I am a big fan of Korean skincare in general. You'll find many reviews of Korean products on my blog. OOTD Beauty is a brand I wasn't familiar with, but as soon as I read their ingredients list, I thought those were the kind of formulas that I would love. And I was right. There isn't a single product I have tried that I didn't like.
Showing posts with label vegan. Show all posts
OOTD Korean Vegan Skincare (Ad)
8 Jul 2024
Review: Essence Hello, Good Stuff - Serum, Primer, Tinted Beauty Cream (20) and 3in1 Face Mist
4 Dec 2020
Essence is slowly introducing a lot of vegan products into their regular range and I had the chance to try out few skin care and makeup products from Hello, Good Stuff collection. From what I've tried, I liked. I think it's a very descent drugstore vegan option for those interested.
Review: Avon Distillery Vegan Skin Care
18 Dec 2019
First there was K-beauty and now there's a vegan skin care range. Avon seems to be expanding on different areas of beauty and skin care lately. Cleaner skin care products are so "on trend" (the word I'm not very fond of) and are becoming more widely available. Bigger brands are jumping on that bandwagon as well.
Review: Nabla Eyeshadows - Caramel, Petra, Clementine and Pegasus
17 Apr 2017
A while ago a new brand came to Slovenia and I was interested in trying it out, because Nabla offers individual shades that come as refills, so you can actually create your own color palette. I am always up for buying new interesting shades that I can complete my eyeshadow collection with. Apparently, Nabla is quite well known indie brand that was born in Italy. It's cruelty free and vegan. I bought three shades myself and I got one as a gift from a friend.
Their refills come in a simple paper box. It almost looks like a tester. The pan is inside a cardboard square and there's a transparent foil protecting it, but making it visible through the packaging. My complaint is that the eyeshadows can get easily squished while travelling, so a harder packaging would work better.
In each refill is 2.5 grams of product and the price is 6.59€. I bought all of my shades on Ličila.si.
The bottom of each refill is metal so you can put it in any magnetic palette. Size of these are for example bigger than Morphe Brushes single eyeshadows. They also have more product in them and are wider than eyeshadows in Zoeva palettes, theBalm and Too Faced. On the bottom of each eyeshadow is a sticker with the name of the shade.
They also sell individual eyeshadows in plastic packaging. The packaging is black with transparent lid. You open it by pushing a small button in. I believe you can also put refills in these, but I haven't tried it yet, because I didn't wanted to ruin eyeshadow.
In each is also 2.5 grams of product and the price is 7.99€. You pay higher price for the sturdy packaging as it's not a refill.
So far I own four of their shades. I've noticed that matte shades have better pigmentation and apply smoother. They don't have any fallout and with one swipe you get a good color payoff. While shimmery shades seem less pigmented or the formula is just not as smooth and you need to layer it in order to look bright on the skin. Shimmery shades also don't have any fallout.
I always apply my eyeshadows over eyeshadow primers and that way these also last the whole day, although again I notice mattes being more long lasting and stay true to the intensity throughout the day.
Matte eyeshadows have dry texture to them, they feel really smooth to the touch and the pigmentation is surprisingly good. It's still not as pigmented and as intense in one swipe as for example Zoeva, theBalm or Too Faced matte eyeshadows. These all have more of a buttery and wet texture and give more color payoff at once.
Shimmery eyeshadows have a slightly more wet texture, but it seems harder to the touch, so you need to layer it, because one swipe gives you a sheerer color. It's nothing compared to high pigmentation of Zoeva shimmery shades or theBalm. They seem more similar to Too Faced shimmery shades, as I find that these also give you a bit sheerer layer at first, but they're still more pigmented than those by Nabla.
Caramel - matte light warm caramel brown. It has a lot of yellow and orange undertone, but could still be categorized under a brown.
Petra - matte medium redish brown. Also one of those browns, but it has a very noticeable red undertone in it.
Clementine - shimmery light yellow orange with golden shimmer.
Pegasus - shimmery pastel lavender duochrome with golden champagne sheen.
I compared some of my other shades, but found no dupes. These are more for you to compare, if you own any of the shades that I have.
Zoeva Cocoa Blend in shade Substitute For Love is also a light warm brown, but it's more brown and less yellow toned than Caramel. Zoeva Cocoa Blend in Freshly Toasted is light brown with just slight red warmth to it, but it's more of a chocolate brown than Petra. I also swatched Zoeva Caramel Melange in Alchemy, but it's more orange toned than red toned and also lighter. Zoeva Caramel Melange in 182°C is more orange than Clementine and has less sheen and shine. There's no color that would be similar to Pegasus, but I swatched it next to Zoeva Cocoa Blend in Sweeter End as it has that same golden sheen, but the base is darker and more pink mauve.
In the next photos I applied each shade on my lid to give you an idea how it looks like on me. I have about NC15 skin tone and have naturally pretty yellow toned skin, so shades usually look warmer on me than they would on someone that has more neutral tone.
Caramel
I applied Caramel all over the lid and it looks very warm and yellow toned on my skin tone. I absolutely love the warmth and lightness of this shade. I would mostly use it in the crease to warm up other shades or just on its own.
Petra
I also applied Petra all over the lid on its own. On me it blends out a lot warmer and a lot more red toned than it looks swatched. It's one of my favorite red toned browns so far. I love the warmth and rich color that it has. It's perfect as a base or in the crease. I have a special love for it because of its name Petra as this is my name also. I believe the shade quite suits my style, so I'm even happier for that reason.
Clementine
I applied Clementine on the lid and I also applied some warmer redish browns in the crease to make it a bit more wearable. I find that Clementine can look really bright on my fair skin tone, but I adore the strong yellow undertone in it. The shimmer is not too obvious which makes it really wearable. This shade always makes me look brighter.
Pegasus
I had this on my wishlist, because it looked like such a fun twist with the lavender base and golden sheen on top. On me it doesn't come up as lavender, because the base is so pastel. It mostly just looks like a golden sheen. There's just a hint of purple peeking through it that's why I like to pair it with purple shades. Here I applied it only on the center lid. It's also good for applying over other shades, as it's so light and sheer that it gives you that golden sheen. It also has duochrome feel to it, because it looks different from different angles. Sometimes golden sheen is more obvious and sometimes you see more of that pastel lavender.
All in all these are some good shades. I still think that Zoeva, Too Faced and theBalm make more pigmented shades and the formulas are more buttery and wet, which I prefer, but Nabla sure can make great shades as well. I would definitely recommend you smooth and pigmented matte shades. The shimmery ones are just a bit too sheer for my liking and too hard to the touch. I like that Nabla offers a wide range of different shades that you can't always get in regular basic palettes. I still have some other shades on my wishlist that I would like to try out. Those are Peach Velvet, Madreperla, Selfish, Aphrodite and Water Dream.
Nabla brand is also great option, if you're looking for a more vegan friendly and cruelty free brands. All their products are made in Italy.
I haven't tried any of their other products, but I hear their bronzers and blushes are also really popular. Their Limited Editions also seem to offer interesting variety of shades. Have you tried any of their products and would you recommend them?
Review: Alpstories Hyaluronic Acid Cream
16 Jun 2015
Hey Beauties!
Alpstories, a new natural Slovenian brand that I was recently introduced to. The company takes inspiration and ingredients from Alps where the plants have to resist extreme conditions. They combine rich legacy of alpine traditional and modern approaches. Their products are created without parabens, synthetic fragrances, mineral oils and silicons. Their products are also cruelty free.
They offer a wide range of skin care, body care and hair care products. You can read more about them here. They also have great paying methods (Pay Pal - big thumbs up for that! and other credit cards) and I think they deliver in other countries as well, not just Slovenia.
One of the products that I chose from their range is Alpstories Hyaluronic Acid Cream. I'll admit that I was hooked on the work hyaluronic acid. I know that it's supposedly good as an anti-aging ingredient and it also moisturizes skin, because it can hold up to 1000 times it's weight in water.
It also contains almond oil and shea butter, which restore the surface layer, feed and protect it from drying out. Borage oil and evening primrose delay the development of wrinkles and make skin firmer. Grape seed oil is an antioxidant that protects against aging daily.
With daily use this cream should help fill in fine lines. The product is also vegan.
The cream comes in a heavy glass bottle, which is very sturdy. I dropped it a few times and it did not break. I can't say the same for the plastic top, which has unfortunately cracked. I've heard the same from other fellow bloggers. The sticker is very natural design appropriate. It looks like a degradable recycled paper. The design of it is very simple and clean.
Pump is gold (yes, you know I'll love this!). It actually works really nice and you can control the amount you want to come out. I usually use three or two and a half pumps for my entire face and neck.
The cream itself is firm and white. It looks thicker, but once you massage it in, it feels lightweight. It's very smooth and glides on the skin. The more you massage it in the whiter it turns and then it sort of disappears into the skin.
The immediate finish after you massage it in, it's velvet. It soaks in really quickly and it almost seems semi-matte, but it leaves behind a subtle sheen. Sometimes I even felt like it tightened my skin in a not so comfortable way. It really depends on how my skin feels. Depending on what type of skin you have, it depends on how it will look and feel on you. In the summer, when I produce more oils on my face, this gets very shiny through the day, if I don't wear makeup over it. But under the makeup and when my skin is dry, it doesn't make it look greasy or shiny at all. However, when my skin feels really dry it leaves the feeling of uncomfortable tightness, which I don't like. In such days I always need to use some serums or oils underneath it.
It has a very subtle soft smell. It doesn't smell herbal or grassy as natural products usually do. The scent is just very soft and subtle and it disappears after a while.
I feel like it does a good job of moisturizing my skin, without being heavy grease of a cream. I love to use it under makeup, because it's a good priming cream and I also love to use it when I want light hydration. I think that this might be too light for really dry skin. You may also experience tightness of your skin, if you have really dry skin. Tight feeling is present immediately after application and it disappears after time. I feel like the cream starts to really moisturize the skin through the day and the moisturizing feeling becomes more obvious as the day goes on.
I can't speak for the wrinkle aspect. I've been using the cream for about one and a half month and I should be using it longer to see those benefits. My skin is definitely hydrated and I find that it does smooth the appearance of the wrinkles slightly. The cream is hydrating and therefore it also hydrates small lines, which seem a bit tighter because of it.
It's also great for sensitive skin. I didn't have any irritations while using it. It's misleading that all natural products are better for sensitive skin, because some can contain even more irritating ingredients.
I'll say that it's a good natural option for anyone who wants light cream, but one that still hydrates the skin and maybe has anti-aging benefits with daily use. I don't think this would be amazing for very dry skin or very oily skin. It's best for normal or combination skin. That's just my personal opinion based on my use of this cream.
It's hard to find good natural products. Most of natural products have crappy formulation that make you feel like you've mixed something up at home. But this is a really sophisticated formula and I personally wouldn't notice that it's natural, unless I knew.
It contains 50 ml of product and it costs 39.10€ (buy it here). Yes, the price is really high. I won't try to justify it, because it's your personal preference how much are you planning on spending on a face cream. It has natural ingredients and it's definitely one of the more sophisticated formulas of natural products I've tried.
Reviews of other Alpstories products:
Alpstories je nova naravna slovenska znamka, ki sem jo
spoznala pred kratkim. Podjetje inspiracijo in sestavine črpa iz Alp, kjer
morajo rastline kljubovati ekstremnim pogojem. Združujejo bogato dediščino
alpske tradicije in modernih pristopov. Njihovi izdelki ne vsebujejo parabenov,
sintetičnih dišav, mineralnih olj in silikonov.
Ponujajo številne izdelke za obraz, telo in lase. Najdete
jih lahko tukaj. Imajo tudi odlične možnosti plačila (Pay Pal – zelo pozitivno
vesela kadar koli ima slovenska spletna stran Pay Pal in druge kreditne
kartice) in mislim da dostavljajo tudi v druge države, ne samo v Slovenijo.
En izmed izdelkov, ki sem ga izbrala je Alpstories krema s
hialuronsko kislino. Priznam, da me je zapeljala beseda hialuronska kislina.
Slišala sem, da je odlična sestavina proti staranju in da dobro vlaži kožo, saj
lahko vsrka kar 1000 krat več vode glede na svojo težo.
Krema vsebuje tudi madljevo olje in karitejevo maslo, ki
obnavljata površino kože in jo nahranita in ščitita pred izsuševanjem. Boragino
olje (zvezna roža) in dvoletni svetlin zaustavljata razvoj gubic in učvrstita
kožo. Olje groznih pešk je antioksidant, ki varuje pred dnevnim staranjem.
Dnevna uporaba te kreme, bi morala pomagati zmanjšati majhne
gubice. Izdelek je tudi veganski.
Krema je v težki stekleni steklenici, ki je zelo trdna.
Nekajkrat mi je padla na tla in ostala popolnoma nepoškodovana. Kar pa ne morem
reči za plastičen pokrov, ki je na žalost že počil. Tudi od drugih blogerk sem
slišala podobne komentarje. Nalepka je precej podobna naravnim dizajnom in
izgleda da je iz recikliranega papirja. Dizajn je preprost in čist.
Dozirnik je zlat (ja, seveda mi je všeč) in odlično deluje.
Lahko kontroliram kolikšno količino želim, da pride ven. Po navadi uporabim tri
do dva in pol pritiska za celoten obraz in vrat.
Krema je precej čvrsta in bela. Izgleda gostejša, ampak ko
jo začnem masirati v kožo postane zelo lahkotna. Je precej gladka in lepo drsi
po koži. Bolj kot jo masiram v kožo, bolj bela postaja in čez čas popolnoma
izgine.
Takojšen finiš po nanosu je nekako žameten. Zelo hitro se
vpije v kožo in pusti za sabo skoraj pol mat finiš z majhnim sijajem. Včasih
imam občutek, da mi kožo zateguje in to v neprijetnem smislu. Vse je zelo
odvisno od tipa kože. Glede na to kakšen tip kože imate bo tudi finiš različen.
Poleti, ko moja koža proizvaja več maščobe, s to kremo postane precej sijoča
skozi dan, sploh če nimam na sebi ličil. Ampak pod ličili in ko je moja koža
precej suha, ne izgleda nič sijoče. Vendar ko je moja koža zelo suha jo skoraj
zateguje, kar mi ni všeč. V takih dneh moram po kremo obvezno nanesti kakšen
serum ali olje.
Ima zelo nežen vonj. Vonj ni podoben zeliščem ali travi, kot
je to značilno za naravne izdelke. Vonj je precej subtilen in nežen in čez čas
izgine.
Zdi se mi, da dobro navlaži mojo kožo, brez da bi bila težka
mastna krema. Rada jo uporabljam pod ličili, ker se mi zdi odlična krema kot
nadomestek primerja. Rada jo uporabljam tudi ko želim lahko hidratacijo. Zdi se
mi, da bi lahko bila krema prelahka za zelo suho kožo. Lahko povzroči občutek
zategovanja. Občutek zategovanja je prisoten takoj po nanosu in čez čas izgine.
Zdi se mi da krema vlaži kožo skozi ves dan in občutek navlaženosti postane
prisoten čez čas.
O zmanjšanju gubic ne morem govoriti, ker kremo uporabljam
nekje mesec in pol. Za te učinke bi morala kremo uporabljati dlje časa. Moja koža
je vsekakor navlažena in gubice so malo zmanjšane. Krema dobro vlaži in zato tudi
majhne gubice izgledajo manj vidne.
Je tudi primerna za občutljivo kožo. Na meni ni povzročila
nobenih iritacij. Se mi zdi, da večina napačno misli, da so naravni izdelki
boljši za občutljivo kožo, vendar lahko ti včasih vsebujejo sestavine, ki kožo
še bolj iritirajo.
Vsekakor je dobra naravna opcija za vse, ki želijo lahko
kremo, ki bo vlažilna in z dnevno uporabo mogoče preprečila oziroma zavirala
nastajanje gub. Meni se zdi, da krema ni najbolj primerna za zelo suho ali zelo
mastno kožo. Najprimernejša se mi zdi za normalno in mešano kožo. To je samo
moje osebno mnenje na podlagi izkušenj.
Težko je najti dobre naravne izdelke. Večina naravnih
izdelkov ima grozne formule, ki se zdijo kot da bi kar doma zmešali nekaj
skupaj. Ampak ta krema ima res sofisticirano formulo in sama nebi nikoli rekla
da gre za naravni izdelek, če ne bi vedela.
Vsebuje 50 ml izdelka in stane 39.10€ (kupite jo lahko tukaj). Ja, cena je visoka in ne bom je upravičevala, ker gre za osebno
preferenco glede na to koliko ste pripravljeni dati za kremo za obraz. Vsebuje
naravne sestavine in je vsekakor ena boljših sofisticiranih formul izmed
naravnih izdelkov, ki sem jih jaz preizkusila.
Preizkušala sem tudi arganovo olje in šampon z aloe vero,
zato lahko pričakujete v prihodnosti tudi ti oceni.
Ocene drugih Alpstories izdelkov:
Alpstories Organic Shampoo Aloe Vera
Alpstories Cold Pressed 100% Pure Organic Argan Oil
Ocene drugih Alpstories izdelkov:
Alpstories Organic Shampoo Aloe Vera
Alpstories Cold Pressed 100% Pure Organic Argan Oil
Oznake:
cream,
face cream,
hyaluronic acid,
natural,
review,
vegan
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