Category Archives: Skincare

Skincare Saturday: Lush 2017 Valentine’s Day

February 4, 2017Reviews, SkincareLushChelle

Lush always knows how to come through with their seasonal collections – their currently released Valentine’s Day one is enormous!

The first item I immediately tried out was the Rose Bombshell Bath Bomb. I had just finished up my soccer game for the evening and wanted to take a relaxing bath.

The scent on this one is very rose-centric (not surprising though now is it??) with a hint of lemon oil.

Plop the Rose Bombshell in the bath tub and it explodes into a hot pink burbling ball. Wait for the whole bath bomb to dissolve and suddenly you’ll find yourself swimming in sweetly fragranced rose waters with *actual* yellow rose petals floating around you. Magical? Absolutely!

Lush Two Hearts Beating As One Bath Melt

Want something a little less fussy for your bath? Check out the Two Hearts Beating As One Bath Melt! As the name would suggest, this bath melt is two interlocking pieces that will melt into your bath water leaving behind a hydrating and silky feeling to the water. This one is a mix of ylang ylang and rose oil which gives it a bit of a tangy punch to the scent.

If you’re looking to have a little more fun with your bath, go for my personal favourite, the Unicorn Horn Bubble Bar! Soft rainbow pastel colours covered in micro glitter is pretty much my idea of the best damn time ever – so pair that with some bath time bubbles and you’ve got a winner on your hands! Unicorn Horn has lavender, ylang ylang and neroli mixed together and you can definitely break up this bubble bar for use in multiple baths!

Once you’re all done with your bath, get your moisture on with a good rub down for you and/or your partner with the Love Spell Massage Bar. Quick tip for these: they pack a lot of oily punch, so you don’t need a ton of product. Swipe this on to the skin a few times and then start massaging your skin. Don’t do what I did many years ago – which is to say that I kept using the bar and turned my husband into quite the oil slick!

As far as I can see, every single item in the Lush Valentine’s Day collection is still available on Lush’s site! This is kind of a relief since their limited edition collections do tend to run out pretty fast – so if you see something you like, snatch it up quickly!

Products featured in this post were sent to me for review.

Skincare Saturday: Live Clean Fresh Face

January 28, 2017SkincareLive CleanChelle

In terms of brands that continue to impress me with each new product release, Live Clean has got to be near the very top of that list. Each new release leaves me nodding my head going “yes, oh yes”. The Fresh Face range is 98% plant derived, paraben-, phthalate- and petroleum-free, and hypoallergenic. And to add onto all of that, these products do not break the bank at all, which is such a relief!

Live Clean - Foaming Daily Cleanser — Live Clean – Foaming Daily Cleanser

You know what’s nice? A face cleanser you don’t have to faf around with. The Foaming Daily Cleanser is exactly that: faf-free. It’s easy to use (thank you pump!), it smells good (light, airy, slightly aquatic and slightly… musty? Weird to say, I know, but I liked it) and just all around nice. This is the kind of facial cleanser you can rely on to do the job: clean your face and leave it feeling fresh.

Sidenote, I have tried the Hydrating Creamy Cleanser from this same range and wasn’t in love with it. This Foaming Daily Cleanser was totally different and was much nicer in my opinion.

The Live Clean Refreshing Facial Wipes are hypoallergenic, are 98% plant derived and come with 30 wipes per package (THANK YOU, LIVE CLEAN! I am eternally annoyed with the brands who only put 25 wipes in a pack!). These are mostly billed as a product to remove your face of impurities, choosing to list “removing makeup” as the last thing on their list. So in my eyes, these aren’t really what I’m looking for in a wipe (which is, to say, that I want it to actually remove all of my makeup), but that’s okay, because I remember when I wore less makeup on my face and I just wanted a wipe to refresh my skin. I remember starting a job in my mid-twenties when I didn’t wear foundation, blush or bronzer and I just wanted a skin pick-me-up throughout the day. I used to use facial wipes for that reason – it was an easy way to “wake up” my skin in the middle of the work day when I was feeling tired and dirty. So that’s what these wipes are to me – a skin renewer throughout the day. (And yes, I did try these a few times as a makeup remover and I just feel they didn’t take enough off.)

The final item I tried out in the Fresh Face range was the Soothing Daily Moisturizer. And really, it ticked all the necessary boxes in my book:

smelled nice, but was not overpowering
hydrating, but not greasy
squeezable bottle (I really don’t like pots that I have to stick my hands in)

It’s a no muss, no fuss moisturizer which is exactly what I need. If you’re super dry though, you may find that this isn’t thick enough.

So have you tried Live Clean yet? Let me know your thoughts on this brand!

The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.

Skincare Saturday: Korres Castanea Arcadia Review

December 10, 2016Reviews, SkincareKorresChelle

Korres Castanea Arcadia skincare

I’ve had such a backlog of skincare products to try out that I’ve actually had this set since August! However, this is one of the most interesting items I’ve seen in skincare recently: the Korres Castanea Arcadia is centered around utilizing Arcadian Chestnut tree extract!

Taken from the leaves of the chesnut tree, Lupeol is a powerful natural ingredient that contains incredible antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and skin-regenerative properties, but has never before been used as an active ingredient in cosmetics before. KORRES developed an innovative molecule known as HALupeol, which encases pure Lupeol in a hyaluronic acid shell. This new molecule creates a special system that allows the active to penetrate the skin, offerring targeted wrinkle repair. Over time, you’ll see enhanced skin elasticity, resilience and youthfulness.

Korres Castanea Arcadia Wrinkle Rewind Night Cream and Eye Cream

I’ve been trying out the Wrinkle Rewind Night Cream as well as the Eye Cream (but we already know how I feel about eye creams…) as the air gets dryer here in Toronto. I’ve been using these two products together at night to help boost up the moisture in my skin. While I can’t say I’ve noticed any wrinkle reduction (I don’t really have a ton to begin with), the very first I used this overnight, I woke up the next morning with skin feeling saturated with hydrating. My skin felt like it was plumped up instead of feeling thin and dry! I’ve continued to use this as repair cream overnight whenever my skin felt dry (particularly from foundation application) and I have loved how much skin has felt every morning after!

The product does smell enticing too – not like chesnuts, but lightly sweet, slightly potpourri. From what I noticed, the face cream does have more scent than the eye cream, but neither is overpowering. Anyway, all in all, I’m kind of enchanted by the fact this uses chestnuts in the formula – feels very seasonally appropriate right now!

Let me know if you’ve tried out Korres’ Castanea Arcadia range and what you’ve thought of it!

The products featured in this review were sent to me for consideration.

VIDEO: Beauty Stocking Stuffers

November 29, 2016Makeup, Skincare, YouTubeChelle

Beauty stocking stuffer ideas!
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PRODUCTS MENTIONED:
– Live Clean Liquid Hand Soap in Holly Berry & Vanilla Peppermint
– Philosophy Shower Gel in Fresh Cream & Snow Angel*
– EOS Shimmer Spheres in Pearl and Sheer Pink
– EOS Sphere in Vanilla Bean
– EOS Sphere Duo in Vanilla Bean and Winterberry
– Fresh Sugar Lip Seduction
– Fresh Sugar Lip Power Couple
– Fresh Zodiac Soap – Capricorn
– Sephora Collection – Perfect & Cleanse – similar
– Too Faced Let It Glow
– First Aid Beauty – Fab Delights
– Hard Candy Lip Balm Duo in Vanilla Mint & Sugar Cane
– Hard Candy Gloss To Go Set
– Hard Candy Lio Gloss Duo
– Hard Candy Spherical Lip Balms
– QUO Hidden Treasures Cosmetic Crackers*
– Mary Kay Be Delighted Shimmer Mist
– Mary Kay Be Delighted Shower Cream

Skincare Saturday: Philosophy Take A Deep Breath

November 26, 2016Reviews, SkincarePhilosophyChelle

Philosophy Take A Deep Breath

Philosophy is a brand I’m only starting to delve into, although I’ve always found myself moderately obsessed with them from afar. Surely someone out there understands what I mean by that… I’ve tried a few samples over the years, always loved their packaging and really liked their holiday shower gel scents, etc., but I’ve never really just gone full in and tried the width and breadth of their products!

But I am now, and I’m enjoying myself! Let’s take a look at two products from their Take A Deep Breath range:

Okay. Let me start this review off with getting something out of the way:

I do not believe in eye creams.

There. I said it.

I don’t feel they do anything for you that your moisturizer can’t already execute on your skin. I feel like they’re just the exact same moisturizer as what you can get in the larger tube jar, just put in a far smaller container with a jacked up price. So, with that in mind, you’re obviously realizing by now that I’m never going to rate an eye cream as anything other than adequate (unless I actually see visible results… which has never actually happened).

So instead, let me tell you what the Take A Deep Breath Eye Cream was like:

It’s a lightweight gel eye cream that was slippery, smooth and easy to apply.
It felt nice on my skin and sank into my undereye area and lids very quickly (much appreciated).
It did not have a scent (unlike its full face counterpart below).
I like the nozzle tip because it keeps everything sanitary every single time you use it.
I like the compact packaging – it’s easily squeezable.

Philosophy Take A Deep Breath Oil-Free Oxygenating Gel Cream

My tolerance (or rather, lack thereof) for eye creams out of the way, let’s talk about the product that I *LOVED*! The Philosophy Take A Deep Breath Oil-Free Oxygenating Gel Cream is… (oh god, I’m going to say it… and it’s going to be cheesy…) a breath of fresh air. (Stop laughing at me!) Philosophy‘s site tells me this is a a moisturizer for “all skin types that helps improve the visible signs of aging while restoring and refreshing skin”.

I was actually a bit skeptical about how well a gel cream would work on my drying out autumnal skin, so I was pleasantly surprised to find this was one of the more heavyweight gel creams I’ve ever tried. That’s not to say that it’s thick and oppressive on your skin – it’s definitely not – but it has some decided thickness to it that made me feel good about applying it to my face after a shower. I don’t think this will be thick enough for my dry skin in the dead of winter, but it’s definitely good for spring through autumn!

Unlike the eye cream, this moisturizer does have a scent. It’s a very clean, aquatic scent (my favourite!). If you’ve ever sniffed The Body Shop’s Fijian Water Lotus then you’ll already be acquainted with the scent because I found it to be identical!

So those are my two cents! I can take or leave the eye cream, but the Take A Deep Breath Gel Cream is absolutely wonderful! Let me know what your thoughts are on eye creams because clearly I’ve got a strong opinion on them! Also let me know what you’ve tried by Philosophy – I’m currently dabbling with their shower gels and I’m kind of head over heels!

You can pick up Philosophy‘s Take A Deep Breath range on sephora.ca or on sephora.com.

The products in this post were sent to me for consideration.