One of the things I’ve been struggling with in the cold weather is hand care. I’m the worst at remembering to carry handcream, and when I do remember I forget to actually take it out of my hand-bag and apply it.

Over the colder months this results in very dry sore and unattractive looking hands, meaning that by the time I do decide to stop moaning about it and actually do something about it, I need to call in the big guns.

The range I turn to time and time again, and which never lets me down in the winter is the Body Shop’s Hemp hand-care range. I’ve always been a fan of  their hand protector for its rich moisturising qualities, which seems to replenish and plump up skin, without leaving hands feeling overly greasy. The effect also lasts past the first hand-wash for me too, so I only need to try to apply this about 3 times during the day and then generously at night to get a noticeable improvement in the state of my hands over a few days.

I was super pleased when I went to stock up on the hand-protector recently as The Body Shop had a lovely half price offer on it – so the 100 ml tube above which normally costs £10, was a mere £5, and the handbag sized 25ml ones were a bargain at £2.50. I stocked up with two big tubes and a handbag sized baby.

I also picked up their hand oil, which is a new product to me – a 15ml dropper bottle retails at £7. When I remember to use this, I’m very impressed with it – Only a few drops are needed, and it sinks in really quickly, leaving hands feeling revived. Although this is a very light oul and doesn’t leave my hands feeling overly greasy, I prefer to use liberally and leave it on overnight to get the most benefit. I’m sure if you wore some cotton gloves overnight too, this would boost it even further. However, I am, as mentioned, not the best with hand-stuff.

The only downside to the hemp hand care range is the scent – some people find it a little masculine. Personally I don’t really care about the smell because it works so well for me, but if you’re not a fan, then you might want to check out their rose or almond hand-care ranges…

What do you swear by for winter hands?

x

The disclaimer – bought these products myself…

My return to blogging after somewhat of an extended break, has to start with a bit of an apology… I admit I’ve been a bit of a rubbish blogger of late, but life sometimes gets in the way, and it’s easy to get out of the “blogging habit”. Balance is obviously the key, so I’m going to try to blog more regularly, but not to put pressure on myself to do it every day – as I always tell everyone else, blogging is a hobby, not a job!

So, thanks for sticking around if you did!

First post, I need to announce a few giveaway winners…

First of all, the winners for the Garnier Ultralift Creams!

The winners of the full sized creams are – Lori, Shinypigeon, Sarah, Fum, Carole and Danni – I’ll be emailing you all for your details and I’m planning on getting them in the post on Tuesday. Just a reminder that this is a UK ONLY giveaway!

All other entrants (Leah, Nicola B and Shifa) Will all receive trial packs…

EDIT – several entrants to this are unfortunately untraceable – if you entered please email me and I’ll try to ensure the prizes go out to those who are eligible ie in the UK!

Secondly, the winner of the Nails Inc set from Fabulous Magazine…

The winner is Louise. I’ll be emailing you for your details Louise!

Secondly, I also wanted to give a shout out to Ondolady’s blog which you can find HERE – She recently surprised me by asking me if she could interview me for her blog, so I’d love it if you could take a look! You can read my interview HERE…

Right ho, I should definitely start off this review with a big apology to the Crazy Angel PR, as they sent me the samples I’m about to review a LONG time ago, and I’ve been a bad blogger.  So lets begin.

Crazy angel is a “boutique” tanning brand, and you can view their website HERE. The brand aims to provide a variety of self tanners to meet the needs of fair, medium and darker skin tones, as well as boosting products such as their tan intensifying drops which can be added to their lotions to make them even darker.

What they say…

“Crazy Angels’ innovative formulations achieve fabulous sun free results. The tanning industry experts at Crazy Angel Headquarters, have developed a beautiful and angelic tan. It is attained through naturally derived DHA and Erythrulose without the use of Alcohol, Parabens or Mineral Oil. Bearberry extracts soften and caress you skin whilst leaving your halo intact.”

I was sent a few products from the range to try…

As with any fake tan, it’s always important to exfoliate and get rid of any nasty dry patches, otherwise a patchy mess will be the result…

The Crazy Angel “Halo Polish” body scrub (£10)did a reasonable job of preping skin for a tan – it’s a nice grainy scrub, and has a lovely fruity smell.

This actually left my skin feeling a lot smoother than I was expecting, and was not too drying – I felt that I could use this immediately prior to tanning, whereas I normally feel I have to exfoliate and moisturise in the morning, and will apply my fake tan in the evening, after the moisturiser has had plenty of time to sink in as anything with oil in will act as a barrier to a fake tan… However with this I felt I could apply it straight after exfoliating.

I’m not usually one for buying “matching ranges” when it comes to fake tan, however if you are, then you could definitely do worse than this scrub.

Next up in prep comes the stage of blocking out areas which you want to avoid tanning – usually I do this with a body lotion, but the Crazy Angel range contains a product called “Wing Smoothing Spray”( £10). This is basically an oily spray, which acts as a tanning barrier…

This was great for areas like the knees and elbows as the spray itself produces quite a light mist, so is good for areas where you want a lighter tan – it takes a bit more practice on areas around the feet e.g. the ankles and toes, where you want your tan to look as if its naturally faded or not to appear at all in the case of the ankles – the feet are the area I usually find gives a fake tan away.  Overall I liked this product, although I’d say that if you were a tanning officianado who has a regular routine, and is well practiced you’d find this more useful. It is pleasant to use, and I also think it’s a useful little thing to have around.

“Midnight Kiss” Self tanning lotion (£10) is a tanning lotion which contains 8% DHA, and is designed to give a deep, dark, olive based tan.

This lotion was easy to apply as it had a colour guide – the lotion itself is a chocolate brown shade, so it’s easy to see where you’ve applied it, and best of all this is a tan that is similar too xen tan in that it can be “slapped on” to an extent – basically as long as the skin is covered in a layer of the tan, it will develop, which was a definite positive especially if ( like me) you are lacking in tanning confidence. This also lived up to the promises of a deep, dark and olive tan – the colour it gave was fabulous – there was none of that disappointing “the guide colour looks fab, but once I showered the colour went down the plughole business with this – the guide colour washed off, but left a lovely result, similar to results I’ve had with xen tan, but for a lot lower price.

The other good thing with this was that it was buildable – if one layer wasn’t dark enough, a second application deepened the colour satisfactorily.

Scent wise, on initial application, the tan has a pleasant fruity smell, however over the development time, the typical self tan smell does develop. That doesn’t especially bother me though, as I always apply tanners at night anyway, and shower them off in the morning, and I’ve yet to meet a “scent free” fake tanner!

The negatives with this tan is that  when applying with a mitt, a lot of the product seems to get absorbed into the mitt, meaning that I felt I used a lot of the product in one go -you could obviously apply with latex gloves etc, however I definitely would not recommend applying without a mitt or gloves as you will definitely get “fake tan hands”. Secondly, I also found that whereas other tans as dark as this will last a few days before beginning to fade, this seemed to fade patchily on me after a couple of days wear which was a little disappointing.

Overall though, if you have tried Xen tan before and liked that, then you might want to give this a try simply on the basis that it gives similar results, colour wise, but has a much lower price point, but do be prepared for patchiness, especially if you have dry skin!

The Supreme Goddess Tan Extender (£10) did howeverserve to remedy the problems mentioned above with the tanning lotion…

Again, this had a pleasant scent, and was pretty moisturising too, which is often something lacking in gradual tan style products. As with a lot of products of this ilk, it did develop a very slight “fake tan” smell after a few hours, but nothing that would prevent me from going out  in public!

The company also sent me their “Angel Express Fast Acting Liquid Tan” (£10) which is designed to be faster acting than the lotion, and has a much thinner consistency…

I have to ‘fess up here though, and say I’ve not yet had the guts to try this one out – having never used a liquid tanner before, I simply don’t know how to go about it!

Any tips?

Hope the review was helpful…

Disclaimer – as mentioned in the post these products were sent for review purposes.

The lovely peeps at Garnier have kindly provided me with 6 jars of their newly reformulated anti-wrinkle day cream for a giveaway. The cream contains pro-retinol, and makes some impressive claims;

• Reduced appearance of wrinkles, even deep ones.
• Skin left feeling smoother and firmer
• Results from one hour.
• A daily anti-wrinkle range enriched with naturally-derived ingredients

Garnier are determined to back up these claims though – so if you don’t win a full sized jar of cream then I also have 12 trial sets containing a 14 day supply of the cream and a wrinkle reader to monitor changes in the skin’s appearance. 

Righty-ho, after hearing so much about BB creams, I decided to step blindly into their mysterious realms after reading about the launch of Garnier’s version, which happens to be the first one in the UK available on the highstreet or “drugstore” if you will. I first read about this on THIS post by the fabulous British Beauty Blogger, who also tipped me off to it being available ahead of time on Superdrug online (HERE).

So first of all, what IS a BB cream? From what I can gather BB, or blemish balm creams were initally developed in Germany, but garnered a massive amount of popularity in Asian countries. They are becoming huge and are set to be the next big thing – Illamasqua recently launched their Skin Base which has many BB properties, and other high end brands such as MAC and Lancome are set to follow this year. BB creams basically claim to be an “all in one” for your skin – moisturiser, SPF, foundation, primer, anti-ageing, and some also claim to have skin-whitening properties.

Having never tried a BB cream before, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I had hopes that this would give decent coverage, make me look less like I’d been doing night shifts and have decent staying power…

This BB cream makes the following claims;

• evens tone and boosts glow
• blurs imperfections
• smooths fine lines
• 24 hydration
• SPF 15 UV protection.

Above – another pic of skin before (remind me why I do this to myself!)

Onto the after pictures… thank Gawd!

Above – Entire face after application

Above – Close up of skin after application.

So, as you can see, the cream gives coverage something similar to a tinted moisturiser. It evened out my skin nicely, and cancelled out much of the red blotchiness, and has a dewy rather than matte finish. I also noticed that you can build up the cream by adding an extra layer if you want to… You definitely don’t need moisturiser under this cream either – I made that mistake the first time I used it and it slid off my (dry) skin… So, as far as the claims the product makes I’d say it pretty much delivers…

Negatives? Well, I did notice you have to use a decent amount of product to get the amount of coverage so you might go through the tube pretty fast. Secondly, I think I was kind of expecting a bit more coverage, but thats just a personal thing. Thirdly, there are only two shades available – light and medium, so darker toned beauties will struggle… I also noticed that this seems to “sweat off” my skin pretty easily so I’m still to make a judgement on it’s staying power…

I chose the “Light” shade, and it looks like this;

Above – swatch of product

Above – Product blended lightly on skin.

Having literally only had this cream a couple of days, I feel it’s way too early to give an unqualified “rave review” of it, but I can’t give it a total thumbs down either… I think my final judgement on it is going to have to depend on whether I notice any amazing improvements in my skin with use, as well as how well the coverage this does give lasts on skin – I have a feeling a light layer of this would act as a good primer for my current foundation of choice which is the new Bourjois mineral bronzing foundation mentioned in THIS post…

The Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream is available online now and launches in stores in a few days, and costs £9.99

What are your thoughts? Hope this review helped!

The Anatomicals range is now pretty well established, but this is actually the first product I’ve tried from the range, and it was a pleasant surprise. The packaging of this tan is as witty as I’ve come to expect from Anatomicals…

This tan is a lotion/cream, which develops over a few hours – there are other formulations available too in the range – a mousse, spray and instant tanning lotion. The whole range is priced at £6.99 each, and is available now at Superdrug.

I’ve used this tan about three times now over the last fortnight and I’ve found that a top up application every four or five days keeps it nice and even – I only ever apply tan to my legs, because the logistics of trying to blend any tan on my arms or back, frankly, terrify me… I’ve probably used about a quarter of the tube over that time at the most, so in my book that makes this a very good value product.

The lotion itself is white, so has no colour guide. Despite this it was easy to apply – it reminds me of Xen Tan Deep Bronze Luxe lotion, which is also a white lotion – same rules apply with both, apply and rub in until the white has gone, which is easy enough. To ensure no streaks around the ankles etc, I just used a tiny amount of body lotion to blend the edges out around the toes, ankles and feet. The other thing I love about the application of this, is that you can apply it with your hands – no mit or gloves required (believe me I was sceptical about this, but I’ve used this three times now, and after a good handwash with soap and water, not an orange palm in sight…)

Prep wise, this tan wasn’t “hard work” either – one of the things that always makes me groan when anticipating fake tanning is the amount of preparation required to make it look good, scrubbing, shaving moisturising… All good habits but the thought of it sometimes make me want to retreat under a duvet… I applied this tan at various times between scrubbing and shaving my legs, and got good results each time. I think this may be due to the fact that is far less drying than a lot of other tans I’ve tried.

Scent wise, this starts of having a pleasant enough tropical-pina-colada type scent, but it does develop a typical fake tan smell as it develops – for this reason, I’d recommend this as a bed time tanner which you wash off the next day before facing your public…

The resulting tan is a natural looking one, with a golden-yellow undertone – if you are pale and looking for something believable which lifts your skin from grey to sunkissed then this is well worth a try. The tan can also be intensified by repeat applications too – I tried this whilst testing the tan, and got good results. On the other-hand though, if you like your fake tan to make you look like you’ve spent two weeks frying yourself on a beach in Barbados then this is unlikely to satisfy you… It does give very even and streak free results (providing you don’t splash water in it whilst washing your hands after application – I learnt this the hard way!)

For those who are interested, here are the ingredients;

I personally really really like this tan – its one of the best budget tans I’ve ever tried. I’ve tried St Moriz and found that although it gave good colour, it was very drying and it wore off very patchily. On the other hand, this one felt nice and moisturising, was relatively fuss free to apply, and faded evenly.

Like all products though it won’t suit everyone…

Recommended For;

• Pale skinned types who are looking for a natural tan
• Those who don’t mind lack of colour guide
• People looking for a tan which doesn’t cost the earth
• People with yellow undertones, who want a golden tan, rather than one with red tones.
• Those who hate “fussy” tan preparation.
• Those who don’t mind topping up every five or so days

As someone with dry to normal skin, I stick firmly to the non-foaming family of cleansers – i.e. Oils, balms, creams and hot cloth cleansers. Of these, oils and hot cloth cleansers are my favourites because they leave my skin feeling the cleanest, but not dried out. In addition these kinds of cleanser tend to melt makeup off quickly and efficiently, without needing lots of scrubbing away at the skin, while the action of the cloth provides a gentle manual exfoliation, which polishes the skin without damaging it.

Now obviously Liz Earle hot cloth cleanser has a well earned place as the queen of the hot cloth cleansers, but more and more pharmacy brands are cottoning on to their popularity - soap and glory do one for example, and most of the thicker cream clensers from any skincare range will work well with a muslin cloth to emulate the awesomness of hot cloth cleansing.

I’ve been hearing a lot on twitter and on other blogs about this bargainous Superdrug cleanser recently, so I headed down to my nearest one to pick one up and see what all the fuss was about, as my Liz Earle HC cleanser was on it’s last legs. I almost gave up on finding it, but then, I spotted it nestled in amongst the Vitamin E range – hurrah! At £3.99 for 200mls and comes with a muslin cloth (thats twice the amount you get in Liz Earle for £11.75 without a cloth, or £13.25 for a starter kit which comes with a cloth) 

So obviously that’s the first thing to stand out about this – the price seems totally unbeatable. The second obvious difference is the packaging – the Liz Earle version comes in a swishy pump, with definite “bathroom shelf appeal”, whereas the Superdrug version comes in a tube and has a less luxurious look about it… No biggie to me, as both are perfectly hygenic and functional modes of packaging.

If you’ve used the Liz Earle cleanser before, you’ll be familiar with the lovely herbal scent of it. The Superdrug version has a different, but in my opinion, pleasant scent of almonds. Now to me, it’s not too synthetic a scent – less marzipan, and more clean and creamy with an almondy overtone, but definitely give it a sniff before purchasing if you are opposed to such things…

l- Vitamin E, r - Liz Earle....

Texture and appearance wise, both cleansers are white creams - I’d say the Vitamin E cleanser is not as thick as the Liz Earle, but in a way this works in its favour as it melts into the skin faster. Both are just as effective as the other in removing makeup – although if you are using them to remove makeup, I’d always recommend cleansing twice – once to get the slap off, and once to cleanse the skin itself.

The only difference I’ve picked out in the two cleansers really in terms of performance, is that the Liz Earle seems to be a bit easier to remove from the skin, whereas the Superdrug version can be more prone to leaving a slight residue on the skin, and so needs to be more carefully removed with the cloth – I’d say it’s more important to use a toner with it just to be sure that all traces of the cleanser are gone.

In the week or so I’ve been using the Vitamin E cleanser, I’ve noticed that my skin definitely feels softer, and more even textured – the same changes in skin I noticed when first using the Liz Earle cleanser, so it seems just as effective in that way. I’d definitely say that the Liz Earle is more of an “All skin types” cleanser, whereas the Vitamin E is better for drier types due to the tendancy to leave a bit of residue – this could overload oilier skins and cause breakouts.

Vitamin E Cleanser Ingredients

Both cleansers are cruelty free as well – Liz Earle’s “contains no animal extracts”, whilst the Vitamin E is BUAV approved (All Superdrug’s own products are free of animal tested ingredients, which earns them major brownie points). The Liz Earle wins out in terms of a more natural ingredient list, whilst the Vitamin E cleanser contains parabens, and has a slightly less natural looking ingredient list…

Liz Earle Cleanser Ingredients

Oh and as for the muslin cloth, both versions seem fine to me, but I come from the “a muslin cloth is a muslin cloth” school of thought… they all work fine for me, and I have about seven on rotation, and I wash my cloths after 2 or 3 days use anyway… *shrugs shoulders*

Overall though, I’m pretty impressed with this cleanser – its a great budget alternative for hot cloth cleanser fans, and provided you’re skin is not oily, should work well for you… A definite repurchase for me, as this is working very well for my skin - please do bear in mind that this may be less successful for people with oilier or combination skins though… I always use a toner as standard anyway because I like my skin to feel refreshed after cleansing, but I’d say that’s definitely even more important with the Vitamin E cleanser.

Have you used this? What did you think? What other hot cloth cleansers on a budget do you recommend? Also do you recommend any other products from the Vitamin E range?