doyouevencleanse

Y'know when you're down with a cold and have to blow your nose every 5 minutes? And the skin around your nose gets red, irritated, and painful? This has been me for the last three weeks, the dreaded yearly cold. I had been using Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream around the area to not much avail. Nothing was helping. Enter Weleda Skinfood. Weleda is a natural, plant-based French brand that is readily available in pharmacies here. I am already a fan of the brand as I have used their baby products on my daughter - nappy cream, moisturiser etc; and have tried a couple of the bath oils and facial moisturizers, which are really nice. But this product wasn't on my radar until I saw @carolinehirons blog about it recently, and how it was helping her deal with the effects of retinol use (peeling, redness). I'm not using a retinol at the moment as I'm vain trying to get my skin back on an even keel with regards to acid toning and texture before I dip into that area ...

'Tis the season to be jolly - and also dehydrated. Hyaluronic acid - where to start? It's probably, along with glycolic acid (exfoliating) and niacinamide (brightening and protecting) - one of my favourite skincare ingredients. Found naturally in the body (skin, joints and tissues) it aids in the retention of moisture and increases collagen, aswell as providing elasticity and flexability in joints and eye sockets*. It's a humectant, which means that it attracts water to the skin and helps prevent moisture loss - which is exactly what your skin needs whether you're dry or oily. via peachandlilly.com Nowadays HA has become an integral part of any beauty savants' skincare routine - creams, serums, boosters, masks - it can be found in just about anything. It  hydrates, treats and helps to improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Many HA products are also loved for the instant 'tightness' they give the skin - generally feeling tight after apply...

Hi Everyone! So this is probably the last post on stocking fillers under €10. Has anyone found anything they like and will be picking up? Let me know in the comments! Last but not least is Cult Beauty . Now, we all know a few things about Cult Beauty 1. We shop it with XE Currency Converter open in another window to see how the pesky sterling is treating us 2. It's expensive 3. If you are looking for luxurious brands like Oskia (check out my review on their Micro Exfoliating Balm here , it is to DIE for) May Lindstrom, Tata Harper (two words - Resurfacing Mask💓) and Sunday Riley (Ceramic Slip Cleanser is in my Favourite Cleansers post here ), then it's where you need to be. Like Beauty Bay (BB Stocking Fillers under €10 here ) they don't have any gift sets that meet the €10 criteria, but I have trawled their site and come up with some picks that are under €10 and would be a perfect small gift for a friend or family member. I have provided the prices both in sterling...

Stocking Fillers under €10 Round Three! Let's go to BeautyBay ! I've been fan of Beauty Bay for a while, I'm always browsing their site to see what's new and to add products to my wish-list. They have a great selection of brands like Beauty Bakerie, Coloured Raine, Juvia's Place and OPV Beauty that can be tricky to get otherwise. Their shipping policy is simple - it's free with a spend of €18. The products I have selected here are stand alone products rather than gift sets, as Beauty Bay don't have as many as Cloud10 and Beauty Expert. Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe Herbs and Rosewater 118ml, €8.50 Not going to lie - I've never used this spray. But considering the price and the glowing reviews I've seen, it's on my to-try list, and who doesn't love a facial mist? Skinnydip Rose Gold Dita Mirror, €9.20 Anything and everything rose Gold is still very much sought after, and everyone needs a compact mirror to pop in their purs...

Stocking Fillers under €10 Round Two! Today we are going to Cloud10Beauty.com , an Ireland-based beauty website. I have ordered from them many times in the past and am always impressed by their easy-to-navigate site, range of products (think Alpha H, Ren, Pixi) and fast shipping times (I'm in France and it's usually 4-5 business days, which is great considering some French sites can't get products to me that quick...!) They offer free international shipping with a spend of €40, if your purchase is less they will give you a quote based on your location - I usually pay €3/4, so not bad at all (Sephora France changes €3.95 and I live a 20 min drive from Sephora Champs Eylsee😒😂). I only planned on having 5 items like in my BeautyExpert - Stocking Fillers under €10 post, but I couldn't make my mind up between two so we have 6. Sanctuary Spa Get Cosy Candle, €6.95 I've never met anybody who doesn't love Sanctuary products. The packaging is pretty, they smell...

Hi everyone! We're almost in December CAN YOU BELIEVE IT. With the beginning of December comes the excitement of Christmas but also the simmering anxiety that accompanies the thoughts of all the presents we need to pick up for our nearest and dearest. Whether it be something small for an in-law or a Secret Santa gift for a colleague, we are all on the hunt for stocking fillers at a reasonable price. To me a stocking filler is under €10, €15 at a stretch - not €40 (looking at you, Charlotte Tilbury). I've been trawling my favourite beauty sites looking for stocking fillers under €10, and in the interest of keeping my posts to a reasonable length I am going to organize them by site - I plan to do three or four posts. Let's start with BeautyExpert - I only discovered this site a couple of months ago and I kicked myself for not finding it before. They have a fab range of brands like Indeed Labs, Pai and Omorovicza and if you sign up for email updates you will be able to av...

I don't know what's come over me but I'm possessed by an urge to be proactive this week - I think it's because my best friend is arriving from the Middle East on Saturday for a four day visit so I'm taking next Monday and Tuesday off work to stalk Sephora, hang out in our favourite brasserie, day drink and enjoy Paris with her. In preparation for that I've been organizing all my paperwork, cleaning the apartment and generally getting myself organized to alleviate some of the mild guilt I feel about taking time off work in such a busy period. NOT a real Morphe palette, it's a knock-off and probably as good as the real thing. That company doesn't get my money. My friend left me moved to the Middle East to take a management job with the American brand Victoria's Secrets. We have a system whereby we send each other boxes every six weeks full of products from our respective countries - French pharmacy for her, and a lot of VS swag for me. If you ...

Hi Everyone! I thought that while I have the time this week-end I would post twice as work and life are busy in the run-up to Silly Season. This is a product that I've had for almost a month so I feel like I've had ample time to use it and gather my thoughts. Sanoflore is a French brand, and when I search it online I only find French results so I can't comment on the availability of it outside of France - however, if you're in another country and have seen it let me know! As far as I can tell, they are owned by L'Oreal, and the lady who sold it to me told me that it was the 'bio' arm of LPR - more concentrated on natural ingredients. I've seen numerous advertisements for the brand on YouTube and French TV but this was my first purchase. I am prone to impulse buys (aren't we all?!) and this was definitely one of those occasions. I was in my local French plarmacy on a Saturday with my daughter back in October picking up the usual baby shampoo,...

*Dislamimer - I did not buy this mascara, my cousin recently started as a Younique rep and added me to her closed group. She ran a competition on who had the best make-up disaster story and the winner was decided by a vote. I won with my story of the L'Oreal 24hr Matte Foundation unexpectedly turning orange on me while out shopping, in all fairness it was a bona fida #makeupdisaster😂 So first off - packaging. Sleek, tapered, black. No issues. The opening is big enough to allow product to stay on the brush but tight enough to ensure that most of it is scraped off as the brush exits, so that unlike some mascaras (looking at you, YSL The Shock) you don't get excess product and the clumping that comes with it. At first I was apprehensive. The brush itself is smaller than what I personally go for - my absolute favourite mascara ever is the Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara, and if you've used it you know the brush is a big one. Too big and your lashes get clumped togethe...

I can't even say the word 'influencer' without simultaneously rolling my eyes and smirking. It brings to mind certain 'internet personalities' (without using the icky word 'influencer' there's not really any other way to describe them as they seem to be devoid of any actual talents other than getting dressed, putting on make-up and taking selfies) who dominate Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube (although I suppose some of them are MUA's) and Twitter, proliferating retouched pictures of garish designer handbags, shoes that I wouldn't expect to see outside of a strip joint, and faces so flawless, poreless and highlighted that they look like human tin foil. It's #makeupgoals this, #couplegoals that. YAWN. Apparently, if you don't own more high-end make-up than a SpaceNK or have a Ken doll-like boyfriend who spends as much time in the mirror as you, you're not #goals. Or maybe you're not a #gowl, at least that's my opinion. Wh...

So, I'm finally ready to give you my thoughts on the Clarins Gentle Exfoliating Toner. As I mentioned in my review on the Clarins Daily Energizing Wake-Up Booster, I've had these two since September 16th, so I've been using both for a month. I was comfortable giving a review on the Daily Energizing Booster after two weeks, given the nature of the product, but wanted to hold off a  bit on the Exfoliator until I was sure.   Just for some backgroud - I've been using Alpha H Liquid Gold (review here ) since December 2016 - I received a 50ml bottle in the M§S Beauty Advent Calendar my Mom got me for Christmas. Up until then I had been suffering from redness, irritation and texture around my jawline that nothing would shift. I had exacerbated the problem by well-meaningly scrubbing my face regularly with Peter Thomas Roth Pumpkin Enzyme Mask and GlamGlow FlashMud Brightening Treatment, and had actually worsened it. I had tried an acid toner before from La Roche Posay ...