lunedì 21 maggio 2018

High end, Luxury Organic Skincare: my impressions feat Dr Alkaitis, Suki Pai Mun skincare...



Last Friday I had the pleasure to be invited to my friend's wedding and I said why not try some fancy, high end and very expensive skincare! And I did! 
Thanks to this clever shop called Amazingy.com, based in Germany, I had the chance to order some samples of the most exclusive brands in organic skincare. For this occasion, I order another little jewel in this site: Winter Skin, from the brand Eco by Sonia. This is a self tan cream that creates a subtle tan and glow, all organic and easy to use. Perfect for my pale skin! I will create an in deep review for it!
Organic skincare has now a long history, but only recently, thanks to the awarness of some celebrities (take Gwineth Paltrow, for example, who is creating her own line now, Juice beauty), and the organic trend in food, has become more and more popular. Like all things, even in the beauty area we have the drugstore products and the high end, but do the expensive brands worth all the money? Or, like makeup, we can find dupes that are cheaper and even better than the more expensive ones?
I have now tried a lot of organic brands, low cost and luxe brands, and I think I can say something: they do worth the money. Of course, not all the products and not all the brands, but in average, mostly do their work better than low cost brands. Creating a formula is a very delicate process and it takes a lot of time (and money and prime ingredients) to reach perfection. That's why a luxe organic brand is very expensive but worths every penny. They will not be satisfied until the formula is exactely what they have in mind. And you can experiment that when you try something extra for your skincare. You immediately see the results. Non-organic skincare brands cost as the organic ones, but their focus is on the apperance of the skin, not in the health of the skin. So you can see immediate result, but no effective improvements on the skin (once you stop using them, you go back where you have started). 

What did I notice using high end brands? What are my impressions?

Well, I have combination skin with large pores (that are my mainly problem). Even if I am already using organic skincare, I struggle with my pores a lot, they won't disappear or at least minimize a little. 

Here's what I used from the Amazingy.com sample order:


The Pai Skincare Kukui and Jojoba Exfoliator is a must for brightening the skin. Stop!
It was the first time I was using Dr Alkaitis and I was truly surprised by this mask. At first I didn't notice it did something, but after some time I see my face very clear, calm, with no redness, pore were clear and minimized a little. 
Mun Youth Serum gave me the most glowing skin ever, without looking greasy at all. And again, pores disappear under my eyes!
Suki Eye lift Renewal Cream is just the perfect eye cream, fine lines were gone!

I am truly amazed by what these products could do in a once use I can only imagine what they could do in a skincare routine. 

So if you have to invest some money on skincare, do it! I swear you will not regret this decision!

Kisses,
Hyatt




giovedì 10 maggio 2018

Beauty Review: 11 Domus Olea Toscana - A Haircare Spa from washing to styling


If you didn't know I was in Bologna for the Sana 2017, that is an exhibition for all natural, green and eco-friendly things, from food to beauty and everything related to sustainability (link here).
So, in that occasion, I wandered through the beauty area and found some of my favorite organic skincare and haircare brands and Domus Olea Toscana is one of them.
I am in love with their products because not only they are organic and green, they are also very powerful. The concentration in active ingredients in their products is very high so you can almost immediately notice a difference in your skin. They do have a complete range for your skin (both face and body) and for the Sana 2017 they launched their Haircare line: "11". Eleven are the tuscan plants that are used to recreate the keratin of the hair, Eleven are the amino acids in the formula that truly repair the hair. They are on top when it comes to research, they create innovative formulas and the base is the extraordinary Olive plant (the name suggested it, right?). Another innovation is the complete haircare, from washing to styling. Their step-system is meant to have an incredibile layering of nourishing, protecting elements through all your haircare routine, so 1- you don't have to use something that is no good for your hair in any step 2- your hair are protected from beginning to end, even with your styling!
There are 4 lines of product depending on your needs: blue is for greasy hair (seborreheic sculp), pink is for normal to dry hair, purple is for sensitive and the aluminium is for all types.

Here are the steps:


What hair do I have and what did I buy?

My hair are normal, with dry ends. Quite good I must say, but I do need to take care of them with some nourishing product to avoid split ends (mainly from blonde ends and abuse of hair straightener). I do the Pre-treatment mask once a month to keep the hairsculp healthy (sometimes it's dry, sometimes it tends to grease fast). For the shampoo I choose the Micellar Cream Restructuring Anti-age one, it's like all the line, very delicate, but very nourishing at the same time. I alternate it with the Co-Wash for dry sculp. Once a week I use the 3 in 1 mask, I apply it as a pre-shampoo mask, cause it smells like vitamin B, and it's pretty intense (I don't mind the smell, cause I know it's good stuff, but someone may be more sensitive than me). I use the Seal Conditioner to close the hair scales, spray the Volumizing Tonic  and end with the Crem-oil for silky hair. I used 11 only for some time to benefit from the layering of the active ingredients.

My thoughts.

This line comes to help when you are going through a hair crisis. You tried all what's in the market to get your hair better and nothing has worked. Start avoinding silicon based shampoo, detox your hair from that (try with ghassoul clay and cut!) and go try 11. It's like nothing you can find on the market today for damaged, heavily greasy or very dry hair. You need to start taking very good care of them with the right products and with 11 you can find your peace. It's an intense treatment, it may took a while to see the changes, but it's totally worth it. I can see my hair are now truly healthy and brillant, the color is pure light. The styling is easier and faster, no tangles at all. Since this is an intense treatment I recommend to use it for some time (till you see the improvement and the improvement is stable) and switch to any organic shampoo of your pleasure to use next. Pre-treatmanet maskCo-wash, Leave-in serum, Sealing products and styling can be used to extend the benefits.

Beauty tips: Mask 101 - A in-deep guide on how to use masks and benefit from them


A step in my beauty routine that I really enjoy doing: mask! A little confession: I should do it more often than I do right now (ugh, laziness!). Because it's nothing like to smack on your face some muddy cream and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. Nope! This is how 90% of people are using masks nowadays, and you're maybe too! This will be a simple but in-deep guide on how to benefit the most from you masks, so you will not waste your money and your time anymore and always achieving beautiful skin! Let's start!

1- Srub and peel are the key. First thing first, you need to eliminate dead skin. In this way the elements and active ingredients of your mask will lay on fresh skin and penetrate more on the surface. That's where they do their magic. Depending on the sensibility of your skin you will choose between an effective scrub or a more gentle peeling product. Here are my fav's: Domus Olea Toscana Peeling Mask, Pulp de Vie Sucre Frappe, Nacomi Scrub.

2- Steam. Every facial has a steam step, yours too! Steam comes to help your pores open so, one more, the active ingredients of masks can pass easily. It also an effective cleaning process, so the dirt and the dead skin can be removed quickly and with no arm. If you have some blackheads, you can remove them after the steam with this tool. Remember to be extra gentle and to disinfect the area and the tool from the bacteria!

3- Toner. A calming mist or refreshining toner can be used at this point. We don't want to close our pores yet, but the steam is quite powerful and we cannot apply our mask now. Some thermal water can be used too, my fav's are: Evian, Avène.

4- Preparing the mask. For those who are using a pre-made mask, go and apply it with the right tool: a silicon or sinthetic brush. The steps before can be applied also if you're using a tissue mask. If you are going to prepare a mask from some powder (caolin, ghassoul, any clay, herbs...) here are some tips:
a- clays must be resting for 5-10 minutes in the sun before preparing the mask. They need the sun rays to reactivate and ionize (no midnight mask in this case);
b- you can use water, but thermal water or activating waters are a plus you need to try. My fav's are: Phura Attivatore Vegetale per Machere, Nacomi. The extra step: a tissue mask soak in activating water to put on your face, after the mask. You can buy tissue compressed mask online here.
c- don't be stingy, you need to apply a very thick layer on! A thick layer makes the skin to deeply catch all the organic elements of the mask by osmosis process.

5- Well, most of the work is done, you're relaxing in your bath/bed with your mask on, carefully prepared, and all you have to do is to rinse it off. With lukewarm water, massage it gently on your skin, till it's gone. Take now your toner (a minimizing pore one this time), eye cream, serum, face cream and you're done!

I am sure you will notice a big difference following these step when you're doing your next mask. Let me know in the comment section below!

Kisses,
Hyatt