Actually Anna Christmas Countdown Day 9: November exciting new discoveries

Just because it’s blogmas (aka Actually Anna Christmas Countdown) I didn’t forget about the Exciting New Discoveries series. This month just flew by, but nevertheless I have found some awesome new products that I’d like to share with you.

Makeup and skincare

First up are my makeup and skincare new discoveries, which are kind of some cult products that I finally tried. The Clarins instant lip perfector in the shade #1 Rose Shimmer definitely lives up to all the hype around this product. It’s a very comfortable almost oil feeling lip balm, with a slight pink shimmer sheen to it. This product really does what the name suggests! It makes your lips instantly beautiful in a “your lips but better” way and it’s very moisturising! a

The other product I finally tried is the Pixi Glow Tonic and I really think I should have tried this way sooner! This is a cult product for a reason. It’s very gentle on your skin, which I didn’t expected at all. I was really afraid that this product would dry out my skin, but in fact it kind of does the opposite. It feels almost moisturising when you apply it and it gets rid of the texture on your skin. I definitely going to repurchase this when it’s empty!

hair care and other bits & bobs

I can already hear you say it, but yes I finally jumped on the Tangle Teezer bandwagon. And yes I should have tried this way sooner, because I really love this brush. When everyone hyped over this hair brush I was thinking a brush is just a brush right?! But finally after trying this one I understand the hype! The bristles are very soft but do get all the knots out of your hair. I don’t have to pull as much on my hair to detangle it, which leaves my hair in such a better condition!

When I walked through TK Maxx the other day (yes we finally have them in The Netherlands too!) I saw this pillow spray and I thought why not try it. I really love the concept of the pillow sprays, which usually have a lavender kind of scent to make you relaxed and fall asleep easier. This one has a lavender and citrus scent, which I also love! I don’t know if it really help, but at least the scent is nice! Do you have any experience with pillow sprays? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear your thoughts on them!

tech gadgets and apps

The final two discoveries of this month aren’t once that I usually feature, but I’ve been loving them a lot. The first one is a pop socket, which I had never heard about before Alfie Deyes started talking about them. They are very useful when you make selfies or want to use your phone one-handed without dropping it. These are sold all over the internet in many different designs. I really recommend them, so your phone doesn’t end up looking like mine!

My last discovery of this month is an app called Sleep Cycle (please don’t pay attention to my broken phone). I really love this app, because first of all it wakes you up when you are in a lighter sleep phase. This allows you to really wake up nice and easy. You just set your phone for example at 9 am and the app monitors when you are in your light sleeping phase between 8.30 and 9 am. And it wakes you up within that 30 minutes. The other thing this app does is monitor your sleeping phases during the night by using the accelerometers inside your phone. These monitor the movements you make during your sleep which correspond to a certain sleeping phase. In the morning you see a graph with the different phases per hour and you can see how well you’ve slept.

I really hope that you liked reading about my November exciting new discoveries and I’ll see you tomorrow for another blog post during Actually Anna Christmas Countdown!