Today I am back with a round up of my recent empties!
You can read a full review of the two Rodial products above
here as I dedicated a whole post to them recently when I shared my morning skincare routine.
Dragons Blood is the red sap from the Croton Lechleri tree and was used
historically for medicinal and healing purposes. It is ideal for
sensitive or stressed skin to plump out fine lines and protect from the
elements whilst hydrating the deepest layers of the skin. I really like the
Rodial Dragons Blood hyaluronic tonic and it's powerful spritz-this was my
second bottle of this hydrating toner and probably won't be my last!
I follow up with the
Rodial Dragon's Blood Hyaluronic Moisturiser. The
texture of this is a cream but it's a really light cream. It's a great
base for make up and doesn't leave any tacky feeling on the skin. My
skin feels hydrated and plumped after use and the cream absorbs
quickly.
The
Clarins Daily Energizer Wake Up Booster is the toner I was using before spritzing on the Rodial. It contains green coffee extract to add radiance, white tea extract for protection against environment damage and redcurrant extract for hydration. I didn't love it, it does contain alcohol but it didn't irritate my skin.
I raved about the
Boscia Make Up Break Up Cooling Cleansing Oil recently
here and I did indeed buy a full size version from Sephora. It is a brilliant make up remover-probably the best cleansing oil I have tried.
The Jurlique Calendula Redness Rescue Calming Mist is a lovely cooling toner in a spray bottle. It contains no alcohol and does contain glycerin, calendula and chamomile to hydrate and soothe. My skin isn't sensitive but can be irritated and inflamed and this really helps. I can see me repurchasing this.
Yes I am 35 and still use Clearasil-specifically the Clearasil Daily Face Wash. If my skin is misbehaving I always go back to this as either my second cleanse or my morning cleanse and it just seems to bring everything back under control. I wrote more about it here.
I don't often talk about hair products but the
Kerastase Ciment Thermique is worth a mention especially if you have fine hair. I would never have thought of putting a cream on my hair because I presumed it would be too heavy for my fine locks but this styling cream
makes such a difference to my hair. I use a small amount-not much
bigger than the size of a 20p piece and rake it through wet hair and
then blow dry as usual. My hair feels smoother, gets less tangled and
feels stronger. Marketed as a 'blowdry primer' it also protects from
heat damage. It's expensive but I needed so little that the tube lasted me at least 6 months if not longer.
The
Charles Worthington Salon at Home Texturising Spray is better than the
waaay more expensive Oribe in my opinion. I love texturising sprays, I have long, fine, flat hair that gets greasy
easily so a texturising spray or dry shampoo does help to give it a bit
more ooomph! I've used Batiste for years but the white powder residue
is off putting. I find this spray does a bit of everything for me-it
has the hold of a hairspray but the oomph and grease absorbing powers of
a dry shampoo-and it's clear. And smells amazing. I much prefer this to
the Oribe spray and it's a fraction of the price.
I recently spoke about the
L'Oreal Miracle Blur Instant Eye Smoother as a quick fix for tired under eyes. It really did make a difference-but it is a temporary solution. You can read my thoughts
here.
Two products I wouldn't repurchase-the
Omorovicza Thermal Cleansing Balm is an absolutely lovely cleanser but the sheer speed at which I went thought it combined with the price point means I struggle to justify a repurchase. I reviewed it positively
here, I just wish it was cheaper.
The
Estee Lauder Double Matte Oil Control pressed powder is not something I was a fan of either. The plus point is that it lasts
forever, I literally thought I was never going to hit pan. I didn't find it controlled oil particularly well and it's quite chalky. In fact every time I used it I thought '
I much prefer the Charlotte Tilbury pressed powder'. I must repurchase the CT one at Xmas.
Last up, two make up products I really did enjoy. The first, the
Josie Maran Argan Enlightenment Illuminizer, is an amazing glowy golden base. I loved it mixed with MAC Strobe Liquid as a foundation primer and talked about the combination
here. It's difficult to dupe it-the closest I can think of is the Charlotte Tilbury Wonderglow which I just started using. But the Josie Maran is a thicker, more golden, more metallic liquid. I love it and have just repurchased.
Finally the
YSL Touche Eclat Blur Perfector primer is one of my favourites. It's packaged in
glass and the primer is strewn with gold flecks. The primer belongs to the Touche Eclat family and
the gel formula is designed to infuse light, blur imperfections and add
radiance to the skin.
Although the gold flecks are visible when the gel is pumped onto the
hand, the formula is completely transparent on the skin. Where the gold
goes I am not sure!
The first time I used the primer I did think it was quite heavy in
texture and it's obviously laced with silicone. What I didn't see
though was that instant 'blurring' effect you get with something like
Smashbox Photofinish which I would have expected given the heaviness of
the texture. It does have that velvety and almost slippery feeling on
the skin. Although it sounds like I am not really selling it, this does
settle down though after a moment or two and your skin feels very
smooth. After I applied my foundation I have to admit my skin looks
quite radiant and glowy without being oily and my foundation sat well on
top of it.
Have you tried any of these products?
PS-my annual blog sale post will be on my blog on Friday :)
Last up, two products I really enjoyed using. The first,
Josie Maran Argan Enlightenment Illuminizer, I reviewed
here and have just repurchased from Sephora. I used this liquid highlight under my foundation to add additional glow and I loved it. At the time I couldn't really think of a dupe and in all honesty I still can't think of anything really similar. Having said that, I have just Tilbury Wonderglow and that is the closest I have found to a dupe. The Josie Maran is a thicker, more golden and more metallic liquid. But with foundation layered over the top it gives an amazing glow.
The
YSL Touche Eclat Blur Primer is a brilliant, silicone based primer for giving you a smooth canvas to start with before you apply foundation. It is very fancily packaged in a glass tube with gold flecks embedded into the primer. The primer belongs to the Touche Eclat family and the gel formula is designed to infuse light, blur imperfections and add radiance to the skin.
Although the gold flecks are visible when the gel is pumped onto the hand, the formula is completely transparent on the skin. Where the gold goes I am not sure!
The first time I used the primer I did think it was quite heavy in texture and it's clearly laced with silicone. What I didn't see though was that instant 'blurring' effect you get with something like Smashbox Photofinish which I would have expected given the heaviness of the texture. It does have that velvety and almost slippery feeling on the skin. Although it sounds like I am not really selling it, this does settle down though after a minute or so and your skin feels very smooth. After I applied my foundation I have to admit my skin did look quite radiant and glowy without being oily and my foundation sat well on top of it.
Have you tried any of these products?