Nivea Express Hydration Primer

I had been wanting to try this for an absolute age but couldn't seem to find it anywhere, so when I saw it a few weeks ago I snapped it up immediately! I had heard so many good things about this, and as someone who suffers from dry skin, a moisturising primer could only be a good thing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nivea claims that this:

"Provides and even and smooth base for effective make-up application and helps your make up stay put.

Absorbs instantly thanks to its light texture.

Uses an effective hydrator for long-lasting moisturisation and soft feeling skin."

 

It is also "enriched with vitamins and natural lotus extract".

 

I really love the glass jar it comes in - it looks so much more expensive than it is! This primer is actually a really strange consistency. It's almost gel-like, which I wasn't expecting at all, I thought it would be just like a moisturiser.

 

The light consistency sinks into the skin really quickly, as long as you don't apply too much! If you apply too much your skin will feel greasy and it will take an absolute age for it to sink in enough for you to apply your foundation.

 

This makes your skin really smooth, without that horrible feeling you can get with the silicone primers. It makes pores appear smaller, and it definitely hydrates the skin! As I said, my skin can get quite dry so with this I no longer have to use a primer AND a moisturiser, just this.

 

I would recommend this 100%. I don't think you can get anything like this on the high-street, meaning it's unique, and it genuinely does work! I have the normal/combination skin formula, but you can get one which is specifically tailored to very dry/sensitive skin. Although I do have dry skin in parts, I felt that the normal/combo formula would suit my skin better.

 

This is £4.99 and available from Superdrug.

 



Soap & Glory The Righteous Butter



Soap & Glory is one of them brands that almost everybody loves. The Righteous Butter is one of their best-selling products, and it's something I have been using off and on for ages now.

 

Soap & Glory describe it as an "award winning body butter with softening shea butter and aloe vera. Smooth on a handful after your shower and you might swear you're wearing velvet. Scented with our Original Pink fragrance".

 

 

 

If you're familiar with Soap & Glory, then this body butter smells like a traditional S&G product. If you're not familiar, then the scent is really difficult to describe. It's one of them smells that you either love or hate. It's quite sweet, but it's a very unique scent.

 

When using this I apply if straight after getting out of the shower, and it works wonders for my skin. It smooths and softens, and leaves my skin smelling lovely for hours after.

 

It applies easily and melts into your skin quickly so there is no greasy feeling which can sometimes happen with body butters.

 

Overall, I do like this. Honestly I prefer using the Body Shop Body Butters, but that is only because I prefer the scent of them. The Body Shop ones are more expensive however, so I tend to use both!

 

This travel sized one (here) that I have is £2.50 and it lasts quite a while, but the full sized one (300ml)(here)  is £10.50. I think it's really good value considering it will last for ages and it does a really good job of moisturising the skin!

 



 

Benefit Triple Performing Facial Emulsion

Hey everyone,

I wasn't going to do a post about this as it's only a sample, but I have enjoyed it so much I thought I would share it with you.

If you have seen my post from last week, you'll know that when I purchased my Hello Flawless foundation, the lady at the Benefit counter gave me some free samples to try. She asked my what my skin type was, and when I told her it was dry she gave me 3 generous-sized samples of the Facial Emulsion. I know some people hate reviews based on samples, but I was given 3 of these, and each one lasted me around 3/4 days, so I have been using it for around 2 weeks now, which I thought was a fair enough time to test it out.

"You may not know you're dehydrated, but your skin does. Triple Performing Facial Emulsion SPF 15 PA+++ hydrates, protects and comforts the skin, with a lightweight, oil-free formula". I love that it has an SPF which means that even if you're not wearing any make-up, you don't need to worry about additional SPF protection if you're wearing this. I'm not too sure what PA+++ actually means so if anyone knows please let me know :)

The lotion itself is actually quite a watery consistency. I was a bit wary about this at first as I am more used to thick moisturisers, but this stuff works wonders. Recently, my skin, especially my forehead, has been super dry, to the point where my foundation would just cling to the dry patches no matter what moisturiser or foundation I used. I hated the way my make-up looked over it, so I was pleased when the lady at Benefit gave me some samples of this to try. As it is quite runny, you really don't need to use a lot of product as it glides over the face easily. I find that the tiniest 'blob' (technical term) covered my whole face.

What I loved most about this is that it completely hydrated the dry patches of my skin. When I used this, my foundation looked almost flawless over the top of it. I actually used this, then the POREfessional, and then my foundation, as suggested by the lady from the counter.

It does have a slight scent to it, which I know will bother some people, but I personally don't have a problem with it. The smell is hard to describe, but it smells clean and fresh.

Overall, I will definitely be buying a full sized version as I absolutely love this. It is by far the best moisturiser I have ever used. It is quite expensive, but I have no doubt that it will be worth every penny :)

Another plus is the beautiful packaging the full size emulsion comes in! It also has a pump dispenser so its' mess-free:)

This is available from Boots, the Benefit Website and Benefit stores for £19.50

xx

The Body Shop Shea Body Butter & Body Scrub

Hello everyone,

I have been a fan of the Body Shop body butters for ages now, I first tried the mango one about 3/4 years ago and I loved it. I have tried almost every one of them now, and I nearly always go back to the mango one, but when it came to repurchasing a few weeks ago, I decided it was time for a change and chose to buy the shea one instead. I picked up the body butter and the body scrub - this is actually the first scrub I've tried from the Body Shop so I thought I'd give you my opinion on that whilst I was doing a review of the body butter.

I really like the packaging of these - they haven't changed too much in the time I've been purchasing them, and so the packaging makes them instantly recognisable to me (although I think they have changed the picture on the front of this since I purchased it). I like the image on the front of the tubs, as you can see which butter/scrub is which without too much difficulty.

The body butter is described by the Body Shop as "a feast for the skin". It claims to give 24 hour hydration and be great for dry skin. I used this when I got back from my holidays, so naturally my skin was very dry from all the exposure to the sun. This gave my skin lots of moisture, and I could still see the effects of the butter 12 hours later, which to me is impressive because most moisturisers I have tried last only a few hours. It is a thick formula, but I think this makes it easier to work with and it doesn't create a sticky mess when you apply it. It sinks straight into the skin, leaving no greasiness.

The scent of this one isn't particularly strong, it's described on the Body Shop website as a "subtle nutty scent" which I think sums it up perfectly. From experience, the coconut and mango body butters have quite strong scents, so if you're not fond of overpowering scents, this one would be a good one to go for :) I really like the Body Shop body butters, and I can't see myself switching moisturisers anytime soon.

As I mentioned before, this was the first body scrub I have tried from the Body Shop, and overall I am really liking it so far. It is quite similar to Soap & Glory's "Flake Away" (review here) in terms of texture. It's quite a thick exfoliator, but it isn't too harsh on your skin. That being said, I probably wouldn't use this everyday as my skin doesn't really agree with that much exfoliation! You can use this on wet or dry skin, although obviously it is harsher on dry skin.

I think this is a really good exfoliator - it gets rid of dry skin and generally reawakens the skin. The body butter is great to use after this as it really soothes the skin. The smell of the scrub is the same as the body butter - a pleasant, subtle scent.

I can't recommend this range enough. If the smell of the Shea ones isn't your thing, there are plenty of other smells to choose from, and from my own experiences, they are all of a similar high quality.

I will definately be repurchasing these when they run out. They aren't particularly cheap but I really do think they are worth the money.

These are both available either from the Body Shop, or online at www.thebodyshop.co.uk

They both retail at £12.50 for 200ml.

xx