September Beauty Update

About four months since the latest update on the sweet-scented front, time for another one with both new exciting and very less than arousing products. Admittedly I went rather, ahem, wild product investmentwise when on holiday, so I just might be well stocked up (in parts, only in parts) for a few years to come. Most of the products can't be found in Sweden though and certainly not at these pleasant prices.

Oh I do enjoy browsing and looking at my bathroom shelves now again, them being so colourful, pretty and sweet-smelling. My idea of Saturday night fun. I'm still pondering if this is considered nerdy, pathetic, sad, cool or actually sensible, whatever, I'm easy to please that way. Here's a look of the good, the bad, the ugly, the pretty and the smelly since last then -

Soaps - Black Raspberry from Swedish brand Tvålmakaren (The Soapmaker), creamy, lovely, great scent, however very less than good that it contains palm oil.

Peach - Black Currant from Savonnerie de Bormes, creamy, lovely, lovely scent too and sadly it contains palm oil too. I really must become better in looking at the ingredients lists and sorting out such products.

Body scrubs - Lemon grass scrubby from Isle of Skye Soap Company, it's supposedly a scrubby but since most of the seaweed that's stuck to one side of the scrubby has disappeared after only a few scrubbing sessions I'll call it a soap anyway. Hence as a scrubby it's not very good, but as an aromatic soap it's lovely in every way. It looks like a supersized lemon drop and it smells intensely of lemon.

Now for the answer to Guess What - which as I alas suspected no-one could guess or rather couldn't be bothered to guess... Imagine the very nice Swedish price someone missed out on there then... - it was a big jar of Body Coffee body polish and it's just an awful, horrible product that I had had my eyes on for ages but as it turned out was a nasty, uneconomical, oily, smelling of rancid mushrooms and not coffee, pricey thing that I consider to be one of the low points of beauty-products ever. Vile.

It's then comforting that there are brands one can rely on, the Body Scrub with orange and patchouli oil from The Sanctuary for example. Lovely scent, somehow perfect for autumn and winter use, nice, unpretentious scrub at a reasonable price.

Shower gel - amazing grace shampoo, bath & shower gel from philosophy, nice scent, lovely message in a bottle (as usual when it comes to philosophy products) but as far as shower gels are concerned very average. As well as pricey.

The above mentioned stocking up on products while on holiday led to some bottles unfortunately being squashed in the car hence there wasn't very much left in the bottle when we got home. There was a whole lot of sweet scented liquids in the plastic bags though.

So sadly what was left of the very promising looking and smelling bottle of Radox shower smoothies Soul Soother with chamomile, blackcurrant and cranberry were a few dollops. Those few dollops were however very nice. Amazing scent and I do have another smoothie with other fragrances waiting on the bathroom shelf, will write a few words later about that one.

Shampoo - Colour mate from Aussie, "for coloured hair funnily enough", with Australian wild peach it's a nice, basic, sweet scented shampoo. Don't know about the helps-keep-coloured-hair-looking-vibrant-effect though. But I'm not much for those types of promises anyway, it's a good brand at a reasonable cost, period.

Hair spray - Swedish brand Björn Axén salt water haze, quite nice salt water spray, small but long lasting bottle in a cute shape and colour. Lovely candy scent. Nice encounter of the hairy kind.

Body Lotion - well, once again it turned out that there really, really isn't anything like the real thing, the thing being Kiehl's créme de corps. Big bottle, reasonably economical, will last at least quite a while. The Best!

This will however of course not keep me from fearlessly trying out new and possibly exciting body lotions and creams in the future. I'm just glad there will, touch wood, always be a reliable outer source for skin moisture to return to.

Deodorant - Dove go fresh cucumber and green tea, I will just say, wow and W-O-W! This is such a nice and neatly packed, long lasting antiperspirant deodorant with no alcohol and it smells heavenly. And at bargain price. A new favourite for sure!

Body Splash - couldn't resist using the last bottle of much appreciated birthday gift, sigh and sob it doesn't look like I will be able to get my hands on new ones in a foreseeable future either, Bath & Body Works Tropical Colada, lovely, lovely, summery, tropical (go figure), on holiday in the sun vibe and fragrance. Mmm...

Perfume - Burberry the Beat EdP, lovely scent, very me, though sadly transient.

Facial cleanser - Hydrating Cleanser from The Sanctuary, very basic, creamy non foaming facial cleanser with a sweet scent. Leaves skin with a non-dry feeling.

Facial cream - Kiehl's Yerba Maté Tea Lotion, believe it or not but M thought this could be something for me, hence he got it at an airport. Granted it was about half the ridiculously high price one has to pay for it in Sweden, but still I would never consider buying such a light facial cream/lotion myself, even if it is from lovely Kiehl's. Now I use it as a serum after cleansing under my usual facial cream. Can't say I'm overly impressed. Maybe it works wonder for oily skin with clogged pores, I couldn't say since I'm just the dry skin type kind.

Multi blush - Tender Raspberry 3 in one from Clarins, for eyes, cheeks and lips. I'm not sure if it's me or the product but the few times I've worn it I've shown a strong resemblance to a clown. So far I haven't managed to get that sheer and natural look with it, so for now I'm glad it was at least on sale. Or perhaps there was an obvious clownish reason for that.

Eye liner - Summer Fever Tropical Violet Kohl Powder Eye Liner from Clarins, a nice rich purple colour, simple to apply it does flake a bit when one puts it on but that's easy to wipe away. Gives a nice and durable look. I like!

Eye shadow - Bourjois shimmering shine liquid eye shadow no 36 electric blue, ah, this is such a lovely product, easy to apply and easy to apply in the exact right amount whether one wants a hint of blue eyeliner or a more intense look. Does probably look best in summer with a tan though.

Hand soaps - Rosemary Mint Hand and Body Wash from Aveda has been a fine encounter as a hand soap. It's very minty and refreshing and leaves hand feeling very clean. Not a scent or product I'd appreciate to use as a body wash though, feels too much of an disinfectant for that.

Finally it was time to try that Swedish brand Bliw's new scent of dog-rose and rhubarb and it has been a wonderful experience, creamy, cleansing and with a scent that is just heavenly. And long lasting. Actually I could get paid just to stand washing my hands all day with that soap. Divine. Right now I'm searching high and low for more bottles of it, looks like it could have been a summer edition only. Sigh and sob.

Hand creams - I've had the pleasure of meeting not only one, but two new favourites. One I have in my purse the other beside the bed. Both smells divine and leave, not overly dry, hands feeling supple and great.

L'Occitane Cherry Blossom, my purse hand cream, comes in a larger bottle too. A bit pricey but economical. However if hands are overly dry I recommend that dry skin handcream of theirs with sheabutter instead.

I found a few very nice and witty products from Soap & Glory - although I wasn't too keen on that lip enhancer product of last year - this last summer. Brand sadly not available in Sweden but it looks like their webshop is due any time now. This hand food hand cream with fennel and lotus flower has a gorgeous and somehow soothing fragrance and is so very nice for hands. Mmm...

Nail polish - I've been a bit nail polish obsessed as lately, I'm a great fan of using colourful polish on my toenails, not equally interested in using it on my finger nails since it leaves me feeling claustrophobic somehow. But now and then it's nice to sport a bit of finger colour, although I'm seriously contemplating not buying anymore bottles, suspect they *might* be very less than eco-friendly... But now, the ones I've used this summer are;

Depend no 41, blueberry blue, the small bottles from this old-but-new-to-me Swedish brand are neat, but as far as lasting goes this wasn't a good polish.

Isadora wonder nail n0 630 Sweet Violet, I love this polish from this Swedish beauty without cruelty brand! Both colour, durability and the easy application with an extra wide brush.

Nivea colour mini no 59 yellow sparkle, couldn't resist this lemony yellow miniature bottle even if yellow really isn't my thing of a colour. It only looks good with a tan though, otherwise it just makes one look sallow. Best for toenails in summer I think. Hopefully it won't dry until next summer.

Bourjois So Laque! no 05 Beige Glamour enriched with vinyl. I really should have known better than buying something that brags about containing vinyl, it feel plain nasty to cover the nails with this stuff. It also brags about shine and hold for up to 7 days - it lasted about half a day at the most until it began to crackle. And btw, the colour isn't beige it's old pink. So not laquemend, at all.

Bourjois 1 seconde no 16, brownish dash metallic. Now this however is a very nice polish from the same brand as above vinyl nastiness, cute bottle, easy to apply with the extra wide brush, one coat is enough, it doesn't crackle easy and when it does it's easy to apply a bit of polish on top with a not too bad result. I like!

Lip Balm - Apple Hydrating Moist Lipstick ABCE, M bought it in China, I have no idea what the ingredients are, I'd never get anything like that myself if I can't at least try and figure out the content. It doesn't smell very nice but it does however work wonders with dry lips. Still, really don't like the unable to interpret ingredients part of it.

All and all, quite a few new and excitingly good products since last. Now, what will I go for next...