Vitamin E

Hauls

Essential repurchases from The Body Shop

September 29, 2014

With the near constant special offers available at The Body Shop I never have to wait too long to grab my essentials at way below the high street price! I was pretty sensible this time and managed to get an absolute bargain on four of my all time favourite products.

Vanilla Body Mist (£7.50)

This is my absolute favourite body mist in the world – I think I’m onto my sixth or seventh bottle by now. I like to take this along to gigs to freshen up after an hour on a sweaty stage, and despite the glass bottle I’ve luckily never had any accidents! I always get a lot of compliments on this scent and find that it easily lasts as long as a good EDP. There are a few other fragrances I’d like to try from The Body Shop (especially the Raspberry EDT that Pants reviewed here), but I find that I come back to this one time and time again.

Early-Harvest Raspberry Shower Gel (£4.00)

My favourite of all the fruity shower gels on offer (With the new Argon Oil range there are now 10 different delicious scents!). I really think you can’t beat The Body Shop for shower products in this price range and I’m super-eager to finish off the bottle of scrumptious Honeymania I’m half way through at the moment so I can delve into this berry heaven.

Strawberry Soap (£2.00)

I’ve never been a fan of using soap on my skin, this is actually what I use for washing my make-up brushes. Unorthodox I know, but it’s the fastest way I’ve found yet and The Body Shop soaps are vegan friendly unlike some of the dedicated brush cleaners out there.

Vitamin E Moisture Cream (£11.00)

This was one of the first products I ever tried from The Body Shop and remains a firm favourite years later. Pants is the undisputed queen of the Vitamin E range (as demonstrated in her posts here and here!) but I always find myself dipping in and out of this simple but reliable face cream between other favourites. This is also the perfect moisturiser for mixing in with foundation on those days when you want a lighter finish.

So there you have it, one very restrained mini Body Shop haul that should have cost £24.50 but swung it’s way to me for a bargainous £11.09!

The offers change all the time but currently you can get 30% off when you buy three items or 40% off when you buy five items both in store and on-line with the code RADIANCE, so if you’re planning on restocking or trying something new head over to The Body Shop now where you can also bag free delivery on orders over £25!

Totally hellbent for reliable favourites

– Gem

News, Skincare

The Body Shop Vitamin E Skincare Range Part 2

October 5, 2013

Here is Part 2 of my Vitamin E blog.

From left to right: Moisture Cream, Illuminating Moisture Cream, Intense Moisture Cream, Nourishing Night Cream

Moisture Cream:

This was the first Vitamin E moisturiser I bought. It’s light weight, gives enough hydration to last the day and is wonderful for mixing with foundations. I absolutely loved the texture of this and how my skin felt when I used it for the first time, I blame my Vitamin E devotion on this product alone as I was hooked instantly!

Illuminating Moisture Cream:

My first experience of illuminated face creams – this gives off a slight pink shimmer/glow. Much nicer than the Superdrug illuminating Vitamin E cream, but I have to be in the right mood to wear this. I find if I am having a “natural” looking day, I might opt for this to give me a flush of colour without using foundation, but less is definitely more with this!

Intense Moisture Cream:

My winter go to cream – moisturiser for dry skin, should be so thick that if you turn the tub upside down, it stays put. This is one of the best moisturisers I’ve found for combating my horrible dry skin during the central heating induced Winter months. With the cold seasons ploughing towards us, I will be reaching for this sooner rather than later.

Nourishing Night Cream:

More recently, I have been experimenting with other moisturisers, but when I use Vitamin E, I use the night cream to go with it. Similar to the Intense Moisture Cream, this is much thicker in consistency, so when I wake in the morning I don’t feel like I’ve had my head in a tumble dryer. It has that luxurious feel when you apply it without making your skin feel suffocated.

Since I own almost all of The Body Shops Vitamin E range, I also recommend the following:

Totally hellbent for (in case you hadn’t noticed) Vitamin E everything

-Pants

Skincare

The Body Shop Vitamin E Skincare Range Part 1

October 3, 2013

As much as I like to mix and match, the Vitamin E collection from The Body Shop is a use together must. I thought about separating all of these lovely things to review but I just can’t split them up! Therefore this is part 1 of 2.

From left to right:

Mini Vitamin E Day and Night moisturisers
Vitamin E moisture Serum
Vitamin E Cleanser & Toner (including minis)
Vitamin E BB Cream
Vitamin E Body Butter

The mini moisturisers I will talk about in part 2 of this blog, but honestly, this is -the- best Skincare range I have ever encountered. I am utterly obsessed with everything Vitamin E based and adore the packaging, the smell and the textures of all of these products.

Moisture Serum:

I use this underneath my moisturiser and my face feels like it wants to do a happy dance from the feeling it gives. The only time I don’t use a serum, is when I am wearing heavy makeup and I’m wearing foundation.

Cleanser & Toner

I bought the mini set to begin with to try these out, and was hooked instantly. Although they have a fragrance to them, my skin does not react at all. I have never experienced stinging, redness or the feeling of my skin drying out and my skin feels thoroughly cleansed afterwards. I keep the mini bottles and fill them up when I go away which is also an added bonus. I do the same with my moisturisers)

BB Cream:

I picked this up last time I was in store to try it out. It’s my least loved out of all their stuff. The texture is nice, but as you may be able to see from the picture, it’s quite dark. My favourite thing to do with this, is to mix it with my foundation instead of putting on moisturiser first. I get a nice but of coverage then and my foundation seems to go on better.

Body Butter:

Whenever I go into The Body Shop, I generally end up leaving with one of these. I love the texture and it’s not too greasy, this is definitely an every day body butter for me. Plus it kind of completes things when you have just Vitamin E’d your face to death!

I would definitely recommend trying this out if your Skin is more dry/sensitive. Make sure you stay tuned for Part 2!

Hellbent for owning absolutely everything in a range!

– Pants

Skincare

Pants’ every day Skincare Regime

September 15, 2013

For many years, I was a believer of less is more. This is something I told myself when it came to my skincare regime, in that I wouldn’t really go above and beyond the morning face wipe/wash and moisturise routine.

I have naturally dry skin, so a lot of soap based products make my face feel especially awful. I try not to use too much on my face, and as part of my morning regime, rely heavily on good quality face wipes rather than washing with soap based products which makes my skin look terrible for the rest of the day.

One thing I will recommend, is invest in the more expensive face wipe, it’s amazing the difference this makes. Some of my favorites at the moment are Superdrug’s Vitamin E wipes, Nivea and Simple. They are relatively cheap to buy as well.

My latest edition, is cleanser and toner. I have no idea how I managed to get through life without these! It’s truly amazing to think of all the gunk and dirt that was left behind on my face – even after exfoliating face washes in the shower. I mostly use The Body Shop’s Vitamin E cleanser and toner, and find this suits me the best. I have tried Simple, and even the aloe Vera range from The Body Shop, but these tend to leave my skin feeling a little dry.

I use Superdrug’s Tea Tree Exfoliating Face wash around 2-3 times a week. I’ve found that out of most brands, this is the best as I like my exfoliating scrubs to feel similar to that of rolling around on sand paper! It leaves my face feeling invigorated and very much awake. This is especially good to take to festivals and I’ve never felt more clean/awake than when I’ve used this. Additionally, I like the Superdrug Tea Tree exfoliating pads which I use most days too.

So, in terms of my regime, my morning starts as follows:

A good quality face wipe to remove most visible dirt, a quick blast of an exfoliating pad just to get down to those nitty gritty bits around 3 times a week. I then cleanse, tone, apply moisturising serum and then my moisturiser. I do the same thing just before bed and ensure that all my makeup has been removed.

Here are some of my top tips for a good skincare regime:

Always use a good quality face wash that suits your skin when you shower. Some people shower daily – I must confess I do not. Be mindful that our skin has natural oils which are often affected with the use of some washes so you may want to consider a milder soap. My exfoliating wash is quite harsh, which is why I use this no more than 3 times a week, and rely on the pads for in between days which are not as harsh.
Remove makeup before going to bed. It’s amazing how much grime you can have caked on your skin, and the night time gives it a chance to breathe!
Choose a moisturiser for your skin type. If you have naturally oily skin, then something for very dry skin is probably not going to be a good choice. If in doubt, look out for product reviews.

There we have it, my basic skin care regime. I love trying out new skin care products, so keep your eyes peels for reviews!

Totally hellbent for cleansing!

-Pants

Festivals, Make-up

Gig + Field x Stage Face = Big bag

July 11, 2013

Dakesis recently played for the 16th birthday of an amazing girl called Alice. Since she is already so metal, she had a mini festival with her own band playing and asked us to do a set.

So, I thought this would be a good example to show you one of my more “basic” gig sets. Obviously this gig was a little more low key and since I was planning on spending a great deal of time drinking in a field, I wasn’t overly bothered about how I would end up looking. Despite this, I do like to ensure I have all the essentials to remove my panda eyes before bed!!

In order, here are some of my lovely essentials:

1 Makeup Case

2 Old duster for cleaning my brushes whilst out and about

3 The Body Shop’s Vitamin E Day and Night Cream

4 The Body Shop’s Vitamin E Moisturising Serum

5 The Body Shop’s Vitamin E mini cleanser and toner

6 Dainty Doll Foundation

7 Kindle

8 Elf Studio Eyebrow Kit

9 17 Miracle Matte Pressed Powder

10 The Body Shop’s Vitamin E BB cream (I mix this in with my foundation)

11 Nivea Visage Refreshing Facial Cleansing Wipes

12 Nivea Hydra Moisturising Cream

13 Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Mascara (my new love, from my Glossy Box)

14 Christina Aguilera Secret Potion Perfume

15 Nivea Roll On Deodrant (Keeps me fresh all day long)

16 Elf Brush Cleaner

17 Elf Makeup Lock and Seal (an absolute requirement for stage makeup)

18 Rimmel Exaggerate Liquid Eyeliner

19 The Body Shop’s Shimmer Cube Palette Eyeshadow Blue/Grey

20 Elf Brightening Eye Colour in Drama

21 The Body Shop All in One Blusher

22 Ecotools Kabuki (From Boots, bought this on a whim after I desperately needed one, and this was the only one I could almost guarantee would be cruelty free)

23 Various brushes – The Body Shop Eyeshadow Brush, Bobby Brown brushes, Elf angled foundation brush (studio range).

There is a lot more to my essentials list that this, but you get the idea! Look out for reviews of some of these products in the near future too!!

I will leave you with a thoroughly amusing picture of camping chair makeup application & the sight of hair in much need of dying!