Beauty. Fashion. Lifestyle.
Posts tagged Moisturise
Dirty Works Supreme Cream Body Butter
4Earlier this month I sent off for this sample tube of Dirty Works Supreme Cream Body Butter, via the Dirty Works Facebook page. I have some Dirty Works body wash which is lovely and, as I’ve said before, I adore body butters, so I was really looking forward to trying this out. The sample tube contains a generous 20ml of product, but in Sainsbury’s stores it is sold in a huge 300ml tub, and usually retails for £4.99.
Unlike some dense body butters, this one by Dirty Works has a delicately light consistency, which is very much like a moisturiser, but it still leaves that silky sheen on the skin that you would expect from a body butter. The tube says to ‘massage cream onto damp skin until absorbed’ after showering or bathing, and it really does make damp skin feel beautifully soft, but I’ve discovered that it also makes an amazing hand cream! I’ve been carrying the tube in my work bag all week and using it on my hands a few times a day, and it is really helping with the dryness I’ve been experiencing lately caused by the cold weather – definitely a sign of a good quality lotion that does its job! I put that down to the moisturising properties of the shea butter and almond oil that it contains.
The body butter isn’t too strongly scented, but it has a pleasantly sweet scent to it which isn’t overwhelming, but leaves your skin smelling fresh and clean. It goes quite a long way too. A large pea-sized amount is plenty enough for the backs of both hands, and though I’ve been using this little tube all week (and sharing it with my sister too) it still feels almost full.
I am suitably impressed with Dirty Works’ Supreme Clean Body Butter and I will definitely be buying a full-sized tub. In fact, and this is a heads up so take note, Sainsbury’s are currently selling all Dirty Works products at half price so a 300ml tub is only £2.49 at the minute! I really, really hope I manage to get to a Sainsbury’s within the next few days before the offer ends. I may pick up some other products to try too!
Have you tried any Dirty Works products before?
Naomi x
Avon Nail Experts Vitamin C Cuticle Gel
3I’ll hold my hands up and admit that I’ve never really paid any attention to my cuticles. They don’t grow much at all so I don’t have to push them back or remove them, which is a good thing really as just watching people do that makes me feel funny. The thing is, with barely any cuticle there at all, the edges of my nails sometimes get quite sore and dry, especially after working with my hands or using nail varnish remover. So, when I saw this cuticle gel on offer in the Avon brochure a while ago, I thought I might as well give it a go to see if it would help at all.
The gel claims to instantly revive, sooth and smooth dry cuticles, and repair them in the long run. After several weeks of use I can confirm that this is exactly what the gel does – hooray!
The gel has a slight citrus scent and contains tiny orange moisturising beads which burst when you rub them. I’ve been applying a small amount of gel to every nail almost every day for about three weeks and the difference it has made is amazing. My cuticles have grown in a bit more so the skin no longer peels back. They’re sooo much softer as well because of the beads, and don’t get sore at all.
The first picture above shows my cuticle before I started using the gel, and the bottom picture shows how my cuticle looked yesterday. You can clearly see that the bottom corners are no longer dry and peeling and the red soreness has now gone.
I can’t recommend this gel highly enough… It has worked absolute wonders!
Naomi x
The Body Shop Chocomania Gift Set
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I was gifted this ‘Exclusive Edition’ Chocomania Gift Set from The Body Shop for my birthday by my lovely best friend. My birthday is on Valentine’s Day so the heart shaped, chocolate box looking packaging seemed very appropriate, and it definitely appears rather luxurious from the outside!
Inside the Chocomania tin there are four decently sized products:
- Chocomania Body Butter – 50ml
- Chocomania Body Scrub – 50ml
- Chocomania Shower Cream – 60ml
- Chocomania Lip Butter – 10ml
Unlike a lot of chocolate bath and body products, these actually smell quite nice! I usually find that chocolate scented toiletries smell quite sickly, and nothing at all like chocolate, but the Chocomania range has quite a rich sweet scent, a bit like chocolate pudding, and is far more pleasing to the nose than most.
I used each of the Chocomania products from the set this morning, and will now let you know my thoughts about them individually, in the order that I used them.
Shower Cream
The Chocomania shower cream is the most lightly scented product in the set. It is silky smooth and lathers up well – I didn’t need to use much of it at all to wash my whole body. The scent was only very faint on my skin after use, and soon faded, but once it was layered with the other products that didn’t matter too much.
Body Scrub
Others have said this product looks like the chocolate pudding it smells like, but I’m not too convinced. My initial reaction when I opened this was that it looked like something else! (I’m sure you can guess what). Ignoring what I think it looks like, this has the strongest chocolate scent of all the Chocomania products and it really does smell good enough to eat. I used this on my upper arms which tend to get fairly dry. The exfoliation this provides is delicate, but excellent – my arms felt wonderfully soft after using it. Without a doubt, this is my favourite of the Chocomania products.
Body Butter
I have always loved The Body Shop’s body butters and I think this is a nice addition to their range of butters. It has a deep, cocoa scent and, once again, a little goes a very long way. Layered over the shower gel and body scrub, the scent is still lingering on my skin and is absolutely lovely. My skin feels softened without being left greasy. The body butter claims to provide ’48h Feel Good Hydration’ – a very big claim I have to say. Since I have a shower every morning, I doubt I’ll be able to tell whether this lasts for 48 hours, but it is very rich so I guess it could.
Lip Butter
The Chocomania Lip Butter is my least favourite product in the set. It smells a bit like Smarties, which is nice, but the texture isn’t that pleasant. I found the lip butter to be quite greasy on my lips, which didn’t feel very nice. After a while, some of this greasiness was no longer there, but in the end I rubbed it off and replaced it with my usual lip balm.
Overall I am very happy with the Chocomania Gift Set – the products smell gorgeously decadent and most of them do their job, and they do it well. If you want to try the Chocomania range, grab it whilst you can because I don’t think it will be around forever, seeing as it’s an ‘exclusive edition’!
Naomi x
Tattoo Care
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6 years
Today I thought I’d do a quick post about caring for tattoos. The above photograph was taken just after I had my tattoo in 2010. I come from a family of tattooed people; my sister has a couple, my dad has loads and a lot of my cousins and friends have a few, so over the years I have seen and experienced a lot of tattoo care. I am not a professional, but after the taking the advice of my tattoo artist and tattooed amigos, as well as my own experience, these are my tips for caring for tattoos whilst they heal.
Wash regularly
Once you’ve taken your dressing off, it is a good idea to wash your tattoo with warm, soapy water to remove any blood or surface bacteria. Establishing a washing routine is important in order to avoid infection, so wash the tattoo like this twice daily. When drying the area, pat dry with a clean towel but do not rub.
Moisturise
A couple of days after you get your tattoo, a scab will form. To stop the scab from drying out, gently rub a small amount of unscented, healing moisturiser onto the tattoo after you’ve washed it. My tattoo artist recommended Bepanthen, which is commonly used to treat nappy rash on babies. I am allergic to some of the ingredients in Bepanthen however, so I used E45 and it worked just as well. My dad and sister also used E45.
Do not pick or scratch!
Never, ever pick or scratch your scab! The scab is part of the healing process and may itch a little, but it will fall off in its own time, leaving a perfect tattoo underneath. If you pick it, you could damage or scar your tattoo, and you don’t want that. I know it’s very tempting to pick it, but resist – it’s for your own good!
Leave uncovered
In my experience it is best to leave your tattoo uncovered whenever and wherever possible whilst it is healing. This stops it rubbing which can make it sore or knock the scab off before it is ready. I had my foot tattoo in the middle of winter and found that wearing boots or shoes made it sore, so I had to go around wearing flip flops for two weeks in the cold weather until it was healed!
Avoid Swimming and Sunshine
Submerging your tattoo in water for a long period of time when you have a new tattoo is not recommended as the ink can come out of your skin. Also, chlorine from swimming pools can cause reactions with tattoos, leading to irritation and excess scabbing, so swimming is a no-no! Also, you really, really do NOT want sunburn on a new tattoo, so stay out of the sun 
Tattoos are usually fully healed within a month, but it is advised that you avoid water/the sun for a good few months after getting a new tattoo.
I hope some of you find this useful. I am not qualified to give advice about tattoos, but this is what I did to look after my own tattoos and it worked fine for me
Do you have any tattoos? If so, what are they?
Naomi x
