Goodbye Dullness, Hello Baby Skin! Philosophy The Microdelivery Peel Review

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.

What’s the Intoxicating Smell? L’Occitane Almond Travel Set Review & Mostly Sunny Featured on Temptalia + Makeupandbeautyblog!!!

Every time when I walk past a L’Occitane store, I feel the impulse to stroll in. Not that I always need or even want something of course. A lot of the times I come out empty-handed, but still, even when I know nothing new is going on, I love to enter and just sniff at everything I see. I might not have a very keen sense of smell (years of allergies made sure of that), but I can tell natural smells from artificial ones from miles away. Some stores make me sneeze, but L’Occitane is always so soothing.

Then of course, sometimes when I see a set of travel-sized products, I feel the need to seize the opportunity. I had not previously purchased anything from their almond line, but I have had many Almond Milk Concentrate samples from my other purchases, and I can’t get enough of the beautiful smell. On top of that, I love travel-sized products. They are the mini versions of the real things, and I can always fool myself that they’re cheaper (though unless you happen to find a set like this, most of the time travel-sized bottles aren’t cheaper than the full-sized ones).

The set contains the Almond Shower Oil, Almond Milk Concentrate, Delicious Almond Soap, and Almond Sooth Hands. Let’s take a quick look at them separately shall we?

The Almond Shower Oil has an interesting texture between an oil and a gel. I have to admit I was a little skeptical in the beginning, but it really is a very pleasant addition to the shower routine. It mousses up a little, not a lot but just enough, and it feels very luxurious and soothing on my skin. Once rinsed off, it leaves no greasy residue at all, just soft and satiny skin. Needless to say, it doesn’t dry my skin out either. The smell is gorgeously sweet and beautiful. It is something I am more than willing to purchase full-size (once I go through the 1357 bottles of shower gel I have in stock at the moment)!

The Almond Milk Concentrate smells equally gorgeous. The texture is very airy and light, leaves no greasy residue, but moisturizes the skin pretty well. I wouldn’t say it’s moisturizing enough for very dry skin, and I might need something more in winter, but particularly during the warmer months I’d really enjoy the feathery light texture! This is also something I would love to purchase in a full-size jar.

The Delicious Almond Soap is the only flop in the set for me. I never use soap on myself, and a soap that has crushed almond shell to exfoliate is probably a particularly bad idea. Just to prove my point however, I went ahead and took a shower with it. I ended up with pretty dry skin that screamed for lotion! The crushed almond shell is actually fine enough. It is not painfully rough or anything, but I think the exfoliating factor combined with soap is a little too much for my skin. People who have oilier skin might appreciate this, but if your skin is normal to dry or sensitive, I would advise you steer clear. The 50-gram bar I got from the set is already the full-size product.

Last but not least, there is Almond Sooth Hands. It is the only one out of the four that smells like almond tree flowers. It’s beautiful and delicate! It has a gel texture, and is very easily absorbed with no greasy residue. It hydrates well, but if your hands are pretty dry, you might have to reapply more often. I like to carry this tube in my bag for some quick hydration, but before I go to sleep I prefer something heavier. The tube only comes in one oz/30ml.

All in all I’m pretty happy I purchased this set. I love the smell and how 3 out of 4 products work, and I plan to purchase the full-size bottles of Almond Shower Oil and Almond Milk Concentrate later!

Do you like L’Occitane? What have you tried and liked? Have you tried anything from the almond line?

Sunny, your beauty culture translator xx

PS: Yesterday was a GREAT day for Mostly Sunny, because it was featured on Makeupandbeautyblog and Temptalia! Karen included my Dior Croisette post in her Weekly Roundup, and Christine from Temptalia featured my challenge entry in her spring flowers-inspired looks. I’m including another picture of the same look here:

I definitely did some happy dance around the house! Feel free to check the links out 🙂 And oh, the giveaways will go live tomorrow, so STAY TUNED!!!

Review: Philosophy the Gingerbread Man. Oh gingerbread man, where art thou?

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?