Acne tips

Skin has always been well... I don't really know how to put it but... I 've always had spots, and when I say spots I mean acne… cystic acne...but there are a few simple tricks that I've learnt in the process of dealing with my skin problems that really make a massive difference in the way yor skin behaves and looks, I promise!! (FYI I've been dealing with acne for almost a decade now)

Here we go:

- Drink a lot of water,  2/2.5 liters per day are enough. Drinking water helps eliminate toxins and if you have oily skin it helps making it less oily, and I can vouch for that!

- Have a healthy diet, I know that Nutella and greasy food break me out like nothing else, so I allow myself to have some only every once in a while. You need to know yourself  and how you react to certain foods.

- Don’t cover your skin with make-up! Let it breath and don’t keep on touching it, this will help the scars left and the spots heal faster, while you don’t spread the bacteria around with the foundation brush/sponge

- Don’t  wash your face too often! Twice a day is enough, otherwise you risk to irritate and strip the skin lipids and that will stimulate your skin to produce oven more oil.

- Use gentle face cleansers and balancing products that have soothing properties, stay away from any kind of fragranced skincare items!

- Go to a dermatologist! The opinion of an expert is always a good idea if you suffer of serious acne.

- Clay and aspirin are life savers!! See my post on clay and aspirin mask here

- Exfoliate! This is key to preventing pores from clogging ,  but be careful not to go crazy with it, exfoliate twice a week with a GENTLE scrub, washing you face in circular motion applying almost no pressure on the skin.

- Be "religious" with your routine! Being constant is the only way to see results!

- Be patient, real results will take time to show!

- Remember you are beautiful anyways, and don’t ever let acne make you feel insecure, if people cannot see beyond your appearances they’re probably not worth having in your life!!

This picture has not been edited, this is how my skin looks, as you can see it's a bit oily and has a few acne marks

Cheer up my friends there are worse things than acne, and it can be cured and kept under control! JI know this post is sooooo long, but it’s a subject I feel really close to my heart and couldn’t make it any shorter!!

Anna 

Re-discovery: Laura Mercier mineral powder

I know I often said, in previous posts, that I don't wear foundation on a daily basis, mainly because I am always rushing secondly because I believe that letting the skin breath (spots included) helps keeping it clear. Lately though I've found, in the attempt of organizing my make-up, this mineral powder foundation and... I am in love! I purchased this over a year ago on a trip to London and totally forgot I had it. 

When I found it I decided to give it a try again, and I applied it using a big kabuki brush, in circular motions. It was surprising how natural looking this foundation is and jet has the perfect amount of coverage. The coverage is easily buildable, it can even cover acne without looking like you have a ton on. It does not get attached to any dry patches, lets the skin breath and once it sets does not look powdery at all, in fact I’d say it’s quite dewy, and I sometimes use powder on top if I want a mat finish.

I've been using this for over two weeks now and my skin has not changed in any way, if nothing looks more radiant, no unwanted breakout came up since using this product and I will stress that my skin is SERIOUSELY acne prone!

Her is the description given on the Laura Mercier website: "Laura Mercier Mineral Powder SPF 15 is a finely milled powder composed completely of natural elements with 15 active amino acids to clear the skin of toxins, promote healthy skin cell growth and fight the aging process." as far as I'm concerned I'm sold on this product and I undoubtedly recommend this to anyone!

It retails at approximately $35, and there are varoiuse shades to matcj your skintone, I personally use Real Sand.

Hope this was useful!

Anna

In & Out

It's time for another in and out post! I've had a lot of ins lately, because sales shopping hasn't quite satisfied my thirst for new things... ups! here we go...

In:

-Clear skin! yay!! finally a real big step forward in the super clear direction!! Time and patience is finally paying off!

-Jeffrey Campbell Lita ankle boots! How amazing are these shoes? I really really want a pair too bad I can't find a store that carries Jeffrey Campbell near my city! (I kind of don't like buying shoes online...but I guess I'll have to get over that and go for it)

-VOGUE!! I love this month's issue, specially the beauty section, I just want to go out and buy EVERUTHING featured but... I won't! For the sake of my bank account! ;)

Picture from VOGUE italia january 2012

-planning a trip to New York!! Yayayayayayay! I haven't been back in the US in way too long!! I miss the    USA!!

-All the spring collections are coming out! Ready to be discovered! But I will wait until spring actually starts to start buying new things! 

Out:

-Cold cold cold winter with no snow! Come on, what's the deal with the weather this year? No skiing!! Bummer!

That’s it for today!

Hope you all had an amazing week-end!!

Anna

Clay and Aspirin face mask

Clay masks have always been in my heart for their clearing and sebum absorbing power, but lately the oiliness in my skin has diminished ( and I'm really happy about it!). Most of you might think that that would mean less break outs....WRONG! I've been going through a pretty bad skin period lately, and over one night I got six new spots on my face!! I got really frustrated in the morning and decided to do something new... my original idea was to dissolve a couple of aspirins in the water and apply the solution on the spots and leave it on as long as possible, but I accidentally put waaay too much water in the glass in the attempt to dissolve the aspirins, so through all my mistakes something amazing was discovered!!!

Here is what I did: 

melt 4 aspirins in just a little  amount of water

add 1/2 tbs of green clay

add 1 tbs of honey

Once you've done that, mix all the ingredients well, using any tool you want but not something made of steel because it reacts with clay, and make it not as effective! When you're ready apply a thick layer of mask on your face and leave it on for 20/30 minutes, then rinse it off  with warm water. Take your time while rinsing it off, because the texture is quite grainy and it takes a while to dissolve. Your skin should look brighter and the redness and inflammation of spots significantly reduced!! In fact the salicylic acid contained in aspirin calms down the inflammation and removes dead skin cells, the purifying power of clay helps draw to the surface all the dirt and excess oil, while honey helps keep skin hydrated, fresh and prevents drying, and has anti-microbial properties as well!

The nice thing about this mask is that you can adjust it to your skin, more honey if your skin is dryer, more clay if it’s oilier, more or fewer aspirins depending on how many spots you have and the trick is done!!

Let me know if you try it and how it worked for you!!

Anna

Hands Hands Hands!

Lately I've been loving these commercials that involve hands as their main focus, with the product they're advertising of course! I think the whole idea is just genious, and really captivating, usually I skip the adverts on YouTube as soon as I can but these are just fantastic!!!

Here is the latest Dior commercial ...

and here is a Chanel one from last summer (if I'm not mistaken)...

Hope you like these short films as much as I do!!

Anna

Max Factor Colour Collections

This morning I was downtown waiting for my mom, when I saw that a store was shutting down and had a 50% discount on everything! (In the store all the make-up was thrown into baskets and there were no testers, or similar to actually look at the product inside, it was a bit of a "blind shopping session") Anyways, I rushed in and grabbed a few things, among which there are 3 surprisingly good lipsticks!

As I love Max Factor as a brand but never tried any of their lipsticks, I decided it was a good time to give them a try! The only ones left were from the Colour Collections range. The shades I bought shade number 853 Chilli, 839 Maple, 21 Pearl Orange.

The colours have a little shimmer in, but it's quite subtle, the formula is not drying and feels smooth and light on the lips. I put Chilli on right after lunch, before going out, and when I got home around 6 pm the lipstick was still on and that's a big plus for me, because long lasting products are my cup of tea since I'm always on the go... I find all of these shades very wearable and good for both daytime and night time, although I find that Pearl Orange better for summer/spring time rather than winter.

I definitely want to try more shades from this range and other Max Factor's lipsticks ranges!

Have you ever tried this range before? I would love to know which shades you like or don't like!

Have a great weekend!!

Anna 

Benefit They're real mascara

I've finally used up my hypnose doll eyes mascara, and I went into Sephora to buy the hypnose drama, but it was out of stock (really???) But sometimes things happen for a reason! And I decided to buy Benefit's They're Real instead, because it claimed to give volume, lift, length, all that a girl wishes a mascara would do! So even though I thought 22 euros is a bit expensive I was curious to try it out. It's actually the first ever Benefit product I buy/own. I will admit I am really impressed by this mascara!! I like the fact that one coat is enough to achieve a good intense volumised look! I would not say this is a buildable mascara, I tried to do 2 coats, just because I wanted to see how the product would go on after one coat and it got really clampy and not really good looking at all. On the other hand the fact that I only need one coat and the wand's design makes the application pretty effortless is a huge plus for me since I'm always rushing to get out in time in the morning!

Here is one coat:

As you can see it really gets every single lash and gives them a good lift and curl but has a tendency to clamp, but overall I really like this mascara! Definitely a "day time mascara" since the final look is not too dramatic.

hope you found this quick review helpful!

Anna 

2011 favourites -SKINCARE-

As the first week of the year is quickly coming to an end, so is my "miniseries" on my 2011 favourite produce, and last but not least we have skincare! There are 3 brands that stood out in these past twelve months: Clinique, Liz Earle and Avène.

1. Clinique Anti Blemish 3 steps system, I did a blogpost about it a while ago, and I'm still using it, (I still get a few break outs) but I'm really pleased with the results.

2. Liz Earle, I use daily their Cleanse and Polish cleanser as a make-up remover in the evening, and works wonders, leaves the skin really clean and removes every little mascara residue from the eyes. Another product I really like from their range is the Deep cleansing mask, that is a clay mask that helps "draw out impurities and oil", it also visibly reduces pores. I love the smell of propolis this clay mask has, and the fact that you receive a song to remove it after application. I also use the Liz Earl Gentle Face Exfoliator, that I use twice a week in the shower. I'm aware that many people don't like the "scrub type" exfoliator, but I can assure you that this product is so gentle and at the same time effective, that I feel confident recommending it even if you have sensitive skin (which I have).

3. Avène. By far my favourite brand when it comes to moisturizers. I use the intolerant skin recovery cream, on top of the Clinique moisturizer only at night time and really calms down the redness in the skin. I also use the under eye cream which is simply amazing (I did a post about it too), and reduces significantly any dry patches I tend to get on my eyelid! When my acne was much better a couple of years ago I used Clearance K and that was fantastic for black and white heads ( I just felt like it needed a mention)

4. Differin cream, this is an acne treatment that my dermatologist prescribed to me that is helping fading the marks left behind by blemished and little scars I have on my face. 

Here are all my skincare favourites, I hope you found this post useful or at least interesting!

Hope you'll all start the second week of 2012 the best way possible!

Anna

2011 favourites -MAKE-UP-

I had a really hard time selecting my make-up favourites for this year, and I decided to feature in this review the ones that I have repurchased or would repurchase, and that wowed me!

1. LancômeHypnose Drama mascara, by far the best mascara I've ever owned! I did a review on it earlier in 2011,  but in just a few words what it does is lengthen volumize and really curl and lift the eyelashes! Amazing, so worth the money, and lasts a long long time without drying out!

2. Pupa 4SUN BRONZING POWDER, shade n.2, a really nice bronzer that stays on all day, , and has a nice perfume that slightly reminds me of sunscreen. The concept of the four different shades is something I absolutely endorse, and the fact that I can adapt the shade and transition from winter to summer with just one bronzer is fantastic. It's a matt but luminous bronzer that does not look yellow on the skin and has a velvety finish.

3. NarsDeep Throat blush, absolutely love the shade on my pale skin, it looks good applied with bronzer (contour) or alone too, just the perfect shade for that "just blushed" look. It's slightly shimmery but still day appropriate, it's not too pigments so you can apply without worrying about getting these super pink patches on your face, even though my philosophy is apply a little and add as I go, little by little.

4.Chanel ÉclatLumiere, by far my favourite under eye brightening pen that I use on the side of my nose and on the center. I absolutely love the formula, the shade it comes in, the lasting power, everything! Amazing, any time I'm around a duty free at any airport I tend to look for it and see it I can get it a bit cheaper, because let's face it the price is a bit high in my opinion!

I'm so sorry, but when I upload this pic it automatically turns it the wrong way! I wonder why... :/

5. Patinaand Satin Taupe eye shadows from MAC, I got these in Hamburg while I was visiting my sister because we don't have Mac in my city or in the surrounding areas, so... Anyways these have been my two go to eye shadows for a nice smoky eye for an casual evening out or a girls day out.

That's it for my make-up 2011 discoveries! I know there's not a foundation, but that's simply because I don't use ine so I've had the same one (that I don't like) for a long long time! But if I had to choose one would be Chanel Vita Lumiere Aqua, that I bought for my sister for Christmas and looks amazing on her, and she confirmed it's really good and feels like nothing on the skin.

Hope this was fun to read and I would love the read about your 2011 favourites, so if you want to make my day leave a comment and let me know! :)

Anna

2011 favoutrites -HAIR-

I've decided to do a little thinking and go through all the stuff I've used in 2011 and see what really stood out to me, and I quite wide variety of stuff popped in my mind but just a few left a remarkable sign in my mind! I've decided to divide the products into three categories: hair, make up, skin, and do one post for each category. We're starting off with hair!

1. COIFFEUR SERVICE SHOW 

    L’ Exclusive professional neutral shampoo, delicate action, with eucalyptus extract

Has gently rebalanced my scalp leaving my hair looking shiny, soft and hydrated. Since using this shampoo I had perfectly clean hair for two to three days, while before on the second day a ponytail was mandatory. This shampoo is made in my city and sold here and I am not sure where else you can find it.

2. Biacrè Hydrating mask with Argan andmacadamia oil

I use it every time I was my hair only on the ends, and my sister and I have noticed a dramatic change in the softness of the hair after only one application, plus our hair have significantly less split ends since using this mask.

3. envie discticante milk protein 2 phasesphon protection

It’s a bi-phase milk that protects the hair from the heat of the hairdryer, while I find it help with frizzy hair. This make the hair so soft, silky, easy to style, and doesn’t leave any residues on at all! Sometimes I use it on dry hair too, if I feel it needs a bit more moisture put in quick.

I'm sorry that all of these products are made in Italy and probably hard to get in other countries, but if you happen to come visit or live here these products are really worth a try!

Anna

Face of the Day!

Lately I've been enjoying wearing this make up, and one of my new year's resolutions was to start doing FOTD a OOTD, because I love watching them on YouTube and looking at pictures on various blogs! So here I go with my first 2012 FOTD "less serious"!

On my face:

(I borrowed my mom's foundation) Chanel Tient Innocence compact in the colour B20,

Clinique airbrushed concealer under the eyes

Guerlain Terracotta 4 seasons cheeks temples and wherever the sun would naturally hit

Nars Deep throat blush on apples of the cheek

On the eyes I just run a little bit of black eye shadow along the lash line and applied a ton of mascara, Lancôme Doll Eyes.

On the lips I don't have anything, since they're pretty chapped the only thing I want on is lip balm!

Hope you're all enjoying shopping the sales!! as I'm about to go out and do a little bargain research downtown! I need a pair of new boots so badly! :)

Anna

Guerlain Terracotta 4 Seasons!

New year and new bronzer! I received this amazing gift over Christmas (I would not spend that much on a bronzer honestly) but nevertheless I always wanted to try it! Guerlain is known all around the world for his high end luxurious bronzers and make up in general, but mostly for its perfumes! In fact I’ve recently discovered that Guerlain was born as a perfume house in 1828, and just started to explore the make-up world in the 1980s! (a bit of history right there…)

Let’s talk about the actual product, shall we?

First of all I adore the packaging, so sleek and thoughtfully designed with a “3D effect” on the top where you can see the Guerlain “G” showing through, depending on how the light hits the case, just gorgeous!

This is shade n.2 for brunettes. It has, as you can see, 4 different shades in that can be mixed in order to create the perfect sunkissed look, allowing you to transition from season to season using the same bronzer. 

It has a matte, but at the same time luminous effect thanks to the pure gold particles that it contains. I have to say I was surprised, the first time I wore it, by how long it lasted on the skin, I applied it in the morning and just did a quick touch up before going out in the evening, that’s all I needed! On I daily basis I just pop some on in the morning and I’m good the whole day!

I swatched the 4 shades on my fingers, because I believe the colours change a bit on the skin. At this time of the year I use only the two lighter colours, and sometimes the third colour (ring finger) if I want to contour a bit more! I think it’s a great gift to receive for any make-up lover!

Hope this was interesting,

Anna

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Happy 2012!!

I just saw this picture and loved it! Happy 2012 everyone! :)

Anna