Liz Earle Foot Scrub

I have terrible feet and I've blogged about them before.  I spend a lot of time, money and effort on trying to sort out my feet - it's certainly not the most glamorous part of my beauty routine.  A good foot scrub is an essential part of my footcare routine in my bi-weekly full-on pedicure.  I've found one that I liked before in a Sample Sunday trial, but most foot scrubs I've found to be not up to the job. And, don't even talk to me about body scrubs as foot scrubs - most are pathetic on my hobbit-like tootsies.

However, the Liz Earle Foot Scrub is actually rather good.  It's very dense, coming out of the tube in a paste-like consistency.  I like this, as it means that it goes further than less dense products.  It's also packed with the actual scrub particles which are made of pumice.  I think foot scrubs should be made of pumice to do a good job.  The scrub particles are just the right size to get to work on my feet, large and scratchy enough to tackle the dry bits on my feet, without damaging my skin.

Now my feet are probably much worse than most other peoples.  Seriously, they are bad!  So, on it's own, the Liz Earle Foot Scrub needs a bit of help.  I tend to use it in conjunction with a pumice or foot file for my pedicure sessions and use it alone on my heels and balls of my feet as a daily top-up between my attack pedicures.  It works really well in this way, getting rid of loads of dry skin and keeping my feet in good condition.  However, for the majority of people with normal feet, you could probably ditch the foot file and use it on its own.

The smell of the foot scrub is dominated by pumice.  Whilst not unpleasant, this is a more generic "foot scrub smell" than the gorgeous Liz Earle scents that most of their other products are fragranced with.  It doesn't put me off at all - I actually prefer that this isn't delicately fragranced, as I like a heavy-duty smell for a heavy-duty product.

I think this this is good quality product and it's quite reasonably priced.  I've tried many foot scrubs that retail around the £5-£7 mark, none of which I like at all.  At £10.75, this is a tad more expensive, but it's well worth the extra money for the job it does.  It's available from the Liz Earle website here.

So would I repurchase this?  Yes, I definitely would!  It's now become a staple of my footcare routine

Thanks for reading! xx

DISCLAIMER: This item was provided free of charge for review purposes.  This has not influenced my review in any way - I always express my honest opinion on any product I review.

The Perfect Summer Scent? Liz Earle Botanical Essence Eau de Parfum No 1

I was sent Liz Earle Botanical Essence Eau de Parfum No 1 for consideration a couple of months ago, and it has become a bit of an everyday staple for me since then.  In fact, I've nearly used up the bottle, so I have requested a second bottle for my birthday in a couple of weeks.

Like all Liz Earle products I've used to date, this is beautifully designed.  The Eau de Parfum is contained in a class and chic square glass bottle, with a chunky stopper.  It comes packaged in a sturdy pull-out cardboard drawer, so it looks good on your dressing table, whether you keep the outer packaging or not.  The packaging is very solid  - I took in on holiday with me without the cardboard drawer, and it survived two long-haul flights without breaking - quite a risky thing to do really!

I find it so hard to describe the smell of perfumes, but I'll give this one a go.  On first spray, it smells like a combination of mown grass and a forest in the rain - it's quite powerful, but this quickly subsides, and a more richer and deeper smell is detectable, with a hint of sweetness.  The richer smell then develops further, combining a very slight sweetness, with a deeper, yet somehow fresher smell, with a hint of citrus.  After a while, the scent develops to a slightly nutty aroma, with a herby, pine smell also detectable, bringing out fresher notes in the perfume.  Finally, once the scent has settled on the skin for an hour or so, I swear it smells lightly of chocolate, but with only the slightest hint of sweetness. This is how it reads on my skin, and I love it.

It's not a strong or heady scent, and I would definitely class it as more suitable for day wear rather than at night.  As I mentioned, I used it on holiday, and it was the perfect summer daytime fragrance.  It's the sort of smell that wouldn't offend anyone by being too strong, or catch in your throat.  However, it provides a relatively long-lasting daytime scent.  If I apply it first thing, I can still detect it after I've finished work.  However, it does wear off eventually, and you would need to top up if you were going out in the evening.  I have got through my bottle of this pretty quickly, as I've been quite liberal with its application.  I'm not sure if this is because it is quite lightly scented, or whether it's because I've abandoned most of my other perfumes in place of this!

I'm personally not a fan of grand, sickly sweet and artificial scents.  I generally tend towards fresher and more citrus note fragrances, such as my all time favourite Paco Rabanne XS Pour Elle, or Boss Orange Sunset.  Therefore, the Liz Earle Botanical Essense Eau de Parfum No 1 could be a fragrance designed specifically for me!

I've deliberately written this review without looking at the ingredients list.  However, looking at the list now, it contains the following ingredients:

Bergamot Essential Oil, Geranium Essential Oil, Lavender Essential Oil, Coriander Essential Oil (perhaps this is the herby smell), Vetiver Essential Oil (the grassy smell?), Tonka Bean Absolute, Patchouli Essential Oil, Mandarin Essential Oil, Bitter Orange Oil (those are the citrus scents), Cardamom Essential Oil, Nutmeg Essential Oil (the nuttiness and chocolate?), Cedarwood - Texan Essential Oil and Damask Rose Absolute.

This can be purchased from the Liz Earle website for £40.35, or from other Liz Earle stockists.  As I've said above, I have requested a second bottle of this, as I think I will get a lot of use out of it over the summer.  If you're after a light, delicate fragrance for day wear, I would recommend you have a sniff of this!

DISCLAIMER: This item was provided free of charge for review purposes.  This has not influenced my review in any way - I always express my honest opinion on any product I review.

What's in my Bathroom? Products I'm Using Now

I love reading posts about what people are using right now, but shamefully, I've never done one myself.  So here goes...

Cleansing and Scrubbing

At the moment, I have two cleansers on the go - Polishing Hot Cloth Cleanser from The Sanctuary and Visibly Clear 2-in-1 from Neutrogena.  I've only just started using The Sanctuary one, but I've been using the Neutrogena one for a while and I really like it.  I'm using Liz Earle's Instant Boost Skin Tonic as a toner, which I've reviewed before and I love.  For exfoliation, I use Origins Modern Friction about once a week, and Radience Exfoliator from The Sanctuary daily - I'm trying to use up The Sanctuary one, as I don't really like it.

Moisturising

I got two serums last week - Kiehl's Ultra Facial Micro Serum and Nourishing Facial Serum from Doozle.  I'm currently using the Kiehl's in the morning, and the Doozle in the evening, and liking them both.  I've got four moisturisers on the go - I'm using Liz Earle's Skin Repair Moisturiser mainly as a night cream, and The Sanctuary's Illuminating Moisture Lotion, Origins' A Perfect World and No. 7's Protect and Perfect Day Cream all during the day.  The No. 7 one is my current Sunday Sample.  All are pretty nice and I'd repurchase all of them bar the No. 7 one.

Shower

I'm currently using two shower gels - Nivea Happy Time, which is from my stash and is a bog-standard, pretty nice shower gel, and Body America's New York Cheesecake which I got last week.  I quite like the look and feel of the Body America one, and it has a foaming pump which I love.  However, I'm not convinced on the smell yet - it's strawberry scented, and although it contains real strawberries, it has a slightly artificial smell that doesn't wow me.  For my body scrub, I'm using The Body Shop's Shea Body Scrub which I recently raved about and I still love.

Hair

I'm using a huge array of hair products at the moment.  I'm using 2 shampoos - one from Aussie which is really nice, and one from Naked which I hate.  I really need to just finish it up - there's not much left!  I've got loads of conditioners on the go - Aussie 3 Minute Miracle, Liz Earle for dry hair, Timotei Revive, half a tube of Colour Lock Conditioner and Bumble and Bumble Creme de Coco Masque as my treatment.  I like the Aussie one - I've used it before; I love the Liz Earle one - this is my third repurchase; the Timotei one is the last of a huge stash of 6 Timotei conditioners I bought last year - I used to love them, but now I find them blah.  I've used the Bumble and Bumble Masque twice now, and I absolutely love it.  I'll do a full review shortly.

I'm still loving Morroccan Oil, and use it everytime I wash my hair.  I've got a L'Oreal Tec ni art serum that I occasionally use when I remember, but tends to be a bit greasy.  I've also got a L'Oreal Tec ni art straightening balm (not pictured) which I also find makes my hair slightly greasy.  I'm still loving Flirty Curls Scrunching Jelly from Umberto Giannini that I use when I natural dry my hair for curls.  I've got a mini Charles Worthington hairspray - I need to buy a full sized hairspray as this is all I have, raided from my minature stash.

So despite my best efforts with my Beauty Diet earlier this year, I seem to have loads of products open and on the go again.  Perhaps I should restart it to at least clear my conditioner shelf!

What's in your bathroom?

Thanks fr reading! xx

Product Review - Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser

Hi everyone.  I was sent Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser to review a few months ago, but I've delayed reviewing it because I wanted to test it out in the warmer weather as well as how it worked in the depths of winter.  I don't know about you, but I generally tend to change up my moisturisers depending on the time of year, so I wanted to see how this would handle different seasons.

The Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser contains a selection of natural ingredients including borage and avocado oil, echinacea, beta-carotene and natural Vitamin E.

My first impressions of this product were great - it is a thick cream that smells fantastic.  I find it very hard to describe scents, but I will say that it has a light, delicate fragrance that I love!  It is packaged in an attractive and sturdy pot that looks great on my bathroom shelf.  The cream itself is easy to apply, being thick, but also 'slippy'.  A little goes a long way - you really don't need very much for both your face and neck to be fully moisturised.  I found initially that I was using far too much, which meant that it wasn't all being absorbed into my skin.  However, once I had adjusted the amount I was using to a smaller quanitity, it was much more easily absorbed into my skin.

I have found that the Skin Repair Moisturiser is a very good general moisturiser.  It is very mild on my skin and hasn't caused any break-outs.  I found that in the coldest weather it wasn't quite enough for my skin, leaving it feeling slightly tight - I topped it with Clinique Moisture Surge when I was leaving the house.  This isn't a major criticism, as I've only ever found one moisturiser that works well in extreme temperatures.  However, for mild winter conditions, the Skin Repair Moisturiser worked really well, and my skin felt really well moisturised.  I'm also glad that I've tested it in the warmer weather we've been having recently, as I'd usually switch to a slightly lighter moisturiser.  However, I've found that it has been working really well in these conditions, with my makeup staying in place, with no slippage.

One thing that I could criticise the moisturiser for is that it doesn't have any SPF in it.  I'm not usually the greatest fan of SPF in moisturisers, as they can make my skin break-out, so it's not a major issue for me usually.  However, I didn't take it on holiday with me for this reason, as I do wear SPF when the sun is hot.

So all in all, I found this to be a very good general moisturiser, that made my skin feel well-moisturised, and that works for different seasons and temperatures.  OK, so it doesn't have any SPF, or make outlandish claims about anti-ageing, but that's a great product that lasts a long time and I think is good value for money.  I've already purchased a second pot as my first pot is almost finished.  You can purchase a 50ml pot here for £17.60.

Thanks for reading!  xx

DISCLAIMER: This item was provided free of charge for review purposes.  This has not influenced my review in any way - I always express my honest opinion on any product I review.

Product Review - Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic

I have a confession to make ladies - I'm not really a cleanse, tone and moisturise kinda girl.  I used to use toner when I was a teenager, but I read an article saying that if you use a wash off cleanser (which I usually do) then there's no point in using a toner.  And so, for probably around 15 years I've not used a toner.  I'm sure that the last toner I used was some astringent anti-spot formulation that was supposed to close your pores and prevent spots, but really just left your skin feeling tight, stinging, dehydrated and uncomfortable 

When I was sent the Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic for consideration, initially I wasn't sure how it would fit into my skin care routine, and with my hazy memories of my last toner experience, I wasn't sure how it would react with my sensitive skin.  I was hopeful I would like it, as it's alcohol free and I'm pleased to say that I've been converted to a dedicated toner user by this product - it couldn't be further from my teenage toner experiences!

The Instant Boost Skin Tonic comes in an attractive, large pale blue bottle.  Now I'm usually minimalist about my bathroom shelves, and store all my lotions and potions away.  However, I've left this on my bathroom shelf since I received it, and it looks good.  The best thing about the bottle design is the twist lid.  You don't need to fiddle around unscrewing a lid and losing it or popping a cap off.  Just a small twist (which you can do one handed - I've tried), and you can open and close it - very neat and ergonomic.

The scent is delicately fragranced and smells lovely without being at all over-powering or synthetic.  It is described on the bottle as "heavenly" and I can only agree with that description. 

I've been using a generous slug of this twice a day on a cotton pad to tone after cleansing, and I have really noticed a difference.  Firstly, my skin feels really clean after doing this - much cleaner then after using a wash-off cleanser.  I'm also making sure that parts of my face and neck and ears which can get missed with a cleaner get a going over with the skin tonic.  It's easy to skip over these parts of your face, and given the amount of grime that comes off onto the cotton pad, I can tell I certainly need to cleanse these areas more often.  Once I've used the toner, my skin doesn't feel at all tight or stretched.  It feels soft, hydrated and very clean, with not a hint of stinging on my sensitive skin.

Something I've really noticed since using this is that my serum and moisturiser applies really well to my face and sinks in much more quickly than without using it.  I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but sometimes, particularly in winter when I tend to load on the moisturiser and probably use too much, my moisturiser can sit on my skin and if I keep trying to rub it in, it can form little 'globules' or 'flakes' of moisturiser which sit on my skin's surface and I have to pick them off.  It's hard to describe this, and it might just be my weird skin, but it's something I experience from time to time and it doesn't matter which moisturiser I use.  However, I've not even had a hint of this since using the Instant Boost Skin Tonic, so I think I've got this problem sussed. 

The only issue I have with it is that after years of not using a toner, I have to keep reminding myself to use it as part of my skincare routine.  There have been a few times when I've simply forgotten to use it and I'm already slapping on the moisturiser before noticing it on my shelf.  I just need a bit more training to get into the habit of using it regularly.

So I'm going to give the Liz Ear Instant Boost Skin Tonic a big thumbs up! A 200ml bottle (which I reckon would last quite a while) costs £11.75 and is available from the Liz Earle website, as well as outlets around the country.

Thanks for reading!  xx

DISCLAIMER: This item was provided free of charge for review purposes.  This has not influenced my review in any way - I always express my honest opinion on any product I review.

The Beauty Diet Update – How am I Doing?

Well I’m nearly a month into my Beauty Diet and Project 15 Pan and I have a few updates for you.  I’ve used up my Liz Earle shampoo and conditioner, and finished both of my facial exfoliators.  I was sad to use up the shampoo and conditioner, as I really rated both products, despite initially taking a few goes to get to grips with the shampoo.  I won’t do a review of these here, as they’ve been a popular choice with the blogging community and I’m sure you’ve read any reviews on them.  Suffice to say,  I will be repurchasing them in the future, and I cut the tube of conditioner to get three extra applications from it.  I was hoping that the exfoliators, along with a dermabrasion scrub I have would last me until the end of February.  However, I clearly didn’t have as much as I thought left, so I’ve finally finished my ‘bad’ exfoliators after about 6 months of use. 

Before I started my Beauty Diet, I did have two Christmas gift sets on order from The Sanctuary (at £9 each, they were a bargain).  They both contain facial scrubs, and I can nick my boyfriends facial scrub which I love, so I'm not going to run out any time soon! 

One of my goals was to not buy any shower gels for a whole year.  I thought that this would be a tough challenge.  However, we’re nearly at the end of January and I’m still on my first shower gel, which wasn’t a large bottle,  and I usually have two showers a day!  At this rate, this challenge is going to be a piece of cake!  

I try to use up my ‘worst’ shower gels first, so at the end of the year I’m left with my most luxurious.  I chose what I assumed to be a cheap and chemically shower gel I received in a gift set at Christmas, toffee apple body wash.  However, I’m seriously impressed with my choice!  It smells lovely, it produces loads of lovely thick suds, and despite its bright blue colour, it doesn’t irritate my skin at all (something I’m prone to).  The gift set I received it in also contained a chocolate shower gel, a toffee apple and a chocolate body lotion, a soap that looks and smells like chocolate and a sponge that looks like a piece of chocolate cake.  I had assumed it was a very cheap pressie, but clearly I was wrong.  Looking at the packaging, it is a Boots product, so I can’t wait to try out the other bits in the gift set.

I’ve nearly finished using up two body moisturisers, which I already had on the go before I began this challenge, but I’m not quite there.   I’ve been trying to moisturise my body every night before bed, but I have slipped a few times.

In terms of my spending, I haven’t been completely saintly, but I’ve been pretty good.  I did purchase Across the Universe nail polish by Deborah Lippmann (£16), but after the lengths I went to get it, I’ll forgive myself that!  I also purchased 8 bottles of Diet Coke to take advantage of Nails Inc polishes offer.  Although this cost just over £9, I do drink lots of Diet Coke, so I don’t actually count this as breaking my Beauty Diet!  I have also spent all my boots points (around £18) – it’s astonishing how many essentials I’ve needed this month – everything seems to have run out at the same time.  Toothpaste, deodorant, cotton wool, plasters, paracetamol, tampons, savlon and I’ve no points left! 

Today I took the decision to buy some products in Boots that I really needed.  First of all I got some Flexitol Heal Balm, as my feet are currently in a terrible state, and have got to the stage where they are actually painful.  I have inherited bad feet from my Mother, and I’m not pleased!  If there was one part of my body I could swap, it would definitely be my feet.  I also purchased some Scholl Skin Softening Cream, as I find that this also works a treat.  I’ve no idea why I got both products – I just couldn’t chose I suppose. 

I also decided to buy some new shampoo.  Once I’d finished my Liz Earle, I moved onto a some bottles of shampoo and conditioner from The White Company.  However, they did absolutely nothing for my hair.  The shampoo smelt like an old fashioned perfume (not in a good way) and the conditioner didn’t penetrate my hair at all.  I decided that I couldn’t stand a whole month of using them!  I’m going to leave them at my parent’s house next time I visit as ‘emergency’ shampoo and conditioner, as I’m frequently in London overnight, but I like to travel light and usually never bring either product.  As neither of my parents use conditioner, if I do decide I need to wash my hair, I usually end up having to buy a full sized bottle (hence the conditioner mountain). 

I bought a shampoo by Naked.  I’ve not tried this brand before, but I’ve seen some rave reviews from other bloggers, so I thought I’d give it a go, particularly as it’s free of parabens, sulphate, nasties etc.  It cost a very reasonable £4.06, although there was a 2 for £6 offer on in Boots (which I resisted).  I’ve no idea why I bought the shampoo for long and straight hair.  Although my hair is now shoulder length, it’s far from straight.  I think something took leave of my senses in Boots today...

So, I’ve slipped a bit – I’ve spent around £30 on essentials and one luxury purchase and another £9 on Diet Coke (with free nail polish) and £18 worth of Boots points.  That’s actually quite a lot of money and it makes me realise how much I usually fritter away on beauty bits and pieces.  I’m not going to be too hard on myself in February, as I’ll definitely want to get some things in preparation for my holidays.  However, I hope to not buy any beauty products until my payday on 26^th February. 

I will update separately on my Project 15 Pan.  Sorry for rambling on! Thanks for reading!  xx