All posts tagged: skincare

The beauty of a beauty excorcism

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“The beauty exorcism” It was but a quick title in my inbox, with clickbait allures written all over it, designed especially to draw me in and extend my (already extensive) procrastination with another 15 – 30 mintes, but the words hit home and started living their own life, creating a story in my head and trickling into my subconscious. With Autumn in full swing, it is not only the perfect moment to transition into crisp skies, jaw-dropping foliage and sweater supremacy, but also a clear skin (and a clear mind). My skin has been playing tricks on me, so the need for a beauty detox matches that spin of words swindling around in my head, needing to be tamed and structurised for a greater effect. The last few months have been an (superfluous) overflow of products marching in an out of my cabinet, my routine, and while that much product testing is fun, it has been causing havoc. I’m talking blotchiness, redness, itchiness and that uncomfortable feeling of tightness and dryness, no matter how much water …

Kneipp Patchouli and Shea Butter Body Cream

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I feel like I am going about this winter skin thing backwards, as I am only now getting round to writing about the “fattiest” cream that kept me going this winter, but somehow my skin only realized winter had kicked in about a month and a half ago. Up until the end of January, I was happily lathering myself with the La Roche Posay Lipikar AP+ Balm every two to three days, never feeling itchy or scratchy, and generally not feeling that winter blues. However, the unthinkable happened, I ran out of the LRP Lipikar AP+ (shock horror, my back up had vanished as well), and even my pharmacist had run out of it’s stock as well. I dove into the stockpile that I affectionately call my little beauty hall, and the Kneipp Body Cream with Patchouli and Shea Butter caught my eye. Though not the flashiest of my body care bunch, the soothing white and gentle green packaging almost seemed to echo the softness and creaminess inside. Silky smooth might be two words that sound beguiling …

Weleda Beauty Balm

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Now here’s a first: I am not madly in love with these balms. And I am not afraid to say it.  Just putting it out there. No cushioning, no beating about the bush, no diplomatic euphemisms, no nothing. My skin doesn’t like these balms, and these balms don’t like my skin. That being said, this in no way, shape or form means that the product on it’s own is bad. It just didn’t do anything for me. So what do I do? Do I launch a tirade, detailing everything that didn’t work? No, because a) Weleda and I go way back and while there is no love lost on this release, there still is a whole lot of love for Weleda and other of their products (Skin Food = divinity!), and b), just because it didn’t match well to my skin, doesn’t mean it can’t be the definition of beauty balm perfection for someone else. So that’s where I am leaving it at. The realisation that not every cream is my kind of cream, and …

Into the Glow

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Into the glow we go! After a long festive season, a polar vortex winter and the mother of all allergic reactions, I am more than ready to welcome Spring and reclaim that glow! I might have to wait a bit longer to feel that first crisp in the air or see those first buds on the trees, but I do have a few new tricks up my sleeve to lightly amp up the volume and get that soft lit-from-within effect I love. Preparation is key, no gorgeous painting without a pristinely prepped blank canvas, so after my morning routine, I apply a thin layer of the Elizabeth Arden Eight Arden Cream. A golden oldie, but as my nan always used say:  ” The classics never go out of style”, and this product is the textbook example of a classic! A thin layer of the thick cream seals in the moisture, acts as a barrier between my skin and the extreme elements we are battling this moment, and functions as a primer for the Bourjois Air …

Filorga Oil Absolute

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Bonjour mes amours! It is the week of love, and if there is anything I love, love, love in beauty, face oil takes that crown. My adoration of face oils has been well documented here on LeenLovesStyle, especially when my skin’s feeling dry and tight due to a change in seasons, a lack of hydration or after a retinol or AHA binge. I usually have a few of them on rotation, but the one I’m reaching for the most lately is Filorga Oil-Absolute Ultimate Anti-Ageing Serum. Wait, what? Serum? Oil? Can it be both? Filorga markets this as a ‘facial oil with the power of a serum’, promising to improve the look of wrinkles, even out skin tone and boost its radiance. Filorga + face oil? I was ready to dive in, literally and figuratively! The ingredient list is always the perfect place to start, and the one for the Filorga Oil Absolute reads like a who’s who of skincare Tinseltown. Reigning supreme is a blend of several natural oils, with buruti and camellia being the most enticing ones. …

Vichy Liftactiv Vitamin C Brightening Skin Corrector

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A 10 day booster treatment of a few drops a day for an improve skin texture and a brighter skin tone? Colour me excited! The press release for this tickled my fancy in a flash, and I could not wait to photograph and test this beaut’ as soon as it dropped into the LLS postbox. First things first, what is it that I rambling about? The Vichy Liftactiv Vitamin C Booster (or the Liftactiv Vitamin C Brightening Skin Corrector, as you will), is a 15% Pure Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Fragmented Hyaluronic Acid and Vichy Mineralizing Thermal Water formula. The 15% Vitamine C and Hyaluronic Acid will have already given it away, the goal of this little bottle is a skin that looks radiant and well rested, with a refined texture and less fine lines. Let’s just call it a time machine for your skin. A big claim for a small bottle! It was the perfect time for this Vichy Liftactiv Vitamin C Booster  to pop up in my life, stress at work + working mum’s …

Treading Into Glossier Waters

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Glossier…. Aka the Holy Grail of skincare according to many. I’m sure this is not the first article you’ve read on the brand, God knows how many articles I’ve read on it, but still, I’d like to add in my 2 cents as well. I couldn’t resist temptation any longer, and asked (no, pleaded) sweet Katia to bring me back some Glossier goodies when she hopped across the Atlantic to discover New York, and thanks to her being the amazing friend that she is, I finally got my mittens on some products. All in the name of blogging of course! For those not aware who or what Glossier is (where have you been?), it’s a beauty and skincare brand created by a super savvy woman (Emily Weiss) super savvy women who know what they want: Enhance what you’ve got and flaunt it, instead of hiding it. No frills, no faffing about, but luxury products that work for a price that doesn’t break the bank. Add in smart packaging, formulas that work and a loyal millennial …

Autumn Newbies – How do they stack up?

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Autumn is more than halfway, I know, but still…Earlier this week I mentioned my skincare routine being in dire need of a shake up (check this article), and as some interesting skincare tidbits had landed on my desk and my skin was no in the best shape ever, I trialled and tested some new bits to see if they had what it takes. What came next is a tale of the good, the bad and the ugly. Or, the good, the semi-ok and the not-for-me! Caudalie and I go way back (check the first years of this blog, and you’ll find a myrriad of pieces on Caudalie), and whenever they launch a new product, I am all ears, and in this case, all face. The Caudalie Vinoperfect Concentrated Brightening Essence is the first one that actually made me want to try essences, because what one earth could be the added bonus of an essence? For starters, what do it actually do? Is it a cleanser? A toner? A micellar water? No, no and no! More …

A Tale Of Caving In (Into The Ordinary)

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Us bloggers are at the same time a critical and impressionable bunch. Sure, years of testing, trialling and studying have taught us a thing or two, which makes that we approach new launches with caution, but when friends and fellow beauty afficionada’s start raving about that same new launch, we end up throwing that same caution to the wind, hop on the bandwagon and end up ordering the product anyway? Me? Guilty as charged! Case in point: The Ordinary. I steered clear from the brand for a long time, not quite trusting the low price / high quality claim and feeling bulldozered by the extensive catalogue of products… something about not seeing the wood for the trees and such… But still, curiosity won, and I caved. Cue back to a few weeks ago, when my serum stash was dwindling and my skin was in need of a shake up of my skincare routine. My curiosity was getting the better of me, so I dove in, did my research and ordered the 100% Squalane Oil, the …

Twinning is winning, even with bodycare

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DNA is a thing of wonder, often baffling me when I recognize little things my kids do or have and that I can trace back directly to me. Case in point, my daughter’s extremely dry and sensitive skin which is so much a carbon copy of mine that it is almost scary. Equally parched, itchy, reactive and prone to contact dermatitis, I am even more obsessed when it comes to keeping her skin in tip top shape as I am about my own. So far, I’ve looked at a lot of brands, tried only a few and loved even less, so you’ll understand my caution when the Dermalex Supreme Moisturizer* and the Dermalex Baby Eczema Cream* arrived on our doorstep. I know I can handle an itchy reaction or an allergic flare up, but when it comes to Little Miss C and her skin, I’d rather take no chances at all. So first I did a little pre-testing, and then, you guessed it, testing became twinning. ‘Cause twinning is winning. With years of extensive body …