Melita Beauty Night Out

Round about this time of year, Melita Health & Beauty organize a Beauty Night Out for us bloggers and every year, I look forward to attending and try not to miss it. Why? First off, it's a great event to meet other bloggers who I don't see at other events; secondly, it's a one-stop shop for all things health and beauty; and thirdly, the staff are super sweet and always so generous with us but I'll get to that in a second.

Having recently changed their logo, Melita Health & Beauty also chose to do things a little differently this time - we had the opportunity to win 3 prizes on the night, 2 of which came courtesy of Uriage and their new AGE Protect Anti-Aging range, the main event sponsor; while the final prize was €200 worth of Stefania d'Alessandro makeup in a beautiful Alaïa case. This all took place last Thursday night 

First let me show you a little bit of what's new and then I'll get into all the fun details!

Ok, so for the first prize of the night, my name was drawn! I won the AGE Protect Night Cream and AGE Protect Serum from Uriage, so now my AGE Protect regime is complete!

Those of us who made a purchase on the night were eligible to be in with a chance to win the big prize which was drawn just before we left. I bought the big sized Glov which is amazing for travelling as I don't need to pack a lot of makeup removers with me. Lo and behold, my name was drawn again! Needless to say, I was ecstatic at this! Here all the good things that were in the case and the very generous goodie bag handed to us at the end of the night!

The moment they announced my name for the big prize draw :)

I will be giving away some of the stuff in an upcoming giveaway soon so be sure to keep following me on Facebook and Instagram not to miss out on anything. I had a really fun night chatting away to fellow bloggers and makeup lovers and I love how our small community gets so well with each other and I love meeting the new ones too :) Oh and we got to do this over countless beautiful makeup and perfume displays and good food too! Thank you so much Melita Health & Beauty for having us, I'll surely enjoy the products!

Photos of us bloggers courtesy of Melita Health & Beauty

The Makeup Festival | What Went Down and What I Got!

Last Saturday, the first ever edition of The Makeup Festival was brought to life at the Mediterranean Conference Centre (MCC) in Valletta and it was a dream-come-true for all makeup lovers! I went with my friend Marija and not only did we enjoying browsing and shopping (we broke our no shopping promise 2 seconds into the festival - I'm looking at you Essence & Catrice), we also attended a skincare masterclass courtesy of Dermalogica!

From the moment we set foot into the premises, we were wowed by the original and very well organised set-up. All brands had good floor space to exhibit their goodies and they were all offering discounts and gifs with purchases, if you want to see what I got, I will be sharing all that with you in a minute 😉One great initiative which was in place at the festival were the waste separation bins set up all over the premises to encourage attendees to separate waste and they even constructed a centrepiece from all the empty makeup and skin care containers they collected prior to the event, well done!

We spent some time going around the different brands, see what they had to offer, purchased what we needed, stopped for a Haagen-Dazs ice-cream (which is my favourite and I always have a tub or two of at home) and then we attended the masterclass which was absolute heaven! I really enjoyed giving myself a mini facial as I would at home using Dermalogica products and learning about their different functions and benefits along the way.

Finally, this is what I got at the event - thank you for the lovely people behind all these brands for the offers and gifts :)

Essence & Catrice - I only bought the blue eyeliner, compact powder, concealer and nail polishes
The rest of the products were free with my purchase!

Eylure & Sally Hansen were on a 25% off offer and I got a sample of Glov makeup remover cloth and this beautiful velvet clutch for free!

Pupa Milano always come up with beautiful products and limited edition. I opted to buy a metallic liquid lipstick from their winter collection and was gifted two makeup pouches

Of course I couldn't resist a 50% off selected Chanel products so I got one of the Rouge Crayons available as I am already a fan of them

I took the opportunity to discover new brands I can share with you, one of which is Institut Esthederm. I can't wait to show you their innovative approach to skin care!

From the Dermalogica masterclass, we got some product samples as well as a 10% off voucher. Score!

We had a total blast and it was the perfect girls day out. The only suggestion I want to make for a better the event next time is mostly directed at the brands rather than the organisers - some brands had really busy cash points and we know how bad most Maltese are at queuing. I think if they had two assistants at the cash, it would have been easier for everyone but then again, while we were there we didn't wait for a long time to cash our purchases :)

I'd love to see the event come to life again next year and maybe I can even shop smart and start my Christmas shopping ;)

World Sustainability Day | Tips to leading a more sustainable lifestyle with Made With Respect

October 24th marks World Sustainability Day, in a bid to try and preserve the world and maybe reverse some of the damage we inflicted on our planet over time. I was just introduced to Made With Respect, a New Zealand sustainable fashion and design project and in celebration of World Sustainability Day, I thought of introducing you to the concept as well as some tips and ways you can implement in your day-to-day life to help preserve the environment.

🌍 Use less plastic

Perhaps the most worrying concern is plastic. Plastic takes hundreds if not thousand of years to decompose. Everywhere you look there's plastic, and what's worse? Most people don't care of the impact it leaves on the planet when disposed of correctly. It looks impossible at first but by making small changes, it can actually turn into a big statement over time. Here are some examples of how you can slowly achieve a plastic-free lifestyle:

- Switch to stainless steel straws

- Use bamboo toothbrushes 

- Eliminate the use of plastic trays and cutlery

- Use refillable water bottles and refill as you go instead of purchasing countless plastic bottles. Consider installing a reverse osmosis system at home too and it will also spare you the hassle of carrying heavy water packs!

- Take your own shopping bags when grocery shopping

🌎 Reuse and recycle

Re-use any packaging that you can, for example small tic-tac boxes can be used to store bobby pins in, thus reducing the chance of you losing them altogether. Larger containers can be used as lunch boxes or just use them as compartments to organise drawer contents.

When recycling, take care to dispose of items in the correct bins and bags. Organic waste can also be used for compost as it makes an excellent fertilizer for your garden.

🌏 Shop for sustainable clothing and materials

Fashion is one of the largest industry polluters in the world, with a shocking 20% of industrial water pollution coming from the dyeing and treatment of textiles. Looking for clothes made out of organic cotton, soy silk, cashmere and linen for example, also helps the industry and your bank account - investing in timeless pieces is actually worth it in the long run plus it may start to shun the fast fashion industry where children and women workers are continuously exploited.

This is where Made With Respect comes in. Made With Respect is a sustainable fashion and design project based in New Zealand and it incorporates various eco-conscious brands from all over the world, selling fashion, toys, skin care and beauty products and home ware for children and adults alike, all made from sustainable materials. I've had a browse on the website and these are some of my favourite items (clicking on each image will take you directly to the product):

     

     

     

     

     

Let's all do our bit because as Robert Swan once said, 'The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it'.

New Uriage AGE Protect Anti-Ageing Skin Care

Let me start this post off with an apology to you, my readers for I haven't had the time to properly sit down and write a blog post or two in the longest time. Not because I was running out of ideas, because there is a whole backlog of products I want to share with you here, but because life got in the way. I have currently gone back to wedding planning and it is almost time to start looking for furniture for our home too so my plate is quite full at the moment, not to mention my full-time job. But anyway, rant over, I am back today with a fantastic anti-ageing skincare range from Uriage.

If you know me, you know how much I love skin care and even though I have my absolute favourite products that I wouldn't trade for anything else, I still enjoy going to product launches and see what innovations different brands come up with to address all the concerns.

The latest event I got to attend was the launch of a new anti-ageing skincare range from Uriage and in a teaser picture on Facebook and Instagram stories, I asked you what you think is an added environmental factor that is contributing to premature skin ageing. No one seemed to know the answer even though it is all around us and more common than we think. The answer? Blue light!

Yes, the light that emanates from smartphones, computers, tablets, etc is making us age faster! Who would have thought that?! Well, luckily, French skincare brand Uriage took to launching a whole new outlook on anti-ageing skincare with their comprehensive range AGE Protect. It's pretty clear that the products in this range aim at protecting our skin against daily exposomes (environmental factors/exposures we are subjected to, that can be linked to an individual's health status, including the skin's ageing process). More specifically, and this is what makes Uriage AGE Protect range unique in the realm of anti-ageing skincare, these products have a Blue Light Barrier. This patented technology is the first of its kind and as the name implies, it is targeted against the effects of blue light on our skin.

Of course, the basis of the products is Uriage thermal water which by now, I think everyone and their mother knows about its benefits in skin care products. The other active ingredients in the AGE Protect range are retinol, low molecular weight hyaluronic acid, dragon's blood, vitamin C, vitamin E and of course the patented Blue Light Barrier (BLB). Thus the formula has both protective and corrective ingredients.

The BLB creates an exposome shield, thus creating a healthy environment. The shield is further enhanced by Filmexel which produces a second-skin effect to prevent adhesion of pollutants to the skin. As for retinol and hyaluronic acid, we all know that these two ingredients combat pigmentation, wrinkles and promote healthy-looking skin respectively. The AGE Protect range is very comprehensive and comprises 3 products for daily use (Multi-Action Cream, Multi-Action Cream with SPF 30, Multi-Action Fluid) 2 targeted products (Multi-Action Eye Contour, Multi-Action Intensive Serum) and 2 night products (Multi-Action Detox Night Cream, Multi-Action Peeling Night Cream). They are tailored for all ages and can also be used by men. However, they are not advised for pregnant women since they contain retinol.

I look forward to trying out the products that were kindly gifted to us, especially the eye contour cream and I'd be happy to share my thoughts on them in due time. Thank you once again to Uriage for having me :)