LA ROCHE POSSAY * Anthelios XL | REVIEW FIRST IMPRESSION

Hello everybody, Merry Christmas !

recently I have bought a lot of new skincare items that I wanted to try out, one of them is from the brand LA ROCHE POSSAY, a well known made in France brand. I wanted to try something from this brand for a long time but i couldn't decide if i want to commit to a completely new skincare routine, but over the past couple months I have been searching for a good sunscreen that i could use everyday and don't feel greasy and nasty like with a lot of sunscreens that are available. So one day while randomly browsing racks at my local pharmacy I came across this Anthelios XL fluid SPF 50+ sunscreen, after reading couple articles on the internet that were describing this product as a miracle I decided that i would give it a try myself and to my surprise I really LOVE it so far.

First of all, this brand offers a whole range of Anthelios XL sunscreens with each one being targeted towards a different skin type. From what i can see on their website they offer about 5 different types of creams/lotions/fluid. Me personally, I have normal to combination skin type so I decided to go for the ultra light fluid version, I think this is the perfect consistency for my skin type. First when you touch it it really feels like a fluid it's something like a watered down lotion, it spreads quickly and easily all over your face and it doesn't feel heavy or greasy like so many other creams that i have tried in the past. I would say it feels lighter than most of my daily moisturizers that i have used but still i feel like this product is giving me enough moisture to get me through the day. After putting this fluid on, my face doesn't look oily which i LOVE cause that's what usually happened in the past. I tried many oil based really light weight sunscreens but none of them gave me what i was looking for. With this one I'm left with quite a natural maybe even a satin finish which is exactly what i was looking for.

Fragrance wise, this product doesn't have a strong scent i don't notice any scent during the application, so good news for people with very sensitive skin, at the end of the day that's the targeted
group for this product so i guess no surprises here.

The only down side to this product may be the price, it sells for about 16 € (17,50 $) but i think that you're really getting a good quality product for your money. You're getting 50 ml of this light weight UVA/UVB protecting fluid which is quite good, I think you can get at least 3 months of use out of this little bottle.

A small piece of advice from me would be, be careful during the application or more precisely while you're getting the product out of the bottle. Because it's very liquid-e, it can very easily get spilled all over the place. They've tried to avoid this by putting on a nasal with a very small hole but still the liquid just comes out it's not like a cream that needs a little bit of pressure to come out so just be careful there.




So far after couple uses I can't complain i think this is a wonderful product that delivers what it saids, sun protection for sensitive skin that feels ultra light ! Definitely a holy grail for me, I think that this is not the last time I'm trying a product                                                                from this brand !

Until next time :) Katie

THE BODY SHOP * Haul | REVIEWS FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Hello everybody,
today i have a special brand to talk about, The Body Shop, this brand has been one of my favorite brands for skincare and body care products over past couple years. I discovered it about 3 years ago by a mention from my grandmother, she was talking all the time about those amazing body butters that they offer. She gave me a sample of the strawberry scented one and i was IN. Just couple weeks later I decided to go do some shopping in our local outlet village when i say local i mean like 2 hours away in a different state :D Knowing that Body Shop has its own outlet store there just encouraged me to go ahead and try some products out. Most people that know me, know that it's go big or go home with me so i bought almost whole tea tree range and couple body butters, good for a first try huh ? Since then i have tried a lot of products and today i would like to share with you my most recent haul full of skincare products but also two body products.

Frosted Cranberry and Glazed Apple SHOWER GEL about 10 $

My favorite time of the year to buy new bodyshop products is around christmas, why ? Because of their annual christmas limited edition collection. Every year bodyshop comes out with christmas inspired scented products that are just amazing. I believe that this year's new scent was Prune and Vanilla scent but i guess because of the demand they've kept their frosted cranberry and glazed apple from last year also. I had to get something from the collection and because i have so many body butters which are amazing BTW already at home a decided to get something i just ran out of, some shower gel.

This is actually my second bottle of the frosted cranberry one so it's no surprise to me that i like it. It has the most wonderful scent on Earth. It smells like cranberries (logic) but also a little but like vine, it's a very interesting smell what i like about it the most is that it has some calming properties to it.

On the other hand this is my first time trying the glazed apple one and I'm not disappointed at all. If you like those sweet apple like scents you're going to fall in love with this one. It totally smells like apple pie, it's amazing and it has this nice green color also ! :)

Consistency wise, these are a gel formula but they have almost a jelly like feel to them. They have both some artificial coloring in them that's why the cranberry one is blood red and the glazed apple is a vibrant green. In terms of bubbles and the way they spread, they lather up quickly and spread almost effortlessly.

So are these worth it ? For me yes, but for me it's more about the experience, the scents cause overall they do what they are supposed to just like any other shower gel. I don't think these will clean your body differently from most shower gels out there but their scents are definitely unbeatable.

Vitamin E overnight SERUM-IN-OIL 27$

Lately I've been dealing with some dry patches on my skin, so i was trying to find something that would solve this problem. My first stop was body shop, previously I have tried the vitamin E night cream which was super moisturizing but really thick, and it left my skin feeling like if i was wearing a mask, nothing pleasent. So I decided to try this oil, cause oils are generally more lightweight and more comfortable to wear on your skin. So far I can't complain, i think it gives me just the right amount of moisture after applying my aloe vera night cream which I'm going to mention in a sec. On the other hand i don't think that this oil is a breakthrough product for me or a must have, i think that there are other similar products on the market. One nice thing about this oil is that it has a lot of vitamin E in it which is essential for your skin so a plus point for that. 

Bottom word, even though this is not a must have for me, i think I'm going to get some use out of it. It's not a bad product it just doesn't stand out for me.

Vitamin E LIP CARE SPF 15 9$

My lips are always dry, especially in the winter so as you can imagine i can never have enough lip balms. I already own a watermellon lip balm from body shop which is pretty cool but i wanted to try something with a protection also. This vitamin E lip balm offers a SPF 15 which is pretty good for a lip balm, otherwise it acts like a normal lip balm in a stick format something like baby lips. For me the downside to this product is definitely the scent, it doesn't have a chemical scent or something like that it just doesn't have any prominent scent at all it's more of that old school cosmetics smell which I'm not too fond off. Before this one I used my lip smacker (Cherry Coca Cola flavour) and i just love the scent on that one so I'm maybe a little over reacting here but i guess I'm just used to having amazing scented products from bodyshop. As with the last one i don't think this is a must have but it's definitely something I'm going to continue using at least just for the protection stand point.

Aloe Vera Moisturizing NIGHT CREAM 21$

This cream is my second favorite after my shower gels out of this haul. It's all i was hoping it would be, it's a nice rich creamy night moisturizer that spreads super easily across your face and neck area. It has the right thickness so it doesn't leave you feeling gross and greasy like I mentioned above with my vitamin E night cream. It's targeted towards sensitive skin types so it doesn't have a scent but in this case i don't mind it all. It's a very calming cream every night when i put it on i just feel instantly more relaxed and in the morning my face feels plumped and moisturized. The only downside for me with this product is the fact that it takes a while for it to get absorbed, i would prefer a gel formula with this one but still it's a nice product and I think about repurchasing it.

Seaweed Pore-Cleansing FACIAL EXFOLIATOR 16$

This is the last product from the bunch, and it's the latest one that I've tried also. I decided to test it out today in the shower and I don't know if I'm going to like this exfoliator a lot. It's a little rough for my liking, I was comparing it to my Clean&Clear one and another one from the tea tree range at bodyshop and this one is definitely the most aggressive out of the bunch. But i think that if you're gentle enough you can make it work for you, it's just not for everyone, meaning sensitive and blemished skin probably. I haven't noticed my face being especially red after using this product but i could sense that my face would prefer something a little bit gentler. Scent wise this product has an amazing scent as all of the products from this range it's a super calming, relaxing scent which I just love, consistency is also good i feel like i don't need to use a lot of product so i feel like this 75 ml bottle is going to rest me a lifetime :D One good thing that I've noticed with this product is that my pores look really clean after using it which is the main reason why i picked it up so even though it doesn't meet up all of my requirements for an ideal exfoliator i still think it's a nice purchase just to switch things up.

This was a long one thanks for reading until next time ! :) Katie

My Life in France * PART 1 | preparations, departure

Hello everybody,
It's christmas and that means that I've just returned from one of the biggest adventures of my life. For the past 4 months I've been studying in France in Saumur, now that I'm home i've decided to write something about my experience that may help someone that's planning to go through something similar and give me the opportunity to share all of my stories with you ! But let's go back to the
beginning.

March 2015

This crazy story began in march 2015 when I decided to sign up to study abroad in France, my program was organized by my high school. Every year the send out 8-9 students abroad, to help them with their french and to discover french culture. They offer two semesters, I've decided to go for the first semester because generally it has more advantages than the second one. First of all it's longer (4 months instead of 3 months), you're starting in a class full of people that don't know each other so it may be easier to fit in and lastly it's a lot easier to start from the beginning in every subjects than just arriving in January BTW that's the period of BAC blanc in France (something like SAT testing) and trying to catch up on every subject. SO for me the choice was obvious.

Then as you may imagine a lot of paperworks were filled including some papers for my host family. This period is followed by a long wait you almost forget that you're leaving in couple months.

19th June 2015

It was in June that I've finally got my first mail i was so excited, i couldn't believe that this is really happening, that I'm doing this. In the first mail I've received name of my host family with some details and of course some contact information so i can start to communicate with them. Oh you can imagine how nervous i was when i was about to send my first mail to them, the thoughts in my head like i have to do a good impression, present myself the way i want to i checked my grammar about a million times before hitting send :D

1st July 2015

But then another long wait was ahead of me, the real communication started in July when I first got a picture of my family. I couldn't be happier. I've got a family with two kids that are both almost the same age as i am so a win for me, because this was exactly what i wanted ! Parents were a little older but they looked like nice people.

27th August 2015

My departure date was set for 28th August 2015, the date was slowly approaching and i started to realize that this is getting super real that I'm really leaving my family for the next 4 months. Besides all my fears, i was still excited and couldn't wait to start packing my suitcase, another major challenge for me :D We've put down a strategy with my mom but when i saw my bed full of clothes, papers, shoes and i don't even know what else I didn't believe that my suitcase would be packed in couple hours. But with some miracles (actually couple air compressed bags) we did it ! and my decision became more real than ever.

28th August 2015

The big day arrived, from the moment i woke up i could sense that something's happening. I wasn't hungry and I just wasn't feeling very good. But it was time, time for me to leave for the adventure of my lifetime. I never thought that saying goodbye to my family would be so hard but i was ready to conquer the world !

So this is how it all started, until next time :) Katie