Carmen Bota

As I was telling you here, I ordered the Kiss My Face SPF 30 sunscreen in my first Iherb order. I've been using it since and here I am with a review. A positive one this time, because this product is really nice. 

First of all, it doesn't dry out my skin. It's not that moisturizing, but it's not drying either. I use this with a few drops of my Pai Rosehip Oil and my skin loves this combo. This sunscreen has a nice creamy formula, it's so lightweight! Like a dream. It spreads easily on the skin and doesn't leave that white, horrible cast once applied so you can go out and enjoy the sun without looking like a ghost (that if you don't use foundation, like I do).

The product comes in an orange tube and it's really hygienic as you can see in the pictures. You can't go wrong with it and you won't get out too much product. It also has nice ingredients and I think it's a good move to start using more natural (chemical-free) products. If you have sensitive skin like I do and you break out from literally anything, this is an important step in your skincare routine.

What more can I say about this, really? I really like everything about this sunscreen. Seriously, I can't think about something I don't like. Maybe only the fact that it's available only on Iherb, but that's not really a problem because this can be the perfect excuse for a new order!

Overall, I think it's a really nice product and cheap also. You can find it here for the price of $9.95.

♥

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Well hello there girls! I hope you had a nice week and you're ready to rock&roll the weekend! For today I thought I'd share some new products I started using recently and my first impressions. Since the weather outside is so cold, I'd suggest you getting a cup of hot chocolate to go along with this post! :)

I'm gonna start with a new shampoo, it's from Garnier, Ultra Doux with apricot and almond oil. My main problem with shampoos is that the second day my hair start smelling bad and I really hate that considering that it's clean! How am I supposed to go 3-4 days without washing when that happens? I chose this because I read tons of good reviews about it and because it smell delish and also has no silicone in it! We'll see how it goes. 

Moving on to the skincare, I already mentioned on my Instagram that I love clay masks. I looooove them! So I just had to try the blue clay mask and let me tell you that this version is the best I have ever tried. I use it on spots overnight and also on my entire face once a week, just to keep my face nice and clean.

I also got a new moisturizer from Gerovital, a romanian skincare brand. I've only used this Intense Moisturizing Lift Day Cream once up until now and I can't say more about it right now. It has a nice texture, something in between cream and gel, really nice. I hope it won't break me out!

Aaaand because it's winter and my skin has become so dry lately, I bought the Boots No 7 Beautiful Skin Hydration Mask. I remember that one year ago I searched for this madly and I couldn't find it nowhere. And one day I walked into Sensiblu to buy another face mask and what do you think? There was the mask and it was also on sale! I apply it overnight, as a normal moisturizer but on top I always come up with my Nivea Creme moisturizer to boost up the moisture. In the morning I have baby skin, my face is flawless and hydrated.

For my body I got the Alverde Wild Rose body oil that smells delicious! This is chemical-free and the perfume is given by the essential oil of wild rose. At first I found the smell too strong, but using it everyday made me reconsider that! I apply a generous on damp skin and let it sink in (which happens pretty fast). The result? Soft skin, baby!

Have you used any of these products?

Let me know your thoughts!

 Natural light

/w flash

Iphone picture

What do you think about this? Have you tried it? Are you tempted to?

SPF is something I use everyday. I am aware of the benefits that come with wearing sun protection, so I am convinced that using it everyday is a good thing. Finding a product that has both high SPF and a good formula is like a roller coaster. I have never in my life found a sunblock to love, that is exactly the reason I'm always stuck with using normal day moisturizers, that have an SPF of 15-20 or a foundation with high SPF like the Dermablend one.

I recently found this product, the Bioderma ABCDerm for kids, that sounded promising: it had mineral filters, that usually don't break me out (yeey!) and a high SPF of 50. It all went nice for a few weeks, it was the perfect sunblock literally. It felt nice on the skin, good at hydrating and still managed to keep my oiliness away for an entire day! 

Unfortunately, this won't be a positive review because I found out that this product dries out the skin very bad. I noticed that my face was drier, but I thought that it's the winter to blame and the fact that my skin may be changing due to the fact that my skincare routine has also changed. It actually was the sunblock to blame and I gave up using it a few weeks ago. I'm now on 'recovery' and by that I mean hydrating masks, exfoliating products, oils and moisturizers. I'm not gonna use this product again, without doubt.

I won't repurchase this product also because it left my face soooo white! The white cast this leaves makes it impossible to wear without a foundation on top. And let's face it, on a good skin day, I don't want to wear foundation! Nedless to day, skin needs a break from makeup in order to breathe, a step I take in the weekends usually when I go makeup-free. But anyways, I was really going to overlook the aspect of having a white face like a geisha, but taking into consideration that the overall effects are so bad, it now lays abandoned on my dressing table, without me knowing what to do with it.

I'm not gonna end my search for the perfect sunblock, though. I already have my eyes on one from Iherb. I'm so gonna order some products soon.

Have you tried this product? What is your favourite sunblock?

Well I thought I'd better introduce this kind of post, since I've became so faithful to some nice beauty products! Please let me report that these two products are the ones I came back to years after first trying them out. I don't recall that happening with many other products out there, but let me tell you more below.

A few years ago I received my first Mx Factor foundation and that was the Miracle Touch one. It was just when I started working as a beauty advisor for them, so I really got to know the products closely and make my mind about them. I instantly loved this foundation, how it glided on the skin, the color, the light coverage, the way it made my skin felt! 

Back then, my beauty routine wasn't so complex. I experienced some breakouts after a few months of using this foundation and I stopped applying it, but my mind was still at how wonderful this was overall, even years after using it so here I am now! I searched for it like crazy because apparently the online was the only way to get it. I'm shade 80 Bronze, just like I first was when I got it. I made a full review here, where I was telling you how madly in love I was with it. And I still am. I just think it's the 'crème de la crème' for my preferences and my needs!

Moving on to the Olay Day Fluid you see next to my Miracle Touch foundation, I must say I love Olay skincare. Unfortunately, I can't find this brand in stores right now so ordering it online was the only option to get it. I love the formula but tell me, who doesn't love a light moisturizer that makes skin glow and protects it? The formula of this is so nice! It's almost like a lotion, but really moisturizing. I first tried it years ago and liked it very much. I think it's perfect for my combination skin.

Have you tried any of these two products?

Just so you know, I am a beauty junkie. That means I like trying out new products, even though I end up regretting that 70% of the time. But in the rest of 30% of my time, I am happy to find out that some of the products I bought in a heartbeat were not lost cases, but happy endings. 

Of course, I will always, always invest more in my skin so that I won't have to invest too much in my makeup, haha. But there are some essentials, like those from today, that I use on an everyday basis so finding the perfect ones takes time and patience. And courage, because experimenting can be quite a challenge sometimes.

So, first things first, we went to Sinaia for a few days last week. There was an event and I 'accidentaly' put on too much of my favourite perfume, Possess by Oriflame. And that was it. I had to buy a new bottle because I never felt so connected to another perfume up until now. I just feel that it suits my personality very much.

The sunblock I've used on an everyday basis for the past few weeks is Bioderma ABCDerm SPF50. I switched to this one because it has mineral filters instead of chemicals one that used to break me out. I want to do a full review on it, because there are some interesting things to say about how it behaves.

Glyco-A from Isis Pharma was really hard to find in my town. I've been using it for about two weeks now and my face was a disaster for the first few days. I had, what I call, 'an under construction face'. I read many reviews and it can lead to some breakouts in the first days of use and that is normal when you use a 12% AHA product. I'm gonna review it separately.

Because I love sunkissed skin soooooo much, I decided to buy from Amazon two bottles of Dove Summer Glow (Medium to Dark skin). It was love at first...sniff! It smells really delicious and fresh and I hope it will be my year-round saviour. I thoght it would be the nicest, easiest way to achieve that glow. I've used it a few times up until now and it's fine so far!

Maybelline Baby Lips is the cutest product ever! I love the packaging, I love the formula, I love the smell and I love it all! It does moisturize the lips, although when it's really cold outside it doesn't provide enough moisture. But otherwise it's great.

Garnier Mineral InvisiDry Anti-Perspirant is my new discovery. I like staying fresh all the time so an effective deodorant is a must. This one has won my heart from the first uses. It smells fresh and really does it's job.

L'Oreal Telescopic mascara is my new fave, but I should probably try and get the review done! It's a perfect mascara for lenghtening, trust me!

What's your everyday hairstyle?

e.l.f. Eyebrow Kit in Light

L'Oreal Telescopic Extra-Black Mascara

Melkior Lipstick (reviewed here)

What do you think? Have you used any of these products?

When it comes to red lipstick, I'm very picky. I always try to find the best shade that would suit my skin tone, because it's easy to go wrong with red shades. Choosing the best lipstick, especially the red one, is a very serious job. Makeup, in fapt, is a very serious job for a girl. However, as you can probably know, I am a 'red lipstick' girl. I never felt comfortable wearing nudes or pinks, but I do have a lot to say about the red ones. Maybe that is also because my eye makeup is always so simple and I always tend to go out for the natural makeup face even when I go to a party or a ceremony. So my lips have to stand out because if they don't I look dead.

What do you think?

Terrible, terrible long name for a sunblock. One thing I never miss in the morning is my SPF. We all know that it can prevent premature aging, in fact I knew this for years but I never thought about trying a higher SPF than 15-20. Big mistake because that kind of SPF is too low to protect anything. What made me buy LRP Anthelios XL were two things: big SPF and my relationship with LRP products. At first I was going to buy the mineral version, but of course you can never find exactly what you're looking for, so I ended up with this one instead because I needed a high SPF and couldn't bare to go out without it. So I bought the fluid version, which is more like a lotion. Although it's color is white, it doesn't leave a white cast on the skin which I like.This is a fragrance-free, paraben free, non-comedogenic and water resistant product. The bottle has to be well shaken before use. It is kinda moisturizing and did not made my face oilier that it already was. It sounds perfect up until now, isn't it? Well one thing I don't like about this sunblock is the one ingredient I ran away from for years: alcohol denat. This ingredient can be irritating and I am not sure if I can blame my new pimples on this product or not, but anyway... The thing with alcohol denat is quite a controverse, so I'm not gonna get into details, but if you have sensitive skin this may not be for you. Overall, I like the light formula of this product, the fact that it's moisturizing yet not leaving my face oily, and I also appreciate the high SPF. What I don't appreciate is the irritating ingredient mentioned above. I'm gonna leave below the full list of ingredients for you.

Important detail: this is a product that has chemical filters.

To sum up, 2014 was unpredictable. Lots of changes happened, both in my personal and professional life. I started out this blog as a passion for makeup, but now I see that it took be almost three years to find the right path and basically to understand what I like to write about. And that is reviews and things about products. Here are the ones I discovered and loved in 2014.

First of all it's sunblock. It makes me feel safe, protected at any moment during the day. This is a feeling that I want to be with me during the holidays. Moreover, Antheliox XL with SPF 50+ is a lovely product, perfect for everyday use. I will tell you more on a separate post.

Sephora Cream Lip Stain in 01. Nothing looks more adorable that a red matte lipstick on a pale glowing skin (I achieve that look by protecting my skin with LRP Anthelios XL and by using the mineral booster as a finishing product). This also gives a more festive vibe to my look, completed by...

What are you wearing this Christmas?

Things have changed in a heartbeat lately. As you already know I really like trying new products and that is because 1.my needs change all the time (take for example my skin) and 2.because if one product doesn't convince me, I am for sure tempted to search for a better one. For today I'm gonna share with you some new discoveries that have found their way on my daily routine and, as you already know, I like to post about things that I like and find them effective, either I'm talking about my hair, makeup or my skincare routine. Keep on reading to find more, ladies.

This one is a new addition to my lipstick collection. I must admit, I had my mind on this beautiful shade for a while now. About it, although the name says 'Vintage Pink', it's more like a deep mauve but a warm one. I think that this shade would look great on darker skin, who knows maybe next summer I'll be able to come up with an update about that. The pictures don't do justice to this lipstick but I'm telling you, in person this shade is the most gorgeous I've ever seen. The texture is litteraly like butter and glides on the lips like a dream. It doesn't dry them out, quite the opposite, feels really hydrating. The price is great and also the color selection is very good. It wears off nicely and the colour is very opaque. I am pretty happy with my purchase and I want more shades!

What do you think about this one? 

So it's December already, hurray! Christmas is almost here and I guess that this thought is was keeps me so inspired and motivated to keep on blogging these days. November was a cruel month, so cold outside, rainy and made me totally unproductive. The good thing is that holidays are approaching and that is just great. November's favourites are here, ladies and gentleman.

I have used this after blow drying my hair and it really makes a difference, especially combined with the Tri-Wheat Leave In Conditioner. This is, however, my favourite product right now because it's moisturizing without feeling greasy, provides great shine and it's perfect to tame the frizz.

I got this at our annual bloggers meeting at the beggining of November and used it every day since opening it. It's a very luxurious and sensual perfume, I really like the scent and the fact that I can still feel it on my skin and clothes at the end of the day.

I also have this one from our beauty bloggers meeting. I received it with the night moisturizer and also the serum, but I did not want to open them all because I wasn't sure if they were nice to my skin. Although I started using it just recently, I only used this as my day/night moisturizer and I like it so far. My sensitive skin is happy with it.

Have this reviewed here.

I first tried this a few months ago and I was and still am surprised by how good this is. Although it's consistency is very thick and may be too moisturizing at times, I like applying this over my True Perfection day cream on areas that requiere more hydration (on my chin for example). I kept using this also when I had this problem with the skin around my mouth, it started to dry out very bad and soon became red and rough. So I used this every night for about a week or so and even now, when I'm ok with that area, I still use it.

Well of course, I am tempted to try more from Nivea now that the moisturizer above is so good. I like that this little one is moisturizing enough and that fights against early wrinkles. That's it for now, I've only been using it for some weeks but I like it so far. Some people said that it also helps with dark circles, but I guess I'll have to use it more time to see a change in that.

I said a few words about this here.

Have you used any of these products?

I am addicted to red lipsticks as you already know from one of my previous posts. However, this is my first MAC and I was really keen to try their products. I actually received this from my boyfriend as a gift. When I asked him why did he choose the red shade he told me he knows this is the shade I love. So there's the lipstick that's the most expensive from my collection. At first I wasn't very impressed and thought that it was a waste of money, but after a few days I really started to like it. It's a creamy lipstick, with a matte yet a natural shine (something in between) that doesn't dry out the lips and fades nicely. The color is a very vivid one, fully opaque and it glides on the lips evenly. I would say that the staying power is somewhere between 5-6 hours, maybe longer.This lipstick really makes me want to try more from MAC.

What do you think about this shade?

Finally I get the chance to say something about this fantastic product called the Dermablend Foundation!! Wow, I can hardly find the words to describe my enthusiasm for this product :) I will tel you why right away.

So, a few months it happened that a makeup product caused me some really bad breakouts and my L'Oreal True Match Foundation didn't seem to do the job too well so I started looking for a high coverage foundation that I could use until my face recovered from that madness. I found out that this foundation has one of the highest coverage power on the market and, being a fan of Vichy skincare products, it came easily to me to try this out. I went to the pharmacy and requested some samples to try it out and see if it fits my needs and if it was worth the money because it's not a cheap product. 

I used the samples for a few days and I fell in love with this foundation. Let me tell you guys, this can cover anything, from acne to dark circles, anything I'm telling you. When I wear this on my face, I don't have to wear concealer anymore because the coverage is very high and I simply don't need more. On the tube it says that can last up to 16 hours which is not the case with my face...it doesn't last more than 6-7 hours on my skin, but that's ok with me because I have combination skin and also use moisturizing face creams under it and I kinda expect that to happen. This doesn't mean that my face gets very oily, especially when I use my e.l.f High Definition Powder, so it just gets a little shinny.

The formula is very ligh but the amount of pigment really provides a great coverage. I was expecting to find a thick product but no, it's really watery like the L'Oreal True Match Foundation which is kinda impressive. It didn't break me out and I found that the color I tested&purchased fits me perfectly: I wear 25 Nude and love it. Here are the swatches, one in natural light and one with flash.

A very important thing when using a foundation of any kind is to properly prepare your skin for it. That means cleaning your face, exfoliating and using a hydrating product. Until a few months ago, I had a really bad skincare routine (now that I think about it, I couldn't call it a 'routine') and things dramatically changed after I realized it. Another important step is the tool you use to apply it. From my experience, the best one is a damp beauty blender, especially when we are talking about high coverage foundations that can tend to get cakey.

I have been using this product every day since I bought it, even though my face has cleared out. If I still use foundation anyway, I want to use something with a high coverage and this is my no 1 choice now. The effect on my skin is so dewy and natural, it doesn't feel or look like a mask at all! Definitely a great product and I am so happy I found it.

Have you tried it?

It was a few weeks ago (8th of November) when the beauty bloggers from my town gathered at the Farmec Beauty Center. Something very special happens when a bunch of beauty bloggers meet. I guess the thought that we are a community, that we are friends and we can help each other out when in need, is that makes these events feel like magic. You really can't feel different when you have that sense that you're in the right place, at the right moment and surrounded by the right people. It's all these that matter.

The event was organised by our lovely girls, Cleo, Laura and Anca who, by the way, did a great job. It was a great one and I am glad that I got the change to meet every single one of them. We got to share our experiences as bloggers and talk about the process of working with companies. A representative from Oriflame, Luiza Editoiu, Online Communication Manager, come to meet with us and talked about what companies expect when working with us, the beauty bloggers.  You can already imagine how many things we learned.

We had a very delicious break and tasted the most delicious raw sweets from Rawana. We also took photographs, had a nice chat and after that there was a surprise for each one of us.....We received diplomas! Yes, each and every one of us got a diploma for something that she's the best at. I personally am, ladies and gentleman, the best tipper and also very proud of this. 

The surprise series didn't stop there, as we received many bags with cosmetic goodies. Lots of them. I have already tried a few of them and will review some very soon.

 And this is what we received: