Balance Me Pure Skin Face Wash

I think I got this with Glamour magazine last year as a freebie and I had been keeping it for when I went on holiday as it's a dinky travel sized product.

This is for normal to combination skin and has a skin balancing formulation.

As Balance Me is a natural brand it contains a lot of essential oils and floral scents. This face wash definitely had a strong floral scent. As I don't normally use floral scented products I found the scent a little overwhelming but I soon got used to it.

The product was quite thick and a little when a long way. I used this two to three times a day and really liked it. I even used it to remove my make up at the end of the day and after my skin felt really clean.

This 50ml tube was just enough for my weeks holiday and I really liked how it could be used as a make up remover too.

I would buy this again but in the full sized tube as it would last a long time.

A 50ml tube is £11.00 or the full sized 125ml tube is £16.00 and available from Balance Me.

Witch Doctor Witch Hazel Gel

I originally bought this as I was having the worst outbreak of spots on my face ever. Even when I was a teenager I didn't have spots like I have had recently and when I nipped into Savers I found this for £1.99.

As it's antiseptic it's perfect to put on any open cuts of wounds to prevent infection and to aid healing. As the spots on my face were really quite big and red and angry looking I really hoped this would calm them down and prevent any scarring that might occur.

Generally my spots have disappeared but two are really stubborn. They have gone down but there are two red marks where they were. I am still applying the Witch gel to help them go for good but overall I'm impressed.

I also took this with me when I went on holiday and used it on my sunburn. It helped to cool it down and unlike some aftersun products didn't leave my skin sticky or greasy looking. I also used this on my foot when it swelled up with fluid retention and was covered in heat rash. I'm not sure if it did anything to help reduce these but it did cool it down.

As this product has a number of uses it's so handy to have as a 'just in case' product and for £1.99 you can afford to be a little slap happy with it as it doesn't cost the earth. As I previously mentioned I got my tube from Savers.

Lush Mint Julips lip scrub

I'd never really seen the point of a lip scrub until we had all the snow and cold weather which left my skin a big dry flaky mess.

I went to Lush to get some other products for my dry skin and thought I'd give a lip scrub a try. There are a few different scents and I chose the mint one.

It smells really minty but not artificial and the scrub itself is quite coarse so a little goes a long way.

The first time I used this I put it on my toothbrush and scrubbed that way but it was a little too harsh and made my lips bleed. Now I just rub it on using my finger and find that does the job.

I think this would be good if you use a lip stain and have trouble removing it at the end of the day. I might have to try this out actually! I don't use this regularly, only when my skin is dry so this little tub will easily last me the rest of the year.

This is £5.25 and is only available from Lush.

Sanctuary Ultimate Facial Cleansing Oil

Cleansing oils are big news at the moment in the world of beauty but I'm a little slow on the uptake.

I've had Sanctuary's facial cleansing oil for a while now but I had been using up a couple of other cleansers and washes that I had open so this got pushed to the back of my cupboard. As these are now finished I have started using this little beauty.

I use two pumps of this which is a generous amount and it removes all my foundation and facial make up. I use an eye make up remover to remove my mascara as I have to be careful what I use on my eyes.

Once I have dispensed the oil into my hands I rub them together and then apply to my face. I massage it on to try to help remove my make up and then wipe it off with a damp cloth.

Generally I need to wipe twice to ensure all product and make up is removed but after my skin is left feeling clean and soft.

This is priced £13.00 at for a 150ml bottle and even though I like the product I'm not sure if I'd buy again as I simply love my Emma Hardie Moringa Balm which I can use as an eye make up remover too. Oh it is available from Boots!

Wednesday Wishlist - 35

River Island

Cream lace trim mini skirt - £22.00

Pink and lime contract purse - £17.00

White double metal clutch bag - £28.00

Ted Baker

Dog print shopper bag- £39.00

Ditsy dog print washbag - £25.00

Weleda Calendula and Chamomile shampoo

I had a flare up of eczema on my scalp and needed something to calm it down quickly as nothing that normally helped worked. I remember seeing on one of my trips to TK Maxx Weleda calendula and chamomile shampoo that was for sensitive scalps. As I was off to TK Maxx a couple of days later I hoped that it would still be in stock and I was lucky.

The shampoo is a dark yellow/light brown colour and is lightly scented. It doesn't foam up as well as normal shampoos but as it contains natural ingredients this is to be expected.

After using this just once my scalp felt alot less irritated and after a couple more washed it had completely calmed down.

I've used this everytime I've washed my hair since buying it and I'm really really impressed. Next time I go to TK Maxx I will buy a couple more bottles, if they still have it of course.

This was £4.99 for a 250ml bottle but the RRP is £8.95.

L'Oreal EverStrong and EverPure conditioners

As I ran out of conditioner I thought I would try L'Oreal's new Hair Expertise range. I got the EverStrong conditioner and the EverPure Intense Mask.

The range contains no sulphates but unfortunately it still contains parabens, I didn't realise this until after I started using the products.

I really liked both products, they both contain essential oils which smell lovely. My hair was left feeling lovely and soft and well conditioned. The mask was a little runnier than I normally like but it worked well.

I would buy these again but only if they were on offer as at £5.99 for the conditioner and £6.99 for the mask I find them slightly expensive for what they are. These are available from Boots and Superdrug.

Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour Foundation

Well the photo says a lot about this product as it is half gone!

Yes I like this product and I like it alot!

It gives an amazing medium to full coverage and it lasts all day. I think this shade is slightly too dark for me but when blended properly you can't tell.

I mainly use this when I have a night out as I need a product that will last as I don't tend to touch up when I'm out or during the day when I'm having a bad skin day.

This is £6.99, comes in 6 different shades and is available from Boots and Superdrug.

Wednesday Wishlist - 34

Next

Pink heart playsuit - £18.00

River Island

Black and white heart print skater skirt - £18.00

Leather leopard print tote bag - £80.00

Pink transparent sunglasses - £10.00

 New Look

Lovedrobe red military button square neck dress - £25.00

Cherry Coke t-shirt - £12.99

Blue denim mini skirt - £16.99

Dr Bronner's Magic Soap

I first saw this on ASOS a while ago and liked the sound of it. One product that has 18 uses, must be good.

Instead of getting this from ASOS I found it in TK Maxx on a recent visit for £3.99! I got the peppermint fragrance but they also had citrus, rose and lavender.

Some of the 18 uses of the soap is shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste and household cleaning. For some uses it recommends that you dilute it in water.

I used this as shower gel and as a shampoo, so what did I think?

As a shower gel I really liked it, the scent was quite strong and in the morning really woke me up. As a shampoo it was horrible. My hair was left looking greasy, felt heavy and like straw. In fact my hair was that bad I had to wash it again.

As a shower gel this is a great product but for other uses I'm not so sure. Even with this is mind I would buy this again.

Project 10 Pan - May

As I've bought quite a few new products recently my opened products have taken a bit of a back seat in my make up collection but I have managed to finished a few products:

Make up primer

Foundation

Blusher

Concealer x2

Mascara

Total - 6 products finished

I have quite a few products which I've nearly finished so hopefully in a couple of months I'll have a bigger Project 10 Pan post to show you!

iWhite Instant Teeth Whitening Kit

Before Christmas I saw this little tooth whitening kit on ASOS but it quickly sold out leaving me feeling like I missed out. But when browsing their New In section on the beauty page in February I saw they had it back. It was the iWhite Instant Teeth Whitening Kit.

This is exclusive to ASOS and come with 10 pre-filled trays which you wear for a maximum of 20 minutes a day (the instructions are on the photo below, if you can enlarge you should be able to read them).  

I saved this to use a week before I went on holiday in the hope I would get lovely pearly white teeth!

When I started using it I found that the trays, which are pre-filled so no messy application of gel or moulding, sometimes were filled with gel in the wrong places, like a lot for the back teeth and not too much at the front. 

I used these every night for 5 days for the maximum of 20 minutes a time. After the 5 days was up I did notice a slight difference in the colour of my teeth but nothing major. I think for a more dramatic different you would have to buy more than one kit which is quite pricy as they are £25 a time.

Also as I have sensitive teeth I am a little wary about using tooth whitening kits but this one caused me no problems at all.

Overall, I don't think I would try this again, for the price of it I expected much more dramatic results and I think I prefer having to fill the trays yourself to you get gel in the right places. Maybe they could do a kit where you get the trays and all you have to do is put the gel in them yourself.

As I've already mentioned this is only available from ASOS and costs £25.00.

The Month That Was....April

Yey we finally had sunshine!

Ok so it might have been sunny but it still hasn't been that warm, can't wait for some lovely long, warm, sunny summer evenings.

I also had some kind of tonsillitis/viral infection in my throat which made me have 3 days off work as felt rubbish and my throat still hasn't gone back to normal but I don't feel ill anymore.

Apart from that I started my diet which you probably know so I'll be continuing that until the end of June at least.

All in all I think April has been a pretty boring month, apart from deciding that next year I'm going to get a BMW. I can get one for only £10 a year extra on my insurance so I thought I might as well spend my money on something I've wanted for a few years so all my savings are going to be spent on that.

Hope you had a good month!

Wednesday Wishlist - 33

ASOS

Flower ring dish - £8.00

Next

Tan zip across the body bag - £24.00

New Look

Kelly Brook navy and red flocked lips playsuit - £29.99

Nude patent raffia wedges - £17.99

Fuchsia winged transparent bag - £19.99

Very.co.uk

Fearne Cotton flamingo knitted jumper - £29.00