Updated Skin Care Routine // Part I

It has been over a year since my last skin care post. There are things that have changed, products that are still the same and others that have been replaced. My skin is sensitive but there are not too many products that break me out. The biggest problem I have with my skin is how dry it can get and this is the skin care routine that helps me manage that.

In my everyday life I usually wear waterproof mascara and my favorite eye make-up remover is the Garnier Make-Up Remover 2 in 1 waterproof. It is gentle on the skin but at the same time it removes all my mascara. If I ever wear non-waterproof I use the Rival de Loop Clean & Care Oil Free Eye-Make-Up Remover which I have used for years before I started wearing waterproof mascara. I do not wear foundation or BB creme so I only use water to remove any make-up residue on my skin and no extra products. I have tried many eye cremes and my favorite - by far - is the alverde Eye Creme for every skin type. This has already been a part of my last skin care routine and I have talked about this in my Favorites 2014. It moisturizes well, sinks in quickly and does not irritate my skin or eyes. At night I also use an old favorite: Weleda Skin Food. If you have dry skin you should definitely give this product a try. It is the most moisturizing creme I know because the skin actually takes in the moisture and the creme does not just sit on your skin without sinking in. It does leave your skin feeling a little sticky which is why I only use it at night but it works really well.

Sometimes - when I feel like my skin needs it - I do like to use the alverde Apricot & Calendula Face Scrub for normal skin. To me it is the perfect mix of effective and gentle. Of course it does not give you perfect skin over night but it definitely has a positive effect on my skin. It helps my skin to clear out and gets rid of dry skin very gently. After that I use the Weleda Skin Food at night or the alverde Face Oil Wild Rose for dry skin in the day time.

If I did not wash my face or take a shower in the morning I still apply a moisturizer in the morning. It is either the Nivea Sun Anti-Age Moisturizer with SPF 50 in the summer or the alverde Teint Perfection Beauty Serum now that the sun is not out that much anymore. I would like the alverde Perfect Teint to have an SPF too so I am not sure if I am going to repurchase this again but I really do like the finish it leave on my skin.

Part II of my skin care routine will be coming up next week. I only realized how many different products I do actually use when I started writing this post so I decided to divide this up into two posts. Today I talked about what products I use on y face but next week I will talk about what else I do to take care of the rest of my skin.

What are your favorite skin care products?

Products I've Used Up // June

I swear I do not color coordinate the products I use up. I feel like this happens quite often even though I definitely do not plan for it. That is getting me to wonder though if I shop in color schemes without noticing.

Catrice Liquid Liner Waterproof 010 Don't Leave Me: I did not actually use this product up. There is still product left in this but it does not hold up as well as it used to. I already repurchased this and the new liner works just fine.

Nivea Double Effect Eye-Make-Up Remover: This is a really good eye-make-up remover for waterproof mascara or eye liner and I will probably repurchase this soon.

 alverde Eye Creme for Every Skin Type: This is a long time staple in my skin care routine. I have sensitive dry skin and this is by far my favorite eye creme I have ever tried.

Weleda Skin Food: I repurchase this moisturizer multiple times a year. I use it everyday at night all throughout the year. 

Balea Shaving Gel Travel Size Caribbean Dreams: I hated this. This thing has been sitting on my shelves for forever. I wanted to use it up this month to finally get rid of it because I never liked this product. After I use this my skin burns and I finally decided to throw it out without using it up because it is just not worth it. I want to ad though that I really like the other Balea shaving gels I have used - I do not know what is wrong with this particular one.

ISANA young Limited Edition Shower Gel Dream Catcher: I really enjoyed this shower gel. Even though I prefer this one over the normal Balea shower gels I have not repurchased this. The only reason for that is that when it comes to shower gel I simply prefer to try out new products and new scents. I will definitely check out more of the ISANA shower gels in the future.

Dove Advanced Hair Series Oxygen Hair Mask: This was a good hair mask. I still like the Garnier Fructies Oil Repair 3 Hair Mask better which is the only reason I will not repurchase the Dove Oxygen Hair Mask. I have long hair and I have a lot of it but if you have problems with your hair being weight down by products this might be a good option.

Got2be Schwarzkopf Guardian Angel Heat Protectant Lotion: I do not know why this is called a lotion because it is definitely a spray. The scent is nice and not too strong and this bottle lasted me forever. I think it generally hard to tell how well heat protectant sprays work. How do you verify that? All I can say is that I am happy with the results but I also wanted to try another brand to be able to compare the to products.

What is your go-to heat protectant?

Drugstore Haul // June

This is actually a pretty reasonable haul - I needed all of these products and I did not make any impulse purchases. I am still trying very hard not to do that anymore because I just want to use what I already have (especially when it comes to make-up and nail polishes) and if I do purchase something new to add to my collection I want it to be a well thought out decision. 

Garnier Skin Active Waterproof Make-Up-Remover All-in-1: I have only heard good things about this make-up remover and since I just ran out of mine and this (massive) bottle is cheaper than the eye-make-up removers for waterproof eye make up I have used before I decided to give it a try. I do have to admit I do not like the color of the product... it just reminds me of old, used cooking oil.

Weleda Skin Food: Having repurchased and talked about this multiple times I do not really feel the need to talk about this product too much. I have very dry sensitive skin and this is my favorite night-time moisturizer.

alverde Eyecreme for Every Skin Type: This is another one of my most repurchased items. My eyes get irritated very easily and this is the only eye creme that moisturizes my skin well while not irritating it. I am pretty sure this is also the cheapest eye creme I have ever used (or at least one of the cheapest).

Catrice Liquid Liner Waterproof 010 Don't Leave Me: It has been a long time since I have worn winged eye liner which is rather sad because that used to be my favorite go-to look. The only reason I did not wear eyeliner was that I could not find one that stayed put without transferring to my lid or a smudged wing. This used to be my go-to, stays-all-day eyeliner until one day it did not do that anymore. After trying a lot of other eyeliners I almost forgot about my old favorite. Then I recently tried it again and (no surprise) it wasn't smudge-proof and it transferred to my eyelids (it looked really bad) - but then it occurred to me that maybe that only happened because my liquid liner was old. That's why I want to give it another shot - maybe this new one will my my old-new-found favorite.

What drugstore products did you shop for so far this summer?

Beauty HAUL // December

I am trying not to buy that much stuff anymore and this it what that looks like. I am pretty happy with it. I only got thingy that I needed and well.. one palette - at least it was on sale, right? ;)

Balea Mild Soap Blossom Dream Hibiscus & Green Tea:  If that does not sound like a dream to you, I do not know what would. On top of that it sparkles. It is mint colored, sparkly soap with an amazing fresh scent. Did I ever mention I adore the packaging as well? I love it. (My boyfriend not so much)

Catrice Glamour Doll Mascara Waterproof: My all time favorite mascara, what is there more to say? Whenever I start to run out and get a new one of these I am still amazed at how well it works when I use the new wand for the first time. It just does everything for my lashes that mascara is supposed to do,

Weleda Skin Food For Dry Skin: An amazing but sticky night time moisturizer that I have repurchased multiple times. If you struggle with dry skin, give this one a try!

Sleek i Divine Au Naturel Palette: I am a big fan of Sleek even though I only own one other product by the company. I do not even know why it took me so long to get another of their eye shadow palettes. I will do an more in depth post about the au naturel palette soon, so look forward to that.

What have you been shopping for lately?

Products I've Used Up // November

Balea Shaving Gel Blueberry Love: This is my favorite shaving gel that I repurchase all the time. I try out new scents from time to time but in the end I always come back to this.

L'oréal hair expertise conditioner for damaged hair: This is a rather expensive collection by L'oréal. Considering that - even though I did like the product and it took good care of my hair - I will not repurchase this conditioner.

theBodyShop Lemon Sugar Scrub: I need to get my hands on another body scrub by theBodyShop. They are by far my favorites! They do always smell wonderful and work amazing on my skin. I think I prefer the gel ones over the sugar consistency but that is just personal preference.

Weleda skin food: This is by far my favorite night time moisturizer. It has quite a thick consistency and leaves your skin feeling sticky for a while but at night I do not really care about that. I do notice a difference when I switch my moisturizer out at night and use my normal daytime one - it is just not enough. My skin is really dry and this is the only moisturizer that keeps my skin from getting flaky. I already repurchased this one.

Catrice Glamour Doll Mascara Waterproof: I repurchase this mascara so often, I do not think I have to talk about how much I like it anymore, right?

Garnier Eye Make Up Remover 2 in 1: I already repurchased this. It is not a perfect product but it is the best eye make up remover for waterproof mascara that I know of.

tetesept cuddle-time bath salt: tetesept bath products are one of my favorites. I do not think I have ever been disappointed by one. Next time I think I want to try the new alverde bath salts but I will probably still repurchase this one.

What products did you use up this month?

Products I've used up - March 2014

Guhl Shampoo for long hair

Do you have 'shampoo holly grail'? I need to switch up my shampoo quite a lot. I might love it for a week and the next day it suddenly does not work as well as before. That is so frustrating. I really liked this shampoo but in the end (again) I needed to switch. 

FIT me! Concealer

The FIT me! concealer in 15 i actually to dark for me  but since there is nothing lighter available I use it anyways. I have had this particular one for so long (these things last forever) that it darkened over time. I already repurchased it. Maybe I will get a little tan this spring so the color will match better? Probably not ;)

alverde eye creme for every skin type & Weleda Skin Food

Two staples in my every day skin care routine. I have dry sensitive skin and these two help me take care of that. I use the alverde eye creme day and night while Weleda Skin Food is a night time product to me. 

Rival de Loop eye make up remover, Balea shaving gel Blueberry Love, ISANA Nail polish remover, tetsept bubble bath winter fairy tale 

What did you use up this month?

Drugstore HAUL

I tried not to shop this month - well, epic fail. While I did run out of moisturizer and of course I had to repurchase that, was there really a need for another nail polish? No, there was not.

alverde eye creme for every skin type

This is the best drugstore eye creme I have ever used and repurchase it all the time! I can highly recommend this. I have a very sensitive eye area and this does not irritate my skin at all. Love it!

Maybelline Super Stay Forever Strong Gel Nail Color 615 Mint for Life

Again, did I need this? Hell no. But it is soooo pretty! (And it was on sale.) I love the forever strong nail polish line be Maybelline. They have great colors and they really are the polishes that stay on my nails the longest.

Catrice Limited Edtion Nude Purism Pure Shimmer Highlighter

Oh my. I love myself some highlighter but it is so hard to find good ones in the drugstore. For what I have found Catrice simply does the best ones. I am so looking forward to finally wearing this! Doesn't it just look fantastic? (And no glitter!!! Shimmering champagne perfection...)

Weleda Skin Food

Another frequently repurchased product. I have very dry skin and this is just heaven for my skin type. Sadly it is a little more expensive....

What have you been shopping for lately?

Skin Care Routine for Dry Skin

Throughout the last year I have been on the hunt for skin care products that could help me deal with my suddenly super dry skin. Here is what I found.

This is a very basic skin care routine. I am only talking about products that I use every single day. Of course I do face masks or exfoliate my skin but since I have not found a holy grail product yet I have not included any here. My skin is generally very dry, sensitive and does not absorb product easily.

Rival deLoop Clean & Care oil free eye make-up remover 

Most of the time I only wear eye make-up and a little bit of concealer under my eyes so I only use eye make-up remover on a day to day basis. This one is by far my favorite one. I have tried Balea, Garnier and other brands and they all make my eyes burn. This does not dry out my eye area too much while still getting rid of mascara, eye shadow and eyeliner.  

alverde eye creme for every skin type

I have tried a lot of different eye cremes in the past year and none of them worked for me. This again is the only one I found that does not irritate my skin and still moisturizes enough. There is no eye creme by alverde that is especially made for dry skin but if there ever will be I would love to try t.

Weleda Skin Food for dry skin

This is the most amazing skin care discovery of 2014! I use this every night and I would not want to miss it. I only use it at night because it takes a while to sink into you skin. If you want to know more about it you can check out the review I wrote right here: click.

alverde face oil wild rose for dry skin

This is the newest addition to my skin care routine. I use this in the morning after I took a shower and my skin is still wet. You only need a few drops and massage it into your skin. It does not take long to sink into your skin and after I got dressed and blowdried my hair I continue to use the next product:

alverde intensive repair avocado moisturizer for very dry skin

Here is what annoys me about alverde: this is the one and only product from the skin care range of alverde for very dry skin! Come on, one product?! Please do more! Other than that I really like it. Throughout the cold past months I added this on top of the face oil but maybe it will be enough on its own in the summer time? Anyway, I really love this product. I like the scent of avocado and I have never had a moisturizer with a consistency like this one. It almost feels like it absorbs into your skin the second it touches it. My skin loves this stuff.

Do you have any skin care product recommendations for dry skin? I am always looking for new ideas!

Favorites 2014

Hello there!

There are a lot of products I enjoyed using last year and now I want to share those with you that I actually discovered in 2014!

I resisted buying the labello (or NIVEA) lip butters for sooo long, since if there is one thing I clearly have enough of it is lip balms. It did not replace my Carmex obsession but I still loved using this at home. Skincare was a big deal for me in 2014 because my skin just seemed to get dryer and dryer. What helped were the Weleda Skin Food and the alverde eye creme for every skin type. I did an entire review on the face creme that I will link here. Another product I repurchased again in 2014 was the Catrice Glamour Doll volume mascara. I loved it especially in combination with my (beautiful)  essence bloom me up! Limited Edition eyelash curler 01 lovely lavender. 

Something not beauty related that still had to be mentioned is Taylor Swifts new album 1989! I am in love with it! The only thing I do not get is why the two bonus tracks are not regularly included in the record - they are two of my favorite tracks of the album! Buy the D.L.X. version if you can!

One last thing that I wanted to talk about is a book: The fault in our stars by John Green. I read this in December 2014 and simply wanted to recommend everybody to give it a try, it is a truly amazing book!

Love,

  Myra

Products I've used up - August 2014

Pantene Pro-V Silky Smooth Conditioner 
This was a humongous 400ml bottle and it took me forever to use it all up. I bought this in February 2013 and just used it up this August! And what did I do?  - I repurchased it! I love this stuff. I am a little scared that they might have reformulated it since they changed the packaging and I bought my former bottle over a year ago. I have naturally curly hair and this product actually makes my hair dry 'straighter' while still making it shiny and feeling very soft.

Weleda Skin Food
This is a must have in my skin care routine. I have very dry skin and no other moisturizer does such a good job taking care of that problem. I only apply this at night because it makes your face super shiny and sticky for quite some time since it takes so long to really sink into your skin and because has a strong herbal scent to it. I notice a significant difference in my skin when I skip a day of applying this product. I have repurchased this already but I am still looking for a good day time moisturizer - any suggestions?

Isana Nail Polish Remover & Rival de Loop Clean & Care Eye Make Up Remover
These are products I repurchase all the time and that talked about a lot already on the blog.

Theramed Interdental Toothpaste
Ok, toothpaste is a little boring ;) but I always think it is interesting to see what toothpaste other people are using so I thought I'd share mine as well. Theramed is my favorite brand of toothpaste. I am very particular about the 'taste' of toothpaste and I hardly like any. In addition to the taste of Theramed toothpaste I really like their packaging! I think it looks great and it is also a lot more practical than the usual tube.

This time around I repurchased every single product I used up in the last month - I don't think that ever happened before! Did that ever happen to you?

Thanks so much for reading,

 - Myra

Summer Beauty Haul

I went shopping way too much yet again! - But I did not actually buy a lot of beauty stuff this summer which I am almost proud of ;)

alverde body butter in Vanilla & Mandarin 
I am hoping it is the same product that I showed you here - please! Let's hope they only switched up the packaging!

The Body Shop Tea Tree Squeaky-Clean Scrub
I am in love <3 I have had this product for a while now and I think I will do a Skin Care Routine soon. I loved the The Body Shop Body Scrub and wanted the same amazing experience for my face. I read reviews online suggesting this product for dry but blemished skin - which is exactly what I have - and when I saw it was only 8 Euros (you can buy a lot more expensive The Body Shop products) I had to try it.

Weleda Skin Food
This is a repurchase - my skin would be a mess without this product. SInce I am about to run out of this I had to make sure I had a backup.

Pantene Pro-V Conditioner for dry hair
Again this is a repurchase. I had a giant bottle of this before (that literally lasted for over a year) and I am still loving it. Somehow my hair just does not like to be straight and this product is the only way I know that gets it to be straight (well almost). I love this stuff.

L'oréal Paris Nude Magique Eau De Teint 120 Ivoire / Pure Ivory
This foundation sounded so amazing and when I swatched it it seemed to be a perfect match - but it is not. It is the lightest shade they sell but it is still too dark for me. :(

Manhattan Glowing Goddess Shimmer Powder Pink Paradise
This is the newest addition to my make up collection. I have been eyeing this product for the last few weeks and had to remind myself constantly that I had set a goal of not buying any more blushes because I already own a ridiculous amount. Then they started selling out everywhere and after wanting it for this long I finally caved in and got it! I have not used it yet but I will just after finishing this blogpost when I get ready for the rest of the day ;)

alverde baked Duo-Bronzer 10 Light Bronze
It already broke! I just tilted it to the side a little - and the whole product fell out! I had to collect the broken pieces from the ground before ven using it once :( Other than that I really like it (besides the smell - why do alverde products have to smell like that?!).

KIKO Fancy Top Coat nail lacquer 657
KIKO nail lacquer386
I don't have a KIKO near where I live so when I visited my parents in July I had to stop by their store! I have been looking for a crazy shimmer & glitter top coat from the drugstore for a while now but never found one I really liked. KIKO is not a drugstore brand - but the prices are drugstore level. I was also looking for the perfect light, creamy blue for my nails and thought I had finally found it - just to come home to find that I own the exact same color from Revlon. Well, fail.

KIKO Skinny Fit Kajal 05
Is that not the prettiest packaging you have ever seen? I do not want to throw it away :( I have only used the pencil once and I like it so far. I just wish it had the the same print as the packaging...

Catrice Limited Edition Le Grand Bleu - Matt Lip Cream C01 Never Leave Coral Reef
This was kind of a stupid purchase. Don't get me wrong - I like the product - I simply own way to many red lip products. Well, good thing it was on sale :P

from left to right:
Catrice Limited Edition Le Grand Bleu - Matt Lip Cream C01 Never Leave Coral Reef
KIKO Skinny Fit Kajal 05

That is all I got! - Puh, that was a long post. I hope you enjoyed and you are having a fantastic summer! Tell me what products I should check out in the drugstore the next time I go shopping there :P

Bye,
   - Myra

February Favorites 2014

It is the end of the month and that means it is time for favorites! I had a really stressful time this February which is why I did not bother to wear more make up than the usual concealer and mascara. That's why this moth there are no real beauty makeup favorites but skin care and random ones.

My skin was going crazy this month! It just got really dry and generally bad :(
What helped with that were the Weleda Skin Food and the Balea hydrating eye cream. I did a review on the Weleda Skin Food earlier this month after just using it for a week and promised an update in my February favorites  post, so here it is: I still love it and would repurchase it over and over again!

I got the eos lip balm in cranberry for my birthday and will soon do a review on that. But it is in my favorites this month so I gues you can already tell I like it very much ;)

Allegiant is the third book in the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. I have not been ready a lot in the last month which is why I have not finished it yet (no spoilers please!). I am not good at book reviews so all I will say is that this series is definitely worth reading. Because I have not been readying for the last year in general I set a reading challenge on Good Reads for myself. Good Reads is an amazing website for book lovers! You can rate books, keep track of what you want to read in the future and check out reading lists of other people! I spent way to much time on there....

Guess what I got for Valentine's day? - Right! Taylor Swift's first album. I have been listening to this a lot. You can check out what else I listen to this month in my Spring Playlist post from last week. Another song that totally got stuck in my head this moth was this one:

Acapella by Karmin

On to my two last favorites. The first one has to be Pull&Bear. I love that shop and if I could I would by almost every single piece in their store o.o The other one are my cream white rose studs. I bought them last year in the sale so you will not find these exact ones anymore but you can get rose studs everywhere. I wore these almost every single day.

Do you have a Good Reads account? If so let me know in the comments :)

Thank you to everyone who ever reads one of my posts <3

- Myra 

Weleda Skin Food - Review

I just bought this product a week ago, so I cannot give a final review yet. I have just been using this since last Tuesday but I can already see a difference in my skin! I generally have dry skin but in the last three weeks it got even worse. I remembered FleurdeForce talking about Skin Food in one of her recent videos so I went to the drugstore to check it out.

75ml cost 7.95 Euro which is not much at all. You can apply it on your face and body but I have only used it on my face yet. I put it on every night and on mornings when I am staying home that day. Why is that? After applying this my face is shiny and sticky which I do not want my skin to feel like throughout the day. That is why I apply it when I do not have to leave the house afterwards. One thing I really do not like about it - i fact the only thing that is bothering me - is the smell. I do not know how to describe the scent- herbal maybe? But not like herbal tea (that I would like)....You can still smell it after you apply it but not for long.

Now comes the great part! I love the effect it has on my skin. I have no dry patches on my face anymore. They are gone. I have breakouts and my skin still is nowhere near perfect but I have no dry patches anymore! That is huge for me because even when my skin was doing better I still had problems with that.

I have only tried this product for a week now - that is why I am going to update you on how I like it at the end of the month in my monthly favorites post that I will link here as soon as it is up.

Have you tried other Weleda products before?

- Myra

Drugstore HAUL

Weleda Skin Food
My skin is super dry right now and I don't know what to do about it. I have generally dry skin but in the last two weeks none of my moisturizing  products seem to be enough anymore. FleurdeForce talked about Skin Food in one of her last videos as a product she likes using an an airplane when her skin gets super dry so that is what I got. At first I was hesitant because of the price but you get 75ml in one tube which is more than you get with most other face creams.

Balea Eye Cream
I had this eye cream before and I really liked it. I am currently using another one by Balea but even my eye area (even more than the rest of my skin) is really dry so I am switching back this version. I looked for another alternative for a long time but there just are no eye creams for dry skin in the drugstore (only a lot of anti aging products -.- ).

essence Long Lasting Lip Stick 13 Love Me
This is my first product from the new essence spring range. I love the long lasting lip stick line (I already own two other shades). It is super affordable and I really like the quality and color range. I almost bought the shade 01 as well but I think I will save that one for a souvenir from Berlin.

These are both the same lipstick. The upper swatch has just one coat, for the other one I layered on more color.

Are you interested in any of these products? Or have you tried them already? Do you have any suggestions on how to handle my suddenly really dry skin?

- Myra