Skincare and haircare favourites of 2013

Today I'm starting a series of posts summarising the year 2013. 

First I'm going to focus on skincare and haircare. My idea of my yearly favourites is to present products which I discovered throughout last year and which have earned their place on my bathroom shelf, which I have or will repurchase. This explains the scarcity of products in the picture above. I never stick to my skincare or haircare routine, I like to experiment and even though I liked a great number of them I hardly ever remained loyal.

The first three items are my encounters with brands that were previously unfamiliar to me, which got me hooked and were a kick-start of a long and ongoing relationship.

SOAP & GLORY THE RIGHTEOUS BUTTER LOTION is the first product by the brand I've had the opportunity to use, but since then I've ordered their shower gel, body scrub and a couple of make-up items.

I love their bath and body products for their bulky size, convenient dispensers, adorable fragrance and, quite obviously, the cute vintage packaging.

THE EMU OIL WELL eye cream and heel balm are definitely not vegan, vegetarian or animal friendly, but they're darn effective. I also like the simple tin jar packaging and the amount of product in there.

KORRES WILD ROSE EYE CREAM won my heart as it was not only highly moisturising and efficient for my extremely dry undereye asrea, but also contained SPF15, which is rare among eye creams. It became my must-have in the summer and I'll definitely repurchase next season.

ST. TROPEZ was not the longest-lasting tan on my legs, but it was the most natural one ever. No yellow or orange tones and no streaks. 

BIORE AQUA sunscreens are absolutely amazing for oily skin. They're thin like water, look matte, don't leave white cast and don't smell odd, but offer very high SPF.

GOLDWELL STYLE SIGN SLEEK PERFECTION THERMAL SPRAY SERUM is a unique heat protector to be used with flat irons. It's not water based, so it doesn't turn your hair wet just before styling with hot tools. And, as everyoneone knows, water  + hot iron means severe hair damage. 

REDKEN SCALP RELIEF SOOTHING BALANCE SHAMPOO treated my dry, itchy and horrendously flaky scalp in just a couple of weeks. I've switched to other hair care now, but I'll always keep a bottle of this in my stash, just in case my scalp problems return and need to be dealt with again. 

THE BODY SHOP CAMOMILLE CLEANSER is by far the best solid or oil-based cleanser I've used. I need to repurchase as soon as I've used up my Eve Lom cleanser.