My September Favourites!

First of all, I'm sorry about the picture as it's a bit blur. I used my mother's camera this time and took quite a nice picture, but when I edited using Illustrator -I wish I had Photoshop- the picture became blur like this. I'm not a professional so I have no idea why but well, it's not the end of the world.

So I'm going to go through the products -from left- quickly!

1) Caudalie Zeste De Vigne Shower Gel : I finished the purple one called "Thé Des Vignes" the other day, and I loved that one so much. I thought of putting Thé Des Vignes in here as my favoruite item of the month, but this orange one is also very nice so I pick this one as my favourite. It smells zesty and fresh, it's perfect for a morning shower. It doesn't foam much and that's kind of annoying but the scent is amazing. I recommend this shower gel strongly if you haven't tried it yet.


2) Caudalie Gentle Cleanser : I LOVE this cleanser. Basically it's milky cleanser which you can use in both morning and night. I don't use toner to remove my makeup but this one takes everything off including my eyeliners, eyeshadows, foundation and mascara. It's gentle and moisturizing, which is perfect for my dry skin. Smells so clean and nice, I love love love this cleanser. I might repurchase it when it runs out.

3) Caudalie Beauty Elixir : I'm not going to talk about it anymore as you might get fed up but I'm going to repurchase it soon. I wish they had a bigger bottle like 500ml, I'm sure there is demand.

4) NEOM Real Luxury Organic Body Scrub : A very nice sugar scrub, could be the best one I've ever used. It makes my skin so soft and hydrated, and the scent is heavenly. I pair it with the body lotion in the same scent, it makes me so happy.

5) Pangea Organics Facial Mask : The best facial mask ever. It was 22% off on Vitacost, I will definitely repurchase it soon as my mum and I have used a half of it within a month. It stinks and looks gross but it does what it says on the package. "DOES EVERYTHING". If you want a baby-like-skin, get this mask. This makes it happen!

6) Jason Facial Wash and Scrub Apricot Scrubble : Usually I only use a facial scrub once a week or one in two weeks even as my skin is a bit sensitive, but I use this one twice a week. I just can't help it because it makes my skin so smooth. It's a gentle scrub so you can use it every day if you want, but I try not to use it more than twice a week because I heard too much scrub can be a cause of a skin breakout. This scrub smells very nice, and the apricot oil is very hydrating without making my skin feel greasy or oily. One of the best facial scrubs for sure. And also it's 43% off on Vitacost!

I hope you enjoyed it! 
What was your favourite item in September?

balance Me rose otto body cream

BALANCE ME ROSE OTTO BODY CREAM : 18 GBP

It was about 2 years ago when I got to know about the brand "balance Me". It's a British beauty brand which makes the products with natural ingredients. It's categorized as "Natural Cosmetics" in Japan.

I always wanted to try their products so badly, but I hesitated to order online because the postage from the U.K. is quite expensive. And the products themselves are not cheap either. It was stupid of me forgetting to get it when I went to London, it totally slipped my mind because I was busy being amazed by the city! And then finally, FINALLY I ordered it on lookfantastic.com after a couple of years hoping to try out!

The first product I ordered is this rose otto body cream. The website says " Enhanced with a divine blend of rose otto, palma rosa and rose geranium essential oils for a unique, softening sensation" about the scent, which seemed perfect for me.

It doesn't contain the ingredients which could be a harm to your body. I don't like the scent of artificial rose fragrance like LOCCITANE, but I love the natural rosy scent.

This cream is rich and quite thick, but it doesn't make my skin greasy. But it could be too heavy for a summer in Japan. It's still very humid and hot here, and the day I tried it out for the first time was quite a hot day, I remember it was about 30-32 degrees in daytime, and it felt really sticky on my arms. Now the temperature is going down slowly but surely, I think this cream is going to be my favoruite for this autumn / winter.

What I love the most about this cream is the scent. It smells so so so good. I don't even feel geranium and palma rosa, I only smell rose. And this rose is a bit herbal and not too sweet. It spreads really well on my skin which means this big tube (200ml) will last long. Also I love the packaging, it looks very pretty!

Have you ever used any of balance Me products? 
What is your favourite?

Pai Skincare Bergamot Lip Balm

Pai Skincare Bergamot Lip Balm

First of all, I'm sorry about the picture, it looks blur somehow. The problem is, I don't have a good camera so I use my iPhone to take pictures which doesn't have the Macro setting. I am thinking of getting iPhone5, and hope the quality of the camera has been developed!

Pai is the skin care brand I always wanted to try. When I visited London in June, I made a huge list of the shops and places I wanted to go, and to get at least one product from Pai was on the list. But somehow I couldn't find a shop which sells Pai and couldn't even try them out on my hands. 

Now I found out that Pai was sold on my favourite website feelunique, I had to try it. But the skincare items were quite expensive for me, so I purchased this lip balm to try out.

It says on feelunique...

Made from beeswax and sweet almond oil Pai Skincare Bergamont Lip Balm acts as a barrier while softening and protecting dry, chapped lips. Pai Skincare lip balm is perfect for sensitive lips as it contains absolutely no chemicals. Pai Skincare lip balms are a regular fixture at London Fashion Week - they were selected by Issa and Christian Audigier for their show goody bags.

First of all, I guess it says "Bargamont" on feelunique but actually it's "Bargamot" without "n". Anyway, it smells AMAZING. It does not contain any other essential oils than Bargamot,  so the scent is really pure. It contains beeswax which makes it unsuitable for vegan though.

I don't know why but I've got really sensitive lips and this lip balm doesn't help dryness much but I just put it on my lips or finger tips to enjoy the scent. I found out that since I started using it as a nail balm, my cuticles are gone! I think I like to use it as a hand / nail balm better than lip balm. It doesn't make my fingertips greasy at all, it sinks in quickly like within a second, and leaves the skin smooth but moisturized. I sometimes put it on my cheek when it's dry. 

Over all, it's a very good product. Now I'm even more interested in other items of Pai, I love their philosophy and the design of the packages is just amazing. But spending 16 pounds on hand cream or 22 pounds on body cream seems a bit too much for me :(

What do you think about Pai, and have you tried out their products?

Beautiful soaps dress up your bathroom

There are one of the most beautiful soaps I have ever seen. I got them from S.M.Strand in Covent Garden. Apparently they don't even have a website or a branch, meaning you cannot get their amazing soaps online which is a shame.

Covent Garden was the first place I walked around by myself in London. I was thinking how lucky I was to be there -it was my dream come true to be in London. Then I noticed the scent of essential oils. I looked at the direction and found the stall which sells many beautiful soaps. 

I got this gift box for my mom, and a small soap for myself. I really regret that I only got one, I was being too stingy! I haven't been able to use the soap yet because I don't want to waste it...Anyway, the box was about 15 pounds I remember, and the soap was 4-5 pounds.

There are different scents like rose, geranium, rosemary, ylang ylang, orange, peppermint etc etc...and some English ladies were stopping by saying how wonderful the scent was. The girl who was selling the soaps was actually Japanese, and we spoke in Japanese which was nice as I was missing speaking it a little.

I think the soaps like these are not to be used, but to be looked at. I have no idea how to use this gorgeous soap, not just because it looks perfectly beautiful but I just don't know HOW. They smell amazing but the scent is not too strong, so I put it in my bathroom area (not inside of the bathroom). 

I am sure I will drop by the stall next time I go to London. I will pick up more of their soaps so that I can actually use them, not just looking at them!

NEOM real Luxury sugar body scrub

Before I met this scrub, I always used salt scrub. My favourite was SABON's because they smelled amazing. (Not the lavender one, I loved Tropic) But since I met this scrub, I haven't though of getting SABON's scrub anymore. I found sugar scrubs much more gentle on the skin than the salt ones. 

First of all, a salt scrub tingles on your cuts or irritated and sensitive skin. Sometimes I wasn't even aware that I had a cut on my leg and I jumped when I applied a salt scrub on there! But with a sugar scrub, that never happens. And another good thing about a sugar scrub is that it melts on your skin which feels quite nice.

It doesn't dry out your skin after using because of the oil, so I strongly recommend it to people who have sensitive or dry skin. At the same time, I recommend it to the ones who's got oily skin as well because it doesn't make your skin greasy at all. I use it once a week, but I think there is no harm using it more often as it doesn't irritate your skin. 

Your skin would be so soft to the touch because the dead skin cells will be removed completely, and the oil makes your skin soft and smooth. It feels like a baby's skin after polishing your body with this scrub! 

It leaves the lovely scent on the skin which lasts for more than 10 minutes. I love the scent so I apply the body lotion right after the shower so that the scent lasts much longer. 

The jar is quite big which means it lasts long.The only negative point is that you have to mix the oil and sugar before use, meaning you need a spoon to bring to the shower room...sometimes I cannot be bothered and try to do that with my fingers but I've never done that actually because it feels insalubrious...

Over all, it's a very nice body scrub! Have you ever used any products from NEOM?

BOTANY from South Africa

BOTANY is a beauty brand which uses natural ingredients from South Africa. I thought it was an African brand or something but haven't been able to find the official website besides the Japanese one. It could be a Japanese brand that products are made in Africa, but I'm not sure.

This body oil is called "Extraordinary rich  body oil -baobab". The base oils is the mixture of jojoba, baobab and apricot oils. It's got peppermint, spearmint and rosemary essential oils. The product is certified by ECOCERT and 100% of the total ingredients are from natural origin, also 95% of the total ingredients are from Organic Farming.

It's 4500yen, which is quite expensive. I got it for free from my company, and I thought I wouldn't spend that much money on a body oil, but this oil worth the money. It's a very light oil which penetrates really quickly and leaves the skin so smooth. You can't even tell you've just put the oil. And apparently baobab oil has a moisturizing effect.

It smells very refreshing, mainly of the two different kinds of mints. As I mentioned before, I'm not a huge fan of the minty scent but this one comforts me somehow. It's less greasy than some body lotions I've used before, you can put your clothes on right after applying this oil on your body which is really good for a busy morning.

I don't usually like oils but now I'm interested in Caudalie's body oil which many bloggers (and vloggers) seem to be adoring. Have you ever used it? If you have, let me know if you liked it or not!
 
BOTANY Official Website (JAPANESE)

Bach Flower Remedies Rescue Cream

Are you familiar with flower remedies? I think it's quite popular in the US and the UK as I've seen the products on websites in both countries. It's not yet so big in Japan, as well as aromatherapy, apparently Japanese people don't believe in the power of plants / flowers much. There were people who said "Aromatherapy, Flower therapy, Holistic Beauty, Homeopathy...those are like dreams. They don't work actually, but people try to believe in them" ...I don't agree with those people at all, because the power of nature is beyond humans' imaginings for sure.

This cream is called "Bach Flower Remedies Rescue Cream", I got it for about $7 from vitacost, which is really cheap because it costs more than 2,000yen in Japan!

RESCUE® Cream is an intensive moisturizer designed to soothe dry, irritated, or damaged skin caused by the stresses and strains of everyday life. As a well-known indicator of how the body feels inside, our skin is often the first place where you see the effects of a demanding, busy life. This can lead to dry, rough, uneven, dull looking skin.

With regular use, RESCUE cream effectively repairs and helps protect the skin against environmental influences and other stress factors. RESCUE cream is a combination of the famous flower essence Rescue Remedy developed by Dr. Bach, and the Bach® Original Flower Remedy Crab Apple, which offers both cleansing and emotional support of appearance. Gentle, safe, and suitable for the whole family.

This cream is a truly a rescue cream. Whenever I get insect bites, or burn my finger, or get a paper cut, pimples, irritated skin, anything happens to my skin, I apply a pea-sized amount of this cream, and it'll work magically.

The other day I got a huge insect bite, which was really itchy and red. It was bothering me so much, and I decided to put this cream on it. It didn't reduce redness at all but definitely reduced itchiness immediately.

I don't include this cream in my skincare routine but it's a must-have item for sure. The flower remedy is also good I heard, have you ever used them? Did it work?

Bach Flower Remedies website

Do you massage? BIOLAB Body Oil

Every time I read articles that girls love doing massage after bath once in a while to give "special treatment" for themselves, all I think about is "HOW?". Actually although I LOVE body care products, I don't spend more than 3 minutes on body care. But apparently it works when you massage your legs to assist bloodstream which prevents cold feet, and also your thighs to prevent cellulite.  Cellulite appears on the upper thigh area and it's because of poor bloodstream. It doesn't matter if you're chubby or skinny. It's important for your body to help your blood circulation. 

I always thought oils make your body really greasy. You need about one tablespoon of oil to massage your both legs for example, which MUST make your legs like fried chicken. But this oil changed the whole idea. BIOLAB is a Japanese beauty brand that is specialized on Phytotherapy. This oil is made for massage, to support your metabolism. It's got grapefruits and juniper essential oils in the base of sesame and avocado oils. It smells refreshing and a little bit zesty and herbal. 

Even though I love the scent and the oil doesn't make my body greasy, still I cannot be bothered to massage once or twice a week. I only do it once a month if I've got time, I really respect girls who take care of their bodies well. Do you massage often? Which oil do you use? :)

Magic of Argan Oil

Even though I have dry skin, I don't use oils much on my face. The reason is very simple; I don't feel comfortable leaving my face greasy. In winter I use oils to massage and moisturize my skin once a month or so, finishing with a hot towel to wipe extra oils on my skin, but not in summer.

But recently I use this argan oil as a moisturizer or a serum. Because argan oil is very light unlike other oils, it penetrates into skin quickly. Argan oil is extracted from argan trees in Morocco and the oil prevents sunburn. It's got vitamin E 3 times more than olive oil which prevent oxidization including dryness and aging. 

But you have to be careful when you use it. It stimulates your breakouts as well, so when you have pimples on your skin, you should avoid using it.

When I feel my skin is dehydrated, I put this right after washing my face then massage into skin gently. Then I put a warm towel on my face and leave it for 30 seconds. When the towel gets cold, heat it up in microwave then put it on my face again for another 30 seconds. Then I move to the moisturizing process with lotion, moisturizer and cream.

It leaves my skin soft and hydrated. It's light so you can use it in the morning as well before putting make-up on.  Do you use oils daily? How do you use them? Let me know if you have thoughts!