DE 
EN As a market analyst and trend scout for ProTec Ingredia, I spend a lot of time travelling. A fortnight ago, I moved my desk to Helsinki and worked there for a week. After a week's holiday, I was able to immerse myself in everyday Finnish life for a few days. A change of environment reliably gives me fresh ideas in my head. Helsinki is also ideal for a beauty trend hunt, as the Finnish capital combines Scandinavian trends with influences from North-East Europe.
How my workation went
The concept of workation, i.e. combining work and travelling, is ideal for me: weeks of sightseeing or lying on the beach are not for me. As I love and live beauty, I can't and don't want to completely separate my work from my private life. I really appreciate the fact that I can combine the two so well in my job at ProTec Ingredia.
How do I put my workation into practice? I don't find a classic hotel room suitable for a workation. I prefer to rent a small studio with both a kitchen and a desk for my mobile office. This gives me more independence and allows me to set up a kind of everyday life.
Of course, Wi-Fi is essential so that I can easily access all my work files. I can connect with my colleagues and customers via video call - who find it exciting to hear about my beauty discoveries first-hand.
My break highlights
At lunchtime, I adapted to Finnish life during my workation: At about half past eleven (yes, Finns eat lunch early!), I made my way to a "Lounas Buffet": A lunch buffet for a fixed price of around 14 euros including soup, dessert, drink and coffee - an offer that is extremely popular everywhere in Finland. I discovered an unusual Lounas buffet in my neighbourhood, where a Chinese restaurant offers a lunch buffet with Szechuan cuisine.
I once used my lunch break for a quick dip in the Baltic Sea. In many places in Helsinki, there are jetties that were actually built for washing carpets. In summer, you can easily jump into the water from the wooden jetties. Refreshed and chilled, I returned to my desk afterwards.
Working in a working space
Working from your own desk is nice, but sometimes a little change is good. That's why I spent a day working in the new and very modern Oodi City Library, the new "living room" for all residents and visitors to Helsinki. Here, everyone can read, work, study, record music in studios or play games on three floors. Stable wifi is a standard feature. And that's exactly where I opened up my laptop and continued working on a current presentation, answering emails and planning social media posts.
My beauty discoveries in Helsinki
The best-known Finnish cosmetics brand is probably Lumene. I like to compare it to our German cult brand Nivea: everyone has been familiar with it for many years. Lumene is sold in supermarkets and department stores in Finland and includes face care, body care, make-up and hair care. Nordic berries, birch extracts and Arctic spring water are used as active ingredients. The new products are formulated close to natural cosmetics and are very trendy. I find the new Birch Dew Jelly, a 2-in-1 serum, exciting, for example.
Natural cosmetics in Finland
The best selection of Finnish natural cosmetics can be found in Helsinki at Ruohonjuuri. This shop is a mix of natural cosmetics speciality shop and health food store - sounds much more old-fashioned than Ruohonjuuri is. Here you'll find a huge selection of the hottest food supplements, selected foods and lots of small indie beauty brands. All of this is presented in a bright and tidy ambience. I particularly like the themed tables that bring together nutritional supplements and cosmetics. Incidentally, Ruohonjuuri has just launched its own affordable and stylish hair and body care brand.
Design is very important in Finland: Brands such as Iittala, Marimekko and Artek are at home here. Perhaps that's why some cosmetics brands look more stylish than elsewhere. A good example of this is Djusie, which describes itself as a "visionary F-brand": Founder Katja Kokko is keen to draw more attention to Finnish cosmetics internationally. Djusie's eight products have names such as Acid Bloom (an AHA toner) or Fruit Glaze (a facial oil). Not only the natural cosmetic formulations with reishi and quince oil, but also the strong and colourful design of the packaging are definitely something to be proud of.
K-Beauty is everywhere
The first Korean BB creams and sheet masks appeared in Germany in 2011 - and had a major impact on the cosmetics market in Europe and the USA. In the meantime, K-Beauty went a little quiet - but now it's back! The increasing popularity of K-pop, K-dramas and K-food (Korean fried chicken is now available in many German cities) has also given Korean cosmetics brands such as COSRX, Anua and Klairs a new lease of life. K-Beauty is omnipresent in Helsinki: I discovered several shops specialising in Korean cosmetics. But a good selection of K-Beauty is also available in the Stockmann department store and in perfumeries and has therefore arrived in the mainstream.
New "normal" drugstores
Do you know Normal? I discovered several branches of the Danish chain Normal here in Helsinki. Normal sells drugstore products at favourable prices. The range includes skin care, hair care, oral care, shampoo and make-up. As the prices are favourable, there are no special offers, only fixed prices. The design of the shop with a certain charming rummage table look, on the other hand, suggests cheap prices. You are also led past all the shelves as if in a queue before going to the checkout. Since 2013, Normal has opened over 700 shops in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Finland, Portugal and Spain. This means that Normal is filling a gap, particularly in countries where there are no traditional drugstores - without being a drugstore in the true sense of the word (e.g. there is no advice). A drugstore in cool, so to speak.
You can find all my stories from Helsinki saved on our Instagram profile in the "Workation" highlight.