October empties

I don't think anyone will be surprised when I say that I like to shop - particularly beauty products. To get some brand new interesting things you've never tried before is so exciting. But having your bathroom cabinet full of lovely stuff that's not used is rather pointless, so I'm trying to be really good and to finish up products that are half full before I move on to my brand new toys. I've even been so organised that I've put all the stuff that needs to be used up at the front of the cabinet, and made a little list for me to track my progress. Talk about taking your beauty seriously!

The first empty of October is a dry shampoo. As most of you will know by now, I think dry shampoo is a girls' second best friend, and absolutely perfect for a quick on the go freshen up of your hair. I am a big user of the Batiste products and the Dry Shampoo XXL Volume not only refreshes and gives texture it also give a lot of volume, which for me is perfect e.g. after a gym session or if you're going out somewhere straight after work. Like all of the Batiste products it comes with a smell which is distinct for this particular bottle - it smells intensely of red berries, sweet floral and has almost a salty liquorice after smell. I have to say though that for me it is a little bit too strongly perfumed, and not one of my favourites which is a shame since I like the volumising effect, but I probably won't repurchase because of the artificial scent. 

Next product is the Urban Decay De-Slick Oil Control Makeup Setting Spray which is supposed to help your make up set and to stay on for longer by regulating the temperature of the skin, keeping it looking lovely and matte, without having to do any touch ups. I had never used this before and it took a little bit of getting used to, and to figure out how get it to work for me. I didn't think that it came with very good instructions, so I tried a couple of different approaches until I found what seemed to work best. I actually spray it on both after having put on my foundation, but before using powder and also when I've finished doing all my makeup. The spray function is quite good and gives a fine mist, and I use about 3-4 spritzes for every application. It definitely helps to keep your make up in place, however on me it doesn't work nearly as long as it claims (up to 16 hrs), in reality it's more like 5-6 hrs before I need to fix any shine. It's a good product and but before I repurchase it, I'd first like to try the All Nighter version to see how that measures up. 

I have also finished my KIKO Skin trainer. You may remember that I did a trial, during which I would only use this particular serum to see if it would live up to the miraculous results that it promised within 30 days. After the 30 days I did notice that the skin felt very firm and taut, which is exactly what was promised, but for me the sense of hydration wasn't as good as I would like it to be. It's a good, affordable serum that does firm your skin, but if you have tendencies towards dry or dehydrated skin, I would definitely recommend that you use intense hydration masks and a rich moisturiser to boost moisture levels. I do have other serums that I'm using at the moment and I'm not sure I would repurchase this, simply because of the tightness that I started to experience at the end of the 30 days. If KIKO releases a new version of the Skin Trainer to up moisture, I would definitely try it out.

It was a sad, sad day when I finished my Jo Malone Redcurrant & Cream Cologne. This was part of the limited edition collection called Sugar & Spice which was released earlier this Spring. It was a gorgeous collection with cake and dessert inspired fragrances and this was my favourite out of the five scents. To me it captures British summer perfectly with it's mix of tangy piquant red currants, juicy sun kissed strawberries, sweet crushed raspberries, lots of light, fluffy whipped cream and a subtle touch of warm musk that really rounds the scent off, preventing the berries from completely taking over. It was a delicious scent and even though I have enjoyed wearing it, I doubt that I will get it again since it's now only available on eBay at extortionate prices. Redcurrant & Cream, I will miss you!

Let's move from indulgent, unique fragrances to a complete makeup steal on the high street - the MUA Bronzer in Shade 01. MUA offers a number of products for £1, which is almost embarrassingly cheap, but despite the low cost the bronzer is actually a great product. It's one of my favourite bronzing products because not only does it give a lovely natural, golden shade with a very subtle shimmer, it's also light and pleasant to wear. The bronzer lasts for a good chunk of the day and works really well for scultping too. In fact, I like this so much that I feel like throwing in another £ coin every time I buy it, it almost seems rude for it to be that cheap. If you only wear bronzer occasionally and you don't want to go for the more costly options, I highly recommend the MUA bronzer.

The last product among the October empties is the Clarins Water Comfort One-Step Cleanser with Peach. It's very similar to a micellar water, i.e. it will remove eye make up and cleanse your face at the same time. I will never use only cleansing waters of this type (not even Bioderma) since I feel that I need, and enjoy a thorough cleanse of my face every evening, but it's a wonderful and gentle option as part of my morning routine, to get rid of any impurities from over night. What I particularly like with this Clarins product is the refreshing sunny scent of peach that lingers on my skin, setting me up nicely for the day and how soft it makes my skin feel. I do have a few other cleansing waters that I need to use up, but I will definitely be getting this again at some point soon.

I feel quite pleased that I have managed to take off six items from the list of products to finish up this month. It took a lot of focus and determination, let me tell you. Besides, you have to use it all up to make space for all the stuff that's on my other list - the one of things to get!

My new personal skin trainer KIKO - 30 days later

You may remember that I started a new regime in August when I got myself a personal trainer for my skin, courtesy of KIKO, and you can read more about the product and my first impressions in this August post. Since I hadn't found any reviews of this product anywhere, I decided to put the product to the test and to do a 30 day trial on myself, to see if it delivered on all the amazing promises.

So before we get started, let's do a quick recap of what KIKO Skin Trainer claimed to do for the skin. First of all it's supposed to be a youth generating serum that trains the skin "to increase its youth potential" by recharging the skin with energy and counteract the signs of aging, intelligently moisturize skin according to its needs, increase cellular oxygenation to show healthy complexion and even out the skin. The scientifically proven results from the KIKO test groups were pretty impressive:

• The skin is up to 42.8 % more supple (average value: 21.8%) after 4 weeks.
• The skin’s hydration increases by up to 76,6 % (average value: +31.6%) after 4 weeks.
• Wrinkle depth is reduced by up to 58.5 % (average value: -32.4%) after 4 weeks.

The two aspects that I have been focusing on during my 30 day trial were improvements to the suppleness of my skin and sense of hydration. I also need to say that during this trial period I have made no other changes to my skin routine and not introduced any other new products.

 
Now on to the results! For 30 days I've been using no other serum but the KIKO Skin Trainer, which I have applied every morning and evening after I've cleansed my face, but before adding any moisturizer or night cream. The serum is a quite a lot thicker than other serum's I've used so in the beginning I only used about 2-3 drops for my face and neck. But after a few weeks I started to feel as if that wasn't quite enough and as if the serum absorbed quicker into the skin than previously, so I added a few more drops for every use. Even if I did use a little bit more, it still sank into the skin beautifully and quickly, leaving it feeling nourished but without any shininess at all. I can't say that I've come around to the plastic scent of the product, but since that smell doesn't stay on my skin, I think I can put up with it for a few seconds while I massage in the serum. 

After a few days I started to notice that the skin did feel toned and stronger in a sense, as if the skin had tightened up a little, but not in the sense of dryness, but on a "muscle" level. And at the end of these 30 days that feeling is even more prominent. So that's a big tick in the box for increased suppleness - I really didn't expect that, so WEHAY!

For the other criteria on sense of skin hydration, I'm not as impressed as I am over the increased suppleness. There could of course be many reasons for this - change in the weather, hormonal, whatever, but for me the fact that I had to up the dose of serum from 2-3 drops to 5-6 to get a sense of hydration means that the serum simply didn't hydrate enough, and keep in mind that I already have dry skin. It wasn't just that I didn't get that initial feeling of hydration after a few weeks use, it was also that my skin clearly needed a moisture boost a couple of times a day, which is something I haven't had to do for quite a while. I guess it's a good thing I've always got a facial spray with me! So in terms of hydration I can't say that I noticed any overhwhelming positive results. 
 
The Skin Trainer is reasonably priced at £22.90, and for that I am VERY impressed with the increased suppleness, and as I continue to finish up what's left of it, I think I will add a richer and more moisturising serum either in the morning or evening to restore the hydration level to my skin. I would definitely recommend KIKO if you're looking for something to tone up your skin, but if you do have tendencies towards dry skin, like I do - you might want to counteract any dehydration from the serum with an intensely hydrating moisturizer.

I'll let you know if this small change that I'm planning has had better results regarding the hydration sense when I've finished the product in that month's Empties post.

KIKO Multi Effect Nail Lacquer

I recently discovered KIKO Makeup Milano, and have dived into their skin care range by doing a 30 day trial of their Skin Trainer, and so far so good - I can't wait to share the results with you on September 20! Since it would be rude to only try one product I also bought some nail polish that seemed interesting. They had some nice looking green and blue shades, but I really wanted to try something different so in the end I settled on - KIKO Multi-Effect Nail Lacquer in 06 Red & Mandarin.

This is supposed to be one of those multi polishes where you can either use the 2 colors on their own, or combine them by first applying the full shade (Red in this case) and then add a coat of the semi-sheer shade (Mandarin) to get the 3rd color - 3 looks in 1 as per this illustration from the KIKO web site:

In theory this sounds great and the shades looked really promising. My intention was to create an ombred look with 2 Red nails, 2 combos and a Mandarin nail in the middle. The end result - as you can see from the dodgy looking photo below, is that my nails don't look anything like what I had envisioned. To start with the shades don't look like the illustration, but fair enough when you buy things on line, this will happen every now and then - it's disappointing, but it's a risk you have to accept. So let's move on to talk about the formula.

The description of it says that "it's been created to guarantee an even release of color for quick drying time and a long lasting result". Well I'm sure it dries very quickly but unfortunately this formula is VERY thin, particularly the semi-sheer shade. In the pic below I'm wearing 2 coats of Red on my pinky, 3 coats of the combo on my ring finger and 5 (!!!!) of  Mandarin on the middle finger - and it's still far from the look I was going for. I PROMISE you that I wouldn't normally show a photo of nails in this state, but to be perfectly honest I was so disillusioned by this nail polish, and after 5 coats I felt that I needed to show them as they were.for illustration. I know that the Mandarin is a semi-sheer effect but I have never had to use 5 coats of any nail polish previously - ever.

On the plus side, both of the shades were easy to apply thanks to a nice wide and flat brush and it did go on evenly without leaving any streaks. The orange shade does eventually start to resemble the description and the red shade is actually a striking scarlet color, and it's probably the only one I will use out of these 3 multi-effect options.

The description claims that this is long lasting, and these colors as individual shades may very well be, but I'm not able to comment on that for 2 reasons; I had to apply so many coats that it would take a miracle for this not to end up smudged and damaged straight away, and I disliked the end result so much that I took it off immediately.

As you can tell, this product didn't work for me and while it really pains me to write a negative review about any product - I can not in all honesty say that my experience of this multi-effect lacquer was a good one. Please note that it might be a completely different experience with the Quick Dry and Laser nail polishes (1 color only) and I certainly don't want to discourage you from trying that, but don't get this particular multi-effect lacquer and expect that it's going to turn out as it's shown in the picture on the KIKO web site.

My new personal trainer - KIKO

Have you ever had a personal trainer? Having somebody to help you get fit seems to be the routine these days, but do you have a personal trainer that focuses only on your skin? Well I do!!! - Let me introduce you to KIKO who's promised to whip my skin into shape within 30 days in a "no pain, but everything to gain" way.

KIKO Makeup Milano is an Italian brand that has fairly recently reached UK shores, and they offer skin and body care products as well as makeup. KIKO promotes itself as being deeply rooted in Milan fashion, art and design and it combines cutting edge technology and latest fashion trends to create high quality and innovative beauty products. A great example of this is the KIKO Skin Trainer which claims to be a youth generating serum that trains the skin "to increase its youth potential" - doesn't that sound just fantastic?

The description of the serum also says it will do the following; recharge the skin with energy and counteract the signs of aging, intelligently moisturize skin according to its needs, increase cellular oxygenation to show healthy complexion and even out the skin. And there's more - apparently results should be visible after only a few days of use, and who doesn't like a quick result?

 

Truth be told, I don't really pay that much attention to the miracles that different products claim to achieve, and instead I'll read reviews from "real people" to get a feel for a product's effectiveness. The Skin Trainer promises a lot - particularly since it's priced at a very reasonable £22.90, but since I haven't been able to find reviews of it in a language I understand I've decided to do a 30 day trial on myself using the Skin Trainer every morning and evening, and at the end of the 30 days I'll let you know how it went.

Here are some of the scientifically proven results from the KIKO test groups:

• The skin is up to 42.8 % more supple (average value: 21.8%) after 4 weeks.
• The skin’s hydration increases by up to 76,6 % (average value: +31.6%) after 4 weeks.
• Wrinkle depth is reduced by up to 58.5 % (average value: -32.4%) after 4 weeks.

I don't have any deep wrinkles and I wouldn't know how to measure improvements anyway, so instead I will focus on establishing if there's been an improvement to the quality of my skin (more supple) and sense of hydration.

As with all serums you apply a couple of drops to clean skin before you add whatever moisturiser you use. The serum has a pipette to help you getting just the right amount and I use 2-3 drop to massage into my face and neck. The formula is thicker than you would usually find with a serum and it reminds me in both look and feel of vanilla sauce, but it's absorbed quickly into the skin leaving it feeling very soft and hydrated, but it doesn't leave any shiny patches. It may look like a yummy vanilla sauce, but unfortunately it doesn't smell very nice. I would even say that it smells a little bit industrial - with a rubbery or even plasticky scent, not at all what you would have expected from a skin care product.

So I've now started the mini trial, we'll see how it goes - and on September 20 I'll let you know the results, and what I thought about using this product!

Have you tried any miracle creams lately and did they deliver what they promised?