Things that I am loving - Clarins Pure Melt Cleansing Gel

Continuing with my catch up!  I have been using a Lancome cleanser, Baume Eclat, reviewed here, since May.  I bought it because I wanted an oil based cleanser and it was accessible and affordable.  I loved the pretty opalescent gel/cream and the transitioning from gel to oil and to milk with the addition of water.  It was fragranced and I liked that too, the only thing I disliked was that if it made contact with my eyes I thought they were going to fall out, it stings mercilessly and for ages.

I have always loved Clarins skin care and when I was using up the last of the Lancome Baume Eclat I thought I might go back to using the Clarins cleansing balm I had enjoyed in the past, although I was loathe to switch back to a non oily cleanser.  As always prior to my shopping trip I trawled the internet and was really pleased to find that Clarins have their own gel/oil/milk cleanser.

I am loving this stuff.  It has no real fragrance, great if that's an issue for you, and feels really comforting to use.  I have, as an experiment, used this to remove my eye make up remover and whilst I wouldn't recommend it  it didn't cause me any problems so I think I'll stick to using my Simple eye make up remover pre-cleanse but then wont by shy of swishing some of this round my eyes when I am cleansing my face.  Because the Baume Eclat stang so badly when it got into my eyes I tended not to bother with the adding water to turn it to a milk stage and went straight from oil to applying a hot, wet flannel and wiping it off .  With this I can happily apply a splash of warm water to take it to the milk stage without fear and I do think it helps to really lift the make up away before going in with the flannel.  My skin feels clean, soft and supple with no tightness at all after using this.

I bought mine in Boots for £19 and I'd recommend it happily.
 

Avene Ysthéal+ Emulsion & eye contour cream

If you have trawled through this blog you may have noticed posts on the Avene anti-redness range, I used to suffer from mild roseacea and very flushed, red, sensitive skin.  I had spent fortunes on all sorts of products and never really saw any genuine improvement in  my skin, until I spotted the Avene range in Boots and decided to give that a whirl.  It is no lie to say that the relief was instant and the results long lasting.  My skin has now really calmed down, due I think in part to changes in my diet - I each much less bread and sugar than I used to! - but I keep some Avene products handy just in case I get a flare up. 

I was really pleased to be sent some of the Avene anti-ageing skin care for review.  Now that my redness issues have settled the fine lines and incipient wrinkles are a much bigger concern!

The  Ysthéal+ Emulsion comes in a pump dispenser and is a nice rich, peach coloured cream that I have been applying in the evenings after cleansing.  It is aimed at normal to combination skin and so I have been applying it and letting it soak in well before applying a little of my night cream as I just need a tad more moisture over night.  The Emulsion is designed to both prevent, yay!, and correct the signs of skin ageing - whilst I like something that makes my skin look better I LOVE anything that is working to prevent it from looking worse!  It contains Retinaldehyde and Pretocopheryl, I am not going to pretend I know what they are!  According to the Avene website Retinaldehyde is the most effective form of Vitamin A and Preotcopheryl is a powerful anti-oxidant, which is as science'y as I need to get! Full list of ingredients is here:

WATER (AQUA). CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE. AVENE THERMAL SPRING WATER (AVENE AQUA). MINERAL OIL (PARAFFINIUM LIQUIDUM). PROPYLENE GLYCOL. GLYCERYL STEARATE. PEG-100 STEARATE. SQUALANE. BHT. BUTYLPARABEN. C13-14 ISOPARAFFIN. CARBOMER. DISODIUM EDTA. LAURETH-7. PHENOXYETHANOL. POLYCARYLAMIDE. PROPYLPARABEN. RED 33 (CI 17200). RETINAL. TOCOPHERYL GLUCOSIDE. TRIETHANOLAMINE

Emulsion at the top, eye cream at the bottom

Well done Avene for having ingredients listed on their website.  I was a tiny bit concerned when I read the leaflet enclosed with the Emulsion that sensitive skin might sting a little initially when using the product, so I was very tentative at first and would have stopped using it had I experienced any stinging, I haven't experienced any stinging or discomfort at all when I have used the Emulsion, my skin seems to love it!  I think with all anti-ageing products it's a case of looking back in years to come with much less lined and wrinkled skin than you might have had and knowing that applying products with key ingredients have worked, nothing actually, visibly diminishes the appearance of fine lines over the course of a fortnight!  It's unrealistic to think "cure" I have to be thinking "prevention"!

I was also sent the Ysthéal+ Eye Contour Cream to try, this is again a rich, peach cream in a pump dispenser - I found a full pump of this was more than I needed and Em benefited from some proactive eye wrinkle prevention - fortunately you can squeeze out less than a full pump which prevents waste.  I have been using this cream at night, along with the Emulsion and whilst it's rich it's not greasy so I am not waking up with puffy, over-fed eyes.  You may have seen my post about the No 7 roll-on eye cream, this has a brightening effect so I am using that one under make-up in the day and the Avene one at night, the combination of the two is perfect for me and I am seeing a visible improvement in my under eye area.  I think that I had overlooked it horribly in the past and the skin was very dry and papery, constant application of eye cream morning and night has really helped plump up this area and as a result the fine lines are much less visible. The key ingredients in the eye cream are again Retinaldehyde and Preotcopheryl. The full ingredients of the eye cream are here:

WATER (AQUA). MINERAL OIL (PARAFFINIUM LIQUIDUM). AVENE THERMAL SPRING WATER (AVENE AQUA). BUTYLENE GLYCOL. POLYSORBATE 40. SQUALANE. CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE. SORBITAN PALMITATE. BHT. BUTYLPARABEN. CARBOMER. DISODIUM EDTA. METHYLPARABEN. PHENOXYETHANOL. RED 33 (CI 17200). RETINAL. SODIUM HYDROXIDE. TOCOPHERYL GLUCOSIDE. XANTHAN GUM.

The Emulsion costs £22, in Boots and the eye cream is £17, both are at the higher end of the price range for Avene products but still not expensive when compared to other anti-ageing products. That said I would certainly purchase the Emulsion again, I would probably also purchase the eye cream for use at night, although I am drawn towards eye creams which offer brightening for use during the day.  Has anyone tried any of the Avene range?


These products were sent to me for consideration for review.

Champneys products now in Boots!

Quick heads up - Champneys now stocked in Boots!

Am very thrilled by this! Almost never go to Sainsburys but when I used to do our weekly shop there I always chucked in a sneaky Skin Comforting shower cream which is the only "cheapy" shower gel that I have found that smells as nice as/nicer than the Sanctuary Spa shower cream.  I am just hoping that they have this range in Boots in Huddersfield, the Age Excellence skin care is looking a bit tasty too and I really fancy a hands on play before making a purchase.


The Champneys page on the Boots website is here.  Have you used any of this range?  Did you rate it?

Botanics -

Having been blown away by the fabulty of the Botanics Cleansing Balm and cleansing brush I decided to give some of the other skin care products in the range a whirl.  Most of my skin care concentrates on moisturisation, hydration and dealing with the needs of my sensitive, redness prone general freak out of a face, the aging issue is overlooked.  And that worries me. Gawd knows the aging is an issue!

Deluded or what? "First signs of aging" having your bus pass is not a first sign of aging love ok - women in their mid 40's are slightly beyond that stage, but it was all they had in the anti wrinkle serum front on the display so it had to do.  I do like this, although I think its better suited to an oily skin perhaps, it is very mattifying and leaves your skin with a sort of velvety but not moist feel, making sense?  Whilst I dont actually believe that anything in a tube can erase existing lines I am ever hopeful that it can help delay the appearance of new ones!

I also don't really have a night time regime, apart from the usual cleanse and apply Organic Surge night cream so I thought perhaps adding something to help with radiance would be a good idea - ok AND it was 3 for 2 so I needed something else in my basket!  I like how this applies, it feels very comfortable, it has the effect of sort of sloughing off the dead skin cells on the surface of your skin, I apply it and then the night cream and I get that "peely" balled up stuff appearing as I rub in the night cream, presumably thats my inner radiance being revealed!

This however is the star of the show, I am loving it.  It is a really nice cooling gel that I am using morning and night and I have to say I think the skin around my eye is looking much fresher and plumper - I get very dry, papery skin round my eyes and this combined with the Avene Rich Eye cream has really helped.  I had wanted the eye and lip serum, they are still on my wish list, but as they weren't around I thought I'd give this a whirl and I am really glad I did.

 This is the anti wrinkle serum, top, the radiance serum, middle and eye gel, bottom.
The Botanics Ultimate Lift Eye Gel for mature skin is £6.12.  The First Signs of Aging Intensive wrinkle reduction serum isn't on the Boots website but was £9, or there abouts and the Radiance Night Renewal Serum is £9.18.  I have used all 3 of these for over a week now and none of them have caused any problems with my rosacea or skin sensitivity so I think they would probably be ok for people with similar skin to mine.

Have you used anything from the Botanics range that you think is overlooked and that more people should try, or anything that similarly isn't getting the love you think it should from any other range?  If so, share! 

Botanics Facial Cleansing brush

Was intrigued by this when it appeared in Makeup Savvys Best of Jan post and decided to give it a whirl. At just over£6 it wasn't going to be breaking the bank if my skin wasn't loving it.

I have been using it for a month now with my Avene cleanser and my skin has never looked better.  I get the brush wet in warm water, apply a squirt of the Avene and swoosh it around, its a really really soft brush, so much so that any pressure compresses the bristles so its much better to apply no pressure and just swoosh a bit more often.  It feels lovely, like a million tiny fingers massaging your skin and it cleans and lifts away make up and grime and leaves my skin feeling really soft and totally unstressed.  Which is great, as my skin is really re-active.  Have had no issues with this at all and am thrilled by how much better my skin is looking. Redness is at an all time low, although think thats more to do with retiring the Elemis pro-collagen products and using only Avene than the brush, but I do have large pores in my chin that get very congested and they are visibly shrinking and my nose, which was often bumpy, red and prone to spots is really smooth and blemish free.  Overall my skin tone is really improved and I think cleansing with the brush which is mildly exfoliant is also helping my moisturisers (Avene rich compensating cream, Avene Rich anti redness cream and Avene Rich skin recovery cream) to work their magic. The only downside is a slightly funky smell, only apparent when swooshing it round my nose but it was a tad off putting at first, although I do have a very sensitive sense of smell so it might just be me, not enough to put me off using my brush though.

If you dont have redness issues and are looking for a lovely balm cleanser Welsh Beauty Blog has posted about the Botanics cleansing balm today, which sounds lush.  As Botanics are currently doing 3 for 2 on Botanics you could get the brush and the balm and pick up something else for free - result! 

Skin care quicky

You may have read about my "travelling nose boil" every bit as attractive as it sounds!  For over a week have had an incredibly sore nose, a lump appears that is hot, hard and red and agony.  Then it moves to a different part of my nose, sometimes there was more than one, nose has been swollen and bruised looking - apparently I looked like a whisky drinker according to Steve, charming!  It does now finally seem to have subsided and I think it may be hormonal as I am at that age. oh. the. joy.  

Anyway whilst all this has been going on the roseacea has been having a bit of a field day too so I decided mid last week to kick everything into touch and only use my Avene products; Gentle cleaners, Thermal water spray, Rich recovery cream and rich anti-redness cream with a dash of Organic Surge night cream (completely love this stuff and recommend without reservation) and have not gone near my Elemis stuff.  Today as well as nose having deflated the roseacea is at the best level mine gets, I have some pink tint to my skin but no obvious red, pimply, sore skin.

   

I suspect the Elemis Pro-Collagen isn't doing me any favours, I know Welsh Beauty had a really bad reaction to it and I did wonder if I would get away with it, seems not.  But think I might conduct a scientific test, if I can be brave enough and just try the pro-collagen day and night cream on one specific area just to see what happens. 

Through all this my other wonder product has been the Clarins Gentle Peeling cream, as the skin on my nose has been stretched and swollen it has dried and peeled, this has been gentle enough to use daily just to take off the flakes so my foundation can actually help rather than draw attention to the problem, so this is something else I can recommend if you have dry, sensitive, skin and don't like a gritty facial scrub.
Right, on with the dross!

Skin advice needed, please!

Skin having some kind of weird melt down.  Even as a teenager I never got spots and in spite of having rosacea and associated pimples I never get a proper spot.  Now rather than spots I am suddenly getting very large, very sore lumps on my face, last weeks was on my chin, this weeks on my nose which is bloody agony.  I wish I knew what was going on, if there are any skin care experts out there, or anyone who has experienced similar and can offer any help or suggestions please shout.  Unless you are Fran.  Last week when I asked the same question she reached under the counter, picked up a carrier bag and handed it to me with a raised eye brow.  Cheers love! 
Needless to say not planning any fotd any time soon!

Oh and still no sign of the Naked palette.

Hairdryer update

You might remember this post when I bought my Tresemme hairdryer, where I was rather sniggering about the benefit of ions.  Well, today I am eating my words.  Yesterday I dried my hair and it looked crap all day, thick, frizzy and clumpy.  I wasn't sure if maybe I hadn't rinsed properly or had gone mad with the styling products or maybe my errant hormones had decided that they were no longer satisfied with trashing my skin they were taking my hair out too.  This morning when I picked up the drier I noticed that the "ion" button had slid into the off position.  I slid it back and dried my hair.  Which looks like a totally different head of hair, it took 5 mins less to dry (when you get up at 5.45am every  day that counts) and it is sleek and smooth and only needed a quick blast with the ghd's to tweak it.  So maybe there is something in all that "ions" malarky after all!

In other matters last night my skin was all over the show.  Its that time of the month so the roseacea is having its way and I had 2 massive lumps on my right cheek as well as an attractive scattering of pimples across my nose.  As part of my new nail care regime I am eschewing nail varnish (it. is. killing. me.) and slathering on olive oil at all times.  And as I sat in bed checking out the wreck that was my face I thought "what have I got to lose?" and applied a thin layer of olive oil to my face too.  When I woke up this morning I was expecting perhaps puffy eyes, as I realised too late that smearing your eyes with oil might not be the best plan in the world, but actually my skin was looking pretty good, roseacea was down a smidge and it seemed to have enjoyed its night coated in oil.  Just thought I'd mention it, next time you skin is feeling dry and stressy it might nip into the kitchen and find your olive oil!  Have a nice day ladies.

Skin care heroes.

If you have read any of my blog you will know that I have issues with red skin on my face, I have mild roseacea that flares up once a month or when I get stressed and general diffiuse redness that is more or less pronounced depending on all sorts of factors.  The one range that I have found that has had any noticeable impact on my redness is the Avene range.  I had used the products in the past but whilst I was happy with the results had overlooked them mainly because I like to treat myself to expensive skin care and at around £9 a product they didn't really fit the bill.  Shallow doesn't really come close does it!

When this winter my roseacea was particularly bad I decided to give them another whirl and I am seriously pleased I did.



The gentle cleanser is heaven to use, its a very light, non scented gel that you can massage in well and rinse with tepid water and a soft cloth or for mornings when you just refreshing your skin rather than removing make up it can be tissued off, which is lovely for me as my skin is not a fan of water.  No tightness or dryness with this at all.

The Rich skin recovery cream is fantastic, it is thick the sort of texture normally associated with a body butter, but on my skin it soaks in well.  I use it as part of my night regime but also add a dab in the morning to any particularly angry looking patches.


The redness solution moisturiser has a light green tint and whilst not sufficient to make any major difference it does seem to tone down the worst of the redness without any shrek effect.


It's a lovely cooling moisturiser and if my skin is being grumpy its all I use.

The eye cream is not too heavy so I don't end up puffy eye'd.  I don't think that is having a huge effect on wrinkles but my eye area and the skin underneath is very crepey and on my mum it was the first area to really show signs of ageing so I am keen to keep it nourished.

When my skin is playing nice I also dip into my lovely Elemis products.
 
Oh how I love them!  Both the pro-collagen day and night are bliss to use.  They are perfumed, not massively in my opinion but enough that they are pleasant.  I love how both of these make my skin feel and whilst they are stupidly expensive if you were ever to buy at full whack you do only need a smidge.  I had a 15ml sample of the day cream on 3rd December and this morning had to cut the tube to get the last of it out, having used it sparingly but pretty much daily since.

I really like the Pro-radiance cream cleanser.  Its a lovely cream cleanser that doesn't lather or bubble, more of a balm effect.  You apply a thin layer to dry skin and massage it in, after a minute it starts to suck up all your make up and gunge off  your face and turn it into a paste, if you have ever used Clarins facial peel its a little like that but with slip so its not dragging on your skin.  My face  always feels super clean but never tight after using this.  I don't use it daily but tend to do every other day, just in case my skin freaks out.

The papaya enzyme peel and the pro-collagen quartz lift mask were also in the gift set I had for xmas.  The papaya peel is a peachy coloured cream with a fruity smell.  I was warned only to use this when my skin was on its best behaviour, which I have stuck to and have had no problems.  The quartz lift mask is heavenly, its a thinner white cream with a lovely warming fragrance it contains Argan Tree Oil and feels intensely moisturising without being clogging.  

I had a full size bottle of the Exotic Cream moisturising mask for Christmas too.

This is lovely, one of the biggest benefits is that you can apply a thin layer at night and leave it on overnight for intensive moisturisation, which my skin LOVES.  It is another peachy cream and if I am being honest I don't completely love the smell, its a bit fruit yoghurt to me but the very visible benefits more than make up for this.  It leaves my skin plumped and glowing even if just leave it on for ten mins and not overnight. 

I also use the Clarins gentle facial peeling, once a week generally sometimes a couple of times and its a great prep before one of the masks.

So thats me, skin care for a 44 year old with red, stressy skin! 

Oh and one other thing I have been meaning to say.  As you know I take photos, some of them of people and I always feel a duty of care for those people so apply a little skin softening or maybe get rid of a blemish, in the way I would want someone to do for me!  One of things I have really noticed when taking photos of older ladies is that irrespective of how good the skin on their face may, or may not be, generally their necks are in less good nick.  Having noticed this I resolved to make sure I ALWAYS make sure my neck gets a good slather of moisturiser too - in the past I have been guilty of overlooking this but with the photographic proof that in your mid sixties this oversight will come back to haunt you I am being extra careful and wanted to share! (Relevent only if your mid sixties are only 20 years away, any more than that and I guess you can forget about this advice for a while, but be warned!!)

Anti redness skincare

Have decided I need to be a bit more proactive in my skincare to try and mitigate the redness that I have on my cheeks, nose and chin. As usual I have spent 40 hours googling what would work best. I am interested in the clinique stuff and the plan today was to buy an eyebrow pencil that I need and request a sample of the moisturiser just to check it would be rich enough for my very parched skin. That all went tits up as I had to take husband shopping. Need an outfit for a wedding on 29th December and every thing I showed him was either "too old" "too short" or just "too ugly". What he seems to have missed is that his old, short, ugly wife is also rather fat and so if you are having to buy a size 20 choice is limited and sometimes you have to go with if it fits buy the bloody thing and get the hell home. You have seen married couples shopping like we were today, hands in pockets, heads down, not speaking. He suggested I look in Evans. I just could not be arsed to explain that A) all Evans clothes are tat and B) for some inexplicable reason Evans make dresses up to a size 60 without freaking sleeves. Nearly everyone that I know that is either past 42 or over a size 16, or god forbid both, seriously needs to cover their arms up so why in gods name Evans make sleevless dresses is quite beyond me and it never fails to pee me off. So in complete bitch fit mode I walked into Evans with him trailing in my wake, stomped up the left side of the shop, crossed over at the top, stomped down the right side and straight back out the door without picking up or looking at a single thing. And do you know what? I think he got the message! So by the time I got to Boots I was so underwhelmed I forgot all about the eye brow pencil and the clinique sponger tactic. I grabbed a facial wax, so that even if I am fat, old and short with a red face it wont have hair on it. I also nabbed an Avene Rich anti-redness moisturiser and a small can of the Avene thermal spa water spray in lieu of toner.

I am going to Halifax for a facial with a friend on Friday and intend to do the brow pencil/sample scam and maybe pick up the Avene extra gentle cleanser too. Cant wait for Friday, Saks in Halifax is 6 years old and they are doing a terrific offer to celebrate, hot stones back of body massage, which I have been dying to try since forever - I have rheumatoid arthritis and warmth on my aged aching bones is just bliss! And then after your hot stones massage you get a mini Elemis facial, had an Elemis facial a couple of years ago with my sister and it was heavenly so this will be a real treat. £55 the lot and you get a gift bag with £40 of Elemis products to take away, far too good an offer to not indulge. So lunch in Halifax, a spot of light retail therapy, massage, facial and home for the Festival of Light in Huddersfield that evening with husband and the kids, the perfect antidote to all the stress of selling the business and moving into our new home and our new life and trying to organise Christmas when you have no idea where you are going to be living!

NUDE skincare set

Courtesy of The Beauty Bite I recently received a free Nude skincare set, which I was very excited to try!



The cleansing oil was the thing I most wanted to try out, I have really dry skin and the idea of applying oil really appealed. First and foremost I have to say that this week was what the most twee of weightwatchers consultants will want to describe as my "star" week, as in "oh dear, you have put on 4lbs. Do you know why. Is it your star week?" *clutching at straws as she can see the empty malteser packet peaking out of the top of your bag* (always made me want to hit her with a shovel) so yea, that week and as a rule even at 44 when I am on my skin freaks out, lots of lovely red blotchyness enough to make me wonder if rosacea isn't a bit more of an issue for me than I thought. (Ok just spent an hour googling this and think that it may be - am going to see if I can get a tester for some of the clinique anti-redness stuff tomorrow and will have a look at the Avene stuff in boots too. If anyone has similar issues and has tried either would love to hear about your experiences.)

Right on with the review. The cleansing oil. This stuff is heaven in a sachet, it has a light smell not a fragrance as such just a "clean" sort of smell and its a light coloured oil. I used it with the facial cleansing massage I picked up off Beauty Mouth blog recently and it felt fantastic, the oil gave just the right amount of slip to the massage so no dragging. I was almost loathe to dilute the oil with some warm water to rinse off and was tempted to apply another layer after cleansing, it is such a treat for dry skin, and just leave it to soak in. This costs £22 for 100ml which even I, frugal blogger, thought was reasonable for such a great product.

The Age Defence moisturiser was also nice but just not rich enough for my very dry skin, by lunchtime I was starting to feel a bit tight and hot, glad of that though as would be annoying to have found the perfect product only to discover its £54! I have used the Miracle Mask a couple of times, have to say not quite the miracle I would have liked and certainly for £38 I would have wanted to see something a bit more dramatic, basically nothing happened!

On the downside I am completely convinced that the Advanced Eye Complex makes a huge difference, downside being its £62 price tag for a 15ml tube, although I guess you would use it sparingly and you could consider it an investment. My eyes have some fine lines and the lids look crepey and a bit droopy and this really did seem to tighten, brighten and tone the whole eye area. Ok am now talking myself into wanting to add this to my xmas list! Might have to do a scientific test tomorrow morning and apply the last dregs to one eye only to see if there is quite literally a visible difference!

For the 4 days I was using all the products my skin was red and blotchy so much so that even Steve commented and I was concerned that it might have been that the Nude stuff didn't agree with me but as my skin calmed right down as normal hormones regained control I think it was just the usual monthly freak out. This week my skin has looked much better than it usually does and I am now tempted by the Nude Replenishing Skin care set which has the cleansing oil, hydrating water and replenishing night oil, which sounds right up my street and for £18 is a great way of trialing these products. Oh have just had a read up on the night oil and it recommends if you have dry skin that you mix a few drops with the moisturiser for a richer day cream, which would have been ideal for me. Whilst I love all of these products and am tempted to try more of them the cost is an issue; if I was to purchase cleansing oil, hydrating water, moisturiser, eye cream and night oil the price would be £192 which just seems like way too much for my very average face!

Trafford Centre wish list

Off to the Trafford Centre with Em, she got a years worth of back pay yesterday - pay roll doing her saving for her! - so she is going to spend 10% and save the rest. She has promised me lunch, isn't she a huny!

Here is my wish list:
Barry M crackle polish









MAC Blushcreme in Uncommon (weird beige!)
























La Roche Posay Rosaliac Fortifying anti-redness moisturiser (redness on cheeks is doing my head in so want to have a look at this range if its in Boots)












Black suede boots, have the calves of a full back and usually struggle so fingers crossed!

Oh and one last, rather weird thing! Have got a hankering for Estee Lauder White Linen perfume. For some reason the smell has been haunting me for the last 2 days, yesterday it was driving me mad, kept getting a whiff of it and although it triggered a feeling that the smell created a memory, are you still with me?, I couldn't put my finger on what the smell was or the associated memory. This morning it was happening again and then all of a sudden it came to me, the smell was White Linen. I am a little concerned that yearning for an Estee Lauder perfume is the clearest indication yet that I am officially old?? Anyway am going to have a squirt on Saturday and see what happens. Fran, I apologise in advance and promise not to wear this if I am with you as I know you HATE it!

Actually I'd be interested to hear about your "scent memories". As everyone knows fragrance is very evocative - for Em Thierry Mugler's Alien is instantly the Emerald Hotel, Perth WA as it is what I wore every day we were in Australia, she only has to walk past some one wearing it and she says "Emerald Hotel, Perth" which I think is lovely. Do you have a scent memory? If so what is the perfume or smell, if its not a perfume, that triggers it and where are you the instant you smell it? I think my most powerful is honeysuckle, I am instantly 6 in bed, in the bungalow in St Keverne and its a warm summers evening and still light (being little I was in bed early!), the honeysuckle ran up past my bedroom window and on a warm evening, with the window open my bedroom was full of the smell of it. If you have a scent memory please share as I'd love to hear about it.

Organic Surge - Overnight Sensation Night Cream

Saw this reviewed on A Model Recommends and decided that I would have to check this range out when I was next in Boots. Ruth's reviews are really good and although she frequently reviews products that are a little out beyond the means of a frugal blogger she often suggests a less expensive alternative, which I really like about her blog.

On the basis that Ruth was loving this I thought I really ought to give it a go, frankly any product a 20 something model is using probably doesn't have to work too hard, totally different story on a 44 year old, rather lived in face!



The first thing I noticed is the delicious scent. It reminds me of something else I have used and its bugging me that I cant think what it is. It has, obviously, a rose geranium scent which is really soothing, perfect for a night cream. The cream itself is dense, again great in a night cream especially if your 44 year old lived in face tends to be dry into the bargain. I found that it soaked in well and left a layer on my face that I liked. Used a mask on Friday that I think I might have issues with and my skin has been red and a bit stressed since, this cream calmed it down really nicely. Sadly when I woke up this morning I didn't really look like Ruth. But for £7.99 that was perhaps expecting a little too much! My skin did feel soft and well moisturised and much calmer than it has done since Friday. The cream comes in a nice heavy weight jar and the packaging is very attractive.



Whilst I was in Boots I had a play with some of the other products in the range, the Sensitive cleanser is next on my wish list, it has a lovely lemony fragrance and the eye gel was very cooling so that's a possible for the future too. Thanks Ruth for sharing a great find!

Boots Intensive Sensitive skin serum - quick note!

Just a quick update on this. Whilst it is a great underwear for your moisturiser I am feeling that for anyone with sensitive skin and a specific need for their serum to deal with some of the more tell-tale signs of sensitive skin this isn't going to cut the mustard. Have used it exclusively since Friday and this morning, admittedly post a very hot and heavy spinning session, when I was putting on some make up in the full glare of daylight I noticed that the redness on my cheeks and chin was creeping back in. If you have similar sensitive skin issues I would still strongly recommend the Body Shop Aloe Vera sensitive skin serum over the Boots Expert one. The Body shop one at £10 is still incredible value for a serum and I have seen a visible reduction in the amount of redness whilst using it.

Ladies - it's time to share!

In response to my News Flash email about the Boots Skin Serum:

(Usual price £4.99 at the moment two for £4 - the best skincare deal ever I suspect!)

I had loads of emails from my girls telling me what they are loving right now; Rebecca (who is a teacher and so will be FREAKED by my use of a semi-colon - teachers get off on that kind of thing!) is loving Benefit eyebrow pencils and blusher and Mary, who isn't a teacher but is old school when it comes to punctuation and correct grammar so will be loving it too, is rocking Barry M Turquoise nail varnish today as it matches her new top perfectly!


Aprpos of almost nothing - my Barry M collection, or at least the part of it I could get my hands on quickly on Friday! The Turquoise is the 4th from the left and the new pale blue made infamous by my hideous hand photos on Friday is the 5th!

So I thought well why don't we all share? If you find something you are loving and want to tell the world send me a quick email and I'll do a weekly, or monthly if you all refuse to talk to me!, round up of what is making us happy. Ok, so that's not really telling the world is it, but there will be about 8 ladies who will be really pleased you did share!

Or you can just leave a comment on this and future Sharing posts.

Posts on this blog are like buses aren't they, none for ages and then Wham! millions. Well, two anyway!
Happy weekend.

Oh and one last photo because sometimes we do get what we wish for:

All that ironing paid off!