Liz Earle Summer Essentials - Footcare

As you will know from my previous posts I am a big fan of natural skincare. At the moment I am really enjoying using Liz Earle products especially the hot polish cleanser, as well as the Liz Earle Superbalm (review coming soon) and the Eye Bright.

After hibernating in UGG boots and socks during the winter months, we tend to forget about our feet and keep them covered up. As summer is fast approaching and we shall be baring our feet once again, we need them looking in tip-top condition. You may be surprised to hear that i’m guilty of neglecting my feet and I’ve only just recently had my first pedicure!
 

Liz Earle’s divine foot trio promises to quickly transforms dry and neglected soles into fabulous flip-flop ready feet. From my experience of ordering from Liz Earle their customer service is brilliant and everything is wrapped up so beautifully in tissue paper. I was sent their new Foot trio which came with a Summer Tote Beach Bag, would just like to say although I was sent these products to review they are my own honest opinions. 

Step One: Smooth

One of Vogue magazine’s footcare favourites, this foot scrub gently yet intensively exfoliates hard, rough skin on your feet to leave them ultra-smooth and buffed to perfection. With avocado oil to help soften skin and wheatgerm oil rich in vitamin E plus natural pumice, use it every day to keep dead skin cells at bay.

Step Two: Soften

Get Ready to bare softer, smoother soles with our deliciously scented Foot Repair moisturiser. Made with a luxurious blend of West African shea butter, avocado and wheatgerm oils, it sinks in fast to quickly quench the driest of skins. Bursting with peppermint, rosemary and seven other essential oils, this heavenly cream will leave you feeling like you’re walking on air.

Step Three: Refresh
The new special edition Foot Spritzer is filled with nine invigorating essential oils including rosemary, spearmint and peppermint to refresh and revitalize hot, weary legs and feet. This fast drying spray instantly cools while fighting odour-causing bacteria to help keep feet smelling sweet. Exclusive for summer, use it any time you need a refreshing boost.

My Thoughts:

Last night I gave myself a quick pedicure using these 3 Liz Earle foot products. First of all the scrub, it had a nice fresh minty scent, not too harsh but felt like it was exfoliating my terrible dry soles and also removing some patchy remains of fake tan from the week before. When I rinsed the scrub off in the bath, it did completely remove all my old patchy tan and my feet did feel more soft and smooth. There are still some dry patches around my heels, however, it is recommended to use this product every day so I shall continue to use and see if it makes an improvement.

The moisturiser is a very rich, thick cream but did sink into the skin quickly; the moisturiser has a very overpowering clinical smell which I am not a big fan to be honest. It did leave my feet feeling soft but there are still dry patches on my soles around my heel area and the balls of my feet. I would expect that by continuing to use both the scrub and the moisturiser daily this should improve my skin condition. The foot spray is cooling and refreshing but has the same strong clinical hospital smell as the moisturiser which I’m not a fan of maybe they remind me of hosptials? If these products smelt as good as the Superbalm they would be perfect for me!

These products are priced at: Foot scrub (£10.25); Foot Repair Moisturiser (£12.25); Foot Spritz (£7.00) and are available from http://www.lizearle.com/

What are your favourite Liz Earle products?

Product Rave: Eye Bright by Liz Earle

As you will know from my previous posts I am a big fan of natural skincare. At the moment I am really enjoying using Liz Earle hot polish cleanser after recently being converted (you can read my review here). As well as the hot polish cleanser, I have constantly being using the Liz Earle Eye Bright, in fact so much so I’m now running low and need to repurchase. Everything I have recieved from Liz Earle is so beautifully wrapped in tissue and carefully presented in a gift box - its a lovely touch.

I find that most eye makeup removers are oily and even though they are brilliant are dissolving and removing eye makeup and stubborn mascara, they leave my eyes greasy. I find the cream based eye makeup removers irritate and sting my eyes. The Liz Earle Eye Bright is without doubt the best eye-makeup remover I have ever tried, this product is amazing!

On a morning first thing before cleansing my face I apply some of this soothing herbal lotion soaked on a cotton wool pad and sweep over my eyes to clean my eyes of any remains of eye makeup from the night before and also the coolness really wakes me up on a morning and revitalises my eyes (I am a terrible morning person and this really gives me a refreshing boost).

I use this to remove my eye makeup on an evening – I apply a little on two cotton wool pads and swipe over my eye lids and it is fabulous for removing even the heaviest of eye makeup and waterproof mascara. It is so gentle yet effective, my eyes can be sensitive and this product has not irritated or stung my eyes at all. It smells lightly of cucumber and my eye area is left feeling clean, soft, and not at all greasy.

Sometimes when I give myself a facial at home, I like to apply my favourite face mask whilst having a bath, and then damped two cotton wool pads with this product (using a little more than usual) and place over my eyes and leave on for about 10-15 minutes whilst relaxing in the bath. This makes a wonderful eye treatment, its soothing and refreshing and I look like I have had a good night’s sleep afterwards.

This product would be fabulous to use as an eye treatment on long-haul flights to refresh and soothe tired eyes. This would be equally as good to soothe eyes for all of us poor hay fever sufferers. The Eye Bright contains naturally active ingredients including alpine herbs, witch hazel, organic Aloe Vera and cornflower to help tone, cool and refresh tired, puffy eyes.

Liz Earle Eye Bright is available from http://www.lizearle.com/ and is priced at £9.50 for a 150ml bottle.

Have you tried Liz Earle Eye Bright? What are your favourite Liz Earle products?

♥

Up in the Air with Liz Earle

Air Travel can take its toll on your skin, so make sure you stay refreshed and hydrated before, during and after your trip with the New Liz Earle’s Flight Essentials Kit. The kit includes four of the most popular Liz Earle beauty must-haves in cabin-friendly sizes! These sets are perfect size for not only flights but for travel and weekends away or to keep in your handbag.

The Zip Up Bag contains:

♥ Instant boost skin tonic Spritzer 30ml (once this is empty you can always refill from your larger bottle)
♥ Skin Repair moisturiser dry/sensitive skin 15ml
♥ Superbalm 15g
♥ Hand repair 15ml
In Flight Skin Saving Tips:

Moisturise: Before take-off, splash your face with water and apply Skin Repair Moisturiser and a little of the emergency skin salve, Superbalm. Be sure to reapply these products to ensure skin does not become dry.

Be good to your skin: Leave your skin make-up free when travelling and drink plenty of water to counterbalance the dehydrating and tiring effects of long haul flights.

Aisle seat please: If you prefer a window seat, apply a sunscreen with SPF 20 or higher to avoid any sun exposure through the window.

Sleep: It is usually difficult to sleep on a plane, but if you can it will help you feel and look more refreshed when you land. Take a small travel pillow wrapped in a cotton pillowcase to help you catch forty winks.

To brighten tired eyes: Apply a little Liz Earle Eye Bright onto two cotton pads and leave on your eyes for 5-10 minutes for a refreshing treatment.

These Flight Essential bags are available from http://www.lizearle.com/ priced at £15.75

NOTD - Nails Inc Hans Road

Today's Nail of the Day is Nails Inc - Hans Road. The polish is super easy to apply and drys super fast. It is a pearl-ised bright pillar box Red. This polish definately requires 2 or 3 coats as it is very sheer.

Which are your fav Nails Inc Shades?

Revlon's New Colorburst Lipstick

Hello Ladies,

This morning I received a parcel that I wasn’t expecting – to my surprise inside was a selection of Revlon’s new ColorBurst Lipsticks. Revlon ColorBurst Lipsticks ‘provides a luxurious, virtually weightless, high-impact color and offers a unique shade range allowing women to make a statement without saying a word’. Revlon uses ‘Elasticolor’ technology to distribute rich colour pigment evenly over the lips and allows the formula to move comfortably with lips – like a Second skin!

Rich, high-impact colour with a Feather light feel, these lipsticks are the ultimate in performance and luxury. ColorBurst is already causing a storm on the catwalks at New Yrk and London fashion week, and Hollywood A-lister Jessica Alba has called Revlon ColorBurst in Plum her ‘new lipstick obsession’ and also wore the shade ‘Blush’ at her Valentine’s Day film premier.

Revlon have also collaborated with Antonio Berardi to design a limited edition and exclusive ColorBurst Tote Bag which is a true collector’s item.

My lips are on the dry side and usually very chapped, I find that most lipsticks look terrible on me, and emphasize the dryness by clinging to the dry areas. These lipsticks are gorgeous and feel conditioning on my lips as the lipsticks contain moisturisers and Sweet Almond Oil. One swipe gave rich colour, which was highly pigmented, weightless and with a glossy finish.

Here are some swatches:

From Left to Right: ‘Plum’; ‘Coral’; ‘True Red’; ‘Blush’; ‘Fuchsia’.

Plum

Coral

Red

Blush

Fuchsia

I can see where Revlon have got their inspiration from high-end brands such as Chanel and Tom Ford. I love the Chanel-like packaging with the quilted effect and also the etching of ‘Revlon’ on the lipstick itself is very much like the Tom Ford lipsticks which retail for £35 each! The Revlon lipsticks retail at £7.99 each so we can now all own a piece of luxury without the expensive price tag.

The Revlon ColorBurst Lipsticks are launched in the UK on 2nd June 2010 and are available in 12 Shades. Will you be purchasing?

NOTD - Ruby Pumps by China Glaze (Wizard of OZ)

Todays Nail of the Day is Ruby Pumps by China Glaze from the Wizard of Oz Collection. This colour is on the same scale and very similar to OPI Im not Really a Waitress, which is a slightly deeper ruby red. Ruby Pumps is a lovely bright ruby red with lots of red and gold glitter, its glamourous and classy and not at all tacky like it looks in the bottle. Unfortuntely is really difficult to capture how lovely this polish is, the photographs just don’t do it justice.

What are your favourite China Glaze polishes?

Lovea Moroccan Argan Brilliance Shine Shampoo Review

The third product I’ve been trying out for MyPure is Lovea Bio Moroccan L’Argan Brilliance Shine Shampoo, which promises to ‘bring life and vitality to dull, lifeless hair’. Lovea is a French Brand that mainly specialises in sun care products but also has an organic hair and skin care range.

I have heard a lot of people rave about Moroccan Argan oil to use as a fabulous hair treatment. Argan oil is known to do wonders to the skin and hair; it contains essential Vitamin E and antioxidants and has nutritive and anti aging properties. Lovea products do not contain any, parabean, silicone, GMO, PEG, phenoxyethanol, colorants or synthetic perfumes. Everything sold by mypure is sulfate free, paraben free & phthalate free.

The bright yellow large squishy tube isnt typical shampoo packaging. I would have thought it was body moisturiser at first glance if I was to see this on a shop shelf. The shampoo is very runny in texture and did not lather well.

I love the scent it reminds me so much of holidays due to the bright packaging and the scent. It doesn’t have a typical shampoo smell, it had a lovely familiar smell that I couldn’t put my finger on...it is marzipan? Was it vanilla? Coconut? Orange? Nuts? Spice? No it reminds me of those licorice allsorts sweets, the ones with the hundreds and thousands on...smells exactly like those! I have actually been sniffing this for a good ten minutes trying to explain the smell...it smells good enough to eat!

I did use my normal conditioner along with this shampoo, but as my hair is due for a cut (appointment is tomorrow!) it did tame down my hair and was shiner but I felt my colour was a little dull. I would love to see a conditioner or treatment to go with this shampoo. I am now tempted to pick up some Argan oil to see what all the fuss is about (this shampoo contains 0.3% of Morocco Argan Oil).
 
I am a bit of a shampoo snob if i’m honest – I tend to always go back to my expensive salon brands. I felt this shampoo was ok, but maybe not suitable for my hair I need something more conditioning as my hair is on the dry side. I am happy that the shampoo contains natural ingredients but I did notice its only 99.4% natural and that it DOES contain sulfate (the chemical that makes the shampoo lather) although I feel maybe a weaker amount compared to other shampoos as it didn’t lather well. I think this would be great shampoo for those who wash their hair every day and have are considered to have ‘normal’ hair.
 
I was surprised with the price it is definitely good value, if it suits your hair type, at £4.99 for a 200ml tube and is a available from the mypure website.

London Haul - Topshop & H&M

When I was in London last week I had some time to go shopping heres what I picked up (with a couple of bargains from Tesco too!):

Black Bag Tescos (£10)

Dove Grey Super Soft Cardigan Tescos (£10) 

Flowery Scarf H&M (£9)

Purple Cardigan Tescos (£10)

Black  Suede Effect Sandals New Look (£12)

Cream Dress with Gold Shoulder Detailing H&M (£14.99)

 Dark Beige Dress with Gold Shoulder Detailing H&M (£14.99)

Necklace H&M (£4.99)

White Bag Tescos (£10)

Ballet Pumps with gold detail Primark (£8)

I know its unlucky placing shoes on a table ooops!

These gold sandals are from New Look and so similar to some more expensive ones i've see in Topshop (£20)

Hope you enjoyed seeing what I bought last week, any questions or requests just write them in the comments ♥

Tofu White Silk & Black Chiffon Flower Detail Dress Haul

Tofu White Silk and Black Chiffon 1920's Dress with flower detail

This was a bargain orginally £130 reduced to £20 in the sale!

What would you wear with this dress?

♥

Kosmea Eight Natural Wonder Revitalising Facial Serum Review

My Second MyPure review is a product from Kosmea, another Australian Natural skincare company who base their products around organic rosehip oil. Kosmea boasts that all their products are suitable for every skin type, and that you can use their products all year round.

Kosmea Eighth Natural Wonder Revitalising Facial Serum with organic Rose Hip Oil and hibiscus extract. The mix of my car heater/air conditioning leaves my skin dry with patches (usually on my forehead and cheeks). I have been applying this serum on a morning after cleansing under my moisturiser, and on an evening as an overnight treatment paired with Rose Facial Spray as reviewed here instead of my usual night cream. The smell is gorgeous, reminds me of going to a spa so very relaxing to apply on an evening to wind down.

The packaging is lightweight and simple with a pump action bottle, which you need to be careful as a lot seems to squirt out at a time. One pump is plenty for one application to the face and neck. The serum has a creamy, oily texture which sinks very quickly into the skin and doesn’t leave a greasy, oily film on the skin like some facial oils do. I have noticed it really plumps up my skin and is wonderfully moisturising, gives my skin a boost and looks more radiant and glowing.

This serum is a little bit pricey at £25 for a 20ml bottle, but a little goes a long way, and is available from the mypure website here.

Lauren Conrad Style Bible Book

The fashionista Hills Star Lauren Conrad is thought of as a style icon so no surprise given shes got her own fashion-clothing line and she is a best-selling author that she is bringing out her own Style Bible Book.

I admire Lauren’s Style and always think she looks gorgeous whether she is attending a red-carpet event or having a casual day shopping she always looks effortlessly cool, sophisticated and glam without trying too hard. Lauren is not obsessed with being super skinny like a lot of other Hollywood stars. She is naturally beautiful and normally keeps her makeup very simple with black cat-winged eyeliner and her hair is normally beach-like waves or boho style plaits.

In her style bible Lauren shares the secret and style tips to her sophisticated and chilled out LA looks as well as ‘personal, live and learn stories including a couple of high school horror stories'.

‘Lauren Conrad Style’ hit shelves in October 2010. I am a sucker for these types of books and so excited for its release, are you?

[A'kin] Pure Rose Hydrating Facial Mist Review

If you have read my previous post on Mypure you all will know I’m looking to start using more natural beauty products and I’m pleased to be testing out a selection of products each month from the Mypure website.

My first review is the [A'kin] anti-ageing, moisturising, Pure Rose Hydrating Facial Mist.

[A'kin] is an Australian organic skin care brand that produces vegan and organic products which are free from sulphates, silicones, artificial colours, as well as many other nasty chemicals and ingredients that are found in many skin care products.

The mix of my car heater/air conditioning and the warm weather recently leaves my skin dry with patches (usually on my forehead and cheeks). I have been spraying this soothing facial spray after I have cleansed and before applying my makeup on a morning as I find it’s brilliant for waking me up. It can be used on the body as well as the face to tone, moisture and nurture skin. I also spray over my makeup through the day to refresh and moisturise my skin and makeup.

Usually I find rose-scented products a little bit ‘old-lady’ for me but I like this smell of delicate rose petals. It is quite overpowering when you first spray but as soon as the spray settles onto the skin the smell it leaves a light spa-like scent. The spray sinks in quickly and without leaving my skin greasy and leaves it wonderfully soft. On an evening this spray is calming and relaxing and with the mix of vitamins and antioxidants makes a good overnight treatment, in conjunction with the Rose Oil Serum (review of which coming very soon). I have been using these two products instead of my usual night cream and my skin feels soft and looks radiant and glowing.

This facial spray has so many uses and I’m sure is going to be my handbag essential this summer (as apparently in the UK we’re going to be having a heat wave!). This would be perfect to moisture and refresh your face during a flight, at the gym or when your skin is feeling dehydrated, flushed or heated. It is also brilliant on mature skin, as my mum has tried this spray on her dry skin and it looked more radiant and glowing. I can imagine that this spray would be brilliant on sunburn as it contains cooling and healing Aloe Vera.

The spray costs £12.99 for a 125ml sized bottle which is a little pricey in my opinion and is a available from the mypure website.

NOTD - Mavala

Today's Nail of the Day is a Retro Rasberry Red shade by Mavala called 'Ankara'. This is a gorgeous colour - it is creamy and easy to apply, leaving a streak-free flawless glossy finish. I absoutely love the dinky little Mavala bottles, and the fabulous range of colours.

Are you a fan of Mavala polishes? What are your favourite shades?

Xen Tan Review

I was invited to the Xen-Tan Spray Tanning event in Manchester a couple of weeks ago but unfortunately I couldn’t attend, so I was kindly sent some Xen –Tan to try out at home. I was really excited to try this as I’ve read some fabulous reviews!

I received the Deep Bronze Instant Self-Tan with new time release ingredients and also the Xen Tan tanning mitt. Firstly the tanning cream is an olive green colour which I have not come across before with any other self tanners. It is a gel-like cream and glides onto the skin effortlessly. However, due to the texture of the crème and the faint colour guide it is difficult to see where you have applied the tan. The scent is very strong and reminds me of chocolate cake mix, I suppose this is better than the usual biscuit smell!

The Xen-Tan Mitt is made from a furry felt-like material which I was expecting would be fabulous and give a flawless application. Although it feels lovely and soft against the skin, the cream tends to stick to the mitt and clump together on the skin in patches, making it difficult to blend and get an even finish. I have heard mixed reviews of Xen-Tan, the majority have been fabulous but there were a couple of reports that the Xen Tan was streaky - so perhaps they used this mitt?

So after trying out the mitt on one arm and wasn’t impressed with the messy application or clumpy uneven finish, I reverted back to my normal trusty mitt to apply the cream to the rest of my body and face. I like that you can use this on both body and face so no need for a separate facial tanner. The crème did sink in nicely to the skin and dried very quickly without feeling sticky like some other tanners do.

I was surprised to read on the back of the tube that the recommended time to leave the tan was 3 hours, which is a lot quicker processing time to most of the other tanners on the market. I applied this last night before bed and left it on overnight – so a good eight hours before washing off the colour guide this morning. I was left with a streak-free natural looking light golden tan.

Overall I’m very impressed with the result (apart from the mitt and smelling of cake mix!)

For more information on Xen Tan you can visit here.

NOTD - OPI Sephora Metro Chic

Today’s Nail of the Day is the ever popular OPI Sephora Metro Chic. I picked this polish up when I was in New York, as the OPI Sephora line are only available at Sephora stores, which unfortunately we don’t have in the UK. Metro Chic is a dark smokey grey with a hint of purple....one of those bang on trend dirty greige colours.

OPI polishes are good quality and their flat wide brushes make applying so easy. I find them long-lasting, chip-resistant and they are free of DBP, Toluene and Formaldehyde.

Grey is the new Pink ! What are your favourite Greige colours?

Outfit of the Day

Hello Ladies,

Just thought i'd share with you my outfit of the day seen on Iknowwhatyouworethissummer. I wore this outfit for a day shopping in London. Im sorry for the crap photo!

Cream Lace Panel Dress - Topshop as seen here
Black Leggings - Topshop
Scarf - H&M
Cardigan - Tesco
Bag - Tesco
Ring - Topshop
Braclets - Pandora & Tiffany&Co

Makeup:
MAC Mineralise Foundation in NW25
MAC Select Moisture cover conclealer
MAC Mineralise Skinfinish in Medium Plus
MAC Bronze Eyeshadow used as eye-liner
YSL False Lash Effect Mascara
MAC Viva Glam Lady Gaga Lipstick

What do you think? Would you like to see more outfits of the Day?

Message in a Bottle!

To my surprise this week I received a mystery parcel that was shaped suspiciously like a bottle....yes it was a bottle but not only a bottle it was a message in a bottle!

The message inside was an invite to the Miracle Moist Tribe Aussie Party next month...which is Nautical themed! If you have any fancy dress ideas then please post a comment!

I really enjoy being an Aussie Angel, this is a brilliant touch and so much thought is put into all of the Aussie Events, Thanks so much to Emma & the Aussie Team :)

Topshop Makeup Haul

When I was in London last week I stopped by Topshop Oxford Circus to check out the recently launched Makeup Line. In this Store they have a spacious area dedicated to makeup, which was carefully laid out, tidy and well stocked. The packaging is cute and overall reasonable prices apart from the lipsticks which are priced at £8.

After reading a few reviews and getting chance to swatch the products at the Topshop Makeup Launch last month I ended up picking up 2 creme blushes: in ‘Flush’ and ‘Neon Rose’ from the core collection. Flush is a warm bright baby pink and neon rose is a bright pink with a peachy coral tone.

Here are a few swatches of the blushes – without a flash as you can see they are highly pigmented and great quality. 

Blush in Neon Rose

Blush in Flush

A few girls have said that the blushes work well on the lips...I have tried both out on the lips and have to say they didn’t work for me - the colours just didn’t look right. I really like the formulation of these blushes, they are a cream to powder finish but not drying or like MAC cream blushers which are messy and tend to sit on the skin and feel greasy. The blushes are good value for money, at £6 each a little goes a long way as they are highly pigmented, you just simply need to dot a small amount on the apples of the cheeks and blend. They give a lovely natural and girly looking flush of colour. I also like the blush in Pinch its a lovely warm toffee beige colour quite natural looking - I may have to return to get this!

Blush in Pinch

I was a little disappointed with the Limited Edition Summer range the colours seemed dull & wishy-washy however the packaging is lovely and I was tempted by the Eye Crayon in sun shower and highlighter in sunbeam.

I was really surprised with the Lip Stick in ‘Rosa’ – it applies a different colour to how it looks on the packaging – it is a gorgeous highly pigmented glossy hot pink! I also like it’s in a crayon form – I didn’t however pick this up as I thought £7 was a bit steep! I thought the lipsticks were overpriced at £8 a pop and the colour range is disappointing, I would much rather spend a little more and go to MAC.

I also picked up some Eylure Tokyo Lashes which look very fluttery and some individual eye lashes that maybe a little tricky to apply - these were both reduced will keep you posted how I get on with these!

Anything I missed from the Topshop Makeup Collection?