By The Pool Beauty Essentials (for me)

How's your summer been so far??

Mine it's been pretty good! I've been without my computer for a couple of weeks and I had to spend my time doing other things than blogging, so I've been playing around with my make up, I've tryed some more products that I want to review and products that has been working for me these summery days.

The beauty products I've been taking with me in my beach bag have been the following:

1- Compact Tangle Teezer. Mine is the black one. It's the best to detangle your hair. Wet or dry!! Best thing ever!! Since it's compact it has a cover for the bristles and they won't break. Makes it perfect to carry in any bag or purse... 

2- EOS lip balm with SPF 15. I love the lemon one. Since you're in the sun, SPF is required. I like this one because it has SPF and an amazing lemony smell. It's easy to apply and your lips will be moisturized and pretty.

3- Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration SPF 15 Sunscreen. Do I need to explain why I carry this with me? It only has SPF 15 but I reaply it every 20 or 30 minutes.

4- Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Faces Lotion SPF 30: I like this face sunscreen not only for pool days or beach days, but also as an everyday sunscreen to wear under my makeup.

5- Elilzabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream Skin Protectant Fragance Free: This balm works amazing on my skin when it feels dry. Works for lips, cuticles, foot blisters, it tames your eyebrows, sunburn, wind... It's another product that it's not only for the pool days or beach days. I've been using it everyday since I bought it.

6- The Body Shop Vitamin E Face Mist: Perfect to refresh your face and body when you just don't want to jump into the pool one more time. I know it's for the face, but sometimes I've used it in my arms, chest and neck area too. It smels like roses and the skin feels nice, soft and fresh.

My other beauty basics for pool or beach days include a nice pair of sun glasses, a good towel, hair clips, hair elastics, a good book, my ipod with my favourite music and if I want to have some colour on my face I use some Benefit Posie Tint on my lips and cheeks and some Maybelline Tatoo eyeshadows on my eyes.

What do you have in your beauty beach or pool bag? Would you recommend something else?

Thanks for reading!

Strivectin Present Perfect Antioxidant Defence Lotion Review

Hello Readers!!

Did you have a good weekend?? 

A few months ago I went to Sephora to get me some makeup and beauty products. One of my concerns are fine lines appearing close to my eyes and in my forhead. To deal with those fine lines or fine wrinkles, I was interested in finding something to fight them.

That day I ended up buying the Strivectin Present Perfect Antioxidant Defence Lotion.

This product is a lotion (lighter than a cream) and it's full of antioxidants. It nourishes the skin, feels very lightweight and it's designed to fight the early signs of aging (offensively and defensivly). Since my skin is just starting showing those fine lines, this was a good option for me, or so I thought.

You can use it AM and/or PM. I used it every single night since I got it. I didn't use it during the day because it does not have any SPF in it and then I had to add an extra step to my routine. I only used it in the areas where I did know fine lines were appearing, this way, the product would last me longer.

What I like about this product:

I like its texture. 

It's oil free (very important for my oily skin).

It's fragance free.

You get a good amount of product, 50ml, for what you pay.

What I don't like about this product:

The price, it costed about 30€.

It did nothing for my skin after 5 months and a half of using it. It didn't fight any existing fine line and it didn't prevent new ones.

It does not have any SPF in it (I think it's very important for any product that you want to use during the day)

I don't think I'm going to buy this product in the future and I don't even know if I will recommend it to anyone I know. I did had high hopes for this product since Strivectin's a good line of products and it's well known for their anti-wrinkle products. If I ever buy something else from this brand it will be the regular product.

Have a great week,

Bourjois Express Eye Makeup Remover Review

Hello Readers!!

What is your favourite kind of eye makeup removers? Gel? Soap? Liquid? Oil?

One of the best ones, for me, is this Bourjois  Express Eye Makeup Remover. It's a two-phase product that convines an oily product (blue liquid) with a non-oily one (clear liquid). It's good to remove waterproof eye makeup, and it really does it well. Keep in mind that Bourjois is a brand from Chanel and some of their products are mostly the same.

This is my third bottle of this product and will repurchase it for sure, as I've been doing in the last couple of years, since I first discovered it. This bottle is 200ml. and costs 3,99€.

What it does:

• The blue oily product is the one in charge of removing all the eye makeup you have on. And it does it soooo nicely and easily that this has been the main reason why I've stick to this product for so long.
• The clear liquid is the one that will clean the oil residue at the same time you're removing your eye makeup and won't leave that oily cast that other products have.

My experience with this product has been good. Otherwise I would not have repurchasing it over and over. It does a very good job, but you have to keep a few things in mind before using it. According to me (this is just my opinion) what has to be done to use this product is:

First, shake it very very very thoroughly, because it has to convine the two products.

Second, you need to keep a cotton pad in hand to work fast and apply the product because otherwise the two products will start to separate. And third, you apply it to your eye and leave it there for 20 seconds or more without rubbing or doing anything. After those seconds, you swipe it very gently downwards and most of the product, if not all, will be gone.

The days that I was in a hurry and did something different, it did not remove the eye makeup completly, though it did quite a good job.

I do think that if the product does not get combined, it leaves that oily cast that I hate, and then I have to use something else (generaly my Biotherma Sensibio H2O or my Diadermine High Tolerance Gel Makeup Remover) to remove it.

One of the best things about this product is that it's very gentle for the skin of the eye area. Does not leave it irritated. That is very importand considering how fragile that skin is.

Even though it contains oil, it does not affect my oily skin with more blemishes or clogging pores or anything like that, and it will work for all skin types.

Over all, it's a very good drugstore product and it does the job better than other makeup removers I've used.

Origins VitaZing Moisturizer Review

Hello Readers!!

Before BB creams and CC creams became so popular there were tinted moisturizers. Today I want to share with you my opinion about one of these, and it's the Origins VitaZing Energy-Boosting Moisturizer with SPF 15.

This moisturizer is a white product with some color in it. I would say it's something between a regular moisturizer and a tinted one. This product will energize your skin, give it some nice glow and also will protect it. It contains mangosteen in its formulation (I have no idea what it is good for) and has SPF 15. It's paraben free, sulfate free, has no synthetic fragances, dyes or other weird products in it.

It's easy to apply and the slight color it contains will even out your skintone, just like CC creams do. 

The product comes in a tube with 50ml of white cream with some micro color balls that will blend to your skintone once blended. It's easy to apply to face and neck. Blends nice with my skin and evens out redness and pores. 

And here comes the BUT... It leaves a glow to your skin. Too much glow for my oily skin. That's because the product is very moisturizing. I guess it would be better for dry skin types, though this cream is formulated for all skin types, I would never recommend it to someone with oily skin like mine. I dealed with that with some blotting powder, but for the price it has, I want a product that would keep me shine free. I forgot to mention it costs about 20€. I would also like a higher SPF. 

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Review

Hello readers!!

How's your week going??

Is there any product you use each and everyday among all your makeup? I do have one, and this product is my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark. I use it everyday. 

First let me say that I do have oily skin and this product is not a mattifying powder. It's a finishing powder to set your makeup but it won't do anything for your oilyness or shine.

I always use oil-free products on my skincare regimen, foundations... to avoid shine on my skin. 

So, back to the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish, I use it to set my foundation, BB cream or CC cream. I use this instead of mattifying powder because it does not look cakey, and since it's not transluscent, it gives some coverage (light coverage). It matches my skin tone and looks natural but polished. When I use it, my skin looks better and it looks like I made an effort doing my makeup. 

My shade is Medium Dark, but i do think that there are a few shades that might look good on me too. I'm an NC30 and the shade Medium would work on this skintone.

It costes 27,50€ (32$ in the States).It's pricey but it lasts for a long time and I really think it's worth it. I don't know any other product that I could compare to this as a good dupe and I'm really pleased with it. I really have the doubt if the Hourglass Ambient powders would be similar to that, better or worse. If anyone has compared them, please, LMK.

I'll be repurchasing this again when I finish mine. And truth be told, it will last me for another year at least, or so I think.

Thank you for reading,

DIADERMINE High Tolerance Gel Makeup Remover Review

Hello readers!

One of the most important steps in every beauty routine is how you remove your makeup. I have some friends that used to skip this step and I used to think "How can they skip this? If I did that, I would get blemishes and cloged pores all over my skin!!" So this is one think I cannot neglect. 

One of the products I've been buying non stop for the last 7 - 8 months is the Diadermine High Tolerance gel Makeup Remover. I'm not really sure if this product will be discontinued or not in the near future. I'm not able to find this product on their official website here.

Diadermine is a brand from Henkel. They developed a range of products with High Tolerance for sensitive skin. It has 0% parabens, silicone or perfume.

What I like about this product is the bottle and the pump. It's very convenient and helps you get the product easily. It works just like a mincellair water, but it's thicker. That's what I like the most about this product.

The cleansing gel is transparent and even though it has no added perfume, I do find that it has a subtle roses smell. 

I apply it with a cotton pad all over my face and neck. It removes all traces of makeup on your face, lips and eyes (it's gentle enough to use it in the eye area), except when it's waterproof mascara, then, I need to use something stronger to remove it. I also find that if I wear heavy makeup, it's hard for it to do the job. That's why I use it on my regular everyday light makeup.

It leaves skin clean and it does not irritate it. That's why I like it. 

When I use heavy makeup (high coverage foundation) I use this product to remove most of it and then, when I find that most of it it's been removed, I use my Clarisonic to clean my skin thoroghly.

Question: would I compare that to the Bioderma Sensibio H2O? NO. I do find the Bioderma does a better job, but the price these two products is almost the same, either. The 500ml of the Bioderma water is almost 16€ and the Diadermine is 200ml and costs about 6€. There is not that much of a difference, right?

Since I don't know if this product will or won't be discontinued, I guess I'll end up using the Bioderma one instead of this.

Natural Beauty: Monoï Oil

I would like to introduce you a natural beauty product: Monoï Oil.

Monoï oil is coconut oil infused with Tahitian gardenias aka Tiaré flowers. This product has been used over the years in many polynesian islands. It softens hair and skin and it's a very good moisturizer after the sun exposure or after the shower.

To avoid imitations or sinthetic based monoi oil Authentic Monoï oil has been protected since 1992 by the Appellation of Origin, and it has to contain at least a 33% authentic Monoï Oil to be considered as true Monoï. 

The one I use is the one from Soleil des îles. It's the one I happened to found. It's not an easy product to come by, but it's devine. This bottle is about 6€ and contains 125ml.

Monoï Oil gets solid at temperatures bellow 25ªC. As you can see in the picture, it marks where the oil is. When I took that picture, it was solid. When in liquid form, it's color is a very pale yellow shade. 

I use it on my body after the shower to moisturize my skin and also as an aftersun. It's a good product for the hair, also. I like to apply it like a hairmask for 30 minutes, and then wash my hair as usual. A small amount is enough, keep that in mind when using it.

It's a wonderful massage oil. Can be mixed with beewax or vaseline to create a balm for soothing skin, lips or to make an anti-blister balm. 

Some of the products of this range contain SPF and can be used as sunscreen, but not this one. This is the "Véritable Monoï" SPF 0. 

The worst thing about this product (the one that I have) is the bottle. It's not convenient when it gets solid. I have to put it somewhere warm or under the shower so that it gets liquid and can be used.

If you want more information about the Monoï Oil, take a look at the Institut du Monoï site.

Benefit Erase Paste Concealer

I'm not one of those lucky girls without imperfections on their skin. I have blemishes, dark under eyes, large pores... so I try everything I'm told to hide them. That's why I tried Benefit Erase Paste.

This is a creamy concealer that works wonders on my under eye marks. Those dark circles are gone! 

What is this product? This product is concieved as a concealer that will hide all the imperfections you might have on your face. It's a salmony concealer available in 3 different shades. I have shade number 2. It comes in a small pot with a small spatula. I say a small pot because it only contains 4.4g. of product. Compared to other concealers, this one is quite expensive. But to be honest, it works wonders under the eyes.

Since it have those salmon tones, it corrects beautifuly the under eye area, hiding those dark blue ugly marks. Can be applyed directly over the skin with the spatula and then blend with your fingers, or you can use a brush.

I apply the product after my foundation with a Zoeva 142 concealer buffer brush.  This way I can make sure both products blend well. If I use the concealer first, sometimes it's harder to blend, or it migrates if my eyecream is too emolient.

I don't like how this product hides blemishes. The color does look too salmon on my skin when I try to cover them. It does not look like natural skin, so I don't use it for this purpose.

The worst thing about this product is the price, and although you don't really need a big quantity of product to hide dark undereyes, I think it's too pricy for what it is. I'll try to find something else to compete with this product. If anyone knows any good dupe, please, let me know.

Thanks,

The Body Shop Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask Review

Do you like face masks? Right now I'm trying this Seaweed Ionic Clay face mask by The Body Shop. It's an algae clay face mask for oily to combination skin. I personaly think that it's better for oily skin types than combo, but that's just my opinion.

It comes in a 100ml (5.0 oz) jar that costs 20€ and The Body Shop also used to have individual sachets for about 6€ so thay you could try it first at home without buying the fullsize product.  

This mask has a grey color and a minty scent. It contains kaolin, heilmoor clay and bladderwrack seaweed from Ireland. This mask is good to take impurities out of your skin, it has clarifying properties and it's very refreshing. 

I apply this mask after my cleansing routine with my Clarisonic. Then, the mask. I know most people apply facemasks with their fingers, but I preffer to use my Sigma foundation brush (F60) to apply it evenly and spread a thin layer of product on my face. Then, it just has to stay put up to 10 minutes. It's not recommended to leave it on longer because it might cause skin irritation. I do find that if I apply a too thin layer, it's like not applying anything on your face.

When I apply it, I can see the small seewead particles. It feels fresh at first, but after a couple of minutes on it feels itchy only on the parts of my face that are more sensitive. I feel this itchiness on the area between my nose and the apple of my cheeks. It feels nice on the rest of my face, though.

It should get dry after those 10 minutes, but as you can see in the previous picturer, some areas are dry and some are still wet. If after 10 minutes it's not dry, I leave it on for a little bit more, as long as it does not feel to itchy. 

The last step is only to rinse it thoroughly with water. Cold, warm or hot, it's up to you.

I find that this mask really makes my skin feel clearer, but I see no difference in the size of my pores and other imperfections I have. After the mask my skin feels tight and dry, so a good moisturizer is required. 

The regular use of this mask combined with the rest of the products of the Seaweed range by The Body Shop are suposed to clear your skin, and control excess oil and keep you matte. This mask alone without the other products (or other products designed to achieve these same results) will not give you such good results. 

Over all it's a good face mask. Good quality, good price and nice results. The amount of product you get is also nice. 

I've found this pin on Pinterest that this is also a good dupe for the Glamglow Supermud mask. I'll try this soon and write a review about that one, and also make some comparison of the two.

Fine One One Blush by Benefit Review

I bought this blush without thinking. I liked the idea behind it. I found it to be a cool new product by benefit and I was curious about it.

I was at a Benefit counter in Barcelona and I was just looking at their products. My idea that day was not to buy anything unless I really needed it. But I paid no attention to my mind. Of course I needed a new blush... we all do, right?? ;)

I have a love-hate feeling with this product. Let me explain...

Benefit Cosmetics came out with a new idea of highlight+blush+contour. You can find a link to their website here. This is a stick blush. Comes in a nice rosegold packaging and since it's a stic, it's easy to carry around and apply. And you can blend it with your fingers and you're good to go.

The product has 3 different shades: a pale light pink to highlight, a hot coral pink to give color to your cheeks and an orange shade that gives color and helps you contour your face. You only have to blend them a little bit and you're done.

The colors look quite nice when you swatch them. In the next picture you can see how they look when they are not blended. 

The pale pink highlight is nice and once blended looks great on my NC30 skin tone. You can dab a little bit of it with your fingers and then apply it on its own. So beautiful.

The middle coral hot pink is nice. I tend to gravitate toward these pinks when I look for blushes, so no surprice there. Of course i like this blush.

The last shade is a nice orange shade. Pretty on its own too, and pretty when blended in with the pink. 

Actually, when you blend the orange and the pink you end up with a gorgeous coral shade that I love!

But here ends what I like.

There are a few thinks that I dislike about this blush. Starting with the price and ending with the staying power.

• Price: It's about 30€ at Sephora. 
• When blended, it really looses its pigmentations.
• I have oily skin, and when I apply it without a powder product on top, my cheeks end up looking oily in a couple of hours, wich leads me to the next point,
• Staying power: As soon as it starts getting oily, the color fades away, and in less than 4 hours there's no blush on my face. 
• If I apply a powder product on top the original color of this blush disappears. If I apply a powder blush, the color you will see in my face is the one from the powder blush. This Benefit Fine One One does not show and does not leave any trace that it's been there. And if I apply a mattifying powder, the color of the Fine One One looses even more picmentation, but if you apply too much of it to keep the pigmentation you want, then it even gets more oily.

I think there are more things I don't like about this blush than the ones I do like... It's not a bad product, I will not repurchase it when I finish it (if I ever finish it). Maybe I'll give it to someone with dryer skin than mine, and see if that blush works better on other skin types.

Thanks for reading,

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation Review

It's the first time that a drugstore foundation REALLY matches my skin tone!! I'm happy with that! And I'm happy with the price too!!

 I got this foundation in Octover and ever since, it has been my go to foundation for the whole winter months. Now with the good weather I start finding that my skin is changing and is not as good on my face as it used to be.

As the bottle states, this is a Light Perfecting Radiance Foundation. It's a light texture liquid foundation that ofers light to medium coverage. That's what I was looking for in my everyday foundation. I love that it matches my skin tone very well and evens out all my skin. It covers blemishes lightly, but over all, it's a nice finish for me. And I just need it to last for a few hours only. 

The bottle contains 30ml. of product, that's pretty normal for a foundation, and it comes with a pump. I like pumps because I think they are more convenient for sanitary reasons, even though I don't share my foundation with nobody else. 

My shade is #200 Soft Beige and I pair it with my Maybelline Fit me concealer #20 and my skin looks radiant. It takes a little while to set in my skin, but this makes it easy for me to blend both, concealer and foundation. It has yellow undertones and covers any redness you might have. My next step, then, is brush some setting powder on top to mattify the skin.

This foundation is not very long lasting on my oily skin, but it lasts on me for about 3 or 4 hours. I would not recommend this as an HD foundation or if very long lasting makeup is required. If I apply primer it lasts up to a couple more hours. When I want long lasting makeup I don't use this foundation.

I have opposed feelings about this foundation, and since the weather has started to be warmer, with sunny days, I find that my skin reacts better with CC creams and BB creams, so I'm not reaching this foundation anymore on a daily bases. I have changed my routine without realizing it, so, when I finish my bottle, I don't know if I'll buy it again.

Mary Kay Timewise Microdermabrasion Kit

Have you ever tried a face scrub? Do you like them? If the answer to this question is YES, then you chances are you like this product.

First of all, this is a microdermabrasion kit. It's a two steps kit that it's suposed to clean your skin more efficiently than other face scrubs and improve its condition. It's pricy because it's almost 50€. I got mine as a present. Otherwise I would have not bought it. 

This kit contains two products. The first step is the tube with the refine product. This product comes in a tube and you need a very small amount of product. I use less than a pea size ball. 

The product contains a creamy product with microballs that scrub your skin and eliminate death cells, it unclog your pores and refine the texture of your skin. You have to apply it in circular motions all your face. I have applied it with my Clarisonic too, but most of the times I use my fingers. I like to apply it while I'm at the shower after washing my face when my skin is damp and my pores are all open.  I massage the product for about a minute. You don't need more time than that.

Then you just have to rinse well and follow with step number 2: replentish. At this point, you apply a product that comes in a tube with a pump. I find that one pump is more than enough for my face. The product you apply calms your skin after the scrub. This product is not a moisturizer, so please, please, please, don't use it as one. This only works to calm your skin. It does not add moisture to your skin. First you have to apply it, and when you feel like your skin has absorbed it all, then, you appply your regular moisturizer.

What do I feel when I use it? At first I thought I really felt my skin different and better, but I use my Clarisonic Mia regularly and now I don't feel like I need anymore. It's true that sometimes I combine them (step 1 + Clarisonic) but that's because I want to finish up that product. I feel like using only my Clarisonic does a good job for my skin.

Will I buy it again when I finish it up? Nope. I don't think it's necessary, but just because I have the Clarisonic and I use it on a daily bases. Will I recommend it to other people? Yes, as long as they don't use the Clarisonic, because it does a great job all alone. Using it once or twice a week you can see that your skin feels better.

Tweezerman Tweezers Review

Best tweezers ever!! They are not cheap, but they are worth every cent you spend.

This is the fastest way to express my opinion about the Tweezerman tweezers. And let me just add that I only buy expensive products when there is a good discount on them. I had mine at 20% off because I got me 2 wide grip Tweezerman tweezers and the SA added a free extra mini tweezer. It was a very good deal for me.

So, as I mentioned, I have 3 Tweezerman tweezers. I used to have the normal one first, and I fell in love with it, but one day it got lost and I had to replace it, so I bought me 3 more to replace it (2 + 1 free). At the store they only had the mini ones and the wide grip ones, so that's what I got.

About the first one (the one that is missing): It was the best tweezers I had ever used. Compared to other tweezers I had, my first Tweezerman tweezers was better my far. They got every single hair I need to pluck. Long or short, it didn't matter. The next picture shows how was my missing tweezer.

The replace I got me were again, from Tweezerman. I was so pissed off for loosing my fave tweezers that after a couple of days without them I went to the store and bought me some more. As I said before, I bought me 3. A little too much??? Maybe, but you know, just in case.

As you can see, there is not a lot of diffence between the sizes of the small one (the mint tweezers) and the wide grip ones.

 The mint tweezers are the small ones. They cost about 15€. They are sharp and slant and just as the regular ones, they get every single hair you want to remove. Their size make them perfet to put it in your travel makeup bag, or in your purse.  They don't take much space and you can store them in the provided tube they have. This way you can make sure they don't get lost in your bag, or scratch somewhere with their sharp tip.

The tip of the mini tweezers is just as the other ones. Big or small the quality is the same. Let's just talk about the wide grip tweezers now.

Just as I stated before, if you compare the tips of the different tweezers, you can clearly see they look the same. they have the same finishing.

The Wide Grip Tweezerman Tweezers are different just in that wide part, the grip. This wide part really helps when you have to use them. I found it weird at the begining. To be honest, I had never seen anything like that before and I was quite esceptical about them. I thought it was just something they did to "create" a different product. But the truth is that once you get used to that, it's really easier to pluck your brow hairs.

They come in a clear plastic box, just like the one you can see in the picture above, and they also have a plastic protection for the tip (it can be seen in the first picture of this post).

Now that I have two wide grip tweezers by Tweezerman and I have tried three different tweezers by this brand, I can say that for me, these wide grit ones are the best. This is just my prefference. I bought those because the regulare ones were sold out, but it was good that I could get these ones. I don't regret any euro I spent buying them. They were marked at almost 20€ each, but I paid less for them because I got an extra discount. Lucky me.

You can get your tweezers sharpened by Tweezerman. As far as I know, in the States it takes about 6 or 7 weeks to get yours sharpened. I don't know how long it would take to get them if you live in Europe.