Travels: German brands

German women like things el-natural and alot of the times you will notice that the women don't really wear that much make-up (or very very natural looking) nor do they invest in beauty products and when they do, they prefer practical, no-fuss and mainly natural beauty products.

In Germany, I find that alot of girls in their 30's tend to buy their skincare from the local Drogerie (Priceline or Boots) and they are usually very basic - a general face wash is usually the go and face wipes tend to be quite popular here. And although face masks are also popular here, it is more of a pampering session as opposed to something that is bought in order to improve the skin.

Some of the older women buy their skincare from the big department stores or Douglas. At times I feel like the youngest when I'm checking out the local skincare isles at a Karstadt, there seems to only be women in their 60's and 70's buying some skincare from Sans Souci or Annemarie Börlind. Nonetheless local make-up brands are relatively cheap here (and of good quality) and limited editions are just about a monthly occurrence. Here are a list of brands worth checking out while in Germany.

Essence
A pretty decent value for money make-up brand aimed at the younger girls, so it makes for some of their products not as pigmented as Catrice. Their lip creams and some of their lipsticks are quite nice and moisturising (more of a coloured balm than lipstick but I'm into that) and they have a huge selection of nail polishes.









Catrice
The sister company to Essence, they make one of the best drugstore lipsticks in Germany (in my opinion). Their eyeshadows are known to have some of the closest dupes to a handful of Mac eyeshadows and their blushes are very pigmented as well.









Alverde
A natural and vegan friendly make-up line from DM offering face and body creams as well. Their make-up range is quite limited which can be rather frustrating but hey, anything bio must be good for the face, right? A notable mention goes to their baked eyeshadows and blushes including their mineral blush pearls.

Empties no. 1

 
A small start to culling my beauty products, not much of an effort but an effort nonetheless!


Labello Classic Care Lipbalm
I did not like this lipbalm at all, the more I used it, the drier my lips got for some reason. Will not be repurchasing.

Lacura Beauty Eye Make-up Remover Pads (with vitamin E and aloe vera)
For an Aldi product I didn't mind this to be honest, I don't wear heavy eye make-up in general, so this did the job whithout drying out my eyes too much. I would repurchase this again but perhaps I'll try out the oil version.

The Face Shop Black Soybean Maskpack
I was looking forward to finish this off actually, not that the product was bad or anything but it came at a time when I had these really bad wind burns on my cheeks (just underneath my eyes). This is one of those hydrating masks that came out as a clear gel. I used it every second day (a little excessive, I know) but by the end of the two weeks my cheeks weren't so flaky, and by the end of another week, the redness was gone. I would repurchase this again for the wintertime if it was available here.

Dermalogica Skin Prep Scrub
This did not really do much for my skin, it didn't improve nor made it worse. But in its defense, this was a really small sample so it probably wasn't enough time for it to be "acquainted" with my skin properly

Diadermine Falten Expert 3D Nacht (anti wrinkle night cream)
I bought this before I went on a trip and didn't want to bring my glass jar of Estée Lauder night cream along. It was a bit thick in consistency and I didn't notice a big difference in my skin, it was like putting a normal moisturiser on. No repurchase for me.

Kiehl's Closer Shaver's Squadron Ultimate Brushless shaving cream

A request came from the husband for me to get him a shaving cream. As I'm no expert in shaving beards nor do I know what brands are good for that sort of thing, I decided to get him to try the Kiehl's brushless shaving cream

From a packaging point of view, it gets a big tick from myself and the husband. He likes that crisp white against blue writing look - no pretty patterns or shiny gold writing, just a straightforward, practical looking shaving cream with the description of what it does at the front of the packaging.

From the product itself, here is the husband's impression: It goes on fairly easily on the skin, even when it's not wet so no fuss there and it does give a close shave, but so close that it cuts the skin easily. Although it is a little on the oily side for a shaving cream (I guess to soothe the minor cuts) it's still a weird consistency to be shaving with and so I would not be buying this again.

Where: Karstadt (€17 for 150ml)

Ingredients: water, stearic acid, squalane, hydrogenated polyisobutene, propylene glycol, polysorbate 21, polysorbate 60, myristyl Alcohol, PEG 100 stearate, glyceryl stearate, sesamum indicum/sesame seed oil, triethanolamine, ethyl paba, cetyl acetate, caprylic/ capric triglyceride. CI 77891, titanium dioxide, imidazolidinyl urea, sodium borate, isopropyl lanolate, hydroxyethylcellulose, cetyl alcohol, petrolatum, sodium PCA, methylparaben, stearyl alcohol. olive fruit oil, allantoin acetyl methionine, palm oil, cholesterol, propylparaben, acetylated lanolin alcohol, camphor, menthol, butylparaben, lanolin alcohol, maltodextrin, aloe.

Alverde Aqua Mattierende Tagescreme 3 in 1 Perle

I wanted to try a mattifying cream as my t-zone has been so shiny recently that it's starting to get a little out of control (it may have something to do with the weather) so I found myself at the local DM and checking out what's on offer. Alverde Aqua Series mattifying Day Cream 3 in 1 Pearl for normal and combination skin came with a free mono matt eyeshadow in the colour 10 Dark Aubergine so I'm guessing it is a new product that has just been released.

The cream is thicker than I anticipated and was convinced that it will probably clog my pores but the packaging assured me that it will not clog my skin. I needed two applications for it to really mattify my t-zone but it lasted the majority of the day so not bad at all considering that it's a natural product. The only caution I could think of when using this product is that it needs to be used up rather quickly as it is a somewhat natural product and can turn funny when left longer than, say, 6 months.


Where: DM (€3.25 for 50ml)

Ingredients: aqua, glycine soja oil, alcohol, glycerin, glyceryl stearate citrate, ci 77891, myristyl myristate, cetearyl alcohol, mica, sesamum indicum seed oil, vitis vinifera seed oil, prunus armeniaca kernel oil, hydrolyzed pearl, fucus vesiculosus extract, silica, betaine, parfum, xanthan gum, glycerin, tocopherol, alumina, tin oxide, helianthus annuus seed oil, alcohol, levulinic acid, p-anisic acid, sodium levulinate, sodium hydroxide, geraniol, linalool, citronello, citral.

Lavera All-Round Cream

We're heading towards the last stretch of winter but the snow is showing no signs of slowing down. As a consequence, my skin has turned into crocodile scales - pretty. I was in the mood for a heavy cream as my Nivea Soft was fast running out and came across Lavera's All-Round Cream. It's consistency is much between a body butter and a cold cream - so, very thick but easy to absorb. The colour and smell reminds me of cream cheese frosting, very sweet and citrusy. It claims to be an all-round cream although I wouldn't recommend to use it on your face as the smell is rather strong and the cream can be a tad too thick and might clog pores. In having said that, the husband uses this occasionally on his face during the harsh winter when his face had alot of dry patches and he found it fine to use.

I quite like the metal tin that houses the cream in and the colours they used for the packaging - a minty aqua and white, looks quite fresh and fits the lemony scent of the cream. The only downside to the packaging is that the lid comes off easily as there is really no grip or screw top to shut it tight so if you were to bring it with you to travel, it has to really be taped shut. I think they caught on to this not being a travel friendly product because the travel-sized version of this cream is in a tube form. In the end, I really like the metal tin waaay better than the plastic tube form and wish they would make it in a mini tube form like the Nivea cold cream.

Where: Rossman (€4.95 for 150ml)

Kneipp badeol

(Entspannung Pur - Glueckliche Auszeit - Stressfrei - Ruecken Wohl - Kuschelbad - Mandelblueten Hautzart)

This Kneipp bath oil gift set was a remnant from the Christmas sales I presumed, because I haven't really seen it anywhere else since I bought it. The gift set consists of 6 types of oils (I think there are about 10 different types altogether) and one bottle has 20mls of oil fit for 1-2 baths although some of the scent can get so strong that I only ever use a third of it at a time. I must say that I'm not a fan of the majority of the scent but this kit was a great way of finding which ones I liked.

Entspannung Pur
This reminds me of this local Indonesian oil that you put on to soothe mosquito bites and to rub on your chest when you have a fever. It's a smell I grew up with so for me, I tend to associate this smell with being sick so I'm not really a fan of this as a relaxing bath - especially when you can get a big bottle of it for 1€ in Indonesia.

Glueckliche Auszeit
I don't mind this oil although it smells alot like baby talcum powder, perhaps it's why I like it. I'm not sure whether I would use this regularly as I would imagine I would get pretty sick of smelling talcum powder in the bath but for once in a while, it's ok.

Stressfrei
This smells mainly like orange rinds - so, a whole lot of bitter and a hint of sweet. I really liked this in my bath although it would have been nicer if it was a bit more citric smelling, nonetheless I still like it.

Ruecken Wohl
I quite like this one, it's flowery and minty at the same time and under a hot bath it is quite cosy on a winter's evening.

Kuschelbad
I think this would have to be the lightest smelling oil out of the six, the strongest scent being the cardamom. Although it equally contains honey extract and macadamia it smells just sweet enough for it to not feel like you are bathing in stock water.

Mandelblueten Hautzart
When I think of almond blossoms I didn't think it would smell like this. Out of all the oils this one contains 94% almond oil which is supposed to hydrate the skin but the smell reminds me so much of toilet cleaner that I couldn't stand being in the bath so long with this oil.


Where: Rossman (€5.99 for 6 x 20ml)

A couple of things

(500 Hip Hop on the Tree Top - 080 Go Charlie Brown!)

Catrice was having a sale to get rid of their 2012 stuff for their 2013 collection and amongst the sale items was this matt army green eyeshadow called "500 Hip Hop on the Tree Top" which went for €1.75. I also picked up another shade that was on their permanent line called "080 Go, Charlie Brown!" which is also a matt deep brown shade.



These eyeshadows are quite good quality for a drugstore brand, the green shadow when applied is a dark green colour, mossy, almost charcoal green. The brown is a mid-toned brown and can also double up as a brow powder. Their new clear-cased packaging is a little on the chunky side but because it is completely clear, it doesn't appear to be too big. It protects the eyeshadows rather well and makes it easy to find and for €2.75 it's quite a good value.

Where: DM, Douglas, Karstadt (€2.75 for 2g)

Maybelline Moisture Extreme Lipstick

I was perusing my local DM isles as they were having a make-up sale on some products and spotted these Maybelline Moisture Extreme lipsticks. The nude collection was on sale for €2.25 and while there were not that many left, I managed to pick up a couple.

(725 Baby brown - 721 Pinky Beige)

The Baby Brown is a beige brown colour with some shimmer, so more of a true nude for mid-toned skin. The Pinky Beige lipstick is just what it is, a beige with a hint of pink. On mid-toned skin it looks more like a nude with a sheer pink which is what I wanted.

I prefer moisturising lipsticks during the winter as my lips dry out, these glide nicely on the lips and provide a glossy finish. The packaging is in this cheap metallic red colour but at least they are slimmer looking than the P2 lipsticks. I'm kind of gutted that I didn't get a backup of the Pinky Beige because when I went there a couple of days later, they were gone.

Where: DM (€4.75 for 9g)

Nivea pure effect All-in-1 Daily Deep Cleanser

This daily deep cleanser from Nivea came highly recommended from a German friend who had tried everything to clear her skin up from breakouts and had no luck until she tried this, so for her, this was her budget friendly HG skin cleanser.

Directions: They are in German but I will just very loosely translate. There are two ways in which this product can be used.

• As an exfoliator, where you massage the product into the skin and wash it off with
• As a mask that can be used (2-3 times a week) and in which you can leave on your face for 1, 3 or 5 minutes before you wash it off
• Does not clog pores
• Do not get it in contact with your eyes because that would be like...bad

This product is a thick pale blue consistency with some dark blue exfoliant beads, but not so much that it can be classified as an exfoliator. When applied on the face as a cleanser it tingles, and when left on the face as a mask, it tingles straight away before you feel a bit of a burning sensation (I think this is because of the magnolia extract, although I cannot be sure). So depending on your pain reflex (is that what they are called? well I have none) you have a choice to leave it on the face for up to 5 minutes.

So the front of the tube has some interesting information and they are laid in order of importance (I love German efficiency). So, in order it says:
1. Name of product
2. Skin type (here it is for mature and problematic skin)
3. What it is used for (cleanser, peeling and mask)
4. Main active ingredient (magnolia extract)

Although my vain self was saying, yes, yes you are getting older, maybe you are in the "mature" skin category, I feel like this product is just too strong for me because it felt like it was burning the first layer of my face off, but if I did have an acne problem, maybe this would be quite effective as magnolia bark is thought to have antiseptic and antibacterial properties. I tried this on the husband as his skin has quite the wear and tear and while he felt the burning sensation as well, it wasn't as strong as when I used it, and once he washed the mask off, his skin was noticeably brighter afterwards. Perhaps I will give this to my mother for her to try as she has quite mature skin and see how she gets on with it.

Where: DM or Rossman (€4.65 for 150ml)