A thing I want and CAN afford!

So a couple of weeks ago I was whinging about wanting a Clarisonic but not being able/willing to pay or it. According to your comments it seems like it really can so wonders to the skin, and that meant me long for one even more! Thank you to S who suggested a cheaper alternative, the Skinsonic and reminded me of something I'd seen before - The Sigma Cleansing and Polishing Tool

 

Ahh the beauty of cheap knock-offs! 

The Sigma version is not exactly the same as the original Clarisonic, it doesn't have a charger (instead it just uses AA batteries), it doesn't do the clever beeping to tell you when to move onto another area of your face, and I'm sure there are other differences. However it is basically the same thing, a spinning brush for deep down cleansing and exfoliation. It has 2 speed settings and comes with 3 different brush heads, soft, medium and hard, and a little case to keep it all in.

And the best thing, it's just $49!

For me I think it's just about right. The price is great so even if it doesn't make a huge difference to my skin it won't be too big a waste of money, I don't care about the lack of charger or other features and, feebly, most importantly: I love the way it looks! Lookit the pretty pink brush head and the lovely retro style box it comes in! 

Sigma's international shipping prices seem a bit overpriced ($19 for just this :/ ) so I'll probably be annoying my American buddies for a CP :P

Things I want but cant afford - Clarisonic

Ahhh the Clarisonic. Quite possibly the ultimate thing I want but can't afford. Because, let's face it, it is ludicrously expensive. You're paying around £150 for a giant electric toothbrush! And, even if it was the most amazing cleansing tool in the entire world and could make my skin entirely flawless, I do not have hundreds of pounds to spend on face brushes.

And yet... I WANT IT!

I'm pathetically sucked in by it's claims of cleansing '6x more deeply', making your skin smoother, softer and able to absorb products better, reducing pores and fine lines, etc etc. Well actually half of my brain is, the naive, gullible half. The other half says 'it's a brush, not a miracle worker!'.

The thing is, I am terrible with my cleansing regime. In so much as, I don't have one. I use cleanser  to take my makeup off and also when I have a bath (which is NOT every day. Bathing every day = craziness in my mind :P) and exfoliate 1-2 times a week. I moisturise as often as possible, but only when I remember to do it.

Somehow my little mind is convinced that if I spend a stupid amount of money on this then I will feel obligated to use it twice a day as I am supposed to and that skincare ritual plus the glorious benefits of the Clarisonic will leave me with skin that glows like a Twilight vampire and is so soft kittens would be jealous!

I love the way it looks, so sleek and and pretty (I would get the pink version as I am a pathetic stereotype of a girl) and yet somehow also a little like a futuristic instrument of torture. I like the idea of tickling my face with its polishing little bristles. I also like to think I would experience a sense of smarmy smugness from owning such a luxury product.

But... yeah, £150? Not gonna happen.

(ps. Sorry for the lack of posts and comments recently, I've been busy with some illustrations and a bit poorly. Nothing serious, I just feel tired all the damn time :( )

Super speedy review - Estee Lauder Gentle Eye Makeup Remover

 

Claire's Mum buys lots of fancy makeup things which give her lots of gifts-with-purchases (whoa, grammar where have you gone?) which she passes on to Claire who in turn gives them to me, for Claire cares not for lotions and potions and basic skincare :P Anyway this is something that came into my possession in such a way.

If you wanted to buy it, it would cost you £17.50 for 100ml. It's a clear, watery liquid but emulsifies a bit on the pad to make some whitish bubbles. Smells a bit alcoholy but not terrible.

This is going to be a super speedy review because there really isn't much I can say about this. I used it once and won't ever again.

I used it in what I assume is the normal way, dumping a bit onto a cotton pad, holding it over the eye and then sweeping the makeup away. As i put it on my eye it stung a bit, but my eyes are sensitive and most makeup removers sting a little bit, so I didn't think to much of it.  But then the stinging got worse. After about 30 seconds my eye was burning, seriously burning, and getting worse and worse. I had to run into the kitchen and rinse my eyes for ages before the burning subsided, but even then my eyes still stung for a long time. I didn't get any of the product IN my eye, this was just from the soaked pad being laid on/swept across my closed eyelid.

Other than that it worked fine, my makeup was removed like it was meant to be. But who cares if it worked at all when it hurt so much Gentle my arse!

I don't know why it burned, maybe I'm allergic to something in it (I do have very sensitive skin and I think i'm allergic to some facial skin care ingredients, but I have no idea what :/) but if you have sensitive eyes I wouldn't risk it.  Won't use it again, but maybe I'll give it to someone in my family and see how it works for them... Yeah, blind your family Lillian, that's a good idea! :P

Dermalogica Clean Start Starter Kit review

(I was sent this to review but all thoughts are my own)

A long time ago now I was sent Clean Start by Dermalogica's starter kit to review (also sent their lip balm/gloss which I previously reviewed here ) and am finally getting round to it. My excuse is that I needed a long time to test it out to see how it worked with my skin. And well that's partly truthful, but also I am just rubbish at posting recently :P

Anyway while I am definately still able to review the products I have realised that I was not their demographic at all. It's aimed for teenagers and young adults, which i guess i still am but in the loosest possible sense of the word, but a lot of the products seem designed to counteract oily, acne prone skin. My skin is very dry, never greasy and I get spots now and then but it's so rarely that I really have no need for special skincare.  My point is that while I will review the products the best I can I can't say how well some of these actually work on the problems they are designed for as i do not have these problems.

I was sent the Clean Start Starter Kit, which contains 5 products and the basis of a proper skincare regime. The products are mini sized, each one is 15ml, however I found that they all lasted a long time. Oddly the exfoliator was the first to go because, even though i used it the fewest times a week, I found I had to use a lot to cover my face. That lasted about for about 10 uses, the cleanser I used for about 2 months and it's still going strong as you need so little.

The kit arrived packaged in a half clear half foil resealable pouch and also included 2 leaflets about the brand. I also recieved a lot of little sample sachets, I'm not sure if this is because it was sent to me for review or if everyone gets them. I really like the products packaging, with it's bold colours on a stark white background it's sort of pop-art-ish.

The Starter Kit costs £22.50 which I think is a fair price for the amount you get. It lasted me for at least 2 months, which seems good for a starter kit, you can easily see if the products are right for you. Though of course if you don't like the products then £22.50 is very pricey.

Wash Off cleanser

I really liked this cleanser. It's quite a thick gel and you only need a tiny bit, it lathers up beautifully. The gel smells slightly medicinal but not horrible. It's herbal, I can definately get lemongrass but not sure what the rest of the smell is. It's quite nice but not my favourite scent. Anyway it doesn't linger at all after I wash it off. I found it removed makeup well, though not all of my mascara. It left my skin feeling clean and refreshed and ever so slightly tingly, but it did not make my skin feel dry or tight and did not at all sting my very sensitive eyes. Very nice face wash, but it doesn't quite beat my holy grail Body Shop Passionfruit cleanser.
The full size is £14.30 for 180ml

All Over Clear toner

I really can't give a long review for this because I can't for any toner. I sometimes use toner (when I'm being good with my skincare routine anyway) and find it refreshing and, perhaps psychologically, feel it makes my skin feel more clean than if i used cleanser alone. However I have never found a toner that really makes any difference to my skin. I like the feel of it but it doesn't do anything to me. And this toner is no different. The smell is not exactly the same as the cleanser but very similar, herbal and slightly clinical and 'clean' smelling. The smell really does make it feel more refreshing. It comes in a spray bottle, which is nice for spritzing all over your face, however I prefer to wipe my toner over my face to remove the last bits of my makeup. The formula itself is no better or worse than any other toner I've tried, but I prefer my (sadly discontinued) Boots Original Formula Rose toner purely because I like the rose smell better and it has gorgeous vintage style packagaing. If you prefer a more medicinal scent and like a spray bottle then this is a damn fine toner.
The full size is £12.30 for 120ml

Ready Set Scrub exfoliator

This is an interesting product as you can use it as both a masque and a regular exfoliator. Or at least in theory it's both. I have very sensitive skin in that lots of products cause my face to have what I can only assume is a very mild allergic reaction. It starts to tingle and then it gets worse and worse until it is stinging and horribly painful. This exfoliator set off this reaction but only mildly. Basically if i use it as just an exfoliator, i.e. I put it on, massage it a bit and then wash it off, it's fine, it does tingle a bit, but no pain. But if I leave it on to use as a masque it started to sting and become painful. So I can't tell you how effective it is as a masque. As an exfoliator however it is fine. Again it has the same lemongrassy smell. It has the consistency of a clay masque but with tiny tiny grains. Because of this slightly dry, clayish consistency I had to apply quite a lot in order to cover my face. I found it quite gentle as an actual exfoliator, probably because it is meant to be kept on your face for extended periods as a masque. It left my skin feeling very cool and tingly and I don't know if that's due to my sensitive skin or if it does that for everyone. However it made my skin feel cleaner and got rid of dry, flaky patches of skin i had without making my face feel dry or tight. If you have very sensitive skin I'd avoid this just in case you have the same reaction as I did, if not then I think this is a good product anyway and would be even better if you could use it as a masque too.
One thing I did find odd was the the tube suggests you use this 3-5 times a week, which seems very excessive for an exfoliator to me. I generally use a scrub 2-3 times a week, and as this one irritated my skin I definately would not have used it more. People without my sensitivity might not have the problem but I still think there is no need to use a scrub 5 times a week.
Full size is £14.30 for 75ml

Bedtime for Breakouts nighttime treatment

I used this every night for about a week and then gave up on it. I didn't notice any difference at all. But then I wouldn't as I don't tend to get breakouts anyway. So I really can't review this at all, it didn't do anything for me but it's not designed for me. It's a quite runny gel with the same sort of herbal, medicinal smell as the other products, but it's not noticable once it's on the face. I found I had to use quite a bit of this to cover my whole face as it seemed to 'set' on my skin quite quickly.
Full size is £14.30 for 60ml


Welcome Matte Spf 15 moisturiser

This is the one product I haven't used very much. I tried it a couple of times but didn't like it. It made my face feel a little tight, not terrible but not pleasant. Other than that I didn't get anything out of this, it didn't feel moisturising or hydrating to me. However as I have dry skin I am used to rich moisturisers and I have no need to mattify my skin. I actually was excited about this when I first heard about it, but I was being stupid. I love a matte look to my foundation (I don't understand why anyone would want to look dewy) and somehow managed to confuse myself that this would sort of give me the same look. But of course it doesn't as this is just a moisturiser, but one that meant to help combat oily skin.
The full size moisturiser costs £15.35 for 60ml

So as you can see I had a mixed bag with these products. I liked the cleanser and toner a lot, although they are not my favourites, but the moisturiser and nightime treatment did absolutely nothing for me. However I cannot say at all that this is because they are bad products simply because they are designed for a completely different skin type from me. Overall I would say that if you have oily or spotprone skin these are definatley worth a try but if not, while most of the products are still good, you would not get the best out of them and could do better. I also would not say the products are overpriced but they are expensive, especially when they're aimed at teenagers who obviously do not have as much disposable income.

I've just seen this post at British Beauty Blogger which brings up some slightly questionable tactics of the company. I don't know enough about it to comment, if true it's slightly dodgy. But I must say the people who contacted me were very nice and personable so I'm not going to complain about something I don't know anything about.

Clean Start Smart Mouth Lip Shine

(I was sent this to review but all thoughts are my own)

 

The lovely people at Dermalogica were kind enough to send me a sample kit of their Clean Start range. The rest is skincare and I haven't been using it for long enough to review yet.

I get very dry lips, I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's the constant lipstick wearing or the fact that i suffer from dry skin on the rest of my face but anyway the reason isn't important (so why am i discussing it?... dunno!). However I am not one of those people who applies lipbalm religiously. I tend to just apply it before bed everyday, or, if my lips are very chapped and sore, every now and then. My most used balm is Vaseline. Now i know some people swear by it and some despise it. I quite like it personally but the main reason i use it is that i can get a big pot for cheap and just keep it on my bedside table, it will last me months if not years and i don't need to worry about buying more balm. Of course I have tried other balms though, various brands through the years and, while some have worked better than others I've never found one I liked enough tokeep coming back to, apart from the Vaseline.

And then I tried this one.

I can honestly say that this is the best lip balm I've ever tried! I like so so much about it, but the main thing is that i honestly believe this helped cure my chapped lips practically overnight.

A while back, when I recieved this, I had awfully saw lips. Red and painful and chapped to the point that they were very near bleeding. I got this, put it on and my mouth instantlly felt soothed. I was pleased but didn't much more. But i kept putting it on and the next day i woke up and, while my lips were still a bit sore, they felt so, so much better and all the flaking skin was gone and healed. I was amazed. And then by the next day my lips weren't even sore again! Of course this could have been a coincidence, maybe my lips were just healing up anyway, but I reckon it's more likely it was the balm. 

I haven't had such sore lips since, but using this makes my lips feel softer, smoother and hydrated. 

Another great thing about it is the scent. It smells amazing! It'sweet, sort of candy-ish. to me it smells like a mixture of orange and vanilla (what i believe some people call 'creamsicle') It's not overpowering but not weak either, it's just about right. It doesn't have flvour though, just  a sweetness about it. 

However one slight problem I have with it is that although the scent isn't really strong it's still strong enough that I can't wear it at night, but that's just a little niggle.

The packaging isn't very exciting or cute or unusual but i like it anyway. The actual design is nice, quite straight forward and clean, with instructions and information on the back. The colour scheme of two oranges, black and white is nice and vibrant and sort of Pop-art-ish. And the uhh 'delivery system' for the balm is a small, plastic applicator thing with 4 small holes. You have to squeeze quite hard to get the product out, but to me this seems like a good thing as it means it would be unlikely to leak anywhere.

The actual balm is a liquid, basically the same consistency as a lip gloss. And that leads me onto the fact that this balm is designed to be a lip gloss as well. Now I don't really wear clear lipgloss (apart from on top of lipstick, and i haven't tried using this like that yet, but i will try to remember!) but I have seen it on my lips obviously. While it doesn't give you a super-plastic-like shine like some glosses it does give your lips a nice glossy shine and a juicy, wet look. 

So this has basically been enirely positive so far! But here comes quite a big negative: The price. This currently retails at £8.20 for 10ml. Now I've been using this for a while and there seems to still be lots left (as the packaging is opaque i can't actually tell) but I don't know how long it will last. And, well £8 is a LOT for a lip balm in my opinion. And so i don't know if i would actually purchase this myself. I love it, like i said it's the best lip balm i've owned, but i don't know if i could bring myself to spend that much on one lip balm when i could get 225g of Vaseline for £2.25 or a tub of Carmex for £2.50 (i haven't actually tried Carmex myself but i've heard from a tonne of sources that it is the holy grail of lip balms).

The Smart Mouth Lip Shine has the added advantage of acting as a lip gloss as well. If you wear a lot of clear gloss then i would highly recommend it as it will act as your gloss but heal your lips too. However as i said before I don't wear gloss that much.

So in summary: this is a fantatic product and if you can afford it I would highly recommend it, but it does seem too pricey to me.

Soap and Glory Reviews

Soap and Glory is a brand i really like. They have lovely vintage style packaging, are reasonably priced, often smell gorgeous, never test on animals and the names are punderful! Also the brand is very often on sale or offer at boots (currently 1/3 off)
 One thing i do object to with the brand is that i wish they had more variety of products. They have about a million different body scrubs and moisturisers in their line but only one hair product, no facial moisturisers and with their cosmetics they only have lip glosses and one powder. I'm hopeful they'll start introducing a bigger selection.

Go beneath the cut for some product reviews :)