Sophie Sandstorm

Tuesday, 5 August 2014

BOSS MA VIE Perfume for women

I have owned only couple of perfumes in my entire life and was recently going through a long time without any scent. I got my first perfume when I had past my 20th birthday and was happy that I could actually wear it. My mother is hyper-sensitive with smells, meaning that she cannot accept any flowers to the house nor anyone near to her can wear perfume. This was one reason why I was never really introduced to perfumes and only after moving out I started to explore them.

Of course I had memories with perfumes - I remember exactly how my grandmother used to smell, she had used the same perfume for years. I never got to knew what perfume she was wearing but I remember that it was warm flowery scent.

I had before Marc Jacobs Daisy Perfume which I loved - it wasn't too strong and flower scent wasn't over powering the perfume. It is the same reason I fell in love with BOSS MA VIE it has a fresh flower scent which blends well after a while and gives you a nice subtle smell. I also love the bottle - as I'm a minimalist at heart and I like the light pink colour and see through cap. The brand image goes well with me as well as I like the sophisticated feel of it.

Do you have favourite perfume?

Monday, 4 August 2014

Monday Manicure - Grey With Black & White Dots

Monday morning! Are you ready for a manicure with dots! I love brown-greyish nail polishes and adding some black and white dots on top you can make it more playful. For these nails I used Max Factors', Collection's and L'Oreal's nail polishes.

Sunday, 3 August 2014

Nature's ingredients saving your skin - Boots Botanics - developed with Kew Gardens

Couple of months ago I realised that I needed to change my face washing routine as my skin was just getting worse and worse. At that time I was washing my face with harsh makeup remove products and face scrubs and I was wondering why it didn't help. I made a change - I stopped washing my face entirely and my skin got so much better! I started cleaning my makeup with a new product I had discovered in Boots Pharmacy - Boots Botanics Ultra Calm Cleansing Solution with Marshmallow.

This sensitive skin makeup remover is developed with Kew Royal Botanic Gardens and it has Marshmallow which is a herb and has soothing properties in it. I have to say that 'Kew Gardens'-name in the bottle was one reason for me to buy the product as I adore Kew Gardens. If you are visiting London you should definitely put that one on your sightseeing list as the Gardens are amazing.

Nature's Ingredient Marshmallow: The marshmallow root has been in use since around 200 BC under the Greek name ‘Althea’, which actually means ‘to heal’. The famous Greek physician, Hippocrates, claimed that the marshmallow root was of great use to effectively treat wounds. For many centuries, marshmallow root has been used to effectively heal bruises and burns. It was also applied to areas where there were muscle aches and sprains and inflammations. (info from here)

Kew Gardens: Kew Gardens (formal title Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, brand name Kew) is the world's largest collection of living plants. Founded in 1840 from the exotic garden at Kew Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, UK.

Do you use natural ingredient products for your skin?

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

Technology Tuesday - Makeup Apps Modiface & L'Oreal USA Makeup Genius

ScreenShot from http://modiface.com/

Have you ever thought that you would like to try the makeup product before buying it? There is two apps in the market which will give you possibility to try makeup product before buying them; Modiface and Makeup Genius from L'Oreal. Even if these apps wouldn't be the most accurate, it is a lot of fun to try different makeups on yourself without applying them for real!

ScreenShot from http://modiface.com/makeover.php

Modiface is a great fun! You need to take a picture of yourself or use one of the models and then just start applying makeup! You can use from wide range of colours and each selection such as "eyes" include eye shadows, eyeliner, mascara and eye brows. It is a lot of fun and I would suggest anyone who is little bit lost about what tones suits your skin tone and your hair best to try this and see what actually suits you!

Modiface website states: ModiFace apps feature the world's most advanced virtual makeover technology with industry leading facial recognition.

ScreenShot from http://www.lorealparisusa.com/en/brands/makeup/makeup-genius-virtual-makeup-tool.aspx

Other makeup tester app is L'Oreal's Makeup Genius App.What is phenomenal about this app that it actually reflects your movements. The app scans of your face with camera, digitally paints on your selected product, and then reflects all your movements, accurately portraying what you would look like in different cosmetics, from different angles, in real time.

L'Oreal Website:Introducing the First Ever Virtual Makeup Tester Instantly apply makeup onto your own reflection in real-time. Makeup follows your face as you move and make expressions. Choose from an endless array of products and expertly-curated makeup looks. Try before you buy anytime, anywhere. Just grab your phone and let's play!

Monday, 28 July 2014

TREsemme Keratin shampoo & hair masque for damaged blond hair

From my last bleaching session my hair was badly damaged. They were fragile and crisp and they felt that they would brake just by touching them. So I knew I needed to do something more than just moisturise them - my hair needed some serious protein. I bought Tresemme Keratin Shampoo and Hair masque and they have been my damaged hair savers after that.

First about Keratin:

Keratin is a family of fibrous structural proteins. Keratin is the key structural material making up the outer layer of human skin, as well as it is also the key structural component of hair and nails. Hydrolysed keratin gives significant increases in elasticity and hydration and this is why it is used in hair care products.

Then the products. I loved the Keratin Smooth Hair Masque. It smells amazing, it has nice creamy texture and you need only tiny bit to your hair to make it smooth. I have used the keratin hair masque couple of times per week and my hair feels really nice now after a month. I would still recommend using other moisturising conditioner as well if your hair is badly damaged like mine.

The Keratin Shampoo was little bit of a let down. I used it almost everyday at the first week and after that just once or twice a week. I feel now that I don't want to use it anymore as it feels that it starts to make my hair dry. I read that too much protein for your hair can make it brake as well - so don't over use protein products for your hair!

Here is couple of tips how to restore your damaged hair. It might sound basic to someone, but to follow these simple tips you can change your hair and make it more healthy looking!

Monday, 7 July 2014

Makeup Monday Lumene CC Cream, Highlighter & Mascara

Have you ever heard about cosmetic company called Lumene? Lumene is a Finnish cosmetic company which was the first cosmetic company in the world to use handpicked, wild Arctic berries in their products. I have used Lumene's products for a long time and I have almost always liked them. Lumene has three brands - Lumene Lab, which is pharmaseutical brand, Lumene the main brand and Natural Code which is targeted to younger females and is more affordable than the two others. Check their website for inspiring pictures and more information http://www.lumene.com/

These three products are from the main Lumene brand.

I have never really liked Lumene's mascaras as they have been too liquid for my fine eyelashes and have not added any volume, but this time I was pretty happy with the mascara! The mascara is called Truly Bold and Curly and it has conditioning arctic heather on it. The mascara brush looks like spiral and it adds volume to the lashes from the outer to the inner corner. I think the packaging is refreshing, the tube is shiny pink and it has slightly curved shape to fit to the hand perfectly.

I wanted to try CC cream for such a long time and when I found that Lumene had a CC cream for light skin which was actually light I was over the moon. Most of CC creams from other brands are way too dark for me even if they would be 'for light skin' or 'all skin colours'. Lumene's CC cream states to be 6 in 1 - a foundation, concealer, primer, illuminator, long wear and SPF 20. I don't know if you can tick all the boxes all I can say that this is an amazing product. You can use as a foundation, concealer and a primer, it is also pretty long wear. So does it do what it promised? Yes. It is a great product and I will be using it as long as it lasts. The bottle is great as it has only small applicator as you need a tiny tiny amount of the product for your face, also I like how the pink and ice white colours look together in the bottle.

I was little bit disappointed about Lumene's Touch of radiance highlighter as it is very dark shade for a highlighter and for my extreme light skin it just shows too dark, but for medium light to medium skin I believe this highlighter to be a gem. The highlight pen has a luxurious packaging of gold and white. You need to turn the other side to start to use the product from the brush. The highlighter is liquid, medium shiny and covers very well.

LUMENE

+ THE GOOD

-Quality products

-CC cream light enough for my skin

-Very light nice smell

-Arctic berries

-THE BAD

-Highlighter too dark

-Mascara doesn't work for everybody for example if you have already dark thick lashes, it doesn't do too much on them, but for light fine blond eyelashes it is enough.

Have you tried Lumene?

Wednesday, 2 July 2014

Batiste VS Pro:voke Dry Shampoo for platinum blonde hair

I usually wash my hair everyday, mostly because I go to the gym and afterwards I just need to wash my head to get my hair back to their place! I haven't used dry shampoos that much before and never for my blonde hair so I didn't know what to expect from these shampoos!

Here is my lovely ashy roots and my blonde hair, as you can see I didn't wash my hair in the morning so I felt I needed to do something about them!

Batiste dry shampoo is loved by many and is the market leader in the dry shampoo sector. I had tried batiste dry shampoo before when I was still a redhead, but didn't like the product too much, most likely because it gives you little bit of light colour on the roots. So I wasn't too excited to use the product and actually bought it to my gf and not for myself - but eventually I used it all by myself!

The Batiste dry shampoo clean & classic original has a subtle smell - I don't say it smells amazing, but its quite nice for a person who usually cannot have any strong smells around. When spraying to the hair it first looks like you have poured flour to your head, but after you have waited for a while and brushed it a little bit the hair starts to look fresh and has a nice volume to it. It's not grainy as the Pro:voke dry shampoo, just gives you some white colour on the roots. Only bad things to say about this product is that it cannot be used for dark hair and the bottle doesn't last too long.

The best thing what I have to say about this product is that it's amazing the morning after! Seriously do not wash your hair in the evening, put it up to a bun and the next morning you will wake up with soft waves with volume!

+THE GOOD about batiste

-Gives more volume to the hair

-Gives lighter colour to the roots

-Your hair looks more clean

-The next morning your hair will still have volume and even better than the day before!

- Smell is better than Provoke (still not the best but okay)

-THE BAD about batiste

-Cannot be used for brown, dark brown or black hair!

-The bottle lasts just couple of 'shampoo' times

DEFINITELY THE MARKET LEADER!

I had really high hopes for Pro:voke dry shampoo as it was specially developed for 'blonde, grey and white hair' so I thought it to be perfect for my dark ashy roots, but I was mostly wrong. The dry shampoo gave some white coverage what I hoped for, but did not do really anything else. It didn't give any volume to the hair nor the hair looked any cleaner than before. The most annoying thing about the product was that it left my face and hair with small white grains which where hard to get off. See the picture above. Also the thing what made me throw this product away was the smell - it was very strong and reminded me off how my hair smell when I bleach it - not good.

I have to say that I was very disappointed as I liked Pro:voke's silver shampoo so much and was expecting an amazing product (read review).

+THE GOOD about Provoke dry shampoo

-makes your hair & roots look whiter

-THE BAD about Provoke dry shampoo

-very strong smell

-leaves your hair very 'sandy' feeling

-leaves your clothes & face white with grades

-doesn't make hair more clean looking

-doesn't add any volume

Do you use dry shampoo? What is your favourite dry shampoo brand?

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