Solgar | Vitamin E 400 IU 100 Veggie Softgels
If you missed the story how going to a Kinesiologist and taking Vitamin E fixed my hormonal imbalance and cystic acne, refresh here. I was taking quite an expensive Vitamin E capsules from Holistic (a Swedish premium brand). Though whole spectrum and with high quality, it didn’t feel sustainable when my Kinesiologist told me that I’ll be taking vitamin E for a while. It was really hard finding a cheaper option similar to the ones from Holistic. I managed to find a few:
- Dr. Mercola | Vitamin E Tocopherols & Tocotrienols 30 Caps 200IU – Vegan option, but it has about half the IU than the Holistic and was even more expensive!
- Bluebonnet Nutrition | Vitamin E Complex 60 Caps 200IU – Vegan. As expencive as Holistic but offers half of IU. Note that their other Vitamin E supplements contain gelatin.
- MRM | Complete E 60 Softgels 400IU – Not vegan. But seems like you get a lot for your value!
- Life Extension | Gamma E Mixed Tocopherols & Tocotrienols 60 Softgels – Not vegan. Doesn’t say exactly how much IU but seems like a good product.
However, I decided to stick to a vegan option. And I was shocked at how few options of vegan Vitamin E capsules there is! I ended up finding Solgar that offered Vitamin E 400IU with mixed Tocopherols (no full spectrum with Tocotrienols) in a veggie cap. It contains gamma-tocopherol, that based on the studies, was the most important tocopherol to impact hormonal health. So if you can’t find whole spectrum mixed and yada yada, just make sure it’s got gamma-tocopherol!
This one from Solgar comes at a great price too for the number of caps you get! I’ve combined it with a higher dose of Vitamin D and have had regular periods in-sync with the moon, no PMS/Bloating/Tender Breasts, and barely any acne since! I’ve almost finished my bottle, and will start reducing my dose as I feel more balanced and don’t feel the need to take them – but I’ll check with my doctor. I’ve made a few changes in my diet and will continue getting my vitamin E from food instead.
Btw, I can confirm that the MRM Vegan D3 5000IU is effective in increasing vitamin D levels. As my boyfriend recently did a health check, and the doctor was almost stunted at the high levels he had. So if you’re worried vegan D3 isn’t as effective as lanolin-based D3, here’s your answer: it works just as good!
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Now Foods | Organic Jojoba Oil
★★★★☆
My oil from the Jojoba Oil Company came to its last drop and I wanted to discover if there’s really a huge difference between oil quality between prices. So I grabbed this organic jojoba oil from Now Foods, which doesn’t have a fancy bottle, but has at least a reasonable price!
All-in-all, I didn’t notice a huge difference. The more expensive one from the Jojoba Oil Co. may have a more silicone feel than Now Food’s jojoba oil. I don’t know how they do that, must be the Australian golden jojoba? I will of course try different brands as origin may play a big part in consistency. But my skin doesn’t seem to notice any remarkable difference to be completely honest. It might as well be some placebo, of me liking the texture more because it costs more? Anyways, my skin seems to still like jojoba oil. But I’m definitely more careless with the oil, knowing it didn’t cost me as much as a new moisturizer – compared to how sparingly I used the one from the Jojoba Oil Co. Before it felt like a luxury to use it elsewhere than my face.
I still keep it feeling lux though by reusing the bottle from the Jojoba Oil Co, as it’s easier to use than the packaging from Now Foods. The cap on this one could be improved, but then again, if you’re buying oil from Now Foods, you’re kind of expected to use it as a refill for DIY use.
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EcoTools | Styler + Smoother Brush
★★★★☆
The amount of brushes I have – and are still on the hunt for – is absurd, as my collection of hair brushes extends from a white Maison Pearson brush to this thing. And I don’t even brush or comb my hair that often, and even less so when my hair is cut short! (it’s currently in some sort of Lob-phase right now).
But I’ve been eyeing the brushes from EcoTools for a while, especially because of their claim to dry your hair 20% faster! I mostly use a brush to dry and style my bangs, and so I went for the Styler + Smoother brush to compare with my usual round brush that I use.
It was much bigger irl than I thought and instantly felt like I could’ve gone with the Quick Volume Styler Brush for the use I was going for. However, it has worked out fine, and I definitely experience my hair drying faster with this brush!
I will though, probably, buy the round brush too… But as it seems for the moment, EcoTools has replaced the old round brushes with new ones called “Expert Thermal Styler”, improving the design with aluminum plates for better blow-dry results. iHerb has not yet stocked these new brushes yet, so I’ll wait.
My only complaint is that the brush feels very plastic and cheap, but nonetheless, it does what it says it does. And so I’m happy with it.
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Bdellium Tools | Oval Multi-Purpose Brush
★★★★☆
At the end of my BeautyBlender review, I said that I wanted to try an oval brush next time. The original Artis Elite brushes are gorgeous but a bit over my price range. I don’t apply makeup everyday nor am I a makeup fanatic, so paying that much for a brush doesn’t really appeal to me when counting the price per use. Not to mention that the dupes have gotten just as many rave reviews!
The Bdellium Oval Multi-Purpose brush is the only oval make up brush I could find on iHerb, which has an overall impressive makeup brush selection. After doing some research, I didn’t find anything on why not to buy it! I wanted to see how well this compared to the beauty blender, as I’ve been a bit disappointed. Not with the result of the application, but with how difficult it is to clean and that the sponge soaks up a lot of product though it says it won’t.
The oval make up brush from Bdellium did impress me very much! The application of foundation is so smooth and fast and looks very natural. I’ve tried different foundation consistencies, and it didn’t fail me even once, but gave my skin impeccable result without any streaks! The hairs on the brush are synthetic, super soft, and densely packed – great for sensitive skin!
I have yet not tried to wash it with water and soap to see how time-consuming and difficult it is to get it clean. I’ve read that the oval brushes may be just as a pain in the ass to clean like the BeautyBlender, as the density of the hairs on the brush makes it take a lot longer for it to dry than a regular would.
However, the reason I haven’t cleaned it properly is that I haven’t needed to. The brush is so densely packed that barely any product gets in the hair! All I’ve needed and been doing after use is to clean it with a makeup brush cleaning spray, which takes less than a minute! I’m using bareMinerals Quick Change brush cleaner which I bought for my kabuki brush a few years ago and has lasted me a very long time!
So while you’ll need to invest in a makeup brush cleaning spray for fast and optimal cleaning of this oval makeup brushes, the price of a BB and BB’s own soap doesn’t come close to the price per use. Not to mention the foundation you’ll be saving as these brushes barely soak up anything!
The only fault this brush has, and what makes it not earn a full five-star-rating, is that the brush could’ve been wider. Though its size really makes it a multipurpose tool, as I’ve used it for concealer, blush, and contour, it’s really not the optimal size for applying foundation – which I think most people want to use it for. If it were wider/bigger, applying foundation would be even smoother and faster. Unfortunately, this is the only oval brush Bdellium has come out with, but there’s no doubt they’ll soon come out with other sizes as it’s very popular.
However, Amazon has you covered. And seriously, you need an oval make up brush. It’s really that amazing.
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Mizon | Original Skin Energy Peptide 500 30ml
★★★☆☆
Skincare is getting more personalized, and I love the idea of ingredient-specific ampules and boosters. I wanted to try some more K-beauty stuff and ended up with this ampoule from Mizon in my order. As I’m going through facial treatments, anything skin repairing with peptides and ceramides appeals to me!
I bought this originally as a skin booster to mix with my moisturizer or use as the first step after toner. It’s got 45% peptide content, I was especially interested in the copper tripeptide-l, as I’ve heard many great things about it. For instance, the brand NIOD sells it isolated.
I’ve been using it daily since the beginning of October and even got my hubby to test it out. The dropper is tiny, and you really need about the tiniest 3 drops to cover your whole face. It’s watery and sinks in very fast without leaving your skin sticky. It feels moisturizing but still good for oily skin types.
I had very high hopes for this products, however, in the end, I question if I just bought water in a good looking bottle? I don’t feel like it does much for my skin. Maybe I’m too young to see and feel results… Or no, I’ve tried other peptide serums and they’ve amazed me within a week! So in other words: I hope it’s doing at least something, but I’m not seeing or feeling the results I though I would be.
The price isn’t bad, but I wouldn’t repurchase it based on knowing that there are other similar serums that give you instant and even some lasting results for about the same price range!
But I will give it that it lasts you a long time! Even though both I and my partner is using this, I still have more than half left. As truly, a little goes a long way! But in the end, it’s an OK product, but it seems to work slowly.
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Etude House | My Beauty Tool – Lovely Etti Hair Band (Cat Headband)
This cute cat headband I originally ordered directly from Korea. But as iHerb has now included a bunch of Korean brands, including this headband, I thought I could highlight it!
The one I got is also from Etude House, which at the time I had really no idea how big this brand is. I just saw CloudyApples in one and wanted one too. The headband is quite tight and considering it’s an Asian product, I’m for once happy about my small head.
Nonetheless, my boyfriend who has an above average large head can put this on. Just note that it will feel very tight. Otherwise, it’s of super soft material that’s washable and holds its form very well. Definitely makes it much easier to apply face masks, wash your face and apply makeup and skincare!
If you’re interested in other colors than plain white, then I suggest looking up the headbands on sites like Amazon, which has this great bundle too!
Repurchases
▸ Earth Circle Organics | Goji Berries Raw & Organic
▸ Bell Plantation | PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter
▸ Y.S. Eco Bee Farms | Bee Pollen Powder w/ Papaya Powder
▸ MRM | Vegan Vitamin D3 5,000 IU 60 Vegan Caps
