What's new: Anti-ageing products

Over the last few weeks there have been quite a big influx of products aimed at anti-ageing. Yes fair enough probably the majority of my readers won't care about this post but here are four of the newest products available on the market.

1. BIOEFFECT EGF Cellular Activating Serum 15ml - £125.00

No, I haven't dome a typo, you really do get just 15ml of product for a whacking £125! This serum claims to dramatically improve skin tone and visibly remove lines, blemishes and dark circles all in two drops!

2. Freezeframe With Inhibox 10ml - £49.99

Freezeframe reduces the appearance of expression wrinkles instantly which gives a lifted look that lasts for hours.

3. Lancome Visionnaire 30ml - £57.00

Kate and Pippa Middleton are reportedly big fans of this advanced skin corrector for wrinkles, pores and evenness.

4. Nanoblur Optical Skin Cream 30ml - £19.99

The most affordable product which immediately reduces the appearance of lines, wrinkles, crow's feet, sagginess and enlarged pores.

These are all available from Boots and other health and beauty retailers

New Bourjois Christmas 2011 collection

Bourjois has a few gorgeous new products for christmas this year. They include smokey glitter eye pencils (£5.49) and these gorgeous eye pearl eyeshadows (£8.99):

L-R: Creation, Illusion

L-R: Sublimation, Revelation

I think you'll agree the colours are perfect for the winter season, I have my eye on sublimation and revelation. These cost £8.99 each and are available from Boots and Superdrug.

Face wipes: The best and the worst

Face wipes - I think just about every skincare brand has them in their range. I love face wipes as they're a quick and easy way to remove your make up but with so many on the market which ones are the best? I've tested 6 different brands to try to answer this question and here is what I think..... photo's have been borrowed from the internet as my photo's were atrocious.

Soap & Glory Off Your Face Cleansing Cloths - £4.09 for 25 wipes

These have a smooth side and a slightly bumpy side for exfoliating. They also have that lovely Soap & Glory signature smell. They were quite moist and removed my make-up really well and my skin felt clean after. I have a stock pile of these to use up because I like them that much!

No7 Quick Thinking 4-in-1 wipes - £7.00 for 30 wipes

These are really wet, not too wet but they remove my make-up easily with little rubbing. My skin was left clean and these are the most repurchased but mainly because I get them with my £5 off vouchers which Boots always give out.

The Body Shop Vitamin E wipes - £5.50 for 25 wipes

These wipes were a little on the dry side for my liking but even though they did do a good job at removing my make-up. The wipe is slightly thicker than others I've tried but I'm not keep on the slight scent they have. I would repurchase but they wouldn't be my preferred choice.

Time Delay - £4.07 for 30 wipes

Really unimpressed by these. They were really dry and it took some really effort to remove my make-up. The worst face wipes I tried.

Bourjois Make-Up Remover Wipes - £3.99 for 25 wipes

Like the No 7 wipes these were really wet and removed make up easily and effortless. I was really impressed with these and would repurchase.

Organic Surge Kiss and Make-Up Cleansing Wipes - £3.49 for 25 wipes

I really liked these, they are thicker than other wipes and are more of a cloth. For the money they are really good value and I would repurchase.

Overall my favourite wipes were the Bourjois and the Organic Surge ones. Have you tried any of these what did you think? Or are there any brands that you would recommend?

New Guy Kremer professional salon range

I have to admit that I hadn't heard of Guy Kremer before receiving this press release and a few samples kindly sent to me. So who is Guy?

Guy Kremer is an internationally renowned hairdresser and he has just launched a brand new range of haircare products: Guy Kremer, Professional Salon Style.

I received the Repair and Replenish Cleanser and Rebalancer (conditioner) and the Perfume and Gloss Spray.

Repair and Replenish Cleanser and Rebalancer - £6.95 each

I liked this product, it left my hair feeling soft, manageable and shiny but the next day my hair looked and felt slightly greasy. I passed this onto my mum who really likes it and it leaves her hair feeling really nice.

Perfume and Gloss Spray - £8.95

This is really perfumed, in fact it's a little too strong for my liking. It did gloss my hair and make it look shiny, but I think less in more is the key to this product.

Overall....

After trying all three of these products I don't think I would repurchase any of them. I did like the results but there are just other products on the market which suit my hair better. 

Guy's range is available from Ideal World Shopping.

New Sk:n skincare range

Sk:n is the UK's leading skin experts and offer specialist advice from their clinics. Now you too can experience some of their expert treatment with the launch of their brand new skincare range. 

There are 5 different ranged available within the brand so there is something for every skin type:

Anti-ageing - To prevent the look of wrinkles, lines, brown spots, broken veins and puffiness. It also prevents the premature ageing effects of sun exposure, free radicals and pollution.

Cleanse - To reveal brighter, fresher skin.


Protect - Contains SPF (sun protection factor) to protect from UVA and UVB rays.


Anti-blemish - For use on oily, blemish prone skin. Suitable to use on acne. Reduces redness, inflammation and acne producing bacteria.


Corrective - Pigmentation can be caused by a number of factors including the sun, spots, burns and age spots. Helps to even out the skin tone.

Products start from £11 and are available from selected Boots stores and Sk:n Clinics.

Review - Sanex Zero shower gel

In a magazine a while go I found a sample of Sanex's new Zero % shower gel. I was intrigued to try this as it contains no parabens, phthanthates, colourants or phenoxyethanol (a preservative often used a an alternative to parabens, see post here). It also has a biodegradable formulation so it is good for the environment too!

So with the claims of having no nasties in it I was quite pleased when I looked at the ingredients that it only contained 10 rather than the usual 15+ like other shower gels.

I used the formulation for 'normal' skin (centre in the picture above) and was slightly apprehensive about how good the product would be. This is a clear product and contains no artificial fragrance but it did have a slight odd smell to it but it wasn't unpleasant. It did lather up ever so slightly but as it contains no artificial foaming agents if I expected massive bubbles and lather I would have been a bit silly. When I got out of the shower I did feel cleansed and it was actually nice to get out with out my skin being scented by a shower product so I could layer up fragrance as I wanted.

I don't think I would use this myself but if I did develop a skin condition I would without a doubt head to the shops to buy this and would recommend it to others.

Available from all good chemists!

New Soap & Glory cosmetics!

This is a really exciting post as Soap & Glory have launched a brand new cosmetic line! They already do a few products but the range has been massively extended and now included eyeshadow, mascara, lipstick, foundation and cheek and lip stain.

Prices start from £8 and products are available from Boots.

The week that was...

On Friday night me and my friend Laura went to see Russell Kane and it was AMAZING! I've never laughed so much in my life! And he even admitted that he didn't perform any tour material it was all improv, off the cuff stuff which made it ever better! We decided we are definitely going to see him again, he's on somewhere else near us in December, so tempted to book tickets! If he's performing anywhere near you I shout at you BOOK TICKETS!! You won't be disappointed.

And a couple of purchases, I got my first Beauty Box on friday from Feel Unique and here is what I got:

Burberry Body perfume

Crabtree & Evelyn handcream

Bliss foaming face wash

Tigi straight blowdry balm

Orly nail polish

Caudalie radiance day fluid

And I also took advantage of the free L'Occitane handcreams with this months Marie Claire magazine and I got shade 3 of the Kate Moss and Rimmel lipsticks:

Hope you've all had a fab week!

Benefit vs W7 dupes

On the market there are some great cheaper products, mainly W7, available as dupes for Benefit and other higher end brands.

So they look the same, the product is the same but why is the dupe 10x cheaper than the higher end product?

I'm comparing Benefit's Thrrrob powder and W7's Candy Floss (dupe for Benefit Dandelion) and Africa (a dupe for Too Faced Leopard highlighter).

One major difference is on the inside. The pan in the Benefit product fits snuggly into the case where as the pan on the W7 dupes is loose and a really bad fit (the Benefit product is on top in the photo below).

Another difference is that when I pulled the lid off the Candy Floss powder the container started to come away from the base. On Benefit products the container is attached to the base rather than just being stuck on.

The bases are also quite similar except on the Benefit product all the information is on a stick on label and talking of ingredients they are mainly the same for each product.

And the products themselves. Surprisingly the dupes are more pigmented and the Benefit Thrrrob powder but I guess the only other thing to do would be to see how long the dupes last. I've been using Thrrrob on and off for the past 2 years and have only just recently hit the pan. 

L-R: Thrrrob, Africa and Candy Floss.

So considering Benefit powders retail at £23.50 and W7 dupes for around £2.99 I would certainly buy the dupe product over the higher end product. Even if it doesn't last as long it's still a mega saving.

Have you tried any of these dupes, what did you think? Are there any others on the market that I should try?

NOTD - No7 Oyster

Today's NOTD is No7's Oyster from their new nail polish collection.

Wednesday Wishlist - 5

River Island faux fur barrel bag - £40.00

Curve pretty circle embroidered top - £12.50

Curve bow dress with empire line - £40.00

Glitter platform shoe - £50.00

Faux fur mittens - £15.00

Curve slash neck dress - £45.00

All available from ASOS

Review - Naked Detox shampoo and conditioner

I am slowly trying to replace all my beauty products with ones that don't contain parabens or SLS and a brand which doesn't use these is Naked.

Naked create their products using 97% natural ingredients so this is a big thumbs up for me!

I have problems with eczema on my scalp and have to be careful what products I use otherwise I'll end up an itchy, flakey scalp which isn't a good look.

I bought Naked's Detox balancing shampoo and conditioner which contain peppermint and sorrel leaf.

One of the first things I noticed about these products is that you need very little. The shampoo foams and lathers up really well and the conditioner is quite rich and thick. In fact it is a little hard to get out of the tube.

It left my hair smelling fresh and feeling soft, silky and manageable. It didn't aggravate my scalp and unlike other shampoo and conditioners I could quite happily use this everyday.

This is priced at £4.07 and available from Naked and Boots.

Project 10 Pan

Since last year I have been doing Product Use Up where I'm trying to use up my huge stash of products but now I'm also going to concentrate on my stash of make-up. Compared to some people my make-up collection is reasonably small but when I tend to use the same products day in day out and some hardly get used I'm going to try to use up as much as I can by then end of the year.

My make-up storage which is inside my wardrobe

Inside my Sanctuary unit

Top left hand drawer - hardly used products

Top right hand drawer - everyday products

Second drawer - eye products

Bottom drawer - blushers

Odds and ends 

Mascaras and lip products

So as the post's title suggests I want to use up at least 10 of these products by the end of the year. Wish me luck!

Product use up

September has been another month of using up odds and ends so here's what I finished:

2x face wipes

1x eye serum

1x deodorant

1x dry shampoo

1x cleanser

1x toner

2x face creams

4x shower gels

1x hair serums

1x heat protection spray

I only have 3 months left of my year challenge and so far I think I'm on course to do really well and to have used up the majority of my stash!

Let me know how you've done this month!