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Archive for the ‘Skincare’ Category
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
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 Like Clinique, I’m “all about eyes” at the moment, but sadly for me, my obsession with eyes is because in the ongoing battle of Dollface Vs Dark Circles, the dark circles are most definitely winning. More on this next week, when the Secret Weapon I’ve ordered to vanquish my foes (hopefully) arrives, but for now, here’s Clinique with a secret weapon of their own: their new All About Eyes Serum De-Puffing Eye Massage rollerball.
As the name suggests, this is primarily designed to de-puff the eye area, but it also claims to help with the dreaded dark circles. It’s a cooling, refreshing fluid which will soothe tired eyes, and the rollerball pen will also deliver a gentle massage.
Lately I swear I can actually FEEL the dark circles gathering under my eyes, a bit like stormclouds on the horizon. I’m possibly imagining this, but towards the end of the day it’s like I can feel the skin around my eyes thinking to itself, “Right, that’s it, I’ve had enough of staring at this screen all day, I’m going to start looking like ass, and I’m going to do it RIGHT NOW.” In fact, I can feel it happening as I write this. This product, then, sounds mighty good to me right about now. Anyone tried it? If you haven’t, but you want to, it’s $25.50 (if it works, I’d pay double that. I’m not joking.) at Sephora.
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Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
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 Well, it may have taken me a long time to get round to trying Liz Earle’s famous Hot Cloth Cleanser, but I’ve now been using it for just under a month, and I’m happy to say it’s been worth the wait!
I was sent this by the folks at Liz Earle, along with the Instant Skin Boost Tonic from the range, so I’ve been using both products together, as a double-whammy for my skin. The Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser was the product I was most interested in out of these two, having read lots of glowing reviews of it over the years. It came with two muslin cloths, and the idea is that you massage the cleanser onto your face, and then dampen the cloth with hot water (it should be damp rather than wet), before using it to massage off the product.
I was actually slightly dubious about this at first. I’m used to dampening my skin BEFORE applying cleanser, and I tend to like products that you can work up to a nice lather, purely because they make you FEEL like you’re really doing a great job of cleaning your skin (whether you actually ARE, of course, is another matter altogether). So I was a little concerned that my skin wouldn’t feel properly clean after using this – a concern which turned out to be totally unfounded, because of course the application of the “hot cloth” does leave the skin feeling fresh and clean, although it’s very gentle on the face, and doesn’t make your face feel “scrubbed”, like some harsher products can.
I also really liked the muslin cloth, the state of which provides an easy way to tell how clean your skin is: no more makeup on the cloth means no more makeup on your face, either!
The fact that this product is so gentle is one of its big plus-points, and the time you spend massaging it in and then “polishing” it off is also a nice circulation booster. It does a pretty thorough job of removing makeup, too: I’m still using an eye-makeup remover to get rid of my waterproof mascara, but Cleanse & Polish gets rid of the rest very easily, including the residue of that mascara, some of which always ends up under my eyes when I’m removing it, no matter how thorough I think I’m being!
As I mentioned at the start of this review, I’ve been using this cleanser for almost a month now. In that time, I’ve had no breakouts at all, my skin has felt smooth and soft, and looks brighter. The other thing I’ve noticed is that the dry patches I tend to notice in the winter, particularly under the eyes, and around my mouth and nose, seem to have cleared up, and my skin feels healthier: this is probably the best thing about these products for me, because at this time of year my skin can look very dull and dry, which obviously isn’t a good look on anyone!
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Friday, February 5th, 2010
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For my money, Boots’ No. 7 skin creams are right up there beside some of the high-end brands in terms of quality. Of course, they’re not cheap: in fact, they fall into a price bracket that’s not too far off that of some of the aforementioned high-end brands, but having been pretty much raised on No. 7 (my mum has been a fan for as long as I can remember and I swear by their Protect & Perfect range), I’m always interested in a new release in the skincrae line.
This one is called “Lift and Luminate”. I bet you can’t guess what it does, can you? Yes! It lifts and… luminates the skin! Aimed at the “more mature woman”, here’s what Boots have to say about the line:
”Quench thirsty skin with this intensely hydrating cream, specially formulated to visibly improve the appearance of wrinkles and to give you an instant boost of radiance. Our unique anti-ageing and advanced energising complexes work together to lift, firm and to restore your complexion, leaving it looking and feeling healthy and glowing. Use it every day to help reduce the signs of ageing; in just four weeks, your skin will be more even toned, younger-looking and more luminous.”
So far, so like Protect & Perfect, then, but as this is aimed at a slightly older demographic, Boots say it will also make the skin feel firmer, rather than “just” reducing the appearance of wrinkles. As you’ll have noticed from the blurb above, they also say this will happen in just four weeks, which makes me wonder if it’ll sell out as quickly as P&P did when it was originally launched, too.
There’s a day cream (£19.50) , a night cream (£20.50 each) and an eye cream (£19.50) and these are available now from Boots.
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Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
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 You know what? I’m amazed I don’t already own this product – or one very like it, at least.
As fellow mono-brow owners will probably testify, keeping the brow at bay can involve a lot of tweezing. If I left it alone for even a day or two, I’d start looking like Liam Gallagher, and this is why my desert island beauty item would always be a set of tweezers. Always.
Tweezing may keep me looking more human than ape, but it can also leave me with a large red patch between the eyes. Not so hot. This product, however, is designed specifically o soothe the brow area after tweezing: it contains ingredients including honey to soothe and moisturize the area, and it’s good for both tweezers and waxers.
Get it at ASOS, where it costs £7.
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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
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 Remember when I told you that Boots were launching a new INTENSE version of their best-selling Protect & Perfect Beauty Serum, and how I was so excited about this development that I’d ordered myself two bottles of the stuff?
Remember how I didn’t ever come back and tell you what I thought of it?
Um, yeah. That’s just because I fail at life, basically: it had nothing to do with the product itself, and when I tell you that as soon as the first two bottles were all used up, I went straight out and bought another one (well, I say “straight out” – I actually ordered it on the interwebs), you’ll probably guess that I liked it quite a lot really.
And you’d be right, too. I’d been using the original version of Protect & Perfect, my review of which can be found here, and to be honest, the only reason I’m only now getting around to reviewing the “Intense” version is because there’s not really a whole lot else to add to that original review. To put it simply, this is one of those products that just works. I apply it morning and night, and if the bottle runs out and it takes me a couple of weeks to get round to replacing it, I will really notice a difference in my skin. When I use Protect & Perfect regularly, my skin is noticeably softer and smoother. Yes, there are still fine lines, and I can’t really say I’ve noticed much of a reduction in them in the time I’ve been using this, but it’s still worth buying as far as I’m concerned, because the difference it makes to my skin is huge.
As for the Intense version, I’m going to be honest: I don’t really see much difference between it and the original, other than that Intense comes in the glass bottle P&P was initially launched in, before Boots switched it to a plastic tube. People will have mixed feelings about this: my mum, who’s also a Protect & Perfect fan, loves the bottle and hates the tubes; I also like the bottles, because there’s a nice, substantial feel to them, but I prefer the plastic tubes, purely because I know I can squeeze every last drop of product out them. Each to their own.
However it’s packaged, though, I have no hesitation in naming this my Holy Grail Beauty Serum, and as soon as the current bottle runs out, I will be re-purchasing. Or, better yet, I’ll wait until Boots have one of their fantastic 3-for-2 offers on skincare, and get two of them. Plus maybe the eye cream…
Boots Protect & Perfect Intense Beauty Serum, £19.75
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Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
There’s been a lot of buzz in the beauty world about RoC’s new Retin-Ox Wrinkle Correxion range, and it’s not hard to work out why: the range claims to reduce wrinkles by 30% in 8 weeks, and that’s going to make it instantly appealing to a whole lot of people.
Will it work, though?
Well, the claims are backed up by a clinical study, the results of which you can view here. The range contains three main ingredients:
Pure Retinol – the purest and most effective form of Vitamin A, which reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and improves skin texture and tone.
Hyaluronic Acid – naturally found in the skin, Hyaluronic Acid enhances skin plumpness and is able to hold up to 1,000 times its weight in water.
Biopeptide – Peptides are communicating agents that transmit messages from cell to cell. The makers of RoC® are using an improved peptide that they call ‘Intelligent Biopeptide’, which adapts its efficacy to the level of tissue damage, as well as helping to restructure collagen and increasing Hyaluronic Acid.
Women queued around the block to get samples of this during a special one-day event, and they’re expecting demand to be high when this launches in the UK later this month. Look for it at Boots.
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Thursday, October 8th, 2009
 Biore products Ah, Biore! I used to buy their Pore Strips when I was a teenager. In fact, everyone did – and we’d all compare notes on the state of our post-use strips the next day at school. God, teenagers are horrible, aren’t they?
Anyway, Biore are currently running a campaign called Dirty Little Secrets – you can follow the Dirty Little Secret Girl on Twitter and read her blog , although it’s very obviously written for PR purposes, and has a huge amount of LOL-ing in it. As part of that, they sent me the products above to try out, and I started out with the old favourite – the Deep Cleansing Pore Strips.
The box has had a makeover since I last used Biore, but the product itself seems more or less the same – they’re little paper strips that you stick to your nose, having wet it first to make them stick. Then you wait for ten minutes, grit your teeth and pull it off again. The removal process does smart a little, in the same way that pulling off a plaster does, but then comes the big moment, when you get to look and see all the gunk it’s pulled out of your pores.
In my case, I was actually surprised by how little there was to see. At first I thought the strip was empty, but closer inspection revealed some small traces of whatever had been clogging my pores. This didn’t really make a huge difference to my pores, then, but I was more impressed with the other two products. The Pore Unclogging Scrub smells gorgeous – it’s very fresh and pleasant to use, and does feel like it’s giving the skin a good clean, although, again, I haven’t noticed a huge difference to the pores themselves.
The Shine Control Moisturiser, on the other hand, does make a difference to my skin. As the name suggests, it’s designed to soak up oil on the skin and leave it smooth and clean. My t-zone has a tendency towards oiliness, and this really does work: after application there’s no trace of oiliness at all, and I’ve used a lot less primer this week because it leaves my skin much smoother, creating a good base for my makeup.
You can read more about these products at the Biore website and the products themselves are available at Boots and Superdrug.
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Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
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 As well as looking good (it comes in a little pink wash-bag – what more could you ask for?) this limited edition Elemis kit aims to do some good, too – not just for your skin, but for Breast Cancer Care. It’s been produced in aid of October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Elemis have pledged to donate £10,000 from sales of this to the charity.
The it contains:
- Pro-Collagen Lifting Treatment Neck and Bust 15ml
- Pro-Collagen Marine Cream 30ml
- Pro-Collagen Oxygenating Night Cream 30ml
- Papaya Enzyme Peel 15ml
These are four of the brand’s most popular products: they have a retail value of £75, but are being sold here for just £50, which includes the bag and charity donation – a good deal all round, basically.
Elemis Essential Beauty Secrets Kit, £50
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Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
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If you follow me on Twitter (what do you mean, you don’t follow me on Twitter?) and happened to be online at around 10am on Saturday morning, you probably already know that I spent a small portion of my weekend looking like this:
 Ninja Dollface Yes, readers, I am secretly a ninja. Don’t tell anyone.
OK, no, I’m not. I was, in fact, trying out Moor Spa’s Refining Facial Mask:
Mr Dollface was out at the time, and because I’m Sod’s Law’s favourite victim, I spent a panicked few minutes absolutely convinced that someone would come to the door while I was covered in this stuff. Luckily they didn’t, and so I live to provide you with this product review. Don’t say I’m not good to you.
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Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
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 Remember the Karin Herzog chocolate moisturiser I wrote about back in May? Well, I was lucky enough to be sent some to try out, and that’s why I’m sitting here typing this with a face that smells just like chocolate. My dog is being driven crazy by it – and he’s not the only one.
Yes, I can now report that this moisturiser has an authentically chocolaty scent to it, and that’s exactly what you’d expect, given that it contains actual Swiss chocolate .What’s it like smearing chocolate on your face? Do you even need to ASK? Well, the first thing you’ll notice is that, unlike most face creams I’ve ever used, this is not white, but a pale brown, so it both looks and smells more like something you’d add to a recipe than something you’d put on your face. Your face is what it’s designed for, though, and as I noted in my last post, the moisturiser also contains orange and avocado oils to help soften and nourish the skin.
The application is the only slight downside to this product: although it’s not a particularly thick cream, it doesn’t absorb very quickly, and takes a bit of rubbing in, although you could see this as an excellent opportunity to give your skin a bit of a massage, which will also help boost your circulation. Once the cream’s on, however, it’s non-greasy and don’t worry, the chocolaty scent doesn’t linger, so you don’t actually have to walk around all day being tormented by it!
Karin Herzog Chocolate Moisturiser, £36
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