Behind the Mirror: Empties

My Dear Readers,

I think it is about time I presented to you some of the products I finished since I posted my last finished products post. It has been a very long time and for some products I don't have the packages anymore, because I had to get rid of them when I moved.
This is why the first products I will talk about don't have photos.

Goldwell Dualsenses Green Pure Repair 60 sec treatment
I haven't been using any conditioner in more than 1 year, because I was using this product. I got the big bottle (1.500 ml) in December 2011 and it lasted until about February 2013 - so yes, more than 1 year. I loved it because it was all natural, it had goji berries, argan oil and shea butter extracts an no parabens, no silicones and it smelled divine. This is a hair mask, which should be used for damaged hair. My hair felt smooth, flexible and very silky by using this. I managed to grow it very long. When I used this hair treatment after henna, my hair felt amazing. I used it 2 times a week and during all this time, I did not use it entirely alone.
I recommend it to everybody who wants to have naturally beautiful hair. It really works.

elemental Mayam Apricot oil
I used this oil on its own to massage it into my neck and necklace areas in the evenings before I went to sleep, after I did my cleansing routine - being a rather heavy oil for my taste - compared to castor oil it is light - and entering slower into the skin I could not use it during the day. I wasn't very happy with the scent of this oil, but I liked the results of using it. The skin was brightened and looked much better - it is great for sensitive skin, because it calms it down and keeps it hydrated. I also used this oil in a combination with other oils (Aloe, Macadamia Nut, Tea Tree, Raspberry seed oil) when I was on the sea side, to help regenerate and calm down my skin after being to the beach.
It is an oil that can be used mostly on all skin types (in massages, for its illuminating effects), but if you have an oily skin I would not use it during the day and if it is acne prone, I would not use it more than 2-3 times a week.

Balea Med Creme-Öl Körperlotion
I got this body lotion last winter, when it was really cold and I got a horrible cold allergy. I used products from Balea Med before this one. Especially the products for highly sensitive skin (which have no smell and no parabens and have helped me with this allergy), but I wanted a bigger bottle than the one available for the highly sensitive skin products - this one was 400 ml. I got this and was not at all disappointed. The product even thought it has a thick consistency, it is almost immediately very well absorbed by the skin. The skin was hydrated in a way in which only the body oils I made did, without the oily sensations.
In the summer however I don't think I'll use this product, because it is somewhat too thick.

Alverde Deo mit Acerolakirsche
It has a 24h lasting effect and smells divine. I got this because it leaves no marks on the skin and has no aluminium  I recently purchased it again. I recommend it, but in the high summer, I think this product needs to be reapplied during the day.

Alverde Feuchtigkeitslotion Quitte und Brombeere
I got this product with the idea in mind, that it will be good for the winter time. Unfortunately I got a very bad allergy to the cold and had to switch to non-scented products, because it irritated my skin very much due to the smell. Even though it is an all natural product, my skin was that affected by the cold that no perfume (natural or not) was tolerated.
Once the cold was over I could use this product normally and I really enjoyed it's perfume without being affected by it. It has a light texture and it was very well absorbed by the skin, however not as hydrating as I would have wished.

Vichy Normaderm Solution Mincellaire
This is a product I bought last summer, shortly before my horrible acne breakout and which I haven't used since. I wanted to use it at the gym to remove the make-up before I worked out. I must admit I did not like this product very much, mainly because it dried my skin pretty badly. I decided to finish this product so I started using it again until I finished it, but I did not find it especially good. I did not see a big improvement on clearing or soothing my skin - I used it on a cotton pad to remove the first make-up layer, before using a face gel to deeply cleanse the skin.

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Gel Moussant
I got this 400 ml bottle shortly before last Christmas and I used it up just at the beginning of April. I must admit I got completely hooked by this product - no wonder since it has citric acid (which helps gently exfoliate the skin) and zinc (which helps restore the skin tissue and heal the skin marks). It cleanses my skin without drying and it also keeps it from getting too fat. I think this is the best face wash I ever used and I highly recommend it to all those who have sensitive acne prone skin.
When I started using this product, in December my skin was starting to heal from the acne outbreak, but it was very dried out because of the treatment I received from the doctor. This gel helped by not over-drying and also by preventing the appearance of other blemishes. I also like the package it comes with and that it is really good value for money in this 400 ml size. I already got a new bottle.

astellas Zineryt
This is one of the products I received from my doctor to help cure the acne blemishes. It contains erythromycin (an antibiotic which helps cure a large range of bacteria) and zinc acetate (which helps hydrate and restore the affected tissue) as active ingredients. However the whole mixture is in alcohol and after about 5 weeks the product loses its effectiveness.
It did its job in a decent way, however I got to use a better product along the way. In any case this product is used during the day after cleansing the face, as a toner and before the make-up. During the colder months it is recommended to use a hydrating cream above it and in the summer a cream with SPF (30 or above).
Is you feel you need to use this product, ask your dermatologist first, because it is medicine.

Alcon Opti-Free Replenish
This is another bottle of the lenses solution I have used up. More details, on this can be found in this post.

Bourjois Volume Glamour Ultra Curl
I think this is the 4th one of these rimmels I have used up. I still love it, the only thing that bugs me with it, is that they added a perfume to this product. This disappointed me, because I do not like all things scented and especially not on the eyes, because I wear lenses and they are pretty sensitive. Otherwise it still does its job, but I am wondering, if I should not look for something non-scented, in order to prevent a possible allergy. Do you have a suggestion for a non scented rimmel that gives volume and curl to your lashes?
You can also find a blog post on this product here.

M.A.C. Blot Powder/ Pressed
This is my first ever M.A.C. product I used up. It lasted me for about 1 year and I loved it all the way. I had the color "Medium". It was a really good product for my oily skin (as its name, it blotted the skin) and it is very translucent, so it blended very well with all the foundations I used. I would most likely get this product again.
When I got this product at the M.A.C. counter, the lady was very nice and she was very helpful and supportive. It made me go again to the M.A.C. shop when I needed a new powder an later when I needed a foundation and concealer, but more on this to come.

La Roche-Posay Anthelios AC, SPF 30
It took me a year to finish this product, mainly because I started using it when I got the acne breakout and then had to switch to a 50 SPF and I had to abandon this product. I started using it again ever since the sun started burning on the sky again this spring and I finished it out. Another blog post on this product, you can find here.

What are your empties?
Smile, it is good for the skin!
Alex.

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Behind the Mirror: April Empties

I got the idea to do an “April Empties” blog after I’ve been watching some of Essie’s videos on her empties. I think her enthusiasm got to me and since I also have my share of empties within a month, I thought “Hey! I can do it too!” and I can also give some tips and tricks from my experience with the used products.
First of all, you have to know I am a do-it-yourself, all-natural kind of girl and I have recently found out that I do want to learn to do some of my own cosmetics (more on that will come – I think).

I can’t remember the exact order in which I used up the products and some of the packaging I already threw away, but I have replacements already, so I can show you those. Without further ado, here they are:

1. Green clay powder (for facial masks) from Mayam. I think this is the second time I used this up. I got it from elemental. I use it after I do a thorough deep cleansing twice a week. I mix it up with green tea and some other goodies (ex: grape seeds oil, rosa mosqueta oil, raspberry oil or acmella). For my weird sensitive and acné prone skin this is the perfect calming mask after a thorough scrub. Also being green it does not modify the natural color of my skin (which is pretty fair and I like to keep it that way, but more on that below).

2. Anti-Cellulite Gel from Life Care. This is the first time I used it up and I must admit I like it very much for a deep burning gel – now, I know this sounds very burning-the-witch-on-the-stake-middle-aged, but it actually does the job – it heats up very fast and very intense and you end very up red and burning. It contains mint, rosemary, carnitine and of course caffeine (the last two are famous for their fat burning capacities). I have recently seen a commercial for also a cellulite burning product from Nivea which should be very good because it had carnitine. Now sportspeople have been taking carnitine supplements for keeping their muscles fit and the fat from building for some time now, I find it rather funny that some beauty brands advertise it as it was just discovered. But anyhow….

Because I am exercising I cannot tell if it actually burns all the cellulite away (this is the way you are supposed to use it anyway), however I have noticed that it got somewhat diminished. It also helps with the muscular fever after exercising, because heating up it relaxes the muscles and sweats the remnants of the lactic acid out of them. In the same time it keeps the skin hydrated. The deeper you massage it the better it works.

I have mainly used it at night, but when I used it during the day I noticed that after some hours there were still some burning sensations going on. I suppose that was a good thing.

However I must admit that I haven’t managed to use it every day (maybe this is why it lasted from December until April), but I did try to use it constantly.

3. Henna from Lush. I am afraid, I cannot show you more than the packaging from Lush in which I got the henna, which is not that interesting. I am using henna for… about… 3… 4… years now (wow, that long!) and I have tried different brands in the range of red, mahogany red, deep red, a.s.o. Yes, I wish I had red hair, but since mine is so dark brownish, it will take a while to get it red or at least reddish… This one from Lush was in red. I got a big bar (of approximately 360gr) which I used twice (in two months – one application per month). From all the hennas I have used so far this was the most hydrating the main reason for this being that it contained cocoa butter. I will not insist on henna right now, because I plan another post on henna alone, but I must admit I like it very much and in the winter times I might get it again.

4. Coconut oil from Logona. I got this in November – December knowing it was pretty small (only 45 ml) and I wasn’t much expecting it to last. But it actually did last up until April, so it was the money worth after all. I use it on my hair the morning or the day before washing it up. I massage it on the length and ends by avoiding the roots, after that I tie the hair in a braid. I have noticed that it actually provides good nourishment to the hair. It is softer and had less split ends. Because it is a bio product has no parabens, silicones, a.s.o which goes perfectly with my henna routine (I actually mixed it up with some henna powders) and hair mask. I am no fan of the coconut smell, it actually gets me pretty queasy, but if it works for the hair I can take it as a girl. More on hair care, in a future post.

5. Anthelios AC from La Roche-Posay SPF 30. I mentioned before that I like my skin the way it was naturally meant to be: pretty fair. In order to keep it that way and because it is very sensitive and acné prone I need to shield it from the sun (UVA & UVB rays) all year long. After I watched Lisa Eldridge’s videos on Sunscreens I decided to go hunting and in November I got this one (yes, it lasted me from November since April). It is a fluid which enters the skin very fast and it is not leaving it as fattened as a lot of other sun screens usually did. It is water resistant, which comes in handy if you want to apply make-up over it, because the foundation blends very well over it and stays on for a longer period of time. However it does not hydrate the skin, so in winter times it is very important to use a hydrating cream or treatment during the night to prevent it from drying (yes, oily skin gets dehydrated too, I am afraid).
Because I have to use acné treatments, which give the skin a higher sensitivity to sun light (even in winter), I have to use a sun screen during the day. I use this as a day cream and make-up base all on its own without any other creams.

6. Brevoxyl. The main reason I use the above mentioned sun screen is this product. It bleaches and disinfects the acné affected areas of the skin and as a result the skin gets dehydrated and highly sensitive to the sun. The conclusion is – yes, you guessed it right – sun screen is needed during the day…
I got this product because it was recommended to me by my dermatologist. Now if you have acné and go to the nearest pharmacy and ask for this you might probably just get it, however you might not tolerate it very well. It is highly damaging (I cannot use it on the face anymore) because it dries the skin up, but it also helps with the eruption by calming it down. I use it with Avène’s thermal water, because it helps with most of these side effects. Therefore if you feel that you need this, just go and ask your dermatologist first. You need to know that this product is in no way to be associated with salicylic, glycolic acid or other fruit acids and retinol – because you will get chemical burns on your skin.
So… I used this “bad boy” up in April and got a new one (yes, unfortunately I need it on my back).

7. Aloe Vera Gel from Life Care. This is not a cosmetic product, but I decided to include it because inner wellbeing reflects itself on the outside as well. I have been drinking a few spoons of this mixed with grapefruit juice every morning for a month. It should cleanse and help detoxifying your organism. I am not sure if after a month you can tell if it did its job or not, but I feel that my liver is feeling a litter better after taking this (I think the grape fruit helped too). You can drink it mixed with juices from other fruits as well or on its own (for those of you with sensitive taste buds – I must warn you it does not taste very yummy).
You must also keep a healthy diet, if you want it to be efficient in its detoxifying job.

... and with this we come to an end. I hope you liked it. Please let me know if you might have any questions or comments. I am looking forward to them!

Smile, it is good for the skin!