Happy weekend, my loves!

Don’t forget that today is Father’s Day! Be sure to call your pops and tell him how much you appreciate him.

Now here’s me quickly sharing with you some of my beauty favorites from the week.

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This Week’s LOVE

Cool milk baths on a hot sumer day.

It finally feels like summer in Paris! And because air conditioners don’t exist here, one simple way to cool off while treating your skin at the same time is to soak in a nice cool milk bath.

Just take one cup of milk and pour it in your bath water. Milk is a natural skin exfoliant, and will help to cleanse and soften your skin.

I also love doing this DIY milk mask!

This Week’s LINK

Riding The Bus In L.A. is a blog that has nothing to do with riding the bus in L.A.

You’ll find a good mix of things here.

There are posts that deal with beauty, like Beauty School Dropout and product reviews like this one, Beam Me Up – Benefit High Beam.

But what really keeps me coming back for more is the blogger’s humorous cultural observations on life.

My two favorites are People I feel Sorry For In The Music Business and The Intern.

The writer behind this rather new-ish blog goes by the name of Miss P. And she always writes with remarkable wit and honesty.

Talent like this should not go unnoticed!

This Week’s MAGIC

Did you know that babies, those cute drooling gargly creatures, have the inherent ability to recognize beautiful faces?

There are studies that show babies tend to stare longer at beautiful faces that adults would generally also consider to be attractive.

Is this proof that there is such a thing as a Universality Of Attractiveness???

If that photo above looks a little busy to you, it’s because Ma Boîte À Beauté May 2013 Beauty Box came with a total of 8 beauty products.

6 of which were full-sized products! 

The contents in the box are geared for ”Summer Travel”:

1) BOURGOGNE BEAUTÉ Face and Body Milk
2) AFRIKISSIME Hair Mask Conditioner
3) BRITANIE Gentle Shampoo
4) POLAAR Moisturizing Gel Cream
5) ATTIRANCE Melon Body Yoghurt
6) PURA BALI Purifying & Moisturizing Massage Oil
7) KARITÉ Instant Bronzing Water
8) ELITE Kohl Smoky Effect Eyeliner

Ma Boîte A Beauté (MBAB) is a French beauty box. At this time, they don’t ship internationally. Which is too bad, because the beauty products they send out are always of top quality (check out the contents of my first Ma Boîte A Beauté beauty box).

Recently, MBAB came out with a new formula called the MAYA box.

You pay 29 euros + 3 euros for shipping. And you are guaranteed at least 120 euros worth of beauty products and a minimum of 7 different beauty products.

They offer the MAYA box only once every two months. But you can still subscribe to the regular 16 euro beauty box which comes out every month.

Here are my first impressions of each product in the
MBAB MAY MAYA Box! (now say that with me 5 times) … 

BOURGOGNE BEAUTÉ Face and Body Milk

With Vine Extract - 250 ml (Full Size) 

This lotion comes with a lot of lotion! Even though it’s formulated for the face and body, I would only dare use this on my body.

The smell is quite peculiar. I’d say it’s a mixture of soap and candy.  The lotion feels cool and is sufficiently hydrating.

Retail Value: 18 €

AFRIKISSIME Hair Mask Conditioner

With Shea Butter and Orange Blossom – 200 ml (Full Size)

What a coincidence! It so happens that I’d been looking for a great conditioner! Afrikissime is a natural cosmetic brand which features shea butter as the star ingredient in their products.

You can use this regularly after shampoo. And once a week as a mask.  The scent is quite natural, with a hint of spice. I’ve already had great results from this conditioner!

Retail Value: 20,50 €

BRITANIE Gentle Shampoo

With Wheat Protein – 50 ml (Not Full Size)

Another great hair care product! Britanie is a natural and organic brand that uses locally sourced ingredients from the coastal regions of France. The scent of this shampoo is light, fresh and zesty.

I’ve used this with and without conditioner. And each time, I’ve gotten remarkably soft and shiny hair. I would definitely buy the full size version of this.

Retail Value (of the full size): 21,00 €

POLAAR Moisturizing Gel Cream

With Glacial Water and Arctic Micro-Algae – 20 ml (Full Size)

Polaar is a brand that capitalizes on glacial water from beyond the polar circle. Because “experts unanimously agree that polar plants contain the most potent and purest natural antioxidants” …really?

In any case, this moisturizer is suited for normal to combination skin. It is a gel that feels really cool on the skin. Unfortunately, my skin reacts kind of badly to this moisturizer. And the smell is too masculine for me.

Retail Value: 34,90 €

ATTIRANCE Melon Body Yoghurt

With Avocado Oil – 100 gr (Full Size)

Attirance is a natural cosmetic brand from Latvia. I love the melon smell of this body yoghurt! And the creamy texture just makes me want to eat this!

But don’t eat it. Because that’s not what this lotion is for.

Actually, I’m not gonna lie. I did taste this. And you know? It wasn’t bad!

Retail Value: 9,90 €

PURA BALI Massage Oil

With Sesame Seed Oil – 75 ml (Not Full Size)

This is a purifying and moisturize massage oil. It’s actually more like a dry oil. It absorbs very quickly and doesn’t leave a greasy residue on the skin. So actually, it’s not ideal for massaging (you want an oil that stays on the surface of the skin to help reduce friction).

But in any case, this oil is still really nice to use on the skin. The smell makes me think of incense. It’s a scent that you would associate with spas.

Retail Value (of the full size): 13,50 €

KARITÉ Instant Bronzing Water

100 ml (Full Size)

Karité emphasizes that this product contains no auto-bronzing. This was the only product that has no use for me. I’m already perfectly happy with my brown tanned skin. I tried this out anyway, just to see what it’s all about.

At first, when you spray it on, you get these droplets on your skin that has the look and consistency of runny poo. But once you rub it in, the resulting look is actually natural and not as orange as I’d feared.

Retail Value: 20 €

ELITE Kohl Smokey Effect Eyeliner

(Full Size)

The only makeup product that came in the box. I really like the thickness of this eyeliner because it’s easy to apply. It doesn’t smudge too much.

It’s really great for getting that smokey eye effect. But I’m just not sure how I’m going to sharpen the tip once it gets blunt.

Retail Value: 11,15 €

If you add up the retail value of all the full-size products, this box came out to being around 115€ in value at least.

Not too bad, since I only paid 32€ for everything. Plus, I got to discover two great haircare products that has done wonders on my hair!

Overall, I’m quite satisfied with the contents of this box.

I’ll probably end up giving away the Karité Bronzing Water to someone who could use it more than me…

Any takers?

Not many people have heard of Neile Adams.

 

She is an actress, singer and dancer from the late 50s and early 60s. She was famous especially because of her marriage to actor and classic movie icon, Steve McQueen.

They co-starred in “Man From The South,” a short film by Alfred Hitchcock, which is how I first took notice of her.

I liked her vintage style, and the cool and sophisticated way she carried herself.

 

But mainly, I was intrigued by her dark exotic features.

If you watch a lot of vintage black and white movies, you may notice that there were not too many ethnic leading ladies back then.

So that’s why for me, Neile Adams really stood out.

 

In fact, I was quite amused (but not too surprised) to find out that Neile Adams is filipino. Just like me!

She was born in Manila from a very mixed heritage. And she got her start in acting and dancing in Broadway shows.

In the photo below, I love the pencil skirt dress she’s wearing and her classic 60s pixie cut. She maintained that same pixie hair cut throughout her life.

Steve McQueen doesn’t look too shabby himself in that black cardigan with the white collared button up shirt. Back in those days, McQueen was known as the “King of Cool.”

 

By the way, you MUST watch the short film “Man From The South!”

It’s a brilliant tale, adapted from a Raold Dahl short story. It’s free on Open Culture and it’s only 25 minutes.

Watching Steve McQueen and Neile Adams acting along side each other is magic. And the story will keep you guessing as to what’s going to happen next.

After all, it’s a film by Alfred Hitchcock. So it’s got to be damn good.