Toners -Elemis - elemis soothing apricot toner
zeynepd 5/7/2011 5:32:00 PM
This is a pleasant toner and I'm giving it an extra point because it doesn't sting my face the way some toners do- example, Darphin's Intral toner. I quite like the apricot smell but sometimes find it a bit too much. Also leaves a sticky film on my skin from time to time but that may be because of me overdoing it. Altogether a good toner for a good price although it's not HG for me and my search continues.
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Moisturizers -Darphin - Hydraskin Essential All-Day Skin-Hydrating Emulsion
zeynepd 5/7/2011 5:21:00 PM
I would rate this 3.5 if I could. It does what it says and keeps my skin hydrated all day. A great plus is that it doesn't break me out - 90% of moisturizers do. However it leaves a slight sheen on my cheeks and forehead which I'm not happy about and I feel that some redness on my face becomes a bit more prominent after using this - no serious irritation. Also, I could do without the slight smell - albeit clean and perhaps a bit herbal. I bought this moisturizer because I live in Turkey and we don't have a great deal of drugstore lines here; if I had those options, I don't think I would buy it at all. I like Trilogy's Ultra Calming Moisturizer - again in a tube but slightly thicker or oilier more than this one. I think both are good for the winter and windy weather etc.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments -Darphin - Camomile Aromatic Care
zeynepd 5/7/2011 5:00:00 PM
I had very high hopes of this but unfortunately it doesn't work for me. It is a pretty heavy oil which kind of sits on my skin and leaves a sheen. Does very little for my redness, and I have stopped using it on my face because my cheapo borage oil works ten times better than this and really gets rid of my redness.
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Toners -Darphin - Intral Toner, Sensitive Skin
zeynepd 5/7/2011 4:56:00 PM
I guess I'm one of the very few who have had a bad experience with this toner. I love the cleanser but this toner is my personal hell. It stings, burns, increases my redness and I literally can't keep it on my face. Other than the cleanser, the Intral line doesn't do much for my sensitive skin let alone curing redness, but this toner is the worst of all worlds.
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Cleansers -Darphin - Intral Cleansing Milk
zeynepd 5/7/2011 4:48:00 PM
This is the only thing from the Intral line that I will probably buy again. I have sensitive skin and although I don't enjoy milk cleansers that much, I love this one. It's on the thick side and has a lovely milkshake smell. It offers instant calmness to my skin even when I irritate it with some serums or creams. I just wash my face with this again, and half of the problem is solved. It leaves my face soothed and well-protected without leaving a film. The only other thing that compares to it is a two-round cleansing routine with carrot oil (wonderfully healing stuff) and then a foaming cleanser but I like having this one around for lazier days and when I want to avoid too much oil. Unfortunately Darphin products are 30% more expensive in the unfortunate piece of land where I live and this makes it a very expensive product. It would be a staple if I could find some online deals. It's partner, the Intral toner is horrendous though - it eats me alive.
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Fragrances -Serge Lutens - Louve
zeynepd 5/7/2011 4:36:00 PM
I fell in love with this when I got a little sample spray. It felt like a junction of two universes, one cuddly, warm and truly lovely with almond sweetness and the other rather mystical with a hidden smokiness. Since I got my full bottle, however, I have been yearning for that early experience. Louve now feels pretty cloying, too warm and a tad too rosy. I rarely reach for it and hate wearing it with anything wool - gets too warm.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Moisturizers -La Roche Posay - Toleriane Soothing Protective Light Facial Fluid
zeynepd 5/7/2011 4:02:00 PM
This is one of the very few moisturisers I can use without irritating my skin or breaking out. It's super reliable in that sense and has a very light feel. It doesn't help with my redness but at least it doesn't add to it. Unfortunately it leaves a really bad sheen on my skin and makes my forehead look like a frying pan - and my skin isn't oily. Neither is sufficiently hydrating. It goes pretty well under make-up and that's how I'm planning to use the rest of my bottle. (I also use it on my elbows but it doesn't help much) I won't be buying it again.
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Concealers -Bobbi Brown - Creamy Concealer
zeynepd 5/7/2011 3:55:00 PM
This. I really don't like this. I bought it on a whim and I don't know why because even the SA at the Bobbi Brown counter could not spread it on my under-eye area and asked me to do it:) It sure has a creamy feel but once it touches my skin - which isn't even dry- it just becomes impossible to blend, patting doesn't help, and neither does tugging severely. It also manages to set into my lines. I find the box pretty hard to use, too. The powder is not so bad, but the rest is just horrid.
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Concealers -Bobbi Brown - Face Touch Up Stick
zeynepd 5/7/2011 3:48:00 PM
If I could have one make-up item only, this would be it. It works well under and over foundation and even without it. Indeed, this allows me to skip foundation and what not despite my broken capillaries and also various red patches my skin decides to have every morning. Until this, nothing managed to have an effect on them, but this stick covers my redness perfectly and gives me a very very natural look. I have even smothered my whole face with it as if this was foundation and it still looked much more natural than many foundations:) It's very creamy and slides off quickly - though I don't set it with powder- but I'm OK with it as the re-application is so easy. I have it both in beige and warm beige, and warm beige has a more natural effect on my skin than Skin Foundation in beige. The SA always tries to sell me a shade darker for the summer but I find that one too yellow. I think this is a great 101 product for those of us who are lazy when it comes to make-up and creates opportunities for even more laziness. I'll continue to buy it for as long as they make it. Actually, I feel pretty grateful for this lovely little thing.
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Serge Lutens - Iris Silver Mist
zeynepd 2/1/2011 9:09:00 PM
I sampled this mainly because of the interesting and appealing metaphors used by other reviewers to describe the cold top notes. And yes, this has one of the coldest and most metallic openings I have ever come across. And it is very very attractive. Then there is iris, with all its natural rootiness and soil sticking to its rhizomes perhaps. This is a dark, fertile, wet, vegetal soil rather than the cracked surface of some terracota desert. The drydown smells both sterile and earthy. There is something in it that makes me think of beautiful women in black and white photos as well as marble sculptures. Iris Silver Mist glues my nose to my wrist, but I think I would be too conscious of myself wearing it - which is purely a personal point. Low sillage but good lasting power on me.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Nina Ricci - Almond Amour
zeynepd 1/28/2011 7:27:00 PM
This is a very pleasant almond fragrance that is similar in character to Acqua Parma Blu Mediterraneo Mandorlo di Sicilia - which is twice as strong on my skin. Almond Amour too opens with an almond on the fruitier and fresher side with some greenness but never turns too milky or sugary sweet like Mandorlo di Sicilia. However, both become vanilla scents very quickly on my skin. What I like about Almond Amour is that it is a wholesome scent but it never becomes too thick. It also has a nice youthful and elegant balance between its gourmand and floral elements. During its mid-phases I sense some very slight bitterness amongst the sweetness and quite like it. Unfortunately, the drydown is too similar to my other vanilla scents so I won't be buying this one. Pleasant to wear but not unforgettable. Perhaps a 3.5
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Serge Lutens - Fumerie Turque
zeynepd 1/24/2011 10:17:00 PM
The name always puts a smile on my face because I am a smoker and a Turk. Anyway, this is a Serge Lutens that I admire a lot and love smelling on my clothes. Unfortunately, although it leaves the most beautiful tobacco trail I have smellt up to date, when I bury my nose into my wrist I can actually smell some dreaded ash note, which also bothers me in Encens et Lavande. This is not some fiery charcoal, but downright ash. Other than this, Fumerie Turque opens with a pronounced and addictive tar note on me, and this prevents the fragrance from being cloyingly sweet. Some soft hum of sun-cured Turkish tobacco emerges from the depths but unfortunately gets messy on my skin. Turkish tobacco is a cheaper variety often used in American cigarettes, and it is blonde in comparison to more aromatic and complex pipe tobacco. However, Fumerie Turque adds a good amount of honey and depth to this smell, representing it like a higher class pipe tobacco that oozes both passion and luxury. In either case, this is not a soft whisper but a handsome fume that makes me think of Ralph Lauren aesthetics in interior design. For seekers of a tobacco with good bones and amazing depth, this has fantastic projection and good lasting power. I am not planning to buy - because of the ash note.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -L'Artisan Fragrances - Dzongkha
zeynepd 1/23/2011 3:34:00 PM
The attribution “attractive” is often spared for some other genres in fragrances but I think this is a very attractive scent for a woman because I think there is something insightful, inward but at the same time inviting about it. The opening notes are powerful with a semi-sweet blossom and a semi-transparent cardamom on my skin. There is an incense note and although I'm not particularly fond of incense, I like it here. It is easily distinguishable, but not domineering and I quite enjoy smelling it amidst the greenness of the fragrance. It turns into the most beautiful mist or smoke I have ever smellt in my life, both lush and very slightly medicinal at the same time. It's herbacious and transparently vegetal with vetiver and orris root doing wonders here. Altogether I think this is a demure, dry, calm and collected fragrance with OK projection and lasting power. Only, it heats up toward the end, turning slightly bitter. As for compliments, I have attracted none but I have been told that I smell like cactus:) Still, I like it very much and may buy a FB one day. EDIT: It is now summer in my country now and Dzongkha is a priceless shadow of smells, reminding me of rain in a forest, so calming, so serene, so translucent, yet so smoky.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Unlisted Brand - Lostmarch Lann-Ael Eau de Toilette
zeynepd 1/23/2011 9:13:00 AM
Lann-Ael, you almost made me cry. First because of the miraculous beauty of your soft apple, fluffy vanilla, light hay and cozy cereal and then because of your weak weak weak lasting power and boring Nesquik drydown.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Fragrances -Acqua di Parma - Blu Mediterraneo Mandorlo Di Sicilia
zeynepd 1/23/2011 9:05:00 AM
I'm so on the fence about this one and it's a sad sad fence because I thought I would really love this. I have a soft spot for sweet, comfy fragrances and especially almond notes - though they sometimes tend to turn too plasticky on me and Hypnotic Poison is bane to my existence. Mandorlo di Sicilia presents none of these problems. It's a lovely almond that has a lovely airiness that comes from the star anise. This is not a very strong note after the opening blast and does not dominate the fragrance's almondy character. The only thing that makes me think twice is the sugared milk sweetness that tends to grow and grow on my skin, turning this fragrance into a vanilla musk with just a tad of almond. If this balance was the other way around, this could be HG for me but I think I don't want to buy a vanilla musk right now. Medium sillage and very good lasting power on my skin.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No