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.