Beauty | January Favorites

I’m posting this a bit later than anticipated, but whatever.. it’s never too late to put some fine products in the spotlight! The following beauty products were chosen as my favorite products of the month January. It’s a mixture of luxurious and budget brands, a mix that can be noticed throughout my entire beauty cabinet.

SKIN & BODY CARE

La Roche-Posay Effaclar H Compensating Soothing Moisturizer
Subscribed by my dermatologist and in my opinion, the best moisturizer for oily skin in treatment for acne (!) out there. It keeps my skin nicely balanced, not dry and flaky and not oily. It’s specifically designed to soothe the skin after intense skin-drying treatment, so I wouldn’t recommend this for ‘regular’ oily skin types. You’ll need a light sunscreen too, bc this one lacks SPF. You don’t need much of the product (about the size of a pea will do) so I think the amount and price is fair.

40 ml – € 13   available at some pharmacies

Dr. Brandt Dark Circles Away Collagen Eye Serum
My holy grail during the past midterms! After one month of barely sleeping at all, it’s a miracle I don’t look like I’ve just been knocked out in a boxing match. Eye serum is to be applied during the morning and evening after rinsing the skin. One pump of serum is sufficient for both eyes, which is then softly massaged into the skin with the cool rolling ball in the tip. Although the dark circles won’t vanish into thin air, it helps decreasing the darkness to the point where it can easily be covered with corrector afterwards. I’ve used an eye serum from Chanel before and it didn’t quite do the same for me.

15 ml – € 55   exclusively available at Ici Paris XL*

Le Petit Marseillais White Peach and Nectarine Shower Gel
Recently Le Petit Marseillais added 2 new shower gels to their range; Olive milk and White Peach & Nectarine. The bottle looks budget (because it is), but the shape is so handy as I tend to get a little clutzy during bath/shower time (I can’t count the times I let a round bottle slip out of my wet hands – how cliché, I know). The shower gel leaves an intense fruity peach scent on my skin and makes it feel hydrated and refreshed.

250 ml – € 2,69   available at drugstores and supermarkets

Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel
Another shower gel favorite because I travel back and forth to Ghent, which means I use different products during the week  because I’m too lazy to carry everything around all the time. Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel is a sugarsweet bubblegum glitter-packed pink (what else?) shower gel that will leave you smelling like a fresh ball of cotton candy at the carnival. Lush’s Snow Fairy shower gel is so popular it has it’s own fan page on Facebook and I can totally see why. Too bad this is a limited edition because I could see myself using this throughout the year. It’s not cheap, but it’s not your everyday scent either. I mostly use it for special occassions.

100 ml – € 5,95   exclusively available at Lush stores during Xmas period

Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia Essenza perfume
A timeless and more concentrated version of Acqua di Gioia, enriched with mint, Lemone Primo Fiore, pink pepper, jasmine, raw sugar, cashmere and cedar wood. This divine scent is embellished in a beautiful silver coated bottle. If you’re a fan of Armani scents like me, this will make a nice addition to your perfume collection. It’s pretty pricey though, so I keep this one at home for during the weekends.

50ml – € 72,50 (limited edition) available at the perfumery

MAKE-UP

Benefit Stay Don’t Stray Primer
The Benefit Stay Don’t Stray primer is a natural skin colored primer used for around the eyes. Because of it’s color, I also use it as a concealer for dark circles. You don’t need much of the product, since it’s very light and easy to spread. This is the trick to keep it from gathering in the thin lines. I mainly use it for when I’m doing a smokey eye, which then stays put for hours.

10 ml – € 25   available at some INNO stores

Max Factor Miracle Touch Creamy Blush °4 Soft Pink
You can find my thoughts on this blush here.

– € 10,99  available at drugstores and supermarkets

Maybelline Master Drama Kohl & Precise Liner in black
These are the best eye liners I’ve used so far. Super easy to use, intense pigmentation, drawing goes smoothly and they stay put for a long time. Especially the kohl pencil is hard to take off afterwards. I mainly use the kohl on my water line for smokey eyes and the precise liner for cateye looks. These two did so well for me I’m thinking about getting the Lasting Drama Gel too.

Kohl – € 7,99
Liner – € 10,99

Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish lipstick °05
I’m in love with the entire Kate Moss x Rimmel lipstick range, but °05 is one of my favorite colors and I use it almost every day. The lipstick has a sweet fruity scent and is super pigmented & creamy. This keeps the lips well hydrated but it can also cause for the color to fade after a couple of hours. To avoid that I use a lip pencil underneath. I’m kind of hoping Rimmel will continue this collaboration and release more colors in the future.

– € 9,49   exclusively available at Kruidvat and Di*

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill mascara
Before I’ve never really noticed much difference between mascaras until I was introduced to this one. The Eyes to Kill mascara is one of the favorite mascaras in my stash and it’s my permanent partner in crime when I’m going for a doll-eyed look. After one application the lashes are visibly extended. The only major downside to this mascara is that it’s not waterproof, so if you’re planning on watching a tearjerker movie or going swimming.. don’t wear this mascara unless the ‘Joker look is what you’re going for. Oh, and it’s pretty pricey too, so ask for a sample before you purchase it.

– € 33   exclusively available at Parfuma and some INNO stores*

Essie Bobbing for Baubles nail polish
Essie is one of my favorite beauty brands that was launched in Belgium last year. They carry a wide range of gorgeous and decent quality colors. I have yet to swatch some more colors, but for now Bobbing For Baubles from the winter collection is my favorite shade. You can see swatches here.

– € 10,99   exclusively available at Ici Paris XL and Di*

HAIR CARE

Fekkai Brilliant Glossing Shampoo & Conditioner
These products simply made my heart flutter. I’ve never seen such beautiful packaging for hair products.. ever. Fekkai is a Hollywood celebrity hair stylist, so these fit that luxury image perfectly. Again pretty pricey, but the shampoo foams well so you don’t really need much of the product. The olive fragrance is simply divine and well, my hair looks shiny and feels really soft. I always use this for special occasions since it’s not cheap and it kind of helps straighten out my hair. If have thin hair and you’re looking for more volume you better skip this one though. If you like sleek & shiny hair, this is definitely a DO!

236 ml – € 23   exclusively available at Ici Paris XL*

Kérastase Fibre Architecte Renovating Dual Serum
This is another product that saved me during my midterms. I hadn’t gone to the hairdresser for a haircut in months, which made the number of split ends increase dramatically. With the help of this serum I managed to keep the damage somewhat under control. It’s a double serum that is held in seperate containers. The point is to mix them by rubbing your hands and masage into the split ends. I wouldn’t say it repairs them since hair is well.. dead. But it kind of glues them together, preventing them to split further, thus perfect for as I would call it ‘damage control’.

30 ml – € 35,00   available at hair dressing salons and Kérastase institutes

*The exlusivity applies to Belgium (and in some cases also the Netherlands) only.

Please note that some of the products featured in this blogpost 
have been offered by a brand/ PR company.
 This has no effect on the honesty of this review.