Naissance 246 Organic Rosehip Oil

Hello!

If you're long term readers you will know how much we love skincare and love supporting local. When we heard about Naissance we had to learn more, and were super lucky to receive some of their organic rosehip oil.

Benefit's Bathina Body Oil Mist

Hi all!

I was super lucky this week and won Benefit's brand new Bathina Body Oil Mist in a twitter competition. I was so shocked as I never win anything and I was having such a bad day.
After a routine trip to the doctors on Monday morning I was stuck in traffic during the morning rush hour. As part of my morning commute I had to stop for a while in traffic next to a car crash and had to watch people being cut out of their cars which was terrifying. I'm not squeamish at all ( I work in a lab with bodily fluids, it doesn't bother me at all!) but it really shook me up.

After finding out I won the competition it made my day! Once I'd got home and had a cup of tea with my mum and found out I'd won I felt so much better so thank you to Benefit.

Alyson Rowe has told us lots about this new body oil mist and had us stroking her arm at the Cardiff Benefayre back in August so we were looking forward to this coming out.

I love the cute packaging, its girly but also seductive looking, especially with the tag line of  'soft to touch, hard to get'.





Benefit say:

Silky, sexy skin is impossible to resist. This super-fine body oil mist absorbs instantly for immediate hydration. It includes sweet almond, olive and avocado oils to leave skin feeling soft & moisturized…and vitamin E known to help keep it firm. With a seductive sheen and a hint of tempting fragrance, it’s lust at first touch!

Benefit have called this a Silky and Seductive body oil mist and I would definitely agree with this.
The bottle contains 75ml of product which is quite a lot for a product of this type. They normally come in small bottles even for cheaper makes so this is definitely good value for money.



I also love that its got French on the box, I'd love to speak it and anything with it on is very attractive to me!

It is also a very sexy language so is perfect for putting on the side of a product like this.

The bottle itself is really simple yet still beautiful:


Its a pink bottle with spray device at the top. It has the same logo as on the front of the box but is otherwise just plain pink which I think is really nice and simple.

It could be the perfect item to stand on a dressing table and look more luxurious like old times; I'd love to have a dressing table like that! 

The spray is a medium size so you get enough product out to use but doesnt swamp your hand with oil that you get it everywhere! 

It's also really sturdy and unlikely to break if you're anything like me and are a little bit clumsy.

The easiest way for me to show you what the product is like was to spray it onto the back of my hand (anywhere else may be a bit weird!)

This photo shows 1 full spray:



And this is the one spray lightly rubbed in:



And again with flash:

You can see it sinks in super fast and leaves a lovely sheen without it being heavy, oily, sticky or gloopy and leaving a mirror like grease shine on my skin.
I wore it out on the weekend for a night out and my legs (if I say so myself) looked really good, my skin looked healthy and moisturised.

This also smells gorgeous, just like maybe baby and is a bit powdery which is really nice as I'm not a strong scent fan. I would use this for nights out (i.e. tonight as me and M have a reunion to go to!) particularly on my limbs and collarbone area and for nights in too.... ;) You can apply it straight after a shower to lock in moisture straight away (I loved this!) or pretty much any time your skin needs a bit of va va voom.

Bathina Body Mist Oil is a luxurious product that would be the perfect present - to yourself or a friend/partner.

I can see me getting a lot of use out of this over the Christmas party season when my limbs need a bit of help to look better on those wet and windy evenings.

What do you think of Bathina Body Oil Mist? Will you be snapping it up?

You can buy it on their website now for £26.50 :)

L xxx

Review: Outback Organics

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to be sent some products to try from Outback Organics. I had seen them on twitter and seen lots of positive reviews on their products so when they asked for people to try stuff I sent them our information.

Outback Organics is a company from Somerset (my home town) so that intrigued me even more. It's great to support local businesses. They've grown into a successful business which is used my professionals in salons and available to purchase online. We were sent three products to try. The Face and Body Scrub, Face and Body Wash and the Botanical Body Oil.

The Face and Body scrub was the product I was most excited to try. The scrub comes in a tube which I prefer in products. I'd much rather this than a tub as I find tubs like soap and glory end up with the product going gloopy as it gets water in it. As someone who uses an epilator unfortunately ingrown hairs are part of what comes with this method of hair removal. This product was developed to use prior to waxing or epilating to help prevent them and is gentle enough to then be used after and on the face.





I love multi-functional products. They are handy to leave my bathroom less cluttered. This product is a white cream with a soft exfoliation. No rough particles. The beads are a good size but don't feel rough on the skin. The micro-beads are make from jojoba which helps to buff away dead skin without irritating it. I've used this a few times a week since receiving it. I've had no reactions to it and I've used it all over my body and face. It's been perfect for the bits of skin left behind after spots and has helped with ingrown hairs. The scrub retails for £8.99 for 100ml. It's also not tested on animals (big positive) and is free from synthetic chemicals. I also have to add the smell of this whole range. I love it. All the products smell very spa like, they are fresh, almost woody smelling. They smell exactly like spa massage oils to me. I definitely want to try the ingrown hair serum from this range.



The skin wash is another multi purpose product but I've been using this just on my face. This is from the tea tree range. Anyone with oily skin will know tea tree is great for helping cleanse it. I usually stay away from tea tree products as I find them over powering and while this smells of tea tree it isn't as strong as I usually find them. The tea tree oil in this in organic and it also contains peppermint oil. The combination of these help to clean pores and prevent spots.



The skin wash retails for £5.99 for 100ml. I personally think this is a great price and this product will last a while. I like to use this in the mornings as it has a fresh scent to it. I also prefer to use a gel cleanser in the mornings. I feel like this is giving my skin a deep clean and leaves it feeling fresh and not greasy. This will definitely be a repurchase for me.



The botanical body oil is a product with four uses. It can be used pre wax, post wax, pre shaving and as a moisturizer. I've only tried it the last two ways. Being an oil I was definitely skeptical of putting it on as moisturizer. I don't enjoy the feeling of being slippery. This took me a while to try out. After I did I wondered why. It really is a dry oil. Which is quite an unusual texture. When rubbed in it sinks into the skin leaving soft skin feeling that lasts. This has really helped my sun burnt skin. I've been applying it morning and night and so far I've not had any peeling (fingers crossed it stays that way). It's really kept my skin soft.



I also tried it out under my shave cream (shampoos I didn't like) and found it made my shave much smoother. I definitely like this as a moisturizer and a spray bottle is much easy than a pot of body butter. I'm a fan. This retails at £11 for 100 or £15 for 250ml. I know which size I'll be reordering. If your a fan of dry body oils I definitely suggest trying this one. It'll last ages too.

I've really enjoyed trying these products and it's nice to find a new company that doesn't test on animals.

You can purchase outback organics online from here and they have some great July offers on.

Love M

xxx

Unfortunately for me I had a bit of an allergic reaction recently, so haven't been using anything new on my skin until it cleared up. You can see any pictures of it on twitter, but after a trip to a spa I was covered from head to toe in a pretty nasty rash which took a week of super strong antibiotics to get rid of. 

This meant that I haven't been able to try the Outback Organics products as much as I'd have liked.

I have however used the products once or twice (without any reaction!) and I think they're really great.

I tried the body oil first and that sunk in really easily leaving my skin with a sheen but not feeling greasy which a lot of body oils seem to do. It seems a lot drier than others I've tried and smells really fresh and clean, I'd definitely be interested in repurchasing this if the long term effects are as hydrating!

The face and body wash is also another that smells great. It smells of tea tree oil and from my childhood this always reminds me of being really clean and would be great for oily and blemished skin to fight off spots and kill bad bacteria on skin. It foamed up nicely too!

The face and body scrub felt really gentle and smells of rose I think? It's a really soothing smell and my body and face both appreciated how gentle the scrubby bits were as they weren't abrasive at all.

Another plus was the multi functional usage of the wash and scrub as you can use them on both face and body. This is perfect for morning showers when you are in a rush! 

I can't comment on how they are over time as I've only just started using them, but on initial usage I really like all three products and would definitely be interested in looking at other products from Outback Organics.

What do you think of these products? Do you like multi functional ones?

L xxx

Spring Series: Body Care

As it's March (this year is speeding by already!) we decided to start up a new series of posts for Sunday's.

With Summer coming up, in case it's in April again, we've decided to start a series of posts on how we get skin ready after the drying effects of Winter and Spring/Summer trends for clothes and make up.
We'll be doing them every Sunday in the hope that by the time we've finished them some good weather will be here!
Our first one is on body care, hope you enjoy :)

Body Scrubs

Through winter my skin goes horrible, especially my legs, they get so dry and no amount of moisturiser seems to help. Plus honestly I get lazy with moisturiser. I hate getting out of the shower and having to be cold while I rub in moisturiser! Now hopefully warmer weather is nearing it's time to prep my legs as I'm hoping soon I can wear skirts.

For body scrubs I love the Next Spa Sugar Body Scrub. Unfortunately I can't find this one online so I'm not sure if it was just a Christmas product. The texture of this scrub is one of the best I've used. It's very thick and almost jelly like. It smooths onto the skin and gently exfoliates with a good size particle. It leaves skin feeling moisturised leaving it with an oily feeling after. I love that it has a glitter sparkle through it. The only downside is the smell. As this is from the spa range it's a very fresh almost woody scent which does make you feel like you are entering a spa which is nice but for me I prefer more sweet or fruity scents. I will be looking out for this in shops and hopefully I'll be able to find it again. We were lucky enough to get this at a Next Blogger Event.

Body Butters

I'm a huge body butter fan. I love the thickness of them and the instant moisturising feeling they leave. I usually use Body Shop body butters, I love the variety of scents these leave and you can quite often get them on offer. They smooth onto the body easily and leave a nice scent on the skin.

I love how big the pots are and a little does go a long way. I tend to prefer body butters to lotions as I like that they are thicker.

Body Lotions

I did get the Soap and Glory Smoothie Star Body Lotion for Christmas. I love the scent of this. It's sweet and creamy smelling and I love that it comes in a pump bottle as it means when I'm wearing fake nails I don't get loads of product under my nails. This sinks in easily and leaves my skin well moisturised. It has converted me from body butters and as it's lighter it will be better for during the day on hot days.

I also like Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Pump Lotion. I love Palmer's products as they smell amazing. This is again a pump lotion so it means I don't get product under my fingers.

M xxx





Body Scrubs

I am what you would call a 'Soap and Glory girl' through and through. When it comes to scrubs the first thing I think of is their Sugar Crush scrub.
I absolutely adore this grainy substance which smells very strongly of sugar and lime, basically it's like a mojito and I just love it.

 

I also love their Pulp Friction scrub which foams and has more of a fruity smell and feels more moisturising because of the foam.
I pick and choose which one I fancy using depending on my skin condition at the time, and of course the smell I'm after! I find they do a really good job at sloughing off all of the dead skin cells so the new ones can push through and make moisturiser easier to sink in.

Body Butter

I'd never really used a body butter before I received a Soap and Glory one a few years ago, so they were a new thing for me. I have now become obsessed with how luxurious they feel on my skin especially after winter where my skin has taken a bashing from the cold and heating in the house.

I love how thick it is and it obviously smells amazing.
I do also like the Body Shop butters, they are on a similar standard and have a great variety of flavours. Satsuma is my next one to try!

Body Lotion
Again, having received the Soap and Glory bag I also like the Body Milk that M likes. The pump makes things so easy!
I also like the Vaseline and Dove moisturisers as most of the time they are so easily absorbed into your skin that you rarely need to wait long for it to sink in, so these are my favourites for week days and after the gym when I haven't got much time but don't want to skip it.

A product I would love to try is a body oil. I've tried baby oil and it was too thick for my skin and took forever to absorb. I've heard drier oils are better and the Palmer's cocoa butter is one of the ones I've heard rave reviews about and definitely need to try. Do any of you have any recommendations??

So there's our first Spring Series post, what do you think? Do you use scrubs often?

L xxx

  

Product Buzzword of 2012

I know a lot of people will be writing posts about their best products of 2012 and I most likely will do the same once I've had the chance to think about what mine are!

However when I was thinking of what products have featured heavily in my 2012 and also in general in the cosmetic/blogging world there was only one type of product that stood out in my mind: oil.

Image from Thrive Farm Wordpress

How many types of oil are there available??

Hair oil, face oil, body oil, shower oil.......

In particular Moroccan/Macadamia/Argan oil have taken the cosmetics world by storm and although I haven't used much of it, I have used the Macadamia hair mask and the Ojon oil and am very much a fan of both!

I have used some body oils but I'm always in a rush and am yet to find one that sinks in fast enough and does a good job.

As skincare is one of my favourite topics and aisles to browse in store, I have tried and tested a few face oils this year that has been my biggest surprise.

Starting off my year with oily skin, the last thing I would have put on my face is oil!

Once my skin changed due to stress and became drier and covered in cysts, I was forced to apply more moisturiser to combat the lack of hydration that I'd never experience before.

This included oils and now I would never be without them!

They helped clear some scars on my face, hydrated dry patches and did not in any way affect my oily t-zone! (Particularly Antipodes Divine Oil)

This for me was a revelation and I have been happy to swallow my words on adding oil to oily skin.

Do you agree that oils have been the biggest buzzword of 2012?

It makes me wonder what will be the product type of 2013...does anyone have any ideas?

I think nail art comes a close second as the biggest hype in 2012, maybe it hasn't had its day yet....or maybe products with a distinct lack of chemicals will become even more popular and product choice will increase with demand?

Who knows!

You know however, that we will all be watching! I for one cannot wait for 2013!

L xxx