Product review - Botanics' cleansing cream and toner

Hi Guys!

Last month I was at my mum's house for a few days and instead of taking all my skincare products with me I decided that I would use whatever she had. Spoiler alert - I regret not taking my products with me.

I didn't take into account that she would have taken her favourite products away with her (the family were on holiday and I was technically squatting, but I see it as housesitting without permission) and so I was left with randoms on the beauty shelf.

Botanics:

The Botanics range is exclusive to Boots and I've always been meaning to try out thir products, as they are marketed as "natural and organic" and come at an affordable price point. Today I'll be discussing the "all brightening" gentle cleansing cream and the cleansing toner. Both were £3.99 each (and on offer for £1.99 each omg!!!)

There are products for different skin types: normal, combo, dry, senstive, oily, and aging.

First off, I must say, I really like the packaging. I just really like how clean and simple the bottles are. Some beauty products come in fancy packaging that is not always practical. My hands are wet, I've got soap suds in my eyes, I ain't got no time for some rocket science lid contraption. Give a girl a break!

Cleanser:

The cleanser was....blah. Ironically, nothing to write home about. Personally, I would not be able to use this on a daily basis, it would take years to remove my make up. To be fair, my make up does need industrial strength stuff to budge and I never have hope that this type of cream cleanser would do me any favours.

But - it was gentle, my sensitive skin did not feel like it was burning, and it did not sting my eyes. It was really refreshing on my skin and I can imagine for someone would wore no/minimum make up that this would do a decent job. 

[Big up my photography skills!]

Toner:

Toners are weird.

I guess toners are one of those products that you need to use for a while to see its outcomes. This toner was nice and refreshing and like the cleansing cream, there was no burning sensation. Was that the most useless sentence I've ever written? Probably not, but it makes the top 100 I'm sure!

So?

I won't be purchasing the cleansing cream and toner for myself, but I am interested to try out other products in the Botanics range.

Have you tried anything from Botanics before? Anything that you think I must try?

I'm really interested in the "super balm", for elbows, lips, hands, everwhere else. I love a multi purpose product.
Of course I will let you know if I give it a go :)

Hugs xoxo

Garnier Express 2 in 1 Eye Make-up Remover

Hi Guys!

As you may now I am in love with Garnier's 2 in 1 make up remover (the light blue one) - I swear by it and have been through more than 10 bottles of the stuff. That being said, I do get tempted by all these other stuff promising me heaven and earth.

So I decided to take the plunge and pick up this purple thing. Promises to remove all make up, even waterproof.

LIES LIES LIES!!!

Maybe if you wear the minimum of eye make up this will work for you.

But I do not wear the minimum of eye make up. I wear the equivalent of concrete on my eyes and this does not work for me. I paid for it so of course I used it all up but every time was a struggle and filled me with unhappiness.

No rubbing required? Really? Really? NO! I had to use about 6 cotton pads and rub rub and I still had eye make up residue :(

Gentle on the eyes? Thankfully, yes it was gentle. Which isn't a  surprise, since it did nothing for me it would have been more of a shock if it had stung. That would have been the ultimate insult to my make up removing routine.

Protect eyelashes? Maybe they mean this is due to the gentleness of the formula - been since it took so much effort i did lose many an eyelash in this battle.

RRP £3.49 I got mine during a promo so paid around £2. What a waste of £2. Seriously.

So.....would I recommend this?

LMFAO

Get loss!

Product Rave

Just downloaded a blog app. Haven't really figured out the functions yet so please bear with me!

Product rave for 2 items I never thought I needed and I now love <3

Item 1: Clinique's Clarifying Lotion in 2
I got this as part of those many gift sets Clinique do (buy two items and get a bunch of stuff) and its been laying round for ages for two reasons:
1. Wasn't too sure what a clarifying lotion was and 2. Was scared it would break me out/irritate my face. But I've been determined to use stuff or else bin it do I thought I'd give this a try before binning it. So what is it? A toner basically. And what is a toner? I still don't really know! But after I take off my make up at night and cleanse I then give my face a good swipe with the clarifying lotion. You are suppose to just leave it and apply moisturiser but due to stinging and fear I leave it or a few minutes and rinse it off. Baby steps!

My face is left squeaky clean and I used the small bottle for about 3 weeks (was very generous and I've finished the bottle already) and no break outs or rashes. Happy girl.

It's not a necessity in a face routine I feel but I enjoy stuff like this so my plan is to try out some cheaper brands of toner and hopefully find something I like and if I can't then I shall be raiding my mums cupboard to see if she's got any Clinique toner going spare :)

[edit: been using a different toner and what it's told me is...Clinique's really is amazing!! The clearness and smoothness has disappeared and I'm back to dull. Unfortunately my mum does have an unused bottle in her cupboards but it's for oily skin and I'm dry so......]

Item 2: Tesco's sensitive eye make up remover

This was about 87p or something equally ridiculous and it is amazing. I usually use baby oil to remove eye make up (still a major fan) but was
just browsing and ended up purchasing this. It's cheap and gentle and it really works. I pack on a lot of eye make up, and recently been using a primer and one cotton pad per eye soaked with the product removes everything. I am def going to repurchase this (i've finished the bottle already) and would suggest you give it a go once your usual remover runs out! You can't go wrong with 87p!!!

[edit: it's been about 2 months and I've almost finished my 2nd bottle and already have a 3rd bottle lined up - love]

So....how do you remove your eye make up? And any oner recommendations that are purse friendly? Xoxo