oils

As the dry weather rolls in, it's important to protect all surfaces that come into contact with cold wind, so here are some of my oil saviours.

1. Boots Botanics Facial Oil

I've already talked about this here, and I pretty much stand by what I said before. I haven't really been using this on my face but more on my cuticles and it seems to be doing the trick as we have started to settle into the autumn weather.

2. Caudalie Divine Oil

This, as the name states, smells absolutely divine. It smells so good I wish there was a perfume with this scent -- it is amazing. Though I've only used it on my skin so far, it's also a great multi-use oil, you can use it on your body, face and hair and I'm fairly confident it would work well on anything. This absorbs really easily and doesn't leave any sort of a greasy film which the Boots one tends to do sometimes. Love this stuff.

3. Bio-Oil

This was my first oil purchase ever and though it's not my favourite oil now that I've tried others, it still does a decent job and is a decent price. I have a few dry patches on my various limbs that I've been using some of this stuff on, and they seem to be less dry but they're still there. I tend to use this on my cuticles and feet before bed, to really hydrate everything and again, it's not my favourite but works well enough.

4. Organix Renewing Moroccan Argan Penetrating Oil

I've already done an initial rave about this stuff here, and after having used this for quite a while now, I really do think this stuff has saved my split ends. My hair is nowhere near as dry and split-end-y as it used to be even though I have been heat styling a fair bit, and I'm fairly certain this is what's been saving it.

5. Ole Henriksen Pure Truth Youth Activating Oil

This was one of those mini free samples from Sephora, I can't quite remember whether I redeemed it with points or whether it was completely free, but either way the packaging is surprisingly good. This oil is supposed to be anti-ageing for all skin types and I really have to say I like it so far. I slap this on at night when I feel like my skin is looking a bit 'meh' and when I wake up the next morning, I do feel a little more radiant than I normally would be. I do have to mention though, that this smells very strongly of citronella, so if you don't like that sort of scent you should probably pass on this or at least give it a whiff in the store before purchasing it.

Bioderma Hydrabio H2O Solution Micellaire

After using the cult favourite Bioderma Sensibio micellar water to remove my makeup for about the last half a year or so, I found my skin becoming drier and drier. Whether it was due to the flying between cities or the bipolar New York City weather, I had to do something to stop my skin from flaking away around midday when the effects of my (multiple) moisturizers would wear off. 

So I was at the Bioderma section at my local Hong Kong drugstore (Mannings), ready to pick up another giant bottle of the glorious pink-lidded make-up remover when saw this lovely blue bottle which is supposedly the same sort of micellar water, just with extra moisturizing properties. I grabbed a 250ml bottle of this (doesn't come in the big 500ml bottles for some reason), hoping it would be equally as effective as the Sensibio, if not better for my parched skin.

Does it work? Yes. It works on my face almost equally as well as the Sensibio and even better because I haven't been getting awful dry patches like I did before. But then again, the lack of dry patches may be down to the fact that I've got my skincare routine perfect now (I like to think this product is somewhat significant but who knows really). However, on the eyes, it isn't as effective as the Sensibio. All my mascaras are waterproof, somehow even waterproof ones just smoosh everywhere after a certain point in the day because of the humidity and my oily eyelids, but that's a whole other issue. The Hydrabio does manage to remove the majority of my eye and face makeup, but it's just certain remaining bits of mascara that tend to be a tad tougher to get off. Other than the slightly trivial and almost irrelevant mascara issue, I am definitely loving this micellar water.