Save vs Splurge - Lime Shower Gels

It's been a long time since I last did a Save Vs Splurge post, it was June 2011 to be precise. 

I am aware that I have already review Soap & Glory's Sugar Crush body wash but when I started Philosophy's Luscious Lime shower gel I thought I would do a comparison post due to the significant difference in price.

Left to Right:

Soap & Glory Sugar Crush body wash - £6.50 for 500ml

Philosophy Luscious Lime shower gel - £14.00 for 480ml

Soap & Glory Sugar Crush is a lovely sweet lime scent and is more of a cream than a gel. It is great in the morning to wake you up as the scent immediately hits you, you just have to be careful you don't get slap happy with it! I normally use 3-4 pumps.

Philosophy Luscious Lime shower gel is a gel in consistency. It is quite thick which makes getting it out a little hard at times as the bottle is chunky. The lime scent is amazing! It is proper juicy lime but it doesn't fill the bathroom with an amazing scent.

As the Philosophy shower gel is over twice as much as the Soap & Glory one I would go for Soap & Glory every time. Luckily I got the Philosophy shower gel after christmas in the sales for £7.00 but no way would I spend £14.00 on it.

Have you tried either of these products? What did you think?

Save vs Spurge - Mineral foundations

Mineral foundations, they're popping up everywhere nowadays. For me a mineral foundation shouldn't contain any nasties like parabens but more often than not they do. I've managed to find four which fit this category which also vary in price. These are:

L-R:

Collection 2000 Perfecting Minerals - £4.99 (15g)

Une 100% Mineral Foundation - £9.99 (4.5g)

Avon Smooth Minerals - £10.50 (6g)

Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation - £12.49 (10g)

Swatches and shades L-R:

Une (M08)

Avon (Shell)

Lily Lolo (Barely Buff)

Sorry no swatch of Collection 2000's as I finished this months ago, luckily kept the pot for product dregs!

Collection 2000's was the first mineral foundation I tried. For the money you can't go wrong and you get alot of product. It covered well, looked natural and but didn't last all day.

I bought the Une foundation more recently and I was shocked at how little product you got compared to others, you get a teeny 4.5g for a tenner. Despite this it gave the best coverage and lasted all day.

Avon ran a promotion a while ago where you gave then an old bottle of foundation and you got a brand new one for £4 so I got their Smooth Minerals powder foundation. This has a slight simmer to it which people always comment on and say how nice it looks. The coverage is really good and lasts all day. The only bad thing is the silly hole the product comes out of. Sort it out Avon!

Lily Lolo only makes mineral make-up products and I love their blushers. Their foundation is the most expensive I've tried but you do get a 10g pot. This is the lightest shade I've got which is probably a tad too light for me after trying darker shades from the other brands. It also gives quite a light coverage but it does last.

Collection 2000, Une and Lily Lolo all have a normal sifter top for getting the product out.

So my final thought....

This is taking into consideration price, amount of product and coverage:

1st place - Avon Smooth Minerals (mid priced product)

2nd place - Collection 2000 Perfecting Minerals (cheapest)

3rd place - Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation (most expensive)

4th place - Une (mid priced product)

Avon won because of the coverage and Une lost because of the whole 4.5g of product. I'll be interest to see how long this lasts compared to the other ones.

Have you tried any mineral foundations, what did you think to them? 

Save vs Spurge - Face Primers

Face primers see to be everywhere at the moment. You apply over your moisturiser to create a smooth base for your make up so it lasts longer. There are a number of different products on the market which all vary in price. I've chosen three which are widely available to test.

17 Photo Flawless Skin Primer

£4.99 - 15ml

This comes in a tube with a screw on top (hygienic as you're only touching the amount of product you need) and is a creamy coloured lightweight cream. It glides on easily, dried quickly and leaves you skin silky smooth. I use mineral make-up which can sometimes go on cakey but after using this it went on really really well but..... it didn't last all day. When I'm at work I apply it at 6.45 and sometimes don't take it off until after 10pm and on my sponge there wasn't alot which came off which means it came off during the day. I think if I was applying my make up for only a short amount of time this would be perfect but for a long day then it wouldn't be my first choice.

Witch Anti-Blemish Skin Clearing Primer

£6.99 - 30ml

Full review can be found here. This has a pump dispenser which is good as if you have spots you don't want to be touching them then putting your fingers in a pot to get your primer and spreading bacteria. I use just under one pump for my face and smooth it on. It is slightly creamy in colour and dries really quickly. My make up goes on smoothly and really does look flawless all day. It's not often that when I take my make up off at night my sponge is covered in foundation as normally it's come off!

L'Oreal Studio Secrets Smoothing Resurfacing Primer

£14.29 - 15ml

This was one of the first primers on the market, well it was certainly one of the first I remember seeing. I bought this after alot of deliberating as it is quite pricey but I had a money off coupon so put it to use against this. The texture is a cross between a putty, mousse and rubber, I find it weird! It's a baby pink colour and is in a screw top pot. I have only used this a few times mainly because I prefer pumps or squeezy tubes, the fact you have to put your fingers in the post is abit unhygienic. It did leave my skin feeling lovely and silky but it took a little bit of time to dry and if you put too much on it does go cakey and then peels off.

Overall thoughts:

1st: Witch Anti-Blemish Skin Clearing Primer

2nd: 17 Photo Flawless Skin Primer

3rd: L'Oreal Studio Secrets Smoothing Resurfacing Primer

Have you used any of these what did you think to them? Or have you tried any others which you would recommend?

Save vs Splurge - Shower Oils

I've done all previous save vs splurge posts on cosmetics put I thought I'd have a change and do one on shower oils.

Before I used a shower oil I didn't understand why anyone would want to use an oil in the shower. Surely it would be greasy and just generally be a horrible product. But nope I was wrong. It's got to be one of the best products I've ever used. There aren't many on the market but they are becoming more popular and they do vary in price quite abit. So with this is mind here are the three products I'm comparing:

Left to Right:

Most expensive: L'Occitane Almond Shower Oil (250ml) - £16.00

Mid priced: No7 Luxurious Foaming Shower Oil (250ml) - £9.00

Cheapest: Sanctuary Mande Lular Sensuous Shower Oil (250ml) - £6.89

The first one I used was the L'Occitane Almond Shower Oil. I had a huge 500ml bottle and it took me absolutely ages to use! But this wasn't a bad thing. This comes with a screw dispenser top (it has a hole in the middle where it comes out of when you unscrew the lid) so you don't end up with a tonne of product coming out and wastage which is really good. Even though it is an oil it isn't greasy and when you apply to wet skin it foams up slightly into a rich lather. It left my skin lovely and soft and you can even pour under running water to create a lovely bubbly bubble bath! And it doesn't leave your bath greasy, oily or slippy so all in all it's great for a bath.

Next I used the Sanctuarys Mande Lular Sensuous Shower Oil. The Sanctuary do two shower oils but I chose this fragrance as it doesn't contain parabens, the other one does. The fragrance is lovely, better than the L'Occitane almond but at just under £10 cheaper how does the quality fair up? I have to admit I was really impressed. Everything the L'Occitane oil did, this did. The only thing different was the dispenser, it has one of those which is split into two and you push down one half for the other half to pop up with gives out the product. God I'm rubbish at describing these aren't I?!

Finally, the No7 Luxurious Foaming Shower Oil. This is a grape based product (L'Occitane also did a grape shower oil but it's now discontinued). I did like the fragrance, it was quite subtle but you could smell the fruitiness. This has the same type of dispenser as the Sanctuary product, don't worry I won't try to describe it again, but considering the price I wasn't impressed. It didn't lather up very well, or create a lovely bubbly bath. In fact this bottle didn't last long at all.

So my final thoughts...

1st place - Sanctuary Mande Lular Sensuous Shower Oil (cheapest)

2nd place - L'Occitane Almond Shower Oil (most expensive)

3rd place - No7 Luxurious Foaming Shower Oil (mid price)

Have I persuaded you to try a shower oil? Or have you used one already? Let me know what you think!

Save vs Splurge - Glitter eyeliners

I haven't done one of these posts for a while so I have got my act in order and this post is going to be comparing glitter eyeliners.

For years I've yearned to find a glitter eyeliner which actually applies like it looks in the tube and after many products I finally found the perfect one but is it a cheapish brand or a more expensive one?

I've got three different products which I'm going to compare:

Top - Bottom:

Next glitter eyeliner (came in a pack of 3) - £5.00 (about £1.66 each)

Collection 2000 Glam Crystals - £2.99

Too Faced Starry Eyed - £14.00

Swatches (in same order as above)

The photo hasn't come out as clear as it looks in real life so click to enlarge!

The first one I bought was Too Faced's Starry Eyed liner in Ooh & Aah. I picked this shade as I thought it would look nice over black eyeliner but I was majorly disappointed. Yes it does look nice over pencil eyeliner but the glitter effect is abit sparse. You have to reapply and reapply to get a good glitter line and even then I found that it didn't last all day as it came off really easy.

I then tried Next's glitter eyeliners. I got this in a pack of three (one clear, one blue and one pink). I thought for £5 for three it wasn't a bad price to try out but again I was left disappointed. There was even less glitter than the Too Faced one.

Finally I tried Collection 2000 Glam Crystals liner in Glitz and wow! I can't express how amazing this product is! I simply love it! By far it has the most glitter and glitz (appropriate for it's name!) and it lasts all day or all night depending on when you're wearing it!

So my final thoughts...

1st place - Collection 2000 Glam Crystals - Mid price product

2nd place - Too Faced Starry Eyed liner - Most expensive

3rd place - Next glitter liners - Cheapest

Have you used any of these? What did you think? Or have yo used another glitter liner which you could recommend?

Save vs Splurge - Concealer pens

Concealer pens. I think almost every brand of cosmetics have one and perhaps the most famous is YSL Touche Eclat but at £24.51 this is a little out of my price range. I haven't tried many of these as I prefer to use a cream concealer but a few months ago I thought I'd give two different ones a go.

I first bought Benefit's Lyin' Eyes concealer pen (on the right in the photo above) which is £16.85 for 1ml. Yes that's right you get a whole 1ml of product! This is probably why this lasted me about 2 weeks! So for a 100ml (which is what products are generally rounded up to for a ml for ml comparison) it would cost you a staggering £1685.00!

Most recently I bought Avon's Magix illuminator, on the left on the photo. This is cheaper at £10 for 1.7g. Can't do a ml for ml comparison as the maths to convert grams to millilitres is past me!

Top: Avon. Bottom: Benefit

I have to say that I loved the Benefit concealer. It had a thick consistency which covered well and it lasted all day but like mentioned above it didn't last long at all. In fact when no more came out I thought it had broke because it only felt like I'd been using it 2 minutes.

Avon's Magix illuminator has a thinner consistency, and more notably I chose 'light' which is way too light to use under my eyes. It didn't cover as well and needed reapplying during the day. Because I chose a shade which is too light I haven't used this much so I can't comment on how long it lasts in comparison.

Whilst researching this and being astonished at how little you get for your money of Benefit's concealer I was curious to see how YSL's would compare. Yes it's more expensive but you get 2.5ml! This is one and a half times more than Lyin' Eyes, so for 100ml this works out at £980.00! The only thing I can't compare is the quality as like I said at the beginning of this post I haven't used it.

This all got me thinking about price comparisons for other concealer pens so here is the price, size and 100ml comparison:

• No7 Instant Radiance - £13.50 - 2.5ml - £540.00 100ml
• Clinique Airbrush - £15.32 - 1.5ml - £1021.30 100ml
• Nip + Fab Eye Fix - £10.16 - 2ml - £500.80 100ml 
• Collection 2000 - £4.99 - 1ml - £499.00 100ml 
• Revlon Colorstay - £7.49 - 1ml - £749.00 100ml
• 17 Hide & Chic - £4.99 - 1.8ml - £277.20 100ml

• Benefit Lyin' Eyes - £16.85 - 1ml - £1688.50 100ml
• YSL Touche Eclat - £24.51 - 2.5ml - £980.00 100ml

So overall Benefit works out the most expensive and 17's Hide and Chic works out the cheapest and they are both 1ml products. I might buy the 17 product and do a comparison for a future post.

But back to my original products: Avon and Benefit. 

I've come to the conclusion that with concealer pens it doesn't really matter how much a product costs but more about how much you get for your money and then the quality of the product. Even though I prefer Benefit's Lyin' Eyes I wouldn't buy it again due to how expensive it works out but I also wouldn't buy Avon's Magix Illuminator again because of the thin consistency. 

Has anyone else used any of these? Which concealer pen do you recommend?

Product stockists:

No7 & 17 - Boots

Clinique - Debenhams, House of Fraser, Boots

Nip + Fab - Boots, ASOS, Harvey Nichols

Revlon & Collection 2000 - Boots, Superdrug

Benefit - Boots, Debenhams, House of Fraser, Benefit

YSL - Boots, Debenhams, House of Fraser

Save vs Splurge - Eyeliner pencils

This is the first of a new set of blog posts which I'm going to so which will try to find out whether cheaper products are better than splurging on more expensive ones.

There are so many different eye pencils on the market these days and they all vary in price. Some are a couple of quid and others are nearer £10. So why spend more money on one when you can get one for under half the price? I’ve got 3 eyeliners (all near enough the same colour) which vary in price £3.99, £4.25 and £7.75 so I aim to answer this question. And is the old proverb “you get what you pay for” true?

Products

• First is the cheapest option. 17’s Metallic eyes pencil in green. This is £3.99 and available from Boots.
• Second is Bourjois’s intense waterproof metallic eye pencil. I believe this is £4.25. This is available from Boots but I can’t find it on their website.
• Finally is No7’s metallic eyes pencil in green. This is £7.75, so the priciest, and is also available from Boots.

Apologies that the eyeliners in the photo aren’t in the correct order. (Top: 17, Middle: No7, Bottom: Bourjois). They will follow this order in the next 3 photos.

I did a simple test to show the difference in quality but I have also worn all these quite alot so will tell you what I think at the end.

To test them I drew each eyeliner onto the back of my hand (the same amount you would put on your eyes).

(Top: 17, Middle: No7, Bottom: Bourjois)

Once they had had time to dry/set I brushed over them with a baby wipe.

With only one wipe it’s obvious that the 17 one has practically dissapeared. No7’s has dulled slightly but Bourjois’s is still going strong.

After another brush with a baby wipe 17’s has gone, No7’s is on it’s way to disappearing but Bourjois’s is still going strong. It’s not as vibrant as it first was but it still has an intense block colour.

So the results of my very scientific test is that the middle priced product won!

What do I think?

• 17 - I normally use this all over my eye instead of an eyeshadow but I find that it creases terribly and within a few hours has practically gone. Reapplication is key to using this product. Something which I don’t have time to do at work.
• No7 - This is better than 17’s eye pencil, it doesn’t crease but the formulation is chalky and it does feel like it’s being dragged over your eyelid.
• Bourjois - My favourite! This is such a smooth pencil (slightly reminiscent of Urban Decays 24/7 pencils) and goes on very easy. It doesn’t fade or crease and does last all day. The only bad thing is that when it's first applied to does print slightly onto my upper eyelid so I have to wipe it off.

In this case the cheaper brand is the worst but the most expensive isn’t the best. It pays to be open minded when buying products as paying more doesn’t always mean you’ll end up with the best quality.