BARESOME: bodycare

Showing posts with label bodycare. Show all posts

Sunday, 14 February 2016

Beauty Heroes X Beauty Counter: The February 2016 Box; The Box of Love

I doubt it will be heavily disputed when I say that Beauty Heroes has to be one of the greatest beauty subscription boxes of all time. Focusing on greener, healthier and safer cosmetics, their monthly brand focus have been continued success after continued success. For February, we're introduced to the safer, cleaner and toxin-free brand BeautyCounter. As you can see from their comprehensive Ingredients Glossary, BeautyCounter believe in transparency, using only the safest ingredients in a vow to combat the US's current inadequate regulations.

The hero product in this month's Beauty Heroes is the BeautyCounter Lustro Rose Neroli Body Oil (unfortunately this link takes you to the Rosemary + Citrus Body Oil because I can't seem to find the Rose Neroli anywhere). This golden oil somehow proves to be both rich and thick, while simultaneously fluid and absorbent. This nourishing blend of natural and organic oils is deeply moisturising, improving skin's condition and providing a divine glow. My skin feels smoother and silkier after application, giving me an all-too-delightful suppleness without the oily residue.

This nutrient-rich premium oil instantly hydrates my skin, making my body both feel and appear firmer. The glow it provides, complemented by the slight sheen, makes my skin truly luminous. My body feels liberated when wearing the BeautyCounter Lustro Rose Neroli Body Oil, perfectly conditioned and with optimum hydration.

The sidekick in this month's box is BeautyCounter Lip Sheer in Petal. Unlike traditional lipsticks, this product provides subtle colour while conditioning and moisturising your lips. The rich creaminess of the sheer lipstick hydrates my lips, protecting them in a silky smooth layer of colour. I love how nourishing this product feels, my lips truly revel in it.

The soft petal tone is a perfectly delicate shade of pink. It's both subtle and strong, giving lips a definite colour without being overpowering. The Lip Sheer has real staying power, helping to keep my lips colourful and moisturised. Containing Vanilla Fruit Extract, the Lip Sheer has an aroma that really is good enough to eat. I feel super delicious when wearing this lovely product.

You can subscribe to Beauty Heroes here from $39.00 a month plus a $18.95 international shipping fee. You may also face customs charges upon delivery. Depending on the current exchange rate, it will cost you upwards of £40.00, billed monthly.

BeautyCounter Lustro Rose Neroli Body Oil is priced at $73.00 / 80ML and the BeautyCounter Lip Sheer in Petal is $30.00 / 3.4G, making that a total value of $103.00 (~£71.00).

Saturday, 3 October 2015

Burt's Bees Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub For A Very Scrubby Way To Scrub

If there's one thing I've said before, and it's one thing I'll continue to say again, Bee Conservation is so bloody integral to our survival, and it's one thing that should never go ignored. Burt's Bees production ethics are bob-on in terms of sustainability, conservation and partnering with charities to help maintain our bee populace (you can read about their policies here).

What's more, Burt's Bees also avoid microbeads in their products, featuring natural alternatives instead, such as fruit and nut kernels, milled petals, jojoba beads and ground seeds. Microbeads are little plastic spheres that are too large to dissolve, making them a deadly pollutant as they are consumed by countless marine life. You can find out more about microbeads, alongside a list of products containing microbeads specific to your country, here.

Burt's Bees offer three different types of facial exfoliators, all of which I've purchased and all of which I love for different reasons. The Anti-Blemish Pore Refining Scrub (reviewed here) is the softest one of the group, using jojoba beads to exfoliate, this scrubs provides lusciously smooth and clear skin. The Citrus Facial Scrub (reviewed here) is a cakey little number that provides clear and balanced skin, using ground almonds to exfoliate. As for the Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub, I'd refer to this as the mastodon of the group. This really is a heavy-duty scrub. While I love it for my oily and congested skin, I'd always err on the side of caution if your skin is unsteady around a exfoliator that doesn't hold back.

This 100% natural facial scrub, uses nothing but the finely ground stone of a peach to - what we must refer to as fairly aggressively - exfoliate the skin. Now, this is indisputably heavy duty, designed for a skin type like mine, that has a quick cell turnover (an onset of which, a build-up of dead skin and clogged pores). Even I can only use this once every 2 weeks.

While finely ground, the peach stone is still rather large and can very much be felt. As they aren't perfectly spherical, the stones can be almost sharp and gritty, their jaggedness is present as I roll them around my skin. For me, this isn't neccesarily a scratchy product, but it is something I can only apply with very little pressure indeed.

The ground stones are carried in a very lightweight and easily spreadable cream. This cream is thin, so thin in fact that it disappears as you begin to lightly scrub. This makes it quite a raw process, the cream is almost like a lubricant, to help you get purchase on the stones, allowing the peach do to its magic without impeding the process.

With a name like Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub, you're going to expect some results. Well, if your pores are easily clogged like mine, I've found this scrub to very effectively 'empty' them, leaving me with a much clearer and smoother complexion. Any dark build-up that was trapped in my pores is removed, making my skin tone appear far more neutralised and all-round balanced.

Interestingly, after watching Wild Organic Beauty's vlog recently (I know it's really late, but would you like to see my August favourites?), she mentioned that this scrub was far, far too aggressive for her face and instead used it as a foot scrub. I gave that a go myself, and you know what, she's onto something here! This product makes for a really effective foot scrub. Our skin here is usually a little tougher and if you're prone to hard or dry skin on your feet, this little gem might just do the trick.

I do like this, I honestly do. If my skin is ever craving a heavy-going exfoliation, this is the scrub I can rely on. But once again, I would go on the explicit advice of your own skin. My skin can take a little brutality (product depending), or it occasionally needs some tough love, so me and the Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub get on like a house on fire. Just be warned, this scrub pulls no punches. Effective, don't repurchase.

The Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub can be purchased from Burt's Bees for £11.49 / 170G.

Wednesday, 23 September 2015

#MissionEmpties: The Results Have Been Counted and Verified

#MissionEmpties has now come to a close, and I do not regret, not for a single second, taking part in this challenge, in fact, I'm all the better for it. My cupboards are (very nearly) empty, my face is looking just stellar and my consumer habits have switched onto a new way of purchasing. ~~Visa card makes audible sigh of relief~~.

It has been a tough month, to accommodate these products into my daily routine, to try and use products that weren't entirely effective, or quite frankly, just dreadful. But for the most part, I have used some superb and wonderful products that I intend to repurchase or feature as a solid staple in my usual skincare, bodycare and haircare routines.

While I didn't manage to cross everything off this list, let's be honest, I gave it a good run for its money, right? Alongside the products in my original pledge, I did manage to empty some additional products, as listed in the Additional Empties category. Let's marvel, shall we?

Skincare

Bodycare

Haircare

Additional Empties

For those of you who like statistics (who doesn't, right?), let's crunch some numbers, in the name of interest:

Of the 48 products from my initial pledge, I managed to empty 39 products, making that a shortfall of only 9 products.
I managed to empty an additional 18 products, making that a grand total of 66 products emptied.
#MissionEmpties ran for a total of 31 days, making that an average burn rate of 2.13 products emptied per day.
Of the 66 products I used, 7 of them I rated Essential.
Of the 66 products I used, 15 of them I rated Effective, repurchase.
Of the 66 products I used, 19 of them I rated Effective, don't repurchase.
Of the 66 products I used, 6 of them I rated Ineffective.
Of the 66 products I used, 2 of them I rated Not Suitable.
Of the 66 products I used, 7 of them I rated Avoid.
The total value of all 66 products I used comes to £724.66. That statistic actually makes me feel a little queasy...
That's an average spend of £10.98 per product.

To catch-up on how I did through #MissionEmpties, or to read the miniature reviews of each products, you can be accessed here:

There's still work to be done, products to be emptied, and @hiddenharmonyworld has already made plans for a future #MissionEmpties Challenge (let's be honest, I need it). Make sure you take part, the more the merrier!

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

#MissionEmpties MASTER POST

Every once in a while an opportunity comes along too perfect to pass, and you need to grab that opportunity with both hands, and wash, tone, nourish and moisturise your face with every last drop of product you have in your bloated stash. I'm talking about #MissionEmpties.

For anyone out of the loop, @hiddenharmonyworld has challenged those of us with overzealous cosmetic collections to empty as many products as we can between the dates of Monday 24th August - Monday 21st September. That means we've already started, but don't fret, there's still time to catch up, support us and join in yourself! For the full post (and rules/ish) go here.

Quite honestly, this couldn't have come at a better time for me, and I am long overdue an overhaul. This is an issue I've been pandering to for a long time, and making this part of a social goal incites dedication, and then some.

Most of the products featured, are very much nearly finished. I have a terrible habit of holding on the the few remaining drops of a product, because it's my wonder/superstar/go-to/fix-all. There never actually comes a time when I finish it off, because I'm waiting for that moment to put it to good use. This list also includes a lot of repeat purchases, subscription box items and products in my current rotation.

Here's is my pledge of 47 skincare, haircare and bodycare products to polish off over the coming month. Yes, you read right. 47. Yes, I have more products than sense. Yes, I know I'm terrible.

Skincare

Bodycare

Haircare

I may have bitten off more than I can chew here. But the list is there, it's ready, and it's being ticked off one product at a time.

Happy emptying.

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Sunday, 14 February 2016

Beauty Heroes X Beauty Counter: The February 2016 Box; The Box of Love

Saturday, 3 October 2015

Burt's Bees Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub For A Very Scrubby Way To Scrub

Wednesday, 23 September 2015

#MissionEmpties: The Results Have Been Counted and Verified

Skincare

Bodycare

Haircare

Additional Empties

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

#MissionEmpties MASTER POST

Skincare

Bodycare

Haircare