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Indigena Skincare (Made in Newfoundland!)

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Indigena NewfoundlandA few months ago, I was invited to check out Indigena, a local skincare provider made in Newfoundland!

I made the short drive down to the town of Torbay and I can only presume the owner gets her inspiration from the views outside her window. All you could see was ocean, it was incredible. I know that the owner hunts for her product right on the rocky beach sides, gathering supplies and then making her products straight from the source. You can read more about Indigena here.

My sister-in-law is right into skincare products the same as I am, so I brought her along with me.

map-and-scrubIf I had to take a wild guess, I would assume the yummy smelling Blueberry Bliss sugar scrub is their #1 seller. The aroma of fresh blueberries fills the room once you open up the top. It is however, a premium product and will cost you quite a penny for the full sized (shown in this post). The Bake Apple Bliss is even more pricey. Yikes! So use sparingly or use during a special occasion. Knowing that you’re using all natural and cruelty free products that we can all actually pronounce is a wonderful thing. The scrubs are abrasive, but they are gentle enough to use a few times per week.

HelperLike any scrub, you can use it on every inch of your body (scoop out a small bit using the sea shell provided, and scrub your lips with it!). I primarily use it for exfoliation when I want to prep my skin to do a self-tan routine.

I’m excited to scope out the other goodies Indigena has. I love lathering myself in body butters when I get out of the shower, since I’m forever prone to dry skin. I think it’d be a nice product to use, and why not support local when you can?

If you’re local to St. John’s, Newfoundland you can pick up Indigiena products at Lester’s Farm.

Indigena-body-scrubsDisclaimer: I was given complimentary Indigena products. However, I was not asked to write a review about the products, these are my honest opinions. 

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Beauty

Elizabeth Arden | Flawless Future

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Elizabeth-Arden-HeaderSerums are almost an essential to the beauty makeup bag. Given the fact that I’m in my 30’s now, I’ve decided to amp up my skincare routine a little more and try to remember to apply a serum, whether it be once (or preferably) twice a day. Considering I have dry and dehydrated skin, my face lacks quite a bit of moisture. I suppose it’s all the tea I’m drinking, sucking it all out of me.

Over Christmas break Elizabeth Arden e-mailed me, asking if I wanted to try out some goodies from their line. I ended up receiving two products to try out, one being the Flawless Future Caplet Serum. I want to moisturize, and plump up my skin as much as I can, because I want to stay as young looking as possible. I mean, I’m kinda doin’ it now, considering people often mistake me for being in my early 20’s. Hooray for good genes.

 

Elizabeth-Arden-FlawlessFutThe packaging is certainly appealing, with the gold accents in clear bottle with caplets of serum (looking like a set of pearls) suspended in a clear fluid.

For the past number of years I have been vigilant about my skincare and moisturizing each and every morning. As mentioned above, I’m amping it up now and adding serums to lock in the moisture.

Considering I’ve only tried a couple of serums in the past, it’s hard to really compare it to anything else and review it for you. All I can tell you is that I apply the facial serum in the morning (patting it on gently) letting it sink in before I apply my face moisturizer. And we all know what face cream I use. No surprise: philosophy hope in a jar.

Eliz-ArdenSo far so good. It doesn’t interfere with my makeup application. I’ve tried some moisturizers before that completely melted off my self tanner! Yikes.

I’m not entirely sure I would repurchase it, because I want to test a couple of more serums out, before I decide on which one is right for me.

Have you switched up your skincare routine lately? What did you add/subtract to it?

Also, what sort of products do you use/recommend? 

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Beauty

G.M. Collin | Products for dehydrated skin

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GM Collin reviewSo I’ve been trying out some products from G.M. Collin, since they reached out to me last month. They are apparently a higher end skincare brand, founded in France but also distributed across the USA and Canada. Before agreeing to them, I wanted to see what my friend Ashlee thought of them. She reviewed some of their products back in January (see Ashlee’s review here), and she mentioned that she loved the products she tried out. Yay!

Now it’s my turn! I’ve been using their products on-and-off for a couple of weeks, and now I’m here to report back on how well they perform. For reference, the products I’m talking about in this blog post are catering to those with dry/dehydrated skin.

It’s nice to change up the skincare products once in a while. Especially since I have been using my philosophy hope in a jar, and bobbi brown eye cream non-stop basically for the past 4+ years. I’ll probably continue to use those two products until one or the other stops working for me. Whenever I find something that works so well, makes my makeup last and my skin look dewy, it’s a no-brainer.

GM-Collin-Travel-KitLet’s start with the Hydrating Travel Kit, which contains 3 smaller sized products from their Hydramucine line. All of the items in this travel kit works well for all skin types, especially dehydrated skin.

Hydramucine cleansing milk: It was gentle on my skin, and didn’t sting the eye area when removing my makeup. Since I don’t wear much makeup, it removed everything fine. It didn’t leave my skin feeling parched or tight like some cleansers.

Hydramucine Treating Mist: If you’re a fan of the Caudalie beauty elixir, you’ll love this — the scent is identical! I didn’t use this much, because I don’t usually spray my skin before/after/during makeup application. Although, it smells nice. This product is for hydrating your skin and providing immediate comfort and refreshing sensation. Think about spraying it on your face on a hot summers day, it’ll kinda cool you down!

Hydramucine Optimal Cream:  A super nice hydrating yet velvety feeling face cream. I’m almost out of this already!

GMCollin-eyeserum2Last products from G.M. Collin was their Bota-Peptide line of products.

Bota-Peptide 5 Concentrate: Being straight with you here…I’m not a huge serum type of person. I just forget to apply it, or don’t want to go through the ‘hassle’ of applying multiple products when I’m getting ready in the morning. I’ll apply it a couple of days per week (I only use it once a day, although you can use it morning and night) during the night time. I didn’t notice a significant difference in how my skin looked in the morning. But perhaps I should start trying to use this twice a day and see how it goes.

Bota-Peptide Eye Contour: I loved this eye cream! Although more lightweight than my Bobbi Brown extra eye repair cream, it was still nice and didn’t make my concealer smear/wear off. Winning! Obviously after only using it a handful of weeks I cannot tell you that it reduces (existing) fine lines, because honestly the only way to get rid of those is surgery, or botox. AMIRIGHT? But the eye cream feels quite luxurious on the under eye area.

Final thoughts:
I’m pleased with G.M. Collin’s products for the most part. But to be honest, they are only sold in the finest and most luxurious spas by estheticians and skin care professionals. So unfortunately you can’t easily purchase their products. Nor do they list the ingredients in their products, anywhere online — which is a bit strange! However, my sensitive skin didn’t give me any issues when using the multiple products.

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