MY UK GARNIER SKINCARE HAUL

Garnier is a very affordable drugstore skin care brand regardless of which country you buy it in and on my recent trip to the UK I bought 3 items that I don't think are available yet in South Africa.
I've written several posts on Garnier products, so if you would like to catch up then click on the pink link below

To read my previous reviews

Always on the hunt for effective drugstore cleansers and toners I picked up their pretty pink duo from Boots - Skin Active Soothing Botanicals Cleansing Milk with Rose Water and the Skin Active Soothing Botanicals Toner with Rose Water for Dry and Sensitive Skins and for the first time Garnier have included 96% Natural Origin Ingredients.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't drawn to these products because of their pretty packaging and obviously the pink just shouted out soothing, calming and nourishing and I'm really looking forward to giving these a try.

This Moisture Bomb Tissue Mask is relatively new in the UK and again I think that this Super-Hydrating Soothing Sheet Mask is only being launched later in the year here in SA.

Seeing that in 2017 I'm focusing on reviewing face masks I did buy the Garnier Moisture Bomb Tissue Mask (blue packaging) on my last trip in November, but I still haven't used it, so I need to use that perhaps, before I try this one. 

As usual you can always be assured that I will post full reviews on my blog to help you decide whether these products are worth a purchase or not...

KIEHL'S CALENDULA & ALOE SOOTHING HYDRATION MASQUE {REVIEW}

The "Tell It All" name of this latest face mask offering from Kiehl's, sounded wonderful and I sensed I would like this mask before I even I tried the product.

2017 is my year for masking and so far I've successfully changed from a once a month mask person to a weekly multi masking addict...

I've already discovered and included a Kiehl's mask into my beauty regime and you can read my rave review on the Turmeric & Cranberry Seed Energising Masque

here

Kiehl's Calendula & Aloe Soothing and Hydration Masque

This Calendula & Aloe Soothing Hydration Masque helps to soothe, hydrate, and reduce signs of skin distress. This masque is incredibly lightweight, refreshing and the cooling gel  soothes immediately upon application.

With continued use of Kiehl’s calendula & aloe vera face masque, skin is revitalised for a healthy-looking complexion, however after only one application I can't vouch for this, but I have no doubts that it will, as it's formulated with hand-picked Calendula flower petals, which are packed with soothing and anti-inflammatory properties and

Aloe Vera is well known for nourishing and hydrating the skin by increasing the water content of the cells.

This masque can be used on all skin types and is gentle enough to use up to 3 x a week and should be applied as a visible layer and left for 5 minutes before rinsing off with warm water.

Calendula & Aloe Soothing Hydration Masque

100mls

R?

Unfortunately this soothing gem isn't available yet in South Africa and I received this sample from a London Kiehl's store on my recent trip.

£43.50

$45

MY UK BEAUTY HAUL {RE-PURCHASES}

As always my list of products that I wanted to buy, during my recent holiday to the UK, was prepared well in advance and for this visit I created two haul lists, one for re-purchases and one for newly launched beauty goodies.

When I travel overseas I don't generally worry about buying items that I can get back in South Africa, but I do focus on the ones that I can't. 
I have decided to write a couple of blog posts showing what was on those lists and what I actually came back with.

First off, is my list of re-purchases, products that I've tried and want to replenish, but are still not available in SA. 

I have written reviews about most of these products and I will include the usual Pink Links  to those reviews.

1.

This product was first bought last November and its made it onto my re-purchase list, the Simple Kind To Eyes Make-Up Removing Pads just make removing eye make-up on the go such a pleasure.

SIMPLE KIND TO EYES EYE MAKE-UP REMOVER PADS REVIEW

2.

This next product is one that I continually buy when I'm overseas, as in my opinion its the best dry shampoo.

The Klorane dry shampoo has been around for several years, but again isn't available in SA.
(I have just discovered that I have never written a review on this product, so expect one in the near future)

3.

Back in November 2016 on my last UK trip I bought the PIXI Glow Tonic after reading and hearing so many good reviews and regrettable I only bought the 100ml size, but on my list this time was the 250ml, as I really enjoy this glycolic exfoliating toner.

PIXI GLOW TONIC REVIEW

4.

This next product wasn't on my shopping list as Yves Rocher isn't easily obtainable in the UK, but we took a 3 day trip to Belgium and walking down the small cobbled street in Brugge I came across an Yves Rocher boutique and as it made me so happy, as my favourite affordable eye make-up remover of all time is from YR as we no longer have the brand in South Africa.

It has gone under a re package, but the product remains the same.

YVES ROCHER EXPRESS EYE MAKE-UP REMOVER REVIEW

5.

My favourite eye masks from Estée Lauder was a "must include" on my re-purchase list.

This is now my third box  of the Advanced Night Repair Concentrated Recovery Eye masks and even though they are pricey,they are so worth it and this product for sure will be on my fave skincare products list for 2017, that I compile at the end of every year.

ESTÉE LAUDER ADVANCED NIGHT REPAIR CONCENTRATED RECOVERY EYE MASK REVIEW

SUNDAY SAMPLE

This weeks Sunday Sample hasn't actually made it into my sample jar, as it was only given to me last week whilst I was looking around the Kiehls shop in Spitalfields London.
I'm really excited to try, as on my masking journey in 2017 I've already discovered a great Kiehl's mask in the Turmeric & Cranberry Seed Energising Radiance Masque, so I'm expecting great things from this newly launched and wonderfully named Calendula & Aloe Soothing Hydration Masque formulated to refresh, revitalise and soothe all skin types.
 As always check back to read my blog post on my findings this coming Sunday.

To read my review on the Turmeric & Cranberry Seed Energising Radiance Mask

VICHY EAU THERMALE SPA WATER {REVIEW}

I do love a good facial water spray and whilst it's seen by many to be "a nice to have" kind of product it has become for moi a "must have" beauty item.

I used the Evian spray many years ago when it was available in SA, but then I slipped out of the spritzing ritual once it became unavailable.

In recent years several similar products have been launched and for the past couple of years I have been enjoying the Eau Thermale Mineral Water Spray from Avène and I spray daily after my make-up application and often during the day to rehydrate or cool my skin on those hot Durban days.

To read my Avène review

VICHY EAU THERMALE SPA WATER

Prior to my recent trip overseas I was looking for a smaller 50ml size spray for travelling,which Avène do make, but I thought I would give the Vichy Eau Thermale a try.

All of these French mineral water type sprays are suitable for sensitive skins, but not exclusively, so don't be put off buying if you haven't got a fragile or sensitive skin. 

This spa water spray is rich in rare minerals that soothe and refresh irritated and dry skin. It's hypoallergenic,dermatologically tested, alcohol free and free from Parabens.

I was quite unprepared for how many times I would be spritzing my skin during my two week trip and on several occasions it came to mine and my "hubby's" rescue just at the right time.

It's a great size to carry around in your bag and I found I was whipping it out to refresh and cool our skin often, whether it was on the stuffy hot London tubes, on trains, sitting on the stands watching my son pass out or driving in the car from the South of England to the North, it was a skin life saver...

Often the refreshing, soothing, spritzing sessions weren't confined to my hubby and I, but to the in-laws and friends, who seemed to automatically close their eyes and put their faces forward every time I pulled this little blue and white can out of my bag.

It was a pleasure to use and easy to control the spray nozzle (which some aren't). The fine spray was perfect and it didn't squirt out blobs of water out onto the skin.

I highly recommend that you include this multi tasking product into your daily skin care routine, as it can literally be enjoyed by all skin types, male or female and even the "kiddiewinks" enjoyed the soothing, cooling mist and best of all the can lasts for a really long time, making it easier to move it from the "nice to have" list onto the "must have" beauty product list...

Available from selected Clicks and Dischem countrywide

150mls

R170

£7

$13.99

L'OREAL AGE PERFECT CLEANSING MILK {REVIEW}

On my quest to find good "Budget" priced cleansers I recently picked this product up from the L'Oreal skincare section and even though I've seen it on the shelves for sometime I've just never gotten around to popping one into my basket until the other day...

The L’ORÉAL PARIS Laboratories have created the AGE PERFECT range for women with mature skin, aged 50 years and over, so luckily I just qualify to use...

The Age Perfect skin care line has been formulated for mature skin and includes cleansers, oils, serums, creams, and lotions, so you can get anti-aging benefits in every step of your skincare routine. Everything from the Age Perfect eye creams to the SPF lotions, moisturize, help reduce the effects of aging and restore healthy skin.

My first criticism is not about the product but its packaging,

despite the L'Oreal make-up range having a very upmarket look and feel the skincare
has to me, a disappointing cheap plastic presentation and therefore it makes me question the quality and efficiency of the contents that lie within...

This white creamy milk cleanser does have a luxurious feel and consistency and a pleasant delicate clean fragrance, but I'm sorry to say... this is where my praise of this product ends.

The AGE PERFECT Cleansing Milk contains Magnesium to cleanse the skin and Vitamin C to help re-energise. Whilst it cleanses perfectly well on a skin with no make-up, it really doesn't cope well with removal of foundation etc. and it actually took me 3 cleanses to remove all traces of make-up and to ensure that my skin was perfectly clean.

I found this cleanser to have an unpleasant oily texture that seemed to glide over the surface of the skin rather than cleanse, but perhaps this is a formulation feature to not drag and pull a weakened mature skin. 

Sadly this cleanser just didn't do it for me and it may just be added to my list for my next "products that I never finished" post.

To read my previous post...

Products I Never Finished and Why

Available from L'Oreal stockists countrywide 

AGE PERFECT Cleansing Milk

200mls

R96.95

MAYBELLINE SUPER STAY 24HR LIP COLOR {REVIEW}

I'm not too adventurous when it comes to lipsticks and I tend to stick to the brands that I know and love, so this SUPER STAY 24 COLOR from Maybelline was somewhat of a random choice for me and its appeal was simple - the 2 step dual ended applicator.

The one end has the colour sponge applicator, (Step 1) whilst the other is a moisturising clear balm (step 2) formulated to moisturise the lips once the matte colour has been applied.

Not having tried too many matte, stay all day type lipsticks, I like many others are often deterred from buying following reports of drying, flaking and peeling of the lip colour and I'm certainly not looking for that, all I want is a stay all day moisturising lipstick, which is a tall order I know.

Maybelline claim that the SUPER STAY 24 COLOR Dual Lipstick stretches the limits of long wear thanks to the power of their microflex technology that lasts up to 24 hours.

Features

No fading 

No smudging 

No transferring 

Up to 24hr wear

Success !

as this product ticks all of my lipstick boxes, as the application of the balm on top of the matte colour, which is more like a lip satin, keeps the lips comfortable and soft whilst adding a gloss finish.

I wouldn't go as far to say that the colour lasts 24hrs, but it is a really long wearing colour and regular applications throughout the day of either the lip balm or any gloss keeps the lips looking pretty presentable.

I opted for a darker shade than normal (730 Timeless Brown), but I am going to buy another lighter nude shade as I feel that R149.95 offers value for money for a stay all day lipstick, the doesn't peel, flake or dry out the lips.

Maybelline

SUPER STAY 24 COLOR

R149.95

£9.99

$7.95

Available from Maybelline stockists countrywide

MY 3 CURRENT FAVOURITE WINTER NAIL POLISHES

My selection of nail polishes is quite extensive and I'm always adding to it, but I am guilty of gravitating towards a few "go to" shades that seem to blend in with most of my outfits.

Winter in Durban, whilst the temperatures do drop, still gets plenty of sunshine, so any nail colour works, but I do tend to go for slightly darker shades.

Here are my 3 wintry shades that I am currently loving...

Brand - LOV Long Lasting Nail Lacquer

Shade - Opulent Orchid (310)
Mauve Majesty (300)

     Price - R114.95

LOV cosmetics is still a relatively new kid on the South African cosmetic scene and I've fallen in love with their LOVinity range of nail colours. Whilst not having a huge colour selection I am really enjoying these two shades.

I did write a full review about the longevity and other positives of these polishes, so check it out here

~~~~~~

Brand - JT One Pretty Paint

Shade - Happygirl

     Price - R29.95

The JT One Pretty Paint are without doubt a pretty decent and affordable range of bright summery shades of nail colours.
Even though this lilac/purple polish smacks more of summer than winter I have been wearing it rather a lot and works well with my grey toned winter clothing vibe.



LOV is available from www.dischem.co.za

JT One Pretty Paint is available from www.woolworths.co.za

3 PRODUCTS I DIDN'T FINISH AND WHY {1}

As a Beauty Blogger I must say that I do pride myself on being somewhat of a good judge when it comes to buying products to review on my blog. Even though I receive products from some companies to try for review I do buy many of my own and I certainly don't want to waste my time and money by reviewing a product that doesn't fit in with either mine or you the readers best interests. 
I also try not to be taken in by other bloggers with either their own choices or products 
that they've also been given to review. 

Having said this I recently broke my own rule and was stupidly swayed into buying 2 products after reading so many "glowing" reviews on South African social Media.

Here are 3 products (actually there's 4 but I've grouped the shampoo & Conditioner together) that despite hating waste I really couldn't finish, so hence this type of post, which I have never written before and hopefully won't feel the need to write and post in the future.

1.

The Comforter Shower Cream by Lush was bought on the strength of my love of the hugely popular Christmas Holiday Limited Edition product-Snow Fairy. Big mistake as I hate the fragrance and cannot bring myself to finish it. Now this is all a personal preference and in no ways diminishes the actually effectiveness of the product, but unfortunately I cannot get passed the fruit  fragrance, so it didn't get finished.

To read my review

2.

Dove Advanced Oxygen Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner were the 2 products that I bought after reading those "glowing" reviews. To find out more please click on the pink link below to read my original review. If ever there were products that had been totally over-hyped then these would be top of my list. 

After reading reviews and tweets I felt I was missing out on the best hair products of the year. I understand that many may disagree with me, but I personally believe that honesty was truly lacking in many of those reviews and having bought these 2 products myself I'm not obliged in any way to give that all impressing review.

To read my review

3.

Eucerin is both a popular and well respected skincare brand, but my first experience sadly didn't impress. I tried the Eucerin Dermato Clean Eye Make-Up Remover, which wasn't bad, but I really didn't see the point in continuing to use, what I thought was an ineffective eye make up remover, when there are so many other great ones out there.

To read my review

ITS HOLIDAY TIME

I'm off on my hols today for 2 weeks to see my London "Kiddiewink" and I will be visiting Belgium for a few days. Whilst I do agree with most of the below I'm not sure about the love of airports though!

I will still be posting on my blog, but if you want to see some of my holiday happenings then be sure to follow me on my social media platforms by clicking on the pink links below: 

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

CURRENTLY UNDER REVIEW {JULY 2107}

I'm only reviewing 3 products this month as I am away overseas for half of it, but hopefully I will post my findings on my blog before the end of July as they're all pretty straightforward quick use products to review...

1.

The Maybelline Super Stay 24 Hour Lip Colour is a bit of a wild card for me, as I am not generally too adventurous with straying away from my usual safe brands of "lippies", so I hope I haven't wasted my money on this dual lip colour.


*NOW POSTED*

Read Review



2.

The L'Oreal AGE PERFECT Cleansing Milk has been on my radar for a little while and as you know I'm constantly on the look out for good affordable cleansers that help to free-up cash in order to be used for the more important skin care purchases like serums, eye and face treatments.
Not that I'm saying cleansing isn't important as it is, but so is the budget and as always I'll put it to the test as to whether its worth buying or not.

*NOW POSTED*

Read Review

3.

If you have followed my blog for sometime you will already know how much I love a mineral water spray and use one daily. My go to favourite is the Eau Thermale Spring Water Spray from the French brand Avène, so even I'm very interested to see how this compares with the Vichy Eau Thermal Spa Water, which is also a French brand, so let the  battle of the sprays begin.

*NOW POSTED*

Read Review

MONTHLY FAVOURITES {MAY/JUNE 2017}

For the past 2 months I have discovered and tried some really great products and a couple of these items featured below may well make it onto my 

Top 5 Skincare Products of 2017 list that I compile every year.

(Unfortunately though two of the below are not currently available in South Africa)

To read my previous Top 5 Skincare Lists

1.

This product was not on my beauty radar even though I love the French brand NUXE.

I was given a sample of their rêve de miel Face & Body Ultra-Rich Cleansing Gel and I was so glad that I tried this amber coloured, honey fragranced gel, as it gets a huge thumbs up from Moi...

To read my review

NUXE rêve de miel Face & Body Ultra-Rich Cleansing Gel

2.

I'm now onto my 2nd box of these Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Concentrated Recovery Eye Masks and I adore them.

Unfortunately they will not be available in South Africa and that's a pity, as my future supplies will have to be via my UK based "Kiddiewink".

If you can get your hands on a box, even though they're pricey, they are well worth it for the instant "pick me up" radiant effect for eyes.

To read my review

Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Concentrated Recovery Eye Mask

3.

Another skincare favourite from the past 2 months has been the PIXI Glow Tonic Exfoliating Tonic that contains 5% Glycolic Acid.

Again this is a product that isn't available for sale in South Africa, but again well worth the effort if you can get you hands on one.

To read my review

PIXI Glow Tonic

4.

I didn't mention this next product in my March/April favourites,but I think it needs to be added to this favourites list for May/June.

I don't often dedicate a full blog post to a nail polish, but this one from the recently launched (in South Africa) LOV brand got just that, a blog post.

I have since bought another shade and my collection is growing, but read my review to find out why I loved this polish so much...

To read my review

LOVinity Long Lasting Nail Lacquer