May beauty favourites – and our fave apps!

Hot hot hot! Both the weather and our beauty favourites of the month. (Well, that was cheesy, right? But nevertheless, we’ve some pretty good beauty recs for you!) This month, we also share our favourite apps for well- being and self-care. Now, let’s proceed to all kinds of sunscreen-y goodness, little helpers for your makeup, nailcare essentials and more!

Dorit’s May beauty favourites

banila co. Miss Flower and Mr Honey Hydrogel Mask

I usually don’t include LE or discontinued items in my favourites so you guys can also buy them. But then I happened to test Banila’s Miss Flower and Mr Honey hydrogel mask that I bought on my first trip at the beginning of the year. I became totally hooked, and when in Seoul recently, I tried to repurchase it. But, no luck. Sold out everywhere, and I guess it’s going to be discontinued. You can still get it on eBay and various other places online, but well. Fail.

Let it be quickly said that this mask is awesome and I hope they’ll come out with it in another iteration. Because nothing perks my face up as this hydrogel mask. Fits like a glove because it comes in two pieces, very comfortable to wear for longer times. And wow, the effect. For days when I had little sleep, was stressed, or hungover, this came to my rescue and made every signs of tiredness or dullness invisible. If you can still get it somewhere, run, don’t walk. It’s honestly that good and has some nice ingredients (I’m on board with everything propolis – see here).

Clarins UV Plus Anti-Pollution SPF50

This has been on my list since last year when I vowed to try out more anti-pollution skincare due to Shanghai’s awful air quality. I can’t say anything yet about the anti-pollution properties, but as a sunscreen alone, this is one of the best I’ve ever tried. The texture is divine – very light and liquid, sinks right in, no white cast. Makeup (regular foundation, cushion foundations and my loose mineral foundation) can be applied without any issues over it. It protects against UVA and UVB rays and has a mix of both chemical and physical sunscreen ingredients.

There’re two issues with it that you might be having: The inclusion of both alcohol and fragrance in the formula (alcohol is the sixth ingredient on the list, fragrance comes in the middle). Then there’re also nano particles. I haven’t had any reactions to it, and the wonderful texture makes up the less stellar ingredients for me. What is a big turn-off for me is the price. 30ml are about 30€ when I bought it in Duty Free, but now various online shops I checked say 40€ (Clarins and Sephora). Sorry, that’s ridiculous.

L’Occitane Shea Butter

You might remember that I was a Lush Lemony Flutter fangirl for years, but then I moved to Shanghai. And the weather is hot. Cue to some pots (more than I’d like) go rancid because I didn’t store them in the fridge. Yeah. I usually use it before every mani to give my cuticles some TLC. And then I found myself journeying with cuticles drier than the desert (traveling does that to me) and a very nice SA recommended this little tin of pure Shea Butter to me. For someone who changes her mani approximately every three days, this is great – I massage a bit of it into my cuticles right when I remove my polish, let it sink in for a minute, remove any residue and put my base coat right over it without any issues.

I still think that Lemony Flutter was responsible for my healthy nails that didn’t break or splinter. L’Occitane’s Shea Butter doesn’t convince me that much in that department, but otherwise, it’s great. You can, of course, use it on any dry area of your body as well. Shea Butter is well-known as a great natural moisturizer and an excellent emollient, so this one is for you if you have tight-feeling, dry or itchy skin. I paid 6€ for it (Duty Free again). It’s 12$ for 10ml on their site.

My favorite app lately: Calm

There’re a lot of apps I use daily that I enjoy and that help me enormously, but Calm has a special spot in my heart. I’m a bad sleeper, and the incessant construction work around our apartment doesn’t help. I googled for apps that could help me sleep and found Calm. It’s a meditation app that also features special sleep aiding features (like sleep stories and extra sleep inducing meditations). I couldn’t get into meditation for the whole of 2015 and 2016 (I really, really tried), Calm made it easy. The instructor’s voice is super soothing, and I enjoy the extra features (a daily mediation routine with a special topic, motivational quotes, sleep stories, the tracking of your mediation success). The basic version is free, but I bought the full one pretty quickly for 60$. It’s on the pricey side, but especially for sleeping problems totally worth it.

Astrid’s May beauty favourites

Paula’s Choice Resist Youth-Extending Daily Hydrating Fluid SPF50

I most likely overdo my SPF, I know that. In my attempt not to get tanned so much. I can’t help it though, I like to have a walk (and run) outdoor. This sunscreen has a very runny consistency, but it works double as moisturizer and sunscreen. Doesn’t leave a white cast on my face, and not oily. Win.

Diorshow Maximizer 3D Lash Primer

I love this thing. It somehow makes my lashes thicker, my mascara stays put, the colored mascaras showed its colors, and somehow conditions the lashes? I seemed to have less fallout from my lashes. It comes with quite a hefty price tag, 28-35 Euros depending on where you buy them, but it’s a personal must from me. I even don’t mind the extra step when wearing that (I still can’t see the point of face primers/fixing sprays and sheet masks, for example. But this, oh hell yes.)

Alverde Color & Care Mix Your Make-up in the dark pigment

I like this brand a lot. It’s natural, it smells nice, does what it’s supposed to do. I picked up the darker pigment for blending into the foundation. The price tag is around 3 euros, so I didn’t expect much. Lo and behold, I think this definitely is the superior version than the Body Shop one. The tube has only a tiny opening, which means better control for getting the product out, the pigment is brown with a yellow based (which actually could be problematic for cooler dark skinned ladies). This works well to darken my foundations a tad and I am going to do a post on how this works on my tanned skin, stay tuned!

App: Spotify Running Playlist

Confession: I love Spotify and I never buy CDs anymore (except to support a musician at their live performance). Finding a running playlist has been a challenge for me, and I do love some music when I run by myself. Spotify comes up with a personalized running playlist, adapting to my music preference (no Lana del Rey and no electronic music 😛 ), and adapting to my running speed. Do you have a running playlist? Do share!