Creamy creams

In winter we all find ourselves rushing to cream our skin and exfoliate extra hard and moisturise with lots of super thick creams. However I realised last year what a crock it all is. If you buy the really good creams early in the year, and a good pair of exfoliating gloves/ loofah or even use some rough sea salt, once a week; you will not need an extra boost come June/July. Your skin will be healthy and radiant all year round! I know it seems cliché but don’t cram for the exam, do it in small pieces and it will work better.

At Pavillion is a new store called Premier skin care, from Israel and the sales assistant tried really hard to sell me a R300 tub of salt from the Dead Sea... needless to say I did not purchase it. I would rather get a bottle of essential oils, and a bag of rough salt and make my own!!! Salt is salt! 

The body butter that they have is nice but nothing uber-fab. It is the same consistency of the aqueous creams. I prefer my OHS ribbons cream and using Bio-oil once a week all over!

So I shall make my own thanks very much! It is a good idea for exfoliation to be a year round process as your skin will be better off instead of all of a sudden extra attention at the driest coldest time of the year!

With regards to face cream, my regular cream has been leaving my feeling a tad dry so I have been adding some Palmer’s cocoa butter to it to boost the moisture factor and it has been helping quite a bit. I wish Palmer’s would come out with a good daycream with a strong SPF!

My nails have also taken a beating in this weather so I have been using the Yardley ridge filler as my basecoat and it has made a world of difference to my nailpolish lifespan!

One more tip for this time of year is lips!

 To keep them plump and not flaky, I use my exfoliating gloves on them in the evening, before applying copious amounts of clear balm. Nothing too heavy or glossy. Just the lip balm from Woolies or a simple L’oreal lip conditioner will be great. I can really feel when I have forgotten to do it and it drives me nuts!

Well, be good and moisturise!!

The shine continues

Beauty Bulletin Community 

One website I can definitely recommend is www.beautybulletin.com. I found it when looking for a product review and stumbled across the site and when it said that they sent stuff to you to review I was amazed that is was a South African site! I signed up and received some amazing stuff from them so far. Rimmel products, Paul Mitchell hair products, Yardley mascara and most recently the new Johnsons Johnsons face care range. I am very happy to be a part of their VIP member community. 

The other fantastic thing about the site is that all the other members  are all so friendly and cool. They are so forthcoming with advice and specials happening.  I love sharing sale purchases with them as it actually makes me feel good when other people also get a great deal! For instance the Body Shop sales are great to share as well as the Clicks sales and specials. 

It has been a great way for me to try new products and they pay attention to the reviews you give so they know what you have tried already. A group of very dedicated women who are so fantastic at what they do!

Nails for winter:

 The recent surge in nail art has left me feeling rather underwhelmed. 

It seems the stick on falsie craze is back to compensate for going to the salon for a full mani with nail art/ simple French manicure. My solution has been to try going neutral for winter so that my nails stand out in their neutrality! But come November they shall be glittered out and long. I struggled this winter to stop my nails from splitting, so I cut them all down, gave them a nice oil massage and ensured that the base coat was applied first. It has made a difference to the staying power of my polish.

In terms of products I love , the Body Shop new Raspberry shower and bath gel is quite yummy as it the raspberry body butter. I still wish I could get another tub of the scrub but the body butter will have to do!

July brings dry

I am in experimentation of finding ways of not having my skin turn to dust by the time September rolls around. As a result I have conflicting scents of lotions and body oils on me..... First off Lux body cream does  a pretty decent job. The scent fades quite quick but my skin does not feel dry. It does not feel super moist and supple either.... 

Second up Bio Oil- I use this in the evening mostly instead of cream. It just feels nourishing and my skin kind of laps it up! I like it but not the oily factor. I had found a good  product. 

The Oh So Heavenly ribbons cream from Clicks. The scent is good, lasts a lot longer than most and my skin feels smooth and soft until 3 pm ish. I like it quite a bit!

Another good product is Palmers cocoa butter which is so damn good at keeping my skin look touchable! I love it. I have not tried the olive oil one as a I am a cocoa butter addict!

Hope you have a good routine to keep you dermis happy! Also the scrubbing gloves from Body Shop are really great for exfoliation and ensure that your skin absorbs as much moisture as possible! 

Wakeup Makeup

Since the beginning of the year I have toned down the makeup I have been wearing. I am not sure why but have now in wintertime realised that I do need something extra to make me feel good during the day. I usually carry a small case with essentials in my hand bag and I thought I would share the contents of my little bag.

The bag itself was one of the free gifts in a glamour magazine a few years ago and it has really done well and not fallen apart or grown holes everywhere.

SO I usually have 2 glosses in the bag- one natural and one kind of pink/ coppery; in case I have a meeting or something. I also have a mascara tube( it is the cheaper brand that I won’t mind leaving my bag in the car in the sun. 

 Then I have a nail file… no need to explain that one; as well a cute Nivea compact which was a gift with purchase 2 years ago. 

Black eyeliner is kind of my essential makeup piece and so I have one stick in there which is very soft and quick to apply and also easy to remove in case I go overboard and end up looking raccoon-ish.

At the end of the day I think I am having an makeup crisis as I do like using it but I feel that because my office work is very casual it is a waste of product. I need a daily set of stuff which will be my stuff I don’t mind wasting stuff. 

In any case I just realised I have a drawer of such products but I don’t want to use them! I think I have a nesting issue with makeup…. Well I hope I can figure it out now that I have recognised it!!

Xoxo

Makeup and the shiny parts of life

2012 has been a year of reflection and bargain hunting. My favourite spot for makeup Face Value has moved away from Umgeni road L they are now in Pinetown so I will have to make a trip there. Luckily last time I was there I stocked up on Maybelline lipgloss and eyeshadows. I now realise , after creating my makeup database on Excel that I have quite a lot of makeup and because I store it really well and not in any level of sunlight that my makeup will be fine for a while.

In the rest of makeup news I am loving the lip balm range from Woolies, especially the lime one. I only like citrus fruit flavoured stuff so lime was my only option but it was a good one.  The Chocolate lip butter from Body Shop is also cool but gives a slightly white sheen to the lips; so best if covered with gloss to cover that up. 

I have been using the Oh So Heavenly Ribbons cream since May , when the air starting getting a little drier and it was somehow on special for R10! I feel so silly now for not buying an extra bottle. It is a lovely smelling cream and very luxurious on the skin. 

In showering news, I received a tester box from Hometester Club of 10 travel sized Dove shower gel and 10 shower gel for men; plus coupons for purchases of the full sized bottles. I will keep my eye out for when they are on special and then use the coupon ( Thanks to Extreme Couponing on TLC). It is a lovely shower gel, the mens and womens, and I felt my skin was quite soft straight out of the shower. So I think it is pretty cool that Dove went into the market with Shampoo, Conditioner, Body cream and Showergel within a year. The products are great and I will be giving the body cream a go next week.

I have been working infrequent hours which has led to me being at home and working odd hours, so therefore my daily makeup regime has slowed down. When I go out now I tend not to overdo my makeup and keep it all quite simple for lunches on a Saturday , such as simple highlighter and eyeliner for my face and lipgloss. I have been finding the most amazing lipglosses such as The Body Shop new range which has an awesome scent and not overpowering colour. I was really impressed with it.

That is it for now. I hope to blog more often about other products I have been using and my sincere apologies for being absent… I now have a reminder on my phone for a once a week blogging session!! xx

Brand Spotlight: Essence

I have decided to once a month/ twice a month if inspired, spotlight on brands which are in my beauty boxes:) To start off I will spotlight Essence. I was introduced to it by the ladies of the www.beautybulletin.com  community. A lot of them had spoke about this brand and tempted me into trying its many sparkly and affordable products.

I first tried the 2in1 kajal eyeliner , in grey and baby pink. The quality of these products is what stands out for me. I love the selection of colours and fantastic pricing! I also have the kajal in plain black and purple.

Then the nail polishes... dream polishes! The colours are fun and funky without being juvenile.  I adore the top matte coat which creates this filed down finish to nails as well as their very cool multi-dimension polishes which are completely addictive but unfortunately being discontinued. I do look forward to seeing their new range of polishes though!

Here are a few I bought: Found my love, Sundancer, Fall for me, and top matte coat.. See also the gorgeous lipliner in a natural pink colour that matches my lipcolour.

I also bought one of their very cool brushes and mascaras.. The mascara is called ' All eyes on me' and I got it in brown.. It is truly a very good quality mascara, compared to the other brands such as Rimmel and Maybelline; this one is in a cool packacging, lengthened my lashes and added beautiful natural volume to them!

I think that Essence is an amazing brand with a very wide fan base. They cater for the tweens, teens, university and working woman. They are on trend and not too 'crazy' but they allow many options in their ranges for those that want to experiment. I love that they are cruelty free and that Clicks is the stockist here in South Africa so that I can use my Clicks money back vouchers to buy more stuff!!

Essence has truly enhanced my makeup boxes!

Rubybox VS Glambox

So everyone has written one of these and here is my addition...Note that Rubybox ran a competition for the ladies who signed up early and they got a free box.. I won and chose to get two of the September boxes :))

Glambox September: It was delivered in the middle of September and promised a great many things.. They also make a habit of not revealing their products before boxes are sent out- Which I can appreciate but if you are discerning enough to check the website you can figure it out.. So there is not much point in hiding it. Some people like surprises, others dont.. There shall be no way to satisfy everyone and so... Their September box had the Revlon topspeed - full size- in a variety of colours-- teal, red, yellow etc.. Some ladies were not happy with the choice sent to them, but hey it costs R90 !I liked the colour they sent me- Ocean They also sent Smashbox Hyperlash- trial size,  Elizabeth Arden Protectant cream - travel size, Skin Elixer cream for decolletage and twinnings tea (?)
I like the EA product and the Smashbox mascara.. The boobie cream was ok, kinda weird smelling but it seemed to firm up my neck a little.
So it gets 3/5 for approval from moi

Rubybox September : Elizabeth Arden 3in1 exfoliator/cleanser/primer, Bvalgari 3x 1.5ml perfume testers, Philip Kingsley Elasticiser ( 1 treatment size) and Decleor Nerole Aromessence ( 3x 1ml) . I loved all the products and still have some as I got double boxes in Sept! The Decleor oils were stunning on my skin and the exfoliator is still being used! I like the perfumes, mainly because they were not thrown in cardboard samples, but in a beautiful box which I really appreciated! PK Elasticiser is a fave since Beauty Bulletin sent it to me! So Rubybox gets 4/4 from moi.

Glambox October: A very nice box, consisting of Catrice Eyepencil ,Skin Science Enzyme exfoliator, Rimmel Day2nite mascara , Soylite candles (?), hugo boss orange sample, and Elizabeth Arden Cermaide capsules. I liked the candle but could not understand why we were getting it! I loved loved loved the mascara! huge money worth as it was the full size and worked amazingly! I have not used the exfoliator yet. The eyepencil was nice as well as it had a smudger too. The perfume sample was nice but in the cardboard sample envelope that was ok . I did love and am still loving those capsules! Serious luxury treatment!... I give this box 5/6 because I have not tested the Skin Science exfoliator but I am sure it is great. I really liked this box.. as it had another fullsize product!

Rubybox October:Black|up mattifying base (3x sample sachets), Decleor hydra floral moisturizing mask, L'oreal Mythic oil ( full size!) Lancome VIssionairre ( 7 sample sachets which last about a week each). I loved every product in this box!! The oil for my hair was spectacular, the mask was great. the mattifying base was really great and the Lancome was like wow!! 4/4 for Rubybox!! and an extra star for getting the Lancome product to us before anyone else

Glambox November:Innoxa firming cream for bust/neck, Dermologica micor foliant , Decleor hydra floral moisturisizing mask, sample sachet skincode daily defence and recovery cream and 1 eyeslice ( apparently how they are meant to be bought?). I like the box but am not cuckoo-crazy. The dermologica I have not used yet as I want to use it tonight after intense hot yoga! Have heard wonderful things so good on them for sending us a proper sized bottle! The decleor I have used already via rubybox.. so yay for another tube , but boo for not being able to snag something else! the skincode stuff, I have not heard of them before. And the eyeslice I will use probably on the week.. watching tv like a pirate!! The Innoxa cream is nice, I have not seen a massive improvement but yes it seems to smoothen and 'unage' the skin of my decolletage!  so 3/5 seems to be my rating..

Rubybox November: Ahava mud mask( sample sized sachet- which I shall make last at least 2 treatments!) Carita  Progressif Anti-Wrinkle Intense Smooth Out Cream for Eye ( small tube, which I over squirted :( but it does smooth out my under eye skin), Elizabeth Arden Intervene Radiance Boosting Moisture Cream SPF15 which I have yet to use but if the exfoliator is an indication then I am sure I will love it , and L'occitane shea butter hand cream ( travel size) , Guerlain perfume samples and the October issue of Glamour.I like the hand cream quite a lot and the rest of the products, though small are intense enough to last a couple of times enough to determine if you like it and want to buy the full size. 4/5 because I have not tried the mud mask as yet, an extra smile for the mag!!

Conclusion: I adore both boxes so much. Glambox is super efficient and quite conscious of packaging the boxes so that they are reusable. Rubybox is environmentally conscious and changed their boxes to recycled cardboard and their inside packaging as well!! Very glad that box of them take feedback so well:) Rubybox had issues with delivery this month which I hope will not be repeated in December!

If you are trying to decide which box is better, I would say check out their websites :
www.rubybox.co.za and www.glambox.co.za for details about the different brands. Rubybox has been expanding the number of brands here, but Glambox has given 3 full size products in a row.. I like the variety of products per box in the rubybox and I like the glambox's attention to detail in choice of products. Have a look at each of their facebook pages as well.

Be noted that glossybox is coming here as well .... I shall post when I know more! As far as I can see so far they started up this month and have started recruiting web developers and other marketing peeps!

Both of them add cards to explain each product's purpose.. Which I have been keeping in a Rubybox!!  I have been using the Glambox in my makeup drawer to hold my nail clippers, hand cream, lip balm etc. Very useful! I like that the boxes of both are totally perfect for nailpolish,  jewellery, sample sachets, perfume bottles, stationary, scrapbook stuff, recipes, spice packets, highlighters, makeup brushes and sweets :)I refuse to pick sides as I love them both!!! Well done to both teams for producing great boxes and spoiling all of us SA ladies!