My my, autumn is almost here! I cannot say that I enjoyed this summer to the fullest as I had a lot of weird weather in Belgium, but June and August weren’t that bad either. Let’s take a look at what I’ve been using regularly for the past few months to feel the best as possible.
The first and the most important thing I’ve been using for the past two summers are water sprays. The Balea face and body mist has often saved my body from boiling! When the heat gets unbearable, spray this mist all over your body, even several times if necessary, and you will immediately feel much more refreshed. Plus, this one is not expensive at all compared to other mists as it only costs around € 2. I have to mention the Corine de Farme Refreshing Orange Blossom Mist, I love how fresh my face feels after the use. I haven’t been using it just for spraying my face, but also as a toner before applying my night cream. I already mentioned it here!
The next thing that has a constant place in my morning routine is the CD Deo Pump Spray with water lily. I basically love all of their deodorants because they are free from aluminium salts, mineral oils, silicones, parabenes, colouring and contain no ingredients derived from animals. This also means they will not prevent you from sweating, but this is unfortunately something we all have to go through during the summer one way or another. I already dedicated a whole post to the water lily line, you can take a look here.
In terms of facial skin care, I always prefer serums or fluids over rich creams, especially if I apply some products with SPF afterwards. I mentioned this Lavera Mint Face Fluid several times already, I think this can easily be my favorite day serum right after the L’Occitane Angelica Day Serum, which is way pricier. You can read the whole review here.
I’ve also started using the Ma Provence hair shampoo in solid form. It is actually really weird at the beginning because it doesn’t foam in the usual way, but it gets better after a few uses. One solid shampoo should substitute two usual bottles of hair shampoo and you don’t have to use the conditioner at the end – I just apply two drops of argan oil on my hair tips before drying it and that’s it!
And now onto the best find of this year, the Bottega Verde Skin Voile serum foundation with hyaluronic acid and SPF. I really wanted to write a whole post on that in spring, but I just couldn’t find time to do that so I’ll go in more detail now. I found it around the last December as I’ve been searching for a good quality organic/vegan foundation for months. The beauty adviser at the Bottega Verde store in Ljubljana showed me a couple of their foundations and I decided to give this Skin Voile a try as it provided the most coverage.
I was pleasantly surprised by how easily this foundation is applied and how much coverage I can achieve with just one layer. They have around 8 different shades, but I’ve been mixing the lightest number 1 (Beige eclat) and number 4 (Mandorla) throughout the whole time, I just add a drop more of the darker one in the summer. In almost eight months, I’m still using the first darker shade and the second bottle of the lightest shade. They are a bit pricy, around € 23 each, but I always get them when they have a 50 % discount.
I usually apply a layer of pressed powder on top. I’ve worn it from 7 in the morning up to 9 or 10 in the evening, which amounts to 15 hours of wear time without any corrections. It usually wears a bit on my nose or on my chin, but other parts stay impeccable, I love it!
My new blush obsession is also very high on my priority-stuff-to-tell-list! I totally love the MUD blushes, especially the one in shade Garnet. All of them are highly pigmented and have to be applied with caution – looking like a clown is not something we want, am I right? ;) So, I swirl my Real Techniques Blush Brush lightly, then tap the access off on my hand and then apply it on the cheeks, I rather repeat several times and achieve a nice flush of color than applying way too much the first time.
As for the lips, I’ve been very much into matte lipstick, I don’t like glossy products because it’s much easier to smear them all over the face with my hair. I really liked the combination of a dark lip crayon and the Aura Absolute Matte Velvet feel lip cream in shade Dream Team, on top. It stays put for the whole day and its peachy hue is just gorgeous!
♥