Skincare bargains

Don't you just love it when you come across a real gem of a website and more so one that saves you a bit of money in the process?  Well let me introduce you to Mistrys Pharmacy who have got a rather good skincare sale on currently and there are bargains to be had.

Mistrys is the online version of Mistrys Pharmacy, which is a large High Street Pharmacy based in Market Harborough in Leicestershire. Started in 1977 by Shantilal Mistry and his wife, Jasumati Mistry they allow you to order products online and delivered to your home.

I came across this site when searching Google for the name of a product I really wanted to try and as ever looking for a good price rather than paying out for the first website which came up. Mistrys stocks all kinds products within the beauty, skincare, bath and body sections of their website and many of brands you will have heard of such as Aveeno, Burts Bees, Avene, Eucerin, Weleda, Lancome and a few more besides.  Here are some of those bargains:

Weleda Skin Food is a product I have seen talked about a lot on the blogs and it is a brand I havent really tried out.  On Mistrys you can buy this 75ml version for just £9.15.

Simple Kind to Skin Hydrating Light Moisture is one of my favourite products from the range and it usually retails for around £4.70 but on Mistrys it is just £2.69

Upper Canada Lip butter is another product I have seen mentioned and compared to Korres and it has me intrigued.  I haven't been able to find in any of my usual shopping haunts, but it is online and usually for around £5 for a 10ml pot but here it is half the price at £2.50

Burts Bees Pore Refining Scrub with Willow Bark is the product I switched to using after I got bored of St Ives Apricot Scrub and I remember thinking how pricey it was at £10 a tube, here you can save a few pounds and pay just £8.69.

Nivea Visage Refreshing Facial Cleansing Wipes usually cost around £5 for a pack of 20 which is quite expensive I think, but at £1.99 I am rather tempted to buy some because they do come in handy at times of need.

The final product that caught my attention was the Evian Facial Spray.  I am a bit of a facial spray convert and have been using one from La Roche-Posay but this costs just £3.49 for a trial sized 50ml and elsewhere I have seen it priced as high as £7.

I hope you agree there are some real bargains to be had and it definitely makes me think twice about just ordering from the first website I come across. 

Do look scour websites before you buy?

My March Empties!

I see so many fellow bloggers doing posts like these and I really enjoy reading them, so I thought I would do one too.  Throughout the whole of March, I have made a conscious effort to use it those bottles and tubs of potions that are just about to run out and here they are:

In this photograph there are some of the face products that I have used up and they are:

The Sanctuary Spa Active Reversal Thermal Transformation Mask which I got in my January Glossybox.  I have to be honest, I didn't like this mask at all, I didn't like how much faffing about there was to using it, the feel of it on my skin or the feel of my skin after using it.

Montagne Jeunesse Paw Paw Peel off Mask which claimed to be a 'Phenomenal Pore Blaster' and I reviewed it HERE it is fair to say I wasn't impressed with this product either.

Simple Facial Wipes which again I reviewed HERE and I love these wipes,l they are brilliant for wiping away all the dirt and grime of the day, along with make-up and wouldn't hesitate to purchase them again.

Simple Facial Moisturising Cream which I have also reviewed and you can find it HERE and again I really liked this product, I love how soft and smooth my skin felt after using it and I had no adverse reactions to it either.

Next are products from the bathroom and again all have been used up in March.

Radox Nourish Bath  - I bought this because it was on offer for £1 in Asda and I had assumed I was running low on bath products, not only for me but also for him indoors.  This is the Nurturing range with Ginger and Shea butter, not two ingrdeients I would put together but it smells alright and I wouldn't purchase it again as it wasn't my favourite fragrance, but for £1 it is alright.

Essential Waitrose Sea Salt and Kelp - I bought this because it was on offer again £1.29, as you might have gathered, I am the worlds greatest impulse shoppers!  A friend of mine swears by this stuff and claims it is the best foam bath she has ever used.  Well to be fair to the bath foam, it does create a lot of bubbles and it does smell quite nice and it leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth.

Palmolive Bergamot and Verbena Hand Soap - I bought this for two reasons.  Firstly I liked the design of the bottle and it was on offer in Asda for £1 and I needed some more soap for the bathroom and secondly I have used a bath foam in the past with both Bergamot and Verbena as the main ingredients and loved the sharp citrusy scent.  I was really disappointed by this soap, there is a slight citrus smell, but it wasnt as sharp as I was hoping for and I wouldn't buy it again.

Lush Veganese - A slight cheat as there was only enough left for one last use but I did use it in March.  i like this conditioner as a treat, it is seaweed and lemon infused and is really light as a conditioner.  As I have greasy roots, I don't use a conditioner on my roots very often as it makes my hair worse, however, this leaves my hair soft and shiney.  It costs £4.15 for 100g bottle, £8.15 for 250g and £13.15 for 500g bottle. I will definitely purchase this again.

             

Here we have:

L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil - Hmm well this was a sachet and am glad I didnt have to pay for it because I hated everything about it. The smell, the texture, the effect it had on my hair, basically it wasn't for me and I have since tried Morrocanoil which I adore.

Spa Magik Salt brushing - Love this product range and this sachet came from a Glossybox and I have since bought another one because they are so good.  It is 100% natural, has no Parabens and costs around £1.78 per sachet to buy and it leaves your skin looking and feeling amazing.  There is a review for this coming soon.

Garnier Body 7 day replenishing Lotion - this was given to me by a work colleague who couldnt stand the smell. It is a Mango oil fragrance for dry skin and I found the scent to be quite subtle.  However, this products is just not for me, it doesnt do enough for my dry skin patches and it isn't something I would now purchase for myself.

Maybelline Colossal Mascara - I actually quite liked this mascara until I got towards the end of the tube when it became clumpy and unwearable which annoyed me.  As a mascara I liked the brush, it made applying the mascara really easy and whilst I never truly believe it would give me 'up to 7 times more gorgeous volume' you could see some improvement.  However, having now discovered They're Real by Benefit, this really does pale into insignificance   Costs around £7

My final list of empties - and I am shocked as to how much I have managed to use up are:

Radox Coconut Kiss shower gel which I wrote about HERE and HERE and I love the smell of this shower gel, the texture is lovely and it leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth after using.  A product I would definitely purchase again and it is still on offer for £1 in Asda.

Palmolive Ayurituel Joyous Shower Gel - again I wrote about this HERE and of the three in this range, Joyous is without doubt my favourite.  I like the scent of this alot and it leaves a really lovely lingering smell in your bathroom and on your skin for a few hours after using. Again, I have since purchased this one again.

Dove Natural Touch Deodorant Spray - Picked it for £1 which makes it another bargain yet again.  Doesn't leave white stains on clothing, smells really lovely and keeps me feeling fresh all day long.  I would definitely purchase this again.

The Final product is Nspa mango body scrub which I bought from Asda on a 3 for 2 offer and I really like this scrub, it smells wonderfully fruity and has a matching bath foam, it does exfoliate really well without scratching your skin and the mango smell is really lovely.  A definite item to be repurchased. 

Do you use any of these products? Do you like/hate any of them?

Wake your eyes up!

The eye roll on is a product I have wanted to try for a long time now, I often suffer with bouts of insomnia, so finding suitcases instead of bags under your eyes in a morning after you have finally fallen to sleep is not a new thing for me and concealer has been a god send.

The Simple skincare brand is something I have used for the past 6 weeks and I have grown to love them.  Priced at around £4.99 in Boots, the Simple Kind To Eyes Revitalising Eye Roll-On is sold within in a cardboard packet which contains a 15ml tube. Information is supplied on both the outer packet and is printed on the tube itself and you can read more about it HERE.

What they say:

Smile, it's Simple. When your skin's happy and fresh faced, you feel healthier and happier too! Simple's Revitalising Eye Roll-On contains a refreshing eye gel formulated with cucumber extract and vitamin goodness to wake up and reduce puffiness and revitalise tired eyes.

Now this product is actually a 'roll-on' the end of the tube, where the liquid is released from, is fitted with a small stainless steel ball which, when pressed slightly, releases liquid from the tube over and onto your skin. This is the first eye roll-on product I've ever used so I had no expectations and I have nothing to compare it with or against.

The first thing to note is that you do not need to squeeze the tube, the liquid is released with minimal effort, when it comes to using it on your under-eye, and this is how best to use it:

How to use it

"For best results; Apply the Revitalising Eye Roll-On to the eye area in light circular movements. If required smooth in any remaining liquid with your fingertips. Avoid contact with eyes”.

So taking your tube between your thumb and forefinger, as you would hold a pen, you simply roll the roller ball to the area that is under your eye just a few times. As you do this, the first thing you notice is that because the roller ball is metal it creates a lovely cooling sensation under your eye which massages as you roll it along your skin which I find really wakes you up, then combined with the gel which is also cool to the touch, both work together to really wake your eyes up in the morning.

There are three main points with this eye roll-on:

1. It contains Pro-Vitamin B5 which actively restores smoothes and softens
2. It contains 3 skin loving nutrients:

• Cucumber Extract which refreshes and revitalises
• Glycerin which hydrates and nourishes
• Lupin extract which helps to reduce puffiness

3. No Perfume, No Colour - no unnecessary ingredients and no harsh chemicals

I found the gel, which is clear, to be quite a thin texture which for under the eye is perfect, the last thing you need is something that resembles the consistency of hair gel stuck to your under-eye.  Instead what you will find is that it absorbs itself quite quickly into your skin and there is no greasy after-feel.  Sometimes there is some gel that hasn’t quite sunk in, usually if you apply too much and to aid it along, you simply use your fingertips to massage the gel in.

There is no dominant over-powering smell which I am quite pleased about, given that Simple products are fragrance free; this wasn’t a concern I had.

After using this product on your eyes, it does improve the under eye area and definitely makes you look more alert and awake.  After one notable bout of insomnia and I was beginning to look tired, I use this eye-roll on and it definitely help de-puff my eyes and once my concealer was added, you would never have noticed how tired I looked first thing.  One thing to bear in mind is that this product is not a miracle cure and doesn’t make any claims to solve any long term problems, it does exactly what it claims it will do on the box - wake up tired eyes.

I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase this product, for a tube that hold 15ml of a product and can last 3 weeks when using it every day and make me look more alert and feel more awake, it is worth every penny of its £4.99 costs.

So Simple, So Smooth, So Fab!

I have always had a fairly good skincare regime; it was on some advice of my Grandma when I was quite young who said I should always take care of my skin.  For years I stuck to using Johnson’s Baby Lotion, a smell I adore and a product that isn't overly expensive.  I have always cleansed and exfoliated but never quite found the best Toner and the former two never quite the product that I could swear I would always use and never buy anything else, I have over the years chopped and changed.

When I was asked if I would like to try something from the Simple Skincare range I jumped at the chance.  I had never used anything from this brand before but had heard a few friends mention how good it was and such great value.  A week or so later a package duly arrived and inside I was greeted with three products:

• Kind to Skin Cleansing Facial Wipes
• Simple Kind to Skin revitalizing eye roll-on
• Simply Kind to Skin Replenishing 12 hour moisture Cream

I am going to start with the Cleansing Facial Wipes and review the other two separately.

Over the years I have had a love hate relationship with facial wipes, they have either left my skin feeling too dry or they haven’t removed all the make-up they have claimed they will but as a product they could be so convenient and less time-consuming than the task needed to be.  So for the last few years I haven’t bothered using them, instead I have used other products in their place and been satisfied.  Simple say “Our Cleansing Facial Wipes refresh and nourish your skin plus remove waterproof mascara. Our wipes contain a perfect blend of our purest possible skin loving ingredients with an added vitamin” and then it is good to note that these wipes is that they claim to have:

• 1 ADDED VITAMIN  - PRO-VITAMIN B5 known to help restore, soften and smooth 
• NO ALCOHOL, NO OIL 
• NON DRYING and NO GREASY residue 
• NO DYES
• NO ARTIFICIAL PERFUMES
• NO HARSH IRRITANTS to upset skin 

Excellent news and as you remove them from the packet really easily, is how soft the wipe actually is, it isn't wringing wet through either which I have found with similar products and this I liked from the start.  There is no chemical aroma smell which again gets the thumbs up from me and as you use them on your face, they are so soft you could almost be using a piece of Muslin cloth to clean your face.  The first time I used these wipes, I have to admit I was a little bit shocked.  Its like the first time you get a Dyson Hoover and clean your carpet only to suddenly feel like a total tramp because of all the dirt and dust it picks up, despite the fact you hoover three times a day.  Imagine what came off my face onto this wipe the first time I used one, it was seriously gross and I almost considered not using the wipes again incase it was some kind of trick, but my skin felt so soft and smooth after using them and my face felt clean.  These wipes are designed to gently cleanse your face and I was impressed to find that they are really effective at removing all traces of make-up and even my mascara which is BeneFit ‘They’re Real’ which can be a nightmare to remove, was gone.  Add to that how soothing they are to your skin when applied, delightful.

These wipes also no not irritate my eyes  or make them itchy, they don’t cause any reactions with my skin and as I sometimes wear contact lenses, I was impressed to find that these wipes are suitable for those of us who wear them.  So these wipes are kind enough to be used on sensitive skin because they are hypoallergenic and powerful enough to remove my BeneFit mascara,  what more could you want?  Well, these wipes do completely remove dirt, make-up, and oils which for me is quite important as I can, during a certain time of the month, suffer with a shiny face and I always look for products which can control it, no need to anymore, these wipes are brilliant at removing excess oil from my skin without stripping it of moisture.

These wipes come with 25 wipes within the packet and cost £3 in my local Tesco from where I have bought another packet because I am so impressed with them.  I love these wipes because they leave my skin feeling smooth and hyrdated rather than dry and irritated and the best feeling of all is having fresh, clean skin.

** Further information **

These wipes are:

•  Dermatologist tested 
• Ophthalmologist tested 
• Safe for sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers 
• Hypoallergenic 
• Non-comedogenic

And further information on the range can be found here: http://www.simpleskincare.com/our-products/wipes/cleansing-facial-wipes