Caudalie Thirst Quenching Serum

The more Caudalie products I try, the more I fall in love with the brand!
My mum got me this when she was away and my first reaction was a bit sceptical because it seems like a product suited for a drier skin. However, after using it for about a week I'm positively sure that it's one of the best things my skin has tried - I'm actually starting to think it could have been a little dehydrated before.
I've been using it instead of a moisturiser (before going to bed only) so I can see clearer results and I find it's enough on it's own. The very first day my skin felt ... well, like it's not really my skin. Definitely hydrated, soft and calm. It has totally transformed my skin and I think it's worth every single penny of the £29 it costs. 
The serum is quite liquidy but a little goes a loong way - one spritz is enough for my whole face and half my neck. It sinks in quite quick but I prefer to give it some extra time before I wipe my face with the pillow and I'd definitely suggest waiting before applying another product on top.
I honestly think it's one of the best things your dry, dehydrated (and even combination-oily skin like mine) skin could try.
And of course it's organic and has no parabens which is always good and for me personally is a big selling point.
Have you tried the serum? I'd love to hear what you think! :)

The Avene cleanse

After falling in love with Avenes' Thermal Water I decided that the rest of their skincare is something I definitely shouldn't miss out on. I've had a bad experience with their cosmetics when I was 15-16 so I've been ignoring them on purpose but since my skin has changed so much since then giving it a second chance seems the right thing to do.
So after less than 10 minutes in the pharmacy I walked out with a gel-cleanser and a no-rinse make-up remover.
I've been using them both for about 15 days now so I can honestly say that my skin loved then and I'm happy to be using them! 

Extremely gentle cleanser

no-rinse tissue-off formula 

sensitive and irritated skin

This is amazing! And what I mean by that is I've never liked the idea of a no-rinse cleanser. I just feel the need to take everything off of my face before going to bed and leaving the possible remains of make-up and a greasy dissolving substance on it just won't do. This is why I'm more of a gel+water-cleanser kinda gal. However, this leaves my skin so soft, hydrated and feeling clean that I have to admit - there have been a few nights I've applied my night moisturiser straight after and went to bed without involving water in the process. It's very gentle to my sensitive skin and it feels very soft on the eyes. I have tried it with heavy make-up and it does a great job. Plus, a little goes a long way. I honestly can't say anything bad about this and would recommend it anytime!

Gentle gel cleanser

rinse-off formula
for normal to combination sensitive skin

As much as I love what it does to my skin it was a bit weird getting used to this cleanser in the beginning. According to the packaging you only need moist fingers to apply it on dry skin, which was new to me - I love splashing water onto my face and I kind of miss it while cleansing. However, it does give better results when applied on dry make-up so I just went with it. That aside, it leaves my pores clean and my skin very soft. I've been using it morning and evening for about two weeks now and I'm positively sure it has made my pores smaller and my skin better looking. It doesn't foam at all, I'd say a lot of the products sinks into the skin but it leaves a nice feeling and it gets rid of make-up quite quick. I'm a bit disappointed as I go through 2-3 spirits a use, which leaves me thinking it won't last a long time but we'll see how that goes. It's a very simple cleanser - easy to wash off your face, does what it says on the bottle and is very soothing to irritated skin. Hopefully I'm wrong for the 'finishing quick' bit because I'd love to buy it again but I'm not sure if it would be worth the money.

French skincare haul

Best thing about your mum being away for 20 days? She tends to bring a lot of nice things back with her!

I won't do a post on the massive pile of clothes and shoes I got (<3) since they're gonna appear on OOTD posts anyway but I am gonna share the amazing skincare I get to try out!

So basically I got a nice travel case-essentials from Caudalie and a cell renewal night cream from their Vinoperfect collection. The cream I'm very exited about and will definitely write a separate post about once I've used it for long enough.

In the travel case there are little samples of their Cleansing water, Moisturising Sorbet for sensitive skin, Shower gel, Shampoo and Body Lotion. 

Again, I have my eye on the moisturising cream but I'll wait till I have formed an opinion on the cell renewal one before I start using this one. 

She also got me another Thermal Water from Avene and one from Uriage to compare it with.

I'm very exited to try all of them and will let you know how they work on my skin. 

My favourite summer find

Since I haven't had the time to blog these last few weeks I've had enough time to fall in love with Avenes' Thermal water. I randomly found a small 50ml bottle gathering dust in my mums' skincare collection and of course I decided to give it a try. It was just a few spritz after that I was converted and now own about 3 small ones and a huge 300lm bottle!
 And while my boyfriend keeps laughing at me for spending my money on water, I assure you it's the best water you could be putting on your face.
It immediately soothes the skin and calms every irritation. Apparently a lot of people use it for after shaving their legs or waxing and even eczema.
I've been using it for various things like spraying my face after cleansing every night, to treat sunburned skin, whenever I have a spot or my skin has gone red, for mosquito bites, whenever I'm on the beach. It also saved me during a long road trip last week.
It doesn't wipe off your make-up so it's great for refreshing on the go and I personally am convinced that it keeps the skin on my face white and that it closes my pores.
It's also very inexpensive to try! If you're in the UK you can get it for about 3 pounds form Boots (for the 50ml bottle) and I suppose the price in central Europe is about the same range. Probably less if you're lucky enough to live in France!

All in all it's definitely my favourite find for the summer till now and it inspired me to try more from Avenes' and their sensitive skin collection. Hopefully the rest is as good cause I am in the market for a new hydrating night cream.

A quick Travel Make-up post

I going on another quick trip and decided to waste some of my packing time by sharing what I'm taking with me in this indescribably hot weather.
I'm going away for just three days with my family but it's mostly gonna be time spent in the car so I'm not taking any serious make-up really. Last week it's been so hot here, the temperatures go up to 35C so I haven't been wearing anything other than a spf on my face, some concealer where I need it and maybe a bit of mascara if I have more important things to do. And let me just say, I live by the sea so in the countryside and the mountains where I'm going it's gonna get even hotter so I can't even imagine having anything make-up related melting on my face.

Literally all the make-up I'm taking, although I doubt I'll get to using most of it

My face

La Roche-Posay Spf 30 matte finish
Garnier BB Cream for Oily to combination skin.
I actually just purchased this today and I'm excited to try it out!
I'll wire a review when I'm back and have a better opinion on it.
Bourjois 123 Perfect foundation which has become my foundation of choice.
I doubt I'll get to using it in this heat but I'm not leaving the house with no proper coverage so there we go
Essence concealer - I'm running out of my Collection Lasting Perfection concealer and got this one.
Not a bad illuminating one for under the eyes and works quite well with my spf
And last but not least - the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer itself (or what's left of it)

Eye stuff

From top to bottom:

Bourjouis Smoky Effect in Smoked brown - my top used pencil for daily make-up.
Highly doubt I'll get to using it but better have it with me just in case
A random eyebrow pencil I use for my eyebrows, I don't really need to fill them in so I just use whatever
This one is by Flormar and I love the brush it has
Maybelline The One-by-One Volum' Express mascara - I stole this off my mum and I actually like it a lot.
Great for lenght and volume, it's pretty black and lasts a looong time.
This is my 'all day long dramatic lashes' mascara
Natural Collection Lengthening mascara - I actually bought this without any expectations whatsoever (its two pounds, how much can you expect?) but it turned out pretty good.
It gives a more natural look, no volume, just lenght and it isn't long lasting so I think this is the one I'm gonna end up using

Neutrogena much?

As you can see I'm a massive Neutrogena fan. It's pretty much the best thing that's happened to my skin
and I'm actually afraid of trying anything else, even more expensive brands.
I highly recommend all of them, especially the Rapid Clear Treatment is the best of its kind that I've tried.

This is pretty much all I'm taking and what I'm gonna do now is close this tab and go and pack in nicely inside my bag :)

DIY moisturizing face mask

I just whipped myself a really quick face mask and decided to to a blog post about it. It literally takes less than 5mins to make and a little goes a long way so you'll probably have some 'leftovers' for another time.

The things you need are:

-Olive oil
- Honey

If your skin is more on the oilier side you can add sea salt or just replace the olive oil with it. However, olive oil has the same oils our skin produces so it's actually a 'good kind of oily', as weird as it feels.

If you have dry skin but you want the mask to be more of a scrub you can add sugar.
I, however, used just the olive oil with some set honey so I cloud have a bit of a scrub when washing it off.

So I just got an old bowl no one would miss for the few days it would spend as a make-up container and I put about two tea spoons of honey in.

I actually added I tiny bit of olive oil in since, as you're probably guessing - it'll leak as hell if you go overboard. This is my final result:

I kept it on my face for about 20-30 mins and my skin now feels amazingly soft and it's definitely hydrated! I saved what was left for my mum to try and for tomorrow. The great thing about this is that it can stay for days and it doesn't necessary need to be kept in the fridge.
It's a great mask to put on before you're going out as it leaves the skin smooth and make-up ready.

I have also tried the honey + sea salt version and it's great if you're currently having a break-out as it instantly dries whatever needed. It does tingle quite a lot though, so you have to be prepared for that and not keep it for as much as 30 minutes because salt could overdry your skin if you're not careful.

Other than that it's a great way to treat your skin on a lazy day. Plus, in all honesty, I did end up eating half of what was on my face and you can't really afford this when using a mask that came from the drugstore, right?