Whoohoooo!

I won another giveaway, so thank you Picky and Skin1004!

I love the Madagascar Centella Ampoule so I can't wait to try this!

Who else won? - Congratulations to you guys! 🥳💜🥳💜🥳💜

I had a lucky day, part 2

Thank you so much, Picky and House of Dohwa

- for letting me win in this giveaway... I've wanted to try this for the longest time and now I'm getting a chance to! I'm so excited about this!

Thank you so much! 🥳💜🥳💜🥳💜

Who else won? -Congratulations to you!!!

whoohoo!!! I guess I had a lucky day, part 1

*Insert me doing my little happy dance*

This is the first time being one of the lucky chosen ones!

🤯🥳💗

I'm so happy and thankful, guys! I love this community...

Thank you Picky and Varuza, I'm so excited to try this product... this made my day!!! 💕

Who else is receiving the cleanser? 



Say hi on Instagram: kerstin.makes.a.happy.face

🎉Whoohoo!!!🎉 I was chosen to review the Varuza Soy Gentle Cleanser!!!

Hello my beautiful people!

OMG... After some stressfull weeks at work and to catch my breath between two meetings, I opened my emails and found out that I won TWICE!!! And I wanted to try these so badly because of the Vitamin E!

Commonlabs Vitamin E Light Cream
and
Commonlabs Vitamin E Calming Ampoule!

Thank you so much, Picky and Commonlabs! You made my day!

Who else got picked? Let's cheer together!

💚💜💚💜💚💜💚💜

Double Win!!! Thank you, Picky and Commonlabs

Hi everyone!

Are there any products you swear by/ enjoy using at the moment? And if so, what are your superstar-ingredients?

I'm looking for some inspiration, guys...

I'm 41, have dehydrated combination skin with a tiny bit of redness plus glorious hormonal breakouts that grace mostly my chin/jaw area from time to time.

I enjoy using the following...

Favorite ingredients are: peptides, retinaldehyde, antioxidants, centella asiatica, rice, ginseng, niacinamide.

I'm a sucker for serums and masks at the moment...

Any recommendations for dehydrated skin and happy aging?

I love the smell, but that could be something people might not like. But other than than: nothing.

First things first: this is basically a nice moisturizer with SPF (50+ PA++++). Texturewise, it's between a cream and a lotion, but it's not runny. It takes a few seconds before it sinks in, but doesn't leave a white cast. The finish is only slightly dewy on me, you could say it's a satin finish. It doesn't pill on me, nor does it interfere with make up. There's no added fragrance, but it smells like a bit like rice cooked in (coconut?) milk. To me, this is very pleasent but it fades quickly.

Ingredient highlights:
🏖It's made with rather new chemical filters with high UVA protdction properties
💧It's moisturizing with Glycerin, Sugar Cane Extract and Butylene Glycol
🏕additional brightening, antioxidant and nourishing benefits come from Rice (and Rice Ferment) Extracts, Green Tea, Pumpkin and Soybean Ferment (Probiotics -HELLO!), Kelp, their signature Ginseng Extract, Coconut, Niacinamide, Adenosine and Vitamin E

I keep reaching for it, even though I have a few sunscreens open and I must say it has the nicest finish (and smell) of them all, especially now with the rather cold and humid weather I feel moisturized and protected enough during the day. Fun fact: I ride my bike every day, so my face is attacked by all kinds of weather... 🌬🚲🌦❄

It's really awesome for my skin (combo and dehydrated if it doesn't get any help)... the very dry faced humans among us might want to use a moisturizer underneath, but for me this is absolutely not neccessary.

It's really lovely, so there is nothing bad, really.

I like the Peptide Shot Ampoule by Ample:N for the well-aging and brightening benefits of its ingredients. My skin "drinks" it, so it doesn't sit on my skin as a tacky layer, even though the consistency is rather sirupy. I've used it for a few weeks along with my toners, serums, moisturizers and sunscreen.

It contains 5 Peptides, one of them being  Copper-Tripeptide-1,  my favorite one cause it helps break down scar tissue and triggers building healthy collagen and elastin afterwards. Peptides need a little time to show results, but they work well with all kinds of other actives (e.g.: my beloved retinal).

Other great ingredients in this formula:
Glycerin,Beta-Glucan, Niacinamide, Adenosine, Amino Acids like Arginine.

So this is also brightening, soothing/healing and moisturizing.

And look at the size of this: 100ml!

I just noticed it looks better if you apply it in thin layers, it needs a little before it’s applied evenly and as I said, I dab over it with a sponge to get rid of streakiness. So it‘s not the quickest to apply, but it‘s not that bad and I don‘t mind cause it’s basically moisturizer, sunscreen and base in one. 


If you‘re like me and you like the idea of „tone-up“/brightening, but have a slightly yellow undertone and are struggling to find something not too pink: you might wanna try this one.

The Porcelain Base-Skip Tone-Up Beige by numbuz:n, a trending Korean brand, is sold as a 3-in-1 product: Sunscreen, Primer and Powder. aaaaand: it‘s beige not pink. Sun protection comes from Zinc Oxide, so it‘s a mineral sunscreen and it contains various plant extracts plus other gentle ingredients. Just for your info: it contains a tad of Dimethicone (that‘s the „primer“-ingredient, also helps with keeping hydration in your skin).

My thoughts: This is so lovely… You know I usually prefer chemical filters, but am slowly opening up too good mineral sunscreens.
It has a herbal smell, the undertone is perfect and it really does look great on its own. When applied with my hands, I usually dab over it with a sponge to get rid of any streakiness that might occur. On some days (depending on how moisturizing the products I applied underneath are), I feel better with powdering veeeery lightly, but I don‘t really have to.

It works well on my dehydrated combo to dry skin and leaves a blurred, slightly glowy finish without completely covering everything. It levels out my skintone very nicely. „My skin but better“ I‘d say… and it holds up so well for what it is… better than most BB Creams.



❓the fragrance: smells like tangerines in a creampot and I find it lingers on me. I don‘t think this is neccessary
❓it‘s slightly irritating for my eye area, but ok if used every other night and not on drier areas or on top of a moisturizer
❓Not a fan of the Paraffin/Petrolatum Derivatives for the eye area, I find them too occlusive


I received this product for free from @go.Picky @pickyrewards and @somebymi in exchange for my honest review.

The Retinol Intense Advanced Triple Action Eye Cream with 0.1% Retinol (plus a little less Retinal, both Vit. A derivatives) is supposed to help you fight 1) wrinkles, 2) signs of aging and 3) skintone darkening around the eyes.

First of all: I was a bit taken aback/impressed/astonished to find 84 ingredients on the INCI-list, the good ones and questionable ones you find in the picture above.

My experience in about 2 weeks of using it:
✅it has soothing and strengthening plant extracts to counteract the side effects of the actives and support their benefits: Centella, Ginseng, Water Lily, Yam Root, Artemisia, Reishi, Tea Tree, Algae, Soybean, Radish Root…
✅contains hydrating and well-aging ingredients
✅not greasy
✅big size: 30ml. So I use it all over my face (pea size amount is enough)
✅doesn‘t contain drying alcohol

😑it’s a tad silicony (contains a few kinds of silicones), but ok if you like a smooth finish
😑I’m not a fan of the various synthetic preservatives and solvents, but some of it might be neccessary cause of the actives (BHT, BHA, Cyclopentasiloxane)
😑you need to introduce it slowly, my eyes were a bit irritated after using it 3 nights in a row…
😑Retinoids make skin more photosensitive, so USE SPF!
😑it might be too much for dry areas, not recommended if you have eczema or dermatitis
😑no big difference yet on the triple action front mentioned above, but that‘ll take more time…



The fragrance is kinda sweet, but subtle. It brings in a honey-like note to the natural Ginseng smell. I like it, but I think it's not really neccessary. Same goes for the silicones and synthetic ingredients. They're safe to use and are there to improve texture, but I know that some of us prefer to have less of those...

After using it for almost a month, I'm ready to give you my opinion. For reference: my skin is dehydrated (hello fall!), combination (but on the drier side) and I'm 42.

Ginseng Root has been and still is a very popular ingredient in Korean skincare because of its strengthening properties. It helps to increase circulation, has great wellaging antioxidant benefits and if you're like me, you'll find the earthy smell of it quite invigorating.

Ingredients:
🤎Ginseng Root: Extract and Seed Oil
💦Humectants: Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans,  HA
🥬Other plant extracts, Castor Oil, Green Tea, Licorice, Betaine, Adenosine
👁Contains a silicone-based compound and polymer, synthetic solvents(for texture), fragrance

My experience:
It's definitely hydrating and I love the consistency (on the thicker side, but melts into my skin nicely). If I get carried away and use too much, it can be a tad tacky, so a little goes a long way! The finish is hard to describe... not glowy, not dry... "my skin but better" maybe?
I can definitely say that it helps with strengthening the skin and it's a great partner for actives. It helps to keep side effects like redness at bay.
