Murad Eye Lift Firming Treatment

 Getting older sucks, and I can sum up why in just two words: reading glasses.  

I had fairly major eye surgery as a kid, and my optical prescription varies so wildly (one eye is long sighted, and the other is short sighted) that one optician told me years ago that I would never need reading glasses.  He. Was. Wrong. I do so need them, so much so that my eyeballs now feel like they're going to explode out of their sockets if I attempt to read even the largest of large print without my reading bins on.  Talk about feeling cheated!  Anyhoo, I now I have a tendency to squint much more than I used to, which is where Murad Eye Lift Firming Treatment comes in.

Eyes are always the first place on your face to show your real age, because the skin is so thin it wrinkles more easily, and is more prone to dehydration than the skin on any other part of your face.  Certainly, if I haven't had enough water to drink on the average day, my eye wrinkles always look far more pronounced than if I have managed to guzzle down a litre or so on top of my tea-intake, anyway.  I'm very lucky in that I'm not particularly plagued by bags or dark circles, but my "crows feet" are rapidly turning in to emu tracks*, and I HATE THEM.

These made me laugh so hard, thank you Murad!

I also have sensitive skin, and eye cream has a nasty habit of setting off my sensitivity, so I approached Murad Eye Lift Firming Treatment with trepidation, first encountering it after a Murad facial earlier this year.  The packing does warn about a "tingling" sensation, so I was a little sceptical that I'd be able to use it at all, to be honest.  A decent size (30ml!) bottle that comes complete with 40 eye pads (so you can get 20 treatments out of it, by my reckoning), you apply three pumps in a thick layer to the skin under each eye, then rest a pad over the top and relax (or blog!) for 10-15 minutes and pat any excess product into the skin.

I've used this once a week since it arrived, and I have to say, I'm mighty impressed with it.  Yes, it does tingle when I first apply it, but it has never lead to any lasting, or visible, irritation and the skin under my eyes is definitely plumped up and hydrated after using it.  It's particularly good on those mornings after the night before.  Allegedly.  Ahem.  Anyway.  The major ingredient is hyaluronic acid, and it has a great, visible plumping effect, and lines are definitely diminished on using.  I find it sinks in easily (there's never any excess to "pat in" when I remove the pads), even though it feels like you're using a huge amount of product in comparison to a usual eye cream, but the skin never feels overloaded or greasy, and it's never caused a breakout. 

As for long-term effects, I can't speak to those, but for a temporary "refresh", this is great, and makes eyes look younger/less tired/squinty/dehydrated very quickly in a way ordinary eye creams can't.  The box says to use the treatment 2-3 times a week, but I think for my sensitive skin that might be overload, but as a weekly treat whilst I'm sat at my computer searching for the blogging muse, they're hard to beat.

And the price, at around £45-£55 (depending on the supplier) is actually a bit of bargain in comparison to some eye creams with only a fraction of the product in the jar!

* Emus are heavier than crows, right?

The Fine Print: PR samples.

This post: Murad Eye Lift Firming Treatment originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Murad Hydro-Dynamic Quenching Essense and Ultimate Moisture Review

 It's hard work being a beauty blogger with sensitive skin, sometimes.  I'm a big fan of results-led, science-based skincare, and I have a clear preference for doctor brands that have a philosophy of really caring for skin, rather than just using skincare as line extensions for their other product ranges.  This isn't to say that there isn't good skincare coming from other more nature-based, or makeup-based ranges (there are excellent products in some unexpected places out there), but, when your skin is sensitive, finding products that are both results-led, and yet still bland enough not to cause flare-ups can cause problems.   Essential oils such as orange and lavender, used in a lot of "unfragranced" natural products, are a particular problem for my facial skincare routine, and I've found that I have far fewer issues with lab-based synthetics than many organic ranges as a result.

All of which is a long way around of saying that I really like the Murad Hydro-Dynamic range of products.  I'm both oily combination and sensitive-skinned, and at times I'm also very dehydrated, but I've found that the Hydro-Dynamic range helps on all counts.  The Murad Hydro-Dynamic Quenching Essence is a product I was introduced to last year, and I admit that I was a little underwhelmed with it at the time (it's more of a serum than I was expecting an "essence" to be - not a liquid at all!),  but I think I was a little less stressed and dehydrated last summer than I have been this year - the house move a few months ago took a lot more out of me than I was expecting.  This time of using, however, I like it much more, it adds hydration without loading the skin with too much oil, or that silicone-y feeling or being a gel, and leaves a lovely, velvety texture behind after applying.  It somehow just feels like it lasts longer on the skin than either a liquid or gel hyaluronic acid-based hydrator.

The Murad Hydrodynamic Ultimate Moisture is pretty much how I would describe my perfect moisturiser.  It feels luxurious and rich when taking it out of the jar, but it spreads and sinks into the skin beautifully, disappearing completely, but leaving skin feeling hydrated and supple, and ready for anything else that you want to apply afterwards.  It never overloads the skin, never triggers a reaction (despite what I might have applied first - in fact it's an ideal cream for using when trialling other products that you fear might cause a reaction), and hydrates without being greasy, clogging pores, or causing redness.  I love it.  It's bland, unscented, and inactive (in a good way), having only one job to do (hydrating), and it does it exceptionally well. So for those of us with over-excitable skin, it's a perfect cream.   I don't always get on well with Murad products, they have a habit of being just that little bit too strong for my skin issues, but  in this duo, I've found my happy Murad place.

At £59.50 for the Hydro-Dynamic Quenching Essence and £55.00 for the Hydro-Dynamic Ultimate Moisture, they might not be the cheapest products on the market, but for me and my stupid skin, they're great.  If you only get one, get the moisturiser, it might not set your world on fire, but you won't regret it. Your skin will love you for it.

The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


This post: Murad Hydro-Dynamic Quenching Essense and Ultimate Moisture Review originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Skincare of the Week 10 January 2016

 I took a couple of weeks off blogging over Christmas, which was fabulous, but I still kept at the "cleaning my face" thing.  It being a new year, I thought trying out some new products would be a good idea, but I think I tried too much new far too quickly, and my skin fairly quickly let me know it wasn't entirely happy with the idea.

Top left, Monday, I tired the Murad Correcting Moisturiser, which has a slight green tint to help neutralise redness. It's a nice moisturiser, and I'm looking forward to trying it again properly in a couple of weeks time.  On Tuesday/Wednesday I introduced some Kiehls skincare to my routine, beginning with Kiehl's Calendula Herbal Extract Toner, and Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream. Now, I have to say, I absolutely loved using these products - the moisturiser in particular made my skin feel velvety, rather than oily, and left a semi-matte finish that was a great base for makeup.  However, the effect of trialling three new products in three days (not something I'd normally do, but I got a bit excitable!) made it's mark on my skin a little bit - bumpy bits around the edges of my cheeks and temples - and so I pre-emptively swapped to my SOS skincare kit to head off any breakouts or irritation.  I've written about my SOS Sensitive Skin kit before, and you can read that if you click the link. 

The second half of the week was spent trying to soothe irritation, and (as I took delivery of a massive skincare order from Being Content last week too) being desperate to try MORE new products!  I'm my own worst enemy sometimes, I really am.  Nonetheless, Thursday found me trying a new cleanser from Tata Harper - one designed for sensitive skin, natch - the Tata Harper Refreshing Cleanser.  I haven't come to any firm conclusions about it yet, it's a cream cleanser, and I'm always somewhat ambivalent about cream formulas, but it hasn't cause any irritation, so hoorah for that!

So, what's been on your face this last week?  

The Fine Print: PR Samples and personal purchases, as always.


This post: Skincare of the Week 10 January 2016  originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Skincare of the week 29.11.15

I've been ill for a fortnight now - why there weren't any posts on the blog last week, sorry! And this is the skincare I've been using to help myself look approximately normal again.  It's not working, I still look like death warmed up, but at least my skin isn't blotchy and flaking.  For now ...

Monday brought Biologique Recherche Lait, with PixiBeauty Glow Tonic, Murad Eye Cream, Medik8 Red Skin serum (something I'm starting to truly love and rely on), and SkinCeuticals moisturiser - of which there is a full review coming up, because it's a great product on my sensitive oily-combination skin. Oh, and Serozinc, which is an all-time favourite!

Tuesday was the same,  only I swapped in Bioderma Crealine spray for the Serozinc (and in all honesty, I use them both interchangably - if you have one, you probably don't need the other), plus I added in Pestle & Mortar Pure Hyaluronic, for more hydration.  Tuesday was a long day at the office, and I knew I'd need a boost of hydration to get through the day, but I needed a bit of exfoliation first to make it sink in well, so the morning also brought in my much-loved Clarins Gentle Exfoliating Toner.

Wednesday was one of those days where I woke up super exhausted, and it was showing on my face, so I wanted some lovely, buffering, comforting skincare, so I dug out my beloved (truly beloved) May Lindstrom Blue Cocoon Balm, which is an amazing skincare product for sensitised slightly reactive skin like mine.  A rich balm that melts into an oil, and contains natural anti-histamines in the form of blue tansy oil, I use it as a night treatment mostly, but it's superb at protecting from the weather, on occasion.

Thursday - I'm experimenting with the Kiehls' Ultra Facial moisturiser at the moment, which I really liked in conjunction with the Blue Cocoon Balm, and, just because I could, I did a double-cleanse with PixiBeauty Nourishing Cleansing Balm, and Bioessense Miracle Cleansing Water Cleansing Jelly (about which more soon).  I don't normally double-cleanse in the morning , but sometimes you just want to kick things up a bit.

Friday.  KATE SOMERVILLE is back in my routine! I received a little package of the products a while ago, and I've been holding onto them (along with the KS products I've been keeping in my fridge for a good few months now too - thanks to kind friends and family who have been to the US this year, and dragged some back for me) till now.  You're going to be seeing a lot of KS in the coming weeks, but it's always a joy to use them.  I'm currently using the Kate Somerville Nourish Moisturiser, and the Age Arrest Eye Cream, but I'll be rotating a couple of other products in and out of my routine for a couple of weeks.  I also have a couple of pots of Goat Cream, but I'm keeping those mainly as night creams right now.

Saturday - I wanted to do a routine composed entirely of favourite products, both old and new ones, and this was the result.  Zelens Balm Cleanser, which I left on my face for a good five or ten minutes as a mask before removing (not deliberate, but it felt really nice, actually!) Clarins Gentle Exfoliating Toner, Serozinc, Zelens Antioxidant Serum, and three (count them!) Kate Somerville products, the aforementioned Nourish and Age Arrest eyecream, alongside Quench Hydrating Serum, which is one of my favourite products ever.  I probably need the oil-free version for every day use, to be honest, but I do like to use this on days where I'm in no rush to apply my makeup afterwards.

How has your week in skincare been? 


The Fine Print: PR Samples, purchases, and gifts which were  until recently kept in the back of the fridge ...


This post: Skincare of the week 29.11.15 originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Skincare of the Week 15th November 2015

This was a week of two halves, pre-facial (Monday and Tuesday) and post-facial (Weds-Friday).  Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal routines for me, I'd had a bit of an itchy face over the weekend, so broke out some bits and pieces from my "SOS" kit - and more about my sensitive skin routine in detail soon, btw - from Darphin and Clarins to soothe, but it was only a temporary itch once I'd discovered the culprit, which was a night cream I've been testing.  Dropping that for a few days really helped cure the itchy cycle!

I've introduced a new eye product, which is the Murad Renewing Eye Cream, which is a slightly thick cream that promises to diminish wrinkles and deal with dark circles and bags.  After a week of use, I can say it's good, but that I haven't seen any spectacular results so far!  I'll keep you posted. Post-facial, I've introduced some Biologique Recherche products, specifically BR Lait U - a nut-milk based cleanser designed for oil-combination skins, and Sérum Extraits Tissulaires, which is designed to help strengthen and moisturise stressed skin.  I can't recommend a Biologique Recherche facial highly enough at the moment, I had mine at EF Medispa in Kensington, and I loved it.  So thorough, and with excellent - visible - results for several days afterwards.  I was also recommended the cult product Lotion P50W, (which is the sensitive skin version) but sadly they were out of stock on the day. I can tell that I do still need some kind of daily exfoliating product, however, hence the re-appearance of Clarins Gentle Exfoliator on the Friday routine.

In other news, I'm trying to use cooler water to cleanse with - whilst steam is fabulous for skin, I am beginning to wonder if using hot water on my face so much is exacerbating my redness problems.  I'll let you know how this experiment goes!  The idea of cold water on my face on winter mornings doesn't fill me with joy, I have to admit ...



The Fine Print: PR Sample


This post: originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Skincare of the Week 8th November 2015

A bit of a mixed bag this week, skincare wise.  Looking at the pictures all in one place kind of makes it clear that I have certain patterns in product usage - Pixi Glow Tonic, for example, I tend to use for two days then swap to Clarins Gentle Exfoliating Toner.  The one product I've used consistently this week has been Medik8 Red Alert Serum, which I'm liking more and more the more often I use it.  I find it gentle and soothing, and my redness, particularly in the mornings is much reduced.  Doesn't make any difference to my redness when I drink booze though ... oops.  I really like the Skinceuticals moisturiser too.  It's quite a lightweight texture, but it is still plenty hydrating on my combination-oily skin, without leaving a greasy residue.  I'll write more in detail about both these products soon, and there's a full review of the gorgeous Votary Cleansing Oil upcoming too.

I've picked up some more of the Pixi Skintreats range this week, as I've been incredibly impressed with what I've tried from the range so far and I was intrigued to try more - you can see the Milky Hydrating Mist and Glowtion Day Dew in Thursday's picture, but I also have the Glow Pads and a couple of other bits as well. And I'm trialling some new things from Dermalogica and Murad over the next two weeks, it's all go on the skincare front, but I'm looking forward to trying them out!  Have a few more Christmas-themed posts coming up this week first though ...

 The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


This post: Skincare of the Week 8th November 2015 originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

My Current Skin Care Routine

I've tried a lot of skincare this year - and I'll bring you some reviews of some of those brands soon, but I thought it would be nice to talk about what I'm using at the moment, as I'm really happy with it, and my skin is about as good as it's been in the last few years, so I thought people might like to know about it!

First of all, the Clarisonic.  I swear, this has been the single biggest difference I've made to my skin this year.  I, like many people, initially thought it was a bit of a gimmick, after all, it's essentially a giant toothbrush for your face!  But the difference it's made to my skin is amazing.  It's dealt with my troublesome forehead dry patch that I've been plagued with for years, and I've been able to use less product, and need to rely less on heavy foundations as a result.  Truly, the Clarisonic is a habit-changer, and I'm glad it's appeared in my life.  I use mine twice a day, and it's one of those products that you can really tell the difference if you've skipped a day.

A couple of months ago, I bought a collection of Alpha H products from QVC (it contains cleanser, moisturiser, eye cream, liquid gold and a mask - it's the five piece smoothing collection on this page here) and these have formed the basis of my routine ever since.  In particular, I'm a big fan of the balancing cleanser and the Liquid Gold itself.

In the morning, I use the Balancing Cleanser - alongside the Clarisonic, and I find it cooling and refreshing on my skin. I'm not, ordinarily, a fan of cream cleansers, but this doesn't leave any residue, and leaves my skin feeling clean and smooth.  There's no real scent to it, and I've had no breakouts whatsoever since I bought it. I have a massive 200ml tube which has lasted me two months so far and I estimate I'm about half way down it so far. However, I do not double cleanse, I find that on my (sensitive, and temperamental) skin, double cleansing is just a recipe for dryness and redness, personally.

I follow this with the Alpha H Age Delay Lip and Eye cream, and then I've been following it with Murad Active Radiance serum, which provides a massive vitamin C boost for the skin, and helps repair sun damage.  I like that is absorbs quickly, and it gives my skin a little tingle in the mornings when I use it.  I follow that with either Murad Sheer Lustre Day Moisture (SPF 15), if I'm planning to wear foundation that day, it's a nice, very light lotion that leaves my skin with a nice sheeny glow and provides a great base for some of the foundations I've been trialling recently. There's a golden sheen to it in the tube, which just adds a little radiance to my skin, and I like it a great deal.

If it's a day where I just want a tinted moisturiser, then I'll break out my tried and trusted Bobbi Brown Tinted Moisturising Balm in Light-to-medium. I love this product, and have been using it for at least five years now, it's pigmented enough to even out your skintone, but it's also, let's face it, a damn fine moisturiser. It's also one of the nicest smelling cosmetic products I own, I love the stuff, and this must be my fifth or even sixth jar now, it's a summer staple.

In the evenings, I once again cleanse with the Balancing Cleanser (or, if it's an OTT makeup day, I use Nude Cleansing Oil), again with the eyecream, and then follow with the  Alpha H Liquid Gold.  Initially, I thought this was a toner, but it's actually a glycolic acid-based treatment that gently helps to resurface your skin overnight.  I love this stuff, it's one of very few products where you can actually see the difference in your skin the morning after.  Your skin will just glow, and you'll look like you had at least ten hours sleep.  My only issue with this product is that you have to apply it to cotton wool, and it turns out that I really don't like applying things with cotton wool.  Yes, I'm a bit odd.  It's fine, I'm used to it.

It's not really recommended that you use Liquid Gold every night (you'll resurface yourself into oblivion if you do!) so on aternate nights, I use the Rejuvenating Cream as a night treatment.  Meant for daily use on mature skins, this is a little too rich for me to use all the time, but I find every other night as a boost to the Liquid Gold, it's perfect as a night cream.

This has been a very long post for what is actually a pretty simple routine!  I'm currently swapping in a couple of new products (changing the night cream, and the serum, basically), for review purposes but this is what I've been using for the last couple of months, and I've loved it.  What's your current routine, and what wonder products have you found and enjoyed recently?

The Fine Print: Some of the products mentioned in this post were provided by PR for review purposes.  Others I bought.  It doesn't matter which is which.  I like what I like, and it matters not in the slightest under those circumstances how I came by the product.  So there, how's about them apples?