Una Brennan's Super Facialist Range

Happy Saturday lovelies!

Hopefully the weather is shaping up to belong to this time of year and everyone is out and about. i do love the first pub garden visit of the year! If not....at least it's EASTER BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND! Hurrah! Chocolate galore!

You've probably heard of Una Brennan's Super Facialist Range by now. I picked these up quite a while ago during a 3 for 2 deal as I'd heard such rave reviews about the range and for some reason they've just sat in my drawers.
I've decided to be good and rotate my products a lot more to get the best use out of everything so I've recently rediscovered them and here they are!

Her ranges are designed to give you the opportunity to give yourself an at home facial without expensive products and so you can get salon skin without the price tag.
It's quite a big claim and I do wonder if anyone at all can succeed in this!

First up, the Rose Hydrate Intense Moisture Mask. This has been created so that it is even suitable for sensitive skin and is a thick white cream that you apply to dry skin for 5 minutes before removing it.

This allegedly boosts skin moisture levels and radiance by utilising white willow extract, vitamin U and urea with marshmallow to hydrate and replenish skin.
Applying this once or twice a week this should save my skin from the dehydration issues its been having lately.

As my skin has been that temperamental I was initially worried it would irritate my skin or make it extremely oily. I'm glad to say that this didn't happen at all and my skin more nourished after use. I've even applied it as a moisturiser at night and left it on until the morning which was great too, no irritation and baby smooth skin!

Definitely a thumbs up from me!


Next up is the Miracle Makeover Facial Oil from the same Rose Hydrate range.



This pre cleanse treatment oil contains many natural oils including raspberry, carrot and avocado to eliminate impurities from the skin and encourage cell regeneration. It also contains brown algae and Calendula oil to soothe even the most sensitive skins leaving it feeling supple.
Sounds quite a lot from a little oil used before cleansing doesn't it??

It's directions state you apply a generous amount to your hands to warm it up before applying to your facial skin and massage it in circular movements to dissolve impurities and open pores before cleansing as you normally would.

I've used this a number of times and you need a few pumps (3/4) for a normal face of make up but if you've got heavy eye make up on you'll probably require an extra 1 or 2 as it can be a bit stubborn when the oil is absorbing into your skin. Having said that I really like it and it does a great job of dissolving make up and has become a fixed part of my skin routine. I sometimes use a face wipe to remove the make up from my face before cleansing to dissolve some of the crap but this is definitely a less harsh alternative and works well without irritating my skin or coating it with oil. I just wash my face with my cleanser of choice as normal and I'm good to go.

The Mask retails at £8.99 but is currently on offer with £3 off, and the Miracle Oil retails for £14.99 but is currently £9.99 both from Boots.

Will you be trying either of these products out? What products have you tried from Una Brennan before?

I've heard so much about the Vitamin C brightening products I'm going to have to give them a go!

L xxx

Antipodes Spree....Round 2

Morning chums!

I wrote about my Antipodes spree a few weeks ago in this post. I'm completely hooked and won't bang on about them as a brand too much but basically they're blooming good!

My second order from them involved another 2 raved about products and another freebie which I sent to the lovely Sasha from Ramblings from a Beauty Bird as she missed the deal.

I ordered the much raved about Aura Manuka Honey Mask and I'm a huge fan of Facial Exfoliators so snapped up Reincarnation too.

Reincarnation Pure Facial Exfoliator is an EXTREMELY gentle face scrub, the particles are so tiny that really its like rubbing a cleanser with the tinest amount of powder in. It's probably the most non-abrasive exfoliator I've ever used.

It contains avocado oil and jojoba oil to remove lifeless skin, Calendula oil to repair and carrot seed the revitalise the skins surface. Not only that but it also contains a range of essential oils to soothe the skin's surface, what a combo!

I've used this a few times over the last few weeks and can honestly say it is one of my favourites. I am a firm fan of Origin's Modern Friction and whilst the effects from both are the same, the Reincarnation exfoliator is definitely less abrasive so it all depends on what you yourself are looking for in what is essentially a facial scrub.
This retails at £20.99 and whilst this may be expensive for some the ingredients are of top quality and a little goes a very long way.

Not to mention that i love the packaging of these products, the tubes make it easy to dispense as little or as much as you want and ensures there is nothing left at the end as you can squeeze every little drop out of it!

The Aura Manuka Honey Mask has been raved about all over the bloggersphere and I knew I had to pick it up months ago but unfortunately buying a car had delayed my ability to purchase anything!

Now i know why it was raved about and how much i will always need to repurchase this!

Applied to clean and dry skin the mask not only utilises Manuka Honey (an ingredient from NZ that is famed around the world and which we always keep in our kitchen cupboards) to increase moisture it also has fragrances of vanilla pod and mandarin to balance your 'Aura'.

After my first use I was hooked. I was astonished how a hydrating mask could not only alleviate my dehydrated and drab looking skin but also reduce the size if not completely eliminate some pesky spots i had and reduce the redness. Unbelievable!

This mask retails at £21.99 and comes in the very same tubes, easy to squeeze out every last drop and I can assure I will be there squeezing until my next one arrives. I cannot ever be without it and I apologise to humanity for not buying it sooner, maybe you wouldn't have to put up with my 'pizza face' for so long eh?

Have you tried Antipodes before? Which product is your favourite? Are you a manuka honey fan?

My wishlist for Antipodes is growing at an alarming rate, but I'd love to get my hands on the Joyous Night Replenish Serum, the Kiwi Seed Eye Cream and their Immortal Moisturiser.

No doubt when I'm closer to being debt free I'll be snapping up everything I can get my mitts on!

L xxx

Origins Merry Moisturisers Set

Hi all!

One of my favourite presents to myself this year was my huge haul of Origins gift sets.
Not only are all products that I've used from them completely amazing, but the gift sets can be quite a bargain if you're lucky!

This one, Merry Moisturisers, was originally priced around £50 but Boots discounted it for a few weeks before Christmas and so I snapped it up for £28. This was a bargain because the moisturiser in this set costs £34 on its own!

Loved the packaging of these, very simple, Christmassy and the different designs for each set are really cute. The polka dot is also a classic!
As with all other Origins products the ingredients are fully listed on the back of the box.

I've kept these boxes as I like them so much, boxes like these are always useful for storing things and putting presents in. I've got plenty of boxes like these stacked up and storing all my eyeshadows, lipsticks etc in.

Merry Moisturisers gift set contains a number of products from the Make A Difference range which is one of my favourites from Origins. This set contains the Rejuvenating Treatment Lotion, Hand Treatment and Moisturiser as well as a Drink Up Intensive Face Mask.

This moisturiser is one of my all time favourites. I've previously tried the gel version of the treatment which is for oily skin and therefore is lighter. There's actually four different types available for different skin types so I was interested to try another type now that my skin isn't as oily and requires more hydration.

This was as expected; lovely to apply, smells divine and my skin feels like its had a really big treat when I've used it. Love it love it love it, I'll be repurchasing this for a while (as long as I can afford it that is!).

As someone that doesn't really get the whole toner thing, this was a massive revelation to me. I loved the smell, the effects and just everything about it. You can see my original post on it here but needless to say it has completely won me over to the toner argument...though I'm still skeptical of others.

This is again another gorgeous product and the size is perfect for a handbag. It sinks into skin really nicely which is something that is a must have for me as I cannot stand greasy hand creams and having slimy hands that stay like it for ages!

The Drink Up mask is another product I've used before and loved. It was the first hydrating mask I'd ever used and it was amazing even for my oily skin. It didn't overload it and was perfectly hydrating without affecting my skin in a negative way at all. Perfection!

This would have been a gorgeous set for anyone, I'm a hug fan or Origins as I've probably mentioned many times and genuinely love it! There's never been a product I didn't like and all of them have worked beautifully on my skin.

I always look for bargains such as these sets at Christmas time to save me a bit of money and also try out new products that I might not have tried otherwise.
I also take regular trips to Cosmetics Company Outlets (CCO) where items can be discounted greatly, I'm talking £25 instead of £34 and you can save some money there too, as long as the products are available.

Do you like Origins? Did you pick up anything from their Christmas sets?

L xxx