Blogger Mail aka The Edit (Nov-Dec 2016)

Hi Lovelies,


Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕

How has been your new year going so far? I hope you are all well! I am all well, working on my winter body eating all the (gluten free) cookies, haha. Blogging wise I am well behind the things, there are many blog post I intended publishing last year, and this is one of them. This is my Blogger Haul for November - December 2016. When I first published this type of post I assumed no one would read it ever, but surprisingly it got a lot of views and likes on Instagram, which made me think that people are interested in seeing what I am getting, so let's keep this up, shall we? These things are a mixture of PR samples, things that I bought with my own money and another giveaway win. o won't go into listing what's what, as I am very clear about how I got my products in review posts, but let's just say that 50% of the things I bought myself, and if you are not satisfied with that and want to know how I got some specific product, well, you can always ask in the comments below. I will list all the things briefly and I will give you my first impressions if I have tried the product yet. So let's get on, shall we, because I know that's why you are all here, and none of us are getting any younger :)


Due to round of flu (including man flu!) I missed my November Blogger Mail post, and then December rolled around, and we all know time goes at a lightning speed then with festive preparations. When hollidays came I wanted to post my Yearly Faves and Year Review and take some time off, as I don't get paid for this. Cue here we are, late with my Haul post. Funny thing is I felt like I didn't get that much products, esp November was a dry spell in terms of products and new purchases, I decided to boycott Black Friday sales, and true to my form, the only thing I purchased that month was a handmade chopping board (you can see it here) and I also didn't treat myself for my Cake Day, but when Christmas rolled around I sort of started feeling sorry for myself, feeling like I am missing out on fabulous new products, so I started accepting PR products again and also shopped here and there, plus to my shock and surprise I won an Earthwise Beauty giveaway on Instagram, so as you can see, the result is this obscene (in my mind anyways) amount of products, but please remember this was acquired over two months period.💕Tamanu and Cocomanu oils from Be Kekoa Inc💕Dublin Herbalist samples - of all of their products💕Warrior Botanicals deodorant💕Organic Baobab powder💕Blueberry Iron supplement💕Naturally Better You package💕Cecilly’s cream💕Naobay - face cream and argan oil💕Bees Flying Wild candle💕Meridian Blackstrap mollases, organic💕Xylitol💕Aloe Vera juice💕Oreganol💕Green Frog Organics hand washes and body wash💕Ko&Humble oils, a few of them💕Isun skincare algae mask and two samples of oils💕Earthwise Beauty - the win let me acquire three full sized products and three samples and I’ve been sent a few samples by gorgeous Andie The Green Queen previously. I will post a review soon, but I want to get Mahalo review out first, as I got it earlier and have been using it for more than a month now.💕100%Pure haul. I got a little order back then when they had a gift with purchase deal a little while ago, as I needed a new mascara, the one I’d gotten previously from them was going off fast on me, and I didn't want to keep using it as not to irritate my eyes, but guess what? The new mascara came smelling of alcohol too! A surefire way of telling it is already off. From 7 mascaras I’d gotten from them this is a third one like this, and for that reason I won't be repurchasing it nor recommending to my readers. EU customers like moi already have to pay custom charges in top of high end price point, and this roulette “will I get a good product or the one that's off” shouldn't be happening in the first place! We should be guaranteed consistency in the product, not this! I am afraid this brand will get a lot less money from me in the future. It is a sad day, because it means I will have to look for a new green mascara, that would be non irritating, volumising and most importantly, not flake. Any suggestions?💕Root & Flower - Palo Santo roll on and under eye cream. Funny thing is I requested this Palo Santo thingy when they offered to try one of their roll-ons as I’ve been wanting to try/smell Palo Santo for quite some time, but it is not for me I am afraid, so it goes into care package to someone. I will update you on the eye cream once I will try it, but it will be a while as I’ve got Earthwise oil at the moment.

💕I guess I should also include I-am-my-own-Santa present that I got from Content Beauty, a book by Imelda Burke and Infinite Love mist, you can see it here and it also came with 12ml sample of Madara peel mask, because my order was well over £30 but sans the samples I wanted, which I am pretty miffed about.
 
So there you go, that's exactly what I’ve acquired in November-December 2016. I am currently taking stock of what I have and while it may seem like nothing to some of you, to me it is a lot, and I think 2017 will be my Project Pan & Downsizing year. While some of the areas aren't too bad, I’ve managed to acquire a lot of facial oils, and my make up stash is way too much for one person. I will work my way through the products, trying not to have multiple variations of the same products. Thankfully I’ve discovered many great products this year and my skincare is also at the top of the game, where my skin is happy and I don't want to change a thing. Especially having in mind that I can tolerate very few products. I predict very few purchases in 2017, but I still will be dishing loads of reviews out as I managed to get 70+ drafts in my bloggers dashboard, so buckle up and stay for the ride people!


That is all for today,

Lots of Love,

Renata.

Test Kitchen or The Edit or The Products New To Me

Hi Lovelies,


Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕

So three months ago I started new series to the blog, new (to me) products that come my way, but to be honest with you I am not sure how much longer I will keep this segment, as I've made a desision to downsize and minimise my green beauty collection (and everything else, really) so next month I might have nothing to blog about, and maybe one or two products the month after that, who knows?

It is just consumerism and wasting products drives me crazy, I am definitely someone who aims to use up all the products I own, and I decided to stop PR samples for skincare as I don't want to subject my poor sensitive skin to yet more testing of various products. I don't know why I took it upon myself to chain test creams and potions, but the truth is, my dermatitis prone face is at it's happiest when I use no products at all (or very minimal skincare) and protests wildly if I try something new. See my blog post on it here.

So, without contradicting myself, let's start the post, shall we? This is a rather large amount of products (at least for me) and the only reason I have so much new products is because I won two giveaways via Instagram, and that includes gorgeous Mahalo products - please don't hate me! But let's start from the begining and let's dive in, shall we? Oh, this post includes items that I bought with my own money, some PR products that were sent to me and as I already mentioned, two giveaway winnings.

100%Pure Matcha Green Tea Organic Moisturiser
I was intrigued by their recently released organic range, and although I didn't really need another moisturiser, I got this and a pack of my fave caffeine masks to get an awesome gift with purchase they had going on a while back.
I have to say the first impressions are not so good, which is not a good sign, I've come to come to trust my gut instinct, if a product does not impress me from a get go, it rarely makes it into my favourites later on. But this might be just the thing to change it, who knows?

100%Pure Caffeine Masks 

not new to me, these are very good, review and comparison to their other sheet masks to come.

100%Pure BB Cream in 20
This is part of the GWP and of course I was curious to try it. So far I've used it once, definitely dewy finish, but it kinda goes orange on the face, and I am not really liking that. Need to play with it more prior to reviewing it.

100%Pure Black Tea mascara and Black Eye Pencil
I used both of these products, I still have about half of their eye pencil from the about a year ago, and although it is still good, I will toss it and will open a new one. The mascara already smells funky which pisses me off, I've had purchased their mascara about 6 or 7 times now. And this is second tube that was sent to me old, if you ever open their mascara and will smell something other than pleasant fruity smell, know that's old and contact them for the replacement. The first time it happened to me I did get a replacement, although they tried to pull wool over my eyes saying their mascaras have "fermented" smell. No they don't, unless they are old! I used mine for about six months and they didn't change in any way, smell or consistency, and I know some bloggers that used it for 9months to a year without changes.
My love affair with 100%Pure is turning into a love-hate relationship because of their six months expiration date, but I'll go into more details in my 2016 Fall Empties post, which is to come really soon. Let's just say I took out some back ups and found them spoiled six months later despite company's claims they are good for 3yrs once unopened.

Bryt Skincare serum

This product is new to Ireland and that's why I got it, it is created by Catkin Wemyss-Bodmer, who won 13th place in the top 25 natural personalities in 2015, which definitely intrigued me. I haven't used this yet, but the ingredients are pretty good apart phenoxyethanol, which I don't use, as well as alcohol denat, which does not agree with my skin at all, so my gut instint says it might dry out my skin? Not sure, let's see, shall we?

Oh lord, I just realised I have three giveaways winnings here to show you, unbelievable! I was never lucky in lotteries and giveaways in my life, I don't know what have I done to get this fortune come my way, but touch wood these wouldn't be my last winnings!
So I present you with Skin & Tonic goodies, which of course I will review later on. One item came from green beauty swap.

Skin & Tonic Coco Mask
Skin & Tonic Naked Beauty Oil

Skin & Tonic Naked Lip Balm

Skin & Tonic Calm Balm

So far I have only tried the Coco mask, which I didn't even plan on trying until I've finished on some of the other products I have open now, but when I unscrewed the cap to see if the bottle is sealed, it wasn't, and I've decided to use it then in order not to waste a good product. It is a mix of powdered coconut milk, clay and some other things including lavender essential oil.

Another giveaway I have won back in the end of July from wonderful Candice Batista. I was going away for three weeks so I was afraid I'd miss my package, so I asked if the prize can be held until my return, and she kindly agreed. Long story short, a few emails and one forgotten package later, it is finally in my hands. The ingredients sound absolutely wonderful, but I haven't opened any of these yet as I've plenty of other products to use up, as I don't like having too many open products and thus wasting a part of them. These beauties will have to wait their turn.

Corpa Flora Beaute Divine Camelia Facial Oil

Corpa Flora Antidote 01 Firming

Corpa Flora Antidote 02 Vitality


And now for the best part of my haul, Mahalo! I was besides myself with joy when I got a message from the owner Maryna telling me that she was glad when randomiser.org selected me, and she was so kind and wonderful and calmed me down when I was fretting thinking my package was lost in the post (it took longer than I thought, and I was watching my postman as a hawk, as you would!) Her handwritten sweet note is something I will want to keep forever I think, as it will remind me of this wonderful package I've won - you can't get better than Mahalo in a green beauty world, and surely it is a one in a lifetime kind of miracle happening to me?

Mahalo Balm

Mahalo Bean Mask

Mahalo Vitality Elixir

(and a mini sizes of Indigo Balm as well as Vacation Glow oil)

Of course I have tried all of them already (apart from Vacay mini) and they are BEEEAAAUTIFUL products! Review is definitely to come, but *spoiler allert* - they are absolutely gorgeous products! I am in love! My budget (or rather no budget at all) won't stretch to get all of them, but I have to find ways to get at least one or two of them when the time comes.

Weleda Skin Food 

I have used quite a few products of Weleda in my time (purchased with my own money of course) and the one and only time I answered their call looking for bloggers, this is what I got. One teeny tiny cheapest product from their entire range. Blogger's beware, this brand will want you to work for nothing. When i emailed them to ask about it, they told me that "maybe I will warm up when I will actually start using this wonderful product". Gee, thanks!

Indigenous Beauty Deodorant samples

These just came in today, so no opinion on them yet, need to play with them first.

Bees Flying Wild Raw Honey Frankincense May Chang Body Butter

I was given this when I met the owner of this brand in Free From Expo that was happening a little while ago. If you follow me for some time, you know that this is my favourite company for body balms (and hand and foot balms) - review here - Arno uses only gorgeous purest organic ingredients for his products, and the results are pure magic! Definitely look out for a review in the near future!

One company I definitely won't be reviewing is Skyn Iceland, I got sent their Cooling lotion and eye cream. Hefty priced products didn't agree with me at all, eye cream made my undereyes swell and itch (outch!) and I only tried the cooling lotion on my hands once and I had to wash them off immediately too, too irritating as well. The smell can be felt from half a metre, and it is definitely not from a natural source, as there is frangrance in the ingredients list. How is that supposed to help with inflamed skin I don't know. Sorry brand, but I won't be testing your products much further.

So that is all for now! Please let me know if you want me to keep this segment to the blog? In a way it is kind of "blogger's mail" segment, and I am not sure if you guys want to see that or not?

Lots of Love,

Renata.

What I am Using Right Now or The Edit

Hi Lovelies,


Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕

I just realized that working thoroughly on reviews is taking a lot of time (at least for me, I post a review after testing an item for a few weeks) and while I am not short of ideas or stuff to review, I wanted to share with you what I am currently using/testing right now. All these items are new(ish) to me, and if you follow me on Instagram, you have seen majority of them, but not all. I am on the hunt for my perfect foundation, so I am testing out a few, mineral powders and liquids. I finally got my skincare where I want it to be, so I am putting a lid on the new stuff for the moment, as my super sensitive and dermatitis prone skin wouldn't go too cray cray on me. These are not all, but I didn't want to overwhelm you with a sheer amount of stuff. All these items are clean when it comes to the ingredients, I won't be listing the ingredients here, or it will be two mile long blog post, and who wants that? I listed fifteen items here, in reality I could've carried on to fifty three (the current amount of drafts in my blogger's dashboard) and would still not be done! Oh dear, I am definitely not a minimalist, am I?

1. Vintner's Daughter facial oil
I got it in a green beauty swap with Cleanshelf from Instagram. I jumped at a chance to try 200$ facial oil as it is something I wouldn't be able to try otherwise, it is way out of my price range. I m on a fence about it, good at brightening my skin, but too potent for me for everyday use, so l use it twice a week now.

2. Josh Rosebrook Balance shampoo and conditioner.
Again, acquired from the same swap, and the same story with these products, too pricy for me, so was so glad to receive in a swap. First impressions not that good, after three attempts I moved on to 100%Pure shampoo and conditioner, which are so much better in my opinion. I should finish up these as I plan a blog review.

3. 100%Pure Neem and Burdock shampoo and conditioner
I was so excited about these, and they are good! I have a blog post review on them coming soon, but l guarantee you, if you will get them, you won't be disappointed! What can I say? Since I tried this brand, I have fallen in love and will continue to buy the products till I cease to exist. Not everything suited me, but I am impressed with 99% of the stuff I have tried from this company. Does not happen very often. (Reviews can be found here, here, here, here, here and here.)

4. 100%Pure Pretty Naked II palette.
I can't put it down since getting it! Enough said. I have a review on it coming shortly as well, and make sure you get your paws on it once it will becomes available to the public, I have a feeling it's going to sell out pretty fast. Oh, and you can enter 100%Pure giveaway to win one (plus three other palettes for your friends) on their Instagram page.

5. Jo Browne natural perfumes
I received a lovely present in the post, and these little beauties made me so happy! Handmade in Ireland with organic beeswax and the fragrance is 98% natural too. These last for 6-7 hours, which is incredible for a natural perfume.

6.. Inika goodies
Expect a review on their powder and liquid foundations, luminizer and blushes. One word? Love.

7. Living Nature Illuminating foundation
Don't have formed opinion on it yet as I only have it for a couple of days. Stay tuned.

8. Pai facial oil.
All I can say is - what took me so long??

9. Fushi Eczemaid
I'm due a review on this chickweed ointment which helped (or not) to heal my recent dermatitis outbreak.

10. 100%Pure spray SPF30 and Everywhere SPF30 stick.
With our "wonderful" summer I didn't even get a chance to wear those yet as it is raining every day and I am back into my leather jackets and the scarf. (When EU and US are having a heatwave. Not fair if you ask me). Anyways, these have great ingredients, the spray rubs in clear (yay!) and the stick leaves a white cast, but it is so portable to take with you anywhere. That is all I have to say for now.

11. Honest Everything palette and luminizer
I was reduced to tears when I got this package from the lovely (and funny) lady that is Natasha or nici_evans from Instagram! She is too good to be true! She knew I wanted to try Honest Beauty products (since I can't get them here in EU) so she sent me this wonderful package not asking for anything in return!! How amazing is that? Please go to her Instagram page and send her some love.
Anyways, back to the Honest products - they are amazing! Really live up to the hype. The palette is gorgeous, but it is the luminizer that surprised me big time, I keep reaching for it every single day, and it comes from a person who wasn't into luminizers at all.

12. Zatik Moisturiser
I bought this USDA certified organic moisturiser in TKMaxx recently as it was a bargain at 10€ only and has really good ingredients, sea buckthorn oil, apricot kernel oil and much more, but I think it''s better suited to oily skin people, not me, the dry skin gal, even though it says on the box it's for normal to dry skin? It is very thin in consistency and my skin feels still dry and tight after application, which is not ideal situation, so I mix it with Pai oil. I'll use it up, but I won't repurchase.

13.. Lotus Wei
Omg, love! Flower remedies never worked for me until now, so I was really apprehensive when I got these babies, but a few spritzes later I knew it was something I want to have with me forever! Just one little word of warning, have a sniff in the actual brick and mortar shop if you have a chance to do so, I highly recommend that or ordering sample kit before investing in a full size products, because I ended up loving completely different products than were recommended to me after I took Lotus Wei flower quiz. But Infinite Love is a love from a first spritz and for forever. Yes, it is rather expensive, but for me it is worth it, because it totally dissolves my anxiousness and fears. I would rather go without something else. 

13. Red Apple Lipstick
 I jumped at a chance when I discovered RAL's blogger's program, because I was dying to see if the lipsticks will live up to the hype, and oh my goodness they are good! Super loving Twist 'N Pout I got, it is getting so much love this summer. Stay tuned for a review.

14. Kimberly Sayer facial SPF30 sunscreen
Another item I got from a lovely Cleanshelf in a green beauty swap. I knew it is aimed at oily skin gals but i jumped at a chance anyway as I wanted to properly try it (I had a sample) and oh my goodness I love it, first facial sunnscreen that is not breaking me out and it is not ghost white! It is not enough moisturising for me, but i mix it with cold pressed raspberry seed oil, which naturally has SPF of 30-50. I will review it too.

15. Pure Anada goodies
Let me do a little more testing, but I think I found my perfect mineral foundation! It has so much pigment, I get nearly full coverage from ONE LAYER!! No need to sit and buff seven layers of it like with some other mineral foundations. I am excited about this review, stay tuned!



So that is all for now my dear friends! I hope you are not exhausted just by reading it :) This post made me realize that I am not a minimalist I though I am, far from it! And I am excited to bring you reviews of everything in the near future, so make sure to come back every Monday :) why I am posting on Mondays? Why, to brighten up your start of the week just a little :)

What are you using slash editing at the moment? Please share with me, I would love to know.



Ta ta for now,
Lots of Love,
Renata.









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