#146 - Autumn/Winter Essentials

I'm definitely no expert on skin/haircare, but I thought I'd stick my two cents in on the matter anyway since Autmn has definitely arrived! There was such a nip in the air when I went out this morning, but it gives me an excuse to don my mittens & super cosy tights. 

These are just what I personally find help me get through the colder months, as my skin & hair attempt to adapt to both the freezing cold weather outside and then the suddent blasting heat inside shops, homes etc.

Palmers Cocoa Butter No. 7 Radiance Boosting Hot Cloth Cleanser Neutrogena Visibly Clear 2-in-1 Wash & Mask Inecto Pure Coconut Hydrating Hair Repair Treatment St Ives Invigorating Apricot Scrub Soap & Glory Hand Food Monu Moisture Rich Collagen Cream Tresemme Split Mend Intense Recovery Masque

 
- I much prefer the lotion to the other formula in the tub; I hate having to scrape it out, getting under my nails, warm it in my hands. I feel this applies & sinks into my skin much better than any other moisturiser I've tried so far. Basically it's a brilliant thick moisturiser, perfect!

- A lovely friend gave me a sample of the Liz Earl cleanser to try, & I just did not get on wit it; whether my skin reacted badly to the ingredients or the scent, or whatever, but my skin just got worse. I persevered for three months with it, but sadly it did nothing. When I went back to this my skin cleared up right away, so I am sticking to this. Plus it's a bargain when you use those No7 vouchers, although I heard they're now for a lesser value, sucks if that's true.

- I've used the Neutrogena 2-in-1 on & off for some years now, but when I saw Sammi at Beauty Crush rave about how amazing it is & the wonders it's done for her skin by using it regularly, I decided to give it a proper go. Using it each morning & night, swapping it for Soap & Glory's Scrub Your Nose In It every Wednesday night for a more intense cleanse.
I can safely say this has become a HG item for my skin. I'm combination-oily (but more on the oily side) & this has helped get rid of & keep spots at bay, as well as mattifying my skin; it genuinely looks the best it has in over a year!

- I've used St Ives for about eight years now, my mum's always used it and she has fantastic skin. I always compare other facial scrubs to this and so far they haven't come close as far as I'm concerned.

- Not much to say about Hand Food; it really is a great hand cream, but it was honestly the first one I found. Any decent hand cream will do the trick, as long as it doesn't take too long to sink in; greasy hands are the worst.

- I got this full-sized sample of Monu in a Glossybox a while back and I adore it. It's a thick cream that sinks in so quickly, making my night-time skin routine an absolute doddle. I wake up and my skin looks plump, and healthy. I was hesistant to buy it again once it runs out, but Feelunique have it for just £16 so I may have to pick one up when this runs out, I've had this tube for about six months & it's still going strong despite me using it every night.

- The Tresemme masque & Inecto coconut treatment are absolute saviours for my hair any time of the year, but especially in the A/W. I have fine hair that tends to frizz in humid/changing temperatures so I need something that will help keep it as calm as possible.
I use both once a week to keep my hair looking remotely sleek & make it look quite healthy. Both are relatively cheap too & will last for a while depending on how often they're used.

Hopefully this has interested someone, and if anyone wants any more information on how I've gotten on with a certain product or anything at all, please comment or send me a Tweet :)

Has anyone got any products they always reach for in the colder months? :)

#133

After seeing every blogger and their dog rave about this face cleanser for the last few months, I did sort of think maybe it was just getting hyped up as Bioderma's so hard to find at a good price in the UK.
But my friend Fran informed me that she found it on Ebay for a really good price, so I went and hunted some down.

I was going to buy the original white and pink bottle, but I saw that Sammi from Beauty Crush featured the Bioderma for combination/oily skin, called Bioderma Sebium H2O. I tracked down a seller that had it for the cheapest price, but she wanted £5 for shipping, from Berkshire :| No way Jose!
I finally found a girl who was selling two of the 250ml bottles for £11, free shipping. Never have I clicked "Buy Now" so fast in my life!

They arrived within three days of purchase, safely packaged and both bottles were sealed up, as you'd expect from any good seller. I can't for the life of me find the girl's Ebay shop, it has somehow disappeared from my History, but if I do find it I will pop a link in somewhere round here!

I was sort of expecting this cleanser to be alright, nothing special, but I think I was wrong. Now I've only been using it for maybe five days now, but I use it after I wash my face both morning and night, and I can already see a huge difference in my skin.

My pores are so much smaller and less noticeable, my chin has been quite bad lately and I've had a horrible breakout, but the Bioderma seems to have shrunk and dried them out, but not left my skin feeling horrible and tight.

 It will take my a good while to get through both bottles, but I hope to see it help clear my skin completely in the long run - may seem a tad optimistic, but I'll hope for the best!

If you are looking to purchase this but haven't got any way of buying it from France (whether it be you're going there on holiday or you know someone that lives there) just search on Ebay, but click the drop down bar by the search bar to clikc "Lowest price first" that way you'll see who's selling it the cheapest and the shipping should be cheap, if not free!

 I'll definitely do an update on this after a month or so, I have high hopes for it as seen above :)

Have you tried Bioderma yet? Or do you think it's just another hyped up product?

#128

After seeing the lovely Zoe post about this miracle cream last month, I have since kept my eye open hoping to grab a pot to try out for myself.

It is a cream version of Re-Gen Oil, a more affordable version of Bio Oil, but it does just as good a job so there is no need to fork out for the real thing.
As much as I love the oil and how it has helped the stretch marks I have on my thighs and any scarring on my face and arms, I'm so impatient, so waiting for it to sink in really bugs me. My own fault!

I was in my local Home Bargain earlier today, looking for nail varnish remover and their trusty foldable boxes, when I spotted a sinble box of this in their skincare aisle. I pounced on it before anyone else had the chance!
I am yet to try it, but it has a very thick texture, and smells pleasant enough, nothing too strong. The smell actually reminds me of Sudocrem for some reason?

I have oily-combination skin, which seems to have calmed down a lot over the last few months, which was surprising as Winter usually send my skin into a manic state. But I also have slight redness on my cheeks which has always irritated me, but I just cover it with makeup. I am hoping that this will help calm the redness on my face and help with my skin tone which is appalling.

But I will be trying this out before bed later and will continue to use it as part of both my morning and night-time skin routines; hopefully it will live up to the high standards it has been set and the great reviews I've read online.
This 125ml tub was only £3.99 from Home Bargain, but I'm not sure if Home Bargain is only based in the NW of England? You can buy it online here, and at £3.99 you can't complain.

Do you use this or anything similar? Do you have a miracle skin cream to recommend?

Also, just a little edit to say you can now follow me on HelloCotton for those who don't have GFC :)
My link is riiiight here!