Face wipes: The best and the worst

I first wrote a face wipes comparison post way back in October so thought it was about time that I wrote another. So what's it all about? I buy and test out a selection of face wipes and rate them out of 10 depending on value, thickness, wetness, ingredients and how well they remove my make up. 

Morrisons Complexion Face Wipes - £1.28 for 25 wipes (Morrisons)

These wipes for pretty much what I expected for the money. They weren't very thick, they were quite dry but for just over a quid I couldn't really complain. I wouldn't buy these again as I've used much better for a similar price. 

My overall impression: 5/10.

Johnson's Daily Essentials Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes - £3.29 for 25 wipes (Boots)

Johnsons are probably one of the most popular face wipes on the market and I can kind of see why. They smelt fresh and were thick and wet all the way through the pack. They claim to remove waterproof mascara which I didn't try but they did remover the remainder of my mascara that I hadn't removed properly. These are 13p per wipe.

My overall impression: 8/10.

Good Things Total Wipe Out Cleansing Wipes - £3.49 for 25 wipes (Boots)

These wipes were thick and strong and one wipe removed all traces of make up. They smelt nice and are good value for money at just under 14p per wipe. They also contain no nasty ingredients like parabens or SLS.

My overall impression: 10/10!

Lacura 3 in 1 Facial Cleansing Wipes - 89p for 30 wipes (Aldi)

I was seriously impressed with these wipes. They were really moist all the way through the pack, thick, removed make up well, even mascara and they were nicely lightly scented. But they did contain parabens but for the price, just under 3p per wipe, you can't complain.

My overall verdict: 9/10.

Neutrogena Multi-Defence Gentle Purifying Wipes - £3.99 for 25 wipes (Boots)

These had quite a strong scent which I didn't really like but they were slightly thicker than regular wipes and were quite thick. They removed most make up but sometimes I had to use two wipes. These worked out at 13p a wipe and they don't contain parabens or SLS.

Overall verdict: 7/10.

Yes to Cucumbers Soothing Natural Glow Facial Towelettes - £4.99 for a pack of 30 (ASOS)

These were the thickest wipes I think I've ever used, were really moist and removed all traces of make up. They did have quite a strong scent which I wasn't too keen on. They are quite pricey for a pack of wipes, works out at 16p a wipe. These don't contain parabens of SLS.

Overall verdict: 8/10.

So out of the six packs of wipes I tried my favourite were the Good Things Total Wipe Out Cleansing Wipes which got an amazing 10/10! And take my word for it avoid the Morrisons Complexion Wipes at all costs as they are toss.

Which face wipes do you love? They could be featured in my next face wipes comparison post!

Review - Good Things Deep Clean blackhead exfoliator

I love Good Things, all products are free from nasty things like parabens and SLS but they give the same results as products that contain them and they are purse friendly too!

I had previously tried Good Things Good Clean Fun strawberry and cranberry facial polish and liked it so had a feeling I would like their Deep Clean exfoliator.

It contains extracts of papaya and liquorice and it smelt really nice! 

Unlike the Good Clean Fun polish this one was more 'gritty', it's texture was what you would expect from an exfoliator and as a result it left my skin feeling lovely and refreshed. I even used this in the mornings sometimes before work to wake me up.

This is priced at £4.99 for a 150ml tube and is available from Boots and Sainsburys.

Wednesday Wishlist - 3

Soap & Glory

Peaches and Clean Cleansing Milk - £6.00

Deep Pore Purifying T-Zone wipes - £4.00

Available from Boots

 Good Things Bodycare

Range available from Sainsbury's

Freebie galore!

Recently I've been very lucky and have won quite a few giveaways and competitions so here's a round up of what I've won!

Floral Jumpsuit (£20) from Matalan. I won this after taking part in a competition on their Twitter page. My own photo of this was awful so I've borrow this one off the Matalan website.

Every month Glamour magazine run a competition where you can win a different prize everyday, you just have to enter on that day in order to win that days prize. In May I entered most days and won an Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Intensive Moisturising Body Treatment and a Montague Jennesse face mask.

London Beauty Queen ran a competition in conjunction with Jergens and I won 5 full sized bottles of their moisturiser! I haven't tried theirs before so am looking forward to trying it out. With the risk of sounding slightly ungrateful, which I'm completely not, I'm quite disappointed I didn't get the cocoa butter one as I love products with it in but I feel very lucky to have won what I have! 

Cat from Reaching for the Stars ran a competition where you could win a bottle of Batistes Nude dry shampoo, you just had to say why you wanted to win. I said that it's the only one I hadn't tried in the Batiste collection so wanted to have tried the full set! And I also won a competition on Jergens Facebook page and I won another bottle of their moisturiser! That's a lot of moisturiser I have to get through!

Good Things has just launched in Superdrug and on their Facebook page you had the chance to win a pack of their cleansing wipes if you took a photo of their products in a Superdrug store and uploaded it so these landed on my door step a week ago. And a while ago I won a sample of one of Ren's new products and as a thank you for sending my feedback they kindly sent me a sample of their Glycolactic Skin Renewal Peel Mask.


Phew! So that's all my wins, oh I also made an impulse buy at the newsagents whilst with my mum and got a £1 scratch card and won a tenner! Have you won anything lately? Let me know in the comments below!

End of year review

Well it’s almost a new year, 2010 has flown by. It’s scary to think 2011 is only round the corner.

This is my end of year post. A round up of everything from favourite products, favourite bloggers, product wishlist and more!

Products I loved in 2010

• Mineral foundation - Collection 2000, Lily Lolo
• Revlon mascaras - Double Twist and Grow Luscious
• Good Things skincare
• No7 kabuki brush
• Avon freeze dry nail spray
• Vaseline cocoa butter lip therapy
• Burts Bees lipbalms
• Colour B4 hair colour remover

Favourite bloggers of 2010

I follow so many different beauty blogs but there's only a select few which I read religiously and this is because the bloggers are so down to earth and it feels like you're reading something written by a friend. So with this in mind my favourite bloggers of 2010 are:

• Olivia - Olivia Writes
• Lou - Sprinkle of Glitter
• Sherrie - Mirror, Mirror on the wall
• May - May Loves Make-up

And all these lovely girlies are on Twitter so get following them on there too!

2011 product wishlist

This next year Im not going to go mad with buying new things, my post coming up in a couple of days will detail more, but I do have a product wishlist which I've been collating over the last few months. And it's quite lengthy! So here it is:

A’Kin

Lemongrass shampoo - £7.49

Mandarin shampoo - £7.49

Jojoba conditioner - £7.49

Naked

Salt scrub - £6.99

Orange blossom body wash - £3.99

Sensitive shampoo - £3.99

Sensitive conditioner - £3.99

White ginger body wash - £3.99

Facial toner - £4.49

Facial cleanser - £4.49

Organix

Coconut shampoo - £5.25

Coconut conditioner - £5.25

Vanilla shampoo - £5.25

Vanilla conditioner - £5.25

Everyday Minerals

Matte base

Intensive base

Nick Nack blusher

Like lady bird lake blusher

Multi intensive concealer/eye primer

Dark brown brow colour

Benefit

Bella Bamba face powder - $28 (released mid January in the UK)

Lily Lolo

Nude concealer - £7

PeepO - £7

Barely Buff foundation - £12

Une

Mineral foundation powder - £9.99

Nip + Fab

Tummy Fix - £18.95

Cellulite Fix - £17.95

Bust Fix - £15.95

The majority of these brands have their own websites which you can buy from but if not they're all available to purchase off the net.

Blog posts

I've got lots of ideas for blog posts to do next year and loads of reviews to write including:

• Veet in shower hair removal cream
• Veet pre -epilation spray
• Philips Satin Perfect epilator
• Eyeliners
• Soap & Glory Sit Tight
• Toni & Guy brunetter shampoo & conditioner
• Schwarzkopf got2b collagen lift hairspray
• And many many more!

And finally.....

All that I have left to say is that I hope everyone has a happy new year and I'll 'see' you all in 2011! xXx

Review - Good Things skincare

Good Things is a brand which was launched earlier this year and is only available from Boots. It was created by Alice Hart-Davis and doesn't contain any of the nasty stuff which is bad for us including: parabens, sodium lauryl sulfate, animal ingredients and mineral oils (post on these found here). But they do contain 'superfruit' extracts which are a more natural way to cleanser and moisturiser your skin.

I bought a number of the products that are available a couple of months ago and have been using them everyday since and now I'm going to finally review them.

Products bought

L-R: Miracle Mattifier moisturiser, Dream Cream night cream, Stay Clear cleanser and Five Minute Facial face mask

And.... Good Clean Fun freshening polish and Bright Eyes eye cream

Reviews

Miracle Mattifying Moisturiser (RRP: £7.99)

Superfruits / super ingredients:

Blackcurrant - Anti-inflammatory and promotes clearer skin

Goji berry - Calms the skin and energises it

Licorice - Anti-inflammatory, brightens and clarifies

Mango seed oil - Moisturising

What I thought:

It's thicker than other face creams that I've used but a little goes a long way. It also sinks in and is absorbed quickly and it does leave the skin matte and not greasy. It smells gorgeous!

Dream Cream night cream (RRP: £8.99)

Superfruits / super ingredients:

Avocado oil: Rich in essential fatty acids, full of sterolins which leave the skin soft and is moisturising

Cranberry - Anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory

Fig - Rich moisturising properties

Rice bran oil - Rich in anti-oxidants and contains squalene which is supposed to support the collagen in the skin

Shea butter - Extremely moisturising and helps repair the skin

Wheat germ oil - Calms the skin and counteracts dryness

What I thought:

I like the fact that with this product you can use it as a normal night cream or apply it in a thick layer, leave for 5 minutes and then wipe off as an intensive moisturiser. It is very think but again this means that you need very little. It smells really nice and even though it is thick it sinks into the skin easy and doesn't leave you feeling sticky or like you have a film over your face.

Stay Clear Cleanser (RRP: £4.99)

Superfruits /super ingredients:

Blueberry - Antioxidant and contain anti-irritant properties

Licorice - Anti-inflammatory, brightens and clarifies

Mango extract - Contains water soluble vitamins which act as antioxidants to boost the skin

Willowbark - Natural ingredient which contains salicylic acid which has an anti-microbial effect

What I thought:

A little goes a long way with this product. It doesn't foam up much but it doesn't contain any artificial foaming ingredients so this is to be expected. I felt that it does leave my skin clean and removes any make up that I have on (excluding mascara).

Bright Eyes eye cream (RRP: £5.99)

Superfruits / super ingredients:

Caffeine - Improves circulation and reduced puffiness

Di-Peptide-2: Reduced puffiness by improving the drainage of under-eye bags

Eyeliss - Reduced puffiness

Lychee - Contain vitamin C and potassium

Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7: Anti-inflammatory and soothes the skin

Raspberry - Soothes the skin and acts as an anti-oxidant

Shea butter - Extremely moisturising and helps repair the skin

What I thought:

This seemed to be extremely moisturising and hasn't irritated my eyes which some other eye creams can sometimes do. It has a light texture so is absorbed easily.

Good Clean Fun freshening polish (RRP: £4.99)

Superfruits / super ingredients:

Cactus stem - Soothing and hydrating and is full of anti-oxidants and moisturising polysaccharides which are sugars

Cranberry - Anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory

Strawberry - Purifying, rich in vitamin C and anti-oxidants

Strawberry seeds - Exfoliating

Willowbark - Natural ingredient which contains salicylic acid which has an anti-microbial effect

What I thought:

I have only used this a few times and it does have a gentle exfoliating effect. I like how the strawberry seeds do the exfoliating but I prefer something more rough.

Five minute Facial face mask (RRP: £5.99)

Superfruits / super ingredients:

Avocado oil: Rich in essential fatty acids, full of sterolins which leave the skin soft and is moisturising

Blueberry - Antioxidant and contain anti-irritant properties

Goji berry - Calms the skin and energises it

Green clay/illite: Draws out impurities, tightens pores and banishes blemishes

Kaolin: Absorbs sebum and impurities

Shea butter - Extremely moisturising and helps repair the skin

Willowbark - Natural ingredient which contains salicylic acid which has an anti-microbial effect

What I thought:

I've only used this 3 times and found that unlike other masks this didn't result in me having loads of spots the next day. It does feel like it's tightening pores and absorbing oil which is mainly what my skin suffers from. It dries quick but I found it hard to remove.

Overall.....

I was impressed with this range and it has really helped to clear up my skin and since I started using it I haven't had any outbreaks of eczema on my face which is quite an achievement! Out if the products I tried I would repurchase both of the moisturisers, the cleanser and the eye cream. I think that the only product missing from this range is a toner. If they brought one out this range would be complete for me.

Has anyone else tried anything from this range? What did you think?

Mini Haul....and it was all free!

Yep that right all this was free because I used my Boots points! That's the kind of shopping I like!

Revlon - Grow Luscious Mascara

After seeing Georgia's post on this I decided that I had to have it! I had never really thought about using Revlon mascara's until I bought the Double Twist one about 6 months ago and I love love love it! Even more than my Maxfactor False Lash Effect one!

Good Things products

Good Things products are currently on offer at 2 for £8 in Boots and I've been wanting to try these since they came out a few months ago as they are paraben and sulfate free and don't contain any mineral oils or animal ingredients so they are uber good for your skin! And they all smell gorgeous as they contain 'superfruit extracts'. The range starts at £3.49 for a pack of face wipes up to £8.99 for a night moisturiser. I got (in photo L-R):

• Miracle Mattifier moisturiser (blackcurrant and goji berry) - £7.99 for 100ml (yep and on offer)
• Dream Cream night cream (fig and avocado) - £8.99 for 50ml (over £8 and on offer at 2 for £8! Bargain or what?!?)
• Purifying Cleanser (mango and blueberry) - £4.99 for 150ml
• Five Minute Facial Face Mask (avocado and goji berry) - £5.99 for 100ml

I also want to try the eye gel (which contains raspberry and lychee) which is £5.99 so I might well be spending the rest of my points on a couple more items!

Reviews will follow for all these products once I've been using them for a few weeks.

Paraben and SLS products and ranges

So after yesterday’s post about parabens and SLS in beauty products and highlighting all the bad stuff this post is about good products, brands, websites etc etc! All 10 products below are free from parabens and SLS.

Pregnancy/baby care.

1. Mamma Mio tummy rub oil - £22.50 (120ml)

2. Baby Organics nappy lotion - £6.99 (250ml)
Bath and Body.

3. Naked coco de mer body wash - £3.99 (250ml)
4. Extra Pur shower gel - £9 (250ml)
5. Yes to Carrots body butter - £8.99 (250ml)
Skincare.

6. Good Things purifying cleanser - £4.99 (150ml)
7. This Works cleanser - £20 (150ml)
Haircare.

8. Tara Smith shampoo and conditioner - £4.99 (250ml)
9. A'Kin shampoo - £7.49 (225ml)
10. The Body Shop rainforest shampoo and conditioner - £4 (250ml)
Products available from:

Cult Beauty Product number: 9, 8, 5, 4, 1

Boots Product number: 7, 6, 3

My Pure Product number: 2

Naked Product number: 3

The Body Shop Product number: 10

Good Things skincare

Good Things skincare was launched exclusively to Boots earlier this month and it's no ordinary brand.

Image found here.

The packaging is pretty, simple and clear but most importantly are the ingredients, or rather what it doesn't contain.

The range is completely free form parabens, sulphates, mineral oil and animal-tested ingredients which means that they're super good for your skin.

They also have fav scents and unlike other brands they actually smell realistic like they're meant to such as:

• Grape and pomegranate fresh start cleanser
• Raspberry and cranberry face wipes
• Strawberry and cranberry exfoliator
• Blackcurrant and goji berry mattifier moisturiser

But I think I might try these:

• Avocado and goji berry five minute face mask
• Raspberry and lychee eye treatment cream
• Papaya and acacia spot gel

Products start from £3.49 up to £8.99 so the range is really affordable considering it doesn't contain all the 'bad' stuff other companies shove in their products.

What do you think about this range? Have you tried any products yet or are you going to?