Skincare is not something that you can just try once and give a fair review. Not even reading the ingredient list will give you a very clear picture. A lot of times you need to use a product for multiple months to see results, like with niacinamide, retinol or Vitamin C. So I used up some products before giving you my final verdict
M2 Beauté Eyelash Activating Serum – €126/4ml
Just to answer your most burning question right away: yes, it works. The question is, at what cost?
The M2 Beauté Eyelash Activating Serum contains the ingredient norbimatoprost. This is a prostaglandin derivate. It extends the hair growing cycle and increases hair growth. The result is fuller and longer lashes.
However, prostaglandin derivatives have side effects, like redness on the eyelid, skin irritations, itching, dryness and a burning sensation. I still have a dark red line on my lid, even though I have stopped using this serum months ago.
Personally, the risk is too high for to continue using this serum, despite its positive effects on my lashes. But I also understand why someone would use this if they have very short lashes and they are very unhappy about it. After all, I use fillers in my upper lip, because it was left slightly deformed after an accident and fillers have much greater side effects than prostaglandin derivates.
At the moment I am using thinned down castor oil on my lashes and in the future I will use serums containing things like ceramides, peptides and/or biotin. These kind of serums don’t stimulate hair growth, but they do prevent hair breakage and therefore the lashes seem fuller and longer
Ecooking Eye Cream – €57,95/30ml
If you have a good face cream, you don’t really need a separate eye cream. For some reason I just like giving my eyes that extra bit of care.
Ecooking is a danish, cruelty-free clean beauty brand. The eye cream is ok. It has a few great ingredients, like Algae extract, jojoba oil, Vitamin E and A, coconut and rosemary extract and it does what it should (hydrating), but that’s pretty much it. It’s also nice that it doesn’t have any fragrance. Douglas markets this cream as a way to reduce dark circles, but it won’t be able to achieve that.
For me personally the price is just too high for a product you don’t really need
The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 – €6,80/30ml
I love The Ordinary, if you are interested in my favorite products form them, you can read my blogpost: The best products from The Ordinary. The ingredients of the serum are great, but I really don’t like it, because if you don’t pay very close attention to applying it, it rolls off.
I mean that it forms little balls of product after I worked it into my skin. Maybe you’ve noticed that with other products. To avoid pilling, you should not use too much product, wait until all layers have been absorbed and don’t use too many products at once. Paying attention to all this things right after I wake up is just a little too much for me, so I just use a hyaluronic serum where that doesn’t happen
Milk Vegan Milk Moisturizer – €37,95/48ml
This face cream has a pretty thick consistency and is very rich. I think it’s a pretty good alternative to the Embryolisse Moisturizer.
It is formulated with the copyrighted ingredient “desert milk”, which is an emulsion of Kalahari melon, baobab, jojoba oil and Aloe Vera.
I think this moisturizer is great, even though I can imagine that the consistency might annoy some people. It did feel super hydrating though and my skin was very soft after using it.
I’m still not going to repurchase this cream, because I just think it’s a little too expensive
Dermalogica Redness Relief Essence – €21,95/50ml
An essence is basically a toner that is also a serum. This one from Dermalogica uses mainly Aloe Vera and oat extract in an attempt to calm the skin, which are actually amazing ingredients. However, even though I only added this to my skin care regime and changed nothing else, I saw no effect whatsoever.
It is also formulated with fragrance, which is not really a problem for people who are not allergic, but it can cause irritation for some users if used consistently (basically it is possible to develop an allergy to fragrance). This is a product made for irritated skin, so I’m a bit confused as to why they would include a potentially irritating ingredient.
I think in combination with other products, this may have a positive effect on the skin, but just using this alone to calm your skin will probably not bring great results
The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser – €18,20/150ml
Squalene, with an E, is naturally produced by our sebaceous glands to hydrate and protect our skin. The production of squalene decreases dramatically after we turn thirty years old.
The problem is that squalene is very unstable and oxidates quickly. So we produce squalane by hydrating squalene, which is a lot more stable.
Squalene’s main source used to be shark liver, but luckily companies have realized that this is unethical. Nowadays it is mainly sourced from plants like olives and rice bran.
How effective squalane is in skin care is still pretty unclear, but research seems promising.
Ok, but now onto the squalane cleanser from The Ordinary. I really, really like this as my first step in double cleansing (you can read about it in my post about double cleansing, if you want). It looks like a cream, but after rubbing it in your hands for about 10-30 seconds, it becomes an oil. It removes sunscreen and makeup really well.
And of course the price is amazing, as we are used to from The Ordinary
Paula’s Choice Skincare Calm Restoring Moisturizer (Normal to Dry) – €32/60ml
I love this moisturizer. This was bought with the Paula’s Choice Skincare Calm Mineral Moisturizer, which I used in the morning. I used this one at night.
It is full of calming plant extracts, antioxidants and skin restoring ingredients like jojoba oil, glycerine, ceramides, magnesium ascorbyl phosphates and oat extract. It doesn’t contain any fragrance.
I don’t think this cream really improved any of my redness, for that I would probably have to use more than one tube. Couperose is kind of hard to improve as it is and a moisturizer won’t suffice. However my skin was really nicely hydrated and less sensitive
Paula’s Choice Skincare Calm Mineral Moisturizer (Normal to Dry) – €34/60ml
This daily moisturizer is a lot lighter than the night cream. It also has a lot of great ingredients that protect and calm the skin, like allantoin, chamomile, panthenol and aloe barbadensis leaf juice.
For me personally it just wasn’t hydrating enough and my skin was still tight after using it. I also need an SPF of 50 for my skin type, so 30 is not enough
The Body Shop Coconut Exfoliating Cream Body Scrub – €20/250ml
I think we all know how I feel about mechanical peelings in the face (spoiler: I hate them), but I don’t mind them on the body. So I like using a body scrub or a peeling glove about 1-2 times a week.
I don’t really have a lot of requirements for my body scrubs. I just want them to smell nice, peel well and maybe have some hydrating factors. The body scrub from The Body Shop has all three characteristics and I think the price is ok.
I hope this helped a little bit with your decision to purchasing these products! See you next time!
Maike Make up Artist Wien – Your cruelty-free makeup artist in Vienna