Thursday, 31 July 2014

Lancome Hydra Zen Yeux Neurocalm Eye Contour Gel review

Lancome’s Hydra Zen Yeux Neurocalm Eye Contour Gel is designed to help ease the signs of fatigue and puffiness whilst providing gentle moisture around the eye area. As a mum, sleep doesn’t come easily. Whilst it doesn’t cure fatigue, something that disguises the look of it is always helpful!


Photo from the Lancome website.


I currently have a 5ml sample of this eye gel which I was given with a purchase of another Lancome product and I have been using it for a while. The gel itself is quite pale and milky and I find that a little goes a long way. The full size product comes in a small, white bottle with a pump lid and a transparent cap. It holds 15ml of product, so three times the amount of the sample.

Sunday, 27 July 2014

No-Poo - Ditching the shampoo & conditioner!

No-Poo is a method of washing your hair without the use of shampoo. No-poo doesn’t literally mean no poo, it means no shampoo. You may or may not have heard about it, but it is a way to help your hair become stronger, healthier, shinier and softer - naturally.





If you are a stranger to this concept, I admit that it may sound either crazy or disgusting. I assure you that it is neither. 


Shampoo contains detergents that strip your hair of its natural oils. The sebum that your hair needs to maintain its health and strength is actually being stripped with every shampoo wash. This means that you are inadvertently causing your hair more damage than good. The lack of oils makes the hair weaker and thinner, and your scalp then feels the need to produce extra sebum to replenish what is lost. When this happens, we see our hair become greasy again. In response to this, what do we do? We wash it all over again.

After shampooing we tend to use conditioner. The role of the conditioner is to replace the oils that you have just stripped from the hair with shampoo with synthetic oils. Why use a product to replace oils when you can just not strip them in the first place? 


Wednesday, 23 July 2014

The Body Shop Body Sorbet & Aqua Boost Sorbet reviews

The new Body Shop Body Sorbet’s and the new Vitamin E Aqua Boost Sorbet are a new range of body moisturiser and facial moisturiser respectively. They provide a cooling sensation upon application with a frosty gel like formula. 






The Body Sorbet’s contain aloe vera to provide 24-hour hydration and are made with a break through formula that instantly melts onto the skin to provide a fresh burst of moisture. The Aqua Boost Sorbet contains wheatgerm oil and Aqua Sphere technology, which is made up of microscopic spheres of moisture that are capable of holding up to hundreds of times their weight in water to provide your skin with instant and long-lasting hydration.

The Body Sorbet range also extends The Body Shop’s signature body care scent ranges. Whilst not every skincare scent collection is featured within the Body Sorbet range as of yet, there are five to chose from: Satsuma, Moringa, Pink Grapefruit, Mango and Strawberry.

The Aqua Boost Sorbet is an addition to the company’s Vitamin E range, which is designed to provide you with 24hour hydration and protect your skin against environmental aggressors. It is suitable for all skin types.

Monday, 21 July 2014

Clinique Smart Custom Repair Serum review

Clinique’s Smart Custom Repair Serum is a product that claims to be able to tailor itself to your skin type. Five years in the making, Clinique say that whether you have uneven skin tone, loss of firmness, wrinkles, fine lines or a combination of all or a couple of these concerns, this serum is supposed to be able to fix it. This cream is supposedly able to “sense” your skin issues and then it then activates the ingredients necessary to work with your skin.



It’s a big claim and one that is pretty difficult to wrap your head around. How can a serum read your skin? I’m going to attempt to answer some questions about this product for you whilst also discussing the most important aspect - is it all it is bigged up to be?

Friday, 18 July 2014

Vichy Normaderm Night Detox review

The Normaderm Night Detox by Vichy is part of their anti-blemish skincare range. The Normaderm range of products each claim to fix the six difficulties of blemish prone skin; spots, uneven skin tone, dullness, shine, oily skin and pores. 





Night Detox is a cream designed for use on adult skin that fights against the over-production of sebum that results in a dull, blemished complexion upon awaking. Vichy claim that by using Night Detox you will be waking up in the morning with a clear, radiant complexion every morning.

Night Detox is hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic, oil free and contains no parabens. It is also suitable for sensitive skin and contains Vichy’s Thermal Spa Water.

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Avon Speed Dry+ Nail Polish swatches

Avon’s Speed Dry+ nail polish is a pretty self-explanatory product. It’s a nail polish that claims to dry quickly - 30 seconds in fact!

Being a mum who loves nail polish but is strapped for time, this is the exact type of product that is going to catch my eye.





The overall range consists of 20 shades featuring cremes, glitters and pearlescent finishes. I snapped up six bottles of the collection - Lure, Shipwreck, Yellow Mystique, Sprightly Mint, Trance and Underworld. Five of these six are colour with added glitter. Sprightly Mint is the exception, being a creme finish. 


Friday, 11 July 2014

Birchbox July 2014 review

Birchbox is a monthly beauty box that includes 5-6 deluxe samples of beauty and lifestyle products that are tailored to you.

You get to discover new products and test them out in the comfort of your own home with no pressure to buy the full product if you don’t like it! However, if you do enjoy it, you can purchase the full sizes from the Birchbox store with the most recent month’s brands being available with free delivery (min. £10 spend)! 


This months Birchbox theme is Sun, Sea & Sand. It was filled with goodies to help bring you the beach in a beauty box!




Thursday, 10 July 2014

DIY Firming, Anti-Cellulite Body Oil

Do you enjoy using body oils that help with cellulite and to firm up your skin but hate having to pay out so much money for them? Then how about making your own?





This simple DIY blend is cost efficient and is tailor made to you!

So how is a homemade body oil going to help with something like cellulite? Well, to answer this, I am going to quote Sue Charles who posted this on Quinessence whilst discussing what causes cellulite:


"Poor circulation is cited time and again as a causative factor, which is why massaging with essential oils is such a great remedy for cellulite. This powerful combination increases circulation and helps with the elimination of toxins by unblocking lymphatic congestion, and when done correctly, massage helps break up the fatty deposits too.
Cellulite always looks much worse if you are suffering from fluid retention, and massage activates the lymph vessels and nodes which help to transport toxins out of the body. The use of the correct essential oils facilitates this action, and there are several ones to choose from to make up a blend."

Sunday, 6 July 2014

Choosing a Summer Fragrance



If you type 'Best Summer Perfumes' into Google you will find a whole collection of 'Top 10 sizzling perfumes that you HAVE to try!' type of articles from all of the top magazines. Nine times out of ten these articles show the same fragrances and they all conveniently happen to be new releases. How can you be sure that these are real recommendations and not part of advertising campaigns? I don't think you ever really can be. Therefore, I have spoken to a group of self-proclaimed fragrance fanatics to provide their honest thoughts and opinions on the best summer scents and discovered what they will be wearing over the warmer months. 

Thursday, 3 July 2014

Ikat meets Concentric Circles nail art tutorial

If you follow my Instagram, you may have noticed an ikat nail art photo. Whilst I was thinking of replicating that nail art with different colours, I changed my mind at the last moment and decided to try something a little different. Enter my Ikat meets Concentric Circles nail art:





It looks pretty similar to other ikat styles, but instead of being arranged in a pattern it is just a continuous concentric... ikat. Either way, I kind of liked the finished result, so I decided to share a tutorial with you!