Hey everyone!
We’re over the hump! The week has practically flown by with the long weekend, and very soon it’ll be the weekend again! Today I’m going to share 3 cleansers that I have been using with you. I hope I’m not the only one who has several cleansers lining up in the bathroom, but anyways here we go!
Exfoliating is an important step in skincare regimen. However, up until not so long ago, my weekly exfoliation was very basic. I chose something with fine grain, gently massaged it over my face for about a minute, rinsed it off, felt some kind of improvement in the texture of my skin, and then I called it a day. Then along came Philosophy The Microdelivery Peel, and I have never looked back!
Philosophy The Microdelivery Peel is an at-home version of medical microdermabrasion. It is supposed to smooth and resurface rough texture, help minimize the look of fine lines, and help brighten and even skin tone.
Hey everyone!
I had the great pleasure yesterday of being invited to the ICI PARIS XL press day to check out some of the new exclusive brands they are carrying. Let’s take a look at who/what was there!
Black Up is a French brand founded by a makeup artist of African ancestry. The brand focuses on products that will enhance the beauty of black and mixed beauties, but just look at those lipsticks! I’m sure if you are a lipstick lover you will adore these! It’s funny because I was sitting down for a break before talking to the ladies, and they were already telling the ICI PARIS XL PR representative that I should go over there as soon as possible. Why? Because I was wearing NARS Mexican Rose and they were sure I’d be intrigued by their lipsticks. They were not wrong!
Erborian is a Korean brand. BB cream has been all the rage in Asia and North America, now we’re finally going to be able to lay our hands on one of the earliest BB creams available! I tested it out on the back of my hand, and the texture is very light and pleasant. Promising, very promising!
F Fekkai is a professional hair care brand. I have long wanted to try their shea line, so it was pretty exciting to see the line-up there! For this summer, they are launching two new products including Salon Technician Highlight Care and Marine Summer Hair to help hair cope with the humidity and the sun. I don’t know how they work yet (but I will find out for you), but both products smell amazing (that’s a good start)!
Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you to the long-awaited Philosophy products in Belgium? I can tell you I behaved like a crack addict at that stand, trying to inhale as much delicious smell from their products as possible! Their skincare products look exciting too. I loved the microdelivery peel!
Kenzo launched a skincare line called Kenzoki. Look at that pretty packaging! They had their white lotus line there. Since lotus happens to be one of my favorite flowers (if not THE favorite. It reminds me of summer at home), I was practically swooning.
Orlane is another French skincare brand that has 5 lines of products (though we only saw 4) targeting hydration, anti-fatigue, firmness, first signs of age, and anti-wrinkle. The lady was very enthusiastic and kept putting all kinds of creams and serums on the back of my hands (actually everybody did, but there were SO many at Orlane). By the end of the day the back of my hands was certainly baby-soft!
Qiriness specializes in SPA products that everybody can pamper themselves with. The lady demonstrated some products that would take a smidgen of time to take care of your skin in the comfort of your home. I like how she said (to me and another lady):” Leave your children to your husband for 15 minutes a week, and you can take care of yourselves in the bathroom.” I don’t have children yet, but it sounds like a good deal!
Remember the ONLY YOU nail polishes I talked about a while ago? Look who’s here! The entire lineup including the limited edition summer shades! The product manager told me they’re already developing the winter collection, and I practically begged her to include some shimmery and maybe even holographic shades, so we’ll see!
Last but not least, do you know what this is?
Want a closer look?
It is Madonna’s new perfume Truth or Dare! Here in Belgium it will be an ICI PARIS XL exclusive! I will receive more information soon, and I will definitely let you guys know more when I find out about the exact launch date. The scent itself? I smell a great dose of gardenia, some jasmine, some vanilla, but I’m sure there is more! The story is that Madonna lost her mother early, so she created this perfume with the scent of her mother in mind, kicking it up a notch with a modern twist. If you like gardenia or flowery perfume in general, do check it out when it comes out!
That’s my report of the ICI PARIS XL press day! If you have any questions about these brands, please do not hesitate to ask, as I might be able to dig out more information for you! I received some PR samples yesterday, but since these are skincare products, please give me a bit longer to test them out thoroughly. I promise I will let you know what I think as soon as I can!
What do you think? Which brand looks the most exciting for you? Would you like to try the BB cream or maybe some Philosophy?
Sunny xx
Thank you Jean-François, Marie, and Stefanie for the invitation, and everybody who was there xx
Scrubbing is a part of my skincare routine. I scrub my face once to twice a week, and body once every week or two weeks. I was running out of scrub around the time I left for the US, and I had heard so much about Philosophy that I wanted to give the gingerbread man a try. 25 dollars might seem pricey, but you do get a big tub of product so it doesn’t seem like a bad deal.
I can tell you straight off that the gingerbread man does not smell like gingerbread. While gingerbread reminds me of cinnamon, vanilla, and all those warm scents, Gingerbread Man smells closer to fresh ginger with a hint of citrus (to me it smells lemony). I personally adore it because I love everything ginger. It’s a pretty energizing/invigorating smell that’s perfect for a morning shower, but it definitely doesn’t smell like gingerbread man!
The texture of the product is not runny or gloopy at all. It’s pretty densely-packed and solid if it makes sense. Even when I dig it out of the tub, it keeps its shape in my hand. Now comes the tricky part: the instructions tell you to use it on dry skin. I tried a bit on the back of my hand and quickly realized it’s not a good idea: the texture felt way too harsh against my skin. So instead, I decided to take it into the shower with me and use it when my skin was wet, the way I normally go about scrubbing. This time things got better. The granules didn’t feel nearly as harsh, and it was a lot easier to massage it onto my skin compared to when it was dry. The scrub does warm up a little, and though I don’t know exactly what it was supposed to do, it was rather pleasant. The salt dissolved fast enough though, so you’d better work fast! I usually take some and work on a body part before targeting the next, and that worked out just fine.
The result? Silky smooth skin! The skin on my body is on the dry side during the colder months, and I clearly felt the need to put some lotion on when I was done. However, compared with products that would make my skin very tight, this wasn’t bad at all. I also like the fact that it’s not oily like some other salt-based scrubs I’ve tried, because cleaning the shower afterwards would be a major nightmare afterwards!
Bottom line: It’s highly possibly the best scrub I’ve tried, and I’d definitely repurchase if I had the chance! Besides the fact that the gingerbread man is missing, it’s an excellent scrub!
By the way, Philosophy is having their Friends & Family sale till the 12th of December. It’s 30% off everything, so go get yourself some gingerbread man now!
Talking about gingerbread man: my favorite cafe recently launched their Christmas specials. I was tempted from the minute I saw them, but decided to hold back because it’s an overkill! It was pretty cold today though, and I walked around a lot before getting there, so I thought, what the heck? I went ahead and ordered myself a gingerbread latte. All the Christmas specials come with a gingerbread man, and look how cute it is! It’s a calorie bomb, but hey, Christmas comes only once a year, right?
Hello out there!
Sorry for the long silence! I actually went on a two-week trip to the U.S. and just got back two days ago. I never really mentioned this on the blog because all the way till the last minute I wasn’t sure if I would really make it. All the bureaucratic mayhem I had to go through both for the American AND the Belgian government was incredible. But anyways, I made it and now I’m back!
I principally went for a good friend’s (basically my adoptive sister) wedding in Tennessee, but before we (I went with her brother T, with whom I’d been living under the same roof for 3 years) got there we did a little trip in Boston, New York, and Pittsburgh. Of course I made an extensive shopping list before setting off, and from the picture above you can probably see how major the haul is!
I will put up my swatches and review ASAP. I went happy-go-lucky in drugstore eyeshadows because I thought I had too many high-end ones to justify paying for more of them. With that said however, I just found out Urban Decay is launching Naked2, and that’s got me thinking… maybe I want one for Christmas!
So bye for now and I promise to post a lot of posts in the near future!
MOSTLY SUNNY 