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I spend half of June away in Mallorca, enjoying the sea, the beach and a lot of leisure time, so this months Skincare Stash Update will be less skincare and more life, although I did some beauty shopping at duty free.

 

 

We didn’t fly International, so technically duty-free wasn’t exactly priced different than shopping at a regular store would have been, but what can I say. It is a ritual to browse the isles and as I am a „be at the air port two hours before boarding“ person, I had some time to kill. So without further ado, here is what I bought, did and read last month.

 

 

 

 

New In from Garnier

The only skincare item I purchased last month is the Garnier Skinactive Aloe Hyaluronic Gel Cream (50 ml for 5, 95 €, full review coming soon), and I bought it at a local supermarket in Mallorca. Why, you ask? Because I have two children that slowly grow into a phase where their skin gets a little more temperemental (they inherited that from me). Despite having access to a multitude of products stashed away in my drawers, they (thankfully!) don’t show any interest in skincare in general and only reluctantly use stuff if I tell them they have to.

That is of course sunscreen and recently, with clogged pores and small whiteheads on the rise, some salicylic acid product. Which in conjunction with being in the water and wind all day, lead to skin craving hydration. Now they had a cream for that, of course I had given them one, but they didn’t bring it. Which is why I went shopping for a cream that is as light as possible, yet still hydrating, and Garnier was what I picked.

Back home now I inherited it and figured I would give it a go as with the current scorching temperatures a refreshing gel is very welcome.

 

 

New In from Prada

For years I have been rotating between the same two perfumes: One for summer (Eau d’Énergie from Biotherm) and one for the rest of the year (Ange ou Demon Le Secret from Givenchy), but recently I got the urge to branch out and be able to pick between more than these two. Perfume depending on my mood!

To achieve that, I started wearing all the samples I got with different purchases to find the ones that I still liked once the sample was empty, so after three to four weeks. So far I added Black Opium over Red by Yves Saint Laurent to my collection and, my most recent purchase, Prada Paradoxe (30 ml for 87 €).

Looking at the fragrance information, I can inform you that it has tangerine, bergamot and pear as top notes, orange flower, neroli and jasmine as middle notes and vanilla, amber and moschus as base notes. It might be that this gives you a clear picture of the perfume – I am really bad at describing scents, so what I can tell is that it is sweet and floral without being heady. The vanilla certainly gets stronger over time and the jasmine lessens a little, but other than that it is one of the perfumes that I apply and that pretty much stays the same throughout the day.

The perfume community online doesn’t rate it very high, it is often called basic and „a blend of stuff you have smelled before“ and I am not going to argue with that. It is probably why I like it so much for a day at the office – comforting, sweet, but absolutely not intrusive. I can smell it at the end of the day, but it is never at the forefront of my mind like others, heavier ones can be.

 

 

New In Fashion

Two fashion items to show you, with fashion being used in the widest sense possible. One is a pair of linen trousers from „Blanc du Nil“ (I wear Taille 2 which is equivalent to Large), very lightweight, as comfortable as pyjama bottoms, but paired with a more elegant top great to wear to the office. Like most lightweight linen trousers they are a tad see though, so you need to wear light or nude underwear with them.

And the second one is an adhesive bra so I can finally wear the summer dresses I have that don’t allow for a proper bra due to their open back, but are too thin to wear without any type of nipple cover. Not that there is anything wrong with having your nipples show, but it is again not something I want when at the office. The ones I got are the Lillypads Premium in the color Nude (2 pieces for 9,95 €). So far I have only worn them once, so I can’t comment on duration, but I can tell you they did stay put all day and I didn’t notice wearing them at all.

 

 

Things I have done, read and watched in June

With a two week holiday in Mallorca in the middle of the month, I managed to do a lot of reading. And sleeping, swimming, eating and hiking of course. Our holiday way two-fold: For the first half we stayed at a Finca in the east of the island, remote enough to properly relax far away from any party crowd. The only drawback was that to get to the beach, you needed the car, which is what we did a few times. The majority we stayed put though to – see above – read, sleep and eat.

After this very relaxing time we changed scenery and traded the spacious finca for a small flat overlooking Port Soller, a town in the North West of the island. That one was two minutes away from the beach and right at the marina with numerous places to just sit, people-watch and drink Coke Zero. Or – again see above – eat and read.

With that many opportunities for reading, I am happy to report that I finished four books, three of them on holiday. The one I finished before was Everlasting Night, Volume 2 of „Night of Shadow and Flames“ by Laura Labas, a vampire – fae – fantasy story. I enjoyed the first volume, which I read in 2024, but this one was a huge let down. I guess I am too old to relate to an indecisive, but extremely powerful 20something stuck between two men and showing the emotional maturity of a toddler. Seriously, both the Vampire and the Fae Prince should have just walked away.

To get me back into reality I read The Motion of the Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver. This book deals with an aging couple and the way they deal with increasing physical problems that come with age and with the pain of being forced into early retirement and somehow losing yourself in the process. Sounds depressing, yes, but is beautifully written and a lot more relatable than being stuck between two immortal men fighting for my love.

Then it was time for more fantasy – I was on holiday after all. I picked up The Draconis Memoria Trilogy by Anthony Ryan on a whim when at the library and finished both The Waking Fire and The Legion of Flame before our return home. Great world-building, interesting and relatable characters and very grown-up. Not in the SMUT sense, more in the language used and the complexity of the sentences. Volume three is sitting at my bedside table right now and so far it is just as good as the first two.

For tv-shows I watched „As though nothing happened„, a documentary from 2022 following seven people in Damascus, completely different in their way of life, but united in their experience with years of war. It is only a 58 minute watch, but quite intense. Especially given recent developments in the world. For the flight to and from holiday I watched the new episodes from „Ginny & Georgia„, but I haven’t finished the new season yet, so I will give you my thoughts next month.

 

What’s been new on your side of the screen?

 

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