Behind the Mirror: EMPTIES

Here is a list of the products I have been using in the last months. Feel free to comment back or ask questions, if you need more info. Enjoy!

TRIACNÉAL by Avène

This cream helps healing blemishes and treating spots, it also prevents the appearance of scars. The active ingredients in this cream are glycolic acid (helps eliminating the blemished through its peeling effect), retinaldehyde (limits the appearance of new eruptions and that of scars) and Efectiose®.

This product should be applied only of perfectly cleansed and dried skin and only on the blemish, not the entire face. I used it over Cleanance K from Avène on the blemishes. I really liked this product because it helped with the healing of the blemishes and also did not irritate the skin. I will definitely use it again.

SÉBIUM Gel Moussant by BIODERMA

I used this product before and I got along pretty well with it. Even though starting to use Avène’s Cleanance gel immediately after might speak against my previous statement. J

It has a lighter consistency than the Avène one and the bottle is bigger and lasts longer, so the pay-out is much better. But I did not get along very well with it, my skin literally exploded (also due to other causes, but it did not exfoliate as good as the Avène one – it does not contain lactic acid – so it had its own contribution to the overall boom! effect) and it dried the skin pretty badly.

On the other hand as all Bioderma products it contains Rhamnose (you can check here more info about Rhamnose).

SUN Invisible Protection SPF 30 from NIVEA

I liked this product because it did not leave traces on the skin and because it was absorbed pretty fast. However it was greasy on my skin and the smell made me queasy (yes, that nasty smell-problem of mine shows its ugly head again).

From the Sun Protection point of view I got along very well with it in the May, June months before the sun started to really burn. You should know that my skin is very fair and that I use sun protection from May until the sun decides to stop burning, because living in Bucharest in the summer you can get sunburned very fast and easy otherwise.

Photoderm Kid 50+ from BIODERMA

From June until August I used this product. I know it says it is for Kids, but it also says “Very High Protection Delicate Skin”. It had no fragrance and we got along very well, the only downside (with which I learned to live) was that it did leave some white traces, but massaging the product in the skin left no white traces.

Since the sun burned horribly from July until August in Bucharest and this product kept me from getting toasted, I think it was a very good product.

Sensibio H2O from BIODERMA

I wrote about this product before here, what I wanted to add is that I started keeping the product in the fridge and using it cold to remove the eye make-up in the evening. This helped relax the eyes and reduce the swollen feel after one day in the heat & sun.

Ultra-Sensitive Body Lotion from ALVERDE

This is recommended for very sensitive skin, all its ingredients are obtained from Biological cultures. It contains Jojoba and Shea butter, its consistency is very light and very fast absorbing. However I would have expected more hydration from the main ingredients  Otherwise it was very good in calming the skin after walking in the sun in the hot Bucharest summer.

Cellulite Shower Gel from BALEA

I am not one of those cellulite obsessed girls, I like using shower gels that claim to reduce the cellulite because they help keep the skin elastic. They contain caffeine and other ingredients that claim to reduce the cellulite. I use them with a massaging brush and as a body scrub. Since I started using them for this purpose the skin is much elastic and clean.

And coming to cellulite, I think I am one of those blessed girls that don’t over-obsess about this and don’t have also a visible problem with it.

Apricot Shower Gel by YVES ROCHER

I fell in love with the smell of this shower gel! I like the shower gels from “Les Plaisirs Nature” product range. They are perfect for summer days – they hydrate and refresh the skin. They fragrances reinvigorate my senses after one long day. So I definitely recommend one of these, if you want to pamper yourself.

Shea Butter Shower Gel from ELMIPLANT

I love this shower gel! It is the only shower gel I used that keeps my very dry and sensitive skin hydrated and happy! I used it in the Summer when I went to the beach, I use it now, when it’s colder outside and it is my go-to shower gel. It smells very fresh and natural and the skin feels happy! No more cracks (yes, you read correctly – cracks, that’s how dry my skin is and feels sometimes) and no more burns after hair removal processes. If you can find it, get it! Another thing I like about this shower gel is that it has no Parabens and Silicones.

On the other hand the Shea Butter is perfect for restoring damaged tissue and it also has a natural SPF of about 6. It also fights against free radicals.

Cellufight Exfoliating Shower Cream by ELMIPLANT

I used this up and got another one mainly because of the way it smelled and because it did not irritate my skin. like I mentioned above, I use these sort of shower gels mainly for body scrub purposes and not for their cellulite fighting abilities.

This one has caffeine, Crushed olive stones, guarana and Vitamin E (a very powerful natural antioxidant).

Lavender Floral Water from MAYAM
I got this product because Lavender is very good to care for oily acne prone skin and because I never used a floral water until now and wanted to see how it felt. But I hated the smell of Lavender all the way, it made me slightly queasy. It has calming, regenerating and purifying effects, also it is antimicrobial and antiseptic.
I used it sprayed directly on the face and mixed with clay for face masks.

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!