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Curiously Carmen

KORRES Castanea Acadia Line

September 23, 2016

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?
korres-castanea-acadia-3I 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.

korres-castanea-acadiaThe 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.
korres-castanea-acadia-2The 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?
korres-castanea-acadia-4You 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-nay-or-meh

Yay!

Press product featured. Opinions are own. 


Filed Under: Beauty, face Tagged: beauty, beauty blog, beauty blogger, beauty community, beauty event, beauty junkie, greek, korres, skincare, skincare routine

Amie Natural Skincare Products Review

September 27, 2014

I was approached from UK based Amie skincare line to review some of their skin loving beauty products! I was quite excited as they have just released their products into the Canadian beauty market last month, selling them exclusively at Shoppers Drug Mart.

To give you a brief history behind this brand, Amie was founded by an ex-Estee Lauder executive, who created these products in hopes to help her daughter’s puberty-troubled skin. As a result, Amie products are made for consumers with sensitive skin, whether it is dry, oily, prone to breakouts, whatever. There are also no harsh or irritating ingredients in any of their products, and are made from an average of 95% natural ingredients.  I also have “swatches” of each product at the end of this post so keep on reading!
unnamedMy products arrived in this cute, plastic travel bag. Immediately, I fell in love with the cute and colourful packaging! I was also able to smell the lovely scents of the products after opening the bag. Judging from how good the products smelled when I didn’t even open them, I was quite excited to actually try them out.

I also ended up bringing the plastic bag on a weekend getaway, and kept the bag in the shower the whole time. I loved how it was waterproof and very durable. The smudge on the white part of the bag was from my foundation, which accidentally leaked on the roadtrip – not a packaging fault from the company!
unnamed (1) I had recently finished my favourite matte seaweed moisturizer from The Body Shop, and was looking to either re-purchase it or try a new product. Perfect timing! This is Amie’s matte finish moisturizer ($12 Canadian), which claimed to control oiliness and shine, while softening and hydrating skin. Out of all the Amie products, I liked this one the most as it really did combat the oiliness in my face for over 10 hours and left my skin looking dewy! I didn’t have to dab the oil off my face at work. I suggest this product if you suffer from oily skin like moi.
unnamed (2)This is Amie’s deep cleansing mask ($12 Canadian), which claimed to purify pores, and combat both oiliness and blemishes. I must warn you that this product burned my skin at initial contact, due to the strong peppermint in this. I was actually worried that I was having an allergic reaction to this product, but my face eventually calmed down after 5-7 minutes of applying this. Afterwards, my skin felt really cool and light (again, due to the peppermint probably), and really refreshed. I would recommend this if you want to brighten up your skin, if it looks a bit duller than usual.
unnamed (3)Up next is the radiant dawn exfoliating daily wash ($10 Canadian), which claimed to deep clean pores and exfoliate skin, leaving a clear and radiant complexion behind. I really enjoyed the scent of this product, and it had a gel texture with tiny microbeads. It was very gentle on my skin, and for that reason I didn’t feel that it deep cleaned my pores. I loved the smell of this first thing in the morning, it felt really refreshing and really woke me up. Overall, a decent daily  face wash but probably not suitable for deep cleaning pores.
unnamed (4)The last product I received was the hydrating daily moisturizer ($12 Canadian). Since my skin is more oily, I preferred the matte finish moisturizer that I talked about above more, as this one did leave my skin feeling a bit more oily. I would recommend using this if you have a normal skin type, and just need a simple, everyday moisturizer.
unnamed (5) As promised, here are some “swatches” of the product.  I wanted to give you guys an idea of the texture and consistency of the products. The matte finish moisturizer had the thickest consistency. The deep cleansing mask had more of a paste-y texture to it, and was not as wet or easily spreadable. The exfoliating daily wash was very gel-like, with tiny, non abrasive micro beads in it. This one had an amazing smell 🙂 Lastly, the hydrating daily moisturizer was your standard moisturizing cream.

Pros:

  • Free from parabens, sulphates, mineral oils, animal extracts
  • Catered towards sensitive skin and works well with combating oily skin
  • Vegan and vegetarian friendly
  • Great, light smelling scent

Cons:

  • May be hard to find at Shoppers Drug Mart; I searched some of my local stores online and they did not carry it
  • Products are a lot cheaper in UK than Canada
  • Amie website is a bit confusing to use, some products are missing descriptions

All in all, I really enjoyed all the Amie products and don’t really have anything negative to say about them. They are all definitely affordable, and the packaging is so cute. For the amount of natural ingredients each product has in them, and how gentle it is on skin, Amie products are definitely worth a try!

Check them out at Amie skincare or Shoppers Drug Mart! 

-Carmen

The products in this post were sent to me free of charge from Amie, and I was not paid to write this post. Everything in this post is my personal opinion and was not altered by the request of the company. 


Filed Under: face, makeup, skincare Tagged: amie, beauty blog, beauty blogger, beauty guru, beauty review, canadian beauty, makeup, matte skin, moisturizer, natural, natural skincare, non gmo, oil free skin, organic, paraben free, shoppers drug mart, skin mask, skincare, skincare routine, UK beauty

Lush Herbalism cleanser review

July 29, 2014

I talked about this briefly in my June 2014 favourites post , but I have been loving this cleanser so much lately that I just decided to write a completely separate post! Back in May, I picked up this sample while I was at my local Lush store with a friend. Initially, I didn’t like this product at all but it grew on me.

I hated the texture of it, how I had to add water to the mixture before applying it on my face, and how messy it was to use! But after a week of putting up with the messiness, I noticed that my skin tone improved and I wasn’t as oily if I used this product the day before. After carefully rationing my sample so that I could maximize the use (LOL we’re all guilty of that, don’t even lie! haha) and careful consideration (sadly I don’t make much money at my part time job and I’m on a student budget), I decided to purchase the full size a month later.
photo 2 (9)I believe I bought the 100 g pot, which was $14. I’m used to buying drug store cleansers, so this was pricier than I was used to. But since I tried it before, I knew that it would be worth the price!
**Read more: Lush Cosmetic Warrior fresh face mask **
photo (1)The texture of the cleanser was something I have not seen before. I took a closeup, because I’m not too sure how to describe it. It is a bit moist and flaky, and a tad bit grainy. I read on another review that you aren’t supposed to get this cleanser wet, or it can start to go bad since it contains natural ingredients.

However, I got my sample size pot wet by accident and I haven’t seen it go bad yet (had it for a bit over 2 months now).
photo 1 (9)Ingredients (as listed on site): Ground Almonds, Kaolin , Glycerine ,Chlorophyllin Water (Aqua) , Nettle, Rosemary, Rice Vinegar Extract, Rice Bran, Gardenia Extract, Rose Absolute,Chamomile Oil, Sage Oil, Fragrance | After reading the ingredients, it makes sense why there is a grainy texture to the cleanser- probably the ground almonds and/or rice bran. I love being able to read the ingredients list and know exactly what most of the ingredients are /how it is derived. 


Steps: As mentioned above, I initially hated the cleansing process with this cleanser. It comes in a moist-ish type of packed clay tub.
photo 3 (7)Step 1: Take a pea sized amount with your fingers, and put it in your palm.
photo 4 (6)Step 2: Take a dab of water and gently drop it into the cleanser, so that it resembles a traditional cleanser. This part can be a bit messy, so be sure to do it over the sink. Then, you transfer the mixture onto your skin and wash. Applying this onto your face can be messy too, as the watery liquid can possibly run down your arm or neck/ aka everywhere it was not meant to be.

Pros:
-Keeps skin oil free, does not over dry
-Controls breakouts really well; I use this more often when I feel my skin breaking out and it usually does a great job in combatting the breakouts or making them not as bad
-Leaves skin feeling very soft and smooth (it is a gentle exfoliant as well)
-I would recommend this if you have oily, acne-prone skin

Cons:
-Messy!!!
-May be hard to adjust to at first
-Pricier than drugstore cleansers
-Since it is made with natural ingredients, they suggest finishing the tub within three months of purchase incase they go bad
-Unpleasant, herbal, earthy smell

Thanks for reading! Leave me a comment and tell me what you think about this product!
-Carmen


Filed Under: body, face Tagged: american beauty, beauty, beauty blog, beauty blogger, beauty routine, canadian beauty, cosmetics, cosmetics review, face mask, LUSH, lush cosmetics, makeup, makeup blog, natural face mask, natural makeup, skincare, skincare routine, UK beauty

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Hi and welcome to Curiously Carmen! I am Carmen, the girl behind the blog. You can read more about me here!

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