greek Archives - Curiously Carmen

The boyfriend is currently watching football so I thought I would do one of my favourite hobbies as well – writing and talking about makeup! Summer has officially ended, and I am equal parts sad/happy. I am looking forward to wearing cozy warm clothes, the leaves in the fall, and of course, Christmas and my birthday!

This review seems fitting for this time of the year. The KORRES Castanea Acadia line just launched this past August exclusively at Shoppers. Why do I say it seems fitting? Well, the key ingredient in these creams something found in the Arcadian chestnut tree, as I’ll explain below. Chestnuts seem very autumn to me, especially warm roasted chestnuts… no? Yes?
I love trying to explain beauty products in simpler terms here on my blog. The term ‘Castanea Arcadia’ is very fancy sounding, isn’t it? I have to admit I didn’t know what either of those two words meant until I started writing this post!

Castanea is a plant family (genus if you want to be very scientifically specific), which chestnuts belong to. Arcadia is a province in Greece, and the chestnuts used in this cream are harvested specifically from that region.

The special ingredient in these creams are lupeol. Lupeol is a powerful natural ingredient from the Arcadian chestnut tree, that contains incredible antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and skin-regenerative properties.

The night cream is very rich, and has a thick texture to it. After I wash my face at night, my skin is a bit on the drier side. I apply this cream right before I sleep and give myself a mini massage and rub it into my face.

My skin loves this cream and absorbs it very quickly, and I fall asleep with the beautiful scent of this. When I wake up, my face feels very supple and plump.
The day cream has a texture that is a lot lighter than the night cream. Since both the jars look the same minus the wording, I accidentally used the night cream one time and it felt too thick for a day time moisturizer.

During the day, I like using a lighter cream because my face produces a lot of oil already. A couple dabs on my face keeps it very hydrated. On some mornings, my skin is still very moisturized from the night cream and I skip the day cream because I don’t want my face to become too oily. Perhaps those nights I move around less or my skin doesn’t need as much quenching?
You can see the difference in texture in the picture above. The one on the left is the night cream, which looks and feels thicker.

I have been using both creams for almost a month now, and have been really loving them! They both leave my skin very supple and moisturized. I look forward to putting these on because of how great they smell!

This is the second product I’ve tried from Korres, the first being the rose oil. I absolutely LOVEDDD the rose oil and I’ve been really enjoying this product too! Their products really work well with my skin and do a great job in moisturizing!

The day cream retails for $65, while the night cream retails for $80. So yes, they are expensive creams but have very great quality ingredients! If anything, you could use the creams as an intense moisturizing treatment only when your skin is very dry so the product lasts longer!

Yay!

Press product featured. Opinions are own.

Last month, the boyfriend and I decided to go for a Greek date night. We had been craving Greek food for a month probably, but never got the chance to go.

That was a pretty good week, as we also had a really good night at Cactus Club Cafe and he actually ended up writing a guest post on my blog about the evening!
North Burnaby’s main street is dominated by restaurants. Restaurants side by side, across from each other- it is pretty much impossible to go hungry when you’re in this neighbourhood and if you have your wallet.

I often wonder how so many restaurants can stay in business and compete with each other, but I guess us Vancouverites really love our restaurants.

Cristos Taverna has been around for quite awhile now. I came here for a birthday dinner back in Grade 9, and even then, I thought it was quite old. For good reasons too, we had quite the lovely experience at Cristos Taverna and after coming here, it has landed a spot on one of my favourite Greek restaurants.
Our server that day was very friendly. Right when we walked in, we were greeted with a smile and friendly conversation, and he told us that he would give us the best seat in the house that day.

He also pulled our chairs back for us when we sat down, and shortly came back afterwards to light up our candles for “more romance.”

The way that we were treated felt like we were at a very high class, fancy fine dining restaurant reserved for the most highest classes of society instead of a neighbourhood Greek restaurant.

So far, the service and atmosphere was great. I ordered the chicken souvlaki plate, which came with rice, potatoes, greek salad, tzatziki sauce, and pita bread. Everything on my plate was absolutely delicious, and I found myself savouring every bite.

The pita bread was lightly toasted, and very soft inside. I dipped this into the tzatziki sauce, which was very refreshing and cool.

The greek salad was very fresh, with crunchy veggies sprinkled with feta cheese and tossed in olive oil. The roasted potato was bursting with flavour and didn’t have that really starchy, dry texture to it.

The chicken was bursting with flavour, and grilled really well. Overall, everything was just cooked perfectly and my Greek craving was definitely satisfied.
The boyfriend ordered the calamari entree, and loved every bite of it was well. Normally, I would try a bit of his food but I was too busy eating and loving mine that I didn’t feel like trying it.

He loved how the calamari was seasoned, and said that it was crispy and light on the outside.

At the end of our meal, our server came back and talked to us for awhile. He told us that we should come back in the Fall (we went early September) since they were bringing back live music. He promised us that he would reserve the same table again for us if we called.

As if this wasn’t enough, he ended up giving us a business card and wrote his name down, along with the information for the live music nights. From the way that he connected with us, I thought he was the owner trying to make a good impression for his restaurant. Turns out, he was just one of the staff members and did not own the restaurant.

I hope that the rest of the servers are as welcoming and nice as he was!

-Carmen

PS. Two weeks afterwards, we decided to try another Greek restaurant four blocks down, Sfinaki. Disappointingly, it really did not compare to our experience here at all, food and service wise. Keep your eyes posted for what we liked and didn’t like about that place!

KORRES Castanea Acadia Line

Cristos Greek Taverna