Dior Diordskin Nude BB Creme review

So I've been using this for a couple weeks now and I thought I'd write a review because I'm really loving it.

I'll start this off with saying that I use the shade 001 (the lightest) which is a pretty good match for me, it's slightly pink toned and I'm yellow, but it's not too bad. The next shade up (002) is more yellow but it was too dark. I wear MAC NC20 and Bobbi Brown Warm Ivory for reference.



I really like the packaging. It looks like the usual packaging that bb creams and tinted moisturisers come in, a tube, but it actually has a pump at the end which is really good for hygiene, ease of getting the right amount (one pump is good for a full face for me) and makes it harder to spill - if you squish it it probably won't explode.

The coverage is good for a bb cream, I'd still call it light coverage, but if you've tried any asian bbs you'll know that they offer very little coverage. It's about the same as a tinted moisturiser.

Bb creams are supposed to offer added benefits which separates them from tinted moisturisers. It claims to correct skin transparently, lighten the skin with a fresh glow, gently hydrate, smooth and protect. I'd say it does all of that. It's a good amount of hydrating, it's hydrating enough that I could not apply moisturiser beforehand, but if I do then I feel like I could get away with not powdering my skin and it lasting. My skin definitely looks smoother when I wear it. It has FPS 10 SPF- PA+ while I'm not entirely sure what that means, I think it's better than nothing.

A huge plus for me is that I've had no adverse reaction to it! All foundations I've tried other than mineral has irritated my skin, but this seems to help my skin at least a little. Whenever I wear it whatever blemishes I have are reduced some when I take it off.

Air-O-Swiss 7146 Travel Ultrasonic humidifier review

I recently bought the Air-O-Swiss Travel humidifier from Amazon and have been enjoying it heaps, so I thought I'd write a review.

General use
I'm not sure this would be good for two people in a room, but it works just fine for one. I point it at my face and turn it on about medium, it lasts a surprisingly long amount of time for it's size, probably around 4 hours, even longer if it was turned down to a lower setting. A lot of water vapour comes out of it even at the lowest setting, enough that I can still see it when it hits my face about 20cms away. Already I can feel the benefits, my sinuses aren't acting up as they often do and the cold I had is going much quicker than usual, my skin is plumper and needs less moisturiser.

Travel ability
I'd imagine this would be very good for travel, nearly all hotels have power outlets right by the beds, so it would be easy to set it up on the bedside table and point it at your face.

It's very compact, not even as big as the 500ml water bottle that you need to use it, so I'd imagine it would pack very easily, plus it looks pretty cute. Especially since you can buy a water bottle once you get to your destination.

I don't think it would work too well during a flight, although it's very compact, you would still need to have your tray table out the whole time you use it, plus you need power which I've found to be a bit unreliable on long flights.

Cons
One thing I don't like about this is that when it's in use the spout that the vapour comes out of is lit blue, I'm not sure if you can turn the light off, but it makes it hard to sleep with it on since I need total darkness.

So my Dad's talking about buying a horse property for me

And I may or may not be trying to convince him to let me move out into it...also known as convincing my Dad to buy me a freaking house.

I'm a little worried about many things if I were to move out on my own. The main concern is that I would get lonely and since I would have a lot of space I would end up buying a bunch of animals. There would be no one to tell me it was a bad idea, so I would probably wind up with a heap of alpacas and chickens.

I’m also worried that I would have to get roommates…but I cannot imagine living with any of my friends and not hating them and I don’t want to live with someone I don’t know because they might murder me in my sleep.

Also, I imagine it would either make my anxiety and subsequent depression a ton better and fix all my problems, or make it ten times worse. Because really I would have so little reason to leave my house. I have my horses in the backyard, I’d end up ordering my groceries and anything else I wanted online and I’m not a super social person, so seeing friends is pretty minimal.

Another issue is that if my Dad decides that I can’t cope on my own (because obviously he knows me better than I do) then he would live with me, without my brother, just me and him…let me tell you something about my relationship with my Dad, it’s not good. I think I would start spending ludicrous amounts of money on things from the shopping channel just to quell my rage at him.

10 favourite beauty products of 2012

2012 was a good product year for me, I tried a lot of new things and now have some new loves.

So I'm just going to throw skincare, makeup and hair products in at random as I think of them.

As always, my beloved Ultrabland must make this list. I have not been able to try something else without always coming back to Ultrabland. It's good shit. Can be inconvenient - requires hot water, a wash cloth, can be difficult to get off, people freak out about washing your face with oils, etc. but it makes my skin happy.

Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer is my favourite under eye concealer of all time. It covers really well, looks natural, stays on well, doesn't dry out the eye area and blends easily. What more could you want?

Perfect Potion Rosemary Conditioner is an awesome chemical-free conditioner for dry hair. It makes my hair feel super soft and moisturised without the use of chemicals and silicones, which I love. Plus it has very little scent, so I don't have to worry about it mixing with my fragrance (I like to spray perfume in my hair because it lasts longer than on skin).

Lush Eyes Right Mascara is a great everyday mascara that is easy to remove and doesn't damage lashes. It lasts all day and doesn't require scrubbing to get it off. Also it's quite a wet formula so it doesn't clump and looks more natural.

Benefit They're Real Mascara makes my lashes looks more dramatic than Eyes Right without clumping or being difficult to remove. The packaging is cute and I like the wand, I'm usually opposed to the plastic kinds of wand, instead of the spooly kind, but this really works. The product lasts nicely on lashes too, so I don't have to worry about a little light rain.

Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation and Concealer is my favourite mineral foundation (and foundation in general) of all time. It's cheap (£12.49 for 10grams that lasts me a little less than a year), covers redness and discolouration like a champ, comes in many shades, samples are available, doesn't wash off for swimming, doesn't irritate my skin (something unheard of for me) and blends in easily. The concealer is really nice too, also cheap, covers pimples really well (I wouldn't use it for under eye darkens as it can be a bit dry) and lasts all day too.

By Terry Rose De Rose Sheer Liquid Blush in Fresh Rose is my favourite blush of all time. It goes on really smooth, blends in easier than any other liquid blush I've ever tried, has subtle shimmer that highlights nicely and isn't too intense, so it's easy to apply quickly. It makes me looks healthier and looks natural and pretty.

Lush Catastrophe Cosmetic Face Mask is the best face mask for irritated or sensitive skin. It works really well on sunburn too, I burnt my back up a few months ago, apply Catastrophe Cosmetic on it when I got home and it was completely gone when I took it off a few minutes later. Catastrophe keeps my skin from freaking out too hard if I'm not being as careful with it as I should be.

My new 3 prong black wattle wood hair fork from this etsy shop is awesome. I've been having difficulty with buns lately because my hair is dry and damaged now thanks to the dye, whenever I put my hair in a bun it went all crinkly, angry and even more dry in the ends. I assumed it was the ends being squished under a hair tie so I bought a hair fork from Votepalantine and am so pleased with it! It holds my hair securely (even more securely than a hair band) and doesn't screw with my ends, win win! Also it looks pretty sweet because I bought this one but in black wattle wood, that looks kind of like the fire nation hair things that Azula and Zuko wore in the Avatar: The Last Airbender series.

Moroccan Oil Hydrating Styling Cream is my replacement for the sadly discontinued The Big Tease from Lush. It has silicone and chemicals and all that, but I only use it sometimes, so I haven't seen any damage form it. I like this cream for straightening out kinks from having my hair in a ponytail and for smoothing down flyaways.

End of the world?

I'm actually kind of worried that the world is going to end the day before I get my new horse. Obviously I know it's not going to happen and nothing out of the ordinary will happen tomorrow, but it's still a little worrying. I will be quite devastated if the world ends right before I'm getting my new horse, probably more devastated than the dying horribly part.

So here are some photos of my new horse.
Here is her at one week old:

Her name is Iddy, she's a 6 year old 16.3hh holsteiner and I love her. She likes cuddles:

Which I think is really cute and sweet.

The woes of a natural hair product user - Restoring damaged hair naturally

In my last post I talked about using aloe vera juice as a light leave-in conditioner for damaged hair. I've been thinking about how since I've dyed my hair it's been a lot more fragile and harder to maintain, so I figured I would write a post on what I've been doing with it.

1. For starters, I wash my hair as little as possible and I do it strategically. I try to not wash my hair for three days at least, but usually get to four or five. What I do is I wash my hair right before I have to go to anything where I want my hair to look good (shopping with the gals, etc.) and leave it until I'm going to be doing something active that will make my hair greasy and sweaty (horse riding, etc.).

I disagree with dry shampoo. It's an awesome idea and good if you're hair's gross and you have to go out, but it dries up the oils in the hair like shampooing does, obviously not to the same extent. You really have to leave your hair oily for a day or two for your scalp to realise that it doesn't need to produce that much oil. So eventually your hair will be able to go longer between washes if you let it get oily.

2. When I do wash my hair I use a sulfate free shampoo and an intensely hydrating conditioner. Sulfates dry out the hair and can irritate the scalp, they're only really needed if you use a lot of silicony products in your hair. I've been using Avalon Organics Nourishing Lavender Shampoo and Perfect Potion Rosemary Conditioner and have been loving them.

I have a kind of shower routine to optimise my shower time. I start with shampooing my hair before anything else, then condition and tie my hair in a bun and leave it like that for the rest of my shower, rinsing it out after everything else is done. Also, every second wash or so I do the whole shower routine and leave my hair in the bun with the conditioner in it for about an hour after the shower, then rinse it out.

3. I had been using jojoba oil as a leave-in conditioner before I dyed my hair, but now my hair needs something even more moisturising. I take a tiny amount of my conditioner and apply it focusing on the ends while my hair is still wet. Then once my hair has dried if it's still dehydrated I apply another tiny amount. I still use aloe vera water in between because it's much lighter and dries quickly.

4. I avoid using heat on my hair. I don't blow dry because drying naturally is so much better for the hair and I rarely straighten or curl, mostly because I can't be bothered.

I'm going to start putting some Manic Panic hair dye in a smaller bottle of my conditioner just to use on my ends soon. I'm thinking I'll just use the manic panic with the shower where I don't leave it in for an hour, since I don't want my whole head to be purple.

Aloe vera juice for dry, damaged hair

I got my hair dyed up to my ears purple last week because I finished school and now I can do whatever the hell I want with my hair! So my ends are quite dry and damaged and I've been looking for non-silicon ways of hydrating my hair since my hair doesn't respond well to silicon.

I started using aloe vera juice on my hair a few days ago. I put it in a spray bottle and spray my ends with it whenever they're looking dry. It's especially good if I get my ends quite wet with it and let it dry naturally or if I got to bed with it in. It's made my hair much shinier and more hydrated than it was before and I think with continued use it will repair the damage.

I also like aloe vera juice for my face, its very calming and cooling. It's also good to spray on after mineral foundation to make it look less powdery, melt into the skin and look dewy.

I've also been enjoying using jojoba oil on my hair as it's so moisturising and soaks in easily. I use a few drops, warmed between my hands, and smoothed over the ends and the rest towards the roots.

The downsides of aloe vera juice are that it only seems to come in giant bottles and it only lasts 3 months after you open it. Also, you're supposed to refrigerate it, but I assumed that was for if you were going to consumer it, I think it should be fine on the face and especially the face unrefrigerated.