How to treat a blemish: my go-to products!

We always take good care of our skin 24/7 ( I hope you do!), but any now and then it happens: a blemish appears! All of our night planes get ruined, we struggle looking in the mirror, we use tons of concealer to make the pimple disappear  (but we can still see it!) and we sit desperate on our vanity. Now I can't assure you that this will not happen again, but we do have some good products to make the experience less painful.

The first product is from my beloved brand Domus Olea Toscana, Sebum Lift Anti Blemish Serum. It's a blemish killer, as I like to call it! It is truly effective to help reduce redness and dries the blemish overnight. It has a highly concentrated % of azaleic acid to make the blemish dry fast and the redness go away. 

Every now and then I like to use a black mask. I tried the Asian famous(Pilaten and Shills). They have a vinyl consistency, when it's dry you peel it off carefully (starting from the outside) and they grab a lot of dirt and some blackheads too. I do not think they do miracles, but they do help with small blemishes and blackheads, in between a deep facial treatment, for those (like me) whose skin is prone to blackheads.

A mask I find really helpfull with blemishes is from Kiehl's and it's they Rare Earth deep pore cleansing masque, it is a clay based mask, with some active ingredients to minimize the pores (and reduce blemishes).

Pearl powder is a must have, especially to reduce the redness after a blemish and to get rid off dark spots. My favourite is from Moroccan Natural. You can mix it with your cream or an oil (my fave of the moment is Pink Lotus by Khadi or the Farsali Rose gold Elixir) and apply over the ex-blemish or dark spot. You will see the redness disappear, like there was nothing before.

I started to use The Ordinary products for my skincare recently and I can already say that (if you know what you're doing) you can set up a really good skincare routine, that obviously helps keeps blemishes away. Using the right acids, in a skin like mine, really prone to blackheads, can be the right way to achieve flawless, blemish free skin I dream. Since mine is a comedogenic acne type, BHA acids (salicylic acid) are the best to start with (more than AHA acids, like glycolic acid) because of its structure is more oil soluble so that it penetrates more into the pores (cleaning them up). And it's also anty-inflammatory, that on a acne skin is sure good. Be sure to use your Spf daily while using acids!
Hope you're now prepared to fight your next blemish, or at least you won't have to fight them so much like before, with the right skincare!

Please leave a comment with your questions and suggestions for my next blog post!

See yaa! 

Hyatt

Best scrub for summer: body and face

I went to the beach a couple of times now and I realized how much a good scrub can make a difference on how my skin looks! Scrub is an important step in your beauty routine all year around and especially on summer. Despite what all people thinks, it makes your tan last longer (you're not rubbing it away doing a scrub!). You are just removing the dead cell on the surface, making your skin looking glowing and healthier! Salt base scrubs are my favorites during summer, salt is rough enough to do a good exfoliation and it helps to get rid of water retention in your body, making your puffiness go away. The oils in your seasalt scrub give your the nourishment you need when you are sunbathing and your skin does need that extra-cuddle with all that dryness! Never forget to use a body lotion after scrubbing, the oils might be not enough if you are a beach babe! The scrub I am using now is from The organic shop, the rose one, but they do offer a wide choice! Absolutely luxe scrub with a nice price! If you wanna go a little extra and really treat yourself, Arangara is the brand for you! The rose and olive oil scrub from Il giardino offers you a really luxurious, five stars spa experience. And they have matching body lotions too! These are the best body lotions I have ever tried, moisturizing AF and they melt to the skin immediately, leaving you with the most soft and hydrate skin ever! Another rose option comes from Dr. Taffi, Acqua di Bolgheri La Rosa Scrub (I know, I am a little obsessed with roses, but hey, who doesn't?).

I hope you are using your 50spf during summer on both body and face! For my face I am using the Supergoop sunscreen  cream and  the mist, that recently have landed on Sephora here in Italy. I tried them and I already love them. The 50 spf mist is a must have to reapply sunscreen even if you have makeup on. Let's think of all the concerts and events we are going to this summer and we are not going bareface (at least I don't, I will use some makeup). It's a really clever way to spritz on your sunscreen and be protected for all these hours waiting in line under the sun to visit Uffizi in Florence (I know, I went there too!). 

Let's not forget a very significant moment: take off your sunscreen from your face! It is important to wash your face and remove the spf properly. Both mineral and chemical spf needs a double step cleaning process: first your will need a oil or a balm, something greasy that helps melting the spf and second you will choose a mild soap, foamy cleanser to get rid of all the dirt. Removing properly the spf will assure you a clean, spotless skin, making it ready to receive the right hydration and nourisheing elements from the rest of your skincare. A scrub, 1-2 times a week, helps keeping your skin clean and flawless. My favourite face scrub is from Domus Olea Toscana, the  Peeling-Maschera Anti age for face and body. Helps me with reducing the size of my pores, takes care of my oily t-zone and leaves my skin smooth like a baby! Use it as a mask too! Apply it for 10-15 minutes and then scrub it away for a soft, fresh skin! Not only for your face, you can use this scrub on feet, knees elbows and your decolletage to achieve the smoothiest skin ever!

High end, Luxury Organic Skincare: my impressions feat Dr Alkaitis, Suki Pai Mun skincare...

Last Friday I had the pleasure to be invited to my friend's wedding and I said why not try some fancy, high end and very expensive skincare! And I did! 

Thanks to this clever shop called Amazingy.com, based in Germany, I had the chance to order some samples of the most exclusive brands in organic skincare. For this occasion, I order another little jewel in this site: Winter Skin, from the brand Eco by Sonia. This is a self tan cream that creates a subtle tan and glow, all organic and easy to use. Perfect for my pale skin! I will create an in deep review for it!

Organic skincare has now a long history, but only recently, thanks to the awarness of some celebrities (take Gwineth Paltrow, for example, who is creating her own line now, Juice beauty), and the organic trend in food, has become more and more popular. Like all things, even in the beauty area we have the drugstore products and the high end, but do the expensive brands worth all the money? Or, like makeup, we can find dupes that are cheaper and even better than the more expensive ones?

I have now tried a lot of organic brands, low cost and luxe brands, and I think I can say something: they do worth the money. Of course, not all the products and not all the brands, but in average, mostly do their work better than low cost brands. Creating a formula is a very delicate process and it takes a lot of time (and money and prime ingredients) to reach perfection. That's why a luxe organic brand is very expensive but worths every penny. They will not be satisfied until the formula is exactely what they have in mind. And you can experiment that when you try something extra for your skincare. You immediately see the results. Non-organic skincare brands cost as the organic ones, but their focus is on the apperance of the skin, not in the health of the skin. So you can see immediate result, but no effective improvements on the skin (once you stop using them, you go back where you have started). 

What did I notice using high end brands? What are my impressions?

Well, I have combination skin with large pores (that are my mainly problem). Even if I am already using organic skincare, I struggle with my pores a lot, they won't disappear or at least minimize a little. 

Here's what I used from the Amazingy.com sample order:

Pai Skincare Kukui and Jojoba Exfoliator 

Dr. Alkaitis Beautifying Mask

Mun Skincare Aknari Brightening Youth Serum

Suki Eye Lift Renewal Cream

The Pai Skincare Kukui and Jojoba Exfoliator is a must for brightening the skin. Stop!

It was the first time I was using Dr Alkaitis and I was truly surprised by this mask. At first I didn't notice it did something, but after some time I see my face very clear, calm, with no redness, pore were clear and minimized a little. 

Mun Youth Serum gave me the most glowing skin ever, without looking greasy at all. And again, pores disappear under my eyes!

Suki Eye lift Renewal Cream is just the perfect eye cream, fine lines were gone!

I am truly amazed by what these products could do in a once use I can only imagine what they could do in a skincare routine. 

So if you have to invest some money on skincare, do it! I swear you will not regret this decision!

Kisses,

Hyatt

Beauty Review: 11 Domus Olea Toscana - A Haircare Spa from washing to styling

If you didn't know I was in Bologna for the Sana 2017, that is an exhibition for all natural, green and eco-friendly things, from food to beauty and everything related to sustainability (link here).

So, in that occasion, I wandered through the beauty area and found some of my favorite organic skincare and haircare brands and Domus Olea Toscana is one of them.

I am in love with their products because not only they are organic and green, they are also very powerful. The concentration in active ingredients in their products is very high so you can almost immediately notice a difference in your skin. They do have a complete range for your skin (both face and body) and for the Sana 2017 they launched their Haircare line: "11". Eleven are the tuscan plants that are used to recreate the keratin of the hair, Eleven are the amino acids in the formula that truly repair the hair. They are on top when it comes to research, they create innovative formulas and the base is the extraordinary Olive plant (the name suggested it, right?). Another innovation is the complete haircare, from washing to styling. Their step-system is meant to have an incredibile layering of nourishing, protecting elements through all your haircare routine, so 1- you don't have to use something that is no good for your hair in any step 2- your hair are protected from beginning to end, even with your styling!

There are 4 lines of product depending on your needs: blue is for greasy hair (seborreheic sculp), pink is for normal to dry hair, purple is for sensitive and the aluminium is for all types.

Here are the steps:

0- Pre-treatment mask

1- Micellar shampoo and co-wash

2- 3 in 1 conditioner or mask

3- Leave in serum  

4- Sealing conditioner or cream
5- Styling (Volumizing toner, Curl Activator cream, Nourishing gel,  cream-oil)

What hair do I have and what did I buy?

My hair are normal, with dry ends. Quite good I must say, but I do need to take care of them with some nourishing product to avoid split ends (mainly from blonde ends and abuse of hair straightener). I do the Pre-treatment mask once a month to keep the hairsculp healthy (sometimes it's dry, sometimes it tends to grease fast). For the shampoo I choose the Micellar Cream Restructuring Anti-age one, it's like all the line, very delicate, but very nourishing at the same time. I alternate it with the Co-Wash for dry sculp. Once a week I use the 3 in 1 mask, I apply it as a pre-shampoo mask, cause it smells like vitamin B, and it's pretty intense (I don't mind the smell, cause I know it's good stuff, but someone may be more sensitive than me). I use the Seal Conditioner to close the hair scales, spray the Volumizing Tonic  and end with the Crem-oil for silky hair. I used 11 only for some time to benefit from the layering of the active ingredients.

My thoughts.

This line comes to help when you are going through a hair crisis. You tried all what's in the market to get your hair better and nothing has worked. Start avoinding silicon based shampoo, detox your hair from that (try with ghassoul clay and cut!) and go try 11. It's like nothing you can find on the market today for damaged, heavily greasy or very dry hair. You need to start taking very good care of them with the right products and with 11 you can find your peace. It's an intense treatment, it may took a while to see the changes, but it's totally worth it. I can see my hair are now truly healthy and brillant, the color is pure light. The styling is easier and faster, no tangles at all. Since this is an intense treatment I recommend to use it for some time (till you see the improvement and the improvement is stable) and switch to any organic shampoo of your pleasure to use next. Pre-treatmanet mask, Co-wash, Leave-in serum, Sealing products and styling can be used to extend the benefits.

Beauty tips: Mask 101 - A in-deep guide on how to use masks and benefit from them

A step in my beauty routine that I really enjoy doing: mask! A little confession: I should do it more often than I do right now (ugh, laziness!). Because it's nothing like to smack on your face some muddy cream and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. Nope! This is how 90% of people are using masks nowadays, and you're maybe too! This will be a simple but in-deep guide on how to benefit the most from you masks, so you will not waste your money and your time anymore and always achieving beautiful skin! Let's start!

1- Srub and peel are the key. First thing first, you need to eliminate dead skin. In this way the elements and active ingredients of your mask will lay on fresh skin and penetrate more on the surface. That's where they do their magic. Depending on the sensibility of your skin you will choose between an effective scrub or a more gentle peeling product. Here are my fav's: Domus Olea Toscana Peeling Mask, Pulp de Vie Sucre Frappe, Nacomi Scrub.

2- Steam. Every facial has a steam step, yours too! Steam comes to help your pores open so, one more, the active ingredients of masks can pass easily. It also an effective cleaning process, so the dirt and the dead skin can be removed quickly and with no arm. If you have some blackheads, you can remove them after the steam with this tool. Remember to be extra gentle and to disinfect the area and the tool from the bacteria!

3- Toner. A calming mist or refreshining toner can be used at this point. We don't want to close our pores yet, but the steam is quite powerful and we cannot apply our mask now. Some thermal water can be used too, my fav's are: Evian, Avène.

4- Preparing the mask. For those who are using a pre-made mask, go and apply it with the right tool: a silicon or sinthetic brush. The steps before can be applied also if you're using a tissue mask. If you are going to prepare a mask from some powder (caolin, ghassoul, any clay, herbs...) here are some tips:

a- clays must be resting for 5-10 minutes in the sun before preparing the mask. They need the sun rays to reactivate and ionize (no midnight mask in this case);

b- you can use water, but thermal water or activating waters are a plus you need to try. My fav's are: Phura Attivatore Vegetale per Machere, Nacomi. The extra step: a tissue mask soak in activating water to put on your face, after the mask. You can buy tissue compressed mask online here.

c- don't be stingy, you need to apply a very thick layer on! A thick layer makes the skin to deeply catch all the organic elements of the mask by osmosis process.

5- Well, most of the work is done, you're relaxing in your bath/bed with your mask on, carefully prepared, and all you have to do is to rinse it off. With lukewarm water, massage it gently on your skin, till it's gone. Take now your toner (a minimizing pore one this time), eye cream, serum, face cream and you're done!

I am sure you will notice a big difference following these step when you're doing your next mask. Let me know in the comment section below!

Kisses,

Hyatt

How to wash your face - A guide to the best cleanser -and device- you can shop!

Hello and welcome back to the blog. So I did some changes as you can see and read here and I am back on work! Since in the last post I talked about a "fresh start" why not begin this new path in the beauty world with the very first step we do every morning: cleaning our face! This might be a not so complicated or interesting step in our skincare routine, but think: we do wash our face at least twice a day, morning and night, every day of the year, that means more than 700 times over a year! We do it automatically and we do not pay attention on what we are really doing, beacuse we are sleepy in the morning or, at night, we only want to go to bed  and take the make up off! But using the right products and the right massage can actually have a positive effect on your skin, more than just throw some fresh water in the face!

Of course you have to consider your skin type, normal/dry/oily or combination/mature, that'a really important thing to keep in mind when you buy a face cleanser. Today we have a huge range of products, textures, devices too, we can choose for our daily washing routine. Let's have a look to the most common cleansers on the market!

- The "foamy" type. They can have both cream or gel texture, or even solid as a bar soap (although I highly recommend not to use a generic bar of soap for your face, they tent to be aggressive on the skin). Foam does feel well on the skin, but it might be a little too much to take when it come to the delicate texture of your oval: when applied on dry/mature skintype it might go even drier and on the oily type might produce more sebum. It's ok for a normal/combination skin though, if followed by toner and face cream right after. Some of my favourites are: Dr. Taffi Formula Giovinezza Profonda, La Rosa and Camelia Chic Mousse, Natura Siberica Cleansing Foaming Mousse.

- The "balmy" type. Coming mostly from the K-beauty, the balms and oils cleanser are a primary step in every asian skincare routine. Both dry skins and oily skin can benefit from a rich, non-foamy, cleanser that gently removes the dirt and nourishes at the same time. The moist can be absorbed by the dry skin from the combination between the water and the balmy cleanser, make sure you wet your face before applying the balm. And it nourishes at the same time with the oils in the cleanser. The oily skins, who suffer this conditions because the lipids in their skin are missing, according to the brain, are cleaned from the dirt without removing the essential lipids and the brain starts to block the overproduction of sebum. One of my favourites: Fresh and Natural.

- The "micellar" type. Micellar waters are now a big thing in the beauty world. Tiny molecules that attract dirt and remove it from the skin, leaving it pure and clean. Sounds like a miracle! They really do come in help both in morning and in night routine, making the maquillage disappear! Although, if in the morning micellar water could be used by itself, in the night (and if we put makeup on, it's mandatory) we should use it in combination with a foamy or balmy cleanser, to really take off everything from the face (pollution or makeup). Some have anti-age properties, like Domus Olea Toscana Anti-Age Micellar Water.

The devices

Sonic devices do a really great job in the skincare game! Clarisonic and Foreo are the two leaders of the run, but Visapure from Philips and the Braun Face are quickly following. I think that Foreo is the best in the morning, because of its gentle massage and the anti-aging side is perfect to de-puff your eye contour area. Clarisonic does help in the night to get rid of all the dirt and makeup and pollution, preparing the skin to the next treatment! Braun Face adds a hair-removal device and  Philips Visapure is a combination of Clarisonic and Foreo in one!

Fresh Start!

I've been writing this blog for almost five years now and, despite all, I tried to stay true to my ideals, to my thoughts and who I am. All this made me realize that I really want to make a difference in beauty blogs and not to simply follow everybody out there, I wanted to stand out!
That means let you discover all the good products I found, not only the most hyped in a certain moment, that everybody raves about, but "indie" products, small companies products, that really deserve visibility because of their really good, excellent products!
So, starting from now, you will read my reviews all in English, because most of my followers are from the U.S. or worldwide, and I will show you, proudly, some really nice products that are made in my beautiful country, Italy (that's where I live!). Supporting small realities, eco-friendly companies, cruelty-free and vegan products. And also, some really good things that I can get my hands on from the international beauty world. As you may know, I am an organic skincare lover and a make up addicted too, so there will be both skincare and makeup products review, skincare/haircare routines, swatches and dupes and all the good stuff you look for in a blog!
Hope this new fresh start is something you will enjoy, I certainly will have so much fun doing what I love most!
See you in my next post!
XOXO, 
Hyatt