Nivea Caring Micellar Water Review

Buy here for £3.99

I've finally decided to find out what all the fuss about micellar water is. Maybe I'm always a bit late with trends but I'm quite set in my ways when it comes to beauty products and I don't want to try something out if it's going to be a waste of money.

That being said, I can confirm that I regret not trying it sooner. My love/hate relationship with make-up wipes is over because micellar water has taken their place by my sink.

The Product

Nivea's take on micellar water is a 3-in-1 cleanser that removes eye make-up whilst caring for your eyelashes, effectively cleanses your skin deeply to remove other make-up and moisturises your skin too.

Simply apply a decent (but not too big) of an amount to a cotton pad and get removing your make-up!

In comparison to make-up wipes, this certainly removes make-up quicker and doesn't leave a strange feeling of moisture on your skin. Even if you accidentally put too much of the water on a cotton pad and make your face a bit wetter it will dry without leaving a residue.

Does It Work?

Above is a picture of the evidence to show it works. I had put eyeliner, foundation, glittery eyeshadow and lipstick on my hand and afterwards, as you can see, it has gone. Everything apart from the eyeliner was removed after I had wiped my hand with the cotton pad once, it took a few more wipes for that to go.

However, I pointed out that the eyeshadow was glittery because afterwards there was still a few glittery molecules on my hand meaning there could also still be make-up in my pores.

I always cleanse twice, once with a make-up remover then with a cleansing facial wash. This makes sure I get all the make-up out my pores and I end the day with a completely clean face. I would recommend doing this after using the micellar water, especially if you suffer from spots or blocked pores.

Conclusion

As I mentioned at the beginning - I'm a convert. Not only does it not leave an unfavourable residue behind on your skin like make-up wipes do, but it takes less time that a wipe too.

It doesn't remove every speck of make-up but I wouldn't expect it too as a make-up remover anyway. I think this micellar water would be great if you were camping or somewhere without a place to remove your make-up, however, because it does a pretty good job.

I also think it moisturises your skin very well and if I didn't do a cleansing wash after using this then I wouldn't need to apply any moisturiser because my skin doesn't feel dry at all and I suffer from dry patches of skin every so often.

The only negative thing about this is that it's almost £4 and in just under 2 months I have almost finished the bottle. If it would be committed to buying this product again if it was marginally cheaper but I am still not sure if I should buy another one again.

I give this 4.5/5

Have you tried Nivea's caring micellar water? What do you think about it? Or do you know of another brand that does a better version? Let me know.

Soap And Glory | The Fab Pore 2-in1 Facial Pore Purifying Mask and Peel - Review

Pores are always causing problems - full stop. One of the best ways to prevent some of the problems is by using a mask, such as Soap & Glory's The Fab Pore 2-in-1 Facial Mask & Peel. This mask guarantees that your exhausted skin will become fresh once again.

The Product

Said to unclog pores, prevent breakouts and overall detox your skin, this mask and peel is for when you're loosing in your fight against white heads and black heads. It features Rice Microbeads that will exfoliate and polish your skin. As a bonus, rice also has anti-ageing elements.

The consistency is like any other face mask as it is thick and easy to apply to your skin. It has quite a distinctive smell which,to me, is a bit minty with fruity hints - an odd combination but it's nice. 

Though it is proclaimed as a 'mask & peel', it isn't actually a peel and you have to wash it off. It does start to dry but even at that point it is unpeelable which is misleading.

Does It Work?

From past experience with Soap & Glory, I thought I would only notice small differences but I was pleasantly surprised. After you take it off, there is an extremely fresh feeling that comes over your face - a sensation that's similar to the feeling in your mouth after you brush your teeth...

That being said, in the weeks that followed my first application I experienced cleaner and more refreshed skin. 

Conclusion

If you are in desperate need of your pores being purified or fancy treating your skin then I would recommend you try this out. I do think that you'll probably find masks that could give more help to your skin, however. 

One of my main impulses in buying this product was because it said it was a peel and I haven't used a peel in a long time so I was pretty disappointed when I found out it wasn't one. 

Another reason I bought this was because it was half price, but the full price is £10. As I said earlier, there will be other products that'll purify your pores for a cheaper price. BUT, it does work well and if you're willing to pay that price then don't be put off from buying it. Or wait until it's been reduced - like I did.

I give this 3/5

Have you tried the mask and 'peel'? What did you think?

Balance Me Treatments | Radiance Face Mask : Skin Care Review

Is your skin lacking in .... well everything lately? From tired eyes to dull skin, Balance Me ensure that their 5-minute Radiance Face Mask will brighten your complexion and purify your impurities among other skin boosting benefits.

The Product

When I think of a mask I usually expect something quite thick but because this is a quick 5-minute solution so I was reassured when this turned out thinner. The consistency is a bit like a silky and is slightly clay-like with small beads of walnut shells.

It has a distinctive nutty smell with fruity hints - which is appropriate because this is what is in this mask along with kaolin clay.

Does it Work?

I wasn't expecting any miracles, especially the first time I used it but I did notice a difference. My skin problems still exist after 2 weeks of using this mask about twice a week however my skin looks a bit brighter, especially in the dull areas. Immediately after I use it, my skin also feels more radiant as if it has been gently exfoliated. 

Conclusion 

Whilst some people have claimed this mask has done absolute wonders for their skin, I can only partially agree. My skin has benefited from using this mask and I think it would be great to use if your skin was especially dull and in need of a pick-me-up. 

As you may be able to tell, this is just a small bottle and I have to admit this was a free sample from Glamour Magazine (GUILTY!) but you can buy this sized bottle (15ml) for £6.50 or a larger size (75ml) for £18.00. 

If I'm honest, I would buy the larger bottle if it was the price of the smaller one so unless my skin was desperate I'm not likely to buy this. That being said, I would recommend anyone who feels like they need something like this to get it because I think it would definitely be worthwhile to spend a bit extra.

I give this product 3/5

Have you tried this product? Do you agree with me?

Clean And Clear Advanced Treatment Gel : Fast Action Spot Care Review

Who else rushes to the nearest supermarket and buys the best looking solution when their face breaks out for the first time in 4 years? I don't believe that I'm the only one who makes this mistake and because of that I am writing a not-so positive review of a beauty product for the first time on my blog.

The said product is the Clean and Clear Advanced Treatment Gel. 

First Thoughts

When I first applied this to my big and red breakout spots the redness had reduced slightly about 12 hours after. It did also dry them out a bit so I was in a good mood and looked forward to cleaner and clearer skin after a few days.

The gel is a clear-ish gel that is slightly white in colour (see below picture). Once you put it on your spots you have to wait a minute or so for it to dry. It says that you can apply this underneath and on top of make-up but it creates a type of skin and can rub off which isn't something I like.

The Outcome

With continual use over 5 days, my spots didn't change, yet alone clear up. I stopped using this and my spots slowly calmed down more so.

Final Comment

Whilst it seemed like this fast action spot care was going to save my face from my sudden breakout when I first used it, the affects didn't last long enough for my spots to clear up. 

Like with any product, this product could work the way it's supposed to with you but unfortunately for me it didn't. Thankfully, Clean and Clear products are not very pricey and I'll probably let my family members try it out on their spots.

Overall, the gel is not a consistency that I am favourable of either so if this had worked for me, I probably wouldn't have bought it again.

Have you ever been in my position and bought a product to care for your spots but it didn't work? Let me know in the comments.

Soap & Glory Clean Getaway Gift Set | Review

Specially designed for travel purposes, the Soap & Glory Clean Getaway Gift Set includes four mini products perfect for when you're jetting off and not taking up space in your suitcase with original sized products. It's also great to give someone for a gift - which is how I received it. And since I have (almost) finished all these products I thought I'd take the chance to review each one of them.

Soap & Glory Clean Getaway Gift Set - £10

Firstly, you don't have to buy this just because you're going on holiday or to buy as a gift - Soap 7 Glory products can be a bit pricey (especially if you don't have an income, like me) so buying this would be great to experience the glory of their products without having to splash out.

The shower and bath gels lasted me just over a week each whilst the body butter lasted around 3 weeks and I'm still using the hand cream now (considering I started using it in November). Though it's not long for each product, it can help you decide what to buy if you want to get the larger product.

Clean On Me Creamy Clarifying Shower Gel





































As with all the products, the shower gel is scented with the Original Pink fragrance and it smells great! Though the scent doesn't stay with your body all day, I have still got a whiff of it at mid-point during the day.

With a 'built-in body lotion', it leaves you with super smooth skin as well as saving you time because you don't need to moisturise when you come out the shower.

The larger version is at £6.50 so I give this a 4/5

Calm One Calm All Stress-Battling Softening Bubble Bath

I don't favour baths so I used this as shower gel (judge me all you want) but I don't think it really matters, right? This also doubles up as a body lotion thanks to it's skin conditioning extracts to leave you feeling extra smooth.

Buying the larger one of these as a present, rather than the whole set, is a good idea especially if you know the person loves their baths, unlike me.

The larger size is £6.00 (a whole 50p cheaper than the shower gel!!!) even though there isn't much of a difference between them so this gets a 5/5

Hand Food

Now, my hands get very dry often as you may know if you have been reading my blog posts since I started so I can get pretty critical when it comes to hand cream. As Boots best selling hand cream (*), I can only agree to an extent.

It has been great to renew my hands when they need a quick bit of moisture but I wouldn't recommend this if you have really dry hands because the fragrance could irritate them even more otherwise. However, if you happen to use this when your hands are suffering then it doesn't irritate them as much as I have known others to, so you could use this as a back up hand cream if you are in a desperate situation.

You can buy this at £7.00 for 125ml, £2.50 for 50ml or a pump version with 250ml for £7.00 and this get's a 4/5 

The Righteous Butter

Another product with the Original Pink fragrance and determined to give you soft skin, you wont need to wear perfume if you put this on after you shower.

Similar with the Hand Food, don't use this if you have more serious skin problems because it will probably irritate it even more, however you could use it on other areas that can accept creams with a fragrance. It is also quite similar to the hand cream because of it's scent and it's purpose but as a body butter this is thicker.

To buy a 300ml pot, which would probably last a life time is £10.00 or you could buy a £2.50 50ml pot. Either way I give this product 3/5

And that marks the end of this review, I hope it was somewhat informative and influences your opinion when you next go to buy a Soap & Glory product.
- Zin

Neutrogena Visably Clear Pink Grapefruit Facial Wash | Review

If you feel like changing up your skin care routine for the new year (and yes, I will probably talk about new year changes in every post I do in January just to fore warn you), I suggest that picking a new facial cleanser is a good way to go about it.

I have been using the Simple Kind To Skin Foaming Cleanser for coming up to 2 years now and I think that I need a well deserved change. I have been as loyal to my foaming cleanser as it has been to me but a new cleanser might bring new excitement to my currently dull skin care routine.

The Product

Neutrogena Visably Clear Pink Grapefruit Facial Wash - £4.69

Specially formulated to help 'eliminate blackheads and spots'. the Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit Facial Wash looks and feels clean and refreshing. My skin has resulted to that same feeling also.

I have been using this for around 3 weeks and, though I wasn't anticipating any massive changes, my skin does feel less oily and more clear. I don't suffer from spots or terrible blackheads but I would wrestle my clogged pores to the ground if I could. Because the fresh grapefruit smell also plays a part in the sensation of cleanliness, my clogged pores are breathing a bit more air than they used to.

One thing that I would say about this product is that it contains sodium laureth sulphate which, in foaming cleansers, can be very drying on the skin. My Simple Foaming Cleanser doesn't contain it and I have noticed that, in comparison, my skin feels drier with the Neutrogena Facial Wash before I apply my moisturiser. Because of this, I recommend that if you shouldn't use this if you are prone to dry skin.

The Cleaning Test

I like to do this with every cleanser I try. I put a load of different make up products on my hand and marvel at what kind of miracles the cleanser could do for me. As you can see, I put lip tint, eye liner, eye shadow and BB cream on my hand and put the Neutrogena Facial Wash into action!

I massaged the wash into my hand, as I would on my face, using warm water and within a minute all the make up was gone (not even a hint of eye liner was left behind). And just like my face experiences, the back of my hand felt cleansed and refreshed. 

If I'm honest, I wasn't expecting it to cleanse this well so I am thoroughly impressed, Neutrogena!

The Bottom Line

If you want a very affordable everyday facial wash then this is perfect for you. It will leave you with a lovely-smelling fresh face and pores that are clean. However, be aware if you get dry skin because this is not likely to help you at all there. 

I give Neutrogena Visably Clear Pink Grapefruit Facial Wash 7/10

- Zin

Double Skin Care Review | Quick Fix Facials & No 7 Beautiful Skin Hydration Mask

Happy Autumn, everyone! Sorry for being very inactive recently as college and other commitments are taking up any spare time that I might have. Anyway, enough about me and my suddenly hectic life and more about the 2 products that I'm going to be reviewing today!!

I decided to review both products because I have been using them at the same time (not literally at the same time, but I'll use one every few days then the other and so on) and I thought that anything that I have noticed from one of these products could actually be an outcome from the other product. I hope that makes sense because it took me a few minutes to think of how to say that in the most understandable way possible...

Quick Fix Facials Exfoliating Scrub - Blackheads and Blocked Pores : £2.49 

One of the best methods to clean and clear skin is to try make your skin clean and clear. A make-up wipe does not get off all your make-up and you need to cleanse with warm water to really get rid of all that cake! Every so often I think it is also important to go one step further in cleaning out your pores which is why I picked this up in the first place!

This scrub is a very delicate rose pink colour, which is actually one of my favourite colours at the moment, and the smell matches the colour. As funny as it sounds, it smells pretty! It's made with pomegranate extract which will be why this smells so nice.

It's simple to use, just apply to wet skin and gently massage it around your face - whilst paying attention to problem areas. Leave for 5-10 minutes then remove with warm water.

As with any scrub - don't rub viciously!  I can rip your skin and cause it more damage than good. That is also why you should use a scrub every so often.

Back to the product. It feels very delicate on my skin but also feels like it is clearing out my pores which is how a scrub really should feel. It doesn't set like you would expect a mask to but you can feel that it dries up and therefore it doesn't actually take ages to rinse off your face like some masks do.

Afterwards, my face always feels refreshed and CLEAN!! Even after the first time I used it my pores were definitely less clogged and frequent use means that my pores can breathe much more clearly with each use.

Now, my skin has it's dry patches and frequent use of scrubs can make your skin become drier so it is important to always moisturise whilst using a scrub often. Because I had also bought No 7's Beautiful Skin Hydration Mask at around the same time I thought I would use them along side one another.

No 7 Beautiful Skin Hydration Mask : £12.50

So as I mentioned in a previous post, this was an impulse buy but I'm so glad that I did because this has been great for combating the early winter wind drying up my skin.

Firstly, I love the smell and texture of this thing! It's a bit like sun cream, and I know what you're thinking - sun cream is NOT something that is desirable to smell or feel. But don't judge just yet because, although I have never experienced sun cream in a really positive way, it is as though I am dealing with a very high quality sun cream that I want to put on.

Enough talk about it being like sun cream though because that is not what this is...

The smell is very delicate and, again, I would describe it by saying pretty (and let's not forget that hint of sun cream). And as for the texture, it is semi-velvety. By this I mean it has a deep yet soft feel but it is still very light and a little thin.

I love the feeling of putting this on my skin because of the texture and sometimes I can get a bit carried away and I'm stood massaging this into my skin for a good 3 minutes. All you do is massage it onto your previously-cleansed and dried skin, possibly focus a bit more in areas where your skin may need it more than others, and leave it for 5-10 minutes.

Again, this mask doesn't necessarily dry but you know when you should take it off - rinse or wipe off in this case actually. It goes translucent but keeps its texture, basically.

I have tried to wash this off and I don't really like the experience so I prefer to just kept some kitchen towel and wipe it off (it's a lot better and more hygienic than using a towel in my opinion). The moisture is still left over so there is no need to moisturise after using this mask which is one of my favourite things about it!

I would really recommend using this product even if you don't have dry skin, because the winter wind can bring out those dry patches and this is a great mask to soothe those areas and have them more moisturised! If you have very dry skin then this would be great for your skin and I definitely feel a difference after I have used it.

That's all folks!
- Zin x

Super Plus Beblish Balm Triple Functions (Hot Pink BB Cream) by SKIN79: Review

As I mentioned in my favourites post, I will be reviewing SKIN79 Super Plus Beblish Balm Triple Functions.
It is a triple functioned BB cream that helps wrinkles, sun protection and whitening (skin tone evening).

Packaging

First of all it comes in a hot pink box and the actual bottle is also hot pink. There's nothing really extravagant
about the packaging other than the bottle is a little unusual compared to other make up bottles that I have seen but all you do is press the top down and you have your BB Cream.

Another thing is that, because this is a Korean brand, the writing on the back is in Korean but there is also some English which explains a bit about it.

The BB Cream

Tone

Unfortunately it only comes in one tone, however there are different versions of this which do other jobs that may come in other tones but I have not tested them to see if they do.

The tone more of a pinky colour than anything (as you will see in the pictures below) but is also quite light so I like to use it as an everyday foundation.

Comparing it to western brands of foundation (Maybelline, No.7 etc.) it is very light and pink. Western brands, compared to this, have a slight of a yellow/orange tone depending on the tone and my skin tone is lighter than most brands lightest colour and this is just a fraction than  darker than my original skin colour.

Texture/Consistency

The texture is very smooth, almost like silk, but because it gives a bit of a dewy look it does feel a bit greasy on your hands and I tend to wash mine after I have finished applying it. When you first put it on it also looks very dewy but it does settle down within a minute to give a natural glow.

The consistency is pretty light but also has a bit of thickness to it and would sit around an 8 on a scale from 0 being thick and 10 being thin but it becomes almost weightless after about 10 mins of wearing it.

I must also say that it can feel a bit greasy on your hands and face and if say you wiped your nose after applying it then some would come off but after a while these factors disappear which is great.

Triple Functioned?

The three functions that it does are wrinkle improvement, sun protection and whitening (evening skin tone) and although I am too young to say if it works for wrinkles, it does do what it says and more.

 It is SPF25 and when I have been out in the sun my arms have sometimes got a little tint of tan (without sun cream) but my face has come out not changing colour. Plus is also takes away the stress of having to not wear make up or take make up off to apply sun cream.

My skin tone as seen in the picture below, is not even everywhere and I also have small dark circles naturally so with a bad nights sleep they can look really bad. Believe it or not my skin tone was really bad and uneven over a year ago and since I have been using this it has gradually improved a bit.

Before I even got this I had read that it could help heal scars (I think it is because Korean actors and actresses will commonly get surgery on their face and it would help the scars to heal quicker). I don't and didn't have any scars of the type but I used to pick my spots a lot which left scars but this helped them to disappear.

Also I think that this has reduced the amount of spots I get, it could just be that my acne has slowed down but when I do get a spot, it is unlikely it will become anything big and if it is big will only be there for about a week. Again this could be my own acne and skin calming down but it also helps to cover spots well too.

Overall Review

Overall the coverage is amazing and the functions work as well as they say so it's more than what I could have hoped for and I really have nothing more to say other than that.

Here are pictures to show how it is on me. (Note: the pictures were taken by a window in daylight)

The other great thing is that on YesStyle.co.uk it is less than £13 and is really worth the money considering it can last up to a year considering on how much and how often you use. There is a link at the top to the webpage on YesStyle.co.uk or you can just copy and past the title (removing 'Review') into Google and there will be links to other sites as well.

- Zin x