I know it may sound like I’m really shilling this, but I’m really happy I decided to subscribe to the Lookfantastic box in January because it gave me the opportunity to try new brands that are not easily available here in Romania and expensive brands that I wouldn’t have had the courage to put my money on without knowing if they are any good. That’s why I’m very grateful and I will keep my subscription, because I also discovered a few brands that I really like this year.

Illamasqua

I tried so far a lipstick, a gel eyeliner and a highlighter from them, but I love all the products, especially the gel eyeliner and the highlighter. This is a makeup brand that seems to focus on doing basic products, but doing them good. There’s no cute or gimmicky packaging, no over the top products, but they seem to be of good quality. It looks like a makeup brand for professionals, but anyone can use their products because you don’t need to master any special techniques or anything like that.

Luxie brushes

I have two Luxie brushes, an eyeshadow brush and a highlighter brush. The bristles are so soft and dense at the same time, the handles and the hardware is well made and they just seem to be good quality vegan brushes that improve the application of the makeup products.

Madara

I fell in love with an eye cream I tried from Madara and then I got a face cream and I bought a CC cream on my own from a Romanian online shop. It’s great to discover brands that combine natural ingredients with the science behind the formulation of beauty products. Also worth mentioning is Madara’s sister brand, Mossa, which is focused more on fruit extracts.

Naobay

I only had a toner and I’m currently using a face cream from this brand but I like their products because they are so gentle for the skin and I see anti-aging benefits in them without having those rich textures that are too heavy for oily or combination skin.

Avant

An expensive brand, that I would definitely not be able to buy on my own, but that make some cool products is Avant. I had a face cream that made my skin look so nice and I will receive an eye cream in December’s box that I’m almost sure I will love.

Percy & Reed

I didn’t use to believe in miracle products for hair, but their Wonderbalm was really an amazing product and it made my hair look like I went to the salon with 0 efforts from my part. I wouldn’t base me saying I like a brand just from one product, but it really was an amazing product.

SYS Superfood 4 Your Skin

Another great skin care brand I discovered is SYS, especially because I loved their eye gel. Again, I used only one product from them, but now I’m sold on it and I want to try some more, just not now because I have enough skin care stuff to go throug.

As you can see, all of these are European brands and it’s so refreshing to discover products that are made in different countries. All these brands are cruelty free and they focus on using all kinds of natural ingredients and I’m here for it! I hope 2021 will give me the opportunity to try some products from them or even to discover some other cool brands. And now, let’s open the drawer number 7 from the advent calendar.

REN Clean Skincare Ready Steady Glow Daily AHA Tonic (50 ml)

I already tried this tonic and it really does make the skin look glowy and it seems to integrate very well with the rest of my skincare products. It’s the first product I try from REN Clean Skincare, so that’s also nice. It contains lactic acid and willow bark extract. The full size product contains 250 ml and it retails on the Lookfantastic website for 141.25 lei, so this travel size is worth 28.25 lei. It’s a cruelty free and vegan product and I’m happy I got it because I wasn’t using any toner at the moment.

And now let’s enjoy our daily cup of tea.

Love Me Truly Cupper Tea

Today we also had another herbal infusion in our tea advent calendar. It contains mint, orange peel, fennel, ginger, liquorice and clove. It’s a slightly spicy herbal tea, but I think it’s definitely a nice addition to cold winter days.

That’s it from me today, (although it already the 8th of December by the time I’m posting this, but who cares about technicalities, right?) and I’ll se you tomorrow!