Curiously Carmen

Beauty: ACI Beauty Preview Spring 2018(Part 1/2)

Last week, I attended the ACI Beauty preview for Spring 2018. If you’re new to my blog (welcome!), ACI Beauty is a Canadian distributor for brands such as Korres, Stila, Paul & Joe, Fresh, Ardell, St. Tropez, and more. This means that they work with stores such as Shoppers Drug Mart or Sephora to ensure that those brands (and others) are on the shelves.

Starting with St. Tropez, there are some notable new releases. Although I have yet to use a self tanner, I found that the new colourless spray tan (in the middle) was very cool!

With this product, you just spray liberally over your skin and do not have to worry about it staining your clothes (we were so nervous when the ACI rep sprayed this on her neck and arms with her beautiful white linen shirt!!!).

Moving on with Korres, this is one of my favourite skincare brands. I was actually wearing their Wild Rose Oil mixed into my foundation that day, which gives your foundation a dewy finish and rose scent. Their main focus this season is the black pine line, which is focused on anti-aging.
Stila also has some notable products being released this season. The new Stay All Day micro-tip liner will be sold in parallel with the original. The new liner has an even more precise and defined tip.

As well, there are some new shades in their lipstick and Glitter and Glow liquid eyeshadows. I have reviewed their Glitter and Glow liquid eyeshadows before, which I absolutely love. And if you love sparkle, you will love these too!

For festival season, Stila will be releasing some coloured, sparkly highlighters reminiscent of unicorn sparkle. These are meant to be used for fun and can be put all over your cheeks or neck/chest area.

Stay tuned for part 2!

 

Beauty: Shiseido Ultimune Power Infusing Concentrate

Shiseido is a brand that I have always been surrounded by growing up. It was a brand that my mom and her friends liked, so it wouldn’t be surprising to make a stop at their beauty counter when I was a kid.

I haven’t really heard or seen many people my age use it though, I guess they are geared to a different demographic! I think this is my first time featuring Shiseido on my blog, now that I think about it!

Anyways, I was sent a sample of their Ultimune Power Infusing Concentrate from Influenster and decided to write a review on it.

What it says (Taken from Shiseido):

This one-of-a-kind boosting pre-treatment defends against multiple signs of aging and damage. And the benefits don’t end there. Using Ultimune helps anything you put on top of it, like moisturizer or serum, work harder. Ultimune acts as both protection from potential damage and a buffer to the daily assault that can visibly age skin.

Application: A little goes a long way and I usually just put two small dabs on my hand and apply. I really like the light texture of this concentrate, it’s lightweight and absorbs very quickly into the skin. It is more on the watery side and spreads easily on your skin hence why you don’t need a lot, yet your skin still feels moisturized!

The fragrance is also really nice, and is a great start to my morning. I like to combine it with my Mizon snail cream for added moisture and skin protection.

For the summer, it would be a great moisturizer to use! It doesn’t make my skin more oily either. I’ve noticed that my skin is less oily at the end of the day in the past 2 weeks that I’ve used this.

It’s probably not enough if you have dry skin, but if you have oily skin like I do, it’s great!

Yay!

Availability: Online and at the Shiseido counter
Price: $70.00 CAD (for full size product, pictured above is the sample size)

Press sample featured from Influenster #gotitfree. All opinions are own. 

Beauty: Product Empties – Spring 2018

My last empties post was last August, so I figured it was time to write another empties post!

Here are the products I finished recently! Unfortunately, I forgot to keep the empty wrapper (aka garbage to non-beauty peeps) so one of the pics will be a stock photo.

Mizon snail cream: If only I could finish moisturizers as fast as I did with my Mizon snail cream. My skin gulped it up and I’ve been using it pretty regularly since November… which means it lasted approximately five months.

I used this down to the last smear and ordered another one off Amazon a couple of weeks after! I debated on trying a new moisturizer but decided to stick with this one again since I’ve had such good results. But my skin tends to get bored of products and they slowly lose their effect so I probably should alternate.

Seche vite top coat: I’ve had this for a bit over 2 years now, and while there is still 1/4 left, it’s getting to the point where it’s not fresh and cute to use anymore. I don’t blame it since I purchased this two years ago. It’s very thick and goopy, and doesn’t dry as fast anymore.

Although I don’t paint my nails as often now because I get hard gel nails, I’ll probably end up repurchasing this when I do decide to paint them. My nail polish does not even last 24 hours without this! It’s a great product.

Wunderbrow: I also purchased this in November in preparation for my trip to Mexico. Over time, I noticed that my (oily) skin has probably gotten too used to it because it’s not as waterproof anymore. That, or perhaps the product isn’t as fresh. But in general, ‘waterproof’ products don’t work a long time on my oily skin.

On the first few uses and during the trip, it was quite waterproof but it comes off easily in the shower now. I don’t think I’ll purchase this again anytime soon since it’s $40 and isn’t really waterproof for me anymore… Perhaps if I go on another tropical vacation I’ll give it another shot.

Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Cream: Ahh, I forgot to take a photo of the sample before I threw it away! I received a few sample packs from Sephora awhile ago. I really liked this cream and am considering splurging on it. It makes my skin soft for over 24 hours, and I noticed that it’s really radiant and clear. Alternating between my Mizon snail cream and this would leave my skin looking amazing! But I’ll probably save up a bit more before purchasing.

Beauty: KARIDERM

Today, I would like to introduce a new brand on my blog… KARIDERM! KARIDERM is a Canadian beauty brand focused on natural products, specializing in shea butter. Each KARIDERM product is made from organic, unrefined shea butter, which we all know as amazing moisturizing benefits by now.

One thing I found interesting about KARIDERM is that it is one of the few companies to work directly with shea butter producers in Western Africa. They pay 2.5x the market price for the organic shea butter, which supports fair compensation and better working conditions to African workers.

I was sent out a few of their products to try out, here’s what I thought of them!

Neutral, natural soap: KARIDERM’s soap is unscented and as pure as they come. At first, it was quite odd to wash myself with unscented soap as I didn’t feel clean. However, my doubts were washed away (pun intended), when I rinsed myself off as my skin felt really clean.

Hand cream: The hand cream is pretty lightweight and is not as hydrating as I would like it to be. It would be good for the summer/spring when you don’t have super dry or cracked hands from the weather. It absorbs quickly and has a light lavender scent.

Organic lip balm: The lip balm is made of a blend of organic waxes and vegetable oils. I loved the soft vanilla scent, which reminded me of vanilla beans. The waxy texture took some adjusting but my lips felt soft and moisturized. My favourite part of this was definitely the vanilla bean smell!

Pure organic shea butter: This small jar contains organic shea butter of the highest purity. It has the same waxy texture as the organic lip balm, and it took some rubbing to fully absorb into my skin. I would recommend this for dry patches and spot treatment, as you do have to rub it in slowly which can take a bit of time.

You can check out their website here!

Yay!

Availability: Online or at health stores
Price: Pricing from low-mid range

Press product featured. Opinions are own. 

Beauty: Palmer’s Coconut Oil – Giveaway!!!

Mmmm….coconut oil. One of the most trendy products out there in the past few years. Coconut oil has been known for many things other than beauty (Non-beauty pro tip: Cooking steak in coconut oil with a dash of salt and pepper is amazing).

Coconut oil has many hydrating factors for skin and hair. That is why Palmer’s has released a new Coconut Oil line. Palmer’s new Coconut Oil line contains ethically and sustainably sourced coconuts. The formula deeply hydrates your skin. For me personally, coconut is reminiscent of summer and warm weather… So the scent of coconut always transports me to a tropical paradise.

Here is a review on each of the new Palmer’s Coconut Oil line!

Body oil: The body oil is light weight and focuses on boosting your skin and making it look radiant. It is quite slippery and watery which is expected for a body oil, so no surprise there. I liked that it absorbed very quickly so that it didn’t leave a mess.
Body lotion: Since coconut oil is naturally high in fatty acids and protein, it works wonders on the skin. The lotion moisturizes very well and smells great. Compared to the body butter, it is a lot lighter and has the consistency of your typical lotion.
Body cream: The cream has the richest and thickest level of moisturizer. Think of the texture of a body butter. Actually, even thicker… it reminded me of very thick Greek yogurt. It really repairs dry and cracked skin.

Well, there you have it! Coconut oil is amazing, and so is coconut water. Writing this post has made me want to get a can of coconut water!

Check out my review of their Cocoa Butter line as well!

Giveaway Guidelines, Rules, and Conditions

I am giving away a set of the Palmer’s Coconut Oil line for you to try as well!

To enter:

  1. Comment which Palmer’s Coconut Oil product you’d like to try most
  2. For a bonus entry, follow me on Instagram and comment a ‘palm tree’ emoji on my giveaway post

Rules:

  • Contest open to Canadians of legal age only
  • Must provide CuriouslyCarmen & Palmer’s with a Canadian shipping address
  • If winner does not respond in 3 days, CuriouslyCarmen will select a new winner

Conditions:

  • CuriouslyCarmen & Palmer’s are not responsible for any allergic or health reactions that may occur. It is up to the individual to consult product ingredients and acknowledge ingredients are right for them.
  • Winner will be drawn on April 18, 2018

Good luck and thanks for reading!

Availability: Drugstores
Pricing: Low end pricing range