Hello Lovelies,

Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕

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How are all of you, I hope you are well? Are you ready to do some shopping for this upcoming Black Friday? If so, you are in the right place! And guess what, you can get everything you might want all under one (virtual) roof – step forward Love Lula! They ship worldwide, for free for all orders £15+ which is easily done. I have been a happy customer with them from the very start prior to being accepted into their blogger family, so I can speak from both of blogger and real customer standpoint – and I am happy to report they treat both with utmost care and respect. The best customer service all around, I am sure many will agree – and I never ever had any problems with my order being mixed up or items coming broken or missing. This online shop really has Green Life In Dublin Seal Of Approval!

I will do two parts to this post, first I will list all the products that made into Holy Grail Products after I thoroughly testing, and the second part will be my own Wishlist. Let me tell you, this is the best opportunity to stock on Christmas gifts – not only you will get great value getting money off those gorgeous  gift sets, but they often have free items in them too, so double whammy if you ask me, and if I were you, I would definitely take advantage of this opportunity.  All the related reviews will be listed a the end of this post, and please also make sure to see my

Love Lula Christmas Gift Guide

Shall we get started?

Recommendations:

✅ Dr. Hauschka Rose Day Cream

I’ve never had repurchased a cream more times!  And I know for sure this is what I am definitely buying first as my BF treat to myself. Greasy looking, yes, but I never had a face cream suit my sensitive skin so well. Never any issues or major dermatitis outbreaks when I use this, in fact, the opposite it true – soothed, nourished skin anyone? I know for sure this is a repurchase for life – this was my Favourite Face Cream prior to discovering Bella Aura, and I still use it alongside Bella Aura when the Autumn and Winter rolls around. I freak out when I am halfway through, and order next one straight away, as I never want to be without it – it is that good when it comes to protecting your skin against elements. What’s better, this comes with two mini side kicks in Love Lula’s Christmas shop, so you are getting even more stuff for your money. See the set here. Review here.

✅ Rahua Voluminous Shampoo

My favourite shampoo for the last half a year, and I still have about 2 cm left which I assume will give me another 6 to 8 weeks out of it. I have known about this shampoo for years but I finally splurged on it, and I am so glad I did. I enjoyed having good hair days for a change, as so many other shampoos don’t work for me and give me all kinds of issues – dandruff, itchy scalp, tangly mess for the hair – this is none of those things. I didn’t realise until I was about to post the review that I hadn’t had any scalp issues for months! So now it is a good time to get it. Review here.

✅ Inika Highlighting Creme

I should get my stuff together and post that Inika review! So many great products I am really enjoying this line lately. I have this for about 2yrs and I am far from done! You need a pin prick amount, and what I love the most about it, it’s that it lasts all day – it is there until you are ready to take it off. Great universally flattering shade too, not too pink, not too golden. Definitely getting it again, but at the moment it seems to be out of stock – whoopsie! Keep your eyes peeled – if you love Modern Minerals Moonstone highlighter, this is very similar, but better 🙂

✅ Inika Naked Kiss Lipstick

Really enjoying this nude/ brown shade, that came in the November Love Lula Beauty Box. I am not someone who switches to dark or berry lips for autumn and winter, so I am sure I will get loads of wear out of it. You can see swatches and how it looks on in the picture.

✅ Inika Long Lash Mascara

This is really impressive mascara – it gives you length, volume (not too much though) and you can build it up nicely, all of which I like. It also doesn’t flake, and I have purchased it countless times. Definitely a contender for Best Green Beauty Mascara and I will talk more about it in the upcoming Inika review.

✅ Konjac sponges

Really recommend it for everyone, and especially for my sensitive skin gals – very gentle and natural way to wash your face and exfoliate. A must. Review here.

✅ Kimberly Sayer Daily Moisturiser SPF30

I am yet to review this despite using the product for over three or four years. This I use as my face SPF, but bear in mind it is not a specific sunblock product, it is a moisturiser with SPF. Good for city, but I wouldn’t rely on it for sun holidays.The only face SPF product not to break me out or have a white cast, and that’s why I continue to use it. I talk about it as one of my Love Lula faves here and you can find it in my Favourites posts for the last few years as well.

✅ Hurraw Moon Balm

Another product I am using for well over five years without a fail and don’t have a review on! This is different in texture than regular Hurraw balms, I find it stays on better, and I love lovely vanilla scent too. Definitely recommend if you haven’t tried it. I use it all year round as my nightly lip balm, but when autumn and winter rolls around, I use it for day too – for the reason mentioned above, it stays in your lips when so many other lip balms fail.

✅ Walden A Different Drummer Perfume

This I recommend purely because it is one of my top three natural Perfumes – so deep and sensual with Tobacco, Amber, Vanilla and Sandalwood notes. Exactly how I like my Perfumes to be. I do realize Perfumes are highly personal, so I am suggesting you try a sample kit first? They now carry super cute roller ball format too, and I had to get it as soon as they came out with it. I’ve just reviewed them, you will find review linked at the end of this post. Highly recommend if you are like me and like more heavy and muskier, more masculine scent – if not, there’s plenty to choose from too. Review of A Different Drummer here.

✅ Living Nature Manuka Honey Gel

I have had a few samples of this and I am finally ready to commit to a full size of it! Really amazing at healing all kinds of skin boo boos from scrapes to zits, and I really like the clean ingredients too. Just like with Rahua shampoo, I will probably have to hide it from my hubs, who uses stuff at a blink-and-you-will-miss-it rate. Shh, don’t tell.

Living Nature Manuka oil is amazeballs too – I am in the middle of my research all about it, so will post soon. Suitable for vegans too (yes really) it is now one of my Holy Grails when it comes to my Health & Wellness stash. Typing this up now I am laughing as I remembered how one MLM essential oil company claim it is only available via them and it is not possible to get it anywhere else – well, guess what, it is available, very high quality indeed, and Love Lula does send worldwide – for free. How’s that?

✅  Inika Peachy Keen Blush

Can you tell I love Inika?? This is my ever lasting love and one of the first green beauty purchases from Love Lula. Not only is is so pigmented, but long lasting as well, in both senses, per day and per jar – you are guaranteed to get good mileage out of this product. Plus it is a dead on dupe to my previously loved Nars Orgasm – be sure to read my full post linked at the end of this post, I list more than twenty natural dupes! Inika’s Peachy Keen is definitely in the Top Three if not Nr1 – I never want to be without it. I even have a back up – and that comes from a girl who has no back ups of anything!

✅ Inika Eye Shadow Duo in Golden Oyster

Just like the blushes, Inika’s eye shadows I find so pigmented and long lasting that they can easily rival any conventional eye shadows. This duo I find gorgeous, they are both in the nude family, so really wearable for everyday and can be smoked out for the night. If you are minimalist when it comes to eye shadows, this might be all you need.

✅ Inner Senses Body Oils

I love love love this brand, their body oils are dreamy, smelling gorgeous and so well formulated. I have a full blog post on a few of them, and there will be more to follow. Review here, but please bear in mind mine is in the old packaging.

✅ Isla Apothecary Refine + Radiate Beauty Mask

This mask has simple yet gorgeous ingredients of turmeric, coconut milk powder and I love it – it is not the mosk nourishing of the masks, so I mix it with honey and not with water, but I simply love how it works on my dermatitis patch and reducing redness and flakiness in overall. Definitely recommend. Plus you get loads of uses, it comes with whooping 120gr of product.

✅ Kiss The Moon Love Night Hand Cream

Definitely the most luxurious hand cream I’ve had to date and I talk about it in one of my favourites posts, see it linked at the end of this post. This brand focuses on quality sleep, and all the products are aimed at that. If you are a fan of lavender scent, you would be in heaven with this brand. I am eyeing their Kiss the Moon Gift Set – as well as a few full sized gorgeous products, it has a luxe silk sleep mask, and I really want that! Not sure if I am getting that now or later, when I’ll finish some of the stuff I already own, but someday, for sure. I talk about it in this post.

✅ Kathleen Facial Ionic Treatment Device

This ionic face device is a face massage on another level – if you are a fan of face massage,

Their Sonic Face Cleansing Device and Sensual Rose Body Oil are also favourites of mine.

✅ Chobs Sheet Masks

Chobs is a brand I am using for the last couple of months behind the scenes, and I am due a review very soon. Sheet masks are one of my favourites, and if you are after K-beauty, but a natural one, you are in the right place!

✅ Alchemy Oils Grapefruit Hair Remedy

One of those expertly formulated hair oils that help a ton but leave no residue – plus it smells amazing! The scent is a nice surprise, I expected it to smell bitter because of the grapefruit in the title, but it is far from bitter – more like sweet and summery. I am definitely getting a full size for myself once I am done with the one I am testing for The Beauty Shortlist Awards at the moment. I talk about it in this post and I like it better.

✅ Elsa’s Skinfood Natural Deodorants

They work like a charm, when so many others don’t! My fave, even though I am kind of drowning in a sea of natural deodorants – I was sent a bunch of them for judging in The CertClean Clean Beauty Awards, and I will post about them pretty soon. I talk about them here. They now also come in plastic free packaging, and please also know they contain baking soda. I have no issues using them daily, but some people can’t handle baking soda. Fear not though, Love Lula also carries a selection of baking soda free deodorants, like DrHauschka Rose Deodorant, Madara Herbal Deodorant (this one is Sonia’s White, the CEO of Love Lula favourite) and a few others – you can always go to deodorant section and peruse the ingredients to see if they do contain baking soda or not?

✅ Ener C vitamin C

The bulk packs I’d bought a couple of months ago are all gone, and I need a replacements asap! The kids drank it daily like a lemonade replacement (something that’s never in my house, period) and I too noticed I don’t get sick as often when I take these on the regular basis. Each packet contains 1000mg of vitamin C – let me just tell you, don’t be scared to take these if you think 50mg is the recommended daily allowance. Let me tell you two things – your body does not store vitamin C, so if you are afraid to reach toxic levels, you won’t. Please do yourself a favour and do a research on recommended daily allowance versus optimal levels for vitamins and minerals, and your life will be changed forever. You can thank me later – I got you boo!

(side note –Patrick Holford’s books are a great way to start)

✅ Terra Nova Supplements

One of the very few brands of supplements I trust (let me know if you want to see a post on the vitamins and supplements I take, and I will gladly do that for you!) – I find them great, really love their holistic approach, zero fillers and all natural ingredients! they have lots of great selection, from cordyceps, which was pretty much the only thing that saved my little princess not to get sick like a million times, and I take it too. If you do get sick, you can take olive leaf extract. As I mentioned, high quality products – you do get what you pay for here.

✅ Alteya Organic Products

A big fan of what I already

✅ Be In Blossom Black Coral Serum

✅  Neal’s Yard Remedies Wild Rose Beauty Balm

✅ l’Odaïtès Pépite de la Palmeraie – Gentle Polyphenol Exfoliator

you can see all of these products and then some more in my “Green Beauty Products I Love & Recommend” Pinterest board here. Please make my day and follow me?

Want to know what products Sonia White, the CEO of Love Lula is using and loving? Here they are!

1. PHB Black Mascara 

2. Esse Plus Probiotic Serum

3. Inika Loose Mineral Foundation

4. Balm Balm Beauty Balm

5. Glossworks BB Base Coat

I also need to squeeze in Madara’s Herbal Deodorant… and Kimberly Sayer’s Cellular Eye Gel 🙂

Now for my own wishlist:

(for the record, even though my wishlist is cray cray extensive, see it on Pinterest here, I had to double and triple think what I really need at this point in my life, and I went from there. As you can imagine, I have enough products, and not wanting an excess, I am scaling down to what I need and will know will get used. Your wishlist will probably will look different from mine, and now it is a good time to try something new as well – just maybe instead of going full size, try travel sizes or samples? Love Lula is so good at stocking them – although I noticed they come and go, so make sure to check back often. The way I see it, Black Friday is the time to stock up on all your favourites and adding a few new things as well,the ones you really really want)

✅ Cv SkinLabs Calming Moisture

As someone with face dermatitis I am naturally keen to try this product. The only thing that is stopping me is high price point, even though it has a myriad of glowing reviews. We shall see. I would love to hear your feedback if you have tried this product?

✅ Kae Traditional Black Hamman Soap with Eucalyptus with Kessa Glove

Trust me to be attracted to the natural things that are considered “weird” by society – and this is definitely calling my name! I have never tried anything like this before, nor have been to a spa or bath house where I could experience it, I am total novice to this kind of soap – I have heard they are far from your regular kind of soaps. The fact that it contains eucalyptus makes me think this would be good in winter to keep pesky bugs at bay? Please let me know if you have had used this, I really want to know!

✅ Antipodes Manuka Aura Honey Mask

Masks containing honey, especially manuka honey are my favourite so I am really keen to try it.

✅ Ener C vitamin C

Time to stock up, as the three packs I’d gotten and were assuming would last us a while, are all gone. Better to invest into health than into the doctors fees etc later. Am I right or am I right?

✅ Ere Perez Natural Almond Oil Mascara

I am due to replace a mascara anyway, and I want to try this. Ere Perez is a brand I love, I have a review on a few make up pieces I’d tried to date, I am really interested into skincare too, especially Blue Cypress Face Nectar & Papaya SOS Marmalade.

✅ Ere Perez Colour Pot In Harmony

I don’t allow myself any new make up until I finish some product or the other, but hey, it is my Birthday month, so I will make an exception for this self imposed rule! I was debating between this and Healthy for absolutely ages, until my blogger friend Jana from Small Bits of Loveliness settled the issue – Harmony looks so good on her, that I decided I want this and will cross my fingers it looks half as good on me. Plus it reminds me of Stila cream blush I used to use in my previous non natural life.

Now, who is excited for the Black Friday? I know I am 🙂 After completely ignoring it two years ago, I kind of went crazy last year (see here), so let’s if I can keep the fine balance this year.

What are you guys getting or thinking of getting? I hope those reviews below will help you navigate those products? Please share below or tag me in your social media posts, I would love to know 🙂

That’s all for now. Tata and see you here next Tuesday xo

Lots Of Love,

Renata.

Hi Lovelies,

Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕

Let me present the review of something that really works for my sensitive skin – step forward Bella Aura products! I can’t express my feelings enough about the whole line and how wonderful it is! I have started this review many times and every time it does not come out right, so I delete everything and start again. And again. It’s just because there is so much I want to say and so much joy I want to express, the words are tumbling down faster than I can write them down. Let me put it in a nutshell – my sensitive skin found home! I am so amazed at this, as every single product in the line works amazingly well for my skin, and when used in conjunction I have clear and happy skin. And continuously so! I never had this with any other line or brand, and I never seen my skin changing so fast either. Needless to say I recommend this brand to just about anyone, because if it works for me, with uber sensitive skin, chances are it will work for you too.
Let me tell you a little pre-story – the day I received Bella Aura, I was sporting rare dermatitis breakout on my face, as many of you might know, I have form of Celiac called Dermatitis Herpetiformis, where the only outwards symptoms you get are dermatitis rashes all over the body. Nothing to do with herpes, mind you. And in my case it is extremely frustrating and annoying – because it always starts on my face before it spreads to anywhere else on my body. I am lucky girl, I know! Soo, long story short, Bella Aura products cleared the outbreak in three days! Even though they aren’t specifically designed for that purpose. Let’s pause here for a second and let that sink in and be a testament for the brand. Yasmine, you did a wonderful job! I was so amazed and delighted, as so so relieved I decided to go for it – as you might understand, trying new products is a scary thing for me. So many hyped up products in the green beauty community didn’t work for me – if I didn’t get an initial reaction, then most likely they were not working well on my dermatitis patch, making it redder and angrier. None of that with Bella Aura! In fact, the opposite was true – my skin (and my dermatitis patch) were soothed, nourished, glowing and happy. Needless to say everything else I own went into the fridge for the time being. Upon inspecting the ingredients I was happy to find out my
skin receives a supercharged cocktail of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, peptides, hyaluronic acid,  coenzyme Q10 and more, delivered in a creamy white emulsion. During use, my skin was the clearest it has ever been—and I’m not exaggerating. Bella Aura is starting to collect awards, so don’t just take my word for it – the line speaks for itself!

Bella Aura line came about when Yasmine Jones, the creator of the line, was suffering from deteriorating skin & acne scars after going through a traumatic experience with her mother’s battle against leukemia (You can read her full story on Bella Aura website, link at the end of this post). After spending thousands on skincare products and consulting with skincare specialists, she found nothing was working to improve her skin. It was during a trip to Morocco that she met a prominent chemist/herbalist who believed that his oils would help her skin and after months of trying them, she began to see her skin improving. Yasmine wanted to add active ingredients to these oils, and with the help of Swiss skincare technology, Bella Aura line was born. According to Yasmine, most skincare regimens incorporate both serums and creams in order to balance out the advantages and disadvantages of each. By combining them into an emulsion for Bella Aura’s blends, the best of both is fused into one.

There are only five products in the line so far (hold the horses for not one, not two, but THREE new products launching super soon! And what’s more, there *might*be a giveaway for them on my IG page. What can I say, I am so excited!)  and they work amazingly well together – there’s emphasis on less is more, and I have to agree in this case – these products are all my skin needs. For the most part, that’s it, but let me explain that further on in this review.

Bella Aura products

The textures are that of thin lotion, but do not let that fool you – they are true powerhouses of amazing ingredients blended together into a powerful fusion. Yasmine describes it as a serum in a cream emulsion. As the products are light, they sink in very quickly, leaving no residue or heavy feeling you sometimes tend to get with oils. If it worked amazingly well for me, it will work for you too. Let’s see some amazing ingredients in these products? All of the minerals and vitamins in Bella Aura products are derived from natural botanical fruit and vegetable extracts. Black oats, Nigela Sativa oil (also known as black cumin or black seed oil) and prickly pear (also known as fig de barbary or cactus oil) are the key ingredients in products.

Black Oats contain lipids and proteins which have humectant and emollient properties that help to moisturize the skin keeping it soft and supple.

You may or may not know that I road test every new skincare product prior to writing a review on it, and this was no exception. Your skin renews itself at around 30 days period (40 if you are 40, yay or what?), so I need to make sure I test the product thoroughly before I speak about them. I see no point in doing first impressions reviews on skincare, but that’s just me. Here’s my skincare routine for the last year or so:

AM: no cleanser, refreshing my skin with thermal water and konjac sponge or washcloth.
1 pump of Antioxidant Booster mixed with 2 pumps of Daily Repair Moisturizer applied all over the face
1 pump of Instant Lifting Eye Contour, applied on the under eye area, upped lid, eyebrows and around lips.

PM: skin cleansed with a few pumps of Gentle Purifying Cleanser, followed by
1 pump of Antioxidant Booster mixed with 2 pumps of Night Cellular Renewal all over the face, followed by
1 pump of Instant lifting Eye Contour, applied like in the morning – on the under eye area, as well as on the upper lids and around the lips.

As I already mentioned, I shelved or rather refrigerated all the other facial products I used and stopped all PR products when it comes to skincare. What can I say, coming from a beauty blogger, this is BIG. I think you already got the impression on how great my skin loved these products (see the gushing at the beginning of this post) . Also worth noting is that when I first tested the products a year ago, I tried to stop using the entire line and go back to my usual products only incorporating one or two Bella Aura product into the set up – and that’s when my redness and skin irritations came back. So that’s why I wouldn’t recommend getting just one of moisturizers if you are new to the brand, you might not see the full potential of the products, and/or it might not mesh well with whatever else you are using. I would recommend getting a sample set first, and using all the Bella Aura products together – in the sample set you will get 10ml of each of the product, and trust me, they will give you enough use for a couple of weeks – plenty of time to see if the products are for you or not. I can bet you will end up falling in love with the products in the first couple of days, just like I did. The day and the night creams are very similar in consistency, as well as how they feel on the skin, but upon inspecting the ingredients I realized they have different ingredients, thus you might not cut corners and use only one of them. The Antioxidant Booster is a true star in my book, makes everything so much better and my skin truly likes it. For a while, I wondered how it would perform boosting my other creams I own, but at the same time I didn’t really want to try it, as I enjoy using Bella Aura exclusively too much. The eye cream works great, is light and sinks in quickly. I was a bit worried about it at first, as prior to this, I only used under eye oils for two years straight (Earthwise Beauty Passion Eye Serum and Wabi-Sabi Botanicals Budhi Eye Nectar – they might be called serums or nectars, but in reality they are oils). So I was a bit worried about not getting enough hydration in this delicate area, but my qualms were quickly squashed, it works great! It is also the first eye product to make a difference in darkness I have – not a stark night-and-day kind of difference, but I am impressed nonetheless. The cleanser I too found great, the same milky consistency like other products, but you get huge bottle of it, and must say it works great for my sensitive skin, it does not irritate it, which is super rare for me. It does not lather, but it cleans your face nonetheless. I find no need to double cleanse, and it takes all of my make up beautifully in one use. Even eye make up, but please take my advice and do not open your eyes when doing it. Rinse well first. Just saying.

Yasmine herself is the best advert for her brand – not only she looks drop dead gorgeous, but what drew me in was her gorgeous soul – so I am so glad green beauty community connected us! She not only supports several charities and works with the communities in her native Morocco, but I also witnessed her supporting her fellow green beauty sisters in a big way – she donated a portion of her profits to Lily’s aka Genuine Glow hubby’s cancer treatments, as well as when Taylor from My Lucite Dreams lost her home (and a dog) to a fire. Now, how amazing and thoughtful is that?! Be sure to check out the blog portion of her website and her Instagram too – you can find so many helpful tips over there, as well as facial massage videos – I think those are well worth checking out.

My overall thoughts – I was deeply impressed by every single product in this line, and honestly, I can’t even begin to pick a favorite! This truly is a beautiful and thoughtful line that really does deliver on its claims. My skin is so temperamental and difficult to please most times and during the entire testing period (about 1 year now, if you can call 1 year a testing time? I think we can all agree it is so much more that that), my skin is calm, clear, hydrated and just healthy looking, which it hasn’t been in a long while. I know it’s not the most wallet-friendly brand, but trust me, it is worth every single penny! As anyone with the troubled skin know the value of good skin days – it gives you wings and this new found zest for life! And that to me is priceless – I am willing to stop spending all my money elsewhere “for the sake of blogging and reviewing content” and truly invest in me, you know?
If you asked me to point out anything bad about the products, the only thing that comes to my mind is that the eye product could do with a different pump – the way it is now, I find it dispenses too much product, and I can’t half-pump it. With the amount it gives, I can easily do under eyes, upper lids, eyebrows, around the lips, and oftentimes I find I still have some product left, which I use on my neck. But that’s a good problem to have, isn’t it?

Bella Aura products have had a make over with new packaging and slight formula tweaks, so this might be the last time You see this packaging, although I am sure my and BA love affair will continue. It’s the same as finding THE ONE – you just know!

You can get it from BellaAura.com (use my code “renata15” to get 15% off your order) and EU distributor for it BeautyWiseShop.be. You can find the list of all other online shops on the Bella Aura website.

Have you tried Bella Aura products? What are your thoughts on them? Please share, I would love to know!

Psst, keep your eyes peeled for the launch of the new products and my first impression review post very very soon!

That’s all for now! Ta-ta & I will see you here shortly. Always new posts on Tuesdays.

Ps. I have since been asked to be Bella Aura ambassador, and of course, I said yes in a heartbeat!

Lots of Love

Renata.

*Post features PR products and an ambassador link. So you’d know and we would be on the same page.