Aveeno

Aveeno is one of those ranges that has just never piqued my interest, I knew it existed and apparently delivered but I always overlooked it for something that was less functional.  That was until Em had bad eczema on her wrists and a colleague of hers told her to buy Aveeno moisturising cream, which she did, within 2 weeks the eczema had healed.  I pinched a dollop of Em's Aveeno cream and was very impressed, the difference in my skin was visible and lasting.  

I have been using an inexpensive shower gel recently, I like the smell but had really noticed that my skin was feeling much drier post shower than it did when I was using the Korres shower gels that I bought on holiday in Crete (am definitely going to purchase more Korres shower gels!).  I decided that perhaps my skin could use a bit of a hand so headed off to Boots with Aveeno on my list.

All the Aveeno products were 20% off so I decided to pick up a few things. I was particularly interested in the shower oil.

As you can see it's a nice thick oil, it emulsifies with the water and feels great on your skin, leaving it feeling very comfortable but with no greasy residue.  It doesn't really have a fragrance, sort of an odd biscuity smell really, so I tend to use my fragranced shower gel for washing and then use a dollop of this as a final skin rinse.  You can also squirt some of the oil into a bath and I think it would be fantastic used in this way - I have no bath so can't try it sadly. I think this would be ideal to add to baths for babies and little people with eczema - I wish I had had it back when Em was little and really suffering.

The Daily Moisturising Lotion is also fragrance free and doesn't have the biscuity smell of the oil either.  It feels very cooling and soothing and it really does improve the appearance of my skin.  It does feel a little sticky when I put it on my legs, not so much on the rest of my body and it's not a deal breaker but I'd like it more if it didn't!

The hand cream is very very effective.  The body lotion and the hand cream both claim to moisturise for 24 hours and I really feel that they do, the hand cream also claims to last through hand washing and I would also agree that it does.  Again no fragrance and I do prefer my hand cream to smell nice, but it is incredibly effective, it instantly makes my hands feel soft but leaves no residue.  

I would definitely recommend Aveeno if you have little people with eczema, or have it yourself, or if you are looking for something that actually works.  Bit of a dull post, back to lipstick and nail varnish for the next one!

L'Occitane Rose 4 Reines Hand Cream

Firstly, there is no upside to a 20 hr day.  Just so we are clear on that.  However, duty free shopping on Stena Line was a revelation - UD Naked palette on a Ferry crossing the Irish sea? It's worth the foot passenger fare just to pick one up.  They had a load of UD stuff so I treated Em to the Preen palette, needless to say she was rather chuffed!

When I am away at a show my hands really suffer.  We are hauling boxes of magazines, shifting heavy counters, handling some of the filthiest luchre you have ever seen.  Really, farmers tend to keep their cash wadded up in a ball with used tissues, old sweets, a bit of cow or sheep shit depending on where they farm and gad knows what else.  Washing your hands is both a joy and incredibly traumatic, the filth that comes off is disgusting.  Generally made worse by the fact that 10 mins earlier you were eating something.  Without cutlery.  Suspect I am now immune to foot and mouth, scrapey and bovine spongiform encephalopathy as a direct result of ingesting masses of all of them over the years! So I decided to treat myself to this on the ferry home.

They say:
Enriched in shea butter and vitamin E, this cream nourishes, protects and helps repair hands from daily aggressions.
Hands are moisturized and delicately perfumed with the fresh and velvety fragrance of the Grasse, Bulgarian, Moroccan and Turkish roses.

I say:
I could eat this with a spoon.

It is the most delicious hand cream I have ever used with a full on, incredibly intoxicating rose perfume that lasts for ages. To my nose there is nothing "delicate" about this perfume, its not the demure, fresh rain, clean scent of English rose but the proper, gutsy, bawdy, head filling wallop of all those massively perfumed roses, so strong a smell you can taste it, a wanton hand cream if you will, a ho for your hands! I now want the entire range.  

But most especially the Rose Nuit de Mai edt:
 The Nuit de Mai Eau de Toilette evokes the atmosphere of those May festivities with a floral woody sensuality. The fragrance opens with the fresh and delicate note of wild rose, heightened by cinnamon. At its heart, a bunch of May roses blends with the delicious accord of violet and blackberry. Lingering woody base notes reveal the captivating scents of sandalwood, cedar and vanilla.
Rose with woody base notes? Dear god sounds like heaven in a bottle.

I paid £13.50 duty free for the hand cream, its £13 on the L'Occitane website! 

Little bit of weekend cheer!

No 7 Speed dry in Blackberry, Rimmel Vinyl (sad but true; I prefer these to my new Chanel) in Lovesick and freebie L'Occitane shea butter hand cream, could be me but has a bit of a baby poo niff to it. Yea, your right it probably is me. Gave up trying to upload the rotated image from Photobucket, cba trying any more.


Post update - that photo was the other way round yesterday evening. Not the right way up but horizontal to the left, now its horizontal to the right. Or was that wine stronger than I thought??!

Models Own Swatches and Soap & Glory Hand Food

I may have mentioned that I have a gap in my nail varnish collection which can only be filled by a lilac polish. Had I mentioned that? Having resigned myself to the fact that even with 25% off Illamasqua Wink was a bit beyond my means right now I had a look at the Models Own website to see if they had a lilac. Had seen these around and had never been impressed by them, until Nikki started swatching her Models Own haul and then I rapidly changed my mind! That said both her nails and her photos are fab so she did make the polishes look great! Boots in Huddersfield now has Models Own and was doing a 2 for £8 promo!! Wanted Lilac Dream and Beth's Blue, got Lilac Dream (yay) but no Beth's Blue so settled for Blue Lagoon and having just done a couple of hasty swatches am loving it!

Tried photos with the old point and shoot rather than my usual grown up camera, much easier and I think they are in focus too - sometimes it just doesn't pay to complicate things!

Aren't they lovely!


Shimmery loveliness!

Of course because I purchased in Boots and because I am the frugalist blogger I made sure I had enough points (by purchasing boring stuff like Ibruprofen and Anithistamine!) to get these:

Kerr-ching! These Nails Inc base and top coats get a lot of love on other nail blogs so I decided I need them in my life!

Nikki has also been giving love to Soap and Glory Hand Food and seeing as you can pick up a handbag sized tube for £2.50 I thought I ought to give it a whirl, have been using it for a week and I am right with Nikki on this one, its fantastic, works a treat and smells like heaven.

(Nikki is now probably having a "stalker alert" moment! Please bear in mind that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery Nikki!!)

Just because the sun is shining I have done a very rapid, no clean up, no cuticle loving, no base or top coat swatch of Blue Lagoon and Lilac Dream and whats more its on my right hand!! So whilst its not lovely you can at least see the colours on the nail. Going to have a tidy up and do a proper Lilac Dream mani this eve so will add a proper photo tomorrow.


Ok I couldn't wait! Proper Lilac Dream manicure, complete with Nails Inc caviar top and base coat. It's love people! The top and base coat are fab, base nice and thin and top does dry in 45 seconds to a really nice glossy finish am delighted with these. The Models Own polish is thin but opaque, did have a total disaster doing 2nd coat on LH thumb, big drop ran straight off the brush and onto my index finger, as you can see in the pics. Never had that happen before on the upside you get a really nice smooth finish and its not brush strokey at all. And its opaque in 2 coats and do I ever love this colour!





Must remember to take date off on the camera though, how annoying!