Pixis and Doves

A mixed bag of products this week: some good and some bad. I’ll take it from the top.

Montagne Jeunesse Manuka Honey Peel-Off Mask: For all skin types; cleansing, moisturising and refreshing; a natural cleanser which gently peels away. I absolutely LOVE the smell of this one, and it does cleanse and soothe the skin, but I just can’t get beyond the fact that I hate peel-off masks. It’s the faff of it all – the age it takes to peel off, the mess in the sink that you have to clear up, etc etc. It’s a real nuisance so, even though I think the product is very effective, I’m not buying any more of these. You can get it at Amazon for £1.99 per mask and each sachet will last you for 2 sessions.

Sebamed Clear Face Care Gel: Panthenol supports the healing of acne lesions; hyaluronic acid increases the moisturising binding capacity of the skin; aloe barbadensis soothes irritated skin; free from oils and emulsifiers; allantoin smoothens rough scaly skin. This for me is a life-saver. I use it most nights on spots and scarring and it really calms and smooths everything down. Heaven! I have already restocked it. It costs £5.55 for 50ml at Amazon and is worth its weight in gold.

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Ultra Overnight Intense Soothing Care: La Roche-Posay Tolériane Ultra Overnight 40ml is a night care cream that instantly repairs and soothes the face and eyes of ultra-sensitive or allergic skins.Rich in La Roche-Posay thermal water, its formula contains Neurosensine, a powerful soothing antioxidant that targets cutaneous discomfort, but also the detoxifying carnosine/vitamin E complex to limit the appearance of redness when you wake up in the morning. Without preservative, paraben, fragrance, alcohol, colouring or lanolin. I received this as a sample product (one use only – what is the point of that??!) and wasn’t impressed. It seemed very watery to me and did nothing for my skin. Still, what can you tell from a one-hit wonder, eh? Needless to say, I won’t be purchasing the full size. If you fancy a go, good luck, and you can buy it at Amazon for £16.75 for 40ml.

Vicks Sinex Micromist Aqueuous Nasal Spray: Fast relief from a blocked nose due to common cold, hayfever and sinusitis. Those of you who are regular readers of this blog know that I suffer from throat sinusitis on an all but permanent basis. Recently, I’ve decided to take another shot at making life a bit healthier and kicking the constant feeling of nausea and wanting to be sick into touch, as best I can. So I’ve bought a whole load of different nasal sprays over the counter (rather than the really strong one from my GP which I’m supposed to use as little as possible as it does tend to give me nose-bleeds, sadly) and am slowly trying them out. This is the first one of the selection I picked, and I take one spray in each nostril every morning. It’s brilliant. Honestly, my nose and throat have never been so under control. Yes, it means a bit of sneezing each morning – but to me that’s a good thing as the more I sneeze the less likely I am to want to gag – and the odd nose-bleed here and there, but nothing like the ones I get with the GP’s super-spray. Yes, I know you’re not supposed to use them for more than ten days at a time, but if the people who write these instructions could go through what I’ve been going through for the last few years, then they wouldn’t be quite so strict with these rulings. It does the trick for me and, heck, if Andrew Motion says that he has a Lemsip each morning as it helps him write his poetry, then I’m jolly well going to have a couple of nasal sprays each morning if it helps me breathe without gagging, LOL! Anyway, you’ve guessed it – yes, I would buy this one again, but I’m going through the others too to see if there’s a preference before I think about restocking. You can buy this particular product at Boots for £4.49 for 15ml. A total bargain!

Pixi Glow Mud Cleanser: This active yet gentle cleanser with 5% glycolic acid exfoliates to reveal a glowing, healthier-looking skin tone. Mud deep cleans and detoxifies pores while hyaluronic acid, aloe vera and avocado oil plump and nourish the skin. Leaves complexion feeling smooth and purified. I have a couple of sample tubes of this and am really enjoying using them. Even though it’s quite highly scented, that doesn’t irritate me at all and, in fact, it does what it says on the tin, and leaves my face smooth and deeply cleansed. I’m also sure it helps calm down irritations on the skin before they get too much to handle! When I’ve finished the second sample tube of this, I will be buying the full-sized product for sure. You can get it at Marks & Spencer for £18 for 135ml.

Sanctuary Silky-Smooth Body Lotion: A lighter, more refreshing way to quench skin. This easily-absorbed lotion contains a revitalising mix of ginger and fragrant spices to help stimulate the circulation, as well as nourishing jojoba to provide 24 hour moisturisation for soft, smooth skin all day long. Please note: Silky Smooth Body Lotion contains ginger which stimulates blood flow in the skin. This is beneficial to the skin’s health and as a normal consequence it can lead to redness and a gentle tingling sensation. I thought I’d treat myself to some of this over Christmas just to see if there’d been any changes since I last bought any Sanctuary products: is it just me or do all Sanctuary products smell the same?? It’s like something we used to use in the 1970s – as if the whole range has been trapped in time somewhere and never escaped, LOL! It’s okay but so old-fashioned in my view, sigh. Also that description worries me!! Why on earth would you put something on your skin that makes you go red and tingle??? Um, NO!! Thankfully that didn’t happen with me or I would have chucked it away at once. Oh, and it doesn’t smell of ginger, which is a shame as I like ginger, which has never made anything about me tingle except my taste buds! I will therefore be avoiding this in future, but if you’re feeling brave, you can get it at Amazon for £19.99 but it’s not worth it …

Dove Invisible Dry Anti-Perspirant Deodorant Roll-On: Have you noticed how wearing different colours can make you feel different? Whatever your favourite colour makes you feel, the last thing you want to worry about is white marks on your clothes. That’s why the best accessory to your colourful wardrobe is Dove Invisible Dry Anti-perspirant Deodorant Roll on. As well as protecting your clothes, Dove Invisible Dry helps keep you fresh and dry with up to 48 hours of antiperspirant protection, so you never have to worry about wet patches or white marks. The 0% alcohol and ¼ moisturising cream formula helps underarm skin to recover from irritation caused by shaving and leaves your underarms feeling softer, smoother and looking even more beautiful. So be bold, be daring, be colourful. Your anti-perspirant won’t get in the way. I love this deodorant. It’s the one I use just before I go to work and I top it up when I get home. It has a pleasant light floral scent, never leaves marks on my clothes (hurrah!!) and I don’t feel dressed – or ready for my evening – without it. Yes, I’ve already restocked. It costs £1.75 for 50ml at Boots, which is amazingly reasonable for such a good quality product. Well done to Dove!

Balance Me Congested Skin Serum: An SOS instant spot minimising serum for combination/oily skin. This light, non-greasy formula clears and prevents spots. Anti-bacterial May Chang, calming Lavender and cooling Aloe Vera give instant results. 99% natural. Instant treatment reduces spots as soon as they begin to show. Treats problem areas without drying the skin. Balance Me my bottom!! This is a truly ineffective product – you may as well put water on your skin for all the good it does you. On the plus side, it does no harm, which is the most that can be said for it – but honestly I’ve never put anything quite so hopeless onto my face and it’s a pleasure that I’ve finally used it up, hurrah! It didn’t make any spots better at all so there’s no point buying it. Thankfully, it appears to be out of stock on Amazon, so let’s hope it stays that way, LOL!

Soap & Glory Puffy Eye Attack: Loaded with anti-dark circle and anti-puff BOTANICAL PEPTIDES, detoxifying OXYGINSENG™ TECHNOLOGY, HYPER HYDRATORS and COOL-CUCUMBER-X™, Soap & Glory™ Puffy Eye Attack™ is a fast-acting, de-bloating, skin-firming, collagen-boosting GENIUS IN A JAR! Tackles dark circles and puff; firms, tones, rehydrates; boosts collagen production; helps kick-start stagnant undereye circulation; cools, soothes and moisturises; perfectly balanced for all skin types. If you can get beyond the Soap & Glory ENTHUSIASTIC SELL TECHNIQUE(!), and believe me I can, then this is the best eye cream I have ever used. I love it – it smooths my eye area, makes me look like a human being rather than a zombie that’s seen better days, and eases my puffiness, big-time. I will be buying another one very soon, but I do have other eye products on the go at the moment so need to give them a fighting chance to state their case. If anyone is convinced they’ve found an eye product that is better than this, however, PLEASE let me know! You can get it at Boots for £12.50 for 14ml. It’s not cheap, but it’s so worth it.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Anne Brooke Books

 

Dove, Dentyl and Figs

Products I Will Buy Again

I do so love the SebaMed Clear Face Care Gel, as I’ve said before. I use it as a spot cream at night on my face where needed, and also on my back and chest whenever I’ve had a flare up. It really calms everything down and I now won’t be without it. It costs £5.55 for 50ml at Amazon and I have already restocked it.

The Dentyl Active Smooth Mint Alcohol-Free Mouthwash is the only one I use – once a day, at night only. The taste is great and it certainly gets rid of the plaque. I also really appreciate that it’s alcohol-free, as I just refuse to use mouthwashes with alcohol in them. You can buy this at Superdrug for £4.39 for 500ml, so really good value.

I really like the 7th Heaven Montagne Jeunesse Aloe Vera Blemish Mud – it’s very soothing and doesn’t irritate my skin at all. Our special blend of aloe vera, willow, evening primrose and witch hazel in our face mask naturally target your problem areas for a clean complexion. It costs £1.98 at Amazon for a pack, and I get 2 uses out of it, so it’s incredibly good value. I have a supply of these in my bathroom cabinet, hurrah!

My favourite product of this week is definitely the Pixi Glow Tonic Exfoliating Toner. This best selling, cult favourite exfoliating toner perfects skin tone and texture, resulting in a healthy glow. Aloe vera, ginseng and botanical extracts work together to soothe and treat skin while 5% glycolic acid accelerates cell renewal. Alcohol-free and gentle on all skin types. I was a bit uncertain at first as I don’t like a whole lot of exfoliation going on, as my face is sensitive enough without rubbing it to death! However, this is not at all harsh, and feels both soothing and cleansing which is great. I have stocked up on this one. You can buy it at Marks & Spencer for £18 for £250ml.

Now that I’ve got seriously into painting my nails – even people at work are noticing, well gosh! – I wouldn’t be without my Pretty Nail Drying Spray, which cuts the waiting time down to a mere minute. It’s great stuff. You can buy this one at Amazon for £1.10 for 150ml, though postage will apply. Definitely recommended.

I also love my Dove Invisible Dry Anti-Perspirant Deodorant – it keeps me dry and doesn’t rub off with any nasty white marks on my clothes, result! Dove Invisible Dry Anti-Perspirant Roll On gives 24 hour protection without leaving any white marks on clothing. It contains 0% alcohol so is gentle on skin whilst being an effective deodorant. And the fact it’s alcohol-free is a bonus, as deodorants with alcohol give me rashes. It’s on offer at Boots at the moment as a 2 for £3 on Dove products offer, and it costs £1.75 for 50ml.

Products I Won’t Buy Again

I’ve used the Clarins Eye Revive Beauty Flash for quite a while, but I’m not sure it really does anything important for me these days. A fresh, comfortable microgel which melts into the skin and acts like an invisible “radiance patch”: it gently decongests, eliminating dark circles, puffiness and fine lines while hydrating and protecting the fragile skin of the eye contour. To be honest, I don’t notice any difference and though I will use up the tube I have left, I won’t restock it, as there are other eye products I prefer out there. Plus, for £29 for 20ml at Boots, I’m saving myself a fortune!

The Omorovicza Rejuvenating Night Cream sample was okay, but it didn’t wow me. The phrase ‘Beauty Sleep’ is no accident. While you slumber you secrete growth hormones for cell turnover and fortify the proteins in your skin like collagen. This night cream is like a wheatgrass shot for the skin, with Apple Pectin to hydrate and retain moisture, Plum Almond oil to protect against free radical aggressors attacking and ageing the cells, Wild Carrot rich in pro-vitamin A to boost collagen and Hazelnut Peptide to firm and lift so you wake up toned, nourished and glowing. Heavens above, that blurb!! All of your 5-a-day veggies in one night cream. I think it might be too rich for me and it didn’t settle well into my skin. If you want to give it a go, it costs an enormous £110(!!!) for 50ml at Cult Beauty, but really you’d have to be made of money, LOL!

Actually, I grew to quite like the Roger & Gallet Fig Bud Body Lotion, as it’s such a lovely consistency, but the smell isn’t quite me, I don’t think. I’m not that sophisticated! The fresh and indulgent scent of Eau Fraiche Fleur de Figuier radiates light and opulence. A melting formula, infused with fig pulp, the main active ingredient is extracted from the buds of the plant, known for their softening properties and effect on suppleness. It’s on offer at Marks & Spencer at the moment at £10.50 for 200ml.

Finally in this section, a couple of samples I received recently – at least I understood what they both were this time and could look them up on the web, hurrah! The Etude House Collagen Essence was hardly worth it as there was nothing but a few drops of the stuff in the packet, groan. But it seemed very thin to me and I don’t think my skin liked it much. You can get it at Amazon for £10.95 for 180ml, but I’m giving it a miss.

The TonyMoly Black Tea London Classic Serum looked quite promising really, but it felt tingly when I put it on my face, and I really don’t like that feeling. I don’t trust it … Then again, I’m not a huge fan of tea, so I should have been warned. This anti-aging and moisturizing serum infused with 56% of black tea ingredients fills skin energy to improve skin elasticity and provide rich nutrients. You can buy this one at Amazon for £27.27 for 55ml, if you’d like to give it a go.

Have a great Sunday!

Anne Brooke Books

 

 

Clear skin, scent and an eyeliner disaster!

Products I Love

A nice bunch of products I love this week for a whole lot of reasons. First off, there’s good old Femarelle tablets which are just BRILLIANT if you’re going through the menopause – they keep those hot flushes to a minimum and if you do get one, they make it a lot shorter – which is a huge relief. I take one every morning (and have another type of menopause pill in the evening) and the combination works like a dream. The main ingredients are soya and flaxseed. They’re not cheap – £21.13 for 56 tablets at Amazon, but worth their weight in gold.

I’ve been taking a teaspoon of Pukka Elderberry Syrup every morning for a while now and it definitely keeps those winter colds and bugs at bay. Yes the bottle gets messy, but if you wipe it down after each use and keep it in the box, then you should be fine. Just don’t get it on your clothes though or it won’t come off! Once opened, you need to store it in the fridge. The cost is £10.48 for 100ml and I’ve already restocked it.

The Simple Spotless Skin Triple Action Face Wash (with zinc and chamomile) is a product I’ve used for ages and it’s very reliable for calming down spots and soothing the skin. I’ve not been using it as much recently as my skin is so much better these days (hurrah!!) but I have 2 or 3 back-up bottles from the years when I used it all the time. It is always going to be one of my favourites, and you can pick it up for £3.75 for 150ml at Superdrug.

I’ve really loved using my little tube of Couvent des Minimes’ Gardener’s Hand Healer – the smell is very fresh and it’s very soothing on the skin. However it doesn’t seem to be in stock anywhere in the UK now, and the original website link shows it as hugely pricey anyway at $19 for 2.6 oz. Um, no … no matter how good it is …

I set great store by the HRI Clear Complexion tablets and was a bit traumatised recently when I just couldn’t get hold of them anywhere – yikes! Apparently they were updating the ingredients and the new formula version is now available, hurrah! I take one of these a day and it does wonders for my skin. They’re currently on sale at Amazon for £5.99 for a pack of 60 tablets, and I can thoroughly recommend these.

As I’ve said before, I’m sure, I love my new deodorant – Dove Invisible Dry roll-on – it does exactly what it says on the tin and there are no stains on my clothes so I’ve stocked up on this product. It’s a snip at £1.75 for 50ml at Boots, so buy early buy often!

I have very sensitive teeth which tend to stain as soon as they look at a cup of tea, so I’ve been using Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief Whitening toothpaste every evening for ages (I mix it up with a similar product as I don’t like having the same thing all the time …). It makes my teeth much less sensitive and I now have no staining, so I can’t recommend this enough. It’s half price at Superdrug at the moment at £.1.82 for 75ml so well worth picking this one up if you have teeth like mine.

I’m a fairly recent convert to the Simple Gentle Care Shampoo and use this as a ‘chaser’ between my stronger anti-dandruff shampoos as I think it gives my hair a bit of a breather. It’s a lovely clear shampoo which lathers up easily and does the job of making my hair super-clean without damaging it. I have a few bottles as a back-up and will continue to restock this in the future. You can pick it up at Boots for £2.99 for 200ml, which I think is a real bargain for a decent product.

The Sanctuary Velvety Hand Cream is just lovely – it has that wonderful Sanctuary scent and makes my hands feel wonderfully smooth. However, though I do like it, I have lots (lots and lots!) of hand creams to use up at the moment so I won’t be restocking this one for now. It’s £3.00 for 30ml at Boots so not the cheapest hand cream around but a nice one if you want to treat yourself now and again.

Products I don’t like

The Milton Lloyd Summer Flowers scent hasn’t been bad actually, and I’ve been happy to use it up but it’s not my favourite Milton Lloyd perfume spray as I have several others I prefer. It’s floral and feminine, but not as spicy as I personally like. Still, at £2.99 for 50ml at Fragrance Direct (where would I be without them?!?), you can’t go wrong – and as I say there are a lot of lovely £2.99 scents to choose from which is a total bargain.

This week, I’ve been trying to be more adventurous with my eyes – which I usually leave WELL alone as they are hugely sensitive and start stinging at the slightest thing, groan … The wonderful news is that I have worked out that I CAN use mascara as long as I put it on my top lashes only and not my bottom ones, and it just makes me feel great to finally be wearing mascara at last! On the other hand, I had a go with eye-liner – the Bourjois Ultra Black eye liner as pictured above – but, my dears, I had absolutely NO IDEA what I was supposed to do with it. First off, I put it under my bottom lashes which made me look like a panda so I wiped it all off again. Then I resorted to the Internet to tell me what to do with eyeliner and realised it was supposed to go above the lower lashes, LOL! What a dork I am, eh! Once again, missing out on the “how to be a woman properly’ lessons at school has been my undoing!… Anyway, I tried it as it’s supposed to be done, but I HATE anything that near my eye so it was the world’s shakiest line – plus it was starting to make my eyes itch, yikes! – so I wiped it all off again and haven’t repeated the traumatic experience since! I think I’ll cut my losses and stick to the top-lashes mascara trick only – that seems to be working so far … Anyhow, I’m sure the eye liner is fab, if only it suited me or I had the abilities to put it on, and it’s £6.99 for 10ml at Superdrug if you fancy a try.

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

Anne Brooke Books