Scrub a dub dub...

So I pledged to be a more routine exfoliator this year and what better way than to gather up my favourite exfoliators and put them all to the test and give you guys a review?! I'll admit I was a little shocked at the sheer number of exfoliators I had in my possession given I have no actual exfoliation routine and just really do it ad hoc when the mood takes me...or usually, truth be told, just before a spray tan! Anyway I've been scrubbing away for the last few weeks and while buffed to near perfection at this stage I'm bringing you my top 4 exfoliators from my collection and also my 2 favourite exfoliating tools!! (and yes I do have even more than 4 exfoliators which is perhaps why I also pledged to stop hoarding products and buying new ones before the originals have run out). My name is Suzi and I have a problem!

The Details:

Right well my top tip is to invest in a shower body brush (dry body brushing is a blog in itself which I will cover in the future) or a pair of exfoliating gloves. These can be used daily with your regular shower gel giving you a nice gentle exfoliation and keep you beautifully buffed. Unsurprisingly I have both - my brush is a QVS one from Superdrug and my gloves are from Sainsbury's as that was the only place I could find black ones (to hid tan stains). Neither are recent purchases but I expect you are looking at under €10 for the brush and €2 - €3 for the gloves. Now onto my lovely exfoliators, in no particular order:

1. Sanctuary Spa Covent Garden Body Scrub, 50ml €3.39 (200ml €9)

A nice light exfoliator which is suitable for daily or frequent use (depending on your skin condition). It contains natural pumice as the exfoliant, orange oil to moisturise/hydrate and patchouli which compliments the scent very nicely. Personally I cannot abide orange scented anything (including the actual fruit) so for me to have this in a top 4 is pretty impressive. There is also an amazing salt scrub in this range which comes in a big jar or in individual sachets and worth checking out as a reasonable alternative to number 2 below...

2. Sea Spa Salt Scrub,  400gm €55

Well I got this one as a gift and think its possibly my favourite of the four closely followed by Pulp Friction below. Its from those Dead Sea Spa concession stands you find in shopping centers and large department stores with very annoying salespeople. I realise it doesn't look very appealing from the swatch below but it is simply AMAZING! Its very thick and luxurious and basically  looks like rock salt in oil! Its more abrasive than the last one and is therefore better used less frequently. This product works best in a warm bath where you can allow the oils absorb into your skin. Its so rich that I never have to moisturize after as the oils leave my skin glowing and hydrated!  The ingredients boast dead sea salt (which I am very dubious about I must admit), sandalwood and lavender oil and vitamin a & e. I asked at a stand one day how much it cost and was quoted a ridiculous €55 but I reckon you can haggle them down by about 50% if you have the time, inclination and will!!

3. Soap & Glory Pulp Friction Invigorating Body Scrub, 250ml €11.18

Now I am absolutely LOVING this one. Like number 1 above its a nice light exfoliator suitable for frequent use. I am admittedly a Soap & Glory junkie so when I unwrapped their "Big Splendour" from himself on Christmas morning I almost exploded with excitement! This is one of their products I'd never used before so happily took it for a road test and cannot step into the shower without bringing it along now! It actually looks like melted ice-cream and smells fab too. It has and I quote: "Fig powder, pumice, peppermint oil, lemonade tree liquid, orange waterjuice™ and vitaminballs™ (A,C,E)" {source: www.soapandglory.com}

4. Soap & Glory The Breakfast Scrub, 300ml €13.50

An award winning body smoother this is a thicker, more luxurious scrub than Pulp Friction and fantastic for the bath as opposed to the shower. It includes oats, shea butter and sugar amongst its ingredients and with it's maple fragrance it actually looks and smells edible so be careful!! Personally, I find the smell a wee bit sickly but if you are the kinda girl who likes chocolate and honey scented products this will go down well.

The Images:
So first up the brush and gloves:

Now onto the collection of exfoliators/body scrubs:

Finally a few swatches of them in the same order they are listed above 1-4 from left to right:

  
The Sciencey Bit:
Right well while I was sorely tempted to find a diagram of the skin to show you all I decided I'd spare you! It's not really that important and any of you who did Home Ec., Science or A&P will probably still have it burned into your brain anyway!! So basically new skin cells are created in the skin's lower layers and make a journey to the surface. As they go along their 30 day journey the cells die and absorb more and more keratin until they become saturated (this is a structural protein which is responsible for protecting the skins outer layer). Exfoliation removes the dead layer of skin revealing the newer layer beneath. 

Why do we need to exfoliate regularly then I hear you ask; Well its not a process developed just to remove those horrible remnants of fake tan after it starts to break down.. nope far from it. It is an important part of your skin care routine as it unclogs pores, exposes hair follicles (ie helps prevent ingrown hairs - ick!) and basically keeps your skin nice and clean therefore reducing the risk of pimples and other blemishes. Convinced yet?!

Now I should warn you that it is possible to over exfoliate but with my track record that's gona be a difficult task!! Ha ha, no seriously though, you can over exfoliate which will irritate and dry out the skin and we all know dry skin causes wrinkles - aaaaaahhh! So exfoliate with care and ALWAYS follow with moisturiser. Thankfully when it comes to body scrubbing its not as sensitive or wrinkle prone as your mush so you can get away with doing it more frequently.

The Conclusion:
Four pretty amazing scrubs there ladies - I purposely selected two lighter frequent use ones and two thicker more abrasive ones so you had a couple of options in each catagory. I'd recommend them all and must admit that their fragrance, texture and effectiveness help combat the laze monster when it comes to this element of skin care! As I mentioned above the only negatives for me are the scent of S&G The Breakfast Scrub but that's just personal preference and also the astronomical price-tag on the Sea Spa Scrub. I've been on the look out for S&G's Scrub 'Em and Leave 'Em one which carries their fabulous "Mist you Madly" scent as a very desirable replacement for The Breakfast Scrub and Sanctuary Spa's Salt Scrub is a much cheaper alternative for the Sea Spa Scrub. 

Other perfectly nice and functional exfoliators that I found lurking in my bathroom included Dove Beauty Bar exfoliating soap, Sanctuary Spa Covent Garden Salt Scrub and St Ives Exfoliating Apricot Body Wash. Also the skin and blister got a St. Moritz tan set as part of her Christmas present from yours truly and it had a lovely smelling exfoliator included that i must nick borrow!

Let me know your thoughts, your top products and most of all let me wish you all Happy Scrubbing!! 

No. 7 Gift Vouchers from Boots

Hi Ladies, just a quick post while I finish off my current review for later this week. I've been meaning to pop this up for a while and as there is a current batch on the go I figured there was no time like the present!

So, if you are a regular Boots shopper like myself the below image will be quite familiar....

 Many people I've talked to  say they rarely redeem these vouchers as when they get them its been as a result of a large-ish Boots spend so they have no need to return and shop for more within the vouchers expiry date. I too used to use mine infrequently viewing them as a wee bit of a gimmick to get me to part with more of my preciously earned pennies. HOWEVER..(yes I'm shouting because this is important!) you can redeem them on any non promotional priced No.7 items which is actually a decent deal. You can also get items that are less than the value of the voucher and just not receive any change. 

This is an amazing deal girlies so get hunting for items you like! I have used mine on some handy little make-up brushes including a smokey under eye brush and a rabbits foot style blending brush too - handy little brushes to have and while not super high end they are functional enough and work fine (both €7.50 or under). I also use mine on things like make up wipes, applicator sponges, facial exfoliating sponges, tweezers...the list is long. All of these items have been under a tenner and most were under the €7.50 mark so they were freebies. Now tell me who doesn't love a freebie??

My most recent one  (current round of vouchers expire on Jan 29th) was used on some of those moisturising gloves which I've always been a bit icked out by yet very curious about in equal proportions. Review to follow shortly! So, my advice is next time you get one at the till go straight back to the shelves and browse the wide range of No.7 accessories & make up and pick yourself up a treat!

How cute are these?!

Well ladies, I came across these the other day and thought they were uber cute and worthy of a post!

They are pocket/handbag tissues with €10, €20 and €50 notes printed on them and the best bit is the name - "money to blow". It made me chuckle so I thought why not share it!

I abstained!! go me...

So following the beauty resolutions 2012 I faced my first rather monumental challenge today when I ventured into Superdrug for a new toner.  I have pledged not to horde products any longer and also not to buy replacements for yet to be finished products (unless in the name of research) in the beauty cabinet and beyond! I can confirm that my toner is actually gone and I had not one emergency or back up toner in my possession... not even a mini! This is incredibly unusual for me as I tend to horde multiples and am also the one who doles out minis to everyone who has the pleasure of doing a short trip abroad with no carry on luggage. I have a rather large collection of minis from various hotels and then of course Boots and Superdrug started selling minis so I had no hope of diminishng the collection no matter how many I dole out! But I digress (the joy of minis to be discussed in a future post perhaps).

So in I went to Suzi mecca and spent forever pouring over the makeup displays checking out the many many new products I'd like to buy and review and trying out almost every tester in the shop! I came home with hands covered in various products including Barry M blusher, MeMeMe blusher, Gosh bronzer, Barry M nail polish, Maybeline Eyeliner, L'oreal lippy and their new shadows that the fabulous Derrick Carberry used on Xposé last night - oh it was wonderful! However I resisted the many many offers in the knowledge that I've got enough product over the past few weeks to keep my blog alive for another while at least.

Then I came to the toners and one of my regular choices was on offer but 2 for like a €1 more than the price of one. I was torn...between a great deal that led to hording or taking the opportunity to buy an alternative. So I seized the moment and picked up a Garnier one I haven't tried before ... which was less than half price and cheaper than my regular one!

Then the final test - the dreaded queue!! Where all the pretty and "on offer" products are lined up in their colourful glory to tempt and tease you. After much hesitation on this bit I successfully cleared the final hurdle and exited having spent a measly €2 .

In case you haven't yet gathered - I'm feeling rather pleased with myself!!

Crackin up over your nail art?

Well it seems I'm not the only one out there blessed with bundles of lovely presents from the cosmetic and beauty counters. On Wednesday I got a text from one of my besties asking me had I heard about Rimmel's Crack Your Colour Nail Polish. She went on to explain that its gloopy and thick and goes on kinda funny and asked had I used them and suggested maybe I blogged about it! So here I am and Yvonne - this one is for you!!

The Detail:

Nail art has always been a popular choice to accent your tips and grab attention and in current recessionary times there has been an explosion of DIY options on the market from wraps to magnetic nails to the almost mandatory crackle range in each brand out there. Surprisingly crackle polish first hit the market via high street brand Barry M only later to be adopted by the higher end pro brands. Crackle came to us in Autumn 2010 and by now we have seen almost every polish line run their own version. The idea is the polish shrinks on the nail bed as it dries, cracking and revealing the colour underneath. Yvonne kindly donated her bottle for the cause and rather unsurprisingly I had a couple of bottles of crackle polish myself that I'd picked up last summer out of curiosity!

Rimmel Crack Your Colour €5.25

Available in black only

W7 Crackle Polish £5 (not presently available in Ireland)

Available in 9 colours

The Images:

The 3 x W7 ones and the Rimmel one:

Each of the black crackle polishes, Rimmel on the left (middle finger) and W7 on the Right (index finger):

All four polishes on:

The Sciencey Bit:
Well thanks to the clever bunch over at The Beauty Brains I have found out just how this works. Ethanol is added to the polish which makes it dry quickly and unevenly. Completely opposed to the flawless finish of regular polish you get an irregular, uneven polish that shrinks and therefore cracks as it dries. This is why the polish can often look thick and gloopy and generally unappealing to regular polish users.


The Conclusion:

Humm, well personally the crackle look just isn't really for me.  I find it can look well if you get the right combination of colours but god help us if you don't it just looks a bit 80's! Also while it's supposed to be an easy to achieve look it can take a while to achieve as your base colour MUST be completely dry for the crackle coat to work and if you don't cover the crackle layer with a top coat you can actually just scrap it off! (it also looks quite dull and matte). Me? I'd rather use a nail art pen to draw on stripes, dots or flowers than watching LAYERS of nail paint dry! 

However if you do like the crackle effect beware that most of the look is achieved through your application skill. You can't really layer it up as it ruins the crackle effect so apply one layer (in one or two strokes that don't overlap) thinly for small fissures or a slightly thicker layer for larger cracks. I've come across lots of different brands ranging from €3 - €13 doing crackle so my advice would be not to spend too many pennies on these as they all seem to produce similar end results (as shown in picture 2 above!). In my opinion the best thing about crackle is that you can use it to get an extra couple of days out of your manicure if you have a few wee chips appearing at the top - lash on a bit of crackle over it for a fast fix!

How lovely is this?!

Hello Ladies. I am actually in the middle of writing not one but two review blogs but just couldn't resist sharing this in the meantime! (see how easily I get distracted !?!)

This was one of the many Soap & Glory gifts I got this Christmas, much to my delight. I LOVE their hand cream and could not believe it when my mammy and daddy had found this HUGE pump dispenser full with a matching hand wash and lovely little holder for them also. After scrubbing my bathroom clean I decided it was high time they went on show.... putting my Molton Brown hand cream and accompanying Abbott & Broome hand wash (see Oct 3rd 2011 post) to shame!!

Yeaaaaay!! I totally <3 this and now have loverly moisturised hands too :)

Beauty Resolutions 2012...

Hello all and Happy New Year!

Personally, I tend not to be a big believer in new year resolutions and other such new year inspired nonsense as detoxing, getting fit(er) as the case may be, giving up bad habits and promising to keep new good ones! I tend to side with the school of thought that if somethings worth doing its worth doing now, when you feel like it... not just because the calender has moved on a year.

However (and I'll bet you had sensed there was a but coming) for some reason I feel the need to embrace it this year.. to welcome it as a line in the sand which leaves behind a year which left me tired and a little weary. I actually feel quite excited about the prospect of the year ahead and thought it fitting that I set myself some new challenges goals to coincide with my high hopes for 2012! (I also must admit that there is a wee bit of fear motivating me having turned the big three-ooh last month)

So here's my beauty resolutions.. hopefully by sharing them I'll feel more pressure to keep them!

1. Keep my personal make-up stash as tidy, clean and organised as my professional make-up kit 
2. Stop hoarding products (eeek!)
3. Commit to a suitable skin care routine
4. ALWAYS ALWAYS remove my make-up before bed...even after a night out!
5. Avoid buying replacement products until the originals have run out. (unless it is in the name of research or there is an absolutely amazing deal to be had of course!)
6. Find a decent yet reasonably priced eye cream, invest in it and then the key bit - use it!
7. Exfoliate more often (i.e. not just when getting a tan done)
8. Moisturize more often (i.e. not just when trying to maintain my tan)
9. Drink more water.
10. Be more adventurous with my lippy i.e. try new bold colours that I admire on others but am too lazy to wear because of the necessary touch-ups involved! 

So there you have it - some easier done than others but I'll be sure to keep ye posted on my progress. Has this inspired you to make some? or do you already have a list made?? Let me know below what yours are....