I’ve been popping down to That London quite a lot recently to see my boyfriend. Managing a long distance relationship has lots of it’s own challenges (all of which are very much worth it), but I never expected skincare to be one of them.

But really, have you tried the water down in that London? Its so hard, it’s practically solid. You might as well rub salt on your skin… (I NEVER exaggerate!)

A few days down there, and my skin, which I’d usually describe and normal to dry, became dry, tight and uncomfortable, both on my face and my body. A few trips later, and my skin didn’t know what had hit it… Going from hard water to soft water and back again several times meant my skin was going from desert dry to normal/dry and back again. As a result my face looked like an absolute mess.

The hard water and its drying effects in That London, meant that my skin had a combination of both dry patches with unsightly flaking, blotches of irritated skin, and blemishes, caused by overproduction of oil (my skin attempting to compensate for the dryness…). I’m sure you’ll forgive me not putting a picture in… In short though, I was suffering from dehydrated skin.

If you think this might apply to you then I urge you to check out THIS post from BEAUTY MOUTH – Caroline is a skincare expert, and cuts through the BS a lot of companies put out there…

So, I decided to overhaul my skincare regime to try and deal with it, and so far, I’m really pleased with the results. My skin looks and feels a HELL of a lot better…

The product which triggered this overhaul was this little baby from Clarins;

Clarins Blue Orchid Facial Oil is one of their bestselling products apparently (the facial oils are the product which actually started the business). It retails at £29 for 30mls, and comes in a glass bottle complete with a dropper.  There are actually three oils available – Lotus for Combination/Oily skin, Blue Orchid for Dehydrated skin, and Santal for dry/very dry skin. They are also multi-use,and can be used on their own, or mixed with a moisturiser or mask.

I started using this oil on my skin around a week ago, and noticed an improvement within about 3-4 days – both the dry patches and tht blemishes and blotches were looking less pronounced, and my skin felt a lot more comfortable. In addition, when I applied makeup, it didn’t turn into a patchy mess within an hour, which was a big relief. Nothing screams problem skin like a patchy face…

The oil has a pleasant clean “spa” style scent to it, and absorbs into the skin over about an hour or two (not a bad thing in my opinion, as it means it’s not full of chemicals to promote it being absorbed). When my skin was at it’s worst, I would apply 4-5 drops and spend time giving my face a decent massage with it – for this reason, I prefer using the oil at night, although there’s nothing to stop you mixing a drop or two in with your moisturiser in the morning. After allowing the oil to absorb, I would then apply my night time moisturiser over the top. As my skin has improved I’ve been able to cut down the amount of oil I’ve used every night, and anticipate only having to use this once or twice a week as my skin continues to improve.

In the interests of remaining impartial though – I asked twitter for recommendations, and a lot of people were giving Rose and Rosehip oils similar praise – I was advised that Trilogy produce a Rosehip oil, which is apparently very good.

Me being me though, I like a nice matching skin-care regime, so I decided to pop to my local Clarin’s counter and pick up a couple of products to compliment the oil. The first recommendation I was given was for their HydraQuench Cream (£33 for 50ml), which is available for Normal/Dry and Dry/Sensitive skin types as well as a version with SPF 15. I was advised that the Normal/Dry formula would be suitable for me;

Again, packaging wise this comes in a glass jar, which I personally don’t mind, but I’m aware that some people are wary of jars and prefer tubes for hygiene reasons. This has a pleasant fresh scent, which fades after application.

The HydraQuench Range apparently works on the premise of hydrating skin by adding water rather than oil to skin, so compliments the facial oil really well, and again, I noticed an improvement in the look and feel of my skin fairly quickly after starting to use this. Immediately after application my skin feels more comfortable, but the good thing is that unlike with some other moisturisers I have used, my skin continues to feel comfortable and doesn’t dry out and feel tight again after a few hours. Likewise it doesn’t feel greasy or overloaded when I first apply it.

I was advised that this moisturiser is best regarded as a “treatment” for dehydration, and that after the pot is finished skin-type should then be reassessed, but this is impressing me massively so far. Given that this is a treatment, I may not repurchase unless my skin became dehydrated again, however I’m sufficiently impressed that I would go back to Clarins and see what was recommended for me when my skin issues resolve.

I also asked about cleansers whilst I was at the counter and was recommended various options such as foaming cleansers, cream cleansers and cleansing waters. I decided to go for a water style cleanser and toner in one, as I wanted to keep my routine nice and simple, and also thought that this might help me to avoid having to use that hard London water on my face when I’m down in that London…

I went for their one step facial cleanser (£18.50 for 200ml) which is a two-phase oil and water style cleanser which you shake up to mix. This contains orange and moringa extracts, and is supposed to be suitable for all skin-types.

I’ve found that this works well for me in the morning and after makeup removal at night – It is a good makeup removal, but I’ve found I seem to go through a lot of the product and a lot of cotton pads to get every last scrap of makeup off – I don’t mind this if I’m using this cleanser whilst travelling, but I think for everyday, I’d rather make this last a bit longer. So if I have had makeup on, I tend to use my Vitamin E hot cloth cleanser (see review HERE) to remove it, and follow it up with this to cleanse my skin (I am a bit of a believer in the double-cleansing method!). I also use this in the morning to freshen and cleanse my skin on waking.

This feels really gentle on the skin, and doesn’t leave it feeling dry or tight – I did wonder if it would leave an oily film on my skin, given the formulation, but I haven’t experienced any issues like this with it – It has just left me feeling soft and fresh after use. I think this is a definite repurchase for me.

It’s also worth mentioning that Clarins is a Cruelty Free Brand (it was in fact the first French Skincare brand to stop animal testing).

Have you used any of these products?  (Or in fact any skincare from the range?)

What did you think? Please link any reviews you have written in the comments, as I’d love to know your thoughts.

Disclaimer – The facial oil was provided by a PR for review purposes, however I purchased the other products reviewed in this post myself. As always this review is 100% honest,and based on my experiences with the products – please consider your own skintype and skincare needs when considering a purchase!

I haven’t done one of these posts for aaaggggeeeesss, and I really miss doing them and seeing what people think (or otherwise) of my efforts…

So, I decided to dig out a shadow I haven’t actually tried yet, from The Body Shop – the mineral eye trio in Moonlight Lustre, and tried to create a bit of a daytime suitable smoky… (nice little blemish there , on the left side hey?)

To create the look, I used an Estee Lauder Doublewear Cream shadow in Precious Jade (shade 03), as a base, applied to the lid and blended out to a fine layer. I really love using these as bases – they are stand up eyeshadows on their own, and really do stay in place on me. The paler and shades are obviously more versatile, but it never hurts to have a coloured base (or 20) in your arsenal (least thats what I tell myself)….

I then applied the green shade from the body shop trio over the lid, and blended. The lilac shade was applied to the inner corner, and used the slate blue shade as a crease colour, and blended this out with a clean MAC217. In terms of pigmentation, the colours in this shadow did not blow me away, I had to build it up quite a lot – the slate blue wasn’t too bad, but the lilac in particular was not great, and I needed to wet my brush to get a decent result – has anyone else found this with these shadows? The result was pretty enough though…

I then tightlined and waterlined with an Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on pencil in the shade “Stash”, a dark brown shade.

I finished off by applying a couple of coats of Estee Lauder Sumptuous Colour Mascara in Amber (LE). I wasn’t too sure about these mascaras at first – having seen Pixiwoo’s video using the blue version, I was expecting major colour payoff, however in reality, the ones I have come off a lot more subtle that the blue one. On reflection though, this is probably a good thing – the result is subtle, but very nice, and the amber works very well with blue eyes.

I really like the brush and formulation of this mascara, and found it gave good lenthening results, and buildable volume without clumping. I applied two coats here, but I felt fairly confident I could have continued applying and got thicker and more dramatic lashes. Even though the coloured versions are LE (and I’m not even sure they are still available), I’d consider buying up this mascara in regular shades in the future…

I used my Clarins eyebrow palette to tidy the brows as best I could (yes, they do need plucking/threading, but I’m trying to grow out the patchy bits at the moment…) I also used the Maybelline mineral concealer as an undereye concealer. I like this product, it was one of the surprisingly good products from the Maybelline goody bags we were given at the recent bloggers event.

The Clarins Palette is a daily staple for me, and again this was given in a goody bag from the Clarins event – the powders are very well pigmented, and I can either use the dark or medium shades, depending on the result I’m after. The pink powder is supposed to be a highlighting powder, but on my skin tone, I find this just disappears – the one bit of the palette that I can happily do without. I use this most days, and I’ve barely dented it, so I’m happy it will last a long time.

One thing I wish I had done was line the upper lashline with a brown liquid or gel liner, as I think this would have really finished the look off, but you live and learn.

I’m really liking the few bits of Estee Lauder I have at the moment – do you know of any must haves from the range?

MizzWorthy xxx

I finally decided it was time to have a play with the YSL palette I recently hauled – which you can see in my vid here – Here is the look I came up with…

Ok, so products used;

Face;
RMK Creamy foundation, applied and blended with Illamasqua foundation brush.
Illamasqua loose powder LP115, applied with Illamasqua powder brush
Illamasqua Bronzing duo applied with MAC109 brush
Illamasqua powder blush in Lover, applied with MAC109 brush.

I adore the RMK foundation – I find the whole concept of holy grail products debatable, as there are always new things to try etc, but its safe to say, this is a staple for me.
I’m also definitely finding that Illamasaqua’s powder blush in Lover is definitely getting more than its fair share of use – so versatile. It can be dusted on lightly as done here for a natural look, or built up for drama, and it seems to go well with a lot of different looks too.

Eyes;
MAC paintpot in painterly applied with ring fingers as base.
YSL 5 Colour harmony eye palette number 7 applied with various brushes…
NARS Himalayas single shadow as highlighter.
Clarins brow palette for brows
The Body Shop metallic eye definer pencil in Bronze applied to waterline.
Urban decay 24/7 eye definer in black to tightline.
L’Oreal Telescopic mascara in Carbon black

I’m pretty impressed with the palette too – the colours are well put together and the liner shadow is easy to use. They stayed the distance too, lasting through a full days shopping and coffee meet up with my darling mummy.

I broke out the L’Oreal telescopic mascara as a bit of a change from Rimmel Sexy Curves – first impressions are good – its a ery lengthening rather than volumising mascara, and very impressed with the lack of clumping.

The Body Shop eye liner is a lovely shade and definitely looks metallic – wore reasonably well, about 3-4 hours before a touch up was required.

The Clarins brow palette is very good, and I think worthy of its own review!

Lips;
Rouge Bunny Rouge sheer lipstick in Fluttering Sighs.

I LOVE this lipstick – the whole RBR range is expensive yet, but do you know what? I really think it’s worth every penny. I’m really pleased that Zuneta are increasing the numbers of shades they are carrying from this range.

Hope you liked my FOTD, and mini-reviews along the way!

MizzWorthy xxx

As you know a few weeks back a few of us were invited to a fab event thrown by Clarins in Selfridges London, where amongst other things we were all given a skin analysis and sent some products to test out – you can read about the event here.

Clarins were very generous and gave us full sized products to try so we could really see how well the products work.

I personally found the skincare analysis with one of the consultants really helpful – I learned that your skin type can change with the seasons, age etc. I was told I have combination skin, which was dehydrated.

As you can see I was sent a range of products – cleanser, toner, moisturiser, night cream, eye cream and a face scrub, as well as cult beauty product Beauty Flash Balm.

The range as a whole worked well for me, and there were some definite stand out products I really liked…
Cleanser – Foaming Cleanser with Tamarind and Purifying Micro-Pearls (Combination or oily skin). This costs £15 for 125 mls. Despite using this twice a day, there is a LOT left in the tube – I’d expect a tube to last 4-6 months. Its a very fresh smelling creamy feeling cleanser which rinses easily and is not over drying on the skin. It also contains quite large “Micro-Pearls”. These don’t so much scrub the skin (they are too big for that), but more give it a gentle daily “polish”, which feels really nice. This will not remove eye makeup – a separate remover would be needed for that, although it seemed to remove face makeup effectively. If you were wearing a particularly full cover/heavy foundation, you might need to remove with a stronger cleanser first.

Toner – Toning Lotion with Iris (Combination or oily skin). This is £15 for 200mls. Again clean smelling and it does a good job of freshening the skin. This does also appear to remove any grime left on the skin after cleansing, which is good – it preps the skin well for moisturiser and doesn’t leave it feeling tight. I’d expect a bottle to last around 3-4 months with twice a day use. I personally like to tone, as I don’t feel like my skin is properly “clean” if I don’t… I know a lot of people skip this step though without any skin related disasters ensuing!

Face Scrub - Gentle Exfoliating Refiner This is an expensive product at £21.51 for 50mls, which is quite a smal tube, however you really do only need to use a small amount – I’d expect this tube to last me about 4 months with use once or twice per week. The grains in the scrub are very fine, so this really gets into the nooks and crannies and clears out the pores well – I’d liken this in texture to the Body Shop Vitamin C skin re-finisher, however the grains in this are even finer. It does seem to make a difference to the pores on my nose – they appear clearer for a couple of days after using the scrub. A great product, just a shame you don’t get more for your money.

Moisturiser – Hydraquench Lotion with SPF15
This is made for normal to combination skin or for hot climates, and is £30 for 50mls. I was sent this as the Hydraquench range is meant to solve issues of dehydration in the skin – in other words, you only need to use this until the skin regains its hydration levels. 1 pump of this was plently for my whole face – you can tell when you don’t need to use it as it starts to feel too heavy on the skin. This took a couple of weeks before I noticed it was starting to feel too much. I still use this if I do a face mask or scrub, just to top up the moisture levels in my skin. I’d say the Hydraquench range is well worth looking into if you have dry skin. The lotion itself smells fresh, with a bit of a marine scent, but it doesn’t last for long on the skin. It comes in a pump and is therefore really hygienic to use and it travels well too

Night Cream – Multi-Active Night Lotion. The Multi-active range is aimed at those of us in our thirties who are seeking to hold at bay the first signs of aging for as long as possible (sob…). In the past whenever I’ve used a night cream, I’ve always found them really thick and heavy feeling – and while that is kind of the point because your skin does all its regenerating and restoring at night, I don’t want to be applying something that feels like it leaves my skin all congested. This one feels very very light, more like a serum in texture and feel – it sinks straight into the skin and is quickly absorbed. It leaves no trace of any greasy feeling on my skin at all. My skin feels softer in the morning and I look like I have slept well, even if I haven’t. I really real
ly love this product – its pricey at £40 for 50mls, which I’d expect to last for 3-4 months. I personally think it’s worth this price, and its made me want to look into other products from the range in the future. Definite stand out.

Eye Cream – “Special”Eye Contour Balm – softens fine lines for dry skin. Designed for the first signs of ageing – this claims to soften fine lines, and also contains reflective pigments to give skin a more even appearance. This is another stand out product for me – I have used Clarins eye creams before and had equal success with them while I was younger – I used the eye contour balm in my 20′s and did notice it made a difference, and I can say the same for this one – it worked really well for me. It won’t shift dark circles as it’s not designed for that, but I’ve noticed an improvement in the fine lines around my eyes. The area looks more hydrated and fresher, which makes this a winner in my eyes – it costs £23.49 for 20mls. You need a tiny amount each time you use it and it sinks in easily without leaving a greasy feeling on the skin. Love this one.

Beauty Flash Balm – £25 for 50ml.
Can you believe this cult product has been around for 20 years! (God this post is making me feel old!) I used to swear by this in my late teens and early twenties for a post-hangover skin pick-me-up. Then I went to uni, and could no longer afford the £25 price tag (50mls). I suppose I also started to rely more on the power of a decent concealer and foundation for perking up the skin. My mum used to top me up every couple of years with a tube and me and my sister both continue to love it. A tube lasts about 5-6 months. This is not a product I use every single day, just when my skin needs a pick-me-up – probably once or twice a week.

It can be used a few different ways. I personally like to smooth on a very thin layer – ie not rubbed completely in, but rather left on the skin and left to settle in. It can also be used as an overnight treatment when applied a bit more thickly to the skin and slept in. Basically the product brightens and hydrates the skin, leaving it feeling soft and looking well rested. Perfect for a hangover…. so perfect in fact that it didn’t take long for drugstores to produce a dupe – one of which can be found in the Superdrug Natural High Range.

The Clarins original has a soft, comforting yet still clean smell.

So there you go – well done if you have made it to the end of the post – hope this has been useful!
Any recommendations for products in the range are always welcome too!

MizzWorthy xxx

Yesterday I was invited with Olivia and LipsAndLashes to an event in Selfridges in London by Clarins – ButtonSoph was also invited but her car broke down on the way! Lovely Olivia met me in the station and we navigated our way to Oxford Circus (all of two stops on the tube – we truly were explorers of the unknown lol!)…

When we arrived we were met by a couple of lovely PR peeps from Clarins, including Alexandrea who sent us the invites. We had a look at the new Autumn range called “Nude Inspirations”, and a look around the new skin spa. At first I thought the idea of the skin spa in the middel of Selfridges seemed a little strange, but believe me, when the door is shut, that place is like a little have in the middle of London – blissful… I wanted every treatment in the book lol! They apparently have achair that scans your body and does a massage tailored to you while you have a facial – I want some of that!

We also each had a skin consultation and then went off for breakfast – We were told to expect a parcel by special delivery this morning, but I have to say I felt very sorry for the poor post lady who kindly lugged a huge pack of goodies up to the flat for me this morning;

I was totally bowled over when I opened it and saw all this!
So we recieved our skincare regimes (further posts and reviews to come about this as I am still testing another skincare regime at the moment!) – but yep, thats Beauty Flash Balm in there!
And on top of that we received absolutely loads of makeup!

I have to say, I wasn’t expecting too much from these eye-shadow mono’s as the last time I swatched them at a counter (a couple of years ago…), I thought they were poorly pigmented and the colour choices were a bit… safe? I have to say though, they have definately improved in terms of pigmentation and although the colours are still fairly safe, you could create a lot of different looks – nude, smoky and coloured. I’ll be trying to create a few looks over the coming days and weeks to see how versatile these are! These retail at £12.73 each and also have a mirror in the lid which is always useful for us cosmopolitan girls on the go (well at least thats how I like to think of myself….)

They also sent this nude quad palette out – I can see this one being popular too! I’d personally use this with a fierce black winged liner and a bold red lip to get that classic pin up look, but I know a lot of people will be relieved to see such an easy to use combination of colours…This retails for £25.44.

We also recieved 6 shades of “Joli Rouge” Lipsticks. These are a lot better on than they look in the tubes – the one that looks brown (4th from the left) is actually a lovely sheer plummy pink. They have a lovely fruity scent (Blackcurrant with a touch of liquorice and vanilla apparently!) and are supposed to be extremely kind to the lips with skin loving goodies such as mango butter and vitamin e – stay tuned for a review!

We also recieved three tubes of their reformulated “Wonder Perfect” Mascara in three shades – Wonder Black, Wonder Brown and Wonder Blue – Coloured mascaras seem to be rocking right now! In fact though these are quite subtle – the blue is almost navy and not 80′s at all – I tried it this morning in bed to see if it matched my PJs (as one does) and it makes the whites of the eyes look very clear… I still need to try the concealers too – they sent me three shades and I’m hoping one will be pale enough for me!

Finally we received a face an blush duo (retailing at £28) which is a lovely two tiered affair containing a face powder and illuminating powder on the top layer;

… and a peachy blush (this reminds me of NARS orgasm!) and a bronzer embellished with a golden powder section – very pretty! Can all obviously be used swished together or seperately…

The other great product in the collection they showed us was the eye brow pro palette – which I really liked the look of – it had three brow powders in good ashy colours (ie no red undertones – a giveaway in a bad brow powder!) – black, brown and blonde shades, a setting wax, highligher powder, mini tweezers, spoolie brush and sponge applicator – thats going to retail at £28, and I can see myself making a purchase…

My initial thoughts? I’m surprised by the improvements in quality in the Clarins makeup range, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of giving this neutral collection a MizzWorthy twist!

So, how did I spend the rest of the day? I met up for lunch with Alex from Illamasqua and had a good gossip about the next competition which we’ll be launching soon! I was great to see her again for a catch up as I didn’t get to speak to her at the Illamasqua masterclass – she was too busy being the model for Alex Box, so can’t really blame her lol!

I also met a couple of lovely PR ladies – Jen from FuelPR and Lisa from Immediate PR, who have also furnished me with loads of other goodies to review including Sun Labs fake tan which smells of baby powder, (this is never a bad thing in my opinion), an anti acne range for Mr MizzWorthy to test, some new hair products and some BarryM – I am pleased to announce I finally have the lip paint in Peachy Pink – and I agree its a lovely colour – here is the obligatory lip close up!

I also made a trip to the Selfridges beauty hall (rude not to!) and picked up a couple of OPI shades – “I’m a Princess and You’re Not” and “Done Out in Deco”… I also popped to MAC to get one of those Naked Honey Skin Salves and some clean up tips, and I was actually amazed by how bad the service was there – One girl behind the counter just ignored all the customers and the one who did eventually deign to serve me called me “babe” several times in a very patronising manner, and actually asked me “what colour” salve I wanted! Proof positive that they are bringing out too many collections – the poor dear clearly couldn’t keep up. Poor service aside though, I am liking the salve…

I then had to hang about for my train so I painted my nails with OPI’s “I’m a Princess and You’re Not”, which is a pretty colour but I fear it makes my hands look a bit dead… opinions please?

I have no idea what to play with first though, so please feel free to make requests etc!

MizzWorthy xxx

Hi guys – hope you are all well!

Just loaded these vids up – recent hauls I got since being paid LOL!

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

I had to split this into two parts due to you tube time allowances – Incidentally, does anyone know how to transfer vids directly from you tube ont the blog? I’ve tried using the embed thing but it doesn’t work for some reason…

Hope you enjoy!

Love Mizzworthy xxx