Second Pregnancy Skincare List

Hello, long time no see!

After my last post about two years ago, I'm finally writing here again.
Right now I'm in the middle of my second pregnancy (6 months) so I'm gonna write about skincare products I'm using this time around.

The main issue for my skin during this pregnancy is dryness. My body got very itchy especially on my arms and legs, there was no rash and the blood test results were fine so I assume it's just hormones. What helped me a lot was using Urea shower gel and lotion religiously.

For my face, I use;

1. La Roche Posay Effaclar Cleanser

This was what I was using when I found out I was pregnant. It works fine though I can replace it with Paula Choice's Clean as well and see no difference.

2. Kose Softymo Cleansing Oil

I had gotten back to using micellar water again (cuz I ran out of my Shu Uemura cleansing oil and they are too expensive) even though I don't like how many cotton pads waste it produced. I found out about Softymo from a friend's instagram and tried ordering it through eBay. It does what Shu did without the hefty price tag.

3. Avene Thermal Spray

This acts as a toner and light moisturiser for me. I never had a good experience with toner, I don't know why. I tried Clinique's, Nivea's, Estee Lauder; all resulted in a pimple in a few days time. I know it's the cause since I made sure to try one new product for some time instead of introducing several at once.

The thermal spray works nicely on me and I love the convenience of a spray instead of using a cotton pad (I don't know maybe I just have a thing against cotton pad lol). It doubles as a setting spray and if i want to refresh my make up later in the day, I made sure to spray this first.

4. Laneige Water Sleeping Mask

I was guilty of not using moisturiser due to my oily skin. I know I should use it anyway even with oily skin but I just can never bring myself into it. I asked a friend to bring me this from Singapore and it did all the wonders for my skin. When I apply it before bed I can feel it set and plumping my skin. I woke up with balanced skin and very nice to touch (touching your face is not recommended btw ^^;) It's a bit funny reading the application instruction, first step; dot the cream on your face and spend 3 seconds to inhale the relaxing scent (?). Err... I tried but with a toddler around I think I'm more concerned about the skincare benefit instead of the scent.

5. Avene Gentle Purifying Scrub

Something new I added to the regime due to the coming winter. Since I loved the thermal spray so much, I thought it'd be better to pick a scrub that contains the thermal water as well. I hope it will make the scrub less harsh and adds a bit of moisture afterwards. Can't say much about it for now as I've only used it twice.

I think that's it for now! I'm gonna write about my make up routine next time I guess (since I pretty much wear the same things). I hope it won't be another two years till my next post ;)

Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso

After hearing lots of good things about this blush, it became one of the top in my wish list. It's a shame though Milani is not available in Netherlands (or Europe, come to think of it). I found some of their products at boozyshop.nl but for some reason they just put Milani stuff in the website but marked them "sold out" every time (what's the point?).

Then one day I thought I had enough products to justify a purchase at cherryculture.com ;P It's a US-based website that sells drugstore products. I ended up ordering two NYX butter glosses, two Jordana eyeliners, one pencil and one liquid; and Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso :) The price for the baked blush is $6.99 but they had a 20% off code so it was basically $5.60 (or around €4.20). 

Pregnancy Skincare

Hello! 

Yes, I'm sorry for being MIA for a long time (it's been almost half year!). The reasons were this and that, from simply didn't feel like reviewing, then holiday, and finally, pregnancy :)

I am 19 weeks pregnant right now and due in February. I thought I'd write about my pregnancy skin care here in the blog.

During the first trimester I didn't feel like wearing make up AT ALL. I rarely did my hair either despite the horrible structure I have. Mostly I put it in a ponytail and smeared some SPF on my face then got out of the house. It wasn't because of morning sickness, mind you, I didn't get any morning sickness at all. I just had a weird bitterness in my mouth on random days but nothing bothered me too much. After the 14th week, however, I felt more like myself again and started putting some more make up and back straightening my hair ;P 

Before I was pregnant I was all about acne treatment and balancing/exfoliating my oily skin with BHA. Since we were trying to conceive, though, I tried to limit BHA in my skincare products. And when I was confirmed pregnant, I gave it up fully. 

Products I used before:

1. Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit Oil-Free Acne Wash

2. Paula's Choice BHA Gel

3. DiorSnow UV Shield Moisturizing UV Protection

4. Mario Badescu Drying Lotion

Most of these (1, 2 and 3) contained Salicylic Acid, which was why I stopped using them. I still would love to use DiorSnow but sadly I ran out of it. 

Right now I use:

1. Nivea Daily Essentials Facial Wash Gel

2. Nivea Daily Essentials Light Moisturizing Day Cream

These first two were very easy to find at the drugstore and considerably affordable. Sometimes Nivea products went on sale or in a buy 1 get 1 free offer so I can always buy more. It's very simple and although I don't see huge improvement or so, I just love that it didn't break me out. I tried using Cetaphil for some time when I ran out of the cleanser, but it resulted in little bumps. Once I got back to this it all went away again. I guess my baby was telling me to use this instead of Cetaphil ;P

3. Mama Mio Tummy Rub Butter

This was fairly recent. During my first trimester I used Palmer's Stretch Mark Cream and even though I think it worked well enough, I was intrigued to try this one (sucker for good reviews). Compared to Palmer's, this has thicker consistency and fresher scent. Palmer's scent somehow reminded me of white bread with chocolate sprinkles, I don't know how that's possible. Mama Mio's scent was more lemony and reminded me of the spa session we had during our honeymoon ;)

4. Shu Uemura A/O Cleansing Oil

I used to use Bioderma to remove my make up at night. At some point I realized how many cotton pads I wasted while I was using it. During our vacation, I managed to grab this cleansing oil at duty free counter, so I thought I'd give it a try. I love how I only need this and water to remove everything (I rarely wear mascara but I think this will work quite well for that too). At first I used this then my Nivea cleansing gel to wash my face once more, but after some time it grows on me to leave it as is. So at night I only cleanse with this and leave it moisturizing my face afterwards. That way it didn't break me out either, so it's very convenient :)

I had some thoughts about purchasing a serum to add to my skincare routine but so far I haven't found anything that suits me (price-wise, formula-wise). Right now all these products work well for me and I am not sure I want to try anything new because I can't really predict how the reaction would be :) 

I think that's it for now, let's close this post with a little bump picture ;)

Bourjois Blush in 34 Rose D'or

Having heard that Bourjois actually owned Chanel cosmetics brand, I heard some of their products are cheaper version of Chanel's. Their blush is said to be similar to Chanel Joues Contraste without the €38 price tag. Let's see :)

Spring Must Have: OPI Sparrow Me the Drama

Spring is finally here (well, at least for a few days) and I know one color that I have to take out of my nail polish drawer once the sun is appearing. It's OPI Sparrow Me the Drama. This polish came out during spring two years ago in OPI collaboration with Pirates of the Caribbean, I didn't realize it's been that long since. 

Macadamia Natural Oil Deep Repair Masque

I have chemically treated hair which has gotten drier due to climate and heat styling. Lately I noticed my regular conditioner doesn't work as good, I usually change up my shampoo and conditioner because I haven't really found something that can be considered as HG material. I once loved Schwarzkopf Bonacure Repair Rescue line but I am on the market for cheaper alternatives. This purchase, though, doesn't support that statement ;)

Dusseldorf Haul

Hello! I took a little break from all the review posts to share a short haul post ;) 

I apologized for taking more time in replying comments because some of my family are here right now so I went some places with them. While they're here we also visited my Aunt in Germany so last weekend we all went to Düsseldorf :D I love visiting Düsseldorf because there are great Japanese food places there such as Na Ni Wa or Takumi ramen restaurant, Tenten Café that sells frozen matcha, Waraku onigiri shop, Tea One bubble tea and so on. Other reason? Some make up and beauty products that are not available in Netherlands can be found in Germany, like Inglot, Kiko, Soap and Glory. Also some drugstore products might be much cheaper compared to in Netherlands (not all of them, though). 

I know this is not much as I've seen other people called this many items "mini haul" ;P but this is considered much for me and I'm so excited with each items :D

Jessica nail polish in Flirtation

This is my first Jessica nail polish. I have only heard about it through Scrangie who sometimes reviewed its collection. I first attracted to the brand because they made the dupe for Chanel fall 2011 polishes collection. So when I found out they made a dupe for Chanel Spring 2012 collection I was really really interested.

Lioele Blooming Gloss in 05 Vanilla Pink

After hearing nothing but good things about this gloss from frmheadtotoe and RaeView, I got a hold on this gloss when I went to Indonesia last year. Since then I have been wearing it all the time and I just recently repurchased so I think it's time to write a review of it :)

Lucas' Papaw Ointment

This is going to be another short lip care product review. Since the last experience with Nivea lip butter I have been searching for another lip treatment. Winter has decided to stay with us for much longer this year so I need something pretty badly.

Revlon Colorstay Liquid Foundation

Revlon Colorstay Liquid Foundation has been around for a long time. Back in Indonesia I bumped into this foundie lots of time at Revlon counters but I never got around to trying it. Now that I've moved, I browsed about make up more often and I thought I need to try this at least once. Talk about bad timing. In Netherlands it's difficult to find Revlon products in person (there are several online drugstores where it's available), I only knew one drugstore in my city that offered Revlon, and now that store's closed already. It's really annoying to have to guess your shade through the internet but in the end I picked a shade and crossed my fingers ;)

Sigma Paris Palette

This post was loooong delayed in my drafts ^^ Sigma Paris palette was released during spring last year. It was a collaboration project done by Sigma featuring seven beauty gurus. They went to Paris and were assigned a landmark to make an eyeshadow shade of.  I was planning to write about the people and the shade back then, but since it's been long delayed, I guess it makes more sense to just talk about this palette on its own :)

Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation

Finally reviewing a foundation again :) this one in particular had so many reviews online because it's particularly new and launched during Fall last year; around the same time with other new foundations such as YSL Touche Eclat, Burberry Velvet Foundation and Giorgio Armani Maestro foundation. I remembered this quite well because it made me think of which one I would want to buy. After some thoughts and also price consideration, I decided on Urban Decay's :)

Urban Decay described Naked Skin Foundation as
"Coverage without compromise. Our weightless formula blurs imperfections for a flawless finish that feels invisible, but looks professionally retouched."
Well we should see if those claims are true ;)

Too Faced Natural Eye Palette

It felt weird having written 50+ posts but none about my everyday palette. Even though it was long released, I decided to feature them here for once. This is the palette I reached for almost everyday, that's saying much for someone who rarely wears eyeshadow. 

Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in Sippin' n Dippin'

A little while ago I wrote about my current obsession towards Benefit Cosmetics :) around that time I found one of their product on sale at starwberrynet. It wasn't one of the things I wrote earlier, but still it was so cheap therefore I authorized the buy (yeah, right ;)) So as usual, I ordered, it arrived and I tested its wear for quite some time before I wrote about it here.

Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss: 56 Imaginaire and 51 Insouciance

I feel a bit guilty for not posting about these babies earlier. I love these glosses so much that I enjoy wearing it from month to month without realizing that I haven't even wrote about them in my blog :) Yes I'm talking about Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss, such a long name, I used to say Chanel Allure gloss instead. I bought them last year when ICI Paris XL was having a 40% for two products promotion. I pulled my most sensible comparison presentation in front of hubby ;P I got two of them, Imaginaire and Insouciance.

China Glaze It's a Trap-eze

China Glaze It's a Trap-eze was a part of their Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away collection which was released around the end of last year. I was really excited over It's a Trap-Eze and wanted to get a hold on it right away. I finally got it and couldn't wait to show you its cuteness!

Chocolate Molten Cake / Pudding

I've been craving for chocolate since the start of this week so yesterday I decided to bake a chocolate molten cake. I remembered there was a recipe at this blog that I found easy and yummy, I baked it long time ago back in Bandung. Unfortunately the owner of the blog didn't have a search feature so I had to look in the archives :) I know it might be the same with the other recipes I could find on the internet, but I didn't understand why I was determined to find that exact recipe. I finally found it, though so I'm gonna share it here, too.

Fragrance Shopping

This is going to be a short post which will act like a reminder for me about something I would really love to buy ;) 

Lately I have been wanting to buy a new perfume. I have two in my closet that I absolutely love, the original Chloé and Dolce and Gabbana Rose the One. Chloé was the perfume I wore on our wedding day, it holds a special memory for me and I think it's a sweet night time perfume which suits autumn and winter time. Dolce and Gabbana Rose the One is a more floral one (hence the name), still a little sweet because of the vanilla infuse. 

I wanted something new and I've been adding little samples to my purchases so I can try some new scents. Through the little samples I've tried, the ones stood out were Valentino Valentina and YSL Parisienne. I think Parisienne is more suited for my Mom, though, I found it a little too strong :)

A long time ago back in my college years I really loved Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Amande, which is now sadly discontinued. I was looking for something like it, maybe right now you have realized that I love vanilla in my perfume. Yesterday randomly I stopped by Dior counter at Bijenkorf, I have been wanting to try their Hypnotic Poison. I tried it there and fell in love because it smelled almost like a root beer float, if not a little sweeter ^^ Maybe it's weird to want to smell like root beer float, but it's such a nice smell! Then the sales lady told me she has a mini quiz to find which Dior fragrance will suit me best, she asked four questions and the result for me was: Dior Addict Eau Sensuelle, Miss Dior and Pure Poison. 

Compared to Hypnotic Poison, Pure Poison is more floral. I wanted to grab it instantly but the price tag of course stopped me. So I ended up just writing about it here at least to feel like I have something of it ;)

Nivea Vanilla & Macadamia Lip Butter

Just a quick review of the Nivea lip butter in Vanilla & Macadamia. I think most people might have heard about this product, it was quite hyped too ^^