Beauty ponders

Let's face it, I'm a sunscreen freak. I'm always on the lookout for decent SPF products to use in the morning - sidenote: doing a post on this soon. But be carefull girls, some products claim to have an SPF but often lack the proper ingredients to it. I always look into this, never believe their claims without checking it yourself.

A few months ago whilst browsing one of my Avon catologues, I bumped into this *organic* eye SPF product. Let me start by saying it is really hard to find a decent SPF eye cream, there are only a few on the market. Why beats me, there is a market for this but no one is hopping on the eye SPF wagon for some reason. The sun is our enemy when it comes to wrinkling so it's really important to take care of your eye area where wrinkles are easily formed as our skin is thinner there. You can say, no worries I use my regular sunscreen on my eye area - you could do that but I often find them irritating (I also wear contacts). Hence my reason for looking for a seperate cream. This one costed me 5euros for 15ml, a great budget price. Product is only available through Avon online shops or a representative.

In just 2 weeks, see the appearance of fine lines & wrinkles diminish. With active plant botanicals, our rich formula absorbs quickly, helping to retexturize the delicate under-eye area. .5 fl. oz. Discover nature's secret to revitalized eyes. Discover the beauty of botanicals. Our exclusive Plant Essence Technology™ captures the antural goodness of botanicals to deliver the richest infusions of plant nutrients directly to your skin.Plant Essence Technology™These potent formulas, enriched with powerful botanicals, are clinically and dermatologically tested and preservative-free.

The eye cream has been put in a simple tube with some leaf decorating to support the organic part of it. This is already positive, I hate jars. Squeezing the tube can be a bit tricky to get the proper amount, but I got the hang of it fast.

The cream is more like a lotion, very thin, but it spreads out easily. The scent reminds me most of plants and the garden but is not too strong.

My results: I've used this cream for a few months, only in the morning. I have dry skin, also around my eye area and I needed quite a lot of product to get it moisturized enough to my likings - I expected it to be more nourishing. On a positive note, this cream isn't greasy and even if you use a lot, it still absorbs quickly. Applying make-up a few minutes later is no problem at all. I wear contacts and some eye creams can be irritating, but not this one. This product contains an SPF of 15, in order to reach this number you need a decent amount of it, keep that in mind. The ingredients aren't listed on the tube, but I was able to find them online and I can safely say it has the proper active ingredients to make it SPF-reliable. This product also claims to diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, I have a few fine lines popping up but they are still as present as before, this claim hasn't been fullfilled.

Overall this is a very good SPF budget product to use in the morning, recommended if you have normal skin around your eye area. This is a basic eye cream, don't expect wonders from it concerning wrinkles or dark circles - not for this amount of money.

Last week, while badly reviewing some cream eyeshadow from Avon I realised I hadn't talked about eyeshadow yet in these 2months of blogging. Honestly, I don't wear eyeshadow every day because I value my sleep highly -read: lazy- I usually slap on one cream colour over the lid which I will talk about soon. But when I have more time on my hands I love playing with eyeshadow! And this is my favourite toy:

I bought this palette several months ago during a sale of Coastal Scents, their palettes are often on sale - just check the site regularly. I'm a neutral kind of girl and I just had to have this palette, everyone was raving about it at that time, I couldn't be left behind... I feel the same regarding the Naked Palette from UD at the moment :)

Apart from skincare and make-up, I'm also quite obsessed with my hair care. I have long brown hair - I love long hair, I don't like it short on me- with non-defined light curls in it that never tend to turn out the way I want them to. That's why I regularly use a straightener. I usually use a shampoo and conditioner/mask to keep it soft. At the beginning of summer vacation I spotted that John Frieda had a new range available, called 'Root Awakening', especially for split ends which I have a lot so I bought the 3 products in it: shampoo normal 250ml, conditioner normal 250ml and spray. Products cost about 8-9euros/each and are available in several drugstores. Let's have a look at their claims and whether they turn out to be true.

For healthier-looking hair, start at the roots. For stronger, more manageable style, start at the roots. Infused with natural Eucalyptus, Root Awakening® products awaken your hair's resiliency from root to tip for hair that's bouncy, radiant and easier to style.

Shampoo - How It Works
Invigorate and feed from root to tip with a fresh tingle for bouncy, shiny hair that's noticeably more radiant and resilient with every use. Infused with natural eucalyptus and peppermint oil, simply massage this formula into the roots for a cooling, tingling, and stimulating sensation. Gently cleanses without stripping.

Shampoo - How To Use
For maximum results, smooth Strength Infusing® Shampoo throughout wet hair, lather and massage at the roots to stimulate the scalp. Rinse thoroughly. Repeat if necessary. Follow with Strength Infusing® Conditioner and Strength Boosting® Spray for healthier-looking, more manageable hair

Conditioner - How It Works
Nurtures hair from roots to ends to make it manageable and noticeably more radiant and resilient with every use. Infused with natural eucalyptus and peppermint oil, simply massage this formula into the roots for a cooling, tingling, and stimulating sensation.

Conditioner - How To Use
For maximum results, start with Strength Infusing® Shampoo. Smooth Health Infusing® Conditioner through hair from roots to ends. Rinse thoroughly. Follow with Strength Boosting® Spray for healthier-looking, more manageable hair

I like the packaging, tubes are my favourite as you can get all of the product out of it. Afterwards I cut it with scissors at the top and I always get at least 1-2 more uses out of it as the product sticks to the side. Both products have a green colour but it's a green I like, a modern look to it, nicely done.

Time for another look in my -too much present- lipbalm stash, I'm putting myself on a no-buy-balm until I have finished at least 2 or 3... Months ago I bought this highly recommended lip balm from Elizabeth Ardens 8 hour range. It's not available where I live so I bought it from a website in the UK for a few euros, budgetproof. You can buy this in a pot or in a stick, I opted for the stick this time as it also has an SPF of 15, I'm always pro-SPF. It came in a beautifull 80s purple packaging (still available, wasn't limited), I like how it looks - almost like a fun lipbalm :)

Eight Hour Cream Vintage 1980's Lip Protectant Stick Remember the outrageous punk rock movement of the eighties? Raw music and dance rhythms, brightly-colored Mohawks, torn jeans, ripped fishnet stockings and safety pins. Now you can capture the fun and high spirits of this retro scene with Eight Hour Cream 1980's Celebration of the Decades Collection.With its gritty silkscreen graphics and torn up typography, this collection is inspired by the raw energy of the punk design movement. The neon bright carton, accented by colorful and chaotic imagery, houses a frosted glass jar with a customized punk cap. You'll want to dive right into your Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant, the original formula of ultra-moisturizing petrolatum, vitamin E and re-texturizing beta-hydroxy acid and relive the days. It smooths, soothes, heals and protects dry skin. The Lip Protectant Stick SPF 15 echoes the same fun punk style in a rockin' hot pink tube.The Eight Hour Cream Celebration of the decades has time-traveled through the decades to the punk rock eighties. How time flies when you're treating your skin to Eight Hour Cream.

The lip stick opens like any other would, easy for a quick application. The stick has a lightpeachy kinda seethrough colour, but when applied it looks colourless and just adds a layer of shine to your lips. Immediately after opening the stick, the scent becomes highly noticable. It has quite a heavy scent that I don't like, best described as chemical. I hoped this would wear off after using it, but it doesn't. The scent is still as present as in the beginning.

The stick applies easily and leaves a small clear film on your lips that's not too greasy. Just like the scent, it doesn't taste good either - again a bit chemical. It isn't as moisturizing as I hoped it would be (I have normal to dry lips), this stick is best used during the day when you're outdoors and want to having something on your lips along with a protective SPF.

I'm not repurchasing this one due to the smell, I can't get used to it... If you like the smell, this is a good stick to use during the day because of its SPF but apart from that it's nothing special.

I've already talked about skin care and make-up brands I use but not yet about polishes. I hardly think this will come as a surprise but OPI is most present in my stash of polishes. You've already seen some of them featured in NOTD but I owe more than just those ones. Come to think of it, I don't know why I have so many OPI and so few others. When I began growing my nails -I used to be a stubborn biter- I guess I mostly ran into OPI on blogs and only looked at these polishes. As of recently I've also started purchasing Essie and China Glaze - I must say that Essie is growing on me and I already have a list compiled of their colours for my next orders, they offer great nudes.

Apart from my early love for OPI I also like their brushes, which are wider than others, especially the prowide brushes. They make it so much easier to apply polish perfectly. Essie on the other hand has really small brushes and can be quite tricky to apply. The bottle of OPI is ok, nothing special - I like Essie bottles more but it's not that important since you're not tossing around the bottle on your nails ;)

I have 2 shimmers: Pearls night out, Give me the moon - both can be applied alone or over another polish. In the middle is Chip Skip, which is supposed to prevent your nails from chipping and I also have their natural base coat, along with the top coat.

In the beginning of August I told you all I purchased some Trind products as I was really curious about them, today I'm going to talk about the polish remover and next week or so about the other steps from the system altogether, I've tested them enough by now. This remover deserves a special article as it has taken a special place in my beloved stash...

Trind Extra Mild Nail Polish Remover is oil and acetone free and guaranteed to perfectly cleanse your nails. Use before applying a Trind product or polish. Trind Nail Polish Remover is safe and effective, because it uses solvents that are least aggressive to the nails and the surrounding skin. Use on natural nails only.

The bottle is made from plastic and looks really simple. You get 125ml for about 7euros (available in drugstores/online), this is quite expensive as I'm used to buying cheaper removers of 2euros and such. It's acetone free, something I value highly in a remover. The problem that I often had with these type of removers is that I needed a lot of product to get the polish completely of my nail. Sometimes I even needed 3 tissues for 1 hand, I hate that...

Ever since we moved in together I've been trying to get him to take care of his skin but I hadn't hit success yet. He was convinced that cleansing your face with water and a cloth was sufficient enough. But now it seems that he might be coming back from this, at least he wants to give it a go to see if it will hit results. I'm just going to keep it simple with the basics- not too many products otherwise he'll go beserk :)

In one of my last Avon hauls I picked up a set of creamy eyeshadows from Color Trend. They were on offer for 3euros and because they looked so cute with their heartshapes I couldn't resist. There were 2 different colour sets available, I picked up the neutral one called Pastel Passion. And I suddenly realised this was my first article on eyeshadows, whoops...

Three gorgeous shades of creamy eyeshadow to help you make ‘look-at-me’ eyes.

Swatching this product wasn't easy as I needed a lot of it to get this desired effect. Application was really hard because it doesn't distribute evenly. But I liked how it looked on my hands, even though it contains a lot of shimmer so I also tried it on my eyes and that wasn't a succes story, I'll tell you why.
If you apply these colours really thick like above everything is great but as soon as you start sweeping your brush around or start blending it all falls apart and you just get a load of shimmer as you can see above. It's hardly impossible to tell that you've used 3 different colours. Apart from that it doesn't have a long lasting effect, which I really expect from a cream eyeshadow. Avon has a way of discontinueing a lot of their products - especially good ones, well, hopefully they are smart this time and do the same thing with this one.

I would never buy this again, this product only qualifies as a toy for young girls to play with. It's not expensive but there are far more better eyeshadow products out there for the same price.

In the past I've already talked about my Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer which I still love and use today, highly recommended product. Due to my enthousiasm on this one, I'm really keen on trying more products by LM, especially her make-up range. Some time after buying and using the TM, I bought her Setting Powder in the colour Translucent which costed 34$.

Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder is an extremely lightweight, sheer and silky setting powder that contains the finest French "cashmere" talc and a unique light-reflecting ingredient that creates a "soft-focus" appearance for fine lines and imperfections. Sets makeup to prolong wear - Adds a velvety finish to any makeup or a bit of colour and coverage when foundation is not worn- Looks natural & never cakey or powdery- Oil-Free - 1.0 oz./29g

The thing I liked most about its claims is that it never looks cakey or powdery which persuaded me into buying it - along with good reviews I've read about it. Because of my dry skin I have to be really carefull when using powders, they always tend to look bad on me. It comes in the same silver box as the TM - loving the color, a nail polish sporting that colour would be great-, the powder itself has been put in a plastic jar.

The cover of the jar is a blackbrownburgundy colour with her name on the side. When opening it you see the special lid on top with tiny holes in it. I like this system as you won't put too much on your brush. If you look closely you can see that on the sides there's also some product as I sometimes turn it upside down whilst looking for other stuff in my stash - bit of a turnoff, you'd expect that this won't happen when the jar is closed but it does.

When putting the product on the brush you can see it's white. I use my Sigma large powder brush to apply this product after I have finished my make-up routine (I usually take a bit more than on the picture), tick it off on the jar, I dab it on both sides of my cheeks and forehead, then I start spreading/blending the product and I'm good to go.

Here you can see the white (translucent) powder on my hand and blended in. To be honest when first opening the jar and looking at the powder I was a bit scared I would make me look too pale but safe to say that isn't the case. You don't see any white colour on my hand...

I've had this product for several months and used it a lot. The main reason to use a setting powder is to make you make-up last longer or in case of oily skin reducing shine. As I don't have oily skin I can't really comment on that part. It does help my make-up last longer, especially my foundation/tinted moisturizer. The thing I liked most about it that it doesn't give me a cakey or powdery finish, as the product promises, this is a huge advantage for me. It's not a cheap prodcut at 34$ but not insanely expensive either, you get 29g for this price so for me it's a fair deal - I'm willing to spend this on a good product.

The goods: great for dry skin (no cakeyness), doesn't make you look pale, make-up lasts longer

The bads: product cloggs on sides of jar, for some people the price

Overall, I like this product. It's not revolutionary or something like that, just a good product that fulfills it claims and that I will continue to use with pleasure... Which other LM products do you use?

Just a quick haul today. Initially I didn't want to buy anything new because, let's face it - I owe too much, but it was an absolute must.

I am almost out of my Mario Badescu toner and I needed a new one as I don't have any backups so I paid a visit to the IU store. I've been meaning to try Avènes one for some time so I bought if for 14euros/200ml. And while I was there I bought a new micellar lotion. I still have some from my Avène one left, but I decided to save myself a trip in the next week. Even though I really like the one from Avène I decided to buy La Roche Posay out of curiousity whether it's better or not, about 12euros/200ml.

See you tomorrow for some more in depth stuff ;)

My morning cleansing routine is really simple and basic, my dry skin doesn't need a thorough cleansing in the morning, my current routine which I've been using for more than half a year now works like a charm. I take a damp cloth, lightly go over my face with it, dab dry with a towel -if necessary- and then I take a tissue with a micellar cleanser on it, go over my face with it and that's it for the cleansing part. Easy, not? Off course this is my method and it works best for my skin, it's really important that you find your skins personal needs.

I've already used several micellar cleansers such as Nuxe, Caudalie, Louis Widmer but they just weren't "it", my search continues. A couple of months ago while browsing my favourite store for a new cleanser, Avène caught my eye and I decided to give it a go as I use products from their range and am quite happy with them. For 14euros you get 200ml -good price-, it's also available in a larger bottle of 500ml I believe for about 20euros. You can buy it at IU stores or in drugstores and pharmacies.

Technologically advanced cleansing water removes impurities and make-up. It is based on a micelle principle that protects and releases the softening active principle.

Benefits: No-rinse cleansing water cleanses skin and effectively removes all traces of make-up on face, eyes and lips, Hydrates and calms the skin, leaving skin moisturized and soft, Pleasant fragrance tolerated by sensitive skin, Preservative-free, oil-free, Soap-free, oil-free, alcohol-free, Avène Thermal spring water to soothe and soften skin, Hypoallergenic and non-comedogenic.

The bottle is made from plastic and looks really basic but nice at the same time, this applies to all Avène products and I am a fan of practical packaging. At the bottom you can find the expiry date which is 2 years from now on. When opening it, you see a dispenser which I'm fond of - great for using as much product as you need without wasting it. But if this isn't your thing you can also take it off and use the "big hole" :). The product itself doesn't have any colour and has a light scent to it that I can describe as fresh. This is a big plus because other lotions I've used in the past always came with a strong scent and I didn't like it in the morning. This one however doesn't bother me.

This lotion has different uses: you can use it as a make-up remover or as a cleanser. The product is intented for sensitive skin that is prone to redness. My skin is sensitive as well, especially on my cheeks where I can get redness if I use harsher cleansers - so basically this should be the product for me!

I've used it as a make-up remover and it works great, however if you use make-up everyday you will run out of this product quite fast. That's why I prefer my Bioderma make-up remover as it's cheaper and does the same thing.

I've mainly used it as a cleanser in the morning for the last 3 months and I'm really loving it. I love the scent and I like how it refreshes my skin. I didn't get any breakouts during this period so it cleanses deep enough -for me-. I didn't find it irritating and my cheeks didn't turn red either - this sometimes used to happen with my other micellar lotions.

Overall a great product with a small pricetag that I will surely repurchase and recommend to everyone, especially if you have sensitive skin. So far this is my favourite micellar lotion ever used. I still have some other lotions on my list to purchase, curious to see if they will overwhelm this baby...

I saw I had some new lovely followers, which makes me happy - welcome girls. My new Avon order came in and I must admit, I behaved myself and didn't order much, all of these things were at discount prices... Let's have a look shall we?

First up I ordered some hand creams, Avon offers several handcreams - most of them really cheap, in promotion about 2euros for 125ml - so I stock up on them quite regularly. This time I ordered a glycerine hand cream with citrus and vitamin E, along with one that has african shea butter in it (sidenote - I love shea butter). A review of the different hand creams surely is coming. You can also see white gloves to use at night - I put on a thick layer of hand cream, put the gloves on and wake up with wellmoisturized hands, I do this whenever I feel my hands are in need of it.
Then an african shea butter body scrub, my first body scrub from Avon, high hopes for it as it contains shea butter. Bottle is only 150ml, I expected it to be bigger but I'm sure it will last me long enough. With it I got a free bath scrunchie, we'll see how that one turns out - it doesn't look like much.
Random stuff: soap from senses in the scent aloha, supposed to be exotic - again my first soap from this brand -, a roll-on deo of cucumber & melon (new product) and a detangling comb. Avon combs look really stylish at a fraction of a price, this wasn't even 2euros.

Lastly the make-up stuff: a lip liner in colour rich ginger, perfect for nudes and a lipstick at a big discount from color trend - iced champink.

Something you want me to ponder about, let me know...

I first heard about this luxurious brand 2 years ago on an English fashion forum where people were raving about her products and the fact that she has an entire skin care line based on roses... Well, you might have noticed but I love roses and after some research I realised there was an ICI Paris counter that carried By Terry very close to me, lucky me! By Terry offers skin care and make-up.

Journalists have dubbed her "The genius of make-up, the guru of color..." Women from all walks of life can't live without her advice, her products, and her revolutions. The mother of 4 children, TERRY applies her talents and imagination in the world of luxury products. After refining her ingenuity, creative spirit and expertise for 20 years in collaboration with the greatest names in fashion and beauty, in 1998, TERRY launched the passionate adventure of her own signature label, BY TERRY.

If you say By Terry you're speaking about absolute luxe. Her line is expensive but some products are worth it. If you want to indulge in luxury, check her out. Before she dedicated herself to her line, she worked close with YSL and it is in fact her who invented the touch pens, also available in her line. Other products that people rave about are:

• the lip balm with SPF
• the rose liquid blush
• touch veloutee / touch expert
  

I only have a few products from her but more of them are on my wishlist to get, take a look:

One of her foundations, the Lumière Veloutée in colours 3 summer and 2 winter - love the packaging milk glass bottle and golden top -. I wore this a lot last year (practically every day) and it is one of the best foundations I've used when I had normal skin as this gives you the most beautifull finish - your skin looks perfect. But sadly enough my skin has become a lot drier and this isn't a good foundation for dry skin because of its powdery finish. I still have 1/3 in each bottle (30ml) left and occasionally try it to see if my skin can pull it off. Bummer, I loved this even though it had a heavy price tag of 60-70euros, I didn't need much to cover my face.

Then two of her 'star' products, the well known pens: the light expert in 2 and the touche veloutee in 2. The light expert is intended as a foundation brush or a highlighter and the touche veloutee is a concealer as well as a highlighter. Both products cost between 30 and 40 euros.

And lastly one of her skin care items from the roses line, the first product I bought from her, the Radiance Renewing Mask. It comes in a gorgeous pink packaging and when opening it up the best roses scent ever enters your nose. Costed 50euros.

Products are available in certain Ici Paris shops, SpaceNK and on her website as well. If you like to splurge on luxurious brands, this is one line to look into. If you like an in depth review from one of these, let me know...

I usually try to wash my brushes once a week with my Da Vinci soap but sometimes I don't have much time (lazy me) or sometimes I want to use a particular brush with another color - I don't owe that many brushes you know. Those were my main reasons for purchasing this brush cleaner a couple of months ago. I have a few Shu brushes that I'm fond of so I know they offer quality. I bought it from strawberrynet but you can also buy it in Shu stores or from other webshops. I paid 10 euros for 120ml/4.2oz.

A must-have for all makeup wearers. Designed to provide the proper care for your Shu Uemura makeup brushes, this formula instantly removes color and grease in seconds. Cleans thoroughly without rinsing. This non-abrasive formula is specifically designed to instantly remove all colour, residue and grease from makeup brushes without harming the integrity of the fibres.

It comes in a glass bottle with very simple packaging like all Shu Uemura products. When opening you see there's a special lid/dropper, I like this because it's easier to estimate how much product you will get when you turn it upside down. You won't waste your product.

Putting it to the test and we're going to clean one of my eyeshadow brushes that used to be white. I put a few drops of the cleaner on a tissue, circle the brush around - upside down - and so on, here's to the result:

It's white again and the eyeshadow has moved to the tissue. So yes it does its job!

To sum it up: simple packaging -just be careful with the glass- and easy to use because of the dispenser. I don't like the smell of it as it smells like alcohol but so does every brush cleaner similar to this one. The smell doesn't linger luckily enough. The cleaner doesn't harm the fibres of my brushes like promised. A big advantage of cleaners like this is that they get rid of bacteria in your brushes and that's an absolute must. Brr I'm already shivering while thinking of it. A disadvantage of cleaners like this one is that it doesn't always clean thorough - in my opinion. I would always clean your brushes a few times a month with a shampoo or soap.

For this price I would buy it again, I've had mine for a few months now and am almost halfway through it.

Again I used 2 layers. 1 layer already offers good coverage but with 2 you get the "full" effect. It goes on easy, doesn't streak.

In the bottle it looks like a greybrown colour, as it does on your nails. But depending on the lighting it looks more lightgrey or lightbrown. It's one of those colours that is hardly impossibly to get right on camera. I absolutely love it and have already worn it several times. If you like nudes, get it!

Had a busy weekend and this post is the odd one out of the bunch but doing it anyway...

Maybe you've seen a product in a haul that you can't get out of your mind, maybe you'd like to know my opinion on something, maybe you'd like to share your star product with me, maybe you want to send me a product, maybe you want a piece of advise - for all those things you can now mail me on this adress: beautyponder@hotmail.com

Sleep tight and see you tomorrow!

A while back I talked about a new nude creme Avon lipstick which I really liked as an everyday lipstick... Yesterday before I went out, I wanted to slap this lovely one on and while I was applying it, I felt the lipstick moving - lipstick moving is never a good thing - so I looked down and noticed it wasn't in the middle anymore but had moved to the side. I opened it a bit more to see the problem and noticed some cracks at the bottom. I gently tried to push it back and it broke off... No joke, it really did *panic attack*. So I did the most sanely thing I could think of, put it back in the middle and I put it in the freezer. After a few hours I took it out, let it defrost and here's the result. It's more or less back in its place but as soon as I begin applying it goes back to the side- why why? It's only 22° over here, it's not as if I'm in the tropics so this lipstick can melt away.
Avon sucks at making creme lipstick, this has never happened to me before with another lipstick. Sad part is I really loved the colour but no way am I repurchasing this one, if you know a lookalike let me know...