There are a number of Kiehl’s related things I wanted to write about, so I’ve decided to put it all together in one post.
First off, I wanted to thank everyone who entered in the Kiehl’s contest three weeks ago. There were eighteen participants, but in the end Iris and Eva won. They’ve been notified directly after the competition ended. I absolutely loved reading your entries and you were all so creative with your local dialect! Some of my favorite dialect entries: gymmenas (gym class), chuttenbond (association for pensionated people), zallezie (insect screen), tuupetegoare (together), koeketiene (girlfriend), barvoets (walking on bare feet), nenannekesnest (a huge mess), poemkeskal (this one is a long story), nieveraans (nowhere), zes e muule van lintjes (she talks too much). And loads more actually, but I couldn’t write them all down.
Then, I also wanted to tell you about these two products I got to test out!
Dermatologist Solutions Activated Sun Protector SPF50 For Face: Sometimes I can’t believe how many people forget to wear proper sun protection during summer. Every year on festivals I see loads of lobster-like people walking around; and I can’t help but worry about them as getting bad sun burns is extremely bad for your skin. And then we’re not even talking the added potential skin cancer risks each time you get that badly burned! Anyway, on to the product. This one is formulated especially for the face, as body sun screens are much too greasy for your delicate face and will most likely make you break out. And indeed, this one was very gentle for my skin (it’s oil free and very light weight!) and did not cause any pimples or make my complexion shiny. I’d even say that next to its protective properties, it’s also a great primer. A make up artist at MAC told me once that they use their facial sun protection cream as a base for foundation as well, so go ahead and try it out!
Deeply Restorative Smoothing Hair Oil Concentrate: This spray has been especially formulated for frizzy hair. It’s a serum with a blend of Argan and Safflower Seed Oil, which both are very nurturing for your hair. The argan especially will strengthen your hair. The formula also contains Sesame, Apricot & Jojoba Oils, which are full of vitamins and lipids that nourish your hair. Although this one is sold as a leave-in oil to spray onto damp hair, I use it as a nightly leave-in when I know I will wash my hair the next morning. It’s quite heavy for my hair and will add too much of a greasy look to my freshly washed hair, which obviously is not the fresh look I’m going for. Instead, I just spray on quite a bit before going to bed - I’ve grown to absolutely love the natural smell of this treatment, too - to give it time to do its magic. If you’ve got very coarse hair, this might be a perfect leave-in before styling though. I suggest to try it out at home, it’ll be a good buy either way as the ingredients are superb!
Then, a week or two ago, I also went shopping at Kiehl’s with my gift vouchers. Kid in a candy store, indeed. Haven’t tested these out fully yet, but I’ve tried all of them a couple of times and will give you my first opinion.
Ultra Facial Oil-Free Toner: This is a great toner, which is in between soft & harsh; so quite perfect for my skin. I’m hoping this one will help tackle some of the imperfections on my chin area.
“Ultimate Man” Body Scrub Soap: Who cares that this is actually a man’s product? It smells great, does a wonderful job and it was a bargain! Lesson learned: do shop at the men’s counter.
Stylist Series Heat-Protective Silk Straightening Cream: My hair has been in awful condition the past few months, and sadly it’s all because of me. I got a bit too careless and forgot decent heat protection much too often. I now use this cream on damp hair before blow drying, and once again on dry hair before straightening. It does not weigh my hair down and seems to be doing a great job at protecting my hair. I would definitely already recommend it, as decent heat protection for your hair is very important!
(picture from Vanity Fair as I had forgotten to charge my camera’s battery)
And last but not least, I wanted to tell you how excited I am for the new Aromatic Blends products that are releasing in September! I had been seeing tweets about this for the last few months (do you already follow @KiehlsPrez? It’s the president of Kiehl’s! And he sometimes tweets some cool new info), and then happily got to try them out at an event a month or so ago. There are four scents in the collection, and each scent will have a body lotion, body cleanser and fragrance. My favorite scent from the collection is the Nashi Blossom & Pink Grapefruit. I’m such a sucker for sweet scents, I can’t wait until these are finally released, must buy the body lotion!
Foundation Base Coat by Nubar (mini)
