Kenzoki Face Recharger, never opened, originally 65$ on official website. 35USD here. Or will swap for an unopened, high-end product.
Shu Uemura loose matte powder in 5 YR Light, half of the jar left. 12 USD.
Today I'm reviewing three all-natural products: Annemarie Borlind hand balm, Jane Iredale's concealer "Disappear" and its oil-control primer "Absence".
Annemarie Borlind hand balm
I'm concerned about my hands showing signs of aging so a good hand lotion is something important to have. This fits the bill! The tube is rather small (50ml), but a bean-sized amount is enough for both hands. The texture of the cream is very fine and the light scent is pleasant. I work the lotion in my palms to warm it up and rub it all over my hands, without forgetting the fingertips.
The beauty of the product is that you don't have to keep applying. I like applying it before I go out in the morning, once during the day in the office, and that's it. The Annemarie Borlind hand balm is now a must-have in my handbag.
Jane Iredale Absence oil-control primer
This product is a solid white paste contained in a flat jar. It comes with a sponge. Jane Iredale is perhaps the most expensive mineral makeup brand out there, but it's worth every cent. After sunscreen, I use a liquid foundation brush to pick up some product and apply on my t-zone. The white paste disappears as it is spread on the skin. There's a very light, nice scent.
This has made a huge difference in my makeup application. This really reduces the size of my pores. In fact, they seem to look smaller and smaller as the day goes on :-) My skin is not very oily so I haven't noticed a huge difference in oil control, but it's enough so that I blot only once by the end of the day.
Jane Iredale Disappear concealer with green tea extract
As my Giorgio Armani concealer expired, I picked up this all-natural concealer (actually mom sent it over). 
The 0.5 oz (15g) tube has a doe-foot applicator. The concealer is not meant to be applied with your fingertips because the product is designed to literally stick to your skin. It smells a bit wheaty (lol), like the brand's liquid foundation. A little goes a long way. I squeeze out a bit of concealer onto a clean spatula, and again use a synthetic brush to pick up and apply the product.
Coverage is good, but the texture is difficult to control. Without chemicals like propylene glycol or butylene glycol, this concealer doesn't glide and takes a little effort to blend in using your fingers. But an extra minute in front of the mirror is worth it, knowing I'm not using harmful stuff on my face.
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Anna sent me an Annemarie Borlind hand balm, a Yes to Carrots lip balm (an organic brand), a tube of L'Occitane olive daily face cream, and many more natural product samples. All this came with a (delicious) set of flower-scented hard candies (yum yum), Yogi tea bags (organic, of course) and a pretty postcard. Thank you Anna! Hope to meet you soon!
A little later in the week, I got my swap package from Jess. I simply got her a Make Up For Ever pencil, and here's what she showered me with.
Two Annemarie Borlind hand balm (which means now I have a lifetime supply), a lip balm from the same brand (hey I go thru a lot of lip balms, ok?) and a galore of samples of every brand from KenzoKi and Dior to Chanel and Clarins. A big thank you to Jess!
But yesterday I took out the 15-ml tube and thought I'd give it a try after having looked at the brand's website. This was my first time trying any type of BB cream, but having read so many reviews, I wasn't surprised when the product came out as a dull, beige cream that was very emollient.
Knowing how thick this stuff is, I just spot-applied where necessary (under eyes, wings of nose, around the laugh line, etc) and blended. The coverage was light-to-medium, quite natural.
With T.LeClerc powder all over, the finish was very, very nice. I skipped my usual concealer.
So I might just jump on the BB cream bandwagon! Thanks Birkie!
Pretty friendly ingredients here :-) Also, notice the little symbol of the opened lid on the bottom that says "12M". This means it expires 12 months after opening. Look out for this symbol on your makeup! I will text drive this product next week and let you know.This is a long post, lol.
I'm glad to tell you that the Caudalie body lotion worked just fine and I finished one bottle. Since I'm always on the hunt for better, healthier skincare products, I got Sanoflore Almond Milk body lotion this time.
Again, very modest packaging here, but who cares when you know inside it's full of organic goodness. Sanoflore, a French brand, only cultivates organically-grown plants and uses its extracts as ingredients.
Oops, since it has no paraben, this product will expire 9 months after opening, which is fine if you use this after every shower. The 200ml bottle is about 15-18 euro.
I used this yesterday and gave this a thumbs-up. The runny texture is so nice. It absorbs much faster than Caudalie. The scent of the almond and orange essential oil is strong, but it disappears after 10 mins. My skin really loves this stuff! Hurray on finding yet another skin-friendly product.
Lucia asked,
"Hi Cheryl,
My friend is going to be spending 6 weeks all over Italy from June - July and would like to know if you could impart any skincare advice. She has really fair, dry skin (here on the west coast of Canada) and is really prone to eczema outbreaks. How's the humidity there? Any suggestions as to what products + brands she should bring?"
Unfortunately June and July are probably the worst times to visit Italy because it's hot and humid everywhere so eczema-prone skin will be very unhappy :-( I would suggest bringing whatever her dermatologist has prescribed (or schedule a visit before departure), and look into Eucerin or La Roche-Posay skincare. Both have high-protection sunscreen for sensitive skin, and the gentlest shower products that has the right pH balance for her skin. The choice of moisturiser will be quite important too. Something fragrance-free, preservative free will be good. Caudalie has pretty gentle stuff, but to be safe, I'd still recommend more pharmacy brands: Avène is also a good one.
I hope that was helpful!
These are not very exciting items, but I'm really sick of these 2 khol pencils that don't last at all: Make Up For Ever, and M.A.C. They just smear after a while!
