I've been hauling quite a few products from Tarte Cosmetics, a brand that uses only high performance natural ingredients with recyclable packaging and none of their products are tested on animals.
In my most recent order I picked up 2 bottles of Celebutante Moisturizing Dry Oil Spray, which is exactly what it says, a shimmery colored liquid in a glass spray bottle. It contains apricot & avocado oils (rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, D & E) to moisturize & sooth the skin, as well as vitamin E to protect the skin against free radical damage. It's free from parabens, petrochemicals, preservatives, dyes, talcs and other artificial nasty stuff. Despite looking somewhat pigmented in the bottle, it comes out a sheer champagne color and once massaged in, gives my skin a pretty shimmery glow without looking too fake or over the top, so it's great if you're pale/pasty but don't want or can't get a tan.
Once massaged into my skin
It's rather moisturizing too and keeps my skin feeling soft, which is always a nice bonus. I like to use it on my arms & legs on top of my regular moisturizer. The smell is sweet like coconuts and very summery. Although I'm one of those people who does not like coconuts, I don't mind their smell too much so I can take this. The scent isn't too overpowering and doesn't last throughout the day, and I don't put on any perfume before the scent wears off in case they clash horribly.
At the request of the sweet Raspy here's my daily facial skincare routine - excluding body creams etc that I use after showering since I almost have a separate cream for every part of me (not kidding :P)
Cleanser ♠ ClarisonicSkincare Brush (probably the most awesome beauty invention ever) with bosciaClear Complexion Cleanser with Botanical Blast during the day ♠ Jurlique Purifying Foaming Cleanser at night.
Tone & treatment products ♠ CellniqueSkin Action Sebum Gel is an awesome product for pores ♠ Nude SkincareClarifying Water ♠ Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum goes on any spots ♠ SUQQUPore Purifying Effector if my T-zone is particularly congested
Day Moisturizer & eye cream ♠ bosciaEnlivening Amino AG Eye Treatment ♠ boscia Vital Daily Moisture SPF 15 or Korres24-Hour Moisturiser SPF 6
Night Moisturizer & eye cream ♠ Same boscia eye cream I use during the day ♠ bosciaRecharging Night Moisture
Sunblock/powder/makeup Luckily my skin's been really good recently (bar the odd spot) that I don't see the point of heavy foundation. Some days I use a tinted moisturizer but most of the time I just have sunblock with a light dust of powder on top to even out my skin a bit. ♠ bosciaIlluminating UVA/UVB SPF 30 on top of moisturizer ♠ boscia Sheer Tinted Moisturizer SPF 15 ♠ Sometimes GuerlainMeteorites in Mythic on top of sunblock/tinted moisturizer
Lips ♠ bosciaJujube Salve Stick - especially if I'm having a flaky lips day, it always sorts them out ♠ Madara Tinting Lipgloss in Moonkissed for a sheer tint ♠ TarteDouble Dose gloss ♠ TrilogyIntensive Lip Treatment for regular moisturization Most of the time I choose which one to use by grabbing whatever is closest to me. I guess I just can't get enough of lip products ^^
Weekly treatments ♠ Nude SkincareDeep Cleansing Mask - I use this about 1-2 times per week ♠ Kuan Yuan Lian Masks - I alternate with my Nude mask depending on the condition of my skin
I don't think that's too many products... :P
There are still a few products I use in my routine that contain parabens (SUQQU, Guerlain, Cellnique) as I haven't yet been able to find alternatives, but frequency wise I don't use them daily. Of course once I find suitable replacements I will switch :P
In the past few months I've been purchasing nothing but organic/natural skincare & makeup products. Although I've found no concrete evidence that parabens and other artificial ingredients are bad for the skin (surely they have to be "safe" if regulated by beauty industry standards), I decided to remove them - or as much as possible - from my daily skincare routine.
These are what I got...
Nude Skincare Range of all natural skincare products with probiotic technology to help activate cellular renewal, reduce & prevent cellular damage and rebalance the skin. I especially love their Smoothing Body Refiner and Deep Cleansing Mask. From left to right: - Advanced Multivitamin (to be taken once daily with food) - Smoothing Body Refiner - Clarifying Water - Replenishing Night Oil - Nude Lips (can never resist throwing in a lip balm) - Deep Cleansing Mask
Order from Sephora, Tarte Cosmetics & boscia via a parcel forwarding service in the USA. Got some samples from Sephora & a freebie eyeshadow from Tarte too. These were from about 4-5 months ago, can't remember when exactly... - Tarte Cheek Stain in Flush - Tarte Eye Couture Day to Night Eye Palette - Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! - Tarte 4 Day Stay Lash Stain - Tarte Double Dose Berry Boost & Bloss in Acai Boost - Juice Beauty Organics To Go (gift for my mum) - Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum - Juice Beauty Organic Lip Moisturizer - boscia Illuminating UVA/UVB SPF 30 - boscia Vital Daily Moisture SPF 15 - boscia Clear Complexion Treatment With Botanical Blast - boscia Enlivening Amino AG Eye Treatment - boscia Clear Complexion Tonic With Botanical Blast - boscia Jujube Salve Stick (best.lip.balm.ever. - I've since stocked up on 2 more) - Carol's Daughter Scar Butter - Carol's Daughter Lip Butter
Another Sephora & Tarte Cosmetics order from the States, arrived about 3 weeks ago. This time I used a different parcel forwarding service, Parcel It On. Uber fast communication and Lyka, the lady who runs it, is always very friendly & professional. The forwarding fees are very reasonable too. I've purchased through PIO twice so far and have been extremely impressed with the service both times.
Got a bunch of samples from my new favorite beauty store Sephora, and a free Korres 24-hour Moisturising Cream as part of their Skincare Challenge offer, where for every four $20+ skincare product purchased you can choose a free full sized product. - Tarte Celebutante Moisturizing Dry-Oil Shimmer Spray x 2 (love this stuff!) - Tarte Cheek Stain in Dollface - Tarte Vitamin Infused Lipgloss in Om - Tarte Double Dose Berry Boost & Gloss in Go Go Goji - boscia Clear Complexion Cleanser With Botanical Blast (to go with the rest of my boscia skincare stuff) - boscia Recharging Night Moisture - boscia Enlivening Amino-AG Eye Treatment (such an awesome eye cream I got a backup) - Tarte Multipleye Natural Lash Enhancer - Tarte Multipleye Natural Lash Enhancing Mascara x 3 (love their mascaras) - Clarisonic Skincare System & Spot Therapy Kit (contains a 3 speed Clarisonic brush with sensitive brush head, body brush, 3 trial size cleansers and 1 trial size refining body polish) - Cake Beauty Citrus Squeeze Better Bod Rub
I think those were the main hauls; I also added some Jurlique, Mama Mio, Trilogy, Mavala to my collection but didn't take photos of those as they were only a few items in separate purchases.
Now that I (pretty much) only use paraben free products I don't know what to do with a lot of items in my stash, a lot of them haven't even been opened lol...
I always rave about how cute and well made Eki's handmade items are, and every time she puts up a new batch I usually find myself snapping up some items.
These consist of several hauls from Eki xD
Babydoll couture pouch - a very pretty princessy pouch with pink polka dot lining. It's one of my favorite Ekilove items and I use it to store fave lip products.
It came packaged like a gift in pretty pink packaging. Eki always includes freebies with every purchase which is very generous & sweet of her.
Crown couture necklace Swarovski heart crystal and sterling silver crown on a silver chain. I absolutely love this simple yet beautiful piece, especially that there's another crystal inside the crown.
Eki even sent me a cute pink flower ring, eye mask and a sweet personalized note! The candies disappeared rather quickly though...
Ekilove Princess & Ice Princess bracelets I wanted these when I first saw them in Eki's store, but didn't manage to snap them up in time. Luckily she restocked, and since I couldn't decide between them, I went for one of each.
Eki included sweets, a My Beauty Diary mask, purple ring and a pair really cute pearl earrings. There was a sweet handwritten note too. I love how Eki packs her parcels and every time I open one it feels like opening a gift.
Pink princess bracelet - pink swarovski pearls with gold charms, and a big swarovski crystal heart. Pink ice princess bracelet - same as above, but with silver charms. I love both bracelets xD
