You Little Beauty – Marks & Spencer Perfect Radiance Vitamin C Illuminating Serum (30ml)

For those of you have read my blogs, you know that I love a good serum.  I never go without.  They do much more than moisturisers – which are there to provide comfort to the skin – these little beauties are jam packed with concentrated ingredients and sink quicker into your skin and target your skincare concerns in an instant.  I am using two different serums at the moment, one in the morning and the other at night.  The one I’m going to talk about now is what I put on in the morning.

Following on from my blog last week, after I’ve cleansed my face with the lovely Lancôme Absolue Precious Pure and I’m out of the shower, I then apply my serum. 

My favourite ingredient in skincare undoubtedly has to be Vitamin C so I made a beeline for M&S’s Perfect Radiance Illuminating Serum.   There was a three for two offer on in M&S at the time, so I bought two.

Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant.  It helps prevents ageing from free radical damage – environmental factors: the sun, pollution, cigarette smoke to name but a few.  It can heal the skin, reduce inflammation, irritation, boosts collagen production and promotes radiance to the skin.   Who doesn’t want healthy, supple skin?

Recent studies have found that Vitamin C not only neutralises these free radicals but can reverse DNA damage and its thought that it can reduce sunburn (UVB) and brown spots as well as increasing the effectiveness of sunscreen.  I have lots of freckles (still - they fade with age) and a few pigmentation marks so this is another reason why I chose this serum.

Not only does the serum contain 4% Vitamin C, it also contains hyaluronic acid which provides the skin with a fab boost of hydration.

As I said last week, I began using a few new products at the same time and am now unsure what product is keeping my skin in the best condition its ever been in (I’m talking my later years here) or is it a combination of all of them?

The serum comes in a pump dispenser and is white.  The scent of the product is a very subtle orange which I like.  On application, my skin in noticeably smoother and feels silky in texture and true to all good serums, is quickly absorbed into the skin.  I did think that it would make my skin more ‘glowy’ due to it being called ‘Illuminating’ but it doesn’t – not on my skin anyway. 

I do like this product, I really do – it contains everything I love in a serum, however, I’m not sure that it is the product that giving me such skin-joy at the moment.  Plus, I do prefer my Superdrug Simply Pure Hydrating Serum (so I can drink as much red wine as I like - snigger), which I use at night.  

Let me know if any of you guys have tried Perfect Radiance Illuminating Serum and have seen a massive difference in the condition of your skin – I’m interested to know.

M&S Perfect Radiance Vitamin C Illuminating Serum (30ml)

30ml for £11.

You Little Beauty – Lancôme Absolue Precious Pure Sublime Cleansing Creamy Foam (150ml)

I don’t normally do this but I’m going to blow my own trumpet.  My skin has never felt as soft as it does now or so clear:  I am super happy with my skincare at the moment.  However, because I started using a few new products a couple of months ago all at the same time, I’m not sure which product is doing the biz or if it’s a combination of all of them?  Therefore, I thought I would take you through them one-by-one, week-by-week.

I’m starting with this little beauty; Lancôme’s Absolue Precious Pure – a luxurious, creamy cleansing mousse that provides a ‘sensorial application’.  Normally I jump in the shower and cleanse my face with a facial wash.  However, Precious Pure has given me a new way of cleansing.  

The packaging is that of a hair mousse – a gold metal canister and the mousse comes out like squirty cream.  Admittedly, I was using this incorrectly at the start.  In the shower, I washed my hair as normal and then put the mousse onto my wet face and of course it all slid off instantly.  Due to poor eyesight, I couldn’t read the small print on the canister so I Googled and read that you’re supposed to pop it on to dry skin and massage it into the face and neck.  Leave it on for a couple of seconds, like a mask, then rinse off.

So therefore, before I jump in the shower, I now squirt a little blob into my hands and massage it into my skin.  The foam is so velvety and luxurious, it’s hard not to enjoy this bit and during the massage, you can feel how super-soft your skin is beneath.  By the time my shower is the right temperature, I jump in and rinse off before I wash my hair.

Once out of the shower, my skin feels fantastic – very comfortable (no horrible dehydrating tightness), extremely soft and clean, with all the night impurities gone.  I don’t use this product at night as I use something else to remove my full face of make-up but according to the blurb, Absolue does remove cosmetics.

This cleanser contains White Iris for the fight against fine lines and wrinkles and Pro-Xylane, which was developed by Lancome in 2006.  It is a sugar-protein found in beech trees and its been found to stimulate the product of molecules that defend against water loss.

It will be interesting to see whether my skin remains as soft and as lovely when I come to the end of using this product.  I’ve gotten used to massaging it into my skin before I jump in the shower and it’s very luxurious to use (would make a fab gift) and is a treat.  I like how my skin looks and feels after use but I prefer to buy cheaper cleansers as they really do just go down the plug-hole. 

Lancôme Absolue Precious Pure

£55 for 150ml

First Come, First Served - New Interactive Make-Up Classes in Nottingham

New to make-up or wanting to brush up on your existing makeover skills?

  

Let You Little Beauties take you through simple but effective ways of enhancing your daytime look.

Starting with a little chat about skincare, a fun interactive and bespoke afternoon begins: Sally will take you through each step of application, which you then can follow…And by 3pm, you will be ready to conquer whatever the day holds, with a renewed confidence!

When: Sat 12 March @ 11-3pm

Where: Tranquility Holistic Therapy Centre & Studio, 178 High Road, Chilwell, Nottingham, NG9 5BB

Price Intro Offer £20

First come first served, classes are limited, so please register your  place by contacting You Little Beauties at sallyfw@hotmail.com

For more information, log on to www.youlittlebeauties.com

You Little Beauty – Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Night Cream (50ml)

I don’t know if you’re anything like me but as soon as I’m only three quarters the way through a product, I suddenly panic and think I’m running out and I’m off to replace/buy/try the next one.

Seeing as I got given the biggest pot of moisturiser known to man (it was a salon size Bio-Performance Revitilising Cream) when I left Shiseido last March, I’ve been using it morning and night and I still hadn’t made a dent in it.  However, knowing that I had another Shiseido product waiting in the wings, I couldn’t wait any longer… so in October (gosh, wasn’t I patient?) - I opened the Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Night Cream, designed for women in their 40’s who are worried about visible signs of aging, environmental damage, dryness and wrinkles.

To be honest, I would often take this out of my beauty stash draw and open up this little beauty just to inhale the scent of it, it’s so lovely.  It has a little old lady smell but not in bad way - it has an elegance about it.   I used to get a little excited when a customer would come up to the counter requesting a night cream and if they were in the right age-group for this product then I would lovingly introduce it and massage it onto their hands…just for me, of course.

As you know, I’m not a fan of heavy creams and ‘night’ ones tend to be a bit thicker than day moisturisers.  However, this little beauty is as light as you can get and my skin looks great on application (and did I say it smells amazing?).  The texture is almost like a gel/cream, so perfect for me.  They do have a day and night lotion in this range also which I would like to try next but I got given this cream and it’s not heavy for my combination skin at all.

The range helps protect the skin against UV rays that trigger an enzyme that breaks down upper and lower parts of the skin, leading to the formation of blood vessels and the breakdown of elastin fibres which gives us horrible wrinkles.  Benefiance inhibits the wrinkle triggers and prevents future wrinkles while reducing existing ones.

Ingredients consist of their own-made Super Bio-Hyaluronic Acid (moisture, moisture, moisture!) and Hydroxyproline (which plays an essential role in collagen stability).  Japan is very much into the sensory aspect of ingredients when it comes to their skincare – scents that enhance our moods and WrinkleResist24 Night Cream contains pepper, carnation, anise, lily-of-the-valley (aha, that would be the little old lady image then) and heliotrope.  I like to think that it promotes a relaxing aspect in my nose while I sleep.

Whether you believe in the science of this premium Japanese brand or not, sometimes I would see a customer from afar and instantly know that they were a Shiseido customer – they had the ‘Shiseido-face’, as I called it (from the tops of the eyebrows, across to their hairline and down to the mouth, these women had no wrinkles - honestly).  They are very mature ladies as well and I couldn’t believe the condition of their skin and they would tell me that they’ve used the brand for 20+ years.

Anyway, brain-washed or not, since I’ve been using WrinkleResist24, I’ve noticed that my skin is very soft on waking and appears plumper and healthier in appearance.  So I would like to think that I will finish this little beauty-pot until the very end and replace it with another one.  It’s a bit pricey at £68 but I really do enjoy using this product before I go to bed and it smells awesome – did I not mention that?  And I hope to have a ‘Shiseido-face’ when I’m in my twilight years…

Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist 24 Night Cream

£69 for 50ml

2015 Fave Beauty Buys

Well, well, well, 2016 is here and happy new year everyone!

Thought I would do a summary of my favourite beauty buys of 2015 and the one's I have repurchased which I don't normally do as there are far too many things to try.

First up is my MAC 2017 brush (£19).  I absolutely love this brush and will have to buy some more for myself and my kit.  As an avid viewer of Lisa Eldridge's tutorial videos, in March, I spent some birthday money on the 217.  For some reason, I can't remember why, Dublin didn't have any so I bought one in Manchester instead.  My eyelids are very small and sometimes I think the 217 is a tad too big but its great to use if I'm in a rush - even doing a smoky eye, it just does the job...

In May, I bought Eyes Uncovered Nude Grey Palette by Collection (Boots £3).  I love grey shades and this one came with cool browns so I just couldn't resist.  I still enjoy using this palette and its great to use with my MAC 217, sweeping Driftwood onto the lid and then using In a Nutshell into my socket line and outer corner.  When I'm in a rush in the mornings, this is perfect to wear with any outfit and is so easy to blend...

The Viper Mascara (£3) by Makeup Revolution was a surprise hit.  If you can remember back in May my post about this, I bought it, used it once and then discarded it as the brush was really big for my tiny eyelashes.  Months later, I was messing about and I thought I would use it properly.  Glad I did.  I absolutely adore this mascara.  It gives great coverage, slight curl, colour is dense, it doesn't smudge and what I love the most about it is that it leaves my lashes super soft.  I also really like the effect of  Seventeen's HD mascara but it leaves my lashes as hard as iron filings.

Two KIKO products I like using is their Soft Focus Concealer in 02 (£8) and their Smart Eyeliner in 801 (£2).  The concealer is a repeat buy.  Its packaged like a pen and you click the other end until the product comes out onto a flat brush, like the YSL Touche Eclat.  To be honest, not keen on the packaging - its hard to get the right amount (also their Dark Circle Concealer which I like, comes in pump form and again, too much comes out - maybe its meant to so one uses more and then repurchases?) but I do like the effect that it gives me.  I shouldn't admit to this but at one point, I didn't wear concealer as I didn't like it falling into my creases under my eyes and it made me look worse.  I'm glad I changed my mind...

When I went to Lisbon in June, I bought the KIKO Smart Eyeliner in 801 Grey Taupe.  I was surprised how effective it was seeing as its such a light colour.  I line my eyes upper and lower and wear it with Seventeen's HD Brown/Black mascara on top and bottom lashes. A bit of bronzer and my MAC Retro lipstick with Spice liner and I'm good to go.  I am sure that this eyeliner will be a constant in my make-up bag...

Next up is Shiseido's Benefiance WR24 Night Cream (£69).  As I want to blog about this properly in the next few weeks, I won't go into detail but let's just say that I always got excited when a customer came to the counter for a night cream.  Basically, I love the smell of it so any excuse to demonstrate it and slather it onto the customers' hands (and my own)...

Oh, my hair!  After I dry my hair on coming out the shower, I can't get a brush through it so thank goodness for the Tangle Teezer (£11).  Nuff said.

Now this next product is a bit different from the two samples I got given last year but what I've bought should do the same thing.  I really noticed a difference within a few days of using Chanel's eye and lip cream (£63).  Whether you agree with using a separate eye cream or not, I do notice a difference in the skin around my eyes if I don't use an eye cream - a facial moisturiser just doesn't have the same effect.  If it did, I wouldn't be forking out an arm and a leg for an eye cream.  Anyhoo, I bought some of their Le Lift as I really can't get any more out of the samples I had.  I haven't yet opened it as I'm using Shiseido's Benefiance WR24 eye cream - which is, again, another superb product...

I am a HUGE fan of Kat von D.  I admire her talent, she's an amazing artist not to mention a decent human being and I really like her make-up line (oh not to mention her Saint perfume which got discontinued, sob).  Anyway, thanks to my sister going to Boston for work and a vacation, I finally got my hands on KvD's Tattoo Liner ($19). OMG, it is sooooo good.  Due to my small, hooded eyes, my lids look ridiculous if I try and do any kind of flick, wing or cat's eye so this is just perfect for lining my upper lid with a fine line.  The nib is super thin, the black is super dense.  It's the bomb.

I also repeat purchased my favourite lipsticks; Kate Moss Rimmel (£3) in 01 red and 03 nude.  Love love love.  Perfect shades for me (took me ages to find a red that suited me), they last nicely on the lips, feel comfortable and they have the complementing lip pencils.

Another product I bought again, in fact I bought three more and have them stashed in a drawer just in case they get discontinued is Superdrug's Simply Pure Hydrating Serum (£3).  It is SO hydrating.  Period.

And there you have it.  My favourite products I used in 2015.  Lots of health, happiness and beautiful complexions to you all in 2016!