Garnier Ultimate Blends Conditioner: The Sleek Restorer

I admit I probably use conditioner slightly too much - I just hate the feeling of my hair when I haven't used it. I have used a Herbal Essences conditioner for years; honestly only because it's usually on offer in Boots or Tesco, not because it works wonders for my hair. Because of this I decided to try something different recently and picked this up in Boots as it was on an introductory offer. I believe this is somewhat of a new release, and I think there is a whole range, targeting different hair types and problems - but the one i tried, the Sleek Restorer, is targeted at 'dry, frizzy hair'.

"Our Ultimate Blends Sleek Restorer Conditioner, with Coconut Oil & Cocoa Butter infuses dry hair, leaving it beautifully nourished and silky to the touch"

Garnier claim that this will leave hair with 'touchable smoothness'. I have to say, I wasn't all that impressed with this. It smells lovely but for me this is where the positives end.

I simply felt that this didn't leave my hair feeling soft and smooth; in fact I often struggled to get a brush through my hair after using this. I found it left my hair feeling quite dry, despite being aimed at people with dry hair, which to me, should mean that it is hydrating.

My hair also did not look as shiny as it does when I used the Herbal Essences conditioner. I found my hair looked quite dull and lacklustre as opposed to being beautifully nourished and silky to the touch as Garnier claim.

Overall I'm quite disappointed in this - I hadn't read much into it before I purchased it so didn't know what to expect but I did expect my hair to be left shiny and soft at least. Of course this may work for some people as it's extremely subjective depending on hair type etc, but sadly it didn't work for me.

This is available from Boots priced at £2.79 for 200ml. 

Lush Lip Scrubs

I'm not sure if many companies actually produce lip scrubs - I know the only ones I've ever heard much about are the Lush lip scrubs and some others which are stupidly expensive so needless to say I haven't ventured into trying them. I am, however, a big fan of Lush's offerings.

The two I have are the infamous Bubblegum one, and Lush's seasonal offering, the Santa lip scrub. Both claim to buff away dry/dead skin and leave your lips super smooth and soft. Surprisingly, the two actually have very different textures - the Bubblegum scrub is quite grainy and doesn't hold together all that well, and the Santa scrub feels less harsh but is actually easier to use as it holds together and is easier to get out of the tub. 

The two sugar scrubs are edible - meaning that once you have buffed your lips with them, you can lick your lips rather than remove the product with tissue/a cotton pad. This is a nice concept, although I am aware some people would find this rather disgusting! The bubblegum scrub is (obviously) bubblegum flavoured, and tastes amazing. The Santa scrub is supposedly cherry cola flavoured, although I can't say it actually tastes of cherry coke. It does have a pleasant taste though, which is good.

The Santa scrub actually came with little red hearts on top of the scrub, which looked nice and cute but I have to say they added nothing to the scrub - they seemed to stick to my lips and teeth and tasted horrible! They are just on the top of the scrub though so once you've used the top layer they aren't an issue.

I do like these - they leave your lips extremely soft and would make your lips a nice smooth canvas to apply lipstick should you wish, and the bubblegum one especially tastes amazing. I do think they're slightly overpriced as you could make them yourself since they are predominantly sugar and oil, but I do think they are a nice addition to your collection!

These are £5.50 each and available from lush.co.uk (the santa scrub was limited edition for christmas though - sorry!). I believe these also come in popcorn flavour, and a mint choc chip flavour, so there should be something for everyone!

L'Oreal Studio Secrets Smoothing Resurfacing Primer

Having oily skin, it is a constant battle to find make-up that will stay in place all day. I already use a pretty heavy duty foundation (Revlon colourstay), but wanted to find a primer that would really help lock my make-up in place all day. I actually bought this one on a complete whim as L'Oreal was 3 for 2 in Boots so I thought I'd try one of their primers, but I'm so glad I picked this up!

 

 

The packaging isn't the most eye-catching, and the round pot makes it slightly awkward to get the product out with your fingers when you're running low, but honestly that is the only bad thing I can say about this product.

 

It has quite an odd consistency to it - it's thick but also easily blendable. It is white in colour,  but sinks into the skin without leaving any white residue on the face. You only need a tiny amount, so a pot of this will last an absolute age.

 

I have been using this for around 2 months now, and I can honestly say it is probably the best primer I have tried. I am a big fan of Benefit's "The POREfessional" but after trying this, I think I have a new favourite. It creates an amazingly smooth base for make-up application, and I have definitely noticed that my make-up looks better for longer when I apply this than when I don't - I would say I probably get another couple of hours out of my make-up when this is applied.

 

I would definitely recommend this - it's not cheap but in my opinion it's worth every penny! This is available from Boots and Superdrug and is priced at £14.29



Barry M Passionfruit & Confetti Nail Effects



 

(L-R 2 coats of passionfruit; 2 coats of marshmallow over passionfruit)

 

Barry M are probably my all-time favourite brand when it comes to nail polish. They have such a wide range of colours and always seem to be one of the first in line when it comes to bringing out cool 'nail effect' polishes.

 

Passionfruit is a new release from their 'Gelly' nail polish line, which if I'm honest, I wasn't a huge fan of. I found them a lot more gloopy than the regular Barry M polishes, and found they took an absolute age to dry. However, I really liked the colour of Passionfruit, so I put my doubts to one side and I'm really glad I did. It's a beautiful pinky-red colour, which is absolutely perfect for summer and will look amazing with a tan. This isn't gloopy in the slightest, it's really easy to work with, and you can even get away with only applying a single coat, although I tend to apply two just because I'm fussy! It dries to a really high-shine finish, and I found it lasted a good 3/4 days without chipping.

 

The Confetti Nail Effects line is also a new release, and I wasn't sure if I'd like the effect at first, but again this one has pleasantly surprised me. I think it gives a really cool effect to the nail, without being too 'in your face'. It dries amazingly fast, although you will need to apply a couple of layers of topcoat if you want to achieve a smooth finish over this. I have the shade 'Marshmallow' which is a pink bar 'confetti' suspended in a clear base. I think this is the most subtle one of the range - other colours include: Dolly Mixture - a blue, peach and yellow confetti, Liquorice - black and white confetti, Bubblegum - blue and white confetti, and Sour Apple - blue and yellow confetti.

 

These are both £3.99 and available from Boots and Superdrug. 



MAC Fix+



It feels like absolutely ages ago that I sat down and wrote a post on my blog, but honestly, that is because it WAS ages ago. I don't really have an excuse, I just didn't feel inspired to write, I felt I had nothing to write about, and so I decided it was better to just take a small break rather than churn out posts that I didn't really want to write. Anyway I finally WANT to write again so I thought I'd start with a review of a product that I have been using for a while now, and I know quite a lot of people really like it, but I just haven't been getting on with it!

 

 

 

"An aqua-spritz of vitamin and minerals, infused with a calm-the-skin blend of green tea, chamomile, cucumber, topped off with the fresh, natural, energizing scent of Sugi. Adds radiance, finishes makeup. Spray it on. Skin drinks it up!"

I originally bought this as a make up setting spray, however I found that it didn't actually help my make up to stay on any longer than it would without it. It does, however, work well at getting rid of the dreaded 'cake face'.

 

As someone with quite oily skin, I tend to apply a fair amount of powder and unless I'm extremely careful, it's all too easy to end up with a cakey, powdery, gross face. However, one spray of this and the powdery look has all but disappeared, which in my books, is amazing. Unfortunately for me, I found this made my skin look rather oily than simply giving it a natural dewy look.

 

As it makes my skin look oilier than it already is, I've had to give this product a miss recently. I tried to persevere with it, but with oily skin already, I don't want something that makes it look worse. To be fair, it is really good at removing the cakiness of make up, but that for me is where the positives end. I don't rate it as a setting spray, and I don't like the fact it makes my skin look really oily.

 

This is £13.50 and available from MAC, Debenhams and Selfridges.



MAC Lipstick in Hue

 

 

 

 

Would you believe, this is the very first mac lipstick I have ever tried! I am not one for wearing lipstick, and as much as I was desperate to try a mac lipstick, I begrudged paying £14.00 for one when I knew I probably wouldn't get much wear from it. After much deliberating, I decided to bite the bullet and buy one, but opted for a nude, subtle colour which I knew I'd be brave enough to wear. I was choosing between this one and Crème Cup, but in the end I decided on Hue as it seemed the more wearable of the two!

 

Hue is a glaze finish lipstick, which mac describe as "low-colour impact with sheen-style finish". Hue is described as a 'soft pale pink', which is a perfect description. It is a relatively nude colour with just a hint of pink which would suit most skin tones.

 

It feels really moisturising on the lips, which I love as I suffer with quite dry lips and I don't want to be wearing something which dries them out further. One thing I will say is this does accentuate any dry patches on my lips so I have to make sure I scrub them thoroughly before I apply this. It also doesn't last all that long, probably 2/3 hours, but I'm told this is typical of glaze finishes and the other finishes tend to last a lot longer!

 

Overall I am impressed with the formulation of this and I absolutely love the colour, but would I buy another mac lipstick? Maybe, but only if it was a special or unique colour. I've not been absolutely bowled over by it's staying power, and I think there are good alternatives on the high street, as I think £14.00 is a huge amount of money for a lipstick. I can see why so many people love them, but I think I'll be sticking to cheaper lipsticks for now!

 

This is £14 and available from Debenhams, House of Fraser and Selfridges.

Benefit Hoola

 

 



 

I had been wanting a matte bronzer for absolutely ages, and I couldn't seem to find a cheap, drugstore bronzer that didn't contain shimmer! On a whim, I purchased this from Debenhams after seeing some rave reviews about it!

 

I am a big Benefit fan. I love High Beam and I use They're Real mascara daily, and Hoola has been no different! It is completely matte, which I wanted as I use this for contouring, and has a really lovely silky texture to it. It's not too dark on my pale skin tone, although if you have darker skin it is buildable without looking cakey!

 

The packaging is lovely too. It's in Benefit's traditional box of powders packaging, which is fairly sturdy and I would feel safe chucking this into my make up bag. It comes with a brush which I don't personally use, but this is a nice touch. I also like the fact that it has a built in mirror as this is useful if you want to touch up your make up during the day.

 

This applies really nicely and is really easy to blend into the skin. I mainly use this for contouring but you can use this all over your face for a nice sun-kissed glow without looking orange or dirty!

 

It lasts on my skin all day, and doesn't look cakey no matter how much you apply. It is expensive, but I think it's totally worth it as I haven't found a cheaper alternative that works better!

 

This is £23.50 and available from Debenhams, House of Fraser, Boots and Benefit.



Cream Blush: Bourjois vs. Maybelline

I have only recently discovered my love for blushes in general, and so when I discovered Bourjois were bringing out some cream blushes I knew I had to try them. Whilst I was in Boots purchasing a Bourjois cream blush, these Maybelline ones also caught my eye! From doing some research, I don't actually think these are a new release from Maybelline, but I had never seen them before so decided to pick one up to compare the two!

 

 

 

 

Left: Maybelline, Right: Bourjois

 

The shades I have are Maybelline Dream Touch Blush in 07 Plum, and Bourjois Cream Blush in 03 Rose Tender.

 

The packaging of these are quite different. The Maybelline blush is in a rather sturdy glass pot with a colour coded, screw on lid, whereas the Bourjois blush is in a tiny magnetic compact which contains a handy mirror which is really useful for when you're touching up your make up on the go. Although the Bourjois packaging is more travel-friendly, I actually prefer the Maybelline packaging, simply because I find it easier to open!

 

The consistency of the two products was where I found the most difference. I found the Maybelline offering to be much more creamy and easy to apply than the Bourjois one. I usually use my Real Techniques Stippling Brush to apply these, and I find that the Maybelline blush provides more even application and less work to blend into the cheeks. I have also tried applying these both with my fingers, and again the Maybelline one is much more creamy and easy to blend than the Bourjois.

 

The Bourjois is a cream blush which dries to a powder finish, whereas the Maybelline blush tends to leave a dewy, cream finish on the cheeks. This is all down to personal preference, but I prefer the finish of the Maybelline as it looks more like a natural colouring!

 

In terms of pigmentation, I would say that these two were on a par. I had no complaints about either of their colour payoff, and they both lasted with my make up all day, something which is important to me as I hate touching up my make up throughout the day!

 

Overall, I like both of these products. I think they're both good quality, however my favourite has to be the Maybelline Dream Touch Blush, as I find it easier to apply and blend in!

 

The Maybelline blushes are £6.49 and available from here, the Bourjois blushes are £6.99 (usually £7.99!) from here.



Soap & Glory Hand Food

"Contains shea butter, macadamia oil and marshmallow . Scented with our Original Pink fragrance. the most astonishing hand cream ever? You decide!"

This is described as a non-greasy, hydrating hand cream which contains lotus flower and fennel extracts.

I absolutely love this product. I have been using it for an absolute age, and it is one of the only hand creams I have found which really does sink into the skin almost immediately, leaving no greasy residue whatsoever. I HATE my skin feeling greasy, so this is an absolute must for me when it comes to hand creams.

This is without a doubt an absolutely essential product for me, especially in the colder months when my hands tend to become extremely dry. This really helps to soothe the skin and keeps my hands feeling soft and smooth.

It has the traditional Soap & Glory scent, which I personally am a huge fan of. The scent also lingers on your hands for a good while afterwards. This genuinely leaves your hands feeling soft for hours after use, and I would not be without it anymore.

This is a travel size 50ml which is available from Boots for £2.50, and a full size 125ml is available from Boots for £5.00. Also available is a hand pump of this, which is more for leaving in the bathroom than carrying round with you - £7.00 for 250ml from Boots. 

Treacle Moon Raspberry Kiss Body Scrub

 

 

 

 

Treacle Moon isn't really a brand I had heard much about, however I am often drawn to their products when shopping in Tesco, firstly because I originally thought they were Philosophy products due to the remarkably similar packaging, and secondly because they have a selection of such interesting scents available! The scents in the Treacle Moon range include this one, raspberry, and also vanilla, ginger, lemonade, strawberry, coconut, mango and cinnamon.

 

Products available in each scent include shower gels, bubble baths, body scrubs and body butters.

 

I picked up this raspberry body scrub as I needed a new body scrub and I absolutely adore the smell of this one. It is very sweet and does smell quite artificial, but I love it anyway.

 

This body scrub is a really lovely consistency, and contains small exfoliating particles as well as the larger black ones which you can see in the image above. It does a really good job at removing any dead skin cells from your skin, and leaves your skin feeling lovely and smooth afterwards. I must admit it isn't as effective as my beloved Body Shop body scrubs, but for £2.99 and the wide range of 'flavours' they have, you can't really complain!

 

 

I will probably be picking some more of these up in some different scents, and I also really want to try one of their body butters! I know these are available from Tesco but I have never come across them anywhere else, so I don't know exactly where you can pick them up from I'm afraid!



No7 Beautiful Skin Melting Gel Cleanser

 

 

 

"The first step to beautiful skin is effective cleansing. Specially formulated to effectively clear away dirt and impurities, No7 Beautiful Skin Melting Gel Cleanser leaves dry complexions feeling as soft and supple as normal skin."

 

I'll start by saying that I actually have oily skin, and although this is aimed at people with dry skin, I had heard some good reviews on this that said it would work with oily skin too, so I picked this up as Boots are currently doing their £5 off No7 vouchers.

 

This is a gel cleanser (as the name suggests), which turns into an oil as you massage it into your skin, and changes to a cleansing milk once you begin to wash it off (when you add water to it). I will admit, I was slightly petrified of putting an oil cleanser on my already-oily skin, but even the oiliest of skin needs moisture so I gave it a go.

 

I am actually really impressed with this. It literally 'melts' away your make up, even quite heavy eye make up. It leaves your skin feeling super soft and really clean, something which I feel you don't always get with some cleansers. It doesn't have a strong scent at all, so it should be fine for those who don't get along with scented products. I haven't experienced any break outs from using this, as I have with cleansers in the past.

 

I would really recommend this. Even though it's aimed at people with dry skin, I have found this works perfectly well on my oily skin. This is £9.00 from Boots, although I know they are still doing their £5 off vouchers, so you can purchase this for £4!

 

Avène Eau Thermale Thermal Spring Water

 

 

"Avene Thermal Spring Water contains a unique active ingredient, renowned by dermatologists for its soothing properties. This facial spray is great in hot weather or for soothing irritated skin or sunbun."

 

If I'm being completely honest, I don't know what made me pick this up originally, however I do know that I am 100% glad that I did. I know a lot of people are of the opinion that this is just water in a spray can, but honestly this has worked absolute wonders on my skin.

 

I use this in quite a few different ways. I use it after shaving to help cool and soothe the skin, I actually used it on sunburn last week, I have used it as a make up setting spray, and I have used it just as a general refreshing spray. I find this really makes my skin feel smooth and soft, and I've actually found that it helps to even my skin tone. You can use this over make-up, just be sightly careful as I've found it can come out in rather large bursts so there's always a slight chance that it could mess up your make up but if you're careful this shouldn't be a problem. However, I use this mainly after I have cleansed my skin as I find it just makes my skin feel really nice and refreshed before I go to bed.

 

With the hot weather we had over the bank holiday weekend, this was also really nice to just spray over you when you felt the need, as it is really refreshing and cools you down. I am so glad I picked this up and I will definitely be repurchasing once this runs out. It is such a multi-purpose product, and it's great at soothing any rashes or burns, something which I have known products to struggle with in the past.

 

This 150ml size is £6.50 from Boots and the smaller 50ml size, which is perfect for travelling, is £3.15 also from Boots.