Biotrue Solution for Soft Contact Lenses

So recently I've switched from gas permeable to soft monthly contact lenses. It's not been too difficult a change apart from pinching them out of my eyes at the end of the day rather than just pulling the corner of my eye and poppin' em out. What I couldn't figure out was why people were always saying to me how much more comfortable soft lenses were over gas permeable. To me they were still irritating and stung slightly when I first put them in.

But low! After two weeks I went back to the specialist for a check up on the new lenses and turns out I was having an allergic reaction to the solution they'd originally given me (good job I didn't review that one huh?). She suggested trying Biotrue instead which it turned out when I went to scour the shelves was the only alternative they had in stock at the time anyway. She'd warned me it was pretty expensive but also felt it was the best currently on the market.

I was pretty stunned by the price - particularly having just paid out £230 for new glasses (and that was with a half price deal!) and £36 for the first 3 months sets of contact lenses. £14.99 for 300ml! I'm used to £5/6. But effectively trapped into buying it, I grudgingly took it to the counter.

When I put my lenses in the next morning (having soaked them in the Biotrue) over night, all my grudges disappeared. No stinging when I put them in, beautiful clear vision whereas before I'd had some trouble focussing with the new lenses and most importantly as the day went on, my eyes were no where near as dry as they'd felt previously. So much so that for the first time I didn't have a massive headache by the end of the day.

The tagline is 'inspired by the biology of your eyes' and actually I'm really feeling that, not just in my eyes either - you know that moment when you're putting them in and you inevitably have a solution covered finger or two afterwards? Usually the feeling is kinda sticky, turning into a weird white film as it dries out, but this stuff feels more like tears, evaporating away without feeling chemically.

I'm really quite thrilled with this stuff but the price will definitely be an issue for me. I really just can't see myself paying £15 a month unless I absolutely have to, so will try some more solutions until I hopefully find one that suits both my pocket and my eyes.

Rating out of 10: 8 (bought down by the price)

The Good:
Natural feeling, non-sticky solution

The Bad:
I find myself using a lot of it as it's so watery, an issue when the price is what it is.

The Ugly:
£14.99 from Boots, though now they're having a 25% off solutions sale. But online it ranges greatly from multipack deals which bring the price to around £10 for 300ml to some places selling for over £17! Guess it pays to shop around.

Christmas Sparkle!

On the way home today, I stopped at The Body Shop to pick up some body butter and came across this:

Christmas Sparkler!

I tried it - it's awesome! I'd already paid by that time so didn't pick one up but am sorely tempted to get one the next time I pass by - has anyone tried it before??

Body Shop Vitamin E Lip Care

This review is in honour of Ellen who got engaged last Friday (woo!) and also introduced me to this lovely little product some time ago.

Everyone knows The Body Shop right? Right! So I don't need to go through the company's history. There are products I love and some I hate from the store, but The Body Shop's Vitamin E Lip Care stick is a little piece of wonder. I've deviated from it many times, tempted by those flavoured lip balms, scented lip balms, glittery lip balms... but ultimately I always have one of these on me as it just does what it should.

It's the usual 'glue stick' type application (if it ain't broke why fix it eh?) and at 4.2g it's easy to pop into your purse, pocket, clutch bag etc whenever you need it. The consistency is just perfect for me as it's enough that you can feel it's there moisturising away, but none of that ugh stickyness which on a windy day ends up with you with a ton of hair stuck to your lips.

It has a very slight sweetness to it on your lips which is pleasant without tasting artificially fruity. The smell reminds me of coconut but it's mild enough not too irritate those that don't like a lot of scent in their products.

Best of all you really feel like this is working on your lips. I use this every night before bed and in the morning I just don't have that weird wrinkly lip thing going on that I do if I don't use it. The vitamin E (a renowned anti-oxidant), beeswax and olive oil ingredients make this product a true staple for your bag and the packaging is grown-up enough that even the guys won't mind carrying this.

Finally, as one that really believes in the damage the sun can do to your skin, it's nice to know that this little stick also acts as an SPF 15... even though I don't think I've ever actually experienced sun burnt smackers!

All in all, a lip care product you can't go wrong with!

Rating out of 10: 9

The Good:
Small handy size
Delicate scent and taste
Results in soft, smooth lips
Can be used under a lipstick or coloured lip gloss
SPF 15

The Bad:
Made in the USA??? Think of that carbon footprint! Yes I'm clutching at straws, there's nothing bad to say about this little product!

The Ugly
At £4 it's more than your average chapstick, but then it does so much more. The consistency is thicker than average too so you use very little. One of these sticks lasts me at least 4 months of regular daily use. Available only from The Body Shop.

Botanicals Face Care 'Try Me' Set in Chamomile & Mandarin

Reasonably enthused by my purchase of the Botanicals Mineral Foot Soak, I set out to try some more products by them. I made a trip to the website and bought one of their “Try Me” Organic Skin Care sets. I bought the Chamomile and Mandarin set as it was quipped as being for normal/sensitive skin - no oily skin option, however there is Rose and Camellia for dry skin.

Here is the set and a coin for scale:

Yep it’s tiny... My first impressions were the “Cleansing Melt” which is the dedicated cleanser part of this range is a pot so small I think I’m going to get one use out of it once i’ve scooped it out with my little finger. Two if I’m lucky. The skin polish (exfoliator) is likewise tiny. There’s then a little bottle of skin tonic (toner) and serum which will proabably be good for 5 or so applications – more what I would expect from a try me kit as I tend to think you can’t tell much from a single application of skin care... it takes a while for your skin to react (negative or postively!) to new products. So...for the price... mega disappoint!

On the brightside, these are certified organic products, made in England from sustainably sourced, 100% natural ingredients. There’s no petro-chemicals or synthetic stuff, so if you like all that kind of thing, you’ll be impressed by the ‘purity’ of the Botanicals range.

I was disappointed with the scent of my set... As someone who tends to like fruity over floral scents, I thought this would be awesome, but actually, they sent me a tester pot of the Rose and Calendula cleansing melt too as a free gift and this smells far more beautiful. The Camomile and Mandarin is more subtle, but hey, some people don’t like a lot of scent in their products so maybe you’re one of them.

On to the testing...

Okay so the face melt did actually last about five applications, you don't need too much of it. The product has a greasy consistency suggesting it's pretty enriched with oils and after rubbing it into my face, I used a muslin cloth to remove it. Except you can't remove all of it. True to oils, a residue remains on your skin which I'm sure is very moisturising but personally I just can't stand it. It's like I've exchanged natural face grease after a day at work for just another type of grease so my face just doesn't feel clean to me. The skin polish seemed to be exactly the same formula as the skin melt with the addition of some fine exfoliating grains. This was actually quite a nice product as it was very gentle on the skin but you feel that it's still doing something about removing those dead skin cells. However still there was the greasy feeling once you'd removed the product.

On to the skin tonic and this was by far my favourite of the selection. Mild, cooling and refreshing applied with a cotton pad, this took me by surprise after the other two. It also seemed to go some way to removing the greasy feeling of the cleanser. The scent is also strongest in this product so all in all it's really quite a beautiful product.

My understanding of the term 'serum' when applied to skincare is a product which goes into the deeper layers of skin leaving moisturiser to take care of the surface layers. The facial serum in this set seems to be nothing more than a facial oil to me. Far too thick to have a hope of getting to those deeper layers - to be honest it didn't even sink into the upper layers. Once again I was left with that grease-sitting-on-skin feeling which with this product just didn't go away. I could use this overnight perhaps but never prior to going out as I had that shiny face thing going on that looks like I haven't washed for about 5 days. You'd never be able to use make-up on top of this either for at least a few hours.

It's worth pointing out that I do have oily skin, so perhaps on the average person, this set will work wonders - this set is meant to be for normal skin. Botanicals do not currently offer an oily skin option and maybe this is why.

So, if you're oily skinned like me - the tonic is beautiful but everything else you'll likely want to give a miss. I'm also disappointed with the sizes in the "Try Me" set. Even if the products had fantastic potential results for you, you'd likely never know it from the 5 days or so you could scrape out of this set.

Rating out of 10: 5

The Good:
Pleasant scent
Nice refreshing toner
UK products with all natural organic ingredients

The Bad
Poor performance on oily skin
Expensive

The Ugly £7.95 for "try me" set containing 5g pots of cleansing melt and skin polish and 5ml bottles each of skin tonic and facial serum. Expect to pay around £15 each for the full size versions. If you want to give Botanicals a try, they offer a sample of the Rose and Camellia Cleansing Melt and Mint and Tea Tree Foot Balm for free... but you need to pay £1.95 postage.

bareMineral Prime Time Primer Shadow

I’ve always been a fan of bareMinerals eye shadow primers. But recently they’ve gone one better and launched a range of ‘primer shadows’. It’s basically primer with colour!

These tiny tubes so far come in six colours; Chroma Violet (purple), Racing Green (green), Burnished Twig (brown), Urban Nature (silvery violet), Gunmetal (steel grey) and Sundance (golden peach). I bought the Sundance but also tried the Racing Green, Chroma Violet and Gunmetal in store. All of them give fantastic coverage and strong vibrant colour.

Like all bareMinerals eyelid primers, the shadow primer comes in a small 3ml tube. At £16, they’re not cheap, but if you plan to wear any type of powder eye shadow all day, a primer is a must to stop the ‘creasing effect’ where after a few hours, the powder has migrated to the creases in your eye lid. The beauty of the bareMinerals primers are that you need such a teeny tiny amount on each eye, so despite the price, a tube will last you a long time.

The fabulous thing about the primer shadows is that with the addition of

colour, you can use these on their own or underneath powder eye shadows. My Sundance tube for example looks fabulous underneath a gold powder shadow with accents of brown or dark blue in the corners. But, on the days I can’t be arsed to fancy up that much, I can just wear it on its own – either a very light covering or for a more stand out vibrant look, work it up in a few more layers. I use my little finger to apply it, but you can of course use a precision or eye shadow brush to apply it as well. Beware using too much – you really don’t need a lot of this per eye (maybe a pin head). Too much will end up looking like the Grand Canyon by the end of the day (ie, lots of cracks).

Rating out of 10: 9

The Good:
Quick and easy to apply
Small handy tube, easy to take with you
Stays put all day
Use alone or with powder shadows

The Bad:
Expensive
Small range of colours so far

The Ugly: £16.00 is the RRP, but you can find bareMinerals Primer Shadows for around £13 online at places such as Feel Unique (http://www.feelunique.com/p/Bare-Escentuals-bareMinerals-Prime-Time-Primer-Shadow-3ml) If you live in London and regularly buy bareMinerals products, I’d always make the effort to get to the boutique in Covent Garden as they do a loyalty card scheme. It’s worth remembering as well that though costly, these little tubes do last a looooong time.

Antipodes Deliverance Kowhai Flower Hand Cream

I have a thing about washing my hands... as soon as I get into work in particular it’s the first thing I need to do after holding onto those greasy hand rails on tube/train/bus. Now the colder weather is setting in, I especially find that my hands are dry and sensitive.

Enter Antipodes Kowhai Flower Hand Cream! Enriched with avocado oil (ie. high in vitamin E!) and scented with sweet orange, tonka bean and sandalwood, this light cream is simply beautiful to go to bed with... on your hands.

I was a little thrown by the instructions on the box “Rinse you hands in warm and pure water...” Hrm... well, as pure as Thames water gets I suppose! “...dry gently and caress with cream at sunrise, high noon and sunset...” It’s all very sensual, but ultimately, I squeeze a pea size amount out and rub my hands together. Simples!

It certainly does the job, and it does it well. I can’t stand creams which ‘sit’ on your hands and don’t sink in. This is a non-greasy cream, however I think it doesn’t sink in as well as it might (you know when you wash your hands at some point later? You can feel the cream washing off with the water), but it doesn’t leave you feeling gunky so hey, who cares?

The scent for me is definitely the high point, the sweet orange being definitely the leading scent and also one of my favourites. If you’re more of a floral notes person, it might not be for you.

The Antipodes range, as you might guess, comes from New Zealand. Their main products include skin and body care, but looking at their website, it looks like make-up is on the way too!

Also, FACT OF THE WEEK! Kowhai flowers are regarded as New Zealand’s national flower. They’re yellow and kinda hang like runner beans. The Maori used the bark of the tree as poultices to treat wounds or rub on a sore back. However at the same time, all parts of the Kowhai are apparently poisonous. So yeah, don’t eat your hand cream I guess.

The Good:

Awesome citrus smell. Perfect for evicting cats at bed time.

Non-greasy and sinks in fast

Long-lasting moisturised feeling

The Bad:

At between £15.50 - £16 for a 75ml tube, it’s perhaps fairly expensive.

Antipodes tube packaging is boooooring.

The Ugly: I bought mine for £16.00 online at Appuru (www.appuru.co.uk). You can find it slightly cheaper elsewhere, but I stumbled across this little store online and liked the fact it was independent and family run. I’m a sucker like that. Also the branding is so cute!

Where to buy: Havent seen this range in any High Street stores, but small independent stores specialising in organic and natural skincare do tend to stock Antipodes. You can also shop online at http://www.antipodesnature.com/

Botanicals Natural Foot Soak

I found the most awesome little shop selling organic and natural beauty products in Lower Marsh last week.  It had the most fabulous array of natural products, a lot of which I hadn’t heard of before.  I immediately set to opening tester pots, sniffing and applying.  By the end of the lunch hour, my hands were feeling so laden with products I couldn’t open a bottle of coke, yet I’d left with a small tub of mineral salts which I hadn’t been able to try but smelt too god damn good to leave behind. Yes, it’s another Impulse Buy!

But anyway I was excited.  I whittled away my afternoon at work, occasionally producing the pot and persuading passers by to have a sniff.  The salts have a beautiful scent of mint and tea tree.  So refreshing and up-lifting.  I couldn’t wait to get home to try them out. 

I got a bubbling foot spa for Christmas, so filled it with warm water, then added the recommended two teaspoons of Botanicals Mineral Foot Soak – a blend of Himalayan mineral crystal, Dead Sea and Epsom salts.  I waited a couple of minutes for them to dissolve, pondering in this time if switching on the bubbles would assist this process before deciding I wasn’t entirely sure if adding products to the water in a bubbling foot spa would block it up (anyone know?  It’d be fun to add some essential oils or something). 

After grabbing a towel, I settled down on the sofa and placed my feet in the water.  It was pleasant as warm water always is on tired achey feet.  But I was a little disappointed.  I couldn’t smell the wonderful aroma that had convinced me to buy the Foot Soak in the first place.  It was so strong in the pot, I had felt sure the aroma would filter up from the foot spa and envelop me, lifting my spirits as well as relaxing my feet.

After around 20 minutes of Come Dine With Me, I removed my feet and dried them off with the towel.  These were definitely softer feet than usual.  Very pleasant in fact.  I padded around the flat for a bit and it felt good!  The ache in the arches and heal of my feet were gone and walking just felt ‘soft’.

I finished up with a rice based foot oil I bought in Thailand to try to prolong the feeling then popped on some cotton socks.  The result the next day was wonderfully soft feet.  I was impressed!

On another note, the shop in Lower Marsh also had a potential rival to my beloved Bare Escentuals mineral foundation which I quite fancy trying.  Will likely try to acquire some testers and feedback at a later date. 

Rating out of 10: 9

The Good: 

Beautiful smelling salts

Anti-bacterial tea tree oils

Soft, sweet-smelling footsicles!

The Bad:

Aroma doesn’t quite reach you from the foot spa (perhaps I used too little?!).

The Ugly:  I paid about £12 for my 125g pot at the shop in Lower Marsh, but you can find Botanicals Mineral Foot Soak for £9.95 online at http://www.botanicals.co.uk/.  I reckon it’ll probably last a good while.

Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel

It’s that time of year.... the shops are awash with red gold and green glittery decorations, the Christmas hits long since past are being dusted off and Lush has begun to stock Snow Fairy again. Hooray!

Yes, that’s how I finally know Christmas is coming again... Around about October, I begin to check out Lush stores for the arrival of bottles of pink shimmery goo. Two weeks ago, I finally found my treasured Christmas treat in Lush Covent Garden.

I’m not really sure why they only stock Snow Fairy around Christmas time aside from the name. It doesn’t particularly smell Christmassy – in fact it reminds me more of summer with it’s ultimately candy floss scented notes. I don’t tend to associate Barbie pink with Christmas either... Perhaps it’s the glitter. In any case, the exclusivity of it certainly works on me. Not only do I frantically wait for it’s arrival, but I then stock pile the stuff, in the hopes it’ll last me until next Christmas.

I never really used to buy anything in Lush aside from bath bombs. But in recent years, I’ve dabbled in the haircare, face masks and most of all the shower gels. Snow Fairy is by far my favourite scent. Despite being labelled a shower gel, I use it regularly as bubble bath, and it’s just awesome to be laying back in candy floss scented bubbles. As I’m laying there, I often lament that the glitter just isn’t made enough of. It should be bigger and more obvious! You barely notice it in the bottle, let alone when you’re using it in shower or bath.

Lush also label Snow Fairy as being “for body and hair”. I’ve tried it on my hair and for me it’s a BIG no no. Sure it smells nice for the first few hours, but inevitably around 8 hours later, my hair is looking greasy and reminiscent of Medusa but with rat-tails instead of snakes.

So ultimately, use it liberally in bath or shower, avoid your hair and be enthralled by candy floss bubbles and a shower gel that doesn’t dry out your skin and leave you scratching your legs like a flea-ridden dog.

Rating out of 10: 8

The Good:
The scent will take you back to your fun fair days
Doesn’t dry out your skin
Pink and glittery

The Bad:
Poor performance on oily type hair

The Ugly: £9.95 for 500g, £5.95 for 250g and £3.25 for 100g. Hrm... expensive, especially if you stockpile it like I do.

Where to buy: This product can only be purchased at Lush stores or online at www.lush.co.uk

bareMinerals SPF Foundation

As I mentioned how I was using bareMinerals Foundation over the top of Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector in my last review, I thought I’d make this the basis of my next! 

Reasonably new to UK shores, the bareMinerals range of make up is making fast work of becoming a favourite with those that try it. Started by Leslie Blodgett over in the USA, the bareMinerals range of products were launched in 1995 (it was a good year for beauty, with Liz Earle launching at the same time!). The products pioneered the mineral make-up world, using 100% pure minerals without the nasties. Using minerals renowned for skin healing such as zinc in their powders, meant that unlike some other make-up, skin was getting a helping hand along with great coverage.

I hated foundation. I’d tried cream after cream to try and hide my usually fairly blemished complexion. These tended to make spots and scars even worse as they kind of ‘clustered’ in the repairing dry skin. They also tended to make my skin worse as most of them had gunky consistencies which just sat on my skin. But then my aunt introduced me to the bareMinerals Original SPF 15 foundation and I was hooked. She dragged me along to a bareMinerals event at a local department store (there was a freebie to be had so actually there wasn’t much dragging involved) where I had a ‘make-under’, as the bareMinerals ladies like to call them. When I looked in the mirror afterwards I was transformed. I can’t explain how taken aback I was that there in the mirror was me, but with flawless skin – where had the spots gone? What was this witchery?

I still don’t know how they make this stuff, but it’s amazing. I’d never really even thought to try a powder foundation (powders? Aren’t they for old ladies?!) yet this product managed to do what no other had – every time I use it, it’s like some fairy is sitting on my shoulder air-brushing my face every couple of minutes. The best thing was the range of shades available (finally a true porcelain skin shade rather than looking ever so slightly yellow/orange!). I use the very lightest of them, ‘Fair’, but there are 20 different shades to choose from, and heck if one of those doesn’t suit you, (or you’re slightly more tanned than usual after getting back from holiday) they’re powder – just mix a couple of shades together to create your own!

The only difficulty with this product is mastering how to use it. The temptation is usually to use too much, but you seriously only need a tiny amount to cover your face. The next trick is the brush. I did invest in an actual bareMinerals kabuki brush, so I’m not sure how it would compare with using another type of brush. Using the lid of the bareMinerals pot of foundation, tip a small amount of the powder in, then ‘swirl’ the brush around the lid to pick up all the particles. Tap off any excess then ‘buff’ on to your face in circular motions. If you’re not quite covered, keep buffing! Adding more powder usually turns out pretty bad. For any particularly bad spots, I use a smaller precision brush swirled in a tiny bit of powder to touch up these areas.

The ‘look’ lasts most of the day, particularly if you use a primer before hand. This is a good thing as the only downside to the powder is the packaging – the first pot I bought was a nightmare. If you carried it around in your bag, the powder would shake through the filter and collect in the lid so when you opened it it went everywhere! Recently however they’ve introduced ‘lockable’ pots which are genius and stop the spillages.

This is a truly wonderful product, which won’t fail to give you results time after time.

Rating out of 10: 9

The Good:
Beautiful ‘air-brushed’ look skin
Wide range of shades to suit everyone

The Bad:
Tricky to get the hang of applying
Expensive
Can be messy

The Ugly: £23 for an 8g pot. This will last you at least 3 months of every day use however. If you’re new to bareMinerals, they also do a great starter kit for £48 which is excellent value for money as all the contents bought separate, particularly the brushes, are far more expensive Downside if you’re fair skinned like me, this kit isn’t available with the ‘Fair’ foundation. Also keep an eye on QVC for great value funky kits.

Where to buy?:  Until recently, there were very limited concessions selling bareMinerals, in House of Fraser for example.  However the company opened a store in Covent Garden this year and most recently one in Brighton so boutiques are spreading!  I've also heard you can find their concessions in Boots and Debenhams now too.  But if your options are limited, you're best off shopping online either direct from bareMinerals UK or QVC.

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector

Garnier is one of the first brands to jump on the B.B. (Blemish Balm) bandwagon with it’s new Miracle Skin Perfector B.B. Cream. Asia has been crazy on blemish balm creams in the last year and the craze is now taking off here in the West. Reputed to be based on the creams prescribed after laser skin surgery, blemish balms are branded as a ‘miracle in one tube’!

The Cream has numerous benefits, using natural mineral pigments and containing vitamin C, it’s a moisturiser, reduces redness, perfects skin and contains an SPF15.

I first read about the Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector in Glamour magazine and rushed straight out to Boots to buy it. At an affordable £9.99 for a 50ml tube, it’ll suit most pockets. The best thing is, you need very little to get full face coverage too so the tube should last a good while. I instantly noticed a ‘perfecting’ of my skin as all those red blotches and the odd spot became more blended into the rest of my face. I would not say however that this is really a B.B. cream. The coverage just isn't good enough to be used on it's own.

The SPF is always a nice bonus - I purchased just before a holiday to the south of France, which, in September, was still bright strong sunlight every day. The Skin Perfector kept my face sun burn free even though I only applied it once in the morning.

The downside for me personally is that even using a small amount (smaller than pea-size!) it just sort of ‘sits’ on my skin and didn’t seem to sink in. As someone with fairly oily skin, the last thing I need is to feel more ‘gunk’ on my face. It’s also only available in two shades; Light and Medium so opted for the the ‘Light’ shade. However this turned out to still be a bit too dark for my ‘English Rose’ complexion, so you’ll need to do a bit of blending down into the neck and décolletage unless you want to look like you’re wearing an oompa loompa mask. It would be great to see a wider variety of ‘shades’ and kinda surprising they haven't completed the set with a 'dark' shade.

I’ve since experimented with it alot, using smaller amounts (to try to avoid the ‘gunky’ feeling), on its own and under make up. I’ve enjoyed using it under Bare Minerals make-up particularly instead of primer. It holds the powder well all day and as I’m using foundation powder on top of it, it tones down the colour of the B.B. Cream.

Beware as well, if you don't like a lot of scent in your beauty products, this has a quite strong (but pleasant) smell.

Rating out of 10: 8

The Good:
Instantly ‘perfects’ skin, evening out red blotches and blemishes – really good to just slap on and run out to the shops rather than putting on full make-up.
Affordable
Good skin protection from the pre-mature ageing effects of the sun

The Bad:
May be unsuitable for those of the ‘oily skin’ disposition
Currently available in only two shades

The Ugly: £9.99 is the RRP, but you can get it online for £7.99 (Superdrug) or £8.99 from many webstores. Garnier is also currently offering free samples of the ‘Light’ shade, just fill in your details here

Where to buy? Most high street beauty stores like Boots, Superdrug etc

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish

I um'd and ah'd about what my first blog review should be about. Cleanse & Polish was the first thing to jump to mind. But 'no!' I said to myself, 'the product has had more than enough rave reviews in it's 15 years in existence'

But maybe that's the point. This outstanding cleanser wins consumer voted award time after time and there's a reason for that. This creamy, wonderful smelling product using fine quality botanical ingredients is probably the most perfect cleanser available today. The reasons for this are instantly obvious in a way the benefits of the average cleanser are not.

So what is this product and why is it so special?

Liz Earle was founded in 1995 by Liz Earle and long term friend Kim Buckland to provide women with natural products which really work. Having sensitive skin herself, Liz particularly was against harsh chemicals commonly found in cleansing products (such as benzyl ). The company is started and remains based on the Isle of Wight. As they promote themselves, a true British beauty brand.

Cleanse & Polish is their flagship (and only!) cleanser. The product suits any skin type, relying on the customers choice of moisturiser to deal with particular skin issues. It's a wonderful luxuriant cream smelling of fabulous rosemary, eucalyptus and cocoa butter which never fails to lift my spirits first thing in the morning and last thing at night.  Smoothed all over your face, the formula is so gentle you can use it on your eyes and amazingly, it will remove make-up - even waterproof mascara!  This is the 'Cleanse' stage.

The real magic to this product that sets it apart from the rest is the added 'Polish' stage.  Once you're ready to remove the cleanser, soak a pure muslin cloth in warm water, wring out, then begin to buff off the cream.  The muslin acts as an oh-so-gentle exfoliator, removing dead skin cells, the cream and your make-up all in one shot!

The test of a cleanser to me is the aftermath... How does my skin feel, and how long does that feeling last?  Cleanse & Polish leaves your skin tingling, refreshed and most importantly - feeling like skin should!  There's no greasiness, no tight feeling, no stinging and no odd unnatural clean feeling that chemical cleansers leave you with.  As one whose skin seems to have a personal vendetta against me, Cleanse & Polish is like the nuclear bomb in my arsenal.  My skin is far less greasy, glowing and the difference when I've switched to other cleansers is immediately noticeable no matter the price range in question.

Rating out of 10:  9.5

The Good:
Plant based cleanser with naturally active ingredients such as camomile, eucalyptus and cocoa butter - no nasties!
Long-lasting clean feeling
Results from first use
Suitable for all skin types and ages - there's also now a male branded version for the guy in your life!


The Bad: 
C&P comes in either 100 or 200ml in either a pump or tube.  I personally always opt for the pump over the tube as due to the compression, when the pump is empty, you know you've got every last bit.  The tube you will need to cut open if you want to get the most for your money!  Using the pump once every time you cleanse also means you get just the right amount of cleanser each time, saving you more money.

The Ugly?  A 100ml tube or pump of Cleanse & Polish will set you back £12.25, which may seem expensive for some pockets.  However, a little goes a long way with just one pump needed to cover your face.  Mine usually last around a month and half.

Liz Earle also offer Cleanse & Polish as a starter kit including 100ml of C&P and 2 muslin cloths.  I personally always opt for this option.  Priced at £13.75, you're paying just £1.50 for the muslin cloths.  2 cloths bought separately are priced at £3.75.  If you have oily spot-prone skin like mine, you'll need those cloths as it's recommended you only use a cloth once before washing to avoid re-infection.

Where to buy:  Liz Earle online, Liz Earle flagship store in Sloane Square, selected John Lewis store.  And don't miss out when Liz is running a Today's Special Value on QVC - these are a fantastic opportunity to try the Liz Earle range of products at often less than half price.