January's Glossybox!

It has been a long time coming this month, but here is the January edition of Glossybox! I haven't been all that impressed with Glossybox in the last quarter of the year, some of the products left the mind blogging as to why in earth they would be included and even some of the 'themes' made no sense compared to the accompanying products.

Anyway it is now 2014 and here I am hoping Glossybox have got their act together before I log in and finally hit that cancel button...  Here is the contents of my box:

So back to basics is the topic and subject of the box and Glossybox has had a bit of a make-over.  The box is much pinker than usual and glossier and the ribbon on the inside is a nice touch... but the products this month... well:

Anatomicals Puffy The Eye Bag Slayer Wake-up Under Eye Patches - made me giggle as the name is funny and apparently if you look like a character from The Walking Dead these eye patches should reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and revitalise the delicate area around my eyes.  A full size pack of 3 retails for £6 and in my pack there are two.

Vaseline Essential Moisture Lotion - a non-greasy moisture lotion to keep your skin supple and looking great.  This is a 50ml bottle, nowhere near fullsize (which would cost £4.99) not too chuffed to have this in my box as I am not that much of a fan of Vaseline products personally.

Balance Me Super Toning Body Wash - another 50ml product and one I am happy to see because I am a huge fan of the Balance Me range and this is a product I am yet to try.  Said to have a blend of juniper, bergamot, geranium and lavender essential oils, this body wash is a good way to start your day.

Yu-Be Moisturising Skin Cream - 2 sample tubes with 3g in each.  This product is a multi-use cult moisturising cream from Japan which revamps your skin, enriching it with Vitamin E, Vitmain B2, Camphor and has a uniquely high glycerine content.  Not heard of this before, but will see what it is like once I use it.

The final product, the one I knew would be in the box is this lovely floral design tweezers from The Vintage Cosmetic Company.  You can never have too many pairs of tweezers and these ones are actually quite good and retail for £8 and I believe the only full sized product in the box!

So, erm that is it! What do you think?

Balance Me BB Natural Perfection SPF 25

I am yet to find my Holy Grail BB Cream, I have tried 3 or 4 and they were alright, but would I repurchase them, I am not too sure. When this box from Balance Me dropped through my letterbox I was quite excited when I saw what was inside. Allow me to introduce you to their very own BB Cream*, a product which sold out as soon as it became available and one I have been itching to get my paws on. I am a huge fan of the Balance Me range and I first came across the BB Cream when I got a sneak preview at the Debenhams beauty event that I was lucky to attend and which you can read about HERE.

The Balance Me BB Natural Perfection SPF 25 to give it, its proper title is described as being

"A high-tech formula designed to create a naturally active daily skin perfector that leaves skin radiant and glowing, thanks to our sophisticated mineral-based tint. To support the structure of your skin and to smooth away signs of daily wear and tear, our SPF 25 BB cream contains an innovative natural titanium dioxide-based sun filter to block out both UVA and UVB rays. Our hand-picked ingredients were chosen to both enhance the activity of our sun filter and boost complexions. We’ve blended Abyssinian and rosehip oils with anti-oxidant rich, collagen and elastin-boosting blackberry leaf extract to help firm and smooth the surface of the skin; the purest grade of hyaluronic acid to help plump and bind in moisture; spruce knot, lotus flower and violet seed extracts to help calm any redness to give you a beautifully even skin tone"

Now I am more than impressed that it has an SPF 25, the one thing I want from and in my products these days is an SPF and something around 20-25 is perfect for my face. What's more with this BB Cream is that it has, what is referred to as a five-fold action to nurture and enhance your skin and they are:

1. Prime
2. Moisturise
3. Smooth skin
4. Protect with an SPF of 25
5. Deeply hydrate

Now this cream smells incredible, as soon as you squeeze some onto your hand all of those essential oils rushing to your senses making them coming alive and it smells absolutely wonderful.

When it comes to application, it couldn't be simpler.  It can be applied directly onto your freshly cleansed skin or over a moisturiser and using your fingertips, you simply blend it to give that natural, radiant and dewy glow.  What i love about this product is that the coverage is lovely and light, it doesn't make me look orange and it does make my skin feel lovely and nourished specially given that it contains high grade natural hyaluronic acid which we know is brilliant for our skin, camellia and jojoba oils which help with moisturising your skin, rosehip oil to help calm and then Abyssian oil for smoothing and anti-ageing, add that to the SPF 25 and your skin is getting some serious protection and TLC.

I use this BB cream daily with Benefit Hello Flawless over the top and my make-up lasts all day, so on a normal working day that can be anything from 8-10 hours depending on how busy I am, again I found the staying power quite impressive.

This product hit the shelves in November and a 40ml tube retails for £26 which you can see HERE and since this product came through my letterbox I have worn it almost everyday, it is just brilliant and it leaves my skin feeling soft, smooth and moisturised not to mention looking lovely.

Have you tried this product? Would you like to try it?

My Favourite Products of 2013 - Part 3

So far I have brought to you my favourite hair and body and lip products for 2013 and today you get to read about my favourite face products.

Face

I found this one of the easiest categories to put together from all of the ones that I am sharing with you in this little series of posts.

DermaCo Revitalising Toner - I was introduced to DermaCo back in August and reviewed the product I am featuring today which you can see HERE.  This is my second bottle of the Toner which shows how much I really like.  It looks really good alonside my other products which sit on my bedside table and when I use it, it leaves me skin feeling soft, smooth and incredibly clean and there is no horrible chemical scent which used to put me off wanting to use Toners.

HealGel Face and Eye - Two products that would always feature in my favourites because they are just that.  I reviewed the Eye product which you can find HERE and the Face version is coming up on my blog shortly. From the packaging which is superb to the effects this product claims and lives up to, it is brilliant.

Balance Me Radiance Face Oil - One of my favourite brands to date, Balance Me introduced me to the world that is facial oil, a product that I never thought I would be able to using having combination/oily skin.  This was the first facial oil I used and I reviewed it HERE and I still love how it makes my skin feel.

La-Roche Posay Thermal Spring Water - a product I bought on the recommendation of other bloggers and one that I have enjoyed using, particularly when we had that hot blast of weather in the summer. I reviewed it HERE and love how it refreshed my skin whilst cooling me down during those hot few weeks.

Simple Kind to Skin Illuminating Radiance Cream - I am a huge huge fan of Simple products because you get exactly what you pay for and they do what they claim to do.  I love this Skin Illuminating Radiance Cream which I reviewed HERE and I love how it made my skin feel once I had applied it and it certainly adds a little something.

Origins High Potency Night A Mins Mineral Enriched Renewal Cream - Which is a bit of a mouthful to say but worth saying.  I got this cream in my goody bag after attending my very first blogger event with Company magazine and I had been looking for a good night cream and having been given this decided to try it out.  A review of it is coming soon but what I can say about it is that the cream itself is a really lovely texture which sinks into your skin as soon as it is applied and in the morning when I wake up, my skin feels lovely and moisturised, so it is especially good when my skin is needing a little TLC.

There you have my favourite skin care products of 2013, seven of them in total and each one of them has been a product I have gone back to time and time again.  

Would or have any of these products feature in your favourite products list?

#SkinClinic with Balance Me

Did you know that  know that Balance Me are running a #skinclinic all this week between 2pm via Facebook and twitter? Have you taken part? If not, you still can today.

If you are a Balance Me fan, all you need to do is send your individual skin concern as a tweet or Facebook Comment so that the Balance Me experts can help guide them you to your perfect skincare regime.

Do you want to target particular concerns such as fine lines, lacklustre skin and dry complexions, or learn about our naturally-active ingredients and how they can work for you?  We will give you expert advice tailored to your query whether you want to prevent and protect in your thirties or rehydrate and repair in your sixties. 

Skin Clinic OPEN Tuesday 15th - Friday 18th October, 

12pm - 2pm.

Simply post on the Balance Me facebook wall or send a tweet your skin concerns during the #skinclinic opening hours and the experts will come back to you straight away.

Let me know how you get on!

Unusually balanced - that's me!!

Unlike most people, I am quite new to the Balance Me range, until this particular product I was yet to actually try something from the range, despite seeing them everywhere.

Radiance Face oil tells you that it will "enhance skins natural lustre" and that it is 100% natural.  I also like that on the back of the box, as shown below you can read the following - "smooth away the years with our highly emollient, 100% natural face oil.  Skin lacking in lustre is enhanced with a rich, replenishing blend of naturally active and smoothing ingredients. Don't be afraid to use this if your skin is prone to congestion as oil on oil is extremely balancing, hydrating and comfortable to wear".

That little blurb on its own answered the question for me as to whether or not having combination skin; leading more to the oily side would work well with this oil.  Never in my life have I used a product like this on my skin, more through fear of expecting to turn into a bottle of vegetable oil and making my skin super shiny, however until you try it I guess you just never know.

Inside the box I was surprised to find how lovely the glass bottle looked, the oil itself is almost orange and reminded me a little bit of some extra virgin olive oil that I have in my cupboard.  This 30ml bottle comes complete with a little pipette that you use to dispense the oil onto your hands. The reason you drop it onto your hands is because your body's natural temperature helps to warm up the oil as the 'directions' show on the side of the box, which again you can see in the picture below. 

I like how clear the directions of use are and that it explains fully how to use this oil to get the full benefits such as massaging in circular motions and words such as toxins, circulation and boost cell renewal all catch the eye and attention as you read.

When you first apply this to your face, I was surprised, infact I was so surprised at how non-greasy it felt.  I had been expecting to find a mini oil slick on the palms of my hands but quite the opposite, as soon as you apply to your face it has absorbed itself in double quick time leaving nothing behind except glowing skin that was silky smooth to the touch. My skin hasn't broken out in any spots, it doesn't irritate my skin nor make it itchy, all of which has slightly surprised me, again having never used oil on combination skin I was waiting for something to go wrong - it didn't.  Usually around the time of my monthly visit I sometimes get one or two spots around my chin which annoy me because I'm not used to having them, using this product they didn't even make an appearance, again another thumbs up from me.

All of the ingredients within this oil are natural and you have no less than 8 base oils which includes:

• Amazonian Buriti Nut, Cameilla and Rosehip Oil all of which work to reduce redness and address uneven skin tones and minimise the visible signs of scarring. 
• Add to that Yarrow, Benzoin and Roman Camomile which work together to create a highly moisturising effect.  
• You will also find Sweet Almond Oil which smells divine and again helps to keep your skin feeling soft, smooth and moisturised and finally there is grape seed oil, again an ingredient that works with the other 7 and again has moisturising properties for the skin.

When I use this oil, I tend to use it first thing in the morning after getting out of the shower and before I go to bed having removed all my make-up and the days dirt and grime and before I add any extra moisturiser even though some days I feel as though my skin is not in need of anything else.  The smell is perhaps the one thing I'm not too keen on, I had hoped the sweet almond oil would be the dominant fragrance within this product but what you get is something quite herb like, and it isn't off-putting in any way and wouldn't stop me from using it.

This product retails at £30 for a 30ml bottle from the Balance Me website which isn't cheap but when you are only using 3 - 4 drops per day, it is certainly going to last quite a while.  I have no hesitations when it comes to recommending this facial oil, I love how it makes my skin feel, I love the pipette application because it is so different to the products I would usually use and makes applying it a little lore fun. A great face oil that does leave your skin feeling soft and smooth to the touch whilst leaving your skin glowing.  For me this would be a definite re-purchase.

Which balance me products do you use?

Have you tried any face oils?