Eyecream?

I know again, but the perfect eyecream is my holy quest! Simply because even I may have one of the oiliest skin on Earth my eye area is dry dry dry. Each time I got my make up done by someone else they freak out about how my undereye is dehydrated... So I searched around and decided to sum up everything I read in a single post. So keep reading!
What can be done??? Do not start to cry they are some partial solutions. The number 1 rule is to hydrate from inside. So drink and water of course! The skin is the thinest around the eye so water tends to evaporate easily from here. I do not drink enough and I pay the price for that, trust me! The second thing to do is to apply the adequate cream! Eyearea has to be taken care of otherwise it damages and it can start really soon. Starting applying cream around 20 is good. I personnally started at 15! You have to apply it gently with your ringfinger without rubbing just with a gentle tapping motion. It provides water and nutrients to this delicate area.

Can I hope to see my dark circles and puffiness disappear? Well for dark circles, do not cry but there is not much to do. If you happen to sleep 7 to 8 hours a night and still have the bad purple eye you have to deal with it. Sorry!
For puffiness, the first trick is to store your cream in the fridge, it will last longer without bacteria this way and also help to improve circulation and drain the extra fluid from there. An other tip for tea drinkers is to keep the bags after they have been infused and store them in the freezer. After removing makeup, you can apply them on your eyes for 10 to 15 min. The caffeine inside helps with puffiness.

How to know if I have age wrinkles or dehydration ones? The age wrinkles are noticeable all the time even when you are not smiling. You will also see deep lines on the outer corners of the eyes : the famous crow's-foot wrinkles!
Dehydration wrinkles are more noticeable on the undereye area, on the dark circles. They are more noticeable when you blink and most of the time they are intensified by heavy concealer which tends to migrate in them.

So how to choose the right cream? If you see any aging signs, go for an anti-aging one it sounds obvious but it is better being said :).
On the other hand, if you suffer from dehydration try to stay away from anti-aging formula as their lifting effect fights againt hydration and moisture. It tightens the skin which becomes less prone to adsorption. In this particular case, which is mine, you'd better choose a heavy balm (nearly wax) because it is really nourishing and it helps scealing moisture into the skin. But, it is not very compatible with makeup application and with possible puffiness. Life is hard sometimes...
I used this type of cream at night to help to restore as I do not suffer from puffiness. Life is great sometimes :p
A gel-like or lightcream formulas are the best compromise and the most common kind you can find out there. They are fast to absorbe and are makeup-prone.

To sum up, eyecream as young as 20 even younger if you suffer from dehydration. Stay away from anti-aging formula if you do not need them. Prefer moisture at first! Apply your cream twice daily if possible or at least in the morning during winter months as your face has to face hard weather! I will do many eyecream reviews here so if you are interested, keep reading

See ya :)

Hairs and silicone oils

An other scientific post, deal?

It will deal with silicone oils (it explains the picture of the oil can) that can cause trouble when applied on certain hair types. I will also try to give pieces of advice on how to "cure" those particular problems.

What are silicone oils? Silicone oils are polymers made of Si-O (silicon-oxygen) bonds as main backbone. They are repeated numerous time to tailor the length of the chain and its properties. One of the most common is the dimethicone. These oils are fully artificial, they are named mineral because silicon as the main component is extracted from sand.

Where will you find them? In most non-organic beauty related products... These oils give shine and sleekness to hairs and a silky and smooth touch to a cream texture. To find them in ingredient chart, you have to look for compounds ending with siloxane or methicone.

What are the possible issues? Biodegrability is not sure for the whole oil family which can cause trouble as these oils are evacuated with spoiled waters when we wash our hairs etc...
They are found in good amount in shampoos and conditioners for the shine they give to the hairs by trapping each individual hair in a "plastic-like" wrapping. As a result, hairs are shinier than ever and easy to untangle.
The problem is that on very dry and thin hairs, this waterproof roll enhances the dryness and in the end asphyxiates the hair fiber. There are many possible consequences : breakage, split ends, sensitised scalp leading to oily roots and straw-looking hairs.

What can be done? Try to avoid specifical shampoos made for hair straightening. They are richer in silicone oils than the other kinds. Alternate your main shampoo, let's say one every three wash, and use a deeper formula like an anti-residue shampoo (Pantene, Neutrogena, l'Oreal Professional) or if you can not find or afford one like that, a purifying or anti-dandruff formula will normally do the trick. A drugstore brand (Bioderma, Rene Furterer offer good options) will be a better choice than a supermarket one.

I have long and wavy hairs, and I keep using shampoos rich in silicone oils which are the only ones strong enough to untangle my stubborn hairs. On an other hand, I hardly use styling products. I do not want to fight residue build-up :s.

See ya :)

Eye palettes from China

Well, one of my few readers, Lullaby (hi you!), was wondering about these Chinese palettes and more specifically, about its content. Why?
Because they are super cheap and the color pay off is really good for the price. So all in all, they are very attractive and it sounds too good to be true.

Where can you buy them? Well several places as they are mass-produced in China. They are sold by Coastal Scents in the US, Zoeva in Germany and on Ebay directly from Hong Kong.

Do I have ever tried one of them? I personnally own 5 of them (both 88, the neutral, the neutral+blushes and one made of shimmery baked eyeshadows). I bought the first one at Coastal Scents and the 4 others at Zoeva. I try to avoid buying stuffes at CS as they tend to be rude to their customers. They all come from the same place, a dark plant in China.

Will these e/s cause sensitivity or allergy?
I can just talk of my personal case. I have not encountered any inconvenience with those. They are easy to remove and do not irritate my eyes. And I do have sensitive eyes.

Anyway are there heavy metals in there like mercury or lead?
I have no way to perform my own chemical analysis of these e/s but they were labels on the ones I bought at Zoeva. So here are the contents displayed on the Zoeva's ones:
-talc, everybody's know about it
-mica, every girl who use mineral makeup is aware of what it is :p
-mineral oil, ok this is paraffin, this thick oil extracted from crude oil
-kaolin, white clay which helps to minimise shine
-titanium dioxide, improve coverage and sunscreen (si si si)
-magnesium stearate, white pigment and moisturising
-isopropyl palmitate, binder
-lanolin, emulsifier and emollient
-methylparaben et propylparaben, preservatives
-BHT or E321, controversial antioxidant
- the other CI numbers are cosmetic colorants; organic, mineral, synthetical or crude oil-derived. All of them are allowed in Europe (I check all of them :p)

So I will say that from this list of contents, nothing worth than in others higher end eyeshadows. Well if you are an organic addict, the contents sound bad and it may be. Anyway according to current regulations they are health-friendly.

No heavy metals to declare as long as the list of contents is reliable. And I tend to be confindent with German information, German people are known for their seriousness.

That's it...
See ya :)

First scientific article?

Ok I will start my scientific posts on controversial points and on whatever you want me to talk about. But I need to know first what you want me to write about. So if you have any question feel free to leave a comment
Yes, that is it short post today :)

See ya :)

Beauty and science...

For once I will be quite serious tonight...

Well you can not know but I am a scientist, I have a Master Degree in Chemistry (and soon a PhD in Physicochemistry!!! Yeah). I go for these studies first because I was found of anything beauty related.
Anyhow I am working on something totally different today but that is not the point!
As I read a lot of stuffes on Internet, I am sometimes amazed by how much crap you can find on the Web! I know that now you can googled everything and have pieces of information on it. But many times it is juste misinformation or scientific-like evidences to make news more sensational...
So if it sounds interesting to you, I will try to make some more scientific post on classical controversies like aluminium salts, parabens...
Let me know what you think?

See ya:)