NSpa Body Brush

Really quick post about a great product I picked up in Asda the other day!  I paid £1.59 for this NSpa body brush and massager, I had wanted to buy a body brush for a while, but never felt the need to spend a fiver on one, when I came back from my holiday my sun burnt skin felt like leather and some serious buffing was required, this seemed just the job.

I have a quick belt around with this before I leap in the shower and then slather on a bit of body lotion after the shower and my skin feels sooo much better - and it seems to be helping my tan to last, result!  Not sure what the massage "nubs" are supposed to do, guess if I used it in the shower they would come into play a bit more, but that wasn't what I was buying it for.

If you are nipping into Asda I recommend grabbing one of these, for £1.59 you can't go wrong! 

NOTD - OPI Mermaids Tears

So Sally's are in the UK too, not just the US. Who knew? Erm, everyone apart from me it seems!!  I have Miss Merx and Caroline Hirons to thank for that earth shattering bit of info, I am eternally grateful, my wallet might not be!!

So ploughed in there on Friday to buy China Glaze Papaya punch, then I put it up against my hands and had a re-think.  Not completely convinced I could get away with it, but might have a longer look next time I go back.  I did pick up a China Glaze polish in Stellar, will do a NOTD with that soon.

I had gone into Sallys knowing I would find China Glaze, I had no idea they would have a massive OPI stand though. There were not words.  The girl behind the counter was equally thrilled, she had only been working there a week and we had some serious nail varnish bonding going on, she produced a wheel of blank nails and we went into a bit of polish frenzy to help me choose my purchase - at £10 a pop I didn't want to get it wrong.  In the end I settled for Mermaids Tears from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection.

Usually when I am going on a nail varnish mission I do all my prep before I leave the house, cuticles done, nails shaped, base coat applied so that the minute I walk in the door I can try out my new polish.  That's a bit sad isn't it?  I like to think of the fact that I am so easily pleased as a strength, ok!!

So enough yadda yadda; pics!

In bright sunlight

In shade

 So there I am congratulating myself on having found something really unique - I love an usual shade of a popular colour and whilst the pale minty greens give me monster red hands, this one doesn't. I know they look red in the above pics, its cos I cant adjust the white balance on the crappy point and shoot!  And then I looked down again and thought "Models Own Grace Green" and my heart dropped, had I really just spent £10 on a dupe of a polish I already owned?  I tried to console myself by letting my polish snob take over "who cares OPI is waaay better" but wasn't totally convinced so dashed downstairs (we live in a basement, don't get me started) and rifled the polish drawer til I found Grace's Green.

Phew!

 Not a dupe - Grace's green is much greyer tinged than Mermaids Tears.

Here are some old Grace's Green pics for further comparison:

See - murky & minty - ish!

Looking at these old pics its quite clear my nails are in way better nick these days - laying responsibility for that with Mavala Scientifique and Nailactan. Will. Never. Be. Without!!

So that was going to be a flash post, turned into a load of waffle! Happy Saturday folks. 

Duty free shopping - MAC, Boss Orange, Sanctuary Spa

Anyone that follows me on twitter will know that before I went on holiday I had a list as long as my arm of the things that I wanted to get in duty free!

I spent an AGE on the MAC website sorting out the 4 shades of eye shadow that I wanted to get to put in to a palette.  I finally settled on Contrast (blueish purple), Fig. 1 (aubergine matte), Copperplate (smoky grey matte) and was going to pick a lighter one at the stand although Vex (green/peach duochrome shimmer) was of interest.  Quick note: MAC aficionados please excuse my gauche descriptions of MAC eye shadow finishes, I have no clue!

My plan was to pitch up at the MAC stand at some ridiculous time when the scary, snotty over made up SA was half asleep.  So as soon as I cleared security I grabbed Em and hauled her off to duty free at 5.45am.  I needn't have worried, seriously the SA was so lovely it was like she had been meant to go to Illamasqua and just ended up on the wrong concession!  She was incredibly helpful and chatty and didn't seem at all put out that a crepey eyed old bag was waving a print off of the four shades of eye shadow she wanted in her face. Yeup, I was that tragically over prepared!  Of course I didnt realise that they don't have the pro palettes in duty free, which rather put the mockers on my plan, didnt really see the point in paying more in duty free for shadows in a pan than I would have paid for them ready to go in the pro palette if I bought them in Selfridges, even if I did have to weather the disdain of the SA's to do so!

I was also hugely glad that I had done my homework. There is something immensley under-whelming about a stand full of MAC eye shadows. None of them leap out and yell buy me crepey eyed one, they all just look a bit meh.  I knew I wanted Copperplate more than I wanted to go on holiday, well almost, so I nabbed that and then having had a play decided that as I already had a matte blue (Revlon one) that it would be wiser to get Fig. 1 to have a matte purple that I couldnt get on the high street than to buy Contrast. So that was my decision made; Copperplate and Fig. 1.

Copperplate and Fig. 1 both from Matte 2 collection

Fig. 1 and Copperplate in shade, fairly heavy swatches

Same but in direct sun

I used both on holiday, in the evenings and I think Fig.1 is great for a wearable smoky eye on my blue eyes, will have to take a pic next time I do one.  I think I do actually prefer it to Copperplate now that I own both. Haven't been totally wowed by these tbh, they are a bit powdery and can a pain to blend.  Will do a more detailed review of each with an eotd post.

That job done I headed off to purchase the Hugo Boss Orange shower gel and body cream I had been wanting since my birthday. Never, ever want something, it will pretty much make it unobtainable!  They did have the body lotion but not the shower gel, so I purchased that and decided to head to Boots for a shower gel for my holiday as was so convinced would be purchasing in duty free hadn't bothered to pack anything (there is an irony to this which will become apparent by the end of my "holiday" posts!).

This is delicious, so glad I got it, sinks in quickly, leaves my skin glowing and soft and smells like heaven. Added advantage is that it makes my Orange Sunset last longer too!

Nothing in Boots, unless I fancied taking Sanex on my holidays. Was almost despondent so had to go to Frankie and Bennys for breakfast, pancakes cheered me up!

So on the plane perusing the in flight duty free and there like a shining beacon was a Sanctuary Spa gift bag with body butter, scrubby shower gel, bath float and body exfoliator in a lovely zingy orange bag for £10!  

Bright enough?!

Couldnt get the money out fast enough - so my bathing needs were fully taken care of before we even landed!

Quite a bargain for a tenner don't you think?

Champneys Super Rich Cleansing Balm

One of my treats when I used to shop in Sainsbury's, before the recession, was to pick up a Champneys shower gel or hand cream to sneak in along with the family shop!  Once I started shopping in Asda I missed my Champneys treats and so was delighted to spot the range now being stocked in Boots.

Regular readers will know that I have mature dry skin that tends to be sensitive.  I have been using Avene cleanser for quite a while but was really fancying something that utilised a muslin cloth - I actually want the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish but as am on a spending ban an online purchase is out of the question so I have to wait to splash my secret stash next time I am in Leeds or Manchester!  I decided to have a look in Boots to see what I could find and whilst I was tempted by the No 7 hot cloth cleanser I wanted to wait to try the Liz Earle version first.  I have used the Botanics balm cleanser and really liked it so the idea of a Champneys cleansing balm really appealed, especially one that was billed as "super rich".

They say:

This super rich cleansing balm with avocado, jojoba and natural floral oils lift away every trace of make-up and impurities to renew your skin deeply cleansing, toning and exfoliating in one indulgent treatment.

How to Use

Champneys therapists recommend...

...using weekly as part of your evening routine.

Warm the balm in your hands until it feels smooth, inhale the therapeutic aromas and massage in your face and neck using small circular movements.

Soak the muslin cloth in warm water, squeeze out any excess and hold over your face and neck for a few seconds before lightly polishing off.

Rinse with cold water.

I loved the idea of "theraputic aromas" I'm Taurean, we like our stuff to smell good!  And I also liked the inclusion of oils, my dry skin mops them up.

The balm comes in a nice heavy weight plastic jar (so its not so heavy you cant take it on holiday!) and has a muslin cloth packaged with it.  It has a very oily, slightly gritty feel to it.  I suspect that it might only be useful for oily skins working on that oil attracts oil basis and then only used infrequently - if you have dry skin you should try this.  I know they say use once a week, I have been using this every evening and most mornings for the last 3 weeks and have seen no ill effect, in fact my skin is looking pretty fab, apart from the appalling damage I did when I got sun burnt on holiday, more of that later.

I use a small amount of the balm and every other evening massage is straight onto my dry skin, the gritty texture lasts until you add warm water and the oil starts to emulsfy so every other night used dry to exfoliate and then the other nights melted with some hot water for a smoother clean.  I give my face a good old massage with this and then clean it off with the muslin, dunked in warm water and wrung out.  If I have lagged myself in slap I might do a second cleanse.  I particularly like that you can rub this right into your lash line to remove mascara and eyel liner without trashing your eyes and then use the cloth to really make sure all the eye make up is gone.

After using this I am now spritzing with Avene Eau Thermal Water spray (£6.50 from Boots or online here) and then whilst my face is still damp with the spray massaging in a couple of drops of facial oil.  I have used all of my Sanctuary Therapists Secret Facial oil (£17.50 from Boots, online here) and really really need to buy another asap.  Putting the oil on top of the water seems to help trap the moisture into my skin and also helps my skin to absorb the oil. 

The balm is £13 in Boots and you can buy it online here.

I'm back!

After a busy couple of weeks where work and a much needed holiday kept me away from blogging I am back and think I have got my mojo back on the blogging front. To be honest I was starting to wonder whether the blogging was really worth it, I enjoy twitter and reading other peoples blogs and was just not loving blogging that much, I think I'll see how it goes for a little bit longer and if I am still boring myself then I'll kick it into touch, although will still be tweeting, following other blogs and commenting like a demon, so you wont have heard the last from me if I do stop!

Got a couple of nice bits in duty free and on holiday that I want to blog and another post on the couple  of products that were total life savers when I got burnt on holiday - I know, cardinal sin! In the meantime have a mass of work to catch up on and loads of photos to sort so please bear with me for a little bit longer.

PS - in the meantime there are some holiday snaps to have a look at here on the photo blog!
x

Bourjois Sweet Kisses Naturel - Framboise Exquise

Recently I raved about a rather bright Bourjois lipstick so I decided to get one in a my lips but better shade that would be a bit more every day.

At the time I hadn't registered that the case was pink and not purple and didn't realise that this is because it is from their "Naturel" range.  Still love the satisfying "click" on the cases of these! What they say:

100% natural formula
100% radiant shades

All the benefits of Nature in one lipstick!
Its formula of 100% natural origin brings radiance and care to lips.
Enriched with magnolia oil and shea butter, its melting formula intensely nourishes lips, leaving them supple and providing them with 8 hours of moisture.
The intense and radiant shades illuminate your lips thanks to the 100% natural pigments selected for their purity and benefits: antioxidant green tea and soothing rose.

So more lip loving ingredients!  I have to say much like the previous Bourjois lipstick this one does feel very creamy and non-drying on your lips.  Again this one has reasonable wear - it can pretty much withstand a cup of tea - and wears off evenly without staining.  This one seems slightly more matte than the purple case Bourjois lipstick and again is very opaque.

Its a lot more wearable for days when I cant manage to live up to the brighter pink!

Swatched indoors in natural light

 It has more of an orangeyness to it than I am completely comfortable with but I think its ok.

Outdoors, dull morning swatch!

Just for comparison here is the other lipstick in this range.

As you can see very similar waxy texture but much more in yer face!

And finally in context of my face!

In my opinion both the Naturel and non-naturel Sweet Kisses lipsticks are lovely and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them if you fancy a smooth creamy shot of colour. I love that the two I have are cream without any hint of glitter or shimmer.


Available from Boots (not online?) for £7.99.  Have just discovered that there is a third option, the pale purple case is the Sweet Kisses Shine version of this lipstick. Guess what I have just added to my wish list?!

Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser

Am about to confess to something weird, I have googled Liz Earle skin care for years, looked at the website, read glowing reviews and never purchased anything, in spite of knowing that it would be perfect for my skin.  Part of the reason is that on a limited budget I am terrified of making mistakes and when you could only purchase on line I was loathe to part with my cash - I like to have tried things on the back of my hand before opening the purse!  I also think a tiny bit of the reason is that I am weirdly envious of Ms Earle, I mean have you seen her? She looks so amazing. Which for anyone normal would have been reason enough to purchase anything and everything produced with her name on it.  I am clearly not normal!

Having known instinctively that my skin would completely love this cream I was still amazed by just how much!  I honestly don't think my skin has ever felt more comfortable.  I am sure that everyone has already tried Liz Earle Skin Repair cream and I am preaching to the converted but just a quick overview for anyone that hasn't!   The cream itself is dense and rich without lagging your face in oil, I have dry skin so bought the version for dry skin, often heavier creams for dry skin are not a great base for make up, this is not the case with this.  It soaks in well leaving my skin feeling calm and plump.

It smells like heaven, not an overly strong fragrance just a lovely comforting smell which helps to make it a pleasure to use.

Obviously its chock full of skin loving ingredients and if you have mature, dry, sensitive skin that needs a lot of moisture and love I strongly recommend you give this a whirl.

I am all about getting the best product for my skin for the least amount of money and for just £17.50 for 50ml this cream ticks all those boxes too.  Available on line here as well as in John Lewis and Liz Earle stores - dying to visit the one in Leeds!   

The Cleanse and Polish, Instant Boots Skin Tonic and Superskin Concentrate are all now on my list of things I really want to try!

If you are already using Liz Earle let me know what your absolute fave product is and I'll add it to my list!