Review: Origins Haul

The Origins counter at Boots really excited me when I asked the lady at the counter if its natural and she replied yes. So I bought a few products although the colour matches were not the best. It is a fairly natural make-up brand but not 100%. I say fairly, as they do not use many of the most popular and well known nasties like parabens and phthalates, but they still use ingredients like BHT, methylparaben's (in some) and lemonene.

Im NC44 in foundation colour, and can get away with NC42 for concealer for under eye highlighting in Mac terminology and there is no perfect colour match in the Origins range for my skin colour especially for my yellow tones. I also have Oily acneic skin but have suggested my views based on my mums mature normal skin and my sisters combination skin type.

Origins Plantscription Anti-aging concealer- colour 04 Medium/Deep

The concealer mentioned above has a neutral pinky tone. If you have a neutral tone then it may work for you but definitely not for the more yellow tones. It feels luxurious but it glides to a sheer finish so it does not cover enough but its perfect for those wanting a sheer glossy finish. It doesn't look cakey and it would look flawless on mature skin however on skin that is prone to oil may find it to go in the under eye lines so setting it would be ideal. It gives a highlighted gloss finish but not a product I would use again simply because of the colour and I require more coverage. Its a concealer for those that do not require any concealing!It claims to 'float over skin without creasing caking or sticking' which my sister with combination skin does agree but for me with oily skin it went in my creases.

Origins Plantscription Anti-aging foundation- colour 09 Medium Deep/Warm

With only 12 shades I was not hopeful!  I was in between 'Medium Deep Warm 09' and 'Medium Warm 08'. We opted for 'Medium Deep Warm' instead as the medium warm was looking slightly ashy on my hand.  Priced at £29.50 for 30ml bottle of a very liquidy foundation that does not cover enough doesn't appeal to me. The foundation alone without any powder looked quite greasy on me eventually and I did have creasing, this might be because its an anti-aging foundation however so would be better for mature skin types. My mum who has a darker skin tone, the foundation was perfect for her as tt brightened up her skin due to the deep orange tones, moisturised and made her skin look dewy and younger. So all in all if you have dry skin maybe even normal and mature skin and do not need a heavy coverage then this foundation is for you.

Origins Ginzing brightening mascara

THE BEST natural mascara I have ever tried.  If you like thick, separated, voluminous, long lashes, and like to build it up as the day goes, then this is the mascara for you. It will not disappoint Its designed to make your eyes look brighter and bigger. I'm not sure about brighter but the latter is definitely correct. As its a very waxy mascara, it goes on softly on each lash, giving a natural feel, and with more applications its darker and more intense. Perfect for evenings too!  I think it can even compete against the most popular non-natural mascaras!

Ginzing refreshing eye cream

Now I do not have wrinkles, but I purely use an eye cream to provide extra moisturisation to my eye area. I do not feel using just a day cream or lotion is enough. This cream is amazing! almost feels like a treat to use it every morning or when you need a slight pick me up for those puffy eyes. The smell and colour of this cream is beautiful, it smells like oranges or flowers, and its a peachy orangey colour. But the real magic comes when you put it on. Under the eyes it illuminates the skin giving it a iridescent glow! almost acting like a concealer, hiding your bags and puffy eyes. And over a few hours it does de-puff your eyes and provide relief, making them feel more refreshed. I love this eye cream, I almost feel as if its makeup, and makes my bare skin look more beautiful. It makes me want to try more of the GinZing range and try the GinZing Moisturiser that claims to boost radiance. After trying this eye cream I hardly doubt the claims are false! However £23 for a 50ml jar for the moisturiser and £23 for a 15ml eye cream would be stretching my student budget way too far. For now I'll just stick with the eye cream!

Review: Aknemycin Plus

A year ago I went to my doctor to pick up my usual Retin-A gel prescription, however my doctor was unable to prescribe me my trusted acne medicine, for reasons I do not understand. I immediately went into a panic frenzy, foreseeing the horror my face would become if I didnt get my hands on some tretinoin- the acitve ingredient now! I had already left it a month  and a few breakouts had begun to surface. I expected the worse and was already planning my next steps, using retinol - the commercially widely available derivative of tretinoin but has about 1/100 of the same effect. Stocking up on rosehip oil, a natural source of tretinoin. But nothing would be the same!

My doctor could see how distraught I was, she waited for my little frenzy to finish and then tell me there was an alternative! A solution with erythromycin an antibiotic and tretinoin combined. A double attack on active acne and prevent comedonal acne like blackheads which I suffered with due to my oily complexion. The solution had a higher concentration of tretinoin than my last medication, which made me initially scared as I had to be very careful using the 0.01% gel otherwise I would get damaged dry, scabbing skin. I thought this was due to the tretinoins strong effects, however now that I am using the solution of 0.025%  tretinoin, I know that it was the ethanol in the gel that was the culprit.
The solution on application is like water, it evaporates very quickly, so be careful when applying on the cheeks as the vapour can irritate the eyes slightly. It was quickly absored and my skin felt dry to the touch. I use it nightly after applying a thin layer of glycerin to ease my fears of any dry dehydrated skin. Although since the switch I have nit had a severe dry reaction  as I used to. I am able to use the solution every night if I want, although I only do this around my monthly cycle or when breakouts are more prominent. Initially I used it every other night, and slowly weaned myself off to using it 1-2 a week. My skin smoother, there's very little peeling, which was a big problem with the gel. It helps my scars so much, within days I notice scars fading, pores are more refined, skin feels softer like velvet almost. Oil for me was the root cause for my blackheads and acne, the solution has helped control oil production. In fact when I notice myself getting more oily I know its time to start using Aknemycin again, and my skin is back to normal!

I'm so happy with this Acne medicine, its the most effective, gentle medicine I've ever possibly had! Its worth going to your doctor and trying out, especially if you have comedonal acne.

Review: Sukin Facial Moisturiser

A couple months ago I decided I needed to revamp my skin care routine to accommodate my changing skin type with age. My trusty nelsons moisturiser was now not moisturising enough, every now and then I would have to mix in a little glycerin for a boost of hydration. Especialy during the summer months my skin became quite damaged and dehydrated from lack of appropriate SPF usage. There is another post on SPF, and why your using it wrong as I was, check it out here.
So on the look out for a new lotion, I knew what it had to be. Affordable, roughly the same price as nelsons moisturiser, have lovely natural ingredients to hydrate my skin, be light, absorbed into skin easily.

I saw Sukin, a brand that I had not seen before in my usual natural shop 'as nature intended' (They have a lovely website too!). I decided to try the sample and found that it was easily absorbed into my skin, smelled absolutely amazing, like orange blossom or those boiled orange sweets you get!  Turning it around to inspect the ingredients and getting ready to be disappointed with the usual nasties. I was pleasantly surprised to find a long list of  nasties that it does not contain.

I bought the lotion and over the next few weeks, I found my skins hydration had improved, the amount of oil I had was significantly lower as my skin was not producing excess oil to compensate for the dryness. My skin looked more even, felt comfortable, this might be due to the addition of sesame, rose hip  and wheat germ oil which are great for damaged and scarred skin, which I had a lot of from recent acne breakouts. It also has avocado, jojoba, vitamin E, mandarin orange, tangerine and lavender  oils as well as horsetail, burdock,nettle  extracts.  Overall I love this moisturiser I will be sticking with for the foreseeable future, unless of course I find something better, however I feel like finding this was like a needle in a haystack! I will be trying other Sukin products, maybe a night cream as I am looking for a night cream to add to my skin care regime... when it comes to anti-ageing, prevention is always better than cure!

SPF, Skin protection, how to use it right!

When looking for a good sun lotion there are so many things to consider. Is it natural? What strength should and do I need to use? How often do I really need to apply it?  It may officially be the start of Autumn, but think twice before throwing that SPF to the back of your draw.

Below is a link to a great post, with detailed scientific information about why your SPF may not be working for you, from our sister blog : The Case of the Curious Scientist.

http://occasionalymadscientist.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/uv-protection-de-bunked-put-down-glue.html