Review - Liz Earle

Liz Earle were kind enough to send me some of their products to try out recently, I thought it was about time I had a fresh look at the brand, so was happy to give them the once over.  Here's what I thought of their basic skin-care products.

Cleanse and Polish 

I first tried C&P about 10 years ago, and I remember not loving it then. At the time I was addicted to foaming face-washes and thought that the soft-feeling skin I got after using this eucalyptus-scented cream was "wrong" somehow and gave up using it without really a second thought.

Now though, after spending many years re-educating myself to remove those oil-stripping facial washes from my routine, and using oils to cleanse my face instead, I do like this stuff a great deal.  For the uninitiated,  you spread a glob (scientific term there) of the cream over your face, then use a muslin cloth dipped in hot water to remove it.  I've found it spreads easily, removes even the toughest waterproof mascara and leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth. I'm delighted to have rediscovered it, and will be using it as my go-to cleanser from now on.  Liz Earle was the brand that introduced me to the hot-cloth cleansing method - which I've used in the decade since first using the cream, no matter what cleanser I've used since! - so on some level I owe a great deal to the brand for at least teaching me one good habit!

Instant Boost Skin Tonic 

Okay, it's possible I'm not the best person to review this product, I don't really like the smell, and - if I'm being really honest - I don't, in all honesty think toner is a necessary step in a cleansing routine, particularly if you're already rinsing off your cleanser with water, and a cloth anyway.  But, if you like toners, then it's likely you'll like this one.  It has a herbal scent, and I find it nice and refreshing, but I find that it's just one more step in my routine, and so ... I tend to skip it.  I have put some in an atomiser though, and I find spraying a little over a too-powdery or too-matte foundation helps me stop looking cakey.

Superskin Moisturiser
Oh, how I love this stuff! It's a fragrance-free moisturiser full of ingredients such as borage and pomegranate alongside cranberry seed and rosehip oils.  My winter-parched skin has just been drinking this stuff up over the last month, and it's something I can totally see myself buying again.  I find it leaves my skin silky smooth and velvety, without leaving a greasy film like so many moisturisers geared towards dry skin tend to do. 

I've also been trying a few other products, but I'll bring you reviews on those later.  What do you think of Liz Earle products?  Will you be giving them a try?

Organic Wednesday - Balm Balm

My love for lipbalms is well known worldwide (seriously, I don't think Badger have forgiven me for kicking up such a fuss about Chai Rose yet, but they're still lovely people! And lovely balms too), so I thought I might be forgiven for talking about yet another one that I really like.

BalmBalm I love, because unlike a lot of organic companies, their labelling is clear, and they don't make claims that their products can't possibly live up to.  Plus, their products are both 100% natural and 100% organic, which is a refreshing change at the moment. If you saw my post last week, you'll know simply how refreshing it is to see a company commit to it's aims properly without resorting to desperate claims for it's products (SLS-free face powder anyone?  Oh no! I'll really miss that lovely foaming action!) in order to seem more "worthy".

Okay, I'll come down off my soapbox now.  The other major reason I'm a big fan of BalmBalm is the simply beautiful scent of the rose geranium balm, I have this one in a pot my the bed, in a tube in my handbag, and now, in the new lipbalm-sized tube which I'll be taking everywhere with me.  But if you're not a fan of flowery scents, the balms also come in unscented and tea-tree varieties.  If you have any other scents that you're a fan of, you can add a couple of drops to the unscented variety and make yourself a customised flavour - I'm always tempted to make a proper rose-scented one (not artificially flavoured and pumped full petrochemicals like some rose balms - which shall remain nameless - are), it'd be like smothering yourself in Turkish Delight ...

Where was I? Oh yes, the balms are vegetarian (not vegan - although I understand some vegans will use bee-products) and have a shea butter, jojoba and beeswax base, meaning they're a bit more solid than some balms you can use, but I don't find this a problem as it means a little goes a very long way once you've warmed it on your  fingers or played with the tube in your hands a bit before applying.

I'm looking forward to trying the tea-tree variety, as I think it'd be just the ticket for cold-sore affected lips, or on spots!  How else do you use lipbalms?

Balm Balm lipbalms cost £3.99 (£2.99 for a tub!) and are available from Balm Balm's website and well-known health food shops. Plus you can read the Balm Balm Blog here.  Glenda's lovely, do go and say hello!

Review - Philip Kingsley Elasticiser

I was recently invited to a PR event where we were introduced to look at some new brands, and one of the products we were invited to try was this pre-shampoo treatment for dry hair from Philip Kingsley. I’ll be honest, I thought Philip Kingsley was a celebrity hairdresser, and I was a bit embarrassed to discover that he’s actually a trichologist (and has been for 50 years!) who believes that healthy hair starts with a healthy scalp.
Elasticizer was first introduced 26 years ago, and it’s still going strong, mainly because it works.  Here’s what Kerry had to say about her experience using it:
“Rarely do I get to take a bath with something so exciting... 
My hair is highlighted, over-straightened, overdue for a trim, dry, porous and frizzy.  So the promise of shine, bounce and manageability was impossible to resist and I had read good things about this product.

You can either apply the elasticizer, comb through and then shampoo out immediately or leave it on as a mask for 10-20 minutes.  I really wanted this to work, so I decided to give it a full 20 minutes to do it's magic.

You need to apply this product on wet hair before shampooing, which I thought sounded a bit strange, but actually wasn't too bad.  I applied liberally to my wet hair and covered it with the nice little branded shower cap included in the box.

The product had a nice thick, rich texture.  Moisturising, but not greasy feeling.  This is perfect for my hair, which does need a rich conditioner, although it might be quite heavy on fine hair and the instructions do suggest being a bit more sparing with the product if this is your hair.  There is no particularly strong scent to the product.  It doesn't smell 'scented', but neither does it smell of yucky underlying ingredients.

Although I did apply the product pretty liberally it didn't look like I'd used much out of the pot, so I reckon it would last you quite a long time, at least 10 treatments I would think.

After 20 minutes, the product rinsed out easily, not leaving any residue even before I'd shampooed it out.  As per the instructions, I used shampoo and conditioner in the normal way.

I then dried and styled my hair with all my usual products.  My hair was noticeably softer and silkier to touch.  It styled much straighter and more easily than normal.  In fact, it was almost too silky to style!!

The next day, it still feels very soft to touch and has only started to frizz a little on the ends, although it has been a pretty damp day (and my hair does need cutting).  It does suggest using the product regularly for the best results and I am sure I would notice a definite improvement in the condition of my hair if I used this as a weekly treatment.  In fact, that's exactly what I will be doing!!”
How do you look after your dry hair?

Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadows

I was sent these little lovelies last week by Urban Decay, and I’m delighted to bring you some swatches as I’ve not been able to find any more details about them in the UK!
They’re the latest in sparkly eyeshadows, here’s what Urban Decay says about them: 
“An explosion of stars. Stardust shadows’ silky texture delivers an incredible amount of sophisticated, twinkling sparkle. Boasting 40% more glitter than our most sparkly shadows, Stardust delivers a sheer wash of color, topped with teeny bits of iridescent sparkle that glisten like wet snow.”
I received the shades 54 and Moon Spoon (and how I wish it were called Button Moon!) which are a lovely light lavender-purple and an iridescent grey, respectively.
I love the squeezy rubber packaging, they’re great fun to use, and they do indeed sparkle and twinkle in the package. Urban Decay say you will get no fall out with these, so I put them to the test, but first off, here are some hand-swatches:
First things first, Urban Decay aren’t kidding when they say these are sheer!  I’ve swatched these over Urban Decay Primer Potion here (there’s a dot of UDPP in the centre of these swatches, and the shadow has been swatched in a much larger circle around them), you can see there’s a hint of purple on the 54 swatch, but you can barely pick up the colour of the Moon Spoon at all.  Here’s a swatch from a different angle:

These are very shimmery, and very lovely. They’re not gritty (surprisingly non-gritty, in fact!) and the fact that they’re so sheer actually makes them a lot more versatile than they would be if they were more highly pigmented. I’ve not experienced much fall out, and they’re very definitely NOT chunky glitter.  Here’s a look I created – and wore to the office! – recently with Moon Spoon:

Apologies for the slight creasing there, this was taken after I’d  been wearing it for around 14 hours.  This is a base of the two lightest colours of my Chanel Kaska Beige quad, (with a Kat von D King Cobra liner, more about that later this week!), and with some of the Moon Spoon pressed over the top.  It just gave me a gorgeously glossy shadow look without being too OTT for day wear.
These shadows really come alive under artificial light though, and I’ll bring you some more looks with them when I’ve had a chance to see how they work foiled.
Urban Decay Stardust shadows are available in 9 colours (including white and black) and will be available from Boots and Debenhams stockists very soon, will you be picking any up?

And we have a winner!

Or winners, rather!  The lucky winners are the comments numbered:

Winner of the Liz Earle package (comment number 46) is Beauty Junkie London

And winner of the mystery package of goodies (comment number 8) is JellyMinx

Congratulations to both of you! And thank you very much to every single one of you who entered, it's been great fun, and I'll be doing this again soon.