Archive for June 2012

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Gift Set

When I spotted this gift set in the Duty Free shop of the ferry to Cherbourg I immediately snapped it up, I just couldn't believe the price tag was only £27.20! An absolute bargain when you think that the iconic Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant (50ml) is £25 in Boots, and that the classic is and the Lip Protectant Stick is usually £19 in Boots. Again, bargain!

The set, which is packed in a very handy and spacious make-up bag in the signature Elizabeth Arden Red, contains the Eight Hour Cream Skin Protect 50ml, Eight Hour Cream Intensive Daily Moisturiser for Face SPF15 15ml, Eight Hour Cream Intensive Moisturising Body Treatment 30ml, Eight Hour Cream Intensive Moisturising Hand Treatment 30ml, Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick SPF 15.

I've been through a fair few tubes of the classic Skin Protectant, though never had a 50ml tube for so cheap! Tried and tested since the 1930's as effective at soothing, calming, restoring and relieving chapped, dry, cracked and irritated skin. I use this on any dry skin, chapped skin round my nose when I have a cold, sunburn and even as a lip balm! There's something about this balm that makes me feel like I'm really doing my skin some good! The same goes for the Lip Protectant Skin with SPF 15. Despite the distinctive Eight Hour Cream smell taking a bit of getting used to at first, this lip balm leaves my lips softer than anything else I've tried! I can't ever leave it very long before having to repurchase!

All the other products in the set were actually new to me. All white creams, instead of the classic apricot of the balm and Lip Protectant, they also all have a much more subtle scent. A plus in my opinion, although I associate the herbal/ medical aroma with nourishing goodness, it can sometimes be a bit overpowering. Not something you necessarily want ALL over your face or body. Both the Intensive Moisturising Body Treatment and Intensive Daily Moisturiser for Face are fabulously moisturising and great for dehydrated skin, I particularly like the fact the face moisturiser contains an SPF15! The one disappointment was the hand cream, and this isn't because it's bad, I just didn't find it lived up to my expectations. I don't particularly have dry skin on my hands but I still appreciate the feeling of a rich hand moisturiser, and the Intensive Moisturising Hand Treatment just didn't have that 'rich' feel. Not that this upsets me too much, I just have to remember that the whole set only cost £27.20!

Let me know if you've tried anything from the Eight Hour Cream range, I'd love to know your thoughts!

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One of the top products on my 'to purchase' list during my recent trip to France was the Avène Skin Recovery Cream. I first picked this up in Boots, about a year ago, when my skin became quite sensitive from over cleansing and toning - I now make sure to stay away from any nasty toners containing alcohol! Usually my skin is quite oily, so at first it felt a little strange to be using such a thick rich moisturiser, and I was concerned that it could cause some me to break out. However I had only being using this about two days before it had calmed my irritated skin right down and fully rehydrated it.

The product worked so amazingly well in such a short space of time, but other than to use it on the odd occasion as an all over moisturiser to rehydrate my skin, I'd pretty much forgotten about the product. That was until round about last November when I started to suffer with really dry, sensitive skin around my eyes. Everything I tried to soothe it was just excruciatingly painful on application and seemed way too harsh to use around that area. It was really starting to get me down. It just wasn't worth using any kind of cosmetics or eye cream on the area, as for a start I wasn't sure what was causing the irritation but I also didn't want to have to use any more products than necessary due to the pain!

It took me a while to think about trying the Avène Skin Recovery Cream, but yet again it delivered. I persevered at first mainly because it was the only product that didn't sting on application, however in just over a week the dry skin had drastically reduced, and it wasn't long after that that the area was totally back to normal!

I still get the dry skin from time to time, but if I'm quick Avène literally clears it up straight away! I don't ever want to be without a tube of the Recovery Cream now, so I'm going to be sure to stock up whenever I visit France, ya know, to save the pennies! This tube, that I picked up in a pharmacy in Normandy, uses the Avène's D.E.F.I system. A really great cap system that, once the product has been squeezed out, prevents any bacteria getting inside the packaging and contaminating the formula. This really appeals to me, as I do get concerned about my skincare staying sterile, so there's one less worry there!

Let me know if you've tried any thing from the Avène range, I'm looking for ideas of other products to stock up on when I got back to France in July, so all suggestions are welcome!

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Mandara Spa saved my life last week. Fact. I may sound a little melodramatic but it's true! We were welcomed back from France last week with a broken shower, so to my horror we were faced with a week of baths while waiting for the shower to be fixed! Now I enjoy a nice bath from time to time, but I don't have them that regularly. I never feel that clean afterwards and sometimes, instead of relaxed, they actually make me feel a bit hot and bothered. So when I was sent the Mandara Spa Island Paradise Pampering Bath Soak with grapefruit and lemon* it couldn't have come at a better time!

Mandara Spa was founded in Bali and soon expanded to the Maldives and Thailand. Now within the same family as Elemis, Essie and Philip Kingsley, Mandara Spa has returned to it's Island Paradise roots with it's new revitalising collection. First impressions were that despite being a brand that's friendly to budgets (this bath soak comes in at £12, with products in the rest of the Island Paradise range starting at £3) the packaging shouts pure luxury, it looks very pretty on the bathroom shelf!

The soak itself is a thick gel that bubbles up nicely and smells AMAZING! I love anything lemony and actually feel like I could spread this on a sponge cake and eat it! The citrusy aromas really does what it claims to and invigorates your senses. I really do think that it got me through those depressing mornings before work when the last thing I wanted was a bath! Instead of being hot and bothered I actually felt completely revitalised, while ginseng, aloe vera and starflower oil left my skin wonderfully soft! Hey, Mandara Spa's Island Paradise Pampering Bath Soak with grapefruit and lemon is so good even Chris loved to use everyday!

This is the only product I've tried from Mandara Spa, I'm really interested in trying some more. If you've tried anything else from the brand let me know!

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This is a very late post on the 1st Birthday edition of the Glossybox, but I wanted to get something up to show you what I got before the June box arrives! The reason this post is so late is that I was feeling a little uninspired by the May box, and from reading other reviews this month I don't think I'm the only one. I little disappointing after having few really good boxes recently, I suppose we all just had high hopes for the one year anniversary box!

The Noble Isle Bath & Shower gel does smell lovely, quite citrusy, though the scent is described as elderflower and gooseberry. Nothing to get excited about, and with a full size bottle coming in at around the £20 not something I can imagine myself repurchasing! Still, this will come in handy when I'm on holiday. I don't like receiving these type of perfume samples in beauty boxes, I think that if we're paying for something the quality should be a bit better and these literally are the sample types that you can pick up from a perfume counter without even having to ask. Both the Lolita Lempicka scents are nice, L'Eay en Blanc being very fresh, like fresh laundry and Si Lolita being more spicy. I'm not sure either are quite my perfect scent however. I'm not a massive fake eyelash wearer, I love the effect but am crap at applying them. I must say I'm little freaked out that the Let's Go Lashes are 100% human hair... I wouldn't think twice about human hair extension but something about it being near eye feels a little strange! I'll probably use these one day though!

Weleda is a brand that I'm quite pleased see in the Glossybox, though I was a little disappointed by not really knowing what this Wild Rose product is! There is no english to be found anywhere on the packaging and the Glossybox product list wasn't very helpful either. The little moon symbol on the packaging suggests this is some kind of night cream? The consistency is quite thick, almost greasy, so I'm not really sure I'll be using it on my face. The sample size is so small that I think I'm just going to carry it in my handbag to use up on my hands. It is very moisturising though so I'm looking forward to using it up.

My favourite product of the box was the Uniqone All in One Hair Treatment. A leave in mask that offers 10 benefits that hair needs and I must say I've enjoyed using it so much I've used up the whole sample! I'm not sure about all the '10 benefits' but it definitely helps me brush out my tangled hair after a shower and it definitely leave my hair very soft. I'm actually going to be purchasing a full size bottle!

So, other than the Uniqone product, this months Glossybox was a bit 'bleh' for me, even despite the extra gesture of a handy little compact mirror!

Are you subscribed to any beauty boxes? What did you think of this months Glossybox. Did any of you get the HD Brows Grow Baby Grow? It looks quite interesting, I'm always on the look out for something to thicken up my sparse light brows!!

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I walked into a pharmacy in Bayeax today and was so close to buying a 100ml of the Caudalíe Beauty Elixer, but I put it back. I couldn't think why I'd want to repurchase it, other than the 100ml being slightly cheaper when converted to sterling (£23 rather than the £28.80 on feelunique.com).

Don't get me wrong, I've nearly finished my 30ml bottle. I've used it at least every morning since I got it, straight out of the shower before my moisturiser/ serum. I often use it after removing my make-up on an evening and even the odd time over my make-up throughout the day. Inspired by the "elixir of youth" used by Queen Isabelle of Hungary, this treatment smoothes features, tightens pores, and gives the complexion a burst of radiance.' The Caudalíe Beauty Elixer is massive at the moment and I was swept up in the hope of some miracle product that would minimise my pores and give my skin that 'glow'. Although I love the refreshing, almost invigorating, feeling the mint balm ingredient gives when first spritzed, I can't say I've noticed any real benefits to my skin. If I'm honest (which I always am on here!) I can't say that my skin glows with radiance after use. I've even tried spraying spots in isolation - I've heard heard it's good for acne - though again, I can't say that there was anything life changing. If any spots dried up and faded any quicker, I didn't notice.

If you want that extra little refresher or wake-up in the morning, this is a lovely little product. However I'm still not sure if it's a re-purchaser for me. I've gone through the 30ml bottle really quickly! Maybe I'm manically spraying too much desperately trying to see an effect, but I think that even if getting the 100ml bottle for £23, that little bit cheaper in France, it is still a little steep for something you're not sure of the benefit. Who knows, when using up the little I've left, I may have a sudden epiphany and decide to pick up some more when I'm visiting France again in July. I just can't justify it at the moment though...

Have you tried this cult product? Let me know what you think of this Beauty Elixer in the comments below!

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I wanted to write a review on a product I don't think any of you guys would have heard of before, let me know if I'm mistaken! No seriously though, I'm currently in France and what's the first thing you do when spot a French pharmacy? Pop in to check out the cult beauty products roaming the internet of course!

I picked up the Très Sèches version, to be honest without even noticing there was anything different about this version compared to the standard version I'd predominately been reading about online. After spotting the 'TS' and wondering what on earth it meant, a tiny bit of research revealed that this was simply for sensitive skin. I saw this as a massive bonus because I regularly get very dry irritable skin around my eyes, which was one of the reasons for me taking so much notice of this product in the first place! I paid €13 (£10.85 at the current exchange) for the 500ml bottle, I could have picked up a double pack which worked out cheaper but I wanted to give it more of a trial go first before I committed to two bottle of the product, I visit France a lot so have plenty of opportunity to pick up more if I want - I know availability is one of the main downers for people in the UK.

I've used this a handful of times and I have to say, for glorified water, this is a great product. I know it's gonna be a lifesaver on those extra tired/ drunken nights when make-up removal just seems like the biggest chore ever! I have been getting through 5- 6 cotton wool pads soaked with the product to remove all my make-up, including mascara, from my face and neck. I followed most times with Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish for a deeper cleanse and light exfoliation, but I'd happily skip that part without worrying about my skin. Bioderma Créaline TS H20 really feels as gentle as water - no stingy eyes after use! - but leaves my skin feeling squeaky clean without that horrible dry tight feeling water can leave.

I would definitely buy Bioderma Créaline TS H20 again, I much prefer it to other water/ oil based cleanse toner products I've tried, which can leave skin with a funny residue or feeling stripped of all natural oils.

Have you tried this cult beauty product, or any other products in the Bioderma range? I'm in france till Tuesday so have plenty of time to pick up any of your recommendations to try!

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