Lotil - The Ultimate Cream for Everyone

Last August, I managed to trip over the tiniest step, land fully on my ankle and not only overstretch a tendon but also tear every ligament too, apparently I was very unlucky because a break would have been easier to fix!  That said, I spent weeks on crutches, the only way I could get too and from work and very few Blog events, as well as having an ankle support bandage to ensure that whilst I moved around, my ankle did not.  Throughout that time, if you follow me on Instagram, I did share some of the horrors of my ankle and lower leg turning all different shades of black, purple, green and the most amazing shade of yellow - something I will spare you from right now.

Fast forward to May and I still have a swollen ankle. If I walk too much it swells up and if I don't rest it, it aches and we go round and round and in circles waiting for it to heal properly.  Wearing an ankle support and bandage constantly means I can only wear trainers because bending my foot to wear any other form of shoe is agony after a few minutes and trainers allow my support bandage to do its job, but this has lead to very very dry skin around the top of my foot, just above and around my ankle.  So having tried a few different creams, I was sent a pot of Lotil Original Cream to try., a cream I had seen on my social media feed but hadn't really tried before.

Tried and tested for over 100 years, Lotil cream is a skincare hero. It can benefit everyone by gently rehydrating dry skin, adding moisture retention and providing the maximum protection against both environmental and climatic conditions.

That is as good enough a description as I needed to give the cream a try. I like that it comes packaged inside a hefty tub, it isn't too OTT with the packaging and what you see if definitely what you get.

The cream is a similar texture to Sudocrem for me, quite thick but that is where the similarities end because with Lotil, you have a cream that is non-greasy, it doesn't feel tacky on the skin when applied and nor do you have to sit and massage it into the skin for what feels like a week to ensure it has all been absorbed.  With Lotil, you only need a small amount because it is very much the case of less is more and what I do like is how my skin feels after using it.

As I said, the skin around my ankle injury was really dry and just felt horrendous to the touch, so I applied a fairly thick layer of cream before bed and let it works its magic. I am now a good few weeks into using it every single day, just around my ankle and the difference is quite something, I am not quite back to how my skin was, slowly but surely there have been improvements and I am less of a snake shedding its skin feeling to having dry skin on one part of my ankle.  Lotil prides itself in being packed full of emollients, which rapidly rehydrate the skin and where needed, softens chapped, dry and cracked skin.

Lotil is perfect for use on hands, elbows, knees, body and face and it is available online and instore from places such as Boots for £6.29.

Have you ever tried Lotil?

*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page.

Cult Beauty Mini’s

I am a huge fan of mini products and if you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen just how many I have from L’Occitane! For me, they are great for holidays and short breaks and more so, if you have a whole host of products you want to try, then the option for trying a smaller size at a fraction of the cost, especially when you might not like the product after all. In the past, I have been one of those persons who has loved the sound of a product only to purchase it and find that it hasn’t been right for me and I’ve essentially wasted hard earned money.

Cult Beauty in their infinite wisdom have recently launched their Mini product section* on the website and I am in impressed with the number of brands and products there is on offer.

We live in an age where brands are literally inventing, reinventing, sly copying, duping, reformulating and even re-packaging, to that end, I constantly have a huge list of makeup, haircare, skincare and even bath products that I really want to try.

Here is a list of the five mini items I currently have in my Cult Beauty basket:

Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask (£19.50 30ml) - Anything K-Beauty related is automatically going to capture my attention and this mask has been on my radar for quite some time now and for me, this is a great way to try it.  Described as being a luxuriously ‘bouncy’, lightweight, gel-like sleeping mask, this mask uses watermelon extract, for its ability to soothe irritated and inflamed skin hydrating hyaluronic acid and exfoliating, pore-refining alpha-hydroxy acids that get to work while you sleep.

Saturday Skin No Bad Days Kit (£31) - Another brand who keeps catching my eye on Instagram is Saturday Skin with their bright pastel pink packaging.  This Kit features four of the brands products which are the Rub-A-Dub Refining Peel Gel (20ml), Daily Dew Hydrating Essence Mist (30ml), Wide Awake Brightening Eye Cream (15ml) and Featherweight Daily Moisturising Cream (30ml) and it is a great way to be introduced.

Therapie Discovery Kit (£44) - I absolutely adore the Himalayan Bath Salts from Therapie, literally the best bath salts I have ever used, so naturally, I want to try everything else to offer.  This Discovery Kit contains Boost Hair & Body Wash (50ml), Equilibrium Bath & Shower Essence (30ml), Himalayan Detox Salts (70g), Cherish Skin Repair Serum (30ml) and Restore Aura Spray (30ml).

Hourglass Caution Extreme Mascara (£12) - Having seen this mascara raved about by some of my favourite bloggers, I want to try it and the travel size is half the price of a full-size version and I am totally lured in.  Described as being a Mascara which gives enviable length, extreme volume and eye-opening definition for your most explosive lash look ever.

The final item currently sitting in my basket is the Natasha Denona Mini Bronze and Glow Compact (£16).  There is no denying that every single product released by Natasha Denona is just stunning, but the prices often make my eyes water, so currently, this Bronzer and Highlighter has my attention because the price point is pretty good and if I don't like it, I haven't wasted a lot of money.

Alongside these products, there are well over 200 other options to choose from including products from NARS, Drunk Elephant, Morphe, Iconic London, Benefit, Too Faced and many more.

Are you a fan of mini products? 

*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page.

Pixi by Petra Endless Silky Eye Pen Kit

As well as having some of the most amazing skincare that I have tried, Pixi by Petra also has quite an incredible range of makeup too and on my blog, I have featured Liquid Lipsticks, Lipsticks, Lip Balms, Eyeliners and much more.  

Today is the turn of the Pixi by Petra Endless Silky Eye Pen Kit (£18 here*) a collection of the Pixi award-winning waterproof liners.

I am always the first to admit that eyeliner is not one of the products I find myself using a lot of and equally I don't purchase many either, but if there is one eyeliner that I am going to use, it happens to be the Black Noir Pixi option, which is my go to.

Create a professional eye makeup look with the PIXI Endless Silky Eye Pen Kit. Waterproof, long-wearing and smudge-resistant, each award-winning eyeliner glides on effortlessly in a single sweep to create a smooth, flawless line with ultimate control and intense colour payoff.

The Endless Silky Eye Pen Kit contains four pencils in shades Antique Gold, Matte Sienna, Bronze Beam and Black Noir.

The swatches shown above are unedited and they show from left to right  Antique Gold which is a beautiful yellow toned gold, Matte Sienna which I absolutely love as a colour and it is more of a burnt orange than an orange, the third shade is called Bronze Beam and it is the most stunning bronze shade that works so well with so many different eyeshadow shades and finally we have Black Noir which is one of the most pigmented black eyeliners I have used.

My reluctance to use a lot of eyeliner comes from having the worlds most unsteady hand, it is as though as soon as I have an eyeliner pencil in my hand, I am suddenly sat on a washing machine, but Black Noir is one of the shades I can happily use with no problems. Each shade is smudge-proof so to blend it, you need to do so immediately after applying, pigmented, long-lasting and I have found them to be the best at not drying out and becoming cakey.  They don't drag or pull at the skin and nor do they irritate my eyes.

In total, the Pixi by Petra Silky Eye Pen has a collection of over 26 shades and to buy separately they cost just £12 each and are an absolute bargain.

*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page.

Diego dalla Palma Nuda Eyeshadow Palette

Nude eyeshadow palettes are my absolute weakness. It is my comfort zone, they are shades I like to wear daily and I feel most of the shades I choose to wear work well with how I like to dress.  There are some days when I want the full-on smokey eye and others when I want the barely there, but it is there look.

The New Nuda Eyeshadow Palette from Diego Dalla Palma is one of those palettes that jumps right out at me and says 'You NEED me' and it is true, I do.  Since it arrived a good few months ago, it has been my go-to palette for every single day.

As you can see, the Nuda Eyeshadow Palette is a hard plastic casing which is incredibly durable and it contains a mirror which fits the entire top of the casing. Inside the palette Nuda contains 12 stunning, highly pigmented shades all of which are nude and warm colours and they are said to have been inspired by the colours of the earth.  

The shades are:

• Naked - This is a beautiful neutral brown which works really well on its own for a smokey eye or alongside Madame Skin.
• Bare Green - Green is not usually a shade I would choose, but this earthy green with a hint of shimmer is just stunning.
• Ballerina - This is a stunning soft champagne gold shade and again, you can use it alone or with any of the other shades. 
• All About Nude -  This is the perfect nude. Not too brown, not too light, perfectly blends and is one you can add too for an evening look. 
• Lace - Another Shimmer which takes on a bit of a gold tone to it in the light
• Skin Tone - Is almost a peachy shade, I have used this as a base shade a few times and it is also great for the 'not there eye makeup days'.
• Chiffon - This is a really lovely, almost orange shimmer shade and it is one I use alongside Lady Nude.
• Venus - The one shade I have also used as a highlighter because it is stunning. A shimmer shade which isn't too gold or yellow, but almost barely white and I love it. 
• Too Mauve - This isn't mauve at all, it is a much red toned deep pink shade depending on the light and it works great on its own or with a bit of shimmer.
• Nuda - For me, this is the weakest shade on the palette and it is a really light almost yellow tone shade, again, works better as a base shade and with the lighter shimmers.
• Lady Nude - This is my go-to shade, the one I have used the most. It is the barely-there nude and it works with every other shade on this palette.
• Madame Skin - My second favourite shade on the palette after Lady Nude and it is a brown shimmer with a very slight bronze hue, noticeable in direct light.

What I love about this palette is that each one of the shades, whether it is a shimmer or a matte, works well with something else on the palette and they are all just so versatile and pigmented. As you can see from the swatches below, which are totally unedited and you see them as I swatched them, there are just some beautiful shades to work with.

 I love that this palette is suitable for all skin tones and I love that there is the most stunning shade of Green, one which I have used and it isn't my favourite colour usually to go for because I have blue eyes.

This Diego Dalla Palma Nuda Eyeshadow Palette is priced at just £29.50 from Marks and Spencer* and £32.50 from Lookfantastic*.

*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page.