Curiously Carmen

Eden’s Semilla: Vitamin C Serum & Hyaluronic Acid Serum

With winter weather still SOMEHOW in full swing in Vancouver (seriously, it’s March, stop snowing), my skin has still not recovered. My skin type varies as the seasons change, so that means my winter skincare routine consists of deeply hydrating products to combat my dry skin! If you have the same problem, I would recommend you try this remedy of mine, as it not just fixes the skin but also makes it look younger by removing unwanted spots and wrinkles.

I was contacted by Eden’s Semilla to do a review of two of their products, their vitamin c serum and their hyaluronic acid serum.

Prior to this review, I haven’t heard of Eden’s Semilla before and I’m just going to assume that you haven’t either! Eden’s Semilla is an US-based website that sells serums and essential oils. Their products are also sold on Amazon Canada, and offers prime shipping! Woot!
The serums I received both came in glass dropper bottles, with a childproof cap. I don’t really think the childproof cap is necessary and haven’t seen it on skincare products prior to this. It made opening the bottles a bit more difficult and I felt like I would crack the plastic cap, which didn’t feel too sturdy.
Starting off with the vitamin c serum, it also contains other ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, retinol, vitamin e, rosehip, and jojoba oil. In other words, it is a powerhouse of great skincare ingredients that help with anti-aging. Since I’m not at the age where I have wrinkles yet, I am unable to attest to that claim!

The serum is clear and scentless, and is slightly thick/viscous. It absorbed very quickly into my skin and felt light, with no sticky or tacky residue. My skin immediately felt more bouncy and plump as well.

I’ve been using the vitamin c serum on my cuticles, since they have been needing great attention due to the winter weather. It has helped a lot and they haven’t been peeling as much as before. As well, the serum absorbs instantaneously, so I don’t have to sit still for minutes on end waiting to prevent transfer and smearing! If you’re restless like I am, this is a major win 🙂
Now, moving on to the hyaluronic acid serum! Prior to beauty blogging, I had noooo idea what hyaluronic acid was. The name may sound daunting or off-putting since it says acid, but it is actually an amazing ingredient for your skin.

Hyaluronic acid helps to retain moisture and creates a cushion to make your skin feel plump. According to The Dermatology Review, it is also found naturally in our bodies and help lubricate and cushion joints!

I was honestly blown away from this serum! I wasn’t expecting it to be as great as it is! This serum is also clear and scentless, but a lot thicker than the vitamin c serum. One drop moves quite slowly on your hand due to how thick it is.

Just like the vitamin c serum, the hyaluronic acid serum was very quick at absorbing. Despite having a very thick texture, it feels very lightweight on your skin because of how fast it absorbs. I’ve seen a couple reviews saying that it felt sticky, but that was not the case for my skin.

After a shower, my skin is usually pretty dry due to the warm water (not hot water because that dries my skin out too much). Applying a couple drops of this serum makes my skin feel plump and refreshed! I’ve been loving this serum and look forward to using it each night because of how soft it makes my skin and in the morning as well.
-Very quick absorption rate, absorbs instantaneously
-Leaves your skin feeling very plump, healthy, and moisturized
-Ordered off Amazon Prime and shipping was very quick


-Not a fan of the childproof cap, makes it a bit more difficult to open for no reason

Overall, I am quite impressed with Eden’s Semilla! It’s done wonders for my dry winter skin and cuticles.

Eden’s Semilla is available on their website or on Amazon (Prime included). I recommend buying it off Amazon Prime if you’re in Canada, for Canadian pricing and faster/easier shipping.

Yay!

This post is sponsored by Eden’s Semilla. As per Amazon’s review policy, this review is not featured on Amazon. Opinions are own.

O’Keeffes Working Hands Cream {Male friendly}

Since the boyfriend started his new job in trades, his hands have become really dry and cracked due to working outside in the cold and harsh weather. The cream that he usually used was not helping at all! I decided to look for an intensive, heavy duty hand cream that he could bring to work and quench his cracked fingers.

OKeeffes2My friend, who is a nurse, recommended O’Keeffes for a really intensive cream. She loves using O’Keeffe’s during shifts because it saves her hands. Adding in eczema, wearing latex gloves that trap your hands for hours, and constantly using heavy duty soap that dries out her skin, I trusted her opinion on O’Keeffes and bought one!

It was also on sale when I went to check it out at London Drugs. Normally, a tube or jar (both pictured above) are $10 each, but I got it on sale for $7. I ended buying the jar at a later date, as I’ll tell you about below!
OKeefesO’Keeffe’s does not play around. It comes with a money back guarantee and also says on the front that it has ‘guaranteed relief for dry hands that crack and split’.

Everything about O’Keeffe’s is pretty simple; none of that fancy marketing stuff. I’ve actually never heard of O’Keeffe’s or seen any advertisements for it before, have you?
OKeeffes4As shown on the back of the product, you only need a really small dab for intensive moisture. It also comes unscented. I’ve only seen the two O’Keeffes products in Vancouver, so I’m not too sure if they have scented products.

Another great thing about O’Keeffe’s is that it is not greasy.
OKeeffes3This is two weeks of using O’Keeffe’s daily before and after work.

We noticed a definite HUGE improvement in his dry and cracked skin. I wish that I had a picture of his thumb before using the product. Trust me when I say that it was really, rough, cracked and split above the finger nail.

Thanks to O’Keeffes, the boyfriend’s broken and split dry skin has improved tremendously. At $10 a tube, it is not super cheap so I would recommend that you get it only if you really need it! Both the tube and jar are $10 each, although the tube has less product. I guess because it is more sanitary than a jar?

Keep your eye out for sales on O’Keeffes! While at Home Hardware last week, I found the jar on sale for 50% off and bought it right away for the boyfriend again.

yay-nay-or-meh

Yay!

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

First Aid Beauty Face Cleanser

One of the gifts I received for my birthday this year (Well, technically last year since I have a late December birthday haha) was the First Aid Beauty face cleanser. I’ve heard so many great things about the FAB brand from the Youtube community, so I was really excited to try this out.
First Aid Beauty Face Cleanser ReviewI received the travel sized cleanser, which was perfect because it takes me such a long time to finish using products. I don’t know how beauty gurus can produce monthly empty videos/posts because I always struggle with finishing products within a month.

If you’ve read my posts this past month or so, you’ll know that this winter made my skin really, really, really dry. As a result, my skin had a dry, leathery texture- which has never happened before!  I had to moisturize a lot more than I usually do to compensate.

First Aid Beauty Face CleanserSince my skin has been so dry lately, I decided to try this cleanser rather than my normal one that I use to remove foundation. This foundation had a nice, creamy, and somewhat thick texture to it. It didn’t really have a smell, and I could definitely tell that it was more on the gentle side. It reminded me of my Olay witch hazel facial cleanser.

I was really surprised at how it dissolved and washed away all my foundation in one wash. In addition, my skin felt really fresh, soft, and moisturized. It did not try out my skin at all.

First Aid Beauty Face CleanserOverall, I think that the First Aid Beauty cleanser really lives up to the hype. It does a great job in refreshing your skin, as well as removing heavy duty makeup.  It is also very gentle and suitable for sensitive skin!

It also came with bonus facial wipes! Since I’m still using another brand of makeup wipes, I have yet to give these a try. I don’t like opening multiple makeup wipes at a time because I find that they dry out easily, even when they are properly sealed. Maybe I’ll do a quick review on those once I open the package.

yay-nay-or-meh

Yay!

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

My Melody Face Mask

When Maki went to Taiwan and Hong Kong last month, she came back with an assortments of gifts and souvenirs for me! Thank you, Maki, if you’re reading this! I don’t buy many Asian beauty brands, but to my knowledge, I believe that they are a lot cheaper in Asia so it is a good time to stock up on them while you are there.

I received a bunch of facial masks from her, which I am slowly trying out.. as well as an liquid eyeliner that I really love! One of the facial masks that she got me was the My Melody face mask.

For those of you that don’t know, My Melody is one of the Sanrio characters. You can think of Sanrio as the Disney of Japan… their characters are very popular and everywhere in Asia! The most popular Sanrio character is probably Hello Kitty.

I grew up with a lot of Sanrio characters in my life, my favourite characters would have to be Hello Kitty, Keroppi, Little Twin Stars, My Melody… and the list goes on. I’m feeling so nostalic as I type this, I had Keroppi stickers all over my room and door when I was a kid!
IMG_1242This is what the packaging looks like – simple and minimalist, yet still very cute!
IMG_1244Although I took a Japanese beginners class three years ago, sadly I did not continue with it although I hope to be able to read fluent Japanese one day. That, or be able to travel to Japan and understand or get around!

With that said, clearly I can’t tell you what the ingredients are or what this mask claims to do. I’ll just leave it up here for you all to see and if you can translate the back, please leave a comment down below =D
IMG_1245I was very surprised when I took out the mask, and saw that it was an actual My Melody face! How cute is that?! Seriously, Japanese products are amazing and are so detailed. It also smelled like strawberries, which was an excellent delight.

At first, my skin reacted a bit with the mask as it stung a little, which went away in less than 30 seconds. I left it on my face for 15 minutes, and I thoroughly enjoyed the scent of strawberries the whole time. I am a big fan of strawberries, if you didn’t know 😛

I was a bit confused as to if this mask would fit my entire face, since it is more horizontal than vertical. It actually covered my whole face area, except for the tip of my nose because the nose flap was a bit too short for me.

Overall, I thought that this mask was very cute and I enjoyed using it. I really loved the packaging and design of this. The mask felt very moisturizing, although I wish I could read Japanese so I can tell what this mask targets.

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

The Body Shop – Shea Body Whip

I have been a fan of The Body Shop lotions since high school, although I prefer the bottled body lotions over the tub body butter. I find that the bottled body lotions moisturize better, and I believe they are slightly more expensive since the amount you get is less than the tub for the same price. In the past couple of years, I’ve noticed that they’ve changed the name to a ‘body whip’ instead!

I’ve probably tried most of the scents from the body whip line, as it has been my go-to body moisturizer for many years now! I actually talked about the mango body whip two summers ago as well.

The Body Shop - Shea Body Whip

Compared to the other products I’ve used in their body whip lotion line, I find that the shea butter is my least favourite. Although it smells really good, I prefer their fruit-scented lotions more, such as the mango, satsuma, grapefruit, strawberry, cranberry, and raspberry. Wow, listing them out has made me realize how many I’ve used already!

This may sound a bit strange, but I also find that if I moisturize my hands with this lotion and then eat a snack with my hands twenty minutes afterwards, I can taste the lotion in my mouth. It tastes like soap.

I’ve found that this only happens with the shea butter, and not with the other TBS lotions I’ve tried. The same thing happened with Bath and Body Works lotions, which is why I tend to avoid buying their hand creams.
The Body Shop - Shea Body Whip

In terms of absorption, I find that it takes longer to absorb, which explains why I can taste it on my food as I said above. I haven’t had a problem with most other creams, so now I’m just careful to not eat oranges or other things that usually require your hands to eat after I put this lotion on.

Although the shea butter body whip lotion isn’t my favourite, I don’t mind using it up but I’ll be sticking with the other fruit lotions at The Body Shop instead next time. In fact, I bought the raspberry body whip lotion last month and I am quite excited to use it.

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen