Nivea Hand Nourishing Cream Review

I'm a fine art student, as some of you might know, and particularly at the moment, I've been using oil paints. Part of this involves using a lot of turpentine, white spirit, and other solvents. A mu-hajorrrr consequence of this involves getting incredibly dry hands. They literally feel reptilian sometimes, and my trusty Body Shop Body Butter isn't just working! I asked my mum if she knew anything that would help, and she handed me this..


Nivea Hand Nourishing Cream, £3.99
"Softens and nourishes dry hands and cuticles, long lasting effect. With natural minerals, vitamins and macadamia nut oil."

It's amazinggg.
I have a long-running hatred of hand-creams that leave a sticky residue on your hands, or that sink in too quickly and don't do their job.. This is the perfect balance. It sinks in verrrry quickly, leaving no stickiness on my hands whatsoever but is incredibly moisturising, pratically instantly. It's in a very convenient tube, no annoying little put to try and screw up. It doesn't really smell of much, just very Nivea-y, that kind of clean, moisturising smell, which I quite like.
I love this so much, I cannot sing it's praises enough! I'm afraid it's even replaced the Body Butter in my bag! Oops.

Price: 5/5

Packaging: 5/5

Product: 5/5

Overall: 5/5

Would I buy this product again?: Yes, yes, yes. I highly recommend this product! Go get it.

Clare Marie

xx

The Body Shop: Lip Butters Review

When I was writing my review for the body butters, I came across these in my collection, and thought I'd do a little review, because I've never really seen any of them, as I think it would be good to give my opinion on them!

Passionfruit Lip Butter - 10ml, £4

Mango Lip Butter - 10ml, £4

My favourite of these two is the Passionfruit. It smells delicious and I just want to lick it right off. The mango has a similar effect, haha. Unfortunately, these aren't nearly as moisturising as their body-butter-counterparts.
They kind of leave a sticky feeling on the lips, which I'm definitely not a fan of, and make my lips all white. They don't moisturise as well I would like, but I love the smell so I'll carry on using them, I suppose!
I also feel like they're rather expensive. A tube of Carmex is £2.49, and one of these will set you back £4 (they used to be £5, I swear, but on the website they're now £4, which is still on the pricey side). I don't mind paying that for ones where the proceeds go charities (I know they do one that goes to an AIDS charity and one that goes to a Domestic Violence charity), but just for a regular old lipbalm.. Unless you really love one of the smells, I would say have a look elsewhere!
Oh, and I'm not a massive fan of lipbalms in these little pots.. long nails and hygiene reasons and other people using them and that... ick, no.

Price: 2/5
Packaging: 3/5
Product: 2/5
Overall: 2/5
Would I buy this product again?: Probably not, I've had these for a while and they're barely touched.
I love The Body Shop, and I love their body-butters, but I just don't love these, which makes me very sad! Maybe it's just not for me, oh well.

The Body Shop: Body Butters Review

I was using one of these the other day and realised that I have quite a little collection of them! I don't know when this happened, but they just sort of appeared one day, and suddenly I had a stack of them.


You can probably tell from the various colours, what kind of scents that I'm into, haha.
Anyway, make sure you click read more for pictures and my review!

Wild Cherry Body Butter - 50ml, £5

Strawberry Body Butter - 50ml, £5

Raspberry Body Butter - 200ml. £6

Usually the 200ml cost £12.50, but I got this for £6 because I believe they discontinued this one? I can't find it on the website.

Generally, all the scents are fantastic! It just depends which you prefer. Honestly, the Wild Cherry one doesn't smell exactly like what I think of as cherries, but it 's still good! They have a hugeee variety of scents, it's whatever takes your fancy, really. I think when my little strawberry one runs out, I'm going to get a mini-Pink Grapefruit! I'm obsessed with pink grapefruit stuff at the moment.


As you can see, the formula's can be really different. On the left is the Wild Cherry, and the right the Strawberry. I usually keep the Strawberry one in my back (my hands get really really dry at uni, and it helps the the consistency is a bit stiffer and thicker, and doesn't melt as easy, really, which is why I keep it in my bag - the 50ml are the absolute perfect size to throw in your bag, and I love that. It's great to always have it to hand, so to speak!
The big 'ole Raspberry pot I've had for a while now, but it never ceases to amaze. It's really good value for money because they last for ages, and haven't got a funny 'off' smell like my Soap & Glory body butter got after a few months! When I find that I have dry skin after a shower, I scoop out a handful and smear it on and wait for it to work it's magic. And it does. Skin is left feeling lovely and smooth, and you smell good for an awful long time afterwards.
I am a hugeeee fan of these products. I genuinely haven't found a body moisturiser that is as good yet!

Price: 4/5
Packaging: 5/5
Product: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
Would I buy this product again?: Yes, and I have, and will repeatedly!
I have been meaning to post this review for a long time! I got a few posts all ready before I lost my computer and I forgot to schedule them, haha. So here we go! I have a few other Body Shop bits and pieces on their way, so keep an eye out for them. (: Which is your favourite scent? Everyone seems to have one!

Getting a little bit Naked.

Oh god.

I knew from the minute I laid eyes on this, it was for me. Literally, it was love at the first sight. I've been thinking about getting one of Urban Decay's Books of Shadows for a while now, but was debating over which one to get, and whether I could justify the price. And then this appeared and it could have come with hallelujah's, seriously.

Look at that stuff! I am glad I waited cause it suddenly puts all their old packaging to shame. It looks good and classy and well-made and practical - and it is. I always WANTED to like the Books of Shadows/Shadow Boxes with their drawers and the pop-up characters and the chainmail packaging and all that... but they never really looked sturdy or practical. And this is the opposite.
It looks black in the picture, but it's a deep brown velvet box with a magnetic closure lid, and a mirror that isn't obscured by any pop-up stuff. Basically, the packaging is gorgeous. You don't need me to tell you that, but I have spent a paragraph doing so.

Here it is in full. It comes with a mini primer potion and a double ended eyeliner, with colours Zero (jet black) and Whiskey (reddish brown). I do love their 24/7 eyeliners, but am frightful of their melting ability. I have my reservations about the primer potion, but that's for another post. Generally, if you like the little 'freebies' so to speak, you're getting a good deal for £27.
Now the price. This is where I need to discuss why I never bought one before. I always assume that you're getting ripped off with these things. Which is why this is my first!
If you think about it, a normal Urban Decay eyeshadow is £12-14, depending on where you buy it. You're getting 12 in this box, and I think they're about the same size as the ones you normally get in these kind of boxes/sets. I do get through eyeshadows at quite a rate, especially neutrals, but I think you'd have to be determined to use up all the shadow, to get through it.
Phew.
Now.
On to what you really want to see!

L-R: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half-Baked.

Naked and Buck are the only two matte's in the box, and they're gorgeous. I can see they'll make a great contoured eye, with lots of black eyeliner.
Virgin is an odd, but lovely one. It looks like a pinkish white in the box, but when swatched, has an interesting blue/purple duochrome. I kind of love it.
Sin reminds me of a MAC Starflash colour - possibly ego? - but with grey undertones. It's a pretty, unusual colour. Sidecar is similar, a brownish-pink with multicoloured glitter, I can see blueish glitter.
Half-Baked is the one I already own, but I adore it so much! It's a shimmery true-bronze, in my eyes. Very gorgeous swept all over the lid on it's own with lots of mascara and eyeliner.

L-R: Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep and Gunmetal.

Smog is righhhht up my street. If you know what Go! from the MAC Starflash collection was like, it's very similar. A very pretty mid-tone brown that will suit my eyes very well. Darkhorse is a darker version of Smog with some silver-flecks through. I think it's my favourite one, but I'm not sure. I don't have a brown that dark that's not a matte. Here begins my love affair with Smog & Darkhorse, I think. It's too soon to tell.
Toasted is strange. I don't understand the name, for one, but I like it. The correct name may be 'mauve'. Or I could say pinkish-purple with blue-brown undertones. We'll still with mauve. Hustle is very gorgeous. It's a deep purple-brown, that leans a little bit grey in some lights. Potential love affair with these two, too. Oh well.
Creep and Gunmetal I didn't really expect to be so blue! I love them. Creep is an almost-too-dark blue with flecks of shimmer, and Gunmetal is a steel blue with similar shimmer. Swatched together they're gorgeous.

I will tell you what I have woefully just done, though. I just went to move it and jammed my fingernail into Half-Baked. These eyeshadows are so soft. So soft. I cannot tell you HOW SOFT THEY ARE. So be careful, kids. The fact they are so soft means they blend beautifully, but if you catch it with your nail, expect it to crumple undertouch. Just, you've been warned.
I would say they are coparable to MAC's Starflash formula. Beautiful at blending, especially the satin ones.

I think a great plus to this product is the fact you can have so many different combinations in one box, so here are some that I've found already, and love:
Sin > Toasted > Hustle
Naked > Buck
Half Baked > Smog > Darkhorse
Gunmetal > Creep
Sidecar > Darkhorse

Someone told me its the only neutral palette you'll ever need - but I know what I'm like, and there will ALWAYS be another neutral palette. Until then, this will satisfy all my cravings! I think this will be PERFECT for when I travel, now! No more lugging MAC palette's up and down the country. Wonderful stuff. Especially with the little eyeliner in there.

Price: 4/5
Packaging: 5/5
Product: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Would I buy this product again? No, unless i somehow used them all up! But I would highly recommend them to anyone!

I hope this review was useful! For those asking where to purchase, you can get it at all House of Fraser's currently, and on their website, and then in stores everywhere else soon, I think! I do hope these pictures were okay, I took them on my iPhone but had to edit in PaintShopPro so I couldn't get the colours completely accurate.

Body Shop Shower Gel Review

I meant to do this literally ages ago.. and then I wanted to use up all the bottle to give you an honest review. And then I bought two more bottles of it. And wanted to tell you what these ones were like.. aInd then I forgot.. BUT here is this review.
And let me tell you. I will never use another shower gel again. Well, maybe. But these are gorgeous!

I was always wary about buying these. I always looked at the little bottle and felt like £6 was a bit pricey, as it doesn't look like you're getting a lot of product, only 250ml. Then I received one in a gift set for Christmas and I loved it, you only need a little bit of product to get such a lot of like.. lather. One squirt in my palm is good for a whole shower (unless you REALLY like washing, haha), and 'cause of that they seem to last quite a long time.

You can see the full range on their website, but these are the ones I have tried, and my opinion of the scents;
Satsuma: I feel like I'm literally washing myself in orange juice. This lingers forever and I love that. I like being able to smell like orange hours later.
Pink Grapefruit: One of my favourites. The smell is fantastic. I don't even like grapefruit, but this tastes good enough to eat. I feel so fresh and clean after using it.
Mango: I'm currently using up the last of this in the bottle and it's great. When I open the cap it doesn't really smell like anything, only a little bit fruity. I was a bit disappointed because I bought this online, but then you lather it up and ohhh man, it's excellent. If you've ever bought like, 'exotic fruit juice' from Sainsbury's or Waitrose or wherever, it smells just like that! Reallly wakes you up.
Wild Cherry: This is the only one I didn't love. It doesn't really smell.. cherry-ish? It's nice, but it's not cherry.
Moringa: My mum loves this one, and I've borrowed it before. I'm not really one for floral things, not in scents, but if you like something a bit more adult and less fruity and kid-ish (my favourites!), I recommend this one.

Price: 3/5

Packaging: 5/5

Product: 5/5

Overall: 5/5

Would I buy this product again? Yes, yes, yes! Ones I want to get next areee; Sweet Lemon, Fuzzy Peach, Strawberry and Green Apple! And I think pick up some more Grapefruit..

So there we go! I am glad I've finally got this up because I've loved them for a while now and really want to show you them! Hopefully I can convert some of you to this new found love of mine, incase anyone was on the fence, like I was. (:

First Impressions!

At 11PM this evening, my friend was having a chocolate craving and I was in a fit of boredom (for those who have never experienced this, a fit of boredom is basically just passed out on my bed). So I drove over and we went to the local Tesco's for a wander and spent like an hour just having a browse, haha. I ended up leaving with a couple of cans of Rubicon (the guava juice is the best drink in the world), a Grazia magazine, and this Neutrogena face scrub! The other thing was something I picked up in town this morning.
That said, here are my first impressions of two products:


Neutrogena Visibly Clear Pink Grapefruit Daily Scrub, £4.49
Boots Botanics Soothing Eye Makeup Remover, £2.99

I was looking for the eye-makeup remover today and my friend pointed out to me the Pink Grapefruit face-wash, which I declined (because I have two facial washes I need to get through, haha). Then this evening we were wandering around Tesco's and I wanted to get a gentle facial scrub, so decided to try this one, as I fancied a bit of a change.
It claims:
- with exfoliating micro-pbeads the formula unclogs pores to clean deeply and help elimiate spots and blackheads.
- the refreshing scrub gently purifies the skin without overdrying, while a wave of pink grapefruit uplifts the senses.
I used this when I got home about an hour ago so this is my pretty much immediate impressions. It says "gentle" - which I am in two minds about, really. I don't know if I have very sensitive skin, but it was exactly gentle. Not hard, but not really gentle. Firm, maybe? I dunno. They do a good job, though! Just don't know if I would use that word, really.
The smell is pretty lovely! I love anything with a grapefruity smell (even though I hate grapefruit...) so I warmed to this straight away. It's not unlike The Body Shop's Grapefruit scent, but it smells a bit more.. hospitaly? If that makes sense? A bit like disinfectant. It's not off-putting, but it's noticeable, I think.
Like I said, I used it about an hour ago and my skin instantly felt smoother and much cleaner, which I like. It says it gives a "fresh clean feel" which is about right, really! I feel like almost a fiver is a bit on the expensive side, but I suppose I only used about a 5p amount of product so it'll last for a while, and the packaging is fairly standard for these kind of products - but they do get a bit messy around the cap sometimes, which is a pain.

Price: 3/5
Packaging: 3/5
Product: 4/5
Overall: 3/5

Would I buy this product again?: Probably. Might have to try some other options, though.

My Simple eye-makeup remover was starting to hurt my eyes a little bit, like sting my skin, so I thought it was about time to change what I've been using. So I went hunting for a nice one that was gentle to my eyes and found this by Botanics. It claims to be soothing, with "Iceland moss that hydrates and soothes" and I used it earlier to take my makeup off, and it definitely was quite soothing. It's a weird forumla, I didn't really notice but it's very oily, in fact, it separates:
You can see the two different layers, here, one is greenish and one is clear. I'm not sure if it's oil exactly, because the oily looking one is on the bottom. So I dunno about that really. That's beside the point, though. It is very nice on the eye area, and removes makeup very well, even getting off the trace of mascara and eyeliner that normally linger. I don't really know anything about the moss it supposedly has, but it doesn't hurt so this is good in my book!
I loveee the shape of the bottle and the style, I think it's really nice and simple, and it's not a bad price, either, for £2.99! Pretty good, in fact. I can see it lasting a while, as I'll just use this to remove stubborn eye-makeup and then use a cleanser on my face.
It didn't leave an oily residue as oily makeup removers sometimes do. Sometimes they seem to make my skin feel really sticky and heavy, and this didn't do this! So good times were had.

Price: 5/5
Packaging: 5/5
Product: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Would I buy this product again?: So far, most definitely!

Hope you enjoyed this first impressions review, I am now off to bed!

First Experiences With Illamasqua's Nail Polishes.. & Something Shiny.

I was in London recently and my mum promised me a treat, so naturally I stopped by the Illamasqua counter, and picked up these two;

Force and Elope, both are £13
They look a little light in the bottles here, but I have individual swatches.
This is Elope;

I saw this and was drawn to it like a fly (psst, see my previous post about greens.. haha) and the girl swatched it for me and it looked awesome, so I said yes. Unfortunately, on me, it came off sort of weird. With like a rubbery finish? You can sort of see it in the picture. I hope that it was just something I did when I applied it, so I applied it about a week later and I didn't have any of the same problems, which pleases me because it's a reallyyy beautiful colour. I used a top-coat and everything but just dunno! I also worried it was very similar to a cheapo Collection 2000 colour, so I swatched them both side by side on my thumb so you can see;

On the left is Ninja by Collection 2000 (£1.79) and on the right is Elope by Illamasqua.
They look identical in the bottles, but to a green-freak like me, they're different enough to warrant having both, because it's a deeper green. Ninja suddenly looks far too pastel-y when next to it.
The next one is Force, from Illamasqua's latest Body Electrics collection;

This is just immense. It's an absolutely gorgeous colour. A very true, pretty, light royal blue. I highly highly highly recommend this one, and I don't have anything like it in my collection, and it goes on in one coat, pretty much.
The formula's are absolutely great, especially for Force, I just wish I didn't have that one-time weird plasticy finish on Elope. Elope goes on excellently, even if it did take a fewww coats, but it's great. I love these, but I wish the price wasn't quite so steep, but you do pay for an excellent product and eternally classy packaging.

Price: 3/5

Packaging: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Formula: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

Would I buy this product again?

Absolutely definitely. There's a range of colours I have my beady little eyes on.

Now onto the something shiny.. I definitely bought one of these babies a few weeks ago..

Before you start telling me about all the things that could potentially maybe go wrong with it.. just don't. Don't be so pathetic, I've had enough of that and it's just pisses me off.

Just thought I'd share because I can't resist something shinyy!

Me And My Baggy Eyes

The basic consensus from the time of the posts on this blog is that I need to sleep more. But on that subject, I bought some new concealer, because I was fed up of the dark circles around my eyes, and the concealer I've been using - MAC's Studiofinish (the one in the little pot) - has been drying my skin out around my eyes something shocking. I was in town with my friend, and decided that fuck it, I would just go ahead and buy a new one, even though I still have a little bit left in my Studiofinish. So I was wandering around House of Fraser, and I basically found that most of these concealers seemed.. horribly unhygienic. Like, I only really get spots or blemishes when I'm either very stressed, or it is around my time of the month, but I don't really like the idea of sponge tip applicators, or the little brushes. I took a picture of the two concealers I own, next to the new one, here;

In the left is Estee Lauder's Illuminating Concealer, in the middle is Studiofinish, and on the end is the new one, which I opted for, feeling it was the best. I feel like Studiofinish is fine if you use a brush, but I prefer to apply concealer with (clean) fingers, but now my nails have got long, i can't really get my fingers in there well and generally it just doesn't seem that nice? Maybe it's just me, but if there's a sponge tip or little brushes, and I'm putting it on a blemish or whatever, and then putting it back in the pot.. not really a fan.

Anyway, after wandering around for a while, I came to the Dior counter - I use Dior foundation, so thought this would be good move. I told the guy I wanted a good, strong coverage concealer, but a moisturising one, and he recommended the "Skin Perfecting Hydrating Concealer." And it comes in a little tube, you can see the applicator in the picture above, but it's basically just a little tube, and he threw in a free sample of their "Pro-Youth Sorbet Eye Creme":

I do love me some Dior boxes, ah.. It's not really worth showing you the tubes, as they're just.. tubes. So I thought I'd attempt to do a little comparison:

On the left is the MAC Studiofinish. It works fine, and over stronger blemishes, it's great, but I feel like it's way too drying in the sensitive eye area.. And on the right is the new Dior one. I think the difference is pretty noticable, don't you? I've used it for a little while now, and in conjunction with the eye cream, and I've noticed a definite improvement in the skin around my eyes, so I'm pretty pleased about that!

I really like it because it doesn't feel thick and heavy on the under eye, and feels very similar to putting on an eyecream or something like that, it almost sinks in and isn't drying at all.

It is on the expensive side, however, around £19-20 which honestly, is a lot. I will say that a little bit goes a long, long way, and you don't really need to layer this product at all, so I'm hoping it will last me a little while, because it's a lovely product.

Price: 2/5

Packaging: 5/5

Product: 5/5

Overall: 4/5

Would I buy this product again?

I probably would by this again, but I do feel you pay an awful lot for such an awful little amount - 10ml! But I would try and buy it from a place where I can get a sneaky discount, haha.

Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte Review

Now whenever I saw these, I wanted them all. Recently I was watching a video by lollipop26 who raves about them, and I couldn't help but go check them out when I was in town.

#13, Peach Passion
First off.. they look incredibly pretty. I'm immediately drawn in by the glossy gold packing, the stylish logo around the middle, and the little mirror on the end.. It's generally just a very pretty product. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, and this definitely hits the mark. They feel expensive, too. It's a heavy product, physically, compared to other lipsticks, such as MAC, which makes it feel classy and more like a product to take care of, rather than throwing it in the bottom of my bag with all the dust and icky things that live in there.
It is an expensive product, also. One of these will set you back a full £21. I will pay a lot for lipsticks, but I think over £20 is starting to push it! But.. they are so very very pretty, haha. I work for a place where I can get a discount on it, so in the end it only cost me just under £16. Which mentally I, of course, round down to £15 and that doesn't seem so bad to me..


The colour is gorgeous. I don't really have anything like it. I have things that give a similar colour with sheer coverage, but this is something else. It looks very creamy in the tube, and I assumed this wouldn't be very pigmented. I was wrong. You put it on and it comes out highly pigmented, and super glossy. It slides on almost like lipgloss. I love the texture, however, I don't know if I'll be wearing it an awful lot in this thirty degree heat.. but still. The colour is very similar to that on the tube, a pinky-peachy coral, leaning possibly towards the 'salmon' end of the spectrum, but sort of milky. A bit like peaches and cream. Which I suppose is about right for the name.


Here's a side by side comparison of my lips bare, and then with Peach Passion. Please ignore my little freckle on my lip, haha. This picture doesn't really show the difference that well, now that I'm looking at it. In person, it adds a really pretty, bright, creamy looking finish. I've heard people complain about these being super-drying when on the lips, but I haven't really found that? I do tend to use a lip scrub most days, but I think if you already have dry lips in the slightest, it will cling in all the lines on your lips... which pretty much means bad times.

I could go on but I'll stop! Here's a little breakdown for you;

Price: 3/5

Packaging: 5/5

Colour: 4/5

Texture: 5/5

Would I buy this product again?

Probably! As long as I have my trusty John Lewis discount card by my side, I'm sure I'll be looking into some other colours in the future, because there is a deep purple (Forbidden Burgundy) with my name written all over it...

MAC's In The Buff Nail Polish Review..

I stopped by my local MAC counter the other week now, to check out the To The Beach collection. And although I really liked this collection, I have most of the colours they released anyway, as I've kind of realised how much MAC seem to repackage old colours or give them different names.. but that is another point entirely. The only thing that really caught my eye was the In The Buff nail polish.



In The Buff, £8.99
It immediately caught my eye for being such an interesting colour - it's basically a light sandy colour, quite fitting for the collection. I was with my mum at the time and so I asked to swatch it on her nail (because she never paints her nails, and mine are nearly always coloured, haha), and I fell in love with it straight away. I think I loved it so much because she has a much dark skin tone that me, I'm naturally quite pale and my mum's very freckly, which makes her skin much dark. Anyway, it was this lovely, light creamy-beige on her. Next time I was in town, I tried it on my friend Debbie, who also has quite pale skin, and it looked really pretty on her, too, so I thought I would buy it.
I got it home and put it on me and it just didn't look as nice? It definitely looked darker, and seemed to make my hands look super red, and fell more on the yellow side, on my skintone, as I think you can see a little bit in this picture;


As soon as my dad saw it, anyway, he went, "Oh, no, that is awful, what have you done to yourself?" Which made me laugh and kind of hit the nail on the head, haha. Anyway, I left it a couple of days and then decided to try it mixed with some plain white polish, in the hope to make it more like the colour it came out on my mum.. and this is what it came out like;


I 100% more preferred this. This was the light, sandy, beachy colour that I had wanted. I got there, eventually, haha. I think I might tip a bunch of white into the bottle to just try and lighten it a little bit, haha. As usual with MAC polishes, I really had no problems with the application, as some people apparently seem too. All their polishes go on very well and smoothly, and dry very quickly, which I like. The price tag is a bit much, but I don't mind for some of their colours.
Overall, I think if you have tanned or darker skin, this will look great as it is, on me alone it gives me lobster-hands.

Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub Review

To be honest, when I was at the counter with this, I did feel a little guilty buying it, because I know you can make this at home with olive oil and sugar.. but when it's only £4.50 and it tastes amazingly like bubblegum.. well, as soon as I tried it on, I didn't feel so guilty!

It's £4.50. comes in a very convenient little pot, and you do get 25g, which is going to last you a little while! I know it has a sell by date on it, but sugar is going to last quite a while, to be fair! It comes in two other flavours/scents, I don't remember the names but one was minty and the other chocolate.. so whatever floats your boat, really!

I've been using a cotton bud/my finger to scoop it out the pot, and I rub it on moisturised lips, and give a thorough, but not rough scrub, making sure all the rough skin goes. I feel like this is going to be super useful in the summer when my lips catch the sun, as they're bound to do. And then you can have scrummy, smooth lips! I wear a lot of lipstick, especially bright colours where it's awkward to reapply lipbalm often, so this stops them from looking too dried out, which I much prefer, don't you think?

The Body Shop: Seaweed Deep Cleansing Facial Wash Review

You may have seen in my Body Shop Haul post that I recently purchased the Seaweed Deep Cleansing Face Wash.
And well, I've been using it for about a week now.. and I am totally in love.


Seaweed Deep Cleansing Facial Wash, £6.50 for 100ml
Previously, I had been using the Clinique three-step program, and had been in two minds about it for some time. I loved the Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel, but the Toner terrified my skin, haha, it reeks of alcohol and makes my eyes water - and smells exactly like nail-varnish remover! I used up one bottle but told myself I'd never buy it again, and I haven't. The face-wash I was in two minds about, I have combination skin, oily in the t-zone, occasionally dry on the cheeks, and have re-purchased once or twice, because I couldn't find anything else that was mild and suitable. However, whenever I used it, it soaked ALL the moisture out of my skin, and left it way too dry and tight, i definitely wasn't a fan. There was something about the smell that I wasn't a huge fan of, either.

So I began to look for a new one, not long before my Clinique ran out, I was looking for some stuff on The Body Shop's website to make my order up to £15, so I could get free delivery (haha, bad idea, definitely!) and found this lovely.
Like I said, I immediately rushed to use it, and was immediately impressed! It leaves my skin amazingly smooth and refreshed, just dry enough to take away the excess oil, but moisturising enough to get the dry patches on my cheeks. I'm finding it's really balancing out my skintone, too. I found that after using Clinique's face-wash, I would have blotchy, reddish patches on my cheeks, that were very dry, like I'd been exfoliating too hard, or something.. but this doesn't do that.
As for the scent, it's pretty damn great too, smells seaweed-y (duh!) and beachy, it must have a hint of menthol in or something, too, because it makes my skin this lovely tingly feeling, and really wakes you up in the morning! It lathers really well, and gives me the right amount of tightness in my pores, without making me feel like I can't move my face.
Generally I can't say enough good things about this product! I wish it was a little bit cheaper, maybe just £5, as opposed to £6.50

Overall, I can't get enough of this product! I adore it and definitely recommend it!