Quickie Review: Nip + Fab Viper Venom Eye Fix

 

I really have no explanation as to why I bought this product. The words 'SYN-AKE' and 'LIFTONIN' really should have had me running a mile, but Boots had a 3-for-2 offer on skincare, I didn’t know what to pick and I'd read a lot of positive press about this product. Let's see what Nip + Fab have to say:

'A refreshing eye gel in a cooling roll-on applicator with wrinkle minimising LIFTONIN® + SYN®-AKE to smooth the appearance of fine lines + wrinkles around the eye area.

Red Algae Extract reduces the look of dark circles for a radiance boosting effect. With Syn-ake, a revolutionary ingredient that works to smooth skin and liftonin for instant tightening.'

This product has a LOT of claims on it's website – that it rids you of undereye circles, smooths, tightens, grants eternal salvation, blah blah blah. I do know that there are certain peptides (proteins - that’s the SYN-AKE, apparently) that tighten on the skin when you apply which can give a temporary smoothing effect, and that this has glycerine fairly high up the ingredients list and I get on pretty well with glycerine-based products. So while sceptical, I wasn't hideously sceptical.

Viper Venom comes in a rollerball pen-style bottle. If you've used these before, you'll know that they're very cooling and refreshing to use on the skin. Granted, this is usually more down to the metal rollerball rather than the product itself, or at least, it's very hard to discern if it actually is the the product itself because of the rollerball! Nonetheless, this packaging feels nice to use.

The product is a thin, clear serum and I find the rollerball dispenses a little more than you need, so I tap it in with a finger. It absorbs quickly meaning it's great for the morning as you can apply your makeup without waiting, and as mention, the cooling nature of the applicator means it's nice to apply at night too. I have to say, I'm actually enjoying this product. I don't find it's done anything to my dark circles (unsurprising seeing as I've only been using it for a couple of weeks) but I do feel that my eye area feels a little smoother. Could well be placebo, but I'm liking it so far! I will note that I certainly haven’t stopped using my thicker, more traditional eye cream – I use this under my eye cream, or in a rush in the morning and I will still apply a cream at night. As far as I’m concerned I would be quite happy to constantly slather product under my eye area, but that’s just me!

At £14.95, I do think this is expensive for what it is as I'm sure much of the effect is down to the rollerball and the glycerine as opposed to the red sea algae, ‘Liftonin’ and whatever other mumbo jumbo ingredients this has, but as of this moment it's certainly something I would consider repurchasing.

Do you like rollerball products? What are your favourite eye products?

Weleda Skin Food

I've mentioned Weleda Skin Food on my blog before, but never actually written much about it. Seeing as I recommend it all the time I thought I'd best get round to it so I can just point people here and stop repeating myself! This rather unassuming green tube has basically saved my skin. Let's see what the folks themselves have to say about it: 

 

"Weleda Skin Food is a nourishing and hydrating treatment for the whole body, especially hands, feet and elbows. This marvellous intensive moisture cream is a backstage beauty secret and been around since 1926. Suitable for vegetarians."

 

Let's get one thing out of the way first - I use this on my face. For most, this would be a great cream for the body but long-time readers of my blog will know I can get super-dry skin on my face, to the point of getting peely and sore. I initially bought this cream when my other half developed a little dry patch under his eye that wouldn't shift. As an aspiring makeup artist, I'm lucky to get product recommendations from other artists I know and Weleda Skin Food had been mentioned for problem dry patches and complexions many a time, so I bought it for him, but like many a beauty product bought for other halfs, it came back into my possession. I applied it one night when I had run out of my usual cream and instantly fell in love! 

This is *so* soothing. It's got a very thick texture, so a little goes an extremely long way. If you're using it on the face, you'll find it 'drags' if you try to rub it in as it's so thick, so patting a light layer on will work best. I used to use this day and night, but it's done my skin so well that I only need to use this as night cream now, and not even every single night. It does take a wee while to sink in, but if you've got the skin type that needs this level of juice on the face, you'll appreciate that. It's not one for a rush in the mornings though! I've been using this since the end of last summer, and I can't even tell you how happy I am with how much more comfortable my skin feels. I've not had any dry patches on my nose or cheeks flare up this winter and I've not had any flaky patches across my nose for a long time, which were a long standing fixture for a while. I love you, Weleda Skin Food. I love you.

 

The cream contains lanolin, so it's not vegan, and almond and sunflower oils which some people may be allergic to. If natural*, plant-derived ingredients are your bag though, this may well suit you! It does smell a little though - to my nose it smells a little like Campari, or slightly herbal.The green tube is, let's face it, pretty fuss free, but I don't care. I want it to do fancy stuff to my face, not to my shelf.

This absolute angel of a cream is beloved by many famous faces - Adele, Victoria Beckham and Erin O'Connor to name a couple - and now I'm a total convert as well. If it's not going to suit your face, your elbows, feet and shins may just love it. If you're a makeup artist, you can use this almost as you'd use a face mask to prep drier skins. It’s a great price and will last you for ages. What else can I say to express how much I love this stuff?!

Weleda Skin Food costs £8.95 from Weleda for 75ml.


*I hate the term 'natural' when it comes to beauty products. Natural? So what! Cyanide is natural, FFS.

LoveMeBeautyBox: January

I'm really enjoying my LoveMeBeauty subscription... I'm three boxes in now and I'm really enjoying the face that you can choose your options - it makes me more excited to try my items!



Clockwise from left:

Anatomicals your nose smells rose body cleanser:

It's a shower gel. It smells like rose. It's cheap and cheerful - not an unwanted item, but at this time of year I always end up with more shower gels than I can a stick at! The cheerful packaging will brighten up my bathroom until I've run out of Lush's Christmas goodies!

Weleda Sea Buckthorn Hand Cream:
I love love love my Weleda Skin Food (review coming soon!) and I've seen a lot of products with sea buckthorn in lately, so I was keen to try this. This is a small little tube, so perfect for your coat pocket or bag. It's a nice thick cream and it'll be coming along with me on my ski holiday

Essential Care Lemon and Teatree Facial Wash:

This was an added extra to the box this month - hurrah! Not suited for my skin type (sadly, as  it smells divine!) so I'll be palming this on off onto my boyfriend. who likes a nice face wash.

Pureology Colour Stylist Silk Bodifier:

Bloody hell, a hair mousse? I haven't used mousse since...god knows how long! The reviews on their website are a it mixed and seeing as the top rated one describes it as a 'moose,' I'm not sure what to think about this item, but I'll give it a try.

Cosmetics a La Carte Divine Lash Mascara:

Now *this* is what I was excited to try out! I've heard very good things about this brand and I'm on a mascara mission at the moment. I was very pleased to see a mascara with a SMALL WAND for a change. I've tried this out a few times and will do a full review, but let's just say I'm very pleased so far.

NYX Eyeshadow in Black Sparkle:

Meh. It's not that black. It's not that sparkly. I'd rather have had a neutral shade to be honest - this one is nothing to write home about, nor something I'd use regularly. A bit disappointing, but at least I know what I'm not missing!


So...a bit of a mixed bag this month, but the mascara was well worth the £10 subscription in my opinion!

Have you tried anything new or unusual lately? Fallen in love with any subscription box items?

 

First Impressions: LoveMeBeauty Box

I finally succumbed to a beauty box. I know most people tend to moan about them and to be honest, that's part of the reason why I subscribed - I love a good moan! I went with the LoveMeBeauty box which is £10 a month plus P&P.
The idea with LoveMeBeauty is that you get a choice of  'menus'  or 'mystery' box per month. With the menus, you can see the exact items you'll be getting, and with the mystery box, it's obviously a mystery!

You get 4-5 items in each box, with ' 1 to 2 star products and 3 travel sized samples.'  This month's menu had items from Lord and Berry, Models Own and Jelly Pong Pong but as it was my first go, I wanted to see what the mystery box had in store!

The box is simply presented – plain cardboard box with pink tissue paper and squigglies (real word) inside. I like that as there’s no guff and it’s easy to recycle. There was no descriptive card as I chose the mystery option. I’m not sure how much of a ‘mystery’ this option is though, as a couple of the items I got were on the menus that you could choose this month. Here’s what I got.

Clockwise from top left:

Organic Surge Gentle Cleansing Lotion £5.99

This is rosemary and lemon scented, and I won’t lie, it’s a weird smell. Not gross, but odd. However, that aside, I really like this! I love a nice creamy cleanser and this works really well – like all cream cleansers it’s a bit of a pain in the butt to take mascara off with the rest of my skin likes this a lot so far. The main ingredients are water and glycerin, and then a bunch of stuff that looks to be of a lemony origin, so seemingly no nasties to my untrained eye. I think this is my favourite item in the box!

Melvita Fresh Moisturising Body Milk

Meh. This is a pleasantly rose-scented body lotion, I suppose, but thin creams don’t do anything for me. It’s better than nothing but I prefer something a bit more robust, especially on my legs. This is my least favourite item in the box but I’ll keep it in my desk drawer for topping up my arms during the day.

Le Soin Purifiant Absolution Mask

I found this on Amazon as a 50ml instead of a 40ml for £24.00, so decent little item here for your box money. This is where having a card telling you about the products would be handy because this is all in French, and my French basically consists of talking about pamplemousse and ordering beer, so not helpful here! I worked out that it was a purifying mask. I tried it last night and it seems a little thin compared to a lot of facemasks I’ve tried. I didn’t really feel it did anything to be honest but hard to judge just from one go.

 

Anatomicals Don't Clean It Woman, Scrub It Body Scrub £3.60

What the hell kind of name is this? MEN USE SCRUBS TOO, YEAH? The back has some jokey blurb about ‘just like your kitchen floor’, your body needs scrubbing too. Um. Okay?  It’s not quite as gritty as I would like, but it does the job well enough and has a nice grapefruit scent so I’ll be using this up, despite (hopefully ironic) vaguely sexist branding. This retails for around £4, and I found it on various retailers including ASOS.

 

Jelly Pong Pong 2-in-1 Eyeliner & Shadow in Bronze £10.50

No name, but it's a deep, warm shimmery bronze. It's one of those colours that's nothing overly special, but I really quite like it. It has nice pigmentation on one stroke, smudges out quite nicely so would make a nice base, and yet isn't too soft to apply just as a liner. This has gone in my daily makeup bag for work and looks nice with blue eyes. Jelly Pong Pong are selling these for £10.50, which I think is a little pricey.

 

Well… I think I liked this box enough to try next month and see if I’ll carry on with it. I think I got my money’s worth with this one for sure – I really like the cleanser and the eye pencil is nice too. I’ll pick one the of menu items next month to see how that goes.

Do you have a box subscription? Which is your favourite?

Quickie Review: Soap and Glory Bright Here Bright Now

 

I picked this up on a buy two, get one free Soap and Glory offer a good while ago and it was a surprisingly good little find. I do like a bit of Soap and Glory, I must admit. Their scrubs and shower gels last for ages and are pleasingly enormous to boot!

Rather annoyingly, I believe Soap and Glory have changed a lot of their packaging, so if you’re looking for this in store, I think it’s now a white plastic tube. I actually prefer this sort of ‘metal’ tube as you can get every last bit out.

Bright Here, Bright Now is a soft golden champagne colour in a fairly thin, lotion-like formula which claims to  be ‘brightening, illuminating and radiance-boosting,’  have a ‘tightening and lifting effect’ and that it ‘minimises fine lines & wrinkles, moisturises, smoothes & energises.’

There are really mixed reviews of this product online, which as with any ‘skincare’ item is probably to be expected. The comment I’m seeing most is that it’s balling up/flaking off. It does have silicone in it, so you’re going to want to check what other products you’re using it with it, but I’ve never had that problem when using it at all and find it glides on easily and my foundations play well with it. The tightening claims though? Nah. I never buy into those claims past a temporary effect anyway, but I’ve certainly not noticed anything. However, I do find it lightly moisturising which is a bonus and I really, really like the brightening effect that it has.  I use it all over the face except the T-zone, and have even ran a little down the centre of my legs and my décolletage as well. It’s very subtle, and one of those things that someone else wouldn’t notice, but I do personally notice it and I really like it. Being so subtle on the face, it’s really hard to capture in photographs….

…See? You’d have no idea I was wearing it, but rest assured*I* did! A nice subtle illuminator is a mini confidence booster.

I’ve become really accustomed to wearing an illuminator under my foundation and this has become my go-to. I’ve been wearing it with Revlon Nearly Naked or Dr Jarts BB Cream for the last couple of months, and I’m interesting to see how it plays with Revlon Colorstay which is my winter foundation of choice.

For £12 this is a nice little product, and a nice find when many high street illuminators seem to be very pink! I really recommend this little lovely for winter, and if you keep your eye out in Boots, Soap and Glory are quite often on offer.

Favourites roundup!

WAY too late for August but time for some favourites nonetheless! I’ve changed jobs recently and have to be pretty conservative with my makeup. I love *all* makeup and polish colours so wearing neutrals doesn’t really bother me, but does mean I feel I have to make sure my skin is looking reeeeeeal pretty, hence a couple of items in this post.

 

Clockwise from top left:

Kiko Colour Explosion Multi Tone Blush in  03 Active Mauve

I got this beauty on sale from Kiko for around £6. The four swatches on the right below show the blush tones, with the far right one being all the colours mixed together. I just love how this looks lightly applied – a really soft, slightly cool-toned rose that just looks *so* pretty. I love how each part of the pan is large enough to wear alone, too.



Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Hemlock

I’ve raved long and hard about this, so just let me say that a strong duochrome that is work appropriate and long wearing is amazing.



Impulse Cosmetics Opaque Matte Lipstick in Smoking Gun

You can read my full review of this bad boy here, but I’m loving this beautiful bold, bargain priced blue!



Weleda Skin Food

This stuff really is wondrous! I’d seen a lot of makeup artists rave about this stuff, and when my boyfriend had a nastly flare-up of dry skin I bought it to see if it helped at all – and it did! Being a dry-skinned babe myself, I had to try it out and while I’ve been using it for less than a month I have to say I’ve seen a difference. I apply it at night as it take a while to sink in, but when I wake up my face feels wonderful and after a cleanse I just slap on some Illamasqua Hydraveil as opposed to a thicker day cream, so it saves me time in the morning too! It’s very thick and to me smells like Campari, which I don’t particularly like. If it’s good enough for Posh (apparently), it’s good enough for me and at arond £8 for 75ml it really is a bargain. I know I’ll repurchase!

Silk Naturals Eyeshadow in Fusion

I dug this baby out when rooting through my work-safe colours and it’s a pleasant rediscovery! Well known for MAC and Urban Decay dupes, there’s no arguing Silk Naturals makes a banging neutral and this is no exception. They describe it as a ‘dirty copper plum…with golden highlights’ and that it’s one of the colours that’s ‘too cool for the cubicle.’ It’s a pretty, interesting taupe and it’s made me rekindle my fondness for this brand, so expect to see more from them soon!

Silk Naturals eyeshadows in Heat, Glory, Fusion and Hairpin.

Maybelline Baby Lips

I’ve only shown the mint one here and that’s actually my least favourite, but it’s the only one that I had to hand, the pink and peach tints are living in my drawer at work! I wasn’t sure what all the hype was about I first heard of these, and yeah, they’re just lip balms. They’re not the most exciting of beauty products, but I really like the garish packaging and they do moisturise while providing a subtle, non-staining hint of colour that actually shows up. For three quid I can’t not love that!

What have you been loving at the moment? Tried anything here?

Quickie Review: Sanctuary Spa Covent Garden Therapist's Secret Facial Oil

A skincare review? From moi? Oh yeah!

If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time you know I’ve got pretty dry, lacklustre-looking skin, and I’m always looking for moisturising products. I picked this little bottle up on a whim when Boots had a three-for-two on skincare a few months ago and I’ve been using it long enough to give you my thoughts. It’s the first facial oil I’ve tried, and the first Sanctuary product I’ve tried too. The ingredients list and pretty pink and silver box is what drew me in, I can’t lie, but the website promises “Rosehip seed oil helps rebuild & strengthen, while the balancing duo of precious rose & frankincense soothes & calms for skin that looks dewy-soft, radiant & noticeably younger.” Nice sounding spiel, but the TL;DR/don’t believe product speak version is: Nice moisturizing oil that smells like roses.

 

I like to use this best in addition to my regular, night time moisturizer two to three times a week, when I’ve had a long day or need an extra moisture boost. I find if I apply it alone, it takes too long to sink in, contrary to what lots of reviews on the website say! However, if I add a drop or two to my usual cream, the whole things sinks in beautifully well and helps my moisturizer to spread over my whole face and décolleté, so I use less of my moisturizer than I would, and it remind me to spread the cream down my neck which I don’t normally do.  I wake up with lovely soft skin – much more so than using my usual moisturizer alone, and for me, that makes it worth the extra small step in my routine and the price.  The lovely scent and routine of adding the two products together still feels like a nice treat, too.

The one thing I hate about this product is the packaging – it’s awful! The glass bottle and dropper look and feel decent quality and it’s certainly a nice addition to your nightstand compared to some other products, but on mine at least, the silver part is glued over a white plastic part and came loose, and the dropper has come loose inside the cap itself on mine and looks a little wonky. It doesn’t travel well either and leaked in my bag, which was super fun to clean up!

 

Would I repurchase? I probably would, but I don’t see myself running out of it for a long time! I do think it’s very expensive when I could probably just find a better moisturizer for half the price, but I like the results and think come winter time I’ll be really thankful for it.

 

Therapist's Secret Facial Oil cost £17.35 for 30ml and can be found in larger Boots or  www.sanctuary.com

Quickie Review: Illamasqua Hydraveil

 

Everyone has been going nuts over one of Illamasqua’s latest releases, Hydraveil! There are different things written about what the product actually is, so here’s how it was explained to me by the girls at Illamasqua Beak Street:

-Hydraveil is a base for your makeup that you apply after your moisturizer
-It’s a quick step for flawless skin
-It’s not a primer in the sense that it doesn’t fill in pores, and that it’s not designed specifically to make your foundation last longer, just to provide a smooth, properly prepped base – but this can contribute to longer wearing makeup!
-It has a slight plumping effect
-It’s good for all skin types as it tackles to problem of dehydrated skin, as opposed to just dry skin like many products do.

 

Sounds amazing, right? The MUAs were certainly really excited talking about the product and I’m a sucker for a good sales pitch! All the above makes it sound too good to be true, no? I do have dehydrated skin – as well as dry, oh, joy!  It’s hard to tell, but dehydrated skin is lacking in water, whereas dry skin is lacking in oil, and you can be both – but one way is look for fine, crêpey lines, especially prematurely, which I certainly have. So I was really interesting in trying this product!

 

I love the packaging; as with all Illamasqua products it’s sleek and slightly quirky in an elegant way. This a round, slightly asymmetric tube with a screw-top lid. Inside, there’s a flip top lid which fits snugly, and a tiny spoon which clips in to the top. Very, very smart and practical. The spoon is totally necessary as scooping this out with your fingers is really hard because…

 

…of this crazy texture! It’s like jelly… smooth and shiny, and when you mix it up it goes mad, like bubbles or frogspawn! When you leave it, it settles again. Cool, huh? Because of the jelly texture, scooping it out by hand would be very hard, but with the tiny spoon you can get exactly the right amount. I find a little goes a long way, and one little spoonful spreads really easily across my whole face. It feel wet at first, but dries almost instantly and doesn’t leave any tackiness, or feel heavy.

I’ve been trialling this for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve certainly noticed my skin seems softer and my make is certainly lasting longer than it normally would. I’ve tried it with all my current foundations and they all applied beautifully over the top, and lasted a fair while longer than usual, and my skin felt comfortable throughout the day. I’ve read other MUAs saying it stops foundations they know to separate on the skin from doing so as well, and that it helps prep oily skins as well. So… it does seem to work!  While I’m not sure I notice a plumping effect, over time or on older skin perhaps that might be more noticeable? I’ll be certain to update the post if I notice anything over time!

I’m sure over time there will be dupes for this product - I’m not really an ingredient whizz, but the two main ingredients are water and glycerine (a humectant, something that helps keep things moist/retain water) which I believe is relatively cheap – but for now, regardless of cost, I’m certainly sticking with Hydraveil!

 

Hydraveil is available from Illamasqua.com, £27 for 30ml.

Mini Illamasqua Haul

I recently went to one of Illamasqua's fabulous free classes at the Beak Street store and fell in love with a couple of products during the drag demonstration! If you’d like a post on the demonstration let me know, I learnt some cool stuff!

Pure Pigment in Beguile

Okay, so out of all the amazing sparkly things in the world, on the face of it this isn't that exciting. It's looks white in the jar but as it's made of lots of tiny multicoloured particles it comes off as a 'colourless' sparkle on the skin. It's a real workhorse as it could be used to add sparkle to any colour and I don’t see that I’ll ever run out! It's just really pretty and I couldn't help myself.

 

 Concealer in 105

Left, Illamasqua concealer. Right, NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk.

I know, I know, I don't have white skin. But this is actually a hugely useful product, especially if you do makeup on other people. For extreme highlighting (as in a drag or Kim Kardashian -style look) or lightening other concealers, it's invaluable but I've been using it mainly as most people would use NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk. I actually much prefer this to Milk as it's not as stark and the texture is much more akin to actual skin than Milk is. It's much less creamy as well, so should stick around that bit better. I’m basically in love with it and think it’s a fab product.

 

Here's a quick eye look with both the above products as inner eye and brow highlights. You can't see the effect of Beguile as much as I'd like but in person it's so pretty and looks lovely over the white base. You can certainly build them to get a stronger look as well. I’m also wearing Illamasqua’s Lover blusher here, and I prepped my skin wiiiiiiith…

 

Hydraveil

Everyone's been fawning all over this product! I've only worn it a few times so have yet to gather my thoughts but I'm pretty sure my review is going to be nothing but positive! It's SUCH an interesting product, but I’m going to wait till my review before I start rambling. I will say though that I really like the textural theme running through the Paranormal collection – the finish of the polishes is cool, the palette is a fun texture and then you have this frogspawny-ness when you mix Hydraveil up.

 

Are you an Illamasqua fan? What are your favourite products?

Quickie Review: Lush Ultrabland

Oh, cleansers. So boring to write about, yet so essential! While I’m a diehard Bioderma fan, I wanted to try something that might help my poor dry skin out a little bit more during the really bitter late winter we’ve been having in the UK. Bioderma doesn’t dry me out at all, but it doesn’t have any hydrating properties and I was hoping as Ultrabland is essentially a bunch of oils, it might give my skin a little extra help.This little spiel on the Lush website sold it to me:

“Mo says that her skin is of such a dry and sensitive type, that when she wakes up in the morning it is so tight that she can’t even smile. She uses Ultrabland daily to put some elasticity back into her skin and protect it for the day.”

Well. Who can doubt Mo’s glowing testimony? The website also recommends that if you really have problem skin, using it alone will help “bring it back into balance.” I am always really sceptical of claims like this and see them as a marketing gimmick, but I thought I’d give it a go seeing as Lush seem to be overly enthusiastic about the product. Well, I gave it a couple of days, but I just couldn’t do it – I need the extra moisture! I could image if your skin is oily, or sensitive, that regime might work better for you.

The product is a thick, balmy, slightly yellow cream. I personally hate the smell – it smells of honey. Real honey, not fake, synthetic honey, and it’s not a scent I like at all! However, it’s not overwhelming and I’ve got over it. Looking at the ingredients list, it really does seem to have something for every skin problem – almond oil and beeswax to make a nice oily base to grab dirt and makeup, honey which is antiseptic, and rosewater to reduce redness, to name a few. So I  had high hopes!

Usage wise, it’s very easy. I massage it all over my face and use cotton wool pads damped in hot water to take it off. You only need a small amount to ‘dissolve’ all your makeup, and while I prefer to double cleanse with it, you don’t really need to with light makeup. I don’t take my eye makeup off with it though – it does work just fine but it’s a little more of a cumbersome procedure than using my Bioderma.  I don’t feel the need to wash my face with water afterwards and I don’t find – providing I don’t use too much which I did at first – that it After a week or so of using the product I had lots of breakouts on my forehead – just small little blackhead types. I can only attribute them to Ultrabland really, as I’d changed nothing else and when I normally break out, it is always, always on my chin. However, they went away within a few days and I’ve not seen them since.

My pot is pretty much finished now and it’s been a little over a month. I’ve not been using it every day, but at least three times a week, so it’s lasted a decent amount of time. I won’t say this is the wonder product that Lush say it is – at least for me – but I feel it’s contributed to softer skin and takes my makeup totally off without leaving my skin tight or dry and it actually feels like it’s hydrating it as well. I will be repurchasing it as it’s great for those days when you need to double cleanse and I like that it helps my moisturising routine along a bit!

Ultrabland costs £6.75 for 45g and is available from www.lush.co,uk

Have you got a favourite Lush skincare product?

Mini French Pharmacie Haul–Micellar Solutions Galore!

I’m sure everyone has heard of the wonders of French pharmacie skincare brands, but if you haven’t, they’re famous among makeup artists and beauty lovers for being really effective, relatively cheap and having really large, comprehensive ranges. You can get a lot of the more famous brands like Embryolisse, La Roche Posay and Vichy much more easily in the UK now than you could a few years or even a year ago, but on my ski trip a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t resist popping into the chemist on the resort…

 

Wow… that is a LOT of skincare! This is less than half the stuff they had! I had to snap up a couple of items even though I thought the prices were probably inflated due to being on the resort. Sadly they didn’t have Bioderma, which is still an absolute pain in the arse to get hold of in the UK, but here’s what I did get:

 

La Roche Posay Hydraphase Intense UV SPF 20:

I wanted the SPF 30 version as more sun protection is always better, but they didn’t have it so I went for the 20, which is a whole lot better than nothing, hey? The website says :

“Hyaluronic Acid Fragments ensure epidermal cohesion to infuse and lock water in for ultra long-lasting hydration. Adapted to sensitive skin.
The filtering system helps protect skin against damages caused by daily exposure to UVA & UVB rays. Normal to combination sensitive and dehydrated skin.”

DOESN’T THIS SOUND PERFECT?! I’m sadly not super impressed with it so far though, but my skin is beyond dehydrated after a week on the slopes ( the combination of sun, cold and wind is always a recipe for a dry, flaky nose ) and then a further week of cold and snow at home. It’s in pretty awful shape. So I’m going to stick with it and hope that it works put for me. I hope so as I’ve liked other LRP moisturisers I’ve tried a lot. When the weather sorts itself out, this might be a nice moisturizer for me for spring. I think this was around 20 euro and it’s available to order online in the UK.

La Roche Posay Solution Micellare:

Yay, micellare solutions! As they didn’t have Bioderma, I picked this one up. LRP say:

“Micelles - micro-encapsulate dirt on skin's surface and lift it up without rubbing, thereby maintaining skin's physiological balance. Optimal safety on sensitive skin with Poloxamer, a cleansing ingredient so mild it is used in contact lens solutions. Effective to remove impurities while respecting skin's natural balance. Cleanses, tones and calms skin, while respecting its physiological balance.”

This was about thirteen or fourteen euro for 400ml, which is quite expensive. However, I do really like it. It has a slight sweet scent whereas Bioderma has no scent. Bioderma makes shorter work of my mascara and things like gel liners, but it’s a very minor performance issue and there’s not much difference between the two at all really, so I’m glad I picked this up if only satisfy my curiosity as to whether all micellar solutions were the same!


Uriage L’eau Demaquillante:

This isn’t a brand I’ve heard of bofore, and they didn’t seem to have as large a range as the rest of the brands in store. I picked up this as it’s another micellare solution and they didn’t have another LRP one. I wanted to stock up as opposed to paying tons of shipping costs and working out where had the best deal for bloody Bioderma. Uriage say:

Quick and effective, Cleansing Water, Micellar Solution, cleanses and removes make-up in a single step with no need to rinse. It preserves the hydration and purifies the epidermis.
The skin is clear, soft and radiant.
Yep, the above is pretty true. In fact, if you're not au fait with what micellar solutions are, that pretty much sums it up. They're water-like cleansers/makeup removers in one. I think I favour it slightly over the LRP version. But it STINKS! It’s got a strong herbal/medicinal smell to it. The ingredients list pomegranate extract which… I guess is where the scent comes from? It almost smells like the tannic taste you get from fruit seeds, so perhaps that's what it is? Who knows! It’s not exactly unpleasant but it’s strong and not a scent I was expecting at all!  This was about 10 euro for 200ml.

Do you use any French or foreign skincare brands? Do you have any recommendations for my poor dry skin from foreign ranges?

Quickie Review: Bioderma Crealine H2O Micelle Solution (Makeup Remover)

I’ve been umm-ing and aah-ing over whether to buy this product for a while. It’s easy to buy into products that there is so much hype about, and for around £20 a bottle it’s not the cheapest remover in the world, either. I finally found a decent price online (I went with leguidesante.co.uk and got a 100ml and a 500ml bottle with shipping for £19.47, give or take a penny) so I took the plunge.

…So, what is a micelle solution? LeGuideSante.co.uk writes that it’s a “Solution of fatty acid esters, both emulgatory and filmogenous, enables dirt to be emulsified and surface hydrolipidic film to be reconstituted.” That sounds like…someone has swallowed a thesaurus, no? Well, I’m buggered if I can explain it properly either, but apparently a micelle is a type of molecular cluster where one end is hydrophilic and one end is hydrophobic (one end attracts water, and the other repels it). Apparently bashing these clusters around on your skin causes them to suck up anything that isn’t water – so makeup, dirt, oil, etc.   Sounds pretty darn perfect, right? One would assume from that it’s good for dry skin, it’s also got no fragrance or alcohol, so good for sensitive skin, and t’internet let me know that you can apply makeup straight away after using Bioderma as well. ALL THESE THINGS SOUNDED GOOD.

So…. is it as awesome as everyone says? In a word… yes. In two words, UH, YES. It really does the job – taking of makeup – amazingly well. I’ve used it on everything from long-wearing foundation to mascara to gel liner and paint pots and it makes pretty darn short work of them all. You may need a little more work than others on say, waterproof mascara, but it really does the trick – even models I’ve used it on have commented on how good it is! It dries super quickly and doesn’t leave a residue, so you can apply makeup straight away again afterwards – it’s a life saver for correcting lipstick/liner whoopsies! (Not that I ever make any, of course >.> ) It doesn't dry out my already dry skin at all, either. I do still cleanse my face after using it, as my cleanser has other benefits than just taking my face off.

The only tiny negative is that where the consistency is almost exactly like water, you do need to be careful not to totally soak your cotton pad when you’re taking your eye makeup off, or when you press it onto your eye, you’ll get the product in your eye. It doesn’t hurt at all, sting or make your eyes red, it’s just not exactly pleasant!

While it isn’t the cheapest, you get tons for your money, a little goes a long way and it’s really a bloody good product.

(P.S…Who wants me to attempt a dodgy Union flag look for the Jubilee?)