Empties: Sample Edition

Garnier Moisture Match for Dull Skin (Wake Me Up)
This moisturiser is a clear gel which has a cooling effect that is very similar to anti cellulite creams. The gel actually smells like a perfume because it's so heavily fragranced and also has a strong alcoholic scent. The fragrance is fruity and fresh due to the grapefruit fruit extract and lemon fruit extract to energise you and wake you up. However the scent doesn't completely mask the strong alcoholic smell which irritated my eyes and stung a little on application probably due to the fact that alcohol denat is listed as the third ingredient. It does absorb quickly but I'm not sure how moisturising it is. It did wear well under my foundation (sleek oil free compact foundation.) It's also paraban free but does contain silicone (Dimethicone.)
Purchase? No. I like the concept behind this range- having moisturisers targeting different skin conditions but did not like the fact this has so much alcohol in it.

Merumuya Melting Cleansing Balm

This is probably the only negative review of  Merumaya's Melting cleansing balm which is such as shame as I was so excited and wanted to like it so much and it does seem to work for a lot of people. It smells like grapefruit (although there's no grapefruit instead it's citronelol: lemon.) It contains Echium Seed Oil (RevitElix ™) and Mangosteen extract too. The smell reminded me of Neals Yard's essential oil beauty products. The texture is very oily thanks to the almond oil and it's easy to massage onto dry skin while it emulsifies make up (the 'melting' part.) It then turns milky on contact with water. Then you're supposed to remove the balm with a cloth, I used one of the Liz Earle's muslin cloths. Merumaya recommend normal skins to repeat the cleanse and oiler skins to follow with Merumaya's Luxury Facial wash. Since this easily removed all of my Estée Lauder Double Wear Light foundation,  I can imagine that it would remove a much heavier foundation (i.e. Estee Lauder's Double wear foundation) without any trouble. It doesn't sting when gets into eyes. It can be used to remove eye makeup and I've read several reviews saying its fine but one who woke up with puffy eyes afterwards so I decided to err on the side of caution and to use a separate eye makeup remover instead (as I do with Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish.) The next day the red patches on my cheeks got bigger and became sore (they weren't before) and I also got six painful under the skin spots. I did actually test this on half my face and was fine so I then used it all over on a different occasion thinking I would be fine. I think those with sensitive skin or dry skin should not apply this twice in order to prevent dryness and irritation. While it's cheaper than Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish and Eve Lom, it is on the more expensive side compared to drugstore/high street cleansers, it retails at £16.50 for 100ml.

Purchase? No. It made my skin worse!

Body Lotions - These both lasted 2 weeks.

Aveeno body Lotion makes your skin feel so incredibly soft, however I didn't really like the smell (It's supposed to smell like oats, and although I eat porridge I couldn't really get with the smell) Purchase? I don't know. Maybe if it was on offer and if my skin was very dry- I would have to mix it with something that smelt nicer!

Garnier Body Intensive 7 days lotion  I absolutely loved the scent, it smells like Shea butter (which is one of the ingredients) sweet without being sickly. However it does contain alcohol and mineral oil which could irritate some skin types. This lotion does leave skin feeling soft  but I think Aveeno pips it to the post in the skin softening stakes and the softening effect lasts longer with Aveeno despite not having a 7 day claim. 
Purchase? Maybe if it's on offer.

Sunscreen 

Hawaiian Tropic Satin Protection Ultra Radiance SPF 15
Hawaiian Tropic Satin Protection Ultra radiance SP30 has received a lot of criticism for not actually protecting up to SPF 30 according to the Which? study testing sun lotion in 2014. This makes me a little wary of the SPF15. More confusing is that both products seem to be recommended by the Skin Cancer Foundation judging by the stamp on the packaging. Anyway it smells so nice and summery, a floral scent combined with coconut and cocoa. The smell isn't overwhelming which is good as I'm sensitive to strongly perfumed cosmetics. The 'Ultra Radiance' effect is gold glitter which is noticeable in sunlight. This maybe a bit too bling/disco ball for some but it would give a glistening highlight when applied to the legs. However SPF15 is pretty low so I'd avoid this if you're pale or are going to be on the beach all day.
Purchase? Probably not, the sun protection factor is too low I usually buy SPF30-35.

L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream
This is L'occitane's best seller and has even been in Vogue's Top 100 beauty products as well as wining a Bella Beauty award in 2015. This is their original 20% Shea formula, and while it does make your hands feel soft and moisturised with minimal grease, I really don't like the smell, it's sort of like baby talc powder. I prefer their Jasmine version.
Purchase? This one, no, but I would buy others in the range.

Perfume

Kenzo Flower in the Air EDP
This perfume smells floral and sweet, however there is a hint of fruit (raspberries) and pink pepper that stop it being too sweet. I tend to go for fruity scents and steer away from sweet floral scents. The raspberries gives it a fruity feel, but more in a sweet way rather than the fresh, light feel of apples in DKNY Be Delicious or other citrus-y perfumes. The top notes are raspberry and pink pepper, the middle notes are floral including rose, magnolia and gardenia. The base note is white musk. This sample is actually a EDP which is unusual since most perfume samples are more often EDT. The scent was strong for the first hour but it did fade through the day. Around 8 hours later I could just about smell the scent on my wrists but no-none else would be able to.
Purchase? I haven't fallen in love with this scent and I would have to in order to spend £51+ on it for the EDP. The EDT is cheaper at around the £30 mark but again this is not a 'must have' for me.

Makeup

Everyday Minerals Face Soft Bronzer 
I got this free with a brush I bought from Everyday Minerals. I think the 'soft' in the name refers to a soft, subtle warming bronzer for light skin tones. It's a pinky orange shade that probably won't show on medium and dark skin tones. On my hand it's close to my skin tone  but on my face it is a very subtle and more orange than brown (I'm roughly Mac NC25/BB warm sand/Estee Lauder intensity one.)  I applied it over liquid foundation and again on moisturised bare skin but it didn't look good either way.
Purchase? No. It's too orange and doesn't really show up. To be honest I'd suit a darker shade.

Shampoos

L'oreal Elvive Nutrigloss Luminiser High Shine Shampoo
I have fallen in love the scent of this shampoo, it's very fresh and floral. This shampoo is labelled as a 'high shine shampoo' that uses glycogel shine sealer technology to resurface the hair fibres of impurities that disrupt light reflection and help seal the cuticles, coating hair with a weightless gloss. Typically for a shampoo that promises smooth (and therefore shiny) hair it does contain silicon (dimethicone) but is is free of MI (Methylchloroisothiazolinone)  MCI (Methylisothiazoline) preservatives that can cause an contact dermatitis allergic reaction and nerve damage. My hair was shiny after using this shampoo but because I have straight thick dark hair almost all shampoos make my hair shiny. As promised it didn't weight my hair down but I still needed to wash my hair the next day as it didn't control my oily hair.

Purchase? Probably not because it didn't control my greasy hair as well as my regular Pantene shampoo. But it would be good for other hair types- such as normal or dry hair.

L'oreal Elvive Smooth & Polish perfecting Shampoo
This shampoo contains Keratin-polish to make hair smooth, control flyaways and calm static. The camellia extract also makes hair soft. As well as keratin it contains Silicon (Amodimethicone) but is MI (methylisothiazolinone) and MCI (Methylchloroisothiazolinone) free. The shampoo has a pleasant fresh floral scent (although I preferred the nutri gloss the most.) It left my hair smooth and shiny but as I said earlier that often happens with most shampoos. My hair does feel a little softer and did not get greasy until the evening of second day hair which is as good as my current Pantene shampoo. It does benefit from using a conditioner with it though as I noticed some frizz and my hair was a little drier using this.
Purchase? Yes. I would say it's best for oily hair, this is going on my shopping list, paired with a good conditioner this should be great.

My summer Legs Routine

This summer I have been reading lots of Lindsey Kelk's books while sunning myself in the garden- which has been so relaxing it's something I'd recommend to everyone! Anyway I thought I'd share my summer legs routine with you all.

Since I have sensitive sensitive skin and eczema on my knees and ankles I usually mix Oilatum oil with salt to create a body exfoiliator. For dimple free skin I suggest body brushing, using a bristle brush on dry skin brushing towards your heat is supposed to improve circulation, lymphatic drainage and beat cellulite as well as exfoliating, and this one from Sanctuary also has rubber nodules to massage the skin. Although it doesn't completely eradicate cellulite Cowshed Slender Cow Extra Firming Body Butter does the next best thing which is to drastically reduce the appearance of cellulite, so that your thighs and bum look a lot firmer and smoother, basically 10 times better than before. It contains sweet orange, grapefruit, ylang ylang and mandarin red essential oils to stimulate and tone the skin and the carrot seed oil helps to break down toxins. It has a herbal scent due to the essential oils but it doesn't irritate my sensitive skin and is the only cream I've tried that works. It makes a big difference and worth the price tag. The next step in my routine is shaving. If you have dry or sensitive skin go for a shaving cream that doesn't contain sulphates since they can strip the skin of naturally occurring oils. Use a sharp blade because duller ones need more pressure to shave leading to more friction and razor burn. I recently bought  Vaseline's Intensive Care Spray Moisturiser, it may sound like a gimmick , but spraying moisturiser on your body feels so refreshing and cooling in the heat. It also cuts down the time spent rubbing in and you don't have to wait ages before dressing. The one I picked up was the aloe version which smelt nice and fresh. It's not greasy and leaves you with soft skin but it's not what I'd call intensive, so if you're after a more moisturising boost then Garnier's Ultimate Beauty Oil is both lightweight and rich. Having eczema I've always been wary of using fake tanners on my legs, so I stuck to bronze shimmery body creams instead. However The Body Shop's Honey Bronze Tinted Leg mist  is great for a matte, realistic tan.  It's a wash off formula for fair to medium skin tones, paraben free and smells like fruit punch.  It can be layered, for my olive skin tone I used two layers (I use Bobbi Brown warm sand foundation for reference) but one layer would be enough for fair skin tones. I would leave a gap between moisturising and applying this, as moisturising seemed to dilute the colour and apply patchily. It does dry quickly and doesn't transfer or rub off but can be removed with soap and water. Finally after all that hard work and pampering it's time to make the most of the summer we have left!

Garnier Oil Beauty Lotion Review

Garnier Oil Beauty Body Lotion contains four oils: Argan, Macadamia, Almond and Rose as well as Shea butter. It is marketed as a lotion that 'nourishes like an oil and absorbs like a cream' which explains the texture -very soft slightly melted butter in a pastel yellow colour. It combines the rich hydration of oils but without the mess or heaviness of oils, but with the ability to absorb quickly and easily into the skin.

Garnier claims this lotion will 'prevent skin feeling dry. Your skin will feel softer and silky smooth.. and more visibly radiant.'  According to their study, clinical scoring found after a week dryness was decreased by 53% in 41 people. A consumer test on 41 people reported that after one week 95% agreed that their skin was noticeably smooth. Out of the 41 people 78% noticed a visible difference to their skin which Garnier uses to support the lotion's claim of a radiant finish. Skin radiance seems to me very subjective and just skin care jargon, do they mean healthy? Glowing? Better? How?

Anyway using a sample I tested this lotion for a week, applying every day on both my arms.   

At the end of 7 days my skin definitively feels softer and smoother and it has made a difference to my super dry elbows, they are still a little dry but the lotion has made a difference in the 7 days which hasn't happened with other lotions I've tried previously. 

Its other claims are 'fast absorbing, non-greasy, non-sticky and dermatology tested.'After applying my hands weren't very greasy and any lotion left over was quickly absorbed, it didn't feel like I had to wash it off my hands immediately. The lotion is definitely non sticky which is more comfortable to apply and wear. It has a subtle fragrance, which to me smells like sweet cocoa butter (not chocolate)  but personally I don't like, however it is very subtle so you can wear other fragrances and it wouldn't interfere. However it does contain mineral oil/petroleum which may be a problem for some people but is paraben free.

I feel that this lotion brings the best of oils and lotions together and is a great product that is also fairly good value for money, currently it's on offer in Boots for £3.33. If you want a hydrating rich moisturiser that's also light this is it!