Wednesday 29 September 2010

September Empties


Make-up remover pads
Nivea Extra Gentle eye make-up remover
100% Pure vanilla body lotion 
Chanel Hydramax + Active
Lipsmacker Cupcake's Nilla Mint lip balm

Bio Oil 
Roc Complete Lift
Perfumatory Velvet Dream perfume sample
Ultraceuticals Protective Daily Moisturiser
Y-yo Flow perfume sample

Monday 27 September 2010

Nivea Extra Gentle Eye Make-up Remover


As much as I love my Clarins eye make-up remover, I still regularly try out cheaper eye make-up removers. The latest one I've been trialling is Nivea's Extra Gentle Eye Make-up Remover. Nivea says that it gently removes mascara for cared for eye lashes and contains ProVitamin B5.

I've now used the whole bottle and I'm really happy with it. Despite that I'm only going to say a few things about it: it's cheap, gentle and works well. I could carry on, but that about covers it.  

Will I buy this again? Yes, it's cheap, gentle and effective.

Ingredients: aqua, poloxamer 124, peg-8, peg-40 hydrogenated castor oil, glycerin, panthenol, isosteareth-20, steareth-20, dipotassium phosphate, potassium phosphate, trisodium edta, polyaminopropyl biguanide, butylphenyl methylpropional, hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde, geraniol, limonene, cinnamyl alcohol, alpha-isomethyl ionone, hydroxycitronellal, benzyl salicylate, linalool, parfum.


Friday 24 September 2010

A cheaper Beautyblender?

I just received an email from Lehved with details of the Beauty Pod Sponge. According to Lehved the Beauty Pod Sponge is a non-latex, ergonomic, hygienic Beauty Tool that will save you time in application right through to full coverage just by varying the amount of foundation that is applied to the Pod.

Even better, it only costs $12.50 (AUD).

I'll be purchasing one soon so watch out for a review.

Monday 20 September 2010

My Ella Dean Order


I mentioned previously that I went crazy ordering lip balms when the Post and Shame Challenge was over. My Ella Dean from Etsy was the last order to arrive.
I love that all of the lip balms have characters and stories. Some of them even came with a card explaining their story, which is so cute!
I couldn't resist buying this balm. The flavour is Sweet Baby Giggles.

 This is Daisy. Her lip balm is toasted marshmallow flavour.
 This is Moonbeam, her flavour is pomegranate peach popsicles.

This is Sandra, her flavour is Homemade Apple Pie.



I'll be reviewing these balms once I've tested them out.

Friday 17 September 2010

Perfumatory is open!


Last week, to my great excitement, Perfumatory opened. Naturally, I place an order straight away, and it's arrived already! As I've never tried any of the scents I ordered a whole heap of samples to help me figure out what scents I like.
The package on the left is all my samples, the package on the left is a yummy chocolate (that I've already eaten) and a complimentary body lotion sample that was included with my order.
The body lotion sample smells amazing.
Look at all my lovely new perfume samples!

For those of you who used to shop with MMU, you'll be pleased to know that Perfumatory is the spin off company of MMU. 

I purchased the following scents: coco folie, bite mark, vanilla moon, a trip down mania lane, amber del nepal, angels in white, baked vanilla cake, chic decay, marshmallow clouds, pikaki lani, she-donism, velvet dream and sweet cupcake. 

Wednesday 15 September 2010

This week's magazine freebies


This week there are some great magazine freebies with Prevention, Woman's Day and Harpers Bazaar.
Woman's Day comes with a Mirenesse Velvet Lip Lift Moisture Shine lip gloss. There are ten colours available however I only saw two colours, pink and red.
Prevention comes with an Avon Anew Rejuvenate eye cream.
Harpers Bazaar comes with a Butter London nail polish. There are three colours available taupe, blue and light pink. I only saw taupe and light pink, however from the swatch on the card the blue looks gorgeous.

Sunday 12 September 2010

A different type of low buy


I've done Project Ten Pan twice now and the Post and Shame Challenge. They worked well and helped me to reduce my spending and use products up. This time I've decided to do something different. Rather than do either of the challenges again, I'm going to change my conditions for buying. For every two products that I use up I'll allow myself to buy one new product. So if I use up two shampoo's then I'll buy one new one etc. That way I'll slowly get through the things that I own without accumulating more. 

Of course the aim is not to buy new products whilst I still have others, but if I'm being realistic I know this isn't going to happen. I'm not going to set a time limit for this, I'll aim to do it all the time. And eventually I'll have a small collection of products that I love and use all the time.


To assist me with this I'm going to make sure that I throw out or give away products that I don't love. That's my problem at the moment. I buy something, don't love it but then don't throw it out. What I intend to do from now on is use something for four to six weeks and if I don't love it I'll get rid of it. There's no point hanging onto products that I don't use.

Wednesday 8 September 2010

OP Therapy Sea Mineral Wash


About a month ago I came home to find an unexpected package waiting for me. It contained a tube of OP Therapy Sea Mineral Wash. I'd never heard of this brand before so was really interested to learn about it. I've always been a firm believer in the power of sea water to heal skin problems. OP Therapy Sea Mineral Wash uses liquid sea minerals made in north Queensland, and it contains an array of marine minerals and trace elements. This is a 100% Australian made product.
The Sea Mineral Wash is scented with lemongrass and mint which smells heavenly. When I started to use it I'd been suffering from eczema that I just couldn't get rid of. I'd used all my usual treatments with no success. I was expecting some stinging when I used the wash however I didn't get any stinging or irritation. What I did get was healed skin! After the second day of using Sea Mineral Wash the redness in my eczema had calmed down and by the third day the eczema was going away. After I'd been using Sea Mineral Wash for a week my eczema was totally cleared up. 

I wasn't sure if that was just a coincidence, so I decided to test it out on my face. It's not meant as a face wash, however I've had two dry patches on my face for about three months and no matter what I tried they weren't going away. After using Sea Mineral Wash for four days they were totally gone!

Sea Mineral Wash costs $14.00 for a 75ml tube or $36.00 for a 500ml pump pack. 

Will I buy this? Yes, it's a great product for irritated skin. 


Ingredients: water, liquid sea minerals, disodium laureth sulfosuccinate, cocamide dea, cocamidopropyl betaine, fragrance, phenoxyethanol, benzyl alcohol, potassium sorbate, citral, limonene, eugenol, geraniol.

Monday 6 September 2010

L'Oreal Youth Code


I received this product to trial and was really excited about it. I love trying out new products and this one sound amazing. 


L'Oreal says: Rejuvenating anti wrinkle day care.
A new era derived from gene science - 10 years of research.
With time, your skin recovers less quickly and regenerates itself less effectively. As a result, years leave a visible imprint on your skin, facial features are drawn, wrinkles form and deepen, skin tone becomes dull.
Studying the differences between gene expression of young and mature skin, L'oreal Advanced Research, in collaboration with medical teams, is deciphering skin's youth code.

The patented Pro-Gen technology has been developed to improve skin's recovery capability and to restore its natural youth code. 
Thanks to Youth Code, your skin regains the characteristics of young skin: smoothed, rested, radiant.
Results:
Younger looking skin.
After 1 hour: skin begins to smooth, moisturise and brighten.
After 1 week: facial features look rested, skin tone is illuminated.
After 1 month: wrinkles are visibly reduced.

Use Youth Code Day in the morning and in the evening onto freshly cleansed skin.
Velvety texture, moisturising, smoothing, refreshing effect.

I used the whole jar and can tell you that it's a nice moisturiser and that's it. I didn't notice any smoothing, refreshing, illuminating or wrinkle reduction.  It kept my skin feeling soft and moisturised, as I would expect. This is a good moisturiser for normal to dry skin. I think it'd be too rich for people with oily skin.

Would I buy this? No. It's a nice moisturiser however there are other moisturisers that do the same job for half the price. 


Ingredients: water, glycerin, isohexadecane, cyclohexasiloxane, dimethicone, alcohol denat, dipropylene glycol, synthetic wax, peg-10 dimethicone, dimethicone/peg-10/15 crosspolymer, dimethicone/polyglycerin-3 crosspolymer, caffeine, sodium acrylates, copolymer, sodium hydroxide, bifida ferment lysate, adenosine, ascorbyl glucoside, nylon-12, limonene, disodium edta, propylene carbonate, hydroxyethylpiperazine ethane sulfonic acid, caprylic/capric triglyceride, disteardimonium hectorite, ethylhexylglycerin, polysilicone-8, tocopheryl acetate, methylparaben, phenoxyethanol, fragrance, sodium benzoate. 

Friday 3 September 2010

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Line Smoothing Eye Cream


A few months ago when Palmer's revamped their facial care products, I purchased the Line Smoothing Eye Cream. I've been using it for around nine weeks now so decided it's time to review it.

Palmer's says: Rich anti-wrinkle eye cream with peptide complex and retinol.
This rich, hydrating eye cream contains a soothing blend of anti-aging and moisturising ingredients formulated specifically for the delicate eye area. This smooth formula glides on, softening the appearance of fine lines around the eyes. Non irritating. Fresh white lily fragrance. 

This is a lovely, rich, hydrating eye cream. It's kept my eyes moisturised and free of dry patches throughout the freezing winter that we've had here in Australia. I haven't noticed any softening or change in the fine lines around my eyes, but I wasn't expecting to. If you are after a cheap, hydrating eye cream then this is worth a try. 

Would I buy it again? Yes, it's perfect for winter.

Ingredients: water, cetearyl alcohol, theobroma cacao extract, cyclopentasiloxane, cyclohexasiloxane, theobroma cacao seed butter, diethylhexyl sebacate, glycerel stearate, peg-100 stearate, glycerin, ceteareth-20, butyrospermum parkii butter, polymethyl methacrylate, cocos nucifera oil, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, sodium polyacrylate, caprylic triglyceride, retinol, tocopherol acetate, hydrolyzed milk protein, oenothera biennis root extract, propylene glycol, diazolidinyl urea, methylparaben, propylparaben, fragrance, steareth-20, chrysis, n-hydroxysuccinimide, palmitoyl oligopeptide, palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7, butylphenyl methylpropional, a-isomethyl ionone, benzyl salicylate, benzyl benzoate, d-limonene, linalool, citronello, phenoxyethanol, ethylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben. 

Wednesday 1 September 2010

My Addicted to Lip Balm Order

As I mentioned in an earlier post, in honour of finishing the Post and Shame Challenge I have been on a lip balm buying spree. The latest and most anticipated order to arrive is from Addicted to Lip Balm.
I decided to show the package as I unpacked it so you can all enjoy the unwrapping like I did. Isn't the pink packaging pretty?
Lots of bubble wrap so nothing is damaged.

Look at all my pretty new balms! Two of them are reorders of my favourite balms and the rest are new balms that I haven't tried before.
Lately I've been totally obsessed with Vanilla Peppermint flavoured balms, and somehow Leah must have known that because she included a Moody Bee Vanilla and Peppermint balm with my order. I'm loving it so much that I haven't tried any of the other balms yet.
If you haven't ordered from Addicted to Lip Balm yet I highly recommend it. They have free shipping for orders over $50 and shipping is super fast. I placed my order on Saturday, it was posted on Monday and I received it by Friday.