Over the past month, i have spent many-a-pennie on quite a few beauty bits and pieces. I thought i would post some speedy reviews on each item in one, big she - bang! So here goes..
Boots Buff Puff
I love these. They literally buff your skin, exfoliating your skin, ridding off old, dead skin cells. A bargain at £1.89, they can be used every day or a few times a week, at your own desired pressure. I'm usually a slave to my St. Ives exfoliator, but i get the feeling my skin 'adjusts' to it and my skin doesn't feel any brighter. So i switch every now and then to my buff puff, they instantly smooth and make skin brighter and fresher - genius! You have to buy one, me and my mother are die hard fans of these weird puffs of material! Simply use alongside your normal cleanser and be amazed by the results!
Boots Essentials Facial Exfoliating Sponge - Boots (£1.89)
Clinique City Block Sheer SPF 25
This has changed my life. Alright, slightly dramatic - but if your not aware i suffered from a long painstaking search of the perfect foundation. My search has been high and low, i just can't seem to find the correct formulation to suit my skin. sigh. I am however currently using Mac Select Foundation which seems to be working, i just feel like it wears off halfway through the day.. until i came across City Block Sheer. It's main priority is to serve as a sun block for the face, but it acts as an excellent primer!
I, myself have never encountered the world of primers, but City Block Sheer really does provide an excellent base for my foundation. I firstly moisturise and then apply a pea size amount of the City Block to my face, its light and easy to apply, sinking in fast. My initial thoughts were that it would be that the formulation would feel heavy on the skin because its a sun cream, but its light and doesn't make my face feel 'tight'. What's more important that my foundation is easily able to be blended over the top, leaving my face looking like my foundation has just been freshly applied all day without the need to re-powder or wonder where my foundation has ran off to during the day?
Overall, a great primer that works well under any foundation, with the added best bit of it actually being a SPF sun block? Because we are all guilty of not applying sunblock in summer, let alone the winter.
Clinique City Block Sheer - Clinique (£15.00)
Clinique Rinse Off Foam Cleanser
I got this trail size bottle in a Clinique deal, after i've used this i will most definitely be buying the full version. It states to effectively remove all traces of make up, dirt and grime before the cleansing process. I wasn't sure about washing my face twice - as i already use the Clinique Three Step Cleanser. However i gave a whirl, the SMALLEST amount lathers like crazy! It made my face super, super squeaky clean, with squeaky noises and all; i then went on to use my other cleanser. After doing this for a two weeks now, i feel like my skin is more fresher, cleaner and clearer. My skin is benefiting from the actual second cleansing. My Three Step Clenser is able to 'work' and 'do its job' without the tough job of having to remove make-up first. I'm quite hot on skincare as you can tell, sometimes i feel conflicted with the idea of using too many products on my skin but then there are so many products that do different things, such as night and eye creams, the list is endless. However, if my skins happy and responds well, im happy!
Rinse-Off Floaming Cleanser - Clinique (£14.50) - warning you only need the tiniest amount.
Pan Oxyl
I was both excited and nervous to use this product, Pan Oxyl is quite strong medicated treatment for acne. My skin does not suffer from acne, yet ocasionally i do suffer from the odd pimple and i do have large pores on my nose. Pan Oxyl can bought over the counter at large Boots stores and chemists and can be bought in three strengths, the weakest being 2.5, 5 and the strongest being 10.
I purchased the weakest formulation in 2.5, after reading quite a few horror story reviews about the stronger formulation, i decided to try the weakest.. just in case. I first applied this onto clean, moisturised skin just before bed, a very, very, very thin application on my nose. When i awoke in the morning, i could dramatically see a difference. The pores had radically reduced in size and were alot 'fainter.' I was pretty fucking ecstatic to be honest, i've used all lotions and potions, cheap and cheerful to quite expensive and they never made an ounce of difference. However, after a few days application, my skin seemed faintly red and very dry. After lathering lots of Nivea on the dry patches, i've decided to use it once every other night, just in case!
Overall i am so glad i gave this a try and i am excited to see how my skin improves! I do suggest that if you want to go down the Pan Oxyl route, try a test patch first before going heavy handed.
Pan Oxyl - (price varys - roughly £3.50)
Botanics Soothing Eye Make Up Remover
I had heard some rave reviews about this product, but i have to admit i'm disappointed - boo! I have used other products from the Botanics range and i have been very impressed, yet i felt this eye make up remover was good at removing eye make up at the end of the day, but it doesn't really suit my use of which i intended. (if that makes sense?)
Whatever mascara i use, i simply always get mascara on my top lids (annoying if you have long lashes! although i wont complain! ;) ). I usually dip a cotton bud in eye make up remover and wipe away the mascara or eye liner mistakes, but this product left a oily residue on the skin. Which looked greasy and noticeable, meaning i had to blot with powder and ruin my eye make up. When i have used other products such as L'oreal that don't leave this weird train of oily mess on my eyelids. So im afraid this one will be buried in the dark realms of my beauty box.
Botanics Soothing Eye Make Up Remover - Boots (£2.99)
So thats my fast, speedy, yet quite long reviews. I hope they prove useful, i definitely think i could get a job writing advertising copy now. ;)
I also purchased a Mac Brush in 210 for my Clinique Gel Liner and so far, its so easy to apply! So glad i purchased this brush.
yes, ;) my hunt of mascaras is still on-going, im currently trailing L'Oreal's pretty damn famous Telescopic, so far so good. Not used to ever using such a thing brush, i like 'em fat and big!
Have you tried any of these products?
