New in #83
NIVEA Q10 Plus C Anti-wrinkle + Energy Skin Sleep Cream
Based on my limited (and possibly wrong) knowledge there are a few ingredients than have been scientifically proven to diminish signs of aging: vitamin A/retinol/retinoids, vitamin C, peptides, Coenzyme 10/ubiquinone and niacinamide/vitamin B3. I wanted to expand my routine by including some Q10 products and this one combines ubiquinone and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in one product, so I got it as a possible cheaper alternative to Eucerin Hyaluron Filler Vitamin C or as an accompanying product, since I really love Eucerin's emulsion. It's got no alcohol which is a plus for me and shea butter high on the list, so it's suited for normal-dry skin, while the rest will find it heavy. It doesn't state the concentration of vitamin C, so I presume it's no more than a few percent (I hear 12-20% of ascorbic acid is most effective, but I had best success with Eucerin's 10%). I've been using it every day for three weeks and in this time my skin reverted to its "blah" state before the Eucerin vitamin C-Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse combo. I see no brightening effect or a general improvement of my skin's condition, I even got a couple of spots which are taking its time to heal, though this cream doesn't appear to be breaking me out, it just isn't capable of keeping my skin stable and clear. My main complaint about this is how heavy it is, actually everything I've tried from Nivea is so rich and best suited as a last step in the routine, but given that vitamin C products tend to be low pH, I apply them as the first or second step in my routine (after acids if I use them). It's not an ideal product for my type of routine where I do a lot of layering, but if you are a cleanser + one product type of person, this will work out better for you. The packaging is great, a metal tube with a very precise, small nozzle. Vitamin C often needs months to see results, but with Eucerin I saw improvements in three weeks, so it's hard for me to keep insisting with the use of this one, when I know there are better vitamin C products available. I don't know what I'll do with this one, since I still like the ingredients list. I might move on to another vitamin C and move this to the end of routine as a regular moisturiser or sleeping mask.
DM, 12.49 €
NIVEA Q10 Power Deep Wrinkle + Firming Treatment
Another Q10 product I picked up. Usually this is sold in a pack of two, but Müller has individual vials. I went through Nivea's entire product list, checking ingredients of each and though most stuff is very average, this has ubiquinone high enough on the list for me to be interested (by the way, Nivea has it in general higher on the list than the cheaper Balea or Cadea Vera Q10 products, otherwise I'd buy those). This is a very small vial with only 6.5 ml of product and it's supposed to last 10 days, but I've gone much longer and I'm not frugal with it. Like I mentioned above under the sleeping mask, Nivea products are so heavy and this takes quite some time to absorb. Due to thickness it's not easy to spread, but it's very nourishing. The treatment showed no result, I had a tiny speck of hope it will perhaps diminish my lines around the lips, but they are as bad as they were before the Eucerin + Nuxe combo at which I has a feeling there was a bit of improvement. The packaging is a soft vial that can be squeezed and the applicator is a very precise nozzle.
Müller, 4.99 €
NIVEA Q10 Power Replenishing Pearls
I was picking only products with Q10 highest on the list of ingredients and this has it on 6th place after water, which is not as high as I'd want, but it also contains hyaluronic acid and creatine right after. The pearls intrigued me, though it's not my first such product as I had a L.O.V. primer with pearls. The latter is a light serum product and this is unexpectedly completely different. The texture of the pearls resembles more a thick cream or almost a balm, meaning it's quite heavy stuff that needs time to absorb. I expected this is a light hydrating serum, but it's definitely something more suited for the last step in the night routine. I'm not sure about this one yet, I've decided to keep it for later use because you really can't use more than one Nivea product in the routine even with my dry skin. It had some promising brightening results in the first days, but I'm not sure this was the reason for it. I'll have to get back to you with this one, for now I haven't been using it long enough to say anything definitive apart from that's it's very heavy and pretty much only for dry skin.
DM, 12.79 €
NIVEA Q10 Power Anti-Wrinkle + Firming Mask and Hyaluron Cellular Filler 10 Minute Sheet Masks
I finally found these in Müller and they weren't cheap. We only have two versions here, but a vitamin C and three other exist. I haven't tried the Q10 Power yet, but when I do I'll report back.
Hyaluron Cellular Filler
Sheet: Terribly thick and stiff. It's not a comfortable mask to wear and very far away from the much lovelier, thin Asian masks. It's slightly too big for my face, but the eye cutouts fit nice.
Essence: it's like a serum that at first appears light, but as it dries it just sits on the skin in this slightly tacky layer at which I have a feeling that if I rub my skin it will pill, so again like at most Nivea stuff, it's not a product for layering, but I did apply Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse several hours after use and it worked fine.
Scent: Strong and chemical. It could be better, but I can deal with it.
Effect: Absolutely nothing and I mean nothing, not even the basic moisturising because my skin felt tight after use. This was overall very disappointing despite the promising ingredients.
Worth it? The thick material runs it for me. You're supposed to enjoy these masks, not be scared to move you face because the thick material prevents it from adhering completely. Asian masks are much better. The effects were also underwhelming, I expected a temporary filled out lines from mask like this, but if anything they looked worse the next day because despite the hyaluronic acid, my skin didn't feel moisturised like with my usual routine (I only used this mask to properly test it and added Nuxe much latter because my skin felt tight)
Müller, over 3 € each.
OLAY Regenerist Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream Face Moisturizer with SPF 30 Broad Spectrum
OLAZ 3-Zonen Tagescreme LSF 30
No one talks about Olay/Olaz on blogs, but on Amazon I've read great reviews, so I went to explore ingredients on their website and discovered they have a lot of products with niacinamide, my favourite ingredient, high on the list and some also have peptides. I believe their Regenerist line is popular in North America, especially their classic red pot moisturiser, while their serum with AHA's that has been discontinued was more well known to beauty enthusiast. I have a few things on my wishlist, but I picked this moisturiser first to start, since Olaz here isn't cheap. This is their classic Regenerist formula with an added SPF 30 and it comes in a packaging with a pump, which I prefer to pots. The moisturiser has a medium-thick cream consistency and it's definitely suited more for dry skin, especially if you apply it in thick coat when plan to use this as a sunscreen on its own. It sinks into my skin in about 3-5 minutes, but it leaves a moisturising layer of product with a velvety feel, which fits my dry skin. I can apply the recommended amount for a sunscreen with no problems, but it's heavy and there is some shine. It's got a freshly washed clothes scent. So far I like, as I got it to use an SPF on days when I don't spend much time outside or when I have time in the morning to only apply one thing and SPF 30 is quite a lot of a day cream, as most here apart from a couple Nivea ones have an SPF 15 at most. I like the idea moisturiser + sunscreen in one plus I really wanted to try the Regenerist line, since it has such a great feedback on Amazon.
By the way, Olaz has another day cream with SPF 30 that's half cheaper, also with niacinamide, has a pump, but I decided to get Regenerist because of peptides (and yes I know there are probably cheaper options with better ingredients, but I'm not very fussy about those and I rely mostly on reviews).
Müller, 19.90 €
AFRODITA COSMETICS Clean Phase Sensitive Solution Cleansing Oil Fluid
Čistilni oljni fluid
I'm still looking for a cheaper replacement for Biobaza Micellar Cleansing Oil (13 €) and I found this randomly on Afrodita's website, otherwise I wouldn't know it even exists (I follow their IG, but this hasn't been posted yet I think). Afrodita calls it an oil fluid, but a much better name would be an oil gel. This is the type of texture that Clarins’ Pure Melt Cleansing Gel has. It promises to cleanse the impurities and makeup, nourish and protect the skin with the help of a probiotics extract. It’s a thick gel that in contact with water turns into a thin milky emulsion and in general it feels nice to use, but there are three problems with this that make me not love this stuff:
1. It’s the worst makeup remover I’ve tried so far. It fails to remove makeup well, especially eye makeup. I use about the same makeup items for all of my cleansing oil tests (check the one with Lvly for example), but never has one been so weak as this one.
2. It irritates my eyes, which was the last thing I expected from something meant for sensitive skin. It's not terrible, but still, Biobaza doesn't do that, nor do most of cleansing oils I've tried from around here (K-Beauty ones are a different story, those are mostly like molten lava in my eyes).
3. It leaves a film of product on the skin. When it comes to cleansers I want it to rinse off completely, otherwise I just feel I've still got some impurities trapped in that coat of product. A second cleanser is needed.
The ingredients look good and it's very affordable, so it’s truly a shame this isn’t better. If you don’t wear makeup and do the double cleanse, maybe you’ll like it, but this is not for me.
Müller, something under 4 € for 150 ml.
*EUCERIN Hyaluron Filler Night Peeling & Serum
I had this on my wishlist in my June favourites post and Eucerin Slovenia people saw it and sent me a bottle (thank you). It's a dual product with two chambers, in one is an AHA peeling with glycolic acid and glycin saponin, while in the other are high and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid. One looks like a clear gel and the other a milky yellow-ish lotion and both together feel like a medium consistency gel that applies nicely, but can take time to absorb and even after that you can feel a layer of product, so it's not ideal for layering, but I wait a long time between applications of products (my skin care routine stretches hours currently, allowing everything to absorb sufficiently before applying other products on top). It's very gentle on my skin and I get no tingling, still I had hoped to see some results by now (two weeks of use), but it's like my skin is immune to AHA's and like I said above under Nivea product, my skin just isn't as nice as it was before. To be fair I don't even get results with the much stronger The Ordinary 30% AHA (my skin is so weird when it comes to AHA's, I get no tingling, brightening or "renewal" effect even with the strong stuff, so I actually prefer Skinfood's mechanical scrub Black Sugar), but since I had such lovely experience with Eucerin's Vitamin C, I had hopes this will be nice too. I use this in combination with Nivea's Vitamin C because I read they can be very compatible as the exfoliation effect of AHA might assist a better absorption of Vitamin C. I use both in my night routine. I think I'll give this a go with the combination of their Vitamin C, maybe that will be a better combination. By the way I think that this is the type of product that can be used on its own, since it combines acids and a moisturiser. I know most don't want a complicated and long skin care routine and this does two in one, but I have dry skin and my skin needs some extra care otherwise it feels a bit tight.
Ingredients.
Pharmacies, 42 €
Pharmacies, 42 €
DOVE Purely Pampering Shower Gel
Coconut milk & jasmine petals
A repurchase. I mentioned this one many times, including the last new in. It smells divine, creamy floral, but not coconuty despite the name. Formula is one of the best for dry skin.
Intespar, 2 €
NIVEA Body Milk Firming Q10 + Vitamin C
There are two versions of this lotion, the white one has alcohol high on the list, presumably so it absorbs faster. This contains Q10 and vitamin C in a form of sodium ascorbyl phosphate, a stable form of vitamin C that can potentially even out the skin tone. Both ingredients are more towards the middle of the ingredients like, but still high enough for me to be interested (Balea's version had it on the last places of a long list, plus no vitamin C). In terms of texture it's the lightest formula in my collection (I like my body moisturisers heavy and thick), however, it takes a long time to absorb, in fact I can still feel it's on my skin in the morning. In terms of formula it's not my favourite, but I still like it and the effects of it surprised me. It somehow managed to make my driers parts, such as my creepily sandpaper-rough elbows become a lot less coarse which never happened with a regular body moisturiser to me and I had to use Mixa Cica-Cream separately on those parts. It also made my skin somewhat softer - completely unheard of for my skin. I'm always reading other people's reviews about how a moisturiser made their skin baby soft and I never got that effect ever - I don't know why my skin is never soft, but it likely the reason I have so many ingrown hair if I wax/epilate despite using heaps of scrubs and moisturisers, but this Nivea lotion made a tiny bit of an improvement in that department, so I'm actually quite impressed by it even though the texture is not my favourite and I'm not looking forward to applying this at the end of the day. The scent is typical Nivea creamy, some describe it as very strong granny like, but I don't find it like that at all - it's just a nice neutral scent. The packaging will very likely start to bother me in time, especially when it be close to being empty because the plastic is hard for my weak arms.
Leclerc, 8 € (400 ml)
NIVEA Hand Cream Anti-age Q10
I got this not just because of Q10, but also because it has at least some UV protection, thought that very likely just a very low SPF because otherwise they'd clearly state it on the bottle. But it's better than nothing I suppose, as most hand creams have nothing. I expected I wouldn't like this because I'm very spoiled by L'Occitane's hand creams, however, this quite nice, in fact it's my favourite Nivea product I've tried recently. It's light, but moisturising enough and though it takes longer to absorb than L'Occitane, it's absorbs completely in a few minutes. Formula feels almost silky which I like a lot and the scent is a typical Nivea. It's nowhere near as nourishing as L'Occitane, but I'm enjoying using this and I've been using it every day since I got this - and I'm not one to use hand creams often.
DM, 2.99 €
OLAPLEX No. 6 Bond Smoother Reparative Styling Creme
I'm on my second bottle of the more famous n.3 treatment, but this was released quite recently and it's their first leave-in product (they also just launched an oil, which is already on my wishlist). Reviews for this are fantastic and I was prepared to use it regularly even if it did nothing, as the fact it has bis-aminopropyl diglycol dimaleate is good enough for me. This ingredient can enter through the hair shaft and fix broken sulphide bonds. Though I must say that Olaplex n.3 doesn't have amazing results on me, not like keratin product such as Joico K-Pack do, I feel it's maintaining the condition of my hair especially since it's gone though some bleaching processes. This can be used on damp and dry hair, I've used it both ways. It reminds me of my all-time favourite Dove Super Quench Crème Serum, meaning it's not an overly wet formula of a leave-in conditioner, so on dry hair it tames frizz and it doesn't pop back up when the wet part of the conditioner dries. It also nourishes the hair and untangles. On damp hair after washing it's amazing. In combination with Pantene Intensive Repair conditioner it made my hair so soft and silky (I said many times, my hair is rarely soft due to its coarse, thick texture), I couldn't stop touching my hair. So far I'm really liking this a lot, it's like my favourite moisturising leave-in/ defrizzer/tamer/ Dove Super Quench got an upgrade with the Olaplex ingredient. However, I already hate the packaging. It the same as at n.3 and it's hard to get the last bits out, and it's going to be even harder at this one because the product is much thicker than n.3. This should come in a tube.
Cult Beauty, 24 GBP
PANTENE Intensive Repair Conditioner
A repurchase. This is my favourite drugstore hair care discovery and on top of being easily accessible, it's also got frequent good discounts. This time I got the 300 ml bottle that DM and Spar sell, while Müller has only 200 ml versions. This conditioner is like a hair mask and it manages to nourish my thick, very dry hair.
Interspar, 3.49 €
BALEA Oil Repair Intensiv Thermo Turbanmaske
No, no, no, no - this was a waste of my time. It the first turban mask I tried and expected a lot because this is supposed to be an intense treatment. There are so many things wrong with this, I don't know where to start. For one there's only 35 ml of product, I usually use about 50-60 ml for my long hair, but that's a problem specific to me, so you can ignore that. Number two the cap has only a light-medium coat of product on the inside and when you put it on the head, 90 % of it ends at the top layers. I couldn't get the product on the lengths on my hair no matter how much I massaged it when it was on my head. Number three and the main reason I feel duped by this: there is NO warming effect. Nothing, nada, zilch, not a tiny bit of warmth this promises and this pisses me of the most because otherwise I'd just say: yeah, it's fine if you have short hair that isn't too dry, but this is called a thermo mask and that's the main thing I expected. If it worked like it promised, I'd simply use a separate conditioner before and reap the benefits of the warming effect, since heat helps the products absorb better. The mask itself is ok, it's big enough, the sticker holds it tight the entire time and it even has a cute polka dot design, but it's oddly shaped at the top so you look like a garden gnome. In terms of effect I really wasn't sure whether that gentle moisturising effect was from this or did Pantene shampoo + a few leave ins do the actual job, but by the next day my hair was dry again. This has a high rating on meindm.at so don't just focus on my review, but I'm was not happy with it at all.
DM, 2.99 €
NIVEA Curl Forming Spray
This attracted my attention because it contains oil, so I presumed it's a like a mix between that got2b Oh my Nude Tame it Softly oil spray I love and a hair spray. It can be used on dry and wet hair. On dry hair it's closer to a light-medium flexible hold hair spray than the weightless oil in spray, so there isn't as much shine as at got2b, but it's not drying like regular hair sprays can be. I can apply tons and it never feels heavy, it holds the frizz down, but at one point it does becomes noticeable as the hair becomes a bit hard, but not sticky and running fingers though the hair breaks that apart. On damp hair it says it prolongs the amount of time required to dry the hair so you have more time to shape it - I find that so stupid, but it wasn't that much of a difference, still I want to dry my hair as fast as I can since I have so much of it and it takes ages to do it anyway. I did not like this on damp hair because it made my hair feel like there's too much product and like it's not properly washed, however, it definitely enhanced my curls that I achieve by tying freshly blow-dried hair in a tight bun overnight, though they didn't last as long as they do when I use a curling iron (picture of those no heat curls here. Hair colour looks lighter because the picture is washed out due to me wearing black). Unlike a lot of other hair sprays, this isn't an assault on my respiratory organs and it's got a sort of a fruity scent. It's not the best on damp hair, however, even though I wasn't very keen on it on my first try when I used it on dry hair (to be fair I was caught in the rain that time later on the same day I used it), it's been doing remarkably on my second try. I used only this and not the got2b wax + hair spray combo I usually use and yet it managed to hold my curls so well for two days so it looked like I just curled it and they still look good albeit more loose. It could have more of that oil they boasts with, thought it feels a lot less dry than my usual hair spray and though it's still not 100% love, I'll keep on using it for holding my curls, as it might prove to be a worthy replacement for Lee Stafford hair spray.
DM, 3.29 €
L'OREAL Excellence Creme
8.1 Light Ash Blonde
They changed the packaging of these and they removed the protective serum, which I liked, and replaced it with a shampoo. The latter has sulphates, something that surprised me because why would you wash off a fresh colour with a sulphate shampoo unless you want it to fade faster, so I'm not happy with the change. I hope the formula is the same, they say it is, but you never know. This is my favourite hair colour because it makes my hair actually soft. I can always rely on L'Oreal for having ashy shades of various levels that are best for counteracting strong red, orange and yellow tones. I haven't used this one yet, but I have used this shade before as well as 9.1 and 7.1, all are also great for dark natural brunettes for lightening the hair to a light brown with no bleach involved.
Müller, 5.99 €
DOVE Nourishing Secrets Restoring Ritual 48h Anti-Perspirant
Coconut & jasmine flower
Every time I get something with coconut I regret it. Of course this smells lovely, like light coconut with more predominant creamy florals, but I'm this weird person who loves coconut scents for the first 10 minutes and then I just can't take it anymore. Luckily I don't notice this one that much and so far it works as it should and I hope it stays that way.
Interspar, 3.19 €
