Autumn 2018 Beauty Finds

Beauty Finds is back! With the last of lots product reviews. I took the photos and started writing this last year. Since a lot of products bottles are long gone to reshoot in a fewer product review. Anyways, onto the beauty…

I always have an inner battle trying new beauty brands. A feeling of disloyal to products I love, still wanting to use them while incorporating new products. Sometimes a girl has to admit true and tested are products are the way or admit the new kids on the block have won her over. As usual I have a few requirements with cosmetics: no animal testing, no animal ingredients (I’m a bad vegan, I eat honey. I’m okay with honey and beeswax, but if there’s a better substitute I’ll go for that. Bee pollen, venom and royal jelly no), no nasty ingredients like petrochemicals or its derivatives which are sneaky, silicones or its alias, SLS, phthalates, parabens etc. I prefer natural ingredients, although a girl can’t always choose. I always say with make up I go for cruelty free brands and take a few ‘bad’ ingredients. Skincare I’m more picky as I can be. I try to avoid palm oil and its alias as I prefer organutans. I’m also trying to reduce my love of coconut as those plantations are just as destructive as palm oil plantations. With that in mind here are some products I found autumn 2018. My skin’s oily sensitive, always looking anti ageing and acne combating products.

Organic Shop Organic Sicilian Orange and Sugar Body Scrub, 250ml    In English Here!

A €2.99 Druni find! One thing I like about the Organic Shop is their pricing. Most items are under €5, made from 99% organic ingredients and don’t contain SLS’s, parabens or silicons making them an affordable organic body and hair care line. I also like they don’t contain a long list of ingredients. Plus their scents are devine!

I found this scrub to feel like it’s working straight away thanks to the the sugar granules leaving my skin feeling silky soft. I found it find to be used a facial scrub again leaving my skin feeling soft. This many sound weird but with sugar scrubs, on application my skin gets itchy in places I’ve still to apply it. Almost like it’s shouting ‘me next!’! The pot took me about 2 months to get through using it 1-2 times a week with it’s orange scent staying fresh. The only con is the pot itself. For €2.99 you get what you pay for so if you drop the pot, it cracks as I’ve found with their body lotions. Aside from that I would definitely buy it again.

Organic Shop Organic Raspberry Cream and Sugar Body Scrub, 250ml   In English here!

The ingredients save the orange peel oil, raspberry extract, colourings and limonene in the raspberry are the same, so the verdict’s the same as for the orange version. While I found this one to be a better scrub for my skin than the Orange and Sugar version for a cleaner feel, I wasn’t so keen on the scent. Thankfully it doesn’t linger for long so yes I would buy this one again. Like with the orange sugar scrub try not to get water in the pot as it will turn into a weird sugary lumpy syrup that doesn’t make it appealing to apply.

Nacific (formally Nature Pacific) Fresh Herb Origin Serum, 50ml

I reviewed the previous formula and was excited and hesitant to try the updated formula as I really liked how it felt on my skin. This version doesn’t have that ‘damm’ factor the tingly feeling on damaged (blackhead removal (nice) or just not so healthy skin/pores in general) skin, it was known for. That tingly feeling supposed made you say ouch or damm! until the skin healed so to speak. This is a lot smoother, with a slightly different scent which I think works even better. A big bonus is it no longer contains a palm oil derivative. It does contain a few not so nice ingredients: disodium EDTA and ethylexylglycerin however they’re the last 2 ingredients and listed as safe on ewg.com. Until find one I like more, I’ll probably continue using it or come back to every now and then.

Used as my morning and evening serum it helps my skin look smoother and healthier. Wrinkles not so sure, texture yes, is better. It’s one that if I don’t use it my skin’s asking where it is. I’m on my 4th bottle (however other serums have called my name!)! The only con is now the bottle’s plastic when before it was glass making it way easier to recycle. The pepit’s still glass with the price more or less the same. A bottle lasts about 2 months used twice a day. It’s great a as layering serum applied after the more potent or ‘I wanna try out this serum’ serum.

NYX Proof It Waterproof Eyeshadow Primer, 7ml

Turns your favourite eyeshadow into a waterproof eyeshadow. Waterproof your shadows! Apply to lids as any eyeshadow primer and VOILA! Any eye makeup placed on top of it is now waterproof! Keep your make up from melting off if you’re at the beach, lounging by the pool or during humid weather. 

Barcelona’s humid. Hot and humid during the summer, cold and damp during the winter. At the gym I wear make up (I know, but I’m out for the day, my face is on). This primer does what it says. The ingredients aren’t so pretty, silicone (dimethicone just 1 of many), but it’s a primer so what do you expect. I’ve been using for just over a year and am on my 4 maybe 5th tube. It’s a ‘colourless’ pale pale pink that on application disappears. It does what it says, eye shadow stays put nearly all day. The packaging recommends after application let it dry which I’ve learnt and still occasionally do as otherwise usually from freshly cleaned brushes it clogs bristles up slightly, then clogs pressed eyeshadow so blending isn’t as good. It’s also nearly always sold out or about to when I repurchase. Thankfully Barcelona has about 4 stores.

Tarte High Performance Naturals, Smoother Operator Amazonian Clay Pressed Finishing Powder

Smoooooth Operator (sorry, I start singing Sade when I read smooth operator!). I’m sure Tarte has maybe intentionally maybe not intentionally set standard international shipping rate the same price as most products with free shipping over $59 making it cheeky sense if just purchasing 1 item to purchase something else so you get ‘free’ shipping if you get me. I love Tarte’s Gifted Mascara. It’s sweatproof which makes it great for working out in sans smudges. I don’t like that I can only buy 1 mascara at a time. Last year I could buy 2 but rules changed. Anyways, this was a make the shipping ‘free’ item.

 

Having oily skin means not matter much powder or full coverage foundation it’s going to get shiny with anything from 30 minutes to 1 hour. I used to wear full coverage foundation, however now I don’t like how it feels, how it clogs up my skin. I’ve learnt to work with shiny oily skin with lighter weight BB creams. It’s just easier! I do still like powder to set to keep that shine away for a while. I only apply a light layer to avoid feeling cakey. This powder’s okay. however I think I’ll stick to loose powder as about 3 hours after application my nose’s shiny with my forehead not far behind like pre make up application. On my cheeks it’s great, That T zone nope. I do like how doesn’t make my skin feel clogged and I didn’t having many blackheads using it. Would I buy it again, maybe not. I’ve since found a better loose powder.

I used a big powder brush to apply and recycled the brush it came with.

Youth To The People Kale + Green Tea Spinach Vitamins Superfood Face Wash, 237ml

Our nutrient rich gel cleanser helps balance you resin and removes daily dirt. Packed with antioxidant rich kale, spinach and green tea to fie that fountain-of-youth glow. 

Sephora.es started selling YTTP earlier last year with pricing initially putting me off, but that’s what Sephora 20% off days are for! Reviews were good on sephora.com and after Chriselle Lim saying this is one product that helped her hormonal acne skin while pregnant I was gotta try it! I’m always fighting acne, especially hormonal acne and her recommendation’s are usually good. If kale, green tea and spinach are good for you on the inside they must be good for you on the outside, right? It’s expensive for a face wash, €29.90 taking about just over 2 months get through. The price I feel offsets the size. Being 237ml makes it cost effective using it in the morning as my main cleanser and then my 2nd cleanser after nightly oil cleansing. A huge bonus is the ingredient list. No nasties. Extra bonuses, the bottle’s glass, great for recycling and it comes with a screw lid which makes it perfect to avoid spillages if you keep it for travelling.

Does it work? Yes! My blackheads reduced right down. I still got them, just not as many, I hardly had any monthly cystic spots (in addition to no coffee for about 2 years) and I think it helped improve the texture of my skin. The only cons are as it’s natural it doesn’t foam up to feel like it’s working. Sometimes I had to wash twice with it to feel like my skin’s clean. The scent can be a bit overpowering initially and I find sometimes it did leave my skin feeling dry. However I got though 2nd bottles before being swayed by other foam cleansers. This will probably be the foam cleanser I return to after flirting with others, as I already have a 3rd bottle waiting in the wings for comparison with the others.

Youth To The People, Kale + Spinach Green Tea Hyaluronic Acid Superfood Moisturiser and Kale + Aloe Sunflower Oil Peptides Superfood Eye Cream* 59ml & 15ml

This nourishing eye cream is packed with kale, spinach, aloe, peptides and sunflower oil. This vital nutrients condition and peace the skin smooth. Apply a small amount to eye area. Use 1-2 times a day.

 *eye cream not photographed

I liked the cleanser so much, I decided to try out YTTP’s moisturiser and eye cream. Reviews on sephora.com were good which was a major factor again due to price. Again the ingredient list is great, no nasties and comes in a glass pot and a straight forward brown cardboard box. Bonus for less plastic and fancy cardboard dyes. Minus points for the plastic applicator spatula to avoid contaminated fingers putting bacteria in the pot. I wash my hands anyway for my skincare routines however I did like the spatula. I proababy used it wrong. Rather than applying the cream straight on my face with the spatula, I put it on my finger tips then massaged and tapped it in. The spatula made it easier if you applied to much putting it back in the pot with a feel of less bacteria going back in if you get me. However for a brand’s that ‘green’ maybe a bamboo or corn plastic spatula would be better than a regular plastic one. The cream also has a faint green colour (colourant 75810) for that kale goodness look. I also like YTTP’s font, an old typewriter.

Using it as night moisturiser it lasted about 3 months which is good value for money considering its price. My skin looked smoother, wrinkles/fine lines still there not much difference. Some mornings my skin looked good, lines softer, other mornings not so, so it was hit and miss. My skin on the whole felt moisturised without the need a little while later to apply more. It’s cool on the skin on application, light and easy to work into the skin. I got through 2 pots until I reacted to it. I also started using at the same time during the day YTTP eye cream and broke out with eczema around my eyes.

I complained my skin felt dry, my tear ducts felt dry. I put this down to The Ordinary’s 0.5% retinol I also started using around the same time. After 2 months of use my eyes or skin around my eyes reacted with eczema. One under eye being more swollen than the other and at times dry itchy. Only rubbing my eyes which made the itch and skin worse in the long run would relieve it. Not contacting the dots for a while (after I took the photos, because you know life) I started using another eye cream as I couldn’t wait for the other one to finish. A few days later I also stopped using the kale moisturiser switching to my previous night cream to see if the reaction cleared up. I reintroduced YTTP moisturiser a week later and bam, woke up with eczema under my eye. I did the same trail with YTTP eye cream with the same results, eczema. 

I’ve only been able to find one other review saying they reacted to the eye cream on sephora.com which is now buried with other reviews. She said she reacted to the alfalfa which is in both products. I don’t suffer from hay fever but I do have seasonal allergies that come and go which only started a few years ago. I’ve reacted the same to other products (I’ve had hospital tests done, so I know what to avoid) so I know it was something in one of the 2 products, I don’t know however which ingredient. Which is a pity. The eye cream was okay, one I’d repurchase if I couldn’t find anything better, however I really liked the moisturiser. If you have allergies, maybe get a travel size pot to see how you go before committing to the full size. I ended up giving the rest of the pot to P who likes it. He travels alot saying it’s good in hot/wame climates. Winter or cooler countries he wanted something more hydrating. That’s what you get for asking a guy what they think of something. 

All YTTP products are cruelty free and vegan

Youth To The People Maqui & Acai Prickly Pear Gogi Superberry Hydrate and Glow Oil, 30ml

This ultra enriched, flask absorbing face oil harnesses the nutrients of rare super berries to hydrate and deliver a velvety soft healthy glow. Excellent on freshly cleansed skin or as a primmer under makeup.

As at the time I was liking the 3 previous products, I thought why not try the serum too. Thank you again 20% off Sephora day! It’s marketed as a hydration and glow oil which is does. It’s packed with antioxidant, skin replenshing oils as in its title in addition to sunflower seed oil being the main ingredient, olive oil squalane, flax seed and olive oil amongst others. I hoped it’d help with texture and maybe even soften those fine lines which it did, but I wasn’t into it enough to buy another. It’s been a while since I used it, so I can’t remember my exact thoughts and I didn’t write them down. If you have dry skin, I think this will help boost hydration and give a nice dewy glow. It’s application if I remember was smooth without having to use too much in one go. It’s scent’s unusual but not too overpowering. I think I stopped using it as I started using  Kora Organics Noni Facial Oil.

So there you have it! A few of last year’s beauty finds! Have you tried any of the products? Please comment below!