves your skin so smooth. I guess the only problem is that you have to wash it often. On the box it says it's suitable for sensitive skin.

Sun Dance Aloe Vera gel is a light green very liquidy gel. It has quite a strong but pleasant scent (it smells sort of flowery). A few seconds after application it becomes very sticky but it dries in a couple of minutes and the stickiness disappears. I bought it to use it for my homemade aspirin toner. I used an old toner bottle, put about 50 ml of water in it, then crushed one aspirin and squirted some aloe in the mixture. I used it yesterday for the first time and those few blemished I have, diminished and some even disappeared.

 

This is one one those products I'm not quite sure if I really need it. I does have an nice effect on my hair, but I don't find it worth 5€ per use plus putting up with the incredibly strong scent. First off something about my hair: I have very long (a bit over the half of the back), thick, curly, frizzy and very dry hair. I used a half of pot for the entire length of my hair (It's applied on dry hair as a pre-wash treatment) and I massaged some in my scalp and it was barely enough. I know it says to use the whole pot, but I'm sorry there only so much that my hair can absorb, I'm not wasting any product. Just an advice, hold your hair over the sink or tub when you're applying it because it's quite runny and slippery. So about the scent. It's really, really strong. I smell clove mixed with a bit of cinnamon and some other herbs. Personally I'm not particularity fond of the scent of clove and I found it a bit difficult to put up with the scent. I left it on for about an hour and a half. When I rinsed my hair it was basically a very tangled mess. I then used Nivea Pure Gloss Anti-Dandruff shampoo and my trusted Garnier Fructis Oil Repair mask and finished of with John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Shine Shock. I let my hair dry naturally (btw the scent gets on the pillow to). They are more shinny and definitely softer, the scent is still present but it's mild. They're not as tangled as usual but apart from the shine they just look like the same curly, frizzy mess as always. I still need to use some heating tools or tie them in a bun over the night to make them presentable. A pot costs 11€ which is way to expensive considering I get two uses from it. I do like the effect and I think it's a nice product, but I just can't put up with the smell and the price is too high. I'm sticking with my regular regime, anti-dandruff shampoo and Fructis Oil Repair mask or John Frieda Brilliant Brunette conditioner, it works just fine.

To je eden izmed tistih izdelkov za katerega ne vem če me je res prepričal. Ima zadovoljiv efekt na laseh ampak se mi enostavno ne zdi vreden 5 € na uporabo plus tega ima še neverjetno močen vonj. Moji lasje so zelo dolgi (do sredine hrbta), gosti, kodrati, frizzy in zelo suhi. Za celotno dolžino las sem porabila pol lončka, malo se jo še vmasirala v lasišče. Pol lončka je bilo skoraj premalo, čeprav piše, da naj bi porabila cel lonček ga dejansko nima smisla ker lasje pač ne morejo posrkat toliko maske in dejansko vržeš pol maske stran. Maska je zelo tekoča in nekako sluzasta, zato je bolje če jo nanašaš nad umivalnikom ali banjo. Kar se vonja tiče, kot sem že rekla je izjemno močan. Jaz voham klinčke (nageljnove žbice) zmešane z malo cimeta in drugimi zelišči. Meni osebno vonj klinčkov ne odgovarja in sem vonj kar malo težko prenašala. Na laseh sem jo pustila okrog ure in pol. Ko sem jo sprala so bili lasje zelo zavozlani. Nadaljevala sem z Nivejinim Pure Gloss šamponom proti prhljaju, Garnierjevo Oil Repair masko in John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Shine Shock. Lase sem pustila da so se posušili naravno (btw blazina na kateri spite se bo navzela vonja maske). Lasje so mehkejši in se bolj svetijo, vonj je še prisoten ampak je bolj mil. Lasje se mi ne zdijo tako zavozlani kot so ponavadi, ampak razen sijaja izgledajo tako kot ponavadi, zavozlana, frizzy zmešnjava. Še vedno rabim ravnalec ali kodralnik ali pa jih pustiti v figi čez noč da izgledajo ok. Lonček stane 11€ kar je predrago glede na to da ga bom imela le za dvakrat. Všeč mi je efekt in se mi zdi v redu maska, ampak jaz enostavno ne maram vonja in cena je veliko previsoka. Ostajam pri moji običajni rutini, šampon proti prhljaju in mojima dvema maskama Oil Repair in John Frieda Brilliant Brunette.

I've been to Lush last week. I don't usually go there even though I have one near me when I'm in Ljubljana. So I finally bought H'Suan Wen Hua hair treatment which I'll review in the next days and Charlotte Island (that perfume bottle is from Refan and it's D&G Light Blue).

Charlotte Island is a wash-off tan, a sort of instant tan but without the annoying self-tanning scent. It a relatively thick, chocolate brown cream with some red tones. The application is very easy and even, of course providing you have a relatively smooth skin (it applies uneven on parts with body hair). On the skin the colour is bronze with some red undertones, which in some lights can make you look a bit sunburned (however my cousin and mom say it looks fine and that I'm overreacting), it also contains a tinny bit of shimmer. With one application you get a faint but noticeable tan and you can layer it. It dries fast and it doesn't stain the clothes. There are two things that really bother me. First it's the bottle. I hate Lush bottles. The plastic is way to hard so the bottle is ridiculously hard to squeeze. Second it's the scent. The sales woman said it smells of chocolate and some reviewers on MUA said it has a tropical scent. Well I don't smell anything tropical. It kind of smells like old chocolate, I would describe it as a scent of an old stuffy room, sort of musky. It's very strong  and it lingers for hours. I just really dislike it. I like the idea of the wash-off tan, this is one of the rare ones (if not the only one) available in Slovenia, but I really doubt I'll repurchase it. A 100 ml bottle costs around 8€ here, there is also 250 ml bottle available.

Edit: It definitely makes me look sunburned. The colour is just to red. I applied it all over my legs and the first comment I got from my mom was why do my legs look so red and that they look sunburned. If you're really pale don't buy it.

First off Vichy Aqualia Thermal serum. After reading quite a few positive reviews I got myself a bottle too (a review from Passing Fancy really prompted me to get it. You can find here review here.) I've been using it for a week now and I'm not going to be so generous with praises. Don't get me wrong, it is a great product, but it's not amazing. Let me begin with a description of my skin. I have a combination skin with some dry patches (mainly on the lower part of the forehead). I've had these dry patches for years now and no matter what moisturiser I used and how many times I exfoliated, they were still there. But with this serum they finally (!) started disappearing (there are still some left above one of my eyebrows), but the state is definitely improving. Another thing I noticed is how much better my foundation looks after application (Max Factor Liquid Illusion, just trying to use it up). Before I didn't even apply foundation on my forehead, simply because it really emphasized those dry areas (even with moisturiser underneath). However I don't find my skin being more dewy or looking more healthy. Maybe it just needs more time. The serum is very light so I like to apply my regular moisturiser on top (CadeaVera Young Fluid for normal to dry skin when I'm at home and Neutrogena Oil-free moisturiser when I'm in Ljubljana). It has a very light scent, which is difficult to describe, it's kind of typical chemist scent. I love the packaging, a nice glass bottle with a pump which dispenses the right amount of product (I use one pump for my face). Here it cost 18€ something for 30 ml of product.

If you remember my Isadora Fanciful post, I said I'd love to have their Glow Stick if I could find it a bit cheaper. In fact I did :). Limoni sells it for outrageous 18-19€, I got mine in Müller for 15,60 €. And I love it. It gives that gorgeous light flush and that great glow on the cheeks. I tried to get a picture of it on me but my camera hates me. I also saw the new collection Jungle Fever. The powder bronzer looked very nice, but the new Glow Stick looked very copper on me.

And the last thing is Wild rose oil from Müller. I ''borrowed'' it from my brother (btw bro you're not getting it back). He bought it in his Roaccutanne era when his skin was incredibly dry and he found oils to be the best to fight the dryness. He got it as a replacement for Dr. Hauschka Normalizing Oil (which he loved) and strangely enough the scent is identical. I personally don't love it, but I don't hate it either (I'm one of those people who dislike the smell of roses. Weird I know). I've been using it for a week now and I have to say that my skin feels a lot softer. Another thing I like is that it absorbs relatively quickly. There are more oils available in Müller (I know there's almond oil) and they cost about 5€ for 100 ml, but I'm not sure.

 So I hope this post was at least a bit helpful. Have a great day!

Pupa Luminys velvety baked blush 07 - I found these blushes in Limoni. Honestly, I had no idea Pupa has baked blushes that look similar to Mac's MSF. There are 6 shades available, 3 are bronze-golden shades, 06 was a pink with some purple (pink with a blue undertone), 07 is a pink and 08 is a bright coral but on my skin it looked very orange. These have a very luminous finish, however I actually didn't find them more luminous than Benefit's Coralista or NARS Orgasm. 07 looks like a mix of NARS Orgasm and Deep Throat on my skin tone, pink but with some peach, a fantastic shade for someone as pale as me. The packaging looks so cheap though. It's a mix of clear and milky plastic, honestly I would expect something like that from a blush for a couple of € and not for 20. However it's sturdy, you don't have the feeling that the lid might broke off at any moment. The little brush that comes with it (it's not in any of the pictures) is surprisingly useful. It lasted all day on me, it loses a bit of brightness, but still looks ok (as far as longevity goes Coralista wins hand down). All in all a great blush, but the packaging needs some upgrading.

Comparison of Benefit Coralista (the pretties blush ever), NARS Orgasm and Deep Throat and Pupa Luminys baked blush 07:

Replay is one of the new shades of Essence's Multi Dimension XXXL Shine nail polishes. It another turquoise/teal shade that I love. This one has more green in it than Essence You belong to me. I apologize for the shoddy application, the formula of the nail polish is very thick but that's not my main problem. The problem is in the top coat from the same brand which is horrible (but base coat is fine). It just doesn't dry like forever. I really miss my faithful Essie Good 2 Go.   

John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Shine Shock