The instructions on the bottle are simple – Use your normal shower product and rinse off, apply the In-Shower Body Moisturiser while still in the shower, rinse off, dry yourself, get dressed and go.  What could possibly go wrong?  As it happens, quite a lot.

NIVEA’s In-Shower Body Moisturiser has a creamy, smooth consistency, massages in nicely and has that typical, fresh NIVEA scent, but that’s where the positives end.  After applying the skin conditioner I rinsed and rinsed, but the moisturiser left a thick, greasy coating on my skin that just wouldn’t budge.  Even after drying myself the residue remained and it felt sticky.  I even tried scraping it with my finger nail and a gloopy, white mess gathered behind it, eurgh!  After leaving such a thick layer on my skin I at least expected the In-Shower Moisturiser to make my dry skin feel softer…  Nope!  I could still feel the dry patches through the grease, which is not a nice feeling.

Overall, I’m disappointed with NIVEA’s In-Shower Body Moisturiser.  I bought my bottle half-price from Superdrug a couple of months ago, but full-price this 400ml bottle costs £5.09, which would be better spent on a good quality, normal moisturiser.  I still use it every now and then if I’m in a real hurry, but I’ve learnt my lesson and I’d much rather take those extra few minutes to moisturise properly, even if it nearly makes me late for the bus!

Have you tried this product?  What do you think of it?

Naomi x

The Glitz & Glamour beauty kit contains five full-size products to help you ‘get gorgeous’, and so far they haven’t disappointed.  Every item in the box is different this time, with no repeats from past boxes, and no similar products within the box!

From Left to Right:

Jason Rosewater & Chamomile Normalising Shampoo

Benta Berry G-1 Exfoliating Facial Cleanser

Fair Naturally Mango & Safflower Body Moisturiser

Make Believe Enhance Shimmer Lip Gloss

Tulecos Tonifying Oil

As usual, BeTrousse provide full-size products so you can get a real feel for each one before deciding whether to repurchase, so for now I will give my first thoughts on each product and review a few, if not all of them, at a later date.

Jason Rosewater & Chamomile Normalising Shampoo – 255ml – RRP £7.29

This is the first shampoo to appear in a BeTrousse box and I absolutely love it.  It is delicately scented with rosewater and chamomile (no parabens!), which help to soothe and balance the scalp, as the natural ingredients remove dirt without stripping away moisture.  As such, it leaves hair feeling incredibly soft and clean, and also adds volume.  A definite winner!

Benta Berry G-1 Exfoliating Facial Cleanser – 30ml – RRP £14.00

I haven’t yet tried this G-1 Exfoliating Facial Cleanser, but it is 100% natural and claims to remove impurities from the skin.  I’ve used a Benta Berry moisturiser in the past and it was quite pleasant, so if this is anything like its cousin I expect it will do its job well!

Fair Naturally Mango & Safflower Body Moisturiser – 200ml – RRP £3.99

Fair Naturally’s Mango & Safflower Body Lotion is the cheapest product in the box, but also my favourite.  It smells absolutely delicious, like peach yoghurt, and has a rich, creamy texture which massages in well, leaving skin feeling soft but not greasy.  It’s organic, fair trade and made in the UK too – three things I always look for in products.  I will be repurchasing this one!

Make Believe Enhance Shimmer Lip Gloss – 15ml – RRP £10.00

Make Believe are known best for their tanning products, and this lip gloss is supposed to enhance your tan.  It is very sheer, but has a slight pink colour to it and a beautiful shimmer.  It smells a bit like watermelon, but the scent soon turns a bit plasticky which isn’t great.  I’m not usually a fan of tube glosses as they tend to be quite sticky, but this one feels lovely on the lips – almost like a lip balm.

Tulecos Tonifying Oil – 50ml – £33.00

I wasn’t familiar with Tulecos before receiving this box, but I have since learnt that they are an organic French brand who use essential oils to create luxury products.  This tonifying oil contains peppermint oil, and is for use on the feet.  It feels silky soft on the skin, has a relaxing, cooling effect, and softens any rough bits almost instantly.  A fab little addition!

BeTrousse’s Glitz & Glamour beauty kit is available online and costs £10, which is well worth it considering you get five full-size products with a total RRP of £70, especially as with most beauty boxes you’re lucky if you get one full-size product for the same price!  The box is full of unfamiliar brands and everything in it is great quality, so if you want to try something new for less then this is the box for you.

Naomi x

*This BeTrousse Glitz & Glamour Beauty Kit was sent to me by BeTrousse for review purposes.  All opinions expressed are honest and my own.*

The skin on my face is fairly dry and easily irritated, especially in winter, but it can also get quite oily in places if I use heavy moisturisers, so as you can imagine it can be quite difficult for me to find primers and moisturisers which strike the right balance for my skin.  When I first heard about Nivea’s new Express Hydration Primer I was very excited and highly hopeful, especially as there was one suitable for Dry & Sensitive skin, so I nipped off down to Superdrug to pick some up.  Unfortunately, my local Superdrug store was only stocking the Normal & Combination Primer at the time, so I had to order it from their website and it arrived earlier this week.

The primer is packaged in a fairly large box, which is somewhat deceptive as the pot itself is a lot smaller, and contains 50ml of product.  However, at £3.99 I’d say you get a reasonable amount of product for your money, and the pot is made of glass and very sturdy so a lot of care has been put into nice presentation.

The primer itself is light and smooth, almost like a gel, but also very creamy and white.  It has a lovely fresh scent to it too which isn’t overwhelming, but leaves your skin delicately scented.

For the last few days I have been using the Express Hydration Primer in place of my usual moisturiser and I have noticed a big difference already.  It glides onto the skin effortlessly and you need to use very little at a time so, despite its small size, the 50ml pot should last a fair while. Unlike my usual moisturiser, Nivea’s Primer absorbs almost instantly leaving no greasy residue behind, however, it does create a smooth base for easy make up application, and because it dries so quickly make up can be applied straight away, which is brilliant when you’re in a rush!

So, ‘Does it work?’ I hear you cry!  Well, yes, yes it does.  As mentioned before, the primer leaves a smooth, non-greasy base on the skin, and since I’ve been using this I have found that my foundation smooths onto my skin far more easily and evenly than usual, without going patchy on any dry bits.  The primer keeps my powder and blusher in place too, so on the whole my make up lasts a lot longer, which I think is down to the lack of greasiness.  The primer is extremely moisturising and hydrating so my skin stays soft all day without any dryness, but it isn’t oily so my face doesn’t get shiny like it used to with my old moisturiser.  This means that there’s no need for blotting paper!  In fact, my make up stayed looking fresh until 6pm last night, almost 10 hours after I first applied my make up, with NO touch ups throughout the day!

Thankfully, the Dry & Sensitive formula is perfect for my skin type.  So far it hasn’t caused any irritation, and it seems to be working wonders on the dry areas of my face, which is highly impressive for a primer as, in my experience, primers tend to be quite drying.  I have also noticed that my complexion has been somewhat clearer and brighter since I started using this primer.  Due to the oiliness of the moisturiser I was using before I had been getting a few breakouts, but they seem to be calming down now.

I really can’t recommend Nivea’s Express Hydration Primer highly enough, especially if you suffer from dry, sensitive skin like I do!  I think I have found my miracle product and I will be stocking up whenever I get the chance.  I hope you believe me when I say that it truly works, but if you don’t I urge you to try it and experience for yourself this amazing moisturising primer!

Naomi x

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

In my first Chocolate Treat Week post I will be sharing with you the very best chocolate scented skin care, bath and body products that I have been using lately.  Whenever I have the house to myself of an evening I like nothing better than to run myself a relaxing bath and treat myself with an indulgent beauty regime, and the following four items are the perfect products for a chocolate themed pamper session.

Bathe with… Handmade Soaps Chocolate Bath Treats

I recently discovered a fab little company called Handmade Soaps, who stock and sell a large range of soaps, bath bombs, bath melts and gift sets, all of which are very appealing to the eye as well as the nose.  Among their range they have quite a few wonderful chocolate scented bombs, melts and sets.  The chocolate products pictured above are (clockwise from the top): Chocoholics Gift Set, Fruity Creamy Bath Bar, Chocolate Bath Meltz, Sink the Pink Bath Bomb, Very Berry Bath Creamer, Love Cloud Bath Creamer and Chocolate Ballotin Gift Set.

I have a lot of bath products from Handmade Soaps so I haven’t tried all of them yet, but my favourite so far has to be the Chocolate Bath Meltz, which costs £2 for one melt.  As you can see, it looks absolutely lovely – almost like a fancy chocolate truffle, especially with the cute little chocolate heart sitting on top!  The melt combines Cocoa and Arabica Coffee to give it its rich chocolatey aroma and colour, and also contains Lavender and Ylang Ylang essential oils for added relaxation.  I used this melt over the weekend and it really is glorious.  I popped it into the water just before the bath was full and then got straight in.  I recommend doing this as it’s when the melt fizzes that you are met with its beautiful scent.  Unlike some bath products that I’ve tried, this one doesn’t fizz too violently so you don’t get bombarded by the bomb whilst you’re trying to relax.  In fact, I actually found it quite therapeutic watching it spin in the water!  My favourite thing about the Chocolate Bath Meltz is how intensely moisturising it is.  I really wasn’t expecting such a dainty melt to have much effect on my skin, but it made my skin feel creamy and smooth even when I was still in the water, which resulted in long-lasting softness – impressive!

Handmade Soaps pride themselves on their customer service so if you decide to order anything from them you won’t be disappointed!  They deliver their items quickly and they even have a ‘remarkable wrapping’ policy so everything you receive will be as beautifully wrapped as possible.  Everything they sell is already reasonably priced, but Handmade Soaps have been kind enough to give me a special discount code to share with you so that you can get 10% off everything you order!  The code is ‘bewitchery10‘ – just enter it at the checkout to get your 10% discount.

Exfoliate with…  Betty Buff ‘Scrummy Choco’ Sugar Scrub

As I’ve mentioned in several of my previous posts, Betty Buff‘s Sugar Scrubs are my absolute favourite go-to exfoliators.  All of Betty Buff’s scrubs are high-quality and handmade to vintage recipes.  They contain no parabens or artificial colours and fragrances either, so are excellent for use on sensitive skin like mine. 

As well as containing granulated sugar, Evening Primrose Oil, honey and glycerine, ‘Scrummy Choco‘ is made with 100% cocoa which gives it an incredible scent.  As Betty Buff says, it really does smell ‘good enough to eat’ (but please don’t!), almost like a chocolate brownie or uncooked cake mix…  It honestly made my mouth water when I first smelt it!

I have been using this for a while now and the effects are very noticeable.  The cocoa makes the scrub delicately moisturising, and always leaves my skin feeling silky smooth, and my dry patches caused by the drying summer weather have all vanished!  Due to the rich colour of the scrub it also leaves a light brown sheen on the skin, which sounds odd but actually looks great, especially if you already have a tan you want to accentuate.

Betty Buff ‘Scrummy Choco’ Sugar Scrub comes in three different sizes.  The size pictured is the 150ml version, which costs £6.50, but there’s also a 250ml tub available for £8.00 and a 100ml sampler for £4.00.  A little goes a long way with Betty’s scrubs so each size is fantastic value for money.  If you’d like to try it for yourself, which I highly recommend you do, you can purchase it here.

Moisturise with… Vaseline Cocoa Radiant Rich Feeling Lotion

Vaseline’s Cocoa Radiant Rich Feeling Lotion is ideal for those who aren’t too keen on beauty products with a strong chocolatey aroma or appearance.  The lotion is pale in colour and delicately scented with cocoa beans so it isn’t overpowering, and it also has a very delicate formula.

Cocoa Radiant is rich like a body butter, but also lovely and light so it doesn’t feel heavy on the skin.  It absorbs quickly without being greasy, rather, it leaves behind a soft creaminess which makes skin feel healthy and supple.  I like to use this after exfoliating and also after shaving as it is protective so prevents any drying or soreness.  What I love most about this lotion is how long the scent lingers…  After a day of wear I can always still smell a sweet tinge of cocoa on my skin which is nicely comforting.

Vaseline’s Cocoa Radiant is currently on offer for £2.63 in Superdrug for a 400ml bottle, which is a massive bargain for such a quality product so grab it cheap while you still can!

Cleanse with… Montagne Jeunesse Hot Chocolate Self Heating Face Mask

After a relaxing bath and moisturising session, a face mask is the perfect way to finish an evening of pampering.  Now that Autumn is here and the weather is getting colder, it’s time to step away from the cooling masks and use something a bit more seasonal…  So, what’s better than a self heating mask?  Montagne Jeunesse’s Hot Chocolate Self Heating Face Mask is currently top of my face mask list as everything about it is luscious and screams ‘me time’!

I used this mask last night and couldn’t get enough of it.  The formula is fairly thick, basically like melted chocolate, so it is a little bit difficult to apply but it is well worth the effort.  As soon as it touches your skin it heats up to a comfortable temperature which feels incredible and helps to soothe tired skin and muscles.

The mask is scented with cocoa and orange – a winning combination in my eyes (and nose).  The orange cuts through the sweetness of the chocolate to give a decadent scent which makes for a delicious fifteen minutes of wear, and a good few hours of gorgeous smelling skin.

The mask stays wet and doesn’t dry like a conventional clay mask so it is quite easy to wash off, but its deep colour can make a mess so make sure you use an old towel!  Like all of Montagne Jeunesse’s products, their Hot Chocolate mask is vegetarian and natural, and it contains orange oil which is refreshingly moisturising.  As such, the mask is extremely nourishing to the point that you don’t need to use any moisturiser after wearing it.

Montagne Jeunesse’s Hot Chocolate Self Heating Mask is available on their website for £1.09 per sachet, but I’ve also seen it in Wilkinson, Asda, Superdrug and Boots.  I only used half a sachet for one application so you could get two uses out of it if you’re lucky, which is always a bonus.

The Last Rolo…

The Last Rolo is where I hand over the last few words of each Chocolate Treat Week blog post to another blogger.  In the run up to Chocolate Treat Week I asked five of my favourite bloggers a couple of questions about their favourite chocolate treats, and today’s answers come from Donah of Sweetjellybean.

Can you recommend any chocolate scented, flavoured or themed beauty/fashion products?

Although I try to not use any products that are chocolate scented (as I’ve had enough of Palmer’s Cocoa Butter when I was pregnant!), these days, I’ve been indulging myself with Leor’s Chocolate Truffle Body Lotion. Surprisingly, this doesn’t smell as strong as Palmer’s but still has that lovely chocolate aroma that isn’t distracting. so yes, I definitely would recommend this to anyone, who can’t stand Palmers’ but still love to indulge themselves in a chocolate-flavoured product.

What is your favourite chocolate treat to eat, and why?

Toffee Crisp! Can’t get enough of this when I was pregnant (a hush-hush since I was not supposed to eat this, so this is my guilty pleasure haha) But I definitely don’t mind having one bar or two every week.

Thanks for reading my first Chocolate Treat Week post – I hope you enjoyed it!  If you did, please come back tomorrow to read all about chocolate hair products.

Naomi x

*I was kindly gifted the Handmade Soap Bath products and the Betty Buff ‘Scrummy Choco’ Sugar Scrub by their respective companies for review purposes.  All thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own.*

Hi everyone,

Last week I received my free Garnier Intensive 7days Challenge pack in the post and I couldn’t wait to try it out!  Each pack contains 7 individual 6ml sachets of Garnier’s new Intensive 7days Softening Lotion…

and two Skin Readers…

The challenge states that before you use any of the sachets, you have to press the sticky part of Skin Reader 1 onto one of your shins for 3 seconds.  You are then left with an idea of how dry your skin is by how many white skin cells there are left on the reader.  I have to say, there was quite a lot of white on mine (as you will see later), but I wasn’t too shocked or surprised as I know I have fairly dry skin anyway, which is why this challenge is perfect for me!

Once you’ve used the Skin Reader, it is time to start moisturising!  Every morning for seven days I used a sachet of the lotion on my legs.  There was a very generous amount of product in each sachet to the point that I had enough left over to use on my upper arms too!  And that’s saying something because I’m 5’10″ so have a lot of leg haha.  The sachet says that the lotion contains shea butter so I was expecting it to have that distinctive shea butter smell, but it didn’t.  In fact, I found the scent to be fairly unremarkable, and somewhat non-existent!  The texture of the lotion was quite greasy, which I don’t usually like in a moisturiser, but it absorbed quickly and easily so I didn’t really mind in the end.

The challenge packaging says that Garnier Intensive 7days ‘leaves skin hydrated, feeling smoother and softer’, so after the 7days I used Skin Reader 2 to see if the product lived up to its word!  This was the result…

The Skin Reader on the left is Skin Reader 1, and as you can tell there is a LOT of white skin on the sticky bit.  The Skin Reader on the right is number 2, and obviously has far less skin on it that the other one.  I know the results look good, but I wasn’t too pleased with them at first as the second reader had a big patch on it which wasn’t sticky, so obviously any loose skin wasn’t going to stick to it!  I don’t know whether it was done on purpose, but I think I’ll give Garnier the benefit of the doubt on that one and focus on the bits that were sticky.  And well, yes, my skin did seem a lot less dry after the challenge, and felt smoother as a result, which is always good

It’s been a few days now since I completed the challenge and I’d say that the Intensive 7days lotion has DEFINITELY made a big difference.  My legs still feel really soft and smooth, even though I’ve not used the lotion for a couple of days.  The fact that it has made a long term improvement is the best thing about this in my opinion, as it proves it doesn’t just leave a layer of grease on your skin, but actually gets to the root of the problem.  Because of this, I think I am going to invest in a bottle to use throughout the summer to keep my legs looking nice for when I wear dresses and shorts!

Have you completed the 7days Challenge yet?  If not and you want a challenge pack, you can find out how to get one here.

Naomi x

I know this is my second Garnier freebie post in a row but I like to let you all know when there’s something good up for grabs!  Garnier are giving away yet ANOTHER sample kit for free, this time of their new Intensive 7days Moisturiser.  To get your sample, visit the Garnier UK Facebook page, hit ‘like’ and then click on the ‘Tips, treats & more!’ tab at the top of the page.  Then just follow the form through to get your free sample pack.

Enjoy!

Naomi x

PS. I know it’s been a while since I posted a review but I have a lot of exciting posts to come, starting tomorrow!

Last week I was contacted by the lovely folks at Montagne Jeunesse asking whether I would be willing to review their new range of skin care products – Skin Heroes.  I have always had a soft spot for Montagne Jeunesse’s products as they are vegetarian friendly and approved by BUAV and PETA.  I’ve been vegetarian for 11 years so obviously this is something I always look out for!  They also try to use natural ingredients where they can – you’ve got to love an ethical company!

My package of products arrived this morning and this is what I received (from left to right):

• De-Clog Nose Pore Strips
• T-Zone Peel Off Mask
• Shine Control Mask
• Break-Out Mask
• Dry Skin Mask

I have already tried and tested the Dry Skin Mask and I was pretty impressed – look out for my review of that coming very soon!  I will be reviewing each of the other products individually over the coming days and weeks too, so be sure you check back soon.

Montagne Jeunesse Skin Heroes sachets cost just £1.49 each and are available at ASDA.  I love browsing their racks of masks when I’m in ASDA as they come in all sorts of bright colours and interesting scents

Naomi x

Moisturising gloves are thin, cotton gloves which are worn overnight, after moisturising, to help with the absorption of lotion.  On my first night of use, I applied a generous amount of the previously mentioned Skin So Soft treatment, donned the gloves, switched off the lights and went to sleep.  I was expecting the gloves to be uncomfortable and I thought I’d end up taking them off in the middle of the night, but surprisingly they stayed on (although I did look a little bit like Michael Jackson, circa 1985)!  Rather disappointingly, my hands didn’t feel much different the next morning, but I didn’t give up.

The next night I went through the same routine, but rather than using the Skin So Soft cream, I used the Intensive Moisture SOS Hand Cream as it is a very rich emollient so takes longer to absorb.  I wasn’t expecting miracles but, amazingly, my hands looked and felt so much better after just one treatment.  For the next three nights I used the gloves and SOS cream religiously.  Admittedly, I ended up taking the gloves off once or twice in the early hours as my hands were too hot, but that didn’t change the fact that THESE GLOVES ACTUALLY WORK!!!!

I am so impressed by these simple cotton gloves.  After less than a week of use, my hands are in much better condition than they have been for months, if not years.  They no longer look chapped and rough and they feel silky soft morning until night, whether I use any cream or not throughout the day.  My knuckles often used to look red and sore but they’re pretty much normal now.  I’m slightly annoyed that I don’t have any before and after photos as I want you all to see the difference they have made to my skin.  Who would have thought such a cheap and easy product and routine could have such an outstanding effect?  Cotton moisturising gloves are my new beauty miracle and I urge you to try them!  Just make sure you choose a rich hand cream and apply liberally.

Have you had any success with moisturising gloves?

Naomi x

The ‘Firming Face Cream’ claims to contain ‘anti aging complex’ which helps to ‘plump fine lines’ and ‘restore and improve skins elasticity’.  I haven’t noticed any vast changes to my skin so far as I am only 22 so didn’t have many lines to start with, but I’d say the cream has definitely smoothed the natural lines on my forehead and around my mouth slightly, which is always nice!

Avon Care’s Renewing Moisture Face Cream can be purchased in 200ml pots (like this one) which last for absolutely ages, or cute little 100ml pots – perfect for your handbag!

Have you tried any Avon Care creams?

Naomi x