Glycolic Acid Peel First Impressions

L and I are currently holding a giveaway where you can win The Skin Regime book and a Glycolic Acid Peel sample. (you can read about it here). The peel was something we were both really excited to try after reading the book and seeing so many positive results from it. The peel strength we tried was 30%. The skin regime site contains well trusted suppliers of peels. With things like this it's really important to only purchase from reputable suppliers.

It's fair to say we were both really nervous to put it on our skin, it is an acid peel after all. It is important to start with really clean skin. We both cleansed with dove soap and a muslin cloth then used alcohol wipes (we couldn't find rubbing alcohol as suggested in the book) the purpose of the alcohol is to remove the oil from the skin.

The solution is a clear liquid. I've dispensed mine into a pot so I can use it again. The solution is put onto a cotton wool pad and swept over the skin, starting on the cheeks and working your way round the rest of the face trying to avoid the corners of the neck and mouth. The cotton pad is then swept over the neck.

This is my skin before, as you can see it has a natural red tone to it anyway.

You only leave the solution on for a few minutes no more. We both interpreted this as 3.5 minutes. It definitely made my skin tingle at first. This is normal and expected. I did consider washing it off at this point but decided to stick it out. The stinging did stop after a while.

It's normal for the skin to appear red after and sometimes peel. Both of us round there was a touch of redness to the skin but no peeling and the redness didn't last. We both did it early evening, in case our skin went red so it would be cleared by the morning.

After the time is up, you rinse it off and then re-cleanse with the dove soap and apply moisturiser. I applied moisturiser again before I went to bed.

My skin after. The photo doesn't show much difference but I think it does look smoother and slightly shinier. As you can see it's not much redder and there wasn't any peeling.

Immediately after removing the peel I couldn't believe the difference. My skin on my forehead looked instantly smoother and my pores looked a lot better. Around my nose was smoother too. Almost similar to when you pull of a pore strip and it's smooth. L noticed her skin was a lot more plumped. We were both excited to see how it was in the morning. L noticed her skin was so soft in the morning and the slight lines on her forehead had almost disappeared  I was impressed with how soft my cheeks felt and how much better the pores on my nose looked.

We both couldn't wait to do another peel but it's not recommended to do it again for another 7 days. I can't wait to do it again and hope the results continue to improve my skin.

Have you tried an at home acid peel? Enter our giveaway to try your own?

Love M

xxx

Review: Laura Mercier Undercover Pot

Back in April me and M booked to have our make up done by an international make up artist at Laura Mercier in Harvey Nichols in Bristol's Cabot Circus.

Unfortunately the make up artist cancelled which was a shame but we went along anyway as we'd put a £10 deposit down which we could use to purchase any product so we went for a makeover.

We both ended up picking up a few items....but we were intrigued with the Undercover Pot and snapped it up!

The Undercover pot contains a Secret Camouflage, Secret Concealer and Loose Setting Powder in number 1. 

You can see on the picture above where each product is inside the casing, but lets have a look at it:

I love how simple this design is! The flip top lid is really secure but opens easily, contains a mirror and both concealers and the top part screws off the show the setting powder beneath.

The left hand concealer is the Secret Camouflage and is yellow toned. It's best for imperfections, scars and blemishes as it balances out the redness and helps to even out the skin tone. It's also oil free which helps to keep the concealer on the skin and makes it last longer.

Secret Concealer is in the right pan, and is pinker toned with slight illuminating particles in. This one is best for under eye circles as it combats darker circles and is emollient based so applies to delicate undereye skin easily without tugging.

The Setting Powder is lightweight and translucent, making sure your perfectly applied concealer stays put and leaves a velvety soft finish.

I have some photos below to show the difference when using it under eyes and on blemishes.

For the record I had already applied the Laura Mercier Silk Creme foundation, as I would normally apply foundation before concealer.

So the undereyes. On the left is before, and the right, after. You can see an improvement in the right picture with the concealer applied. I was clearly having a long week when I took these though as my bags are AWFUL!

In reality the bags were a lot more covered up than this picture shows and I think it may be the camera flash that stops the effects from showing as they look pretty covered to me!
It was really easy to apply and didn't irritate my skin at all.

Here it is applied to my cheeks where I have a few scars and spots in the centre. They're mostly covered by foundation but you can still see them. The concealer does cover them up perfectly, and makes them less visible and it stays put very well.

The only downside to the concealers I found was that they do settle into lines, especially under my eyes as my eye lids are just that shape that there have always been lines underneath. This is helped by the setting powder but I do find I need to reblend it back in after a few hours.


Have you used any Laura Mercier concealers?? What did you think?

L xxx

I've been wanting to try Laura Mercier products for a long time now, I've heard so many positives about the brand I couldn't wait to try them. I love the idea of this post holding concealers to suit any problem and a powder all in one compact packaging. I've been visiting home a lot lately and products like this are handy to take with me.

I really love the setting powder, it's soft to the touch and a true translucent powder that lasts all day on me without shine. It also helps to hold the concealer under the eyes.

The secret camouflage wasn't a product I expected to like at first. This concealer feels very hard in the packaging. When you rub your finger in it you feel like no product comes out onto it (I find brushes don't work great with this). I think the heat from fingers helps to melt this product. It feels like no product is on your finger but when applied to the face it is super pigmented and blends simply into the skin and looks invisible. It's perfect for spots, it perfectly conceals them and lasts all day. I love this concealer and will definitely repurchase this item separately. I think it's going to last me ages though.

Onto the product I wasn't as keen on in the trio. The secret concealer, as L mentioned this is pink toned and for use under the eyes. It does brighten under the eyes but I found creasing like L did. I can't help but compare this to Benefit Erase Paste (review here) and to me Erase paste is better. I find the Secret Concealer isn't as thick and I do struggle to blend it smoothly and flawlessly. It also seems to be going down at a rate quicker than the Secret Camouflage. I can't see this lasting very long unfortunately.

Have you tried any of the Laura Mercier concealer products?

You can pick up this trio for £29 from John Lewis here the secret concealer on it's own is priced at a reasonable £18.50.

Love M

xxx

Origins Starting Over Eye Cream

Another of my skincare beauties for you to read about today :)

As you know we are both fans of Origins as a brand and a trip to Cosmetics Company Outlet normally throws up another Origins purchase for me seeing as the products have a discount, it would be rude not to!

This time I picked up their Starting Over Eye Cream, which claims to be age-erasing and contains Mimosa.

The box blurb states it also has Fennel Seed to reduce appearance of crows feet and eye area, also smoothing out the crepiness on your eye lids and hydrating them all in one swoop!

This is what I like to read, multiple benefits in one tiny little pot!



The tiny pots for eye creams are great, I love how they are all of the same design and only the lower pot colour changes.
Owning this and GinZing and Eye Doctor the three of them look quite good together piled up! Though all have different functions so I don't feel too badly about it...

This pot houses a thick white cream that applies to your eye area and sinks in surprisingly easy considering its thickness.



I was surprised it was absorbed so well as it feels so dense when you touch it in comparison to other eye creams which are comparatively lighter in texture.
However this absorbed just as easily as lighter creams and I've had no reaction from my sensitive eyes.



I do always get a little annoyed at the pots for their functionality. Although they're quite cute they're not very practical and I end up digging my fingers in for product and getting it all inside my nails which are usually long.
This kind of freaks me out with the amount of contamination the moisturiser has when used twice a day for a long period of time, and the loss of product from constantly wasting it underneath my fingernails!

I should use a cotton bud to remove product from the pot but again this is wasteful so I won't do that and my hands are normally clean when I apply this anyway....it's just a little bug bear of mine at the moment!



You can see the cream above and below and how easily it sunk into my skin.
It feels very hydrating and for that reason I do believe it has helped with some fine lines that have started appearing around my eyes.

I don't have too many but I believe prevention is better than cure so will be applying this as much as possible to prevent any more from appearing!

Have you tried any eye creams from Origins? What's your favourite eye product?

L xxx

No7: Youthful Glycolic Peel Kit

As an additional post today I couldn't resist but show you this bargain.

The No7 Youthful Glycolic Peel Kit:

I couldn't resist but pick this up, especially at the introductory price of £19.95 instead of £24.95.

It contains 8 bottles of the Youthful Peel, a Post Peel Neutraliser and a Calming Recovery Balm and of course an instruction booklet.

Glycolic peel kits are supposed to be great for helping your general skin tone, fighting wrinkles and fading scars so I was very excited when I saw it and snapped it up.

I was even more excited when I realised that the current No7 vouchers also work!

So not only is there £5 off the kit anyway...you can get an extra £5 off with your vouchers! But only until this Sunday, so get a move on if you want to pick this up!

What do you think of this kit? Are you a peel fan or an intrigued newbie like me??

L xxx