The search for the right products for your skin type can be long, exhausting and often seems never ending. I always had acne-prone skin and when I was younger I was willing to try eeeeverything that seemed promising in helping my skin clear up. I went online, read through various reviews for hours and then simply bought everything that a person with beautiful skin claimed would work. Unfortunately, that did not only cost me a lot of money, but also a lot of nerves. At some point I arrived to the conclusion that nothing will help me and that I simply had to live with my acne-prone skin. I changed my routine from time to time, never really having felt a huge difference. But now that I am basically in my mid-twenties, my skin has changed and I realized, so should my beauty routine. I need something more sophisticated. I heard a lot about Kiehl’s Ultra Facial products and decided to give it a try. Kiehl’s is one of America’s oldest skin care brands and positions itself like a pharmaceutical rather than a beauty brand – interesting! Thanks again to Feelunique for providing me with the opportunity to test their products! Continue Reading
Beauty
How to: Contour for the Perfect Selfie with Manhattan INSTA products
Posted on 5. Februar 2018Is taking selfies a skill – can you actually learn how to take the perfect selfie? Well, I say absolutely yes! Funnily, I already took selfies when I was 14 years old with my Mum’s big digital camera and uploaded them on my MySpace profile… yup, I guess I always had a thing for social media, haha. But back then, however, nobody called these kind of pictures „selfies“ … until this word was invented and suddenly selfies became a thing. On YouTube you can even find video of girls teaching you how to take the perfect selfie. But don’t worry guys, it’s not rocket science – that’s why I am showing you today how, even as a beginner, to take the perfect selfie with only two ingredients: 1) The right lighting, and 2) Manhattan INSTA products for contouring and highlighting!
Exploring the Trend: Perfume Layering with Emporio Armani Stronger with You/Because Its You
Posted on 12. August 2017I love having a signature scent. A scent that reminds people of me. One that makes friends and family say Ranim, this totally smells like you. Then you know that you own that scent! Actually, this is not so easy to achieve. There are a couple of super popular perfumes out there that just everybody seems to have. And even though you might say that the same scent would smell differently on different skin, some perfumes are just too recognizable and strong to develop that uniqueness. Continue Reading
Backstage with Wella Professionals and Berliner Modesalon at Berlin Fashion Week
Posted on 6. August 2017„Only 20min until rehearsal! Guys, you need to be ready by then!“ says one of the trend coaches of the Wella Professionals team backstage before the show by Antonia Goy.
The stress that designers experience right before they showcase their new collection during fashion week is pretty intense – I’m sure most of us can imagine that. Working half a year on a collection and having only 10 min to present it to the world is definitely nerve-wrecking. However, we do not think that much about all the other people involved in creating the perfect look for the runway. Dressers, stylists, make-up artists, hair stylists… of course they too must be pretty much under pressure! Continue Reading
When I was a kid, my hair used to be almost blond during the summers. I remember my Mum cut one small piece of my blond hair in order to keep it as a proof for when I get older. She still has it wrapped in a piece of cloth I believe. Too funny.
The reason for my unusual blond hair was that every year my family and I went to spend the summer in Egypt – obviously with my hair being exposed to the strong sun the whole time. Continue Reading
Last week was a great one for Aveda – on May 18th they opened their very first Experience Center in Germany, of course it had to be in Berlin, at Hackeschen Höfe. At the same time, they introduced a new product line called Pramasana Scalp Care. So basically I’m just going to divide this post into two parts, telling you a bit more about these two great happenings of which I was happy to be part of. Oh, if you are not familiar with Aveda yet, read my other posts here, and here or visit their website.
It’s been a while my friends since my last beauty post – so it’s time for an update! In fact, I’ve been researching a lot of products during the last couple of weeks and months, mainly focusing on skincare products for my face. The reason being that during autumn and winter 2016, my skin went back to puberty, breaking out heavily in parts of my face where I never used to get breakouts. So today I want to share with you what has worked for my skin, plus some of my favorite hair and make-up beauty products!
I feel like it is a woman’s duty to share her positive and negative experience with beauty products. The huge amount of brands out there simply overwhelms me each and every time I want to try out something new. Plus practically speaking, I honestly do not have the time and money to try out everything on the market. From what I have noticed so far, confusion about how to treat curly hair is especially common. Girls often reach out to me because they are struggling with their curls.
But even myself – I am constantly looking for reviews and new insights. It’s not like I have figured it all out … however for a couple of weeks now, since I have been introduced to the new Aveda Damage Remedy Series, I might kinda have…
Since I experienced my first treatment at Aveda’s Lepri Hair Salon in Milan (read about it here), I really started liking this brand, their philosophy and the people behind it. I’m not only giving them a big plus for their mission, which is to produce plant-based beauty products in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly manner, but after testing the Aveda Damage Remedy Series I can honestly recommend this product line to you.
What are my Curly-Hair-Struggles?
Because every hair is different and thus requires a different haircare routine, let me first tell you little something about my curly hair struggles to see if you might suffer from the same issues. Sooo, the problem with my hair is definitely dryness and frizz on the one hand and no volume at the roots on the other. The dryness, which is unfortunately exacerbated through my balayage highlights. This dryness furthermore damages the curly hair structure and sometimes creates an undefinable „bla“ instead of nicely defined curls. Another thing that bothers me is the lack of volume at my roots. One reason for that might be my long hair, but also accountable for that is the fact that my skin gets kinda oily quickly and the the fine nature of my hair. Funnily, I always just accepted that and continued using any kinds of drug store products, which are full of silicons and chemical stuff, not realizing that this might be the cause of my troubles.
Anyhow… let me tell you how things actually got better with the plant-based products from Aveda.
What is the Aveda Damage Remedy Series and what did it do to my hair?
The Damage Remedy Series consists out of 5 products – shampoo, conditioner, daily hair repair treatment, intensive restructuring treatment mask and a split-ends repair serum. It focuses on protecting your hair from any kind of damage caused by heat, chemicals or even the environment through ingredients such as quinoa-proteins, coconut and babassu nut oils, which work deeply in the inside of your hair. Sounds yummy, but more importantly – it works for me. I’ve been using the shampoo, conditioner and the daily hair repair leave-in on a regular basis for one month now and to be honest, it first felt a bit weird! I was used to these products that create so much foam and are packed with intensive scents that I first had to get used to the feel of these natural-based products. Less foam, a more subtle scent… I was not sure if I really like that… but I continued the treatment and eventually after around two weeks I noticed a positive change that convinced me.
Whereas usually on the second day I felt like my head is a bit oily, now this is not the case anymore. Along with that, my roots have more volume than before. My skin simply feels good. Furthermore, the fine nature of my hair feels stronger now, instead of being excessively soft, and my curls have more strength to curl themselves. It’s a positive change that might not be super obvious to people around me, but I can definitely see the improvement and do not feel the urge to wash my hair so often because of the oily skin or destroyed curl-structure.
What else do I need to know?
Girls, we always should be realistic. No product will ever make your hair perfect again after you have treated them with heat, chemicals or whatever on a daily basis – it can only support and nourish them up to a certain point. It is therefore super important that you regularly cut your ends and get rid of spliss, plus try to avoid heat whenever you can. Furthermore, if you only have a limited budget but really want to try out these products, I would recommend to go with treatment 1 to 3. Since the plant-based ingredients are highly concentrated, you do not even have to apply a large amount of product – so once bought, they will last a while. And then the other two are nice add-ons that round-up the whole treatment, but even I do not regularly use them and still feel a nice improvement.
Giveaway time! Win one of three Aveda Damage Remedy Sets!
Simply head over to my instagram @ranhelwa and simply leave a comment. Of course I would appreciate if you also follow my account, if you have not already :)
In friendly cooperation with Aveda
It took me a very long time to accept my hair the way it is. As a teenage girl I envied all the girls with their neat and straight hair and felt like someone who wasn’t able to get her hair under control. Slowly, slowly and after a lot of straightening experiments I realized that it is better to make the best of what you have and not try to force something that you simply don’t have. So I started to accept my curly hair and find the right treatment and products for it. However, from time to time I like to spice things up and have a little change. I am absolutely able to straighten my hair with a straightener, but one thing I simply cannot manage is to get 1) loads of volume and 2) big wavy curls. So when Aveda took me and a couple of other international bloggers last weekend to the Lepri Salon and Spa in Milan, I directly knew which styling I’ll be aiming for. After a relaxing head and shoulders massage, as well as a quick spiritual scenting session, Francesco (lol I actually don’t remember his name but let’s just give him this typical Italian name) started turning my hair into a Victoria-Secret-like voluminous mane. He told me that due to my long and delicate hair structure it is pretty difficult to create this kind of volume … but there is nothing he couldn’t fix with loads of hairspray ;)
The result really turned out amazing – just the way I wanted it! Plus I really enjoyed the process of getting there, because I simply had the feeling that I can trust him and his work. Even on the second day, my hair was still pretty nice and I actually was sad to wash it and get back to my supercurls. I liked it so much, that I might try it out myself one time, even though it will probably not turn out as great.
// Salon: Lepri Salon and Spa
Via degli Omenoni, 2, 20121 Milan