Review Roundup!

Even if I do say it myself, living in Get Lippie headquarters does have some advantages for the poor harrassed girlies who have to put up with some of my less savoury habits.  Recently, I gave my glamorous housemate Kerry (you may remember her from this makeover) a bag of bits and pieces and asked her for her thoughts.  Here's what she came up with:

Anne Semonin Global anti-aging cream

A £130 face cream.  This is exciting stuff!!  When I was generously asked to try this by the gorgeous Ms. Lippie I must admit I wondered what amazing things would happen when this was applied.  Skin like Angelina Jolie surely?!!.  So I set about slapping this on religiously every morning & evening… :o)

The product comes in a very smart silver lidded pot, quite scientific looking but definitely dressing table friendly.  It smells a little unusual for a face cream – sort of milky sweet.  And actually when I first dipped a finger in the pot, the texture reminded me of a lovely smooth vanilla yoghurt, which I found quite pleasant.  I hasten to add though that it doesn’t actually smell like one!!

When I applied it (to freshly washed skin) it felt nice and smooth.  It doesn’t sink in very quickly and after a few moments of massaging it into my skin it started to feel a little tacky and sticky.  I did  briefly worry that it wouldn’t actually sink in well enough and I would be left with a sticky face but after a few seconds more it was absolutely fine.  Although, I would still leave it 5 mins before trying top apply anything over the top.

After 10 mins my face felt very well moisturised and very lovely and plump, and I think this would be great on drier skins.  I am quite willing to believe it would plump up those lines and wrinkles.

However, despite being described as for all skin types, my confused skin (like combination skin types – but, well, more confused), found it a little too heavy and eventually even started to break out.  So, unfortunately, I will not get to find out whether I could have ever had that A-list skin…

One other note.  It doesn’t appear to contain an SPF, which for most people these days, especially those looking for an anti-aging product is a must.  Perhaps you could use it as night cream only.
 
Orly Nail lacquer - Shade: Lola
I have only good things to say about this gorgeous nail polish!!  I have only had the pleasure of trying this once before, whilst having a manicure at a well known spa, who have unfortunately now developed their own range.  Since then I have found it quite hard to get hold of so this is the first bottle I have owned.  Well actually, I swiped 2 bottles given the opportunity and a couple of cocktails…  but that’s our little secret… ;o)

Firstly, the colour ‘Lola’ is gorgeous.  A bright corally pink.  Coral colours are in fashion apparently if you are in the know about these things… :o)

The polish is great to apply.  This is due to several factors: A good texture with no gloopyness but gives good even coverage, a slim brush which doesn’t pick up too much product and has a nice rounded end to give a nice shape at the base of the nail.  And most of all, I absolutely love it’s rubberised lid which gives brilliant control over the brush and is comfortable to hold (with no cramp from trying to grip the lid too hard).

I applied a base cost, two coats of polish and a top coat.  The first coat gives a good coverage but for a strong colour like this you still definitely need two coats.

The varnish dries quickly and with a fast dry top coat I was good to go (touch dry) in a minute or two (please note this was not scientifically timed…)

I have only applied the polish this afternoon so I can’t report on it’s staying power yet.  I seem to remember that it had chipped by the day after at the spa.  But I was at a spa (swimming pool, sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi… back in the pool… you get my drift).  It was tough (for the nail polish, not for me) so I’m not sure any polish would stand up well in those conditions.

I have my eye on several other colours so please Orly start selling these where I can buy them…

Dirty Works Get set go – mini luxuries

This is a cute little miniatures set containing a 100ml each of body wash, body scrub & body lotion, all in pastel blue and yellow, spotty or stripy bottles, with the obligatory glamorous girl on the bottle.

The whole set smells basically of shea butter.  I’m not a fan of this smell and find it a little sickly, but it’s not overpowering, so if you like that smell it would be fine.

I took the set to the gym with me to try out.

The ‘all of a lather’ body wash is a straightforward shower gel.  It doesn’t lather up particularly well so it doesn’t feel that luxurious.  It also doesn’t feel particularly moisturising.  But I smelt clean & fresh afterwards so I think it did a perfectly good job for a body wash…

The ‘buff your stuff’ body scrub is based in oil (sweet almond oil), which made me nervous as I find oil based scrubs can leave a greasy residue on my skin and leave me feeling like I need another shower.  But actually it washed away quite cleanly.  It exfoliated well, but the sugar is a little scratchy.  Also, all of the sugar had sunk to the bottom of the bottle, so the first few handfuls were just oil.  I had to give it a good shake!

The ‘bare necessity ‘body lotion was my favourite of the set.  It has a nice creamy texture, a light smell and sank in quickly, leaving me able to get dressed straight away without feeling at all greasy.

All in all, it is a cute looking, functional little set in the perfect size bottles for a gym bag or a weekend away.

Melvita Face Cleansing Foam (anti-pollution care) & Eye Contour Gel

The face wash is really a very pleasant product to use.  I have been using it after the gym in the mornings for a few weeks now… 

It is essentially a face wash and needs to be applied to a damp face and then rinsed off with water.

It was a bit of a surprise when it came out as a light foam (it does say that on the bottle, so it shouldn’t have been really!) and then disappeared quite rapidly when I applied it to my face.  I am used to using much thicker feeling face washes.  Especially after the gym, I want something that feels like it washes all the muck and grime away properly.  Once I got used to the texture though, I really enjoyed using it.

The foam smells fresh and herbal and it left my skin feeling clean, but without any hint of dryness or tightness that you can get with a lot of face washes.  And I will certainly keep using it to the end of the bottle.

The eye gel is for bags, shadows and wrinkles.  I am lucky enough not to really suffer from any of these things (apart from the odd laughter line developing in a bad light) so it is difficult to say how much effect the gel had on these.  However, I suspect it is too light to have any meaningful effect on existing wrinkles.

It is a lovely light textured gel, which feels refreshing and lightly moisturising with a very light neutral scent.  It sinks in well with no greasy feeling and can be massaged around the eye for a few seconds before it does to de-puff. (like the magazines tell you :o))

The skin around my eyes did feel slightly tighter after using, so it may well be good for keeping the bags at bay.  And perhaps I will keep using it, just in case it can work a little bit of magic on those crows feet…