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

Girl gone wild (ombre) again!

Hello hello.....so we meet again.

A total impulse move but I decided on Thursday that I wanted my ombre to be lighter. I had V sleeping over aka live in hairdresser.

There was a 2 for £10 deal in Boots on Jerome Russell products (so I saved about 10p!) soI picked up the blonding kit in medium lift [above picture] and a colour toner [picutred somewhere below]. Sorry about the box - V is an animal :) She did tell me to google image a nice box but I thought that I would keep it real. 

So we brushed out my hair and V mixed up the blonding kit and put it on my hair where it was already ombred, she then wrapped it in foil and she pinned it up to keep it out of the way. Not sure if I mentioned it last time but keeping it wrapped keeps things hot, and heat helps the chemicals to really do the business.

No pictures cos it gets a bit icky but after 30 mins V removed the foil and I rinsed my hair using the conditioning shampoo supplied in the box. We could already tell at this point that my hair was Barbie blonde. V's reaction was "holy f**k!!!".

[above - colour toner]

I towel dried and brushed my hair again and then V plopped the colour toner on my blonde hair. 

V wrapped my hair in clingfilm and I blow dried the cling filmed bit for 5 minutes and then left it for....I can't remember....maybe 20-30 mins? I then got back into the shower and washed my hair using my normal shampoo and conditioner. The best news at this point is that my hair wasn't feeling all melted and dead and weird. 

So erm....yeah.....this is my hair. The blonding kit worked!!! This is blow dried not straightened; not sure if my hair csn take 230 degrees heat at the moment.  (Sorry abut my nightie!! lol)

Friday morning I was still blonde and I was still scared to straighten it so I did a fishtail braid. I had people pulling at it thinking it was a clip in plait. I had people ask if I had extensions. And I had a lot of looks at horror.

I honestly don't know how I feel about my hair as a whole. I'm really happy with the colour just for the fact that I never thought I could be this blond. I'm really impressed with the products used. As a whole? It's not ombre at its best is it? Oh well. It's only hair!

Haul: The Body Shop

Hey Guys! There was a 40% off discount code for The Body Shop so I thought I'd treat myself and grab some bits. I went to the store inside Stratford Mall (not Westfield's) and the store was very disappointing. The staff were crap, the store was dirty and neglected and a lot of the make up products were totally out of stock.  But anyway, here's the stuff I did get:

I got myself 3 lip butters. I've been meaning to try out lip butter for a while but didn't want to part with my £4 when there's so many other lip products on the market that are cheaper and work well. I chose shea butter, mango and the new one, chocomania. I have no idea how these smell, hopefully they are nice! I've used the shea butter for a day and it's ok but I'm happy I didn't pay the full price. Once I use up these 3 tubs I'll stick to blistex or carmex; much more moisturising in my opinion.

This is the tea tree toner and full rrp was £4.50. I've only used this once but I really like it. It was cooling but it didn't make my face feel like it was burning! A perfect toner for the hot weather (even though it has been horrid all bank holiday weekend). If I was going on holiday somewhere hot I'd definitely pack this to take with me.

This is the vanilla body mist and it was £7 full rrp. Erm, I don't know what made me buy this. The idea is great but £7?! And this is a bit of a risk purchase as I can't smell it and everyone else can. I hope it's a sweet vanilla smell but not too overpowering and not too fake vanilla smelling. If you bump into me, please let me know how I'm smelling!!

Like the body mist, this was just another impulse purchase, a crazy 'i need to make the most of my discount' buy. You know what I;m talking about don't you? This is  a hand cream set, 3 30ml hand creams in hemp, wild rose and almond. I've also wanted a body shop hand cream, they are pretty good and this set works out well. One tube of 30ml hand cream is usually £5 so 3 should be £15 right? But this is £12, and then I got my 40% off so it worked out quite well. I really look forward to carrying this round in my handbag :)

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