Look Fantastic Haul

Hey All

Hope you've had a great week, mine has been a crazy one. I'm pretty sure they're always busy lately.

At the moment I'm in a massive hair dilemma, I don't know what to do with it at the moment. I'm so torn between grown up hair and pastel colours. Over the past few years it's taken a bashing with dye so I'm constantly getting new hair products to show it some love. I really do think it's worth investing in more expensive products. I find my hair doesn't like cheap shampoo.

When I saw a tweet about this months Look Fantastic beauty box had Moroccan oil in that was worth basically the value of the box I decided to order it. I've never ordered from Look Fantastic before but have been tempted as they sale the Sebastian range that I love (reviewed here) but never gotten around to placing an order.

The box also included a full size lip liner (mine is quite dark so I'm tempted to use this as an eye liner!), a lip balm (my lips are so dry I'm hoping this helps as nothing seems to at the moment!), a Korres body milk (I've tried this before and loved it!), a make up primer and cleansing bar.The primer seems great it's thick but feels smooth and the skin and adds a healthy glow without feeling greasy or oily.

I also couldn't resist some new shampoo and conditioner so went for the TIGI Bed Head Resurrection set. It was a bargain at £24 for 750ml bottles and came with a free hair brush. Other Bed Head stuff I've tried I've liked so fingers cross this is as good. It sounded like the perfect set for my over abused hair.

Even better when I ordered the Code MOB15 got me 15% off!

Have you ordered this months beauty box? I like that all the beauty boxes have the same stuff in so you can find out what you get before you order.

Love M

xxx

Dr Organic Facial and Eye Serum

Goooooooooooood morning!

Hope the weather is treating you well today....i love the cold but I'm not a fan of the rain. Fingers crossed it will behave itself today!

Skincare is one of those things that I seem to have tonnes of, the amount of moisturiser and eye cream I have is quite ridiculous, but serums are something I'm always running out of. It's the same with cleansers, I obviously haven't overloaded my stash with these and sometimes find it hard to keep up with purchasing them.

Serums can be expensive so I'm always on the look out for an offer or products that are at a lower price without a compromise on effects.

Dr Organic are a company we have bought from many times before and having seen their products on offer in Holland and Barrett I thought I'd pick up some products and see how they fared.

First up is the Rose Otto Restoring Oil Facial Serum. It contains oil of rose damascena and is rich in polypeptides, phospholipids, antioxidants and omegas 3,6,and 9.

You can read the blurb on the back of the box below but essentially this serum contains a lot of different oils to create a super serum. I like that Dr Organic list their ingredients in their products and this is also on the back of the box:

Not sure I need to mention this but just in case, all Dr organic products are free from parabens, SLS, fragrances, harsh preservatives and artifical colours, this brand is definitely one to watch!

The Rose Otto serum has a list of regenerating and anti aging properties including optimising skin hydration, protecting with anti oxidants, reduces appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and improves elasticity and firmness.

The bottle itself is very simple and just like a lot of their other products, in a frosted glass and with sturdy white plastic tops.
This serum is dispensed through the lid, there's a dropper in the lid and you press the button on top to collect and dispense the serum as you please. This took me a little while to figure out as I'd never seen anything like it before....maybe it was a blonde moment? But hopefully this will stop anyone else being confused...!

A lot of Dr Organic products (if not all) are BioActiv and formulated using organically certified and natural extracts. This is great as you know you're getting what you're paying for.

This serum is definitely more of an oil than other products that you'd typically call a serum. for this reason it's harder to 'layer up' products which is what I normally do. My normal routine is to apply a serum and then moisturiser, which I find is more difficult as this is more an oil.

However this serum applies really nicely to the skin. I find i need a few drops for my entire face and neck and this sinks in pretty easily. I prefer to use this in the evenings because using an oil in the morning normally spells trouble for my make up!

This serum is really hydrating and it has helped a lot with my dehydration issues.

This costs £12.29 for the 30ml bottle and is currently still on offer on the H&B website. It's also listed as a customer favourite and has been given 5 stars, obviously everyone agrees that its a great serum!

The Moroccan Argan Oil Instant Tightening Eye Serum was something I'd wanted to buy for a while and the offer gave me the perfect excuse.
I use a lot of eye creams and a serum was something I'd been considering because a serum adds more moisture before a moisturiser and shouldn't cause any problems with overloading my skin. 

My eyes are somewhere that I'd like to keep an eye on so to speak....I have a feeling that my genes will cause my eyes to wrinkle and go 'baggy' before anywhere else so I'm constantly trying to find products to freeze/prevent this.

Again the list of ingredients on the side of the box is reassuring as they're all chemicals that are natural.

The eye serum is a white lotion that dispenses out of a pump, one pump is enough for a generous application for one eye, if you're eye area is small then one pump is enough for both eyes, depends how much you want to slap on really!

I love that it has the anti aging printed in gold, such a sucker for a bit of sparkle ;)

I really love applying this, my eyes are so sensitive especially on weekends which is when I wear my contacts more often and for longer periods and this helps to keep my eyes more hydrated. Especially after lots of eye make up and false lashes!

The skin around my eye area is a lot more hydrated now and at £11.99 from H&B for 30ml I think this is great value and will last a really long time. I've been using mine for 2 months now and only 1/2cm has gone from the top of the bottle.

Another great couple of products from Dr Organic, I cannot wait to try more of theirs especially odd ones like the Snail Gel, can it really be as amazing?! I'm dying to find out!

What do you think of Dr Organic? Have you tried any of their products and have a few favourites?

Let me know!

L xxx

Dr Organic Day and Night Creams

Good evening!

This post has been a long time coming as we were given these at the Bristol Blogger meet a fair few months ago....but working through our stashes it has taken a while to get to them.

Dr Organic is a great brand, they have an amazing versatile range and cover every possible scent you could ever wish for from a brand. They include pomegranate, lavender, tea tree, coconut and manuka honey, they even have a product containing snail gel!

Today we're reviewing their Virgin Coconut Oil Night Cream and Moroccan Argan Oil Day Cream.

The Coconut Oil Night cream has a list of claims detailed on the side of the box which sounds very promising! These invlude overnight hydration even down to the trans dermal level, improving firmness and tone of skin and protecting against free radicals.

I love that Dr Organic list all of the bioactive, natural and organic ingredients in their products, some of which I've never heard of but I love the honesty.
As we've mentioned in previous posts on products from Dr Organic, all of them are free from parabens, SLS, artificial colours, fragrances and any harsh preservatives.

The packaging is really simple and the pots are made of glass which is a really nice touch. The screw top lids are really good too, it might be a random thing to notice but they're really easy to unscrew but there's no chance of them coming off and spilling product everywhere.

And as always, i love simplistic styles and this ticks all my boxes.



For me, the Coconut Oil night cream was really thick in consistency and is initially hard to absorb into the skin. I found applying it as a face mask before bed was a better way for the product to provide it's maximum hydration.
I loved the feeling of my skin the next day, but as it's so thick I did use a lot more product than i would normally but I think it was still worth it!
Plus it smells gorgeous!





The Argan Oil Day cream is lighter and has the same claims as the night cream, with an added one of increasing Vitamin C production.

The Argan Oil Day cream absorbed more easily into my skin than the night cream, which is obviously better as I'm always in a rush in the morning and haven't got time to sit and wait for it to absorb before applying my make up.

This day cream smells pretty good too, and I love that the pots have the three main features of the product on the sides: Firming, toning and cell protecting. all three of these sound pretty good to me!

I have really enjoyed using both of these moisturisers and look forward to purchasing more from their range. I am a big fan of the lip balms and their coconut hand cream is amazing!
There are plenty more products I'd love to try including their Virgin Coconut Oil Moisture Melt Body Oil, Rose Otto Facial Serum and Snail Gel.

Which are your favourite products from Dr Organic? I really do want to try EVERYTHING!

L xxx

I was initially concerned about using these products as I have oily combination skin and worried that a product for nourishment and hydration would be too much for my skin but I was pleasantly surprised.

I love the glass packaging. Glass always makes something feel more luxurious. Both the day and night creams are really thick creams that sink into the skin. The day cream feels light on the skin and doesn't leave me oily. It leaves my skin with a great base for my foundation. 

The night cream is really thick and I did think because of this it would leave my skin feeling super soft but as L mentioned you do need to apply a lot of it to get those results. I do feel like I need to use more of this than most creams and therefore have found it's not been lasting too long.

I have liked both of these creams and they have made me want to try more of there products and some specifically for my skincare. Any recommendations?

Love M

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