Pure Natural beauty skin care review by Marks&Spencers

For Christmas my lovely mother was asking me what I would like and I was rambling off the usual. I did ask for a few more Liz Earle cleanse and polishes to keep me going through the winter as it’s a staple in my night time skin care routine especially in winter as my cheeks have a tendency to get a bit dry and drab looking.

Now my mother knows me very well, to know I like to try out new products all the time and I don’t mind trying out cheaper alternatives and giving them a go. So on Christmas day I was delighted to find a few products from the “pure” skin care line which can be purchased at Marks&Spencers.

The cleanser retails for £10.00 which is slightly cheaper than the cleanse and polish, but it all adds up! 

Here’s what Marks&Spencer’s have to say about it on their website … 

• As seen in ES magazine Sept 2012
• This Instant Radiance hot cloth deeply cleanses, polishes and conditions for radiant, smooth skin. Now available with a new and improved pump. 200ml
•  Minimum 95% natural ingredients
• 100% essential oil fragrance
•  Free from parabens, silicones, mineral oil
•  Directions:  Gently massage cleanser into face and neck using circular movements to gently stimulate the skin and loosen dead skin cells. Rinse the muslin cloth under comfortable hot water, wring out the excess and lightly polish off the cleanser in circular motions to reveal clear radiant skin
•  Indications:  Avoid direct contact with the eyes. If product gets into the eyes rinse well with warm water
• Ingredients:  Camelina oil, starflower oil, chamomile, geranium, petitgrain
• 
  
  

Now this all sounds lovely but how does it perform?

Their recently added pump gives you lots of control over the amount of product being used which I love. It means if I’m cleansing after a day wearing no makeup I can easily reduce the amount I’m using compared to makeup days where I want a deeper clean.

I usually take my makeup off with a wipe (tut tut I know) or a product like Garnier soothing lotion makeup remover so I can cleanse on a clean face.

Normally over my hormonal period of the month ( trying to put it politely) I usually get rather spotty , but while I’ve been using this as part of my night time skin care I’ve not suffered nearly as much as I usually do. I may finally be growing out of spots (fingers crossed) as I quickly approach my 20^th birthday, and wave farewell to my teenage years.

The scent is absolutely beautiful and smells like a luxurious spa when I’m massaging into my face , it’s really soothing and relaxing. The only thing that liz Earle cleanse and polish beats it on is the ability to be worked into the skin for longer. After massaging the pure cleanser into your face for a good minute or so you can feel it getting harder to massage in, this doesn’t particularly bother me as I find it a good time to get to work with the muslin cloth. Afterwards it leaves me feeling very clean, fresh faced and hydrated. When I wake up in the morning I have noticed more of a glow to my skin which is awesome! 

I follow up with the pure daily skincare instant radiance skin tonic, which retails for £6.00; this also has a beautiful fragrance to it similar to the cleanser. It feels so refreshing and soothing on the skin and I can tell it really balances my skin out after cleansing. It doesn’t irritate my skin as I find some toners can really strip my combination skin leaving my cheeks feeling tight. I love the fact the tonic also has a pump just like the cleanser as it makes it much easier to control how much product your using as liquid products can sometimes go everywhere and get spilt by clumsy people like me.

On a whole I defiantly recommend and I will certainly be repurchasing throughout 2014. 

Bourjois little round pot cream blush review

I purchased these two beauties the other day from Boots , as I am a massive cream blush fan, my favorites being the stila convertible colours and MAC cremeblend blush. I was very interested in a new drug store option due to their affordability at £6.99 ( was on promotion, retail price will be £7.99)

I chose 01- nude velvet and 03- rose tender, as I felt they were the most wearable for me and easy colours to try out to see if I like the formulation. 

I like how that packaging represents the colour of the blush inside as it makes searching for the perfect colour amongst your make-up collection a breeze.They are small and compact and perfect for chucking in your handbag. 

01 left      03 right 

01 is a beautiful coral/ peachy blush perfect for the spring and the warmer weather and looks great accompanied with a light dusting of bronzer on the high points of the face to give a natural sun-kissed glow.

03 is a classic rosey colour which will work well for many skin tones to give an English rose look to the face. This blush has slight shimmer particles, which aren't too noticeable on the skin. 

I apply these with a real techniques buffing brush and just press the product onto my cheeks that way it blends well and last all day. You can build the product up easily and it's perfect for those that aren't use to the application of creme blush because its hard to apply "too much " the affect always looks very natural which I really like. They dry to a semi matte finish on my skin which I feel looks most natural as it's not over glowy and false looking and definitely not chalky/ flat.

I must mention there is a slight sweet scent to these blushes which I personally don't mind but some may find it sickly or irritate. 

Overall I think these are fantastic creme blushes form the drug store and feel they are excellent value for money, I shall be stocking up on more colours from the range and reaching for these on a daily basis.

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo Review

After hearing so much about this on Youtube, I finally caved when my breakouts reached an all time high as it had been hyped up as a wonder product. I had a little read up about the product, and their claims are pretty bold ...

"EFFACLAR DUO Corrective and Unclogging Anti-Imperfection Care helps reduce the appearance of imperfections and purifies pores. Effaclar Duo is a complete skincare solution that combines 4 active ingredients to act on the 2 major signs of skin with imperfections. Niacinamide and Piroone Olamine help reduce severe local imperfections by purifying the skin and protecting against breakouts developing. The LHA/Linoleic Acid combination helps unclog pores by eliminating dead cells responsible for their obstruction. These active ingredients are combined with soothing and anti-irritating La Roche-Posay thermal spring water. "

"Pores are purified, and imperfections appear reduced. Skin looks smoother and clearer. It appears to regain a long-lasting balance to help recover the qualities of more healthy-looking skin."

Who wouldn't want skin that looks smoother and clearer when your in a spotty situation, so I toddled off to boots and purchased this 40ml tube for £13.00. 

After using this for a few weeks now, I have noticed a small difference not anything too dramatic but I do feel it is helping keep blemishes at bay. Because it is so light weight and sinks in so quickly I find it fits in well with my usual skin care routine, due to it being ideal for layering under other products. 

I use this under my usual moisturizers as part of my morning and night time routine, as I have combination skin with a few dry patches I wouldn't want to use alone as I feel this has the potential to be quiet drying.It may work really well alone for those with more oily skin, but for anybody who does suffer from dry patches I wouldn't recommend using alone.

Used in conjunction with a more targeted blemish treatment this forms a really effective treatment against spots forming and clearing them up quicker. I have also noticed my pores seem a lot less clogged and almost smaller looking , my make-up application is smoother especially around my nose and cheek area so I am very happy about the results this is offering and will be repurchasing in the future.