Snobbery Step Aside - My Drugstore and Budget Beauty Favourites

One of my lovely subscribers (Hi - Melanie!) messaged me this weekend with a request for my personal drugstore and budget buys list. Some of you might already know about my slogan "Every Comment Makes Me Do a Happy Dance (really!), which meant that after I did a terrible version of the "chicken dance" I went over to my various stash locations (hiding spots), looked through my vanity drawers, bathroom shelves and makeup bags, determined to make my first request turn out as perfect as it possibly can be. 

If you are familiar with Canadian Princeza, then you might have noticed that the vast number of the products I have reviewed tend to be mostly in the "high-end" category. Scrolling down the "brands" listed you would also notice that the blog's primary topic seems to be skincare and treatment products, which are usually priced a lot higher than makeup basics so that makes my collection seem even more disproportional. Just because I don't have a lot of "drugstore" products reviewed and listed on my blog (yet!) doesn't mean that I have anything against them, that I don't use them, that i don't appreciate a "good value" or that I think I am too good for lower-end stuff. Personally I almost always buy products that have good ingredients, great formulation, "ethical" brand concepts, excellent reviews and innovative research. Every once in a while I get mesmerized by product packaging and limited edition incentives but I am finding that this is happening a lot less often and now that I am writing reviews and reflecting more.

The one category where I have to be extremely careful is skincare and that's only due to my sensitive, reactive skin, which can literally end up out of control in a matter of days. That being said I am a firm believer that the price tag attached to a product does not guarantee success, good results, innovation, good ingredients or even truthful advertising. In fact sometimes it seems the higher the price, the bigger the claims and therefore the worse your disappointment feels. I can think of a few high-end brands that have completely lost my trust, business and endorsement due to problems attached to their "promises" that had not a lot of backing or truth to them at all.

These days we have to be smart in choosing what we purchase and what we allow to be used on our bodies. Its a "dog eat dog" world out there, advertisers can deliberately mislead, ingredients are coded in a way that is harder to understand, the prices are rising every day and we, ordinary girls have to figure out a way to get through the complicated, consumer web and make choices we can stand by.
Higher price doesnt mean a better product at all and luckily the so called "budget" brands, along with a whole slew of "independent small-time" companies have noticed this shift in their customers mind-set and are finally coming out with formulas that are inexpensive, highly efficient, filled with good ingredients, attractively packaged and even philanthropic in nature.
I for one am tickled pink just thinking about the possibilities and more than happy to feature and promote any brand that fits in that category!

Without further ado, here are some of my favorite products that won't break the bank (too much!) bur could break your skepticism :-)

Budget Beauty Favorites with MILANI , Haus of Gloi, Nivea

Here is a list of my "Snobbery-Free" Beauty Favorites;

- L'Oreal Paris Colour Riche Balm (Satin Pink) - $7.96 at Walmart
- Nivea Soft Moisturizing Cream - $8.97 at Walmart
- LUSH Banana Moon Soap - $7.95 for 100 g at lush.ca
- LUSH Coconut Deodorant Powder - $7.95 for 65 g at lush.ca
- Haus of Gloi Pumpkin Butter in Litchi Milk Tea - $10.00 for 6 oz at Haus of Gloi
- LUSH Bubble Gum Lip Scrub - $9.95 for 25 g at lush.ca
- Klorane Gentle Shampoo with Oat Milk - $12.00 for 200 ml at well.ca
- Klorane Desert Date Nutritive & Repairing Hair Mask - $15.99 for 150 ml at well.ca
- Milani Illuminating Face Powder - $12.79 at well.ca
- Pacifica Sea Foam Complete Face Wash - $11.99 for 147 ml at well.ca
- Dr. Bronner's Organic Rose Liquid Soap - $3.99 for 2 oz at well.ca

I hope you enjoyed my first "Budget Beauty Collection" and at least got a few ideas for your next purchase!
Thank you Melanie for the request and the wonderful message you sent me - I really appreciate all of my readers so hearing from any of you just makes my day :-)

Please let me know if you want to see more posts on this topic and if its possible in any way I will gladly accommodate all requests from everyone!

What are your favorite budget finds? Anything I might be missing out on?

XOXO

ANJA

P.S. If you enjoyed this post and want some more Princeza Beauty Musings, please consider following me through GFC, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter! Insert "happy dance" here :-) 

Brand Rave - Haus of Gloi Bubbling Scrub in Troika

I know that at this point my blog looks like some kind of marketing campaign for the entire Haus of Gloi inventory but you can rest assured I am not connected with their company in any shape or form and all of the products I reviewed were either gifts or purchased independently. Haus of Gloi is not paying me to write this and I doubt they are even aware of this blog existence.

I just happen to be absolutely smitten with everything they stand for, how they conduct their business and customer service and the quality and performance of pretty much everything they make. Haus of Gloi also happens to be run by two very lovely individuals who are obviously geniuses when it comes to innovative pampering, which is something I really appreciate. For a quick glimpse into their ultra-cool lifestyle I suggest you check out their blog by clicking here.

Their Bubbling Scrubs have been my latest discovery and I have enjoyed using them immensely. They are a very different breed when it comes to traditional exfoliants and I love that I can actually feel the difference on my skin while I am still in the shower.
Nothing makes a girl feel more pampered than silky, soft, lightly fragranced skin and that is exactly what the Haus of Gloi Bubbling Scrubs deliver.


Fragrance;

A trinity of soft milks, almond, oat and coconut, lashed with sweet agave nectar and the ethereal scent of clean white.

Official Description;
Our soft bubbling scrub is made from scratch and never a base! A delightfully scrubby and lightly foaming confection.Our foaming base is whipped until it produces soft peaks, similar to that of whipped cream. A blend of two sugars is then folded in, both fine and medium grain for fantastic scrubbing and polish it off with a heaping scoop of shea butter to leave you cleansed and smooth but never dried out. We use Optiphen, a paraben and formaldehyde-free preservative system. 100% vegan, always.

Directions for Use;

Apply to wet skin and massage into skin using circular motions. This is a water activated product and works best when vigorously lathered. I do not recommend this product for the face.

Ingredients;

Organic cane sugar, sucrose (sugar), vegetable glycerin, sodium coco sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, propylene glycol, sorbitol, stearic acid, proprietary fragrance blend, shea butter, phenoxyethanol (and) caprylyl glycol

I am a huge fan of gourmand scents so the light complexity of Troika was very appealing to me, especially when I layered it with the matching pumpkin butter. The combination of coconut, oat and almond milk had the uncanny ability to envelop me with warmth and comfort after each shower so no matter how bad of a day I was having, a couple of whiffs of this could really turn things around for me.

I prefer my body scrubs to have a good combination of grit and slip to them so I feel like I am accomplishing the exfoliation tasks without being too harsh about it. The Haus of Gloi Bubbling Scrub ($3.50 for 2 oz or $8.00 for 6 oz.) fit my preferences perfectly and the milky lather was an additional silky bonus I wasn't expecting to find. The sugar granules in the Troika stayed gritty enough for approximately 60 seconds upon which they completely emulsified into the soft milky lather leaving my skin perfectly soft, nourished and residue-free.
The resulting silky sensation and light fragrance lingered past the shower time and definitively left my skin feeling better than my usual body exfoliants, which were either too drying or left me feeling too greasy.

Layering my skin with either the pumpkin butter or body emulsion completed the mini pamper session and I couldnt have been happier with the final effect.

Haus of Gloi products are very reasonably priced and in my opinion even a bargain compared to similar products that require you to get a chemistry degree in order to decipher their ingredient list.
For more information and retail just visit their website directly - I can guarantee that you won't be disappointed!

I hope you found this helpful :-)

Have you tried the Haus of Gloi Bubbling Scrubs? What is your favorite scrub?

XOXO

ANJA

P.S. If you enjoyed this post and want some more Princeza Beauty Musings, please consider following me through GFC, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter! Insert "happy dance" here :-) 

Review - Haus of Gloi Handmade Soap in Vice

I am no fan of solid bars of soap and i honestly don't remember the last time I used them without feeling "unclean" or at least un-rinsed if you know what I mean. No matter what brand I tried and regardless of their "no-residue" promises I always felt like my skin was either coated, irritated or dried out once i was out of the shower. The brick like shape was sadly too masculine for my girly ways too (i know, ridiculous!). For that reason I haven't really explored this new world of hand-made soaps, which are suppose to be gentler, moisturizing and made with natural ingredients, spiked with natural oils. I am very set in my ways when it comes to certain beauty habits.

If there ever was a company that had a chance to get me to explore the "soap world" then it would have to be Haus of Gloi. I absolutely love everything about them and the things they make (just check out the rest of my Haus of Gloi reviews here!) so it wasn't long till I stumbled upon their handmade soap section and got seduced once again.

Since I have been eager to try some more of their fragrance options the Vice Handmade Soap description was just too irresistible for my weak little mind.

Fragrance;

Steam billows rolling off a vessel of fresh made Turkish coffee, marshmallow goo tainted by graham cracker crumbs, toasted hazelnuts and blanketed in black chocolate

Ingredients;

Cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, olea europaea (olive) fruit Oil, (organic and sustainably harvested) elaeis guineensis (palm) oil, water, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), sodium hydroxide, oryza sativa (rice) bran oil, fragrance and essential oil, ricinus communis (castor) seed oil, coconut milk, titanium dioxide.

First of all the Vice fragrance is ridiculously good and even though when I first smelled it the scent seemed too strong and chocolate dominated but now I cant get enough of it and I feel like carrying a slice with me every where as a little pick-me-up. There is nothing wrong with that, right?

Once I got over myself and actually used this soap in the shower my judgments and preconceptions melted right into the drain and just like that I was on board. The lather was creamy, silky, fragrant and plentiful, giving it a very spa-like performance and feel. It rinsed easily and left my skin feeling soft, silky and slightly fragranced. Paired with the glorious Vice Pumpkin Butter this is my favorite indulgence and the experience itself is pampering, luxurious, glamorous and very comforting.
How great is it that a soap can make such a difference!

The Haus of Gloi Handmade Soaps have such a great formulation that it feels a little unfair to compare them to regular soap bars because the quality is literally off the charts.

Its the only bar of soap I will ever use and I already have my eye on a few new scents that are just aching to be ordered.
My top picks for now are: Lavender Sugar, Peach Mama and Troika

Check out the Haus of Gloi Handmade Soaps and the other products this awesome vegan company makes here and let me know what your favorite choices are!


XOXO

ANJA

P.S. If you enjoyed this post and want some more Princeza Beauty Musings, please consider following me through GFC, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter! Insert "happy dance" here :-) 

Haus of Glois Twice Is Nice Body Emulsion

I have already expressed just how much I love Haus of Gloi and their glorious Pumpkin Butters (see review here!). In fact I find it hard to think about the state of my skin during the long, cold Canadian winters without this stuff on hand. There is so much to love about this niche brand - the formula, the scents, the ingredients, the customer service and especially the personal touch each package receives from these lovely people. There aren't a lot of companies or brands now days that include a handwritten, personal note with each and every order, regardless how big or how small. Not to mention that they are just plain cool - check out their awesome blog here. 

Now that the weather is changing, temperatures are rising, the the humidity is only getting worse, I am finding that my beloved Pumpkin Butter formula is just a little too rich for my skin. Nor wanting to change or give up the yummy scents I switched up my body moisturization to the lighter body emulsion formula and I have to say that I love it almost as much as its richer counterpart. Once again the ingredients are vegan and there are absolutely no parabens to ruin my day. 

Haus of Gloi describes the Body Emulsion like this:

If you're looking for light and silky moisture, then this is it! Lighter than our Pumpkin Butter, Body Emulsion is great when you're looking for something that isn't heavy and absorbs quickly. Each batch is made from scratch and includes luxurious green tea and calendula extracts, skin loving butters and is paraben free and vegan.

Ingredients listed;

Distilled water, caprylic/capric triglyceride (fractionated coconut oil), theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, emulsifying wax NF, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) oil, cannabis sativa (hemp) seed oil, cetyl alcohol, cyclomethicone, dimethicone, proprietary fragrance blend, phenoxyethanol (and) caprylyl glycol, vitamin e., vegetable glycerin, hydrolyzed cucurbita pepo (pumpkin) seed extract, modified corn starch, xanthan gum

My fragrance of choice is the same as in the Pumpkin Butter formula, which is Twice Is Nice.

True to its form, the whimsical Haus of Gloi scent description is; 

Sweetest offerings of opulence! Buttery sugar cookie, with shavings of creamy coconut and topped with toasted almond slivers.

I completely agree with the given description but I want to add that the coconut note is the strongest on my skin. This is not one of those cloying, artificial sickeningly sweet coconut scents, it simply smells like a slightly toasted coconut cookie, which can be an issue when I am hungry and close to a bakery. Yum! The fragrance lingers softly on my skin for hours and never fails to bring up comments and compliments galore. I love pairing it with the Twice Is Nice perfume oil for that extra scent boost, guaranteeing that it will last even longer. 

The formulation is wonderfully light , absorbs quickly and easily, leaving my skin perfectly moisturized and silky smooth. However don't let the thin texture fool you, this lotion delivers a strong hydration punch with no greasiness which makes this a perfect summer body moisturizer. Since the texture is so creamy it sinks in almost right away so there is no need to wait around for this to dry before getting dressed. I really appreciate that whenever I hit that snooze button a little too many times :-)

My verdict once again is wholeheartedly positive and I have been encouraging everyone I know to give Haus of Gloi a try. The formula is superior to most of the higher end lotions I splurged on so for me this is more than worth it. 

You can purchase the Hous of Gloi Body Emulsions and all their other equally amazing products on their direct website 

I hope someone finds this review helpful!

Have you tried Haus of Gloi? What is your favorite Etsy-like lotion? 

XOXO

ANJA

P.S. If you enjoyed this post and want some more Princeza Beauty Musings, please consider following me through GFC, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter! Insert "happy dance" here :-) 

Haus of Gloi Glorious Pumpkin Butters

Haus of Gloi for me is an example of how the "little guy" can breakthrough, succeed and trump what a lot of the other "big name" companies have only tried to do!

This wonderful little indie brand makes out of this world good body care, niche-quality oil perfumes, strange & unique scent-combinations, fabulous bath & soap products and a lip balm i am very addicted to. Did i mention all of their stuff is not only handmade but also VEGAN? Haus of Gloi manages to do all that without charging us a ridiculous amount of money and amazingly enough the whole thing is run by 2 very-very cool people. I cant even imagine how their multi-tasking world looks like but i bet i can imagine what it smells like :-) 

The Haus of Gloi world can be found here and they have pumpkin butters, emulsifying & bubbling scrubs, handmade soaps, body emulsions, perfume oils and lip balms. They release a ton of limited edition scent combinations for all their products along with the standard-house selections but heed my warning - their stuff can sell out quickly so order early! Customer service is outstanding as well so if you need more information, they get back to you super quickly. are very friendly and personable. Check out their ultra-cool blog here. 

I am a regular pumpkin butter consumer - my dry skin loves the rich formula and the girly girl in me is a sucker for the lovely scents i can choose! The formula of the butter is very rich, made with Shea butter and unrefined pumpkin seed oil, but i love how it never feels greasy at all, absorbs very quickly and always makes my skin feel comfortable. The texture is that of a heavy cream, almost whipped consistency and there is no trace of oil or wax at all - just smooth goodness that penetrates deeply, leaving the skin very smooth. In the summer I tend to alternate the butter with the lighter body emulsion, which is a lot lighter yet feels just as moisturizing. Both moisturizers leave a slight sheen on my skin that is normally only achieved by oil or a greasier versions of body butter (Body Shop i am looking at you!). 

Despite the fact that I love the feel and performance of these magical little pots, the area where Haus of Gloi really shines is the fragrance of everything that comes from their "kitchens". These scents are not the feeble-nosed individuals - this is oil perfume, meaning that its stronger, more potent than its alcohol counterparts, truer to the description and very-very noticeable. I am warning you - people will notice you are wearing it and will give you their input, its inevitable! If you love it then all of this is a great thing but if you don't be warned...

My three favourite Pumpkin Butters are: Troika, Vice and Twice is Nice 

Here are the scents as described on the Haus of Gloi website 

Troika (2 oz for $4.50 or 6 oz for $10) : A trinity of soft milks, almond, oat and coconut lashed with sweet agave nectar and the ethereal scent of clean white

Vice (2 oz for $4.50 or 6 oz for $10) : Steam billows rolling off a vessel of fresh made Turkish coffee, marshmallow goo tainted by graham cracker crumbs, toasted hazelnuts and blanketed in black chocolate.

Twice is Nice (2 oz for $4.50 or 6 oz for $10) : Sweetest offerings of opulence! Buttery sugar cookie, with shavings of creamy coconut and topped with toasted almond slivers. 

All of the Haus of Gloi come in those mouth-watering fragrances, along with so many other unique combinations that just sound to irresistible not to at least sample. When i am placing an order I always have a hard time choosing the scent because all of their signature descriptions make everything sound like i am missing out! 

If you are sensitive to fragrance I would still encourage you to give them a try because they do carry Aether which in their words smells like "absolute nothingness" - the formulation, quality, price and ingredients alone are worth it. The scent is just an amazingly fragranced bonus!

Ingredients for Aether (no scent):

water, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, cucurbita pepo (pumpkin) seed oil, caprylic/capric triglyceride, glyceryl stearate, PEG 100 stearate, glycerin, cycopentasiloxane, behenyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol, dimethicone, phenoxyethanol (and) caprylyl glycol (paraben and formaldehyde free preservative), hydrolyzed cucurbita pepo (pumpkin) seed extract, tocopherol, tetrasodium EDTA, xanthan gum, citric acid 

Hope that was helpful to you! What is your favorite indie or Etsy company?

XOXO

ANJA

P.S. If you enjoyed this post and want some more Princeza Beauty Musings, please consider following me through GFC, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter! Insert "happy dance" here :-)