Archive for December 2012

Beauty Blog Review Sanctuary Spa Hot Cloth Cleanser

Sanctuary Polishing Hot Cloth Cleanser - £10.50 (Boots.com)

I'm a massive Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish fan, but when I recently ran out of my last bottle I wanted to try something new - no one likes getting stuck in a rut, right? There was no real reason behind me picking up the Sanctuary Spa Polishing Hot Cloth Cleanser, other than it looked like a nice brand and it was slightly cheaper than Liz Earle: A 125ml Bottle of the Sanctuary Cleanser comes with a cloth (I've no idea if it's muslin) and costs £10.50, whereas the Liz Earle Starter Kit (one muslin cloth and one 100ml pump) cost £14.25.

My first thoughts when I got this cleanser was how much I liked the no fuss squeezy tube - if only Liz Earle would do something similar - well now Liz Earle do! So unfortunately no points for Sanctuary there. The Sanctuary Spa cleanser smells lovely, like chamomile and (though I don't know if it's just me, as I can't see it on the ingredients list) also smell lavender - which I love. Though different to Liz Earle I don't think it smells any nicer. I don't get that tingly deep clean feeling as much as with Liz Earle, which is a shame, but it does leave my skin feeling that tiny bit more moisturised than Liz Earle. There is a slight residue after - which is perhaps the beeswax, listed as a moisturising agent - so I sometimes quickly wipe a cotton wool pad soaked with Bioderma over my face to remove it and have a clean base for moisturising!

The cloth itself seems that bit more synthetic than the Liz Earle muslin cloth, and though nice, doesn't seem to act an exfoliator as much as the Liz Earle ones do. I tend to swap and change whether I use the Sanctuary or Liz Earle cloth depending on what type of exfoliation I'm after.

Overall I do enjoy the the Sanctuary Spa Polishing Hot Cloth Cleanser, it feels good on my skin, it won't replace Liz Earle but I'd definitely repurchase it!

Have you given these, or any other hot cloth cleanser a try? Let me know which are your favourites!

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Beauty Blog Review 17 BB Cream SPF 25 Medium

17 BB Cream SPF 25 (Medium) - £6.99 (Boots)

I'm a total BB Cream convert now. It's very rare I wear a foundation, or even a simple tinted moisturiser now. I'm not entirely sure what it is I prefer about them, I certainly haven't had fewer 'blemishes' since I've started using BB Creams! I do think that BB Creams leave my skin that bit softer though, even if I haven't noticed all the other supposed benefits that they clam to have for the skin too.

I bought the 17 BB cream purely because I needed a new one, and this was nice and cheap! I don't often buy anything from the 17 range and I thought I'd give this a go. When I first bought the BB Cream, in the shade medium, I still had that bit of summer colour left - so didn't notice any issues, but now that I'm well and truly pale, I have noticed it's a little on the yellow side. The deepness of the medium shade still doesn't cause me too many issues, the relatively thick cream does soak in nicely. You may be able to see this in the 'blended out' image above, compared to the first image of my hand you really can see how it really evens out the skin tone.

Despite being a bit disappointed with the colouring, and thinking that the 30ml bottle was a little small, I was impressed with the high SPF. With living in the UK, an SPF of 25 may be seen as over the top, but there's nothing wrong with being over protected! I do think that this high SPF might have contributed to the biggest negative for this product though - for me at least. I have a tendency to get quite oily, and after even an hour with this product on my skin I'd notice my forehead getting pretty oily :( A bit of powder quickly solves it, but I'm not the type of person to be reapplying powder throughout the day...

I'm happy to finish off the tube of the 17 BB Cream, but I don't think I'll be buying it again anytime soon, even in a lighter shade. I'm still to review it, but I'm a big fan of the L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream, which is really great at controlling shine, so I think I'll be sticking to that instead.

What do you think of BB Creams? Let me know if you've tried the 17 BB Cream!