Beauty Empties in May

May was just crazy! I was able to get rid of 21 products!! Wow, imagine: I now own 21 beauty products less! Isn't that great? :-D I am pretty proud of myself. I started the endeavour to use up my huge amount of beauty stuff last year in August. Before that I just constantly bought new stuff and never used it. I just found it too labourious to pamper myself on a daily basis and apply cream and all kinds of products all the time. But I found it appealing and I knew that I should do it because my skin is very dehydrated and dry and needs a lot of moisture. At the beginning it was not easy to start using all the products I had accumulated over the years. A lot of them had gone bad and so, luckily, I was able to throw a lot away at first. But some of it was still usable and I started to somehow adjust to applying cream each day. The first effects of using skin care on my dry skin were pretty amazing though. This motivated me even more to use up my beauty stuff and this is why I just kept using that stuff and even bought more of it. Since then, I was able to increase the amount of products I used up each month until now I even hit a peak I never thought would be possible.

However, to be honest: I don't think I will be able to keep up that pace of using up products I was able to manage in May. 21 products ... that's really a lot and I am pretty sure that this is an extraordinary exception! I was constantly creaming every part of my body at least once a day in May ... Imagine: I used 830 ml of body oil & body lotion last month!!! Even I myself find it hard to believe - although I witnessed that I did! :-D

Here are the products I used up in May:

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and

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Since I started this blog in the middle of May, the products I have used up in the beginning of May unfortunately have been thrown away before I was able to take pictures. These products were:

• Balea Dark Glamour Shower Gel
• Alverde kleine Elfe Shower Gel & Shampoo (for kids)
• Alverde Amaranth Creme-Öl Shower Gel
• Alverde Fusspeeling Pinie & Lavasand (Foot peeling)
• Weleda Wildrose Eye Cream 

A short summary and my thoughts about the products, I emptied in May:

• Shower Gel & Shampoo
• Balea Dark Glamour Shower Gel: this was a limited edition by Balea. I didn't like the smell and won't buy it again.
• Alverde kleine Elfe Shower Gel & Shampoo (for kids): this is a nice product, especially for travelling. I used mine especially for showering after swimming in the local public pool. I might buy it again. Not sure yet.
• Alverde Amaranth Creme-Öl Shower Gel: This was a limited edition by Alverde. The smell was not so nice at the beginning, but I got used to it. And it was very moisturizing which I liked a lot. I will probably buy it again if it will available again. 
• Alterra Papaya & grüner Tee Shower Gel: This was a limited edition by Alterra. It was sold in a box with a body lotion (which I happened to also use up this month, see below) and a hand cream. Nothing special. Nice product, the smell was ok. It was not moisturzing. Don't know whether I would buy it again.
• Primavera Lebensbaum Shower Gel: I didn't like the smell. Won't buy it again.
• Body Oils and Body Lotions
• Weleda Granatapfel Regenerations-Öl: Nice product, very moisturizing, but I didn't like the smell. Won't buy it again.
• Weleda Birken Cellulite-Öl: Nice product, very moisturizing and nice smell. I might buy it again. Unfortunately, I don't like body oils that much. But this one was really nice.
• Weleda Sanddorn Pflegeöl: Nice product, very moisturizing and really nice smell like fruits and oranges. I really love the smell and I might buy it again. Unfortunately, I don't like body oils that much. But this one was the best one of all body oils I tried. 
• Weleda Citrus Erfrischungsöl: Really nice body oil. It smells fresh and the scent is very light. It moisturizes the skin but not as much as the other body oils by Weleda, I used up last month as well. Nevertheless, for summer, this oil is really great!
• Weleda Wildrose verwöhnende Pflegelotion (30ml Sample): Nice body lotion. Didn't like the smell though. Nevertheless, I might buy it again since it was pretty moisturizing and I liked how it felt on the skin. 
• Alterra Körperlotion Papaya & grüner Tee: Very moisturzing body lotion with a nice smell. I didn't like the packaging, it was really difficult to get access to all the product. I had to cut the packaging in two pieces as you see on the picture. I don't know whether I will buy it again because of the packaging.
• Balea Himbeer Bodymousse: I didn't like the smell and also found it a little bit drying. Don't think I'll buy it again. But who knows, I already repurchased it one time. Sometimes I am a little bit inconsistent concerning body lotions. :-D

• Face and Eye Creams & Make up remover
• Cadeavera pflegende Reinigungstücher (Make up removing wipes): I love them. Will repurchase!
• Cadeavera ölhaltige Augen Make-up Entferner Pads (eye make up remover pads): I like them and will probably repurchase them. 
• Weleda Wildrose eye cream: great eye cream. Love it and although I constantly try other eye creams, I also always come back to it. However in Winter it's not moisturzing enough over night. But it's a perfect eyecream for the day, also under make up.
• Lavera Wildrosen Feuchtigkeitscreme: great day cream. Might buy it again
• Weleda Wildrosen Nachtcreme: great night cream. Love it, used a lot of those up. Nevertheless, the scent is a little bit intrusive and this is why I keep trying other creams and don't stay with this one although it's moisturzing effect has a lot of holy grail potential.

• Foot products
• Alverde Fussbutter Pinie & Shoreabutter (50ml Sample): nice foot butter, nice smell, moisturzing, however I didn't like how the butter felt on my skin. I think I prefer more liquid foot creams. I don't think I will repurchase it again.
• Balea wärmende Fußcreme: nice smell, feels nice, moisturizes. But my very last application of this foot cream made my skin break out and hence, I won't repurchase this cream again! I am even wondering if the warming effect has always been some kind of skin breakout.
• Alverde Fusspeeling Pinie & Lavasand (Foot peeling): I won't repurchase it. I actually don't need such kinds of peeling products since I have a peeling glove I really like.
• Make up:
• Alterra Lash Definition Mascara: this mascara burned a bit in my eyes. Won't repurchase. I also didn't use it up. But it was definitely older than 6 months and this video about makeup expiration dates has convinced me to be a little bit more careful with mascaras.

Anatomy of a new Fitness Routine

As mentioned in the very first post, this blog will deal with different topics. I don't want it to be yet another beauty blog (although beauty of course is an important part of a woman's life ;-)). In the future, I also want to write about other things that are important to me. e.g. my sports routine and how I try to keep myself fit. So, to make a start with sports, have a look at the Anatomy of a new Fitness Routine (from Vibram FiveFingers):

Beauty items for my short trip

Last week. I was on a business trip for 2 days (including travelling, the trip took 4 days, i.e. I stayed for 3 nights alltogether). At first, I packed 3 small bags:

But unfortunately, I threw a lot of beauty stuff into my suitcase on the very last minute and used just a tiny amount of the huge amount of stuff I took with me ... But I'll tell you the details later ...

In the bags shown above are my

• brushes (in the flat case on the right)
• cleaning and medical items and even something for sports (a theraband) (in the middle)
• makeup items (in the bag in the left)
• skin care (in the bag in the left)

 
These are the make up items and the make up brushes, I packed at first:

• Zoeva eye shadow base + the right green brush (Bdellium 778) for applying it
• Maxfactor 2000 Calorie Mascara + Zoeva brown liquid liner
• NYX eye shadow palette: Besides being tiny and light-weighted, it is just perfect for the purpose of creating a nude eye make up and just helps giving the perfect amount definition. And you can even build it up for the evening. The eye shadow brushes are: MAC 239, MAC 217 and Zoeva Crease brush.
• Nars Tinted pure radiant tinted moisturizer. I applied it with fingers.
• Benefit Hervana Blush: the perfect nude blush for a fresh & clean look. The brush for this blush is the Ecotools blush brush.
• Rival de Loop Aquapowder: it's not the best, but I am determined to use it up as soon as possible! The brush for applying it is the mineral powder brush by Bdellium Tools, i.e. the big green brush in the picture.
• Sante lip stick and Elizbeth Arden 8 hour cream lip stick.

Here is an additional picture of the brushes and the case I used for the transportation. It is the Real Techniques case you get when you buy a brush set. I love this case and it is perfect for travelling with brushes.

Again a picture of the make up items plus a brush cleanser (the bottle with the pinkish fluid - this is the MAC brush cleanser I filled into another bottle), eye make up remover pads (refilled into the case of Kaufmann's Haut- und Kindercreme) and a small travelling package of face make up remover wipes by Cadeavera.

Above the brushes, a mirror can be seen. Left of the mirror a pair of tweezers can be seen, manicure stick, nail scissors, a nail file and 3 q-tips. Also a lip balm (Nonique Intensive Kiss) and a hand cream (Nuxe Reve de Miel) can be seen.

Furthermore, I took with me 3 small body lotion samples from Weleda (Citrus, Granatapfel and Sanddorn), a face cream for the day by Nonique, a face cream for the night by Nonique and an eye cream by Nonique. The two bottels above the eye cream and left from the bodylotions are refillable GoToob bottles by Humangear which I filled with shower gel (the big one in green) and with shampoo (the small one that looks orangy - this is not the bottle but the shampoo).
Left from the Humangear bottles, you can see my electric tooth brush, a mouth wash and a tooth paste.

Left from the mouth wash, you can see my medicine (Migrastick, tablettes against head ache and eye drops) and my dietary supplements (Magnesium, Vitamin C, Fish oil capsules, Chlorophyl tablettes). The lilac thing on the left upper part of the picture below is my theraband for a little bit of sports in hotel rooms.

See additional pictures of the packing process:
Skin care and make up have been packed into the first bag, the makeup brushes have been packed as well:

 The rest fits into the black bag:

Finished! Everything is packed.

But, as mentioned, I threw a lot of additional stuff in the very last minute into my suitcase and most of the stuff I took with me hasn't been used at all. I don't bother you with a picture of the huge amount of stuff, I threw into my suitcase in the very last minute.

I haven't used so many things because I was travelling by plane and on flights I don't use much makeup. On flights I prefer to rather moisturize my skin and not to additionally irritate it with makeup. I also prefer to not wear too much makeup when I am doing business. I'm afraid that people get distracted by the make up and don't notice anymore who I am or what I say. Nevertheless, I do know that I might be too careful concerning makeup. There shouldn't be any doubt that if I make a good impression on everything concerning business no one would ever notice the makeup - even if I use a lot of it. So, I guess, I basically don't like to put too much and too colourful make up on because I don't want to distract myself. ;-)

Here is, what I really used while travelling:

• Shampoo & Shower Gel
• Tooth paste, mouth wash and my tooth brush (I have forgotten to add them to the picture).  
• My Theraband for Sports (I have forgotten to add it to the picture). 
• Face Cleaning Wipes & Eye Makeup remover pads (note that the pads are in the little blue Kaufmann's Haut und Kinder-Creme container)
• Eye cream and Face Cream for the Night (the one for the day did not provide enough moisture for my skin)
• Caudalie Eau de Beauté (inspired by Lisa Eldridge - I like it a lot, it is really refreshing) 
• Tangle Teezer as hair brush (in the picture with the makeup below)

And for Makeup, I just used:

• Nars pure radiant tinted moisturizer, applied with fingers
• Benefit Hervana as blush, applied with MAC 168
• As lip care & lip stick: Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream stick in Blush
• Zoeva Eye shadow base, applied with Bdellium tools brush 778
• Mascara MaxFactor 2000 Calorie
• MAC Quad (which I threw into my suitcase in the very last minute) with 
• Vanilla & Shroom as base colours (applied with MAC 239 brush)
• Omega (applied with MAC 217) for the Crease and the outer V
• Concrete as eye liner (applied with MAC 242)

I haven't used any bodylotion because I just didn't have time. Either I worked until late in the night or I joined socializing events with co-workers. I haven't used all brushes and I haven't used all my eye shadows. Also, I haven't used any powder and only one of the lipsticks I took with me. Next time I'll pack more wisely! For sure! ;-)

Highlights of my last week

Last week, I have been travelling. It was a business trip and it was a lot of work, but also fun. :-) Have a look at the pictures.

During the flight:

Food during my trip:

Airport Shopping:

I am looking very much forward to testing the Hydraquench Cream by Clarins. I have bought the normal one for normal & dry skin and the rich one for very dry skin or cold climates.

New in: Brushes

Since I've seen Estée from Essiebutton discussing her favourite brushes, I felt the desperate need to try the Sephora #45 brush and the Flat Top Kabuki Brush by Sonja Kashuk. I love flat top kabukis and when I read that they are for liquid/cream blushes I am an easy victim. So, I immediately ordered the Flat Top Kabuki Brush by Sonja Kashuk. With the #45, I was at first unsure because I already have a lot of brushes for foundation and don't use foundation that often. Most of the time, I don't apply foundation on the whole face anyway. I apply it on the nose and the chin and the forehead and a small brush sufices for blending out that little bit of foundation and the nose requires some detail work anyway. Hence, a small brush does best. But then the curiosity won - what if this brush was the perfect brush missing in my make up routine? What if this brush would revolutionize my complete make up routine? (Probably this is the typical kind of thought of a make up addict :-D)

Since I don't live anywhere near a Sephora store and have not found Sonja Kashuk anywhere near me either, I ordered both via Ebay. They arrived in no time and I am looking forward to experimenting with them.

This is how they looked upon arrival in their original packaging:

 

Unpacked:

The heads of the brushes (first the Flat Top Kabuki by Sonja Kashuk and then the Sephora #45) before the first wash:

 

 

As soon as I have a strong opinion on how they perform, I will do a review. My very first impression, however, is that I have made really good purchases. They wash like a dream and I already tried them a little bit with different products. I think, I'll like those brushes. But let's see whether they indeed prove themselves over time.