Elemis Skincare Essentials Travel Collection

Hey All

Last month we were lucky enough to attend a spa day at Celtic Manor, you can read our thoughts on that here. Whilst there we were spoilt with some Elemis goodies. As a big fan of spa days I've used a few Elemis products already so was pleased to some some of my favourites in the set.

We were given the skincare essentials travel collection which contains everything you need for a break away. It costs £39 and can be purchased from the Elemis website.

With no product being over 100ml is perfect for breaks away when flying as well. I think when people go away they tend to skip on skincare products where as this kit have everything you need. 

The Pro-Radiance Cream Cleanser and the Soothing Apricot Toner are two products I'm actually using the full size of at the moment. The cleanser just melts away make up and leaves the skin feeling so soft. As it bonus it's anti ageing too. I'm a big toner fan, they make a big difference to my skin and I find when I don't use them I get spotty. This has an amazing smell to and feels so refreshing on the skin. I'm actually saving these skincare bits for when I go away hopefully in September so I've not used the exfoliater and day cream yet.

The Elemis Frangipani range was one I'd heard so much about so was so glad to get to use it. This smells amazing and sinks into the skin leaving it feeling so soft. They shower cream and scrub are also great but for me are a great luxury treat but not something I'd repurchase as full size.

This is the third of the hand cream I've had and I love it. I'm a firm hand cream promoter as I think hands age a person and are probably one of the neglected body areas. I also work in a laboratory environment so my hands end up feeling really dry.

This is a great gift, a pre holiday treat or a way to test out products. I love it when companies do a great range of decent sized minis so you can get a real feel of the product.

Have you tried any Elemis products? What's your favourite? I do also fully recommend the Pro-collagen Marine Cream.

Love M

xxx

Murad Balance and Protect Travel Kit*

Hey All

It's been a while since we've posted on Sunday. It's fair to say life is pretty busy for L and I at the moment. We've got lots of stuff we are both loving and want to share with you.

We went to Glastonbury this year and we both had an amazing time at our first festival. Dancing, drinking and generally having an amazing 5 days! We had heat waves, rain and thunder and lightening but it didn't make any difference what the weather was!

Something we were both concerned about was skincare. We are both careful to properly care for our skin and have full skincare routines in place which just wouldn't have been possible to keep up at Glastonbury where a shower was exchanged for baby wipes in the tent.

When Murad offered us these kits to try we jumped at the chance. Mini's that are perfect to test out and great to take to such events. We were definitely excited to try the clarifying wipes to our faces were getting more of a proper clean.

The kit comes with 5 clarifying wipes, Oil control Mattifier and Skin perfecting Primer for £10.

I'm oily skinned and couldn't wait to try out the mattifier. I decided to skip on foundation. I took it with me but didn't wear it when I was there. I've been embracing foundation free skin spots and all at the moment so a mattifying cream is brilliant. Foundation free skin is good, shiny greaseball skin is not something I like. You apply the mattifier after moisturiser. What I love about this is texture. It's creamy and silky on the skin and mattifies in a natural way. I find some creams like this feel dry on the skin. This leaves my skin still feeling moisturised and has become a part of my everyday routine. The bottle is still going strong too. A little goes a long way! The SPF is always welcome in a cream too!



I did find the wipes have a strong chemical smell to them. I'm not sure if with prolonged use they would dry my skin out. For short term they leave my skin feeling super clean and fresh and helped control breakouts. I think these are perfect for holidays where skin is probably more oily then normal due to extra oil use.

The primer was another product I loved. It is a skin tone product but blends into the skin invisibly. It leaves skin feeling smooth but not silicone coated for make up. My make up applies more smoothly using this and it doesn't block my pores. At Glastonbury I used a combination of all three of these and no foundation. My skin looked clear and healthy.

I'm totally sold on the mattifier and will definitely be repurchasing. I'm pretty tempted by the primer too and for holidays I think the wipes would be a great investment. I think more companies should do the travel sized kits as it's a great way to try out products without having to by full size.

Love M
xxx

Hi all!

Hope you've had a fabulous weekend! This Murad kit was a lovely surprise for us to recieve, we absolutely love Murad products and kits like this allow you to try so many different products for a reduced price so you can tell easily what you really love. There are also 2 other kits available for the £10 price tag; Age Reform Travel Kit and Resurgence Travel Kit. I've found these on the M&S website so you should snap them up asap! 

The three products could not have been more perfectly selected for us. Although were getting older now and god forbid the wrinkles might be coming through already but we do still get an oily t-zone. Combined with Glastonbury and festival life meaning that there wasn't any proper running water meant it was definitely going to turn into an oil slick!

The combination of the Oil Mattifier, Skin Perfecting Primer and the Clarifying Wipes meant that my skin was nowhere near as bad as it should have got!

The wipes did smell strongly of alcohol, I almost felt like I was getting drunk off the smell! But this definitely helped to keep any breakouts at bay by cleansing my skin as thoroughly as possible. Long term use may strip your skin of natural oils but for the 5 day festival or a long weekend you will be perfectly fine.

The oil mattifier was great and as M has mentioned there is still loads left even though I've been using mine most days since the festival too.

The skin perfecting primer was a lovely product that really helped to even out skin tone and sort of blur any imperfections. You can see the colours of the products on my hand in the image above, the white oil mattifier blended out to a clear product on application.

The kit is a perfect opportunity to try out some new products that you are unsure will work for your skin and also perfect to take away with you on holidays and long weekends. I also took mine on a hen weekend to Edinburgh as we only had hand luggage and had to take all products in the clear plastic bags with us!

Using these products I was also confident enough to only wear concealer to cover my under eye bags during the festival which is a pretty big deal for me, I never go without a full on face of foundation! Whilst i do choose a light base currently (UD's Naked Skin) I can't quite go make up free so this was a big plus for me! (the under eye bags courtesy of festival drinking and late nights could not be avoided though!)

Have you tried these fab little kits from Murad? Which one would you try out?

I've never met a product I didn't like from Murad but I'm going to be picking up the other 2 kits to try out things I haven't tried before and keep them for future trips away!

L xxx

Review: Label.m Protein Spray and Hair Care

When I saw the latest press release from label.m advertising their new travel kits which included a protein spray I was immediately intrigued. As I was planning to have half a head of highlights applied I'd been looking out for products to help repair the damage this would inevitably cause and the protein spray sounded great. We were lucky and label.m kindly sent us a travel kit and protein spray each to test out.

I'm a big hair care fan, weekly treatments, hair oils, serums and heat protection sprays all fall into my regular hair care routine. I'm always keen to try new hair products as my hair takes a lot of styling and colour damage and always needs repairing. I was so excited to try the protein spray. The protein spray is a very light mist that can be applied through damp or dry hair. I always prefer products that can be used in both dry and damp hair as I only wash my hair every 3 days but sometimes style it everyday so always want a product that won't weigh my hair down and can be used on dry hair. This certainly does that. I also love that it doesn't make your hair so damp from spraying you then feel steam if you heat style it.

With the burst of sunshine we are currently having (maybe not the last two days but fingers crossed it returns) I also like that it protects against the sun as my hair is one thing I always forget to protect against the sun. It was nice to spritz this through my hair before heading to the beach at the weekend. 

The ingredients include wheat proteins, wheat amino acids, fruit extracts and olive oil for moisture. I love that this protects my hair without weighing down. It also brings back shine as  my hair has been left a little dull from the dye. I've been using it most days and this will definitely be a product I'll be using more. I use it one freshly washed hair before blow drying then again if I'm going to straighten it. 

It retails for £12.95 from here for 250ml. It's a huge bottle that'll last ages. This has currently replaced me argan oil.

The gentle cleansing shampoo is one that is suitable for daily use. As I'm someone who doesn't wash their hair daily I can't comment on this. It does leave my hair feeling really clean though and I didn't notice any fall out which I've found to be a problem with shampoos lately. It tends to be cheaper ones unfortunately. I do find it works best to lather it in your hands first and then apply to hair. The shampoo retails for £9.95 for 300ml which for a salon brand is a reasonable price. I'll be trying more shampoos but this one isn't for me as I prefer shampoos aimed for more moisture of colour protection. They also do organic shampoos and conditioners which I think is great and would love to try soon.

The daily shine conditioner impressed me straight away. No silicones to make my hair feel softer but not actually make it softer and it contained promising ingredients like soy proteins and soy milk. This conditioner instantly made my hair feel softer and more manageable without weighing it down. I think this would be a great conditioner for anyone who washes there hair regularly as even though it's quite a liquidy conditioner it really does work as providing moisture to the hair. The daily shine conditioner is £12.50 for 300ml which again I think is reasonable for a salon brand. Conditioners do tend to be more expensive as you use less of them.

Now the shine spray I've not had a chance to try fully as it's something I only use for nights out. It does provide a UV shield to the hair so maybe it's something I should use more. Having naturally curly hair a salt spray is something I love trying. I do sometimes find them drying or they make my hair crunchy so I only use them the day before I'm due to wash it. This one is one of the softer salt sprays I've tried for my hair and definitely doesn't leave it crunchy. It does provide amazing volume and texture to the hair though. I've been so impressed with this. I love spraying it through my hair when I've curled it with my wand as it gives it more of a messy look. Below you can see it used on more straight hair. 

The

You can see the texture and volume it has added is impressive. Please excuse my nearly naked face!! It gives hair a boost. I think this will be great added to straight longer hair to give it a natural messy look and on hair my length it looks great curly. It has also helped for putting my hair in bun rings as it adds extra texture to help it stay neat.

The mini versions are only £3.50 and a great way to try a product or to take away on holiday. The 50ml salt and shine sprays will definitely last a while and I think the 50ml shampoo and conditioner will do me at least 5 washes.

If you are lucky enough to have a salon near you that stocks label.m you can get any 4 travel sized products for £12 in a clear bag. (more details here).

So far I've been so impressed with label.m especially the protein and salt sprays. Now my Sebastian Pentrate shampoo and conditioner have run out I'll definitely be trying label.m products instead.

Thanks to label.m for giving us this chance to review these.

Have you tried a label.m products? Are you a salt spray fan?

Love M

xxx

I was so excited to hear that we would be reviewing a protein spray for hair when M told me. I've recently had a whole load of highlights put through my very dark hair. I've been having them for a while but 2 weeks ago decided to increase them from just the two layers to all the way through with the aim of eventually having a 'true ombré' where the top part of my head will then be dyed darker again.

This obviously involved a hell of a lot of chemical treatment to my hair so I was very worried the condition would worsen.... Until the protein spray arrived!

It has so many benefits I can't even begin to list them again but i can tell you that I absolutely love it. The spray is such a fine mist that I don't feel like its coating my hair like some other tacky products can do leaving your hair with a residue, this one seems to absorb into your hair and it feels so cooling and soothing. It has been great to spray after the gym, before going to work, and prepping for a night out as its so lightweight its perfect. And so far (fingers crossed) it doesn't seem to be going down as fast as I thought it might! 

As well as being great to apply it has also had a positive effect on my hair as the condition of it has improved noticeably. It does get a bit matted sometimes due to the length and lightening of it and this has decreased since using it as well as an added shine to my hair. I am hoping long term use will see these qualities improve further and my hair will look as good as Kate Middletons! 

The mini kit containing shampoo, conditioner, sea salt spray and hair spray has also been a right treat to use. The shampoo smells great and frothed nicely and the conditioner was really thick and felt so hydrating. The hairspray was so light I felt like I hadnt used enough but my hair stayed in place which was brilliant. 

Unfortunately due to my hideous allergic reaction to a spa day I am yet to use the sea salt spray which is frustrating as I love beachy waves! However if its as good as the other products from label.m I am sure it will be just as good.

Having not used a product from label.m before I am very pleased to have had the chance to try their products and think they are really great.

Have you used label.m before? What do you think of protein sprays? Will you be investing? 

L xxx

To see the wide range of products label.m offer check out their website. www.labelm.com orders over £19 get free delivery.