Palmer's Cocoa Body Scrub

Palmer's Cocoa Body Scrub £4.49

I don't know why but I LOVE scrubs. Both facial and body scrubs really attract me. I purchased this body scrub from feelunique.com because I wanted a sweet-smelling body scrub. I still love The Breakfast Scrub from S&G but I wanted something different, which is cheaper and easier to get hold of. 

I've seen Palmer's Body Lotion being sold in Japan but I didn't know that it's that cheap in the U.K.! This body scrub was only 4.49 pounds which is a pretty good deal considering the size of the jar.

  
It's described as below  on feelunique;
Reveal younger looking skin with Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Cocoa Body Scrub. This unique formula contains pure Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Vitamin E and natural crushed cocoa beans which moisturise, refine and polish skin.

It sounds gentle and nice, doesn't it? I'd never tried body scrub with cocoa butter and shea butter before. When I opened the lid I was impressed by the scent. It smells of cocoa and vanilla with a hint of a floral scent. And the consistency looked interesting! It looked different from any other body scrubs I'd ever tried!

 
It was harder than I expected. It looks like ice cream in this photo!

It feels pretty mild on my skin which makes it possible to use it more often. If you are expecting this scrub to remove all the dead skin cells on your skin surface and makes your skin soft and smooth, you might get disappointed. But if you feel that salt / sugar scrubs are harsh on your skin and are looking for a milder one, you will like it. 

It leaves my skin smelling good and the cocoa scent lasts petty long. It makes my skin feel smoother but not as much as NEOM sugar scrub does. In my opinion, scrubs with salt or sugar soaked into plant oils work the best in terms of effectiveness. But they have some downsides as well, for example they make the bathroom floor so greasy and slippery. And I am not a big fan of the oily finish in summer although it's very nice in winter. And I especially don't like salt scrub because you can imagine what happens when you have a tiny cut on your legs or fingers, right? It hurts like hell!!! And salt scrub feels pretty harsh on my skin. So I use NEOM sugar scrub for extra moisture and a stronger exfoliation. I use Palmer's and S&G's daily, for a milder exfoliation. And also to enjoy the scent! :)

Have you tried any products from Palmer's? 

Nourish Golden Glow Toning Soufflé

Nourish Golden Glow Toning Soufflé £24.95 

You may have heard of this product already but I HAVE TO talk about it too because it's such a unique product! I talked about this brand Nourish the other day here,  introducing their skincare range. This product I'm going to talk about today is a very unique body cream made with organic ingredients.

First of all, I absolutely love the packaging. All of their products look so pretty but look at the jar, it looks cute! Basically this cream has shimmer in it and it gives a healthy sun-kissed glow on your skin.

I have no idea why it looks lumpy, I was a bit surprised to see the consistency of the cream when I opened it for the first time. Another big thing which surprised me in a good way was the scent. It's got frankincense, Neroli and Myrrh essential oils which makes it smell so good! The smell is not too strong at all which made me want to use it every day but considering the fact that it's got shimmer in it, I don't think I'm supposed to put it before bed...

Can you see the subtle glow with gold shimmer? It doesn't have big glitters which are so obvious, it's more like a natural sun-kissed glow. I apply it only around my collarbone in this season just because that's the only part not covered by clothes but I would apply it on my arms and legs in summer which I'm looking forward to!

Body cream which has got shimmer in it made with organic ingredients is pretty rare. I have used many organic beauty products but they all are basic stuff. This product is in between makeup and bodycare which is pretty unique and I admire the idea. It's like BB cream for body, isn't it? I love everything about this product!

What are your thoughts about this product? Would you like to try out?

Caudalie Vinotherapie Vine Peach Shower Gel

Caudalie Vinotherapie Vine Peach Shower Gel £8.10

This is my 3rd shower gel from Caudalie I have used. I really loved the other two although they didn't foam much and irritated me during a shower, because they both smelled amazing. There are 4 different shower gels and I decided to try them all after the good experience with the first two.

This shower get is described as below on feelunique;

Enriched with aloe vera, Caudalie Vinotherapie Vine Peach Shower Gel is a soap-free shower gel with a gentle plant-based cleansing formula that respects the skin's physiological pH balance. Its delicious fragrance combines the softness of vine peach and a hint of almond milk with an invigorating splash of fresh mint leaf.

Who doesn't want to try it out after reading this description? I immediately added it to basket without hesitation! The blend of peach, almond milk and fresh mint sounds so good.

When I sniffed this shower gel I was a little bit disappointed as it smelled of fresh peach without hints of any other scents such as almond milk and fresh mint as it's described. I like the scent but I don't love it because I wanted the scent to be a little more complicated than it is. It's too obvious and boring in a way. 

Now there is only one scent left to try out, then I will judge my favourite scent of their shower gel.

If you have never tried any of their shower gel, I recommend Caudalie Trio Shower Collection £12.60  to try out. It's got 3 shower gel in smaller tubes which is perfect for a gift or for yourself to pick your favourite scent. I don't know why it excludes the peach one but definitely this set is the best way to start with.



Have you used their shower gel? Which one is your favourite?

Nourish Protect Gift Box

Nourish Protect Gift Box  £45.00

Can you imagine how excited I was to receive this box? Every time I unwrapped something, I was literally screaming like "Oh my gosh, how pretty it is?" "Oh my gosh, it's amazing!!" all by myself. Don't you think that the box looks so pretty? I really love the design which is simple yet colourful. Love it.

Nourish is a British organic beauty brand. They use organic ingredients as much as they could and it's written clearly on the bottles how much percentage of organic ingredient are used in the product. They have four different ranges for different skin types. Relax is suitable for sensitive skin, Balance is for oily and combination skin, Radiance is for normal skin and Protect is for dry skin. 

Mine is Protect which is suitable for dry skin. It contains Vitamin C which helps protect the structural proteins of your skin as well as collagen and elastin from free radical damage. It also contains Orange and Mandarin essential oils.

These are the items come in the cute box. I'm going to introduce them one by one here.

Protect Refreshing Cleanser
This is a gentle milky cream cleanser which removes dirt and makeup. According to the direction given by the brand, you're supposed to apply it on a cotton pad and sweep over the face. I tried that way but it kind of irritated my skin because the consistency didn't seem to be right for using on a cotton pad. It doesn't sink in like water cleanser, or it doesn't stay on the cotton pad to prevent friction like cream cleanser does. So instead I apply it on my palms, cleanse my face and rinse with warm water. It smells absolutely amazing. It smells just like fresh orange juice, a little bit zesty and bitter, and so refreshing. It's the best cleanser in the morning because whenever I wash my face with it, it wakes me up with a happy feeling! But the only downside of this cleanser is the pump. It's too weak and I have to put more than 10 pumps on my palm to cleanse my face without friction. Also it doesn't remove makeup much so I need to remove my eye makeup first with BIODERMA. I would have a smudged eyeliners and eyeshadows under my eyes if I don't do that in advance.

Protect Cooling Toning Mist
The bottle looks identical to the cleanser. It's got the pump so you can spray it directly on your face. I actually spray it on my palms and apply it on my face because the spray is a little bit too direct, I wish it was more like mist than water-jet. It smells very nice too, it's just like orange juice for skin! It's not the most moisturizing lotion in the world but it prevents dryness pretty well and makes my skin soft.

Protect Replenishing Peptide Serum

I love the bottle of this product. It's the frosted glass bottle which is smaller than the other two but definitely heavier. It's the serum which locks in moisture and protect skin from dryness. On their website this product is described as "Nourish Peptide Serums feature skin-smoothing tripeptides and ultra-moisturising hyaluronic acid, combined with scientifically proven natural extracts to deliver an intense nutritional boost". 

It's got this loose gel-like-texture. As you can imagine, it spreads really quickly on my skin. But it's almost too slippery and slimy, it takes more than 30 seconds for the serum to sink in. I keep massaging it into my skin until it stops my fingers, which is the sign that the serum has sank in, but then my skin becomes so gloopy somehow. I have to wash my hands after using it because otherwise everything I touch gets gloopy. Although my skin feels pretty smooth in the next morning, I hesitate to use it at night because I know it takes long to apply. It's really a shame that the texture is not very good because it seems to be effective. 

Protect Hydrating Moisturiser  
Again, I love this packaging. It contains Vitamin C and plant oils such as organic rosehip oil, organic sunflower oil, organic orange and mandarin oils, to moisturize skin.

It's pretty thick cream which smells absolutely amazing. It does moisturize my skin but it just doesn't sink in much. It stays on my skin surface for a pretty long time and even though the cream is on my skin it makes my face feel dry. It's a weird feeling really. It doesn't actually dry out my skin but it feels like so. Weird isn't it? But what I love about this cream is the scent. This is the best smelling cream I've ever used. And it's not an artificial fragrance! 

Over all, I really love the concept, packaging and scent. I hope they develop the texture of each product to make it comfortable and easy to use. I'm very curious about their bodycare products, I cannot even imagine how amazing it would be to wash / moisturize my body with their wonderful scents! I strongly recommend their products if you love natural scents. 


Have you tried their products? What did you think? :)

L'Oréal Volume Million Lashes Mascara

L'Oréal Paris Volume Million Lashes Mascara £9.35

I was on the hunt for new mascara as my favourite one from LANCOME was running out. I wanted to try something new as I was bored of the same types of mascara I had been using.  LANCOME Virtuose Drama which I got as a PR sample is my favourite for sure but I didn't want to pay 4,000yen for mascara. 

    
It's got the plastic wand which I had never used before. I didn't know that before I actually opened it when it arrived because the websites I checked didn't have detailed information about it. Well, I should have googled it though...Anyway, it's all fine because I wanted to try out the plastic wand as many beauty bloggers mentioned that this type is better than the normal brushy-wand. 

At first I didn't like it at all because it didn't impress me. I was expecting more volume from one or two coats like LANCOME Virtuose Drama does. But I realized that the wand didn't hold much formula so I had to put it back in to the bottle once or twice and reapply. Then it made it much better. Although I still think the name "Volume Million Lashes" is too much of an exaggeration.

By the way can you believe how flat my eyelid is in this picture?? I don't have the eye sockets at all. I wish my eyes were deeper so that I would be able to enjoy makeup more than I do now where it doesn't even make a big difference with or without makeup. Anyway, you can see that my eyelashes are coated evenly by Volume Million Lashes Mascara. It does its job! And the good thing is that it doesn't contain fibers which I hate.

I really like the fact that the formula is not too thick, and it doesn't make my lashes crumpy at all. And it lasts pretty long and it's waterproof so it doesn't smudge even when I put eye drops. Over all, I think it's a pretty good product in comparison to many Japanese mascara in the same price range. It's not the best mascara ever so I won't repurchase it once I run out of this one though. I would like to try Maybelline The Falsies Volum' Express Flared Mascara next! What is your favourite mascara?

Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment

Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment £4.90

I mentioned about this product in my October Favourites post, but I thought to write about it individually. I had seen this product being raved about for a while, and always wanted to try out but wasn't sure about purchasing the big bottle. So when I found this tiny bottle at feelunique, I didn't hesitate to buy it. It's in this tiny 10ml bottle which looks like a bottle of essential oil I'm pretty familiar with. 

I mainly use it on my damp hair before blow-dry. It's called "oil" but the main ingredient is silicone, so I wouldn't recommend it if you are trying to avoid this particular ingredient. I don't like putting silicone on my scalp because it could clog up my pores that's why I never use a shampoo with it, but I need silicone on my hair especially in this season because my hair is pretty fine and it gets tangled terribly. I apply it on the tips of hair only otherwise it makes my hair look like it hasn't been washed for weeks. Ew. 

I only need a drop of this oil to spread on the entire hair which is very good money-wise! It smells sweet and musky, at first I thought it smelled like a cologne that's often worn by old men. But the more I used it the more I got addictive to this scent. I wouldn't like it in summer in Japan which is wet and humid and so hot, but I like it in this cold season.

It does make my hair silky and soft with only one drop which is amazing. I even take it to work recently so that I can apply it on my hair when it gets dry and tangled. It's one of the best oils I've ever used for sure, and I might repurchase it when I run out of the current bottle. I strongly recommend this small-sized one to try out, and to carry around in your purse. I also heard that their hair treatment was very good too! Have you used any Macadamia products? Did you like them??

October Favoruites

I know it's the middle of November but I made an effort to take photos of my October Favourites, so I'm going to write about them!

Liz Earle Cleanse&Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser  (full review)
I am totally in love with this cleanser. It works, it smells good and it makes my skin so soft and smooth like a baby's. I use this cleanser with the muslin cloth about 3 times a week. It's tempting to use it every day but I try not to because I'm not sure if it's true or not but I have heard that we Asian have thinner skin than other races so we shouldn't exfoliate our skin as much. Also if you exfoliate every day, your skin cells get removed before the skin underneath is strong enough, and that could cause sensitivity. Anyway I love this cleanser so much, and since I started using this product my skin has been in a very good condition.

balance me rose otto Body Cream  (full review)
There's no reason to complain about this product. It moisturizes my skin perfectly, smells so gorgeous and I love the packaging. balance me is definitely one of my favourite beauty brands. The best part of this body cream is that it doesn't make my palms greasy after applying it on my body. I hated and forgot to put moisturizer on my body before I discovered this product, but now I can't wait to put this good-smelling body cream every night before bed.

Caudalie Divine Oil  (full review)
Love love love this oil. Usually I apply this oil on my arms, neck and hair to enjoy the scent. I cannot describe the smell but it's something like a mixture of floral and vanilla type of sweet scent if that makes sense. It's so addictive and I really love this scent in the winter air. The oil is very light and it sinks in very quickly which is perfect for a busy morning because I don't have to wait to put clothes on!

Sunshine Spa Bath & Body Oil (full review) 
I pour a few drops of this bath oil into my bathtub when I feel the need of relaxation. It smells incredible, I don't care the fact that the oil makes the whole bathroom slippery. It smells of lavender, chamomile, bargamot and sandalwood which is truly relaxing. You can use it as a shower oil or body oil if you wish, I strongly recommend this oil if you're having a stressful life!

balance me wonder eye cream (full review) Another balance me product I was loving in October. This eye cream is so light yet moisturizing, so I can use it in the morning as well as night time. It moisturize my skin without making it greasy as it sinks in very quickly. I love the herbal scent too. 

Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment
I haven't done a full review of this product yet, but I will definitely do it very soon. I've been using this for about 3 weeks now and whenever I apply this oil, my hair becomes so silky. I've got fine hair and it gets tangled which is horrible -sometimes I tear my tangled hair accidentally- but this oil prevents tangle and that is amazing! It also smells really nice, like a musky vanilla type of scent which reminds me of some male perfume.

Aveda Eye Color Trio in Sea Grass (full review)
I use this eyeshadow palette every day. I haven't figured out how to use the black colour as I have been into brown eyeshadows rather than black recently. But the other two colours are my daily essentials for sure. The pink one is perfect for the base on my eyelids, it creates the even skin tone which is like a clean canvas! I use the brown colour to contour and sometimes on my eyebrows.

Revlon Color Burst Lip Butter (full review)
I wear Peach Parfait nearly every day to work. It's such a pretty colour, which is not too bright and not too nude. This colour makes my whole face look fresh and healthy!! I am very busy at work and don't have time to look into a mirror and fix my makeup, so I like the fact that I don't need a lip brush and a mirror to apply this lipstick, instead I can just apply it as if it's a lip balm and it looks fine!

Thanks for reading, it became such a long post...sorry! Hope you enjoyed it :)

Caudalie Winter Rescue Duo

Caudalie Winter Rescue Duo 7.20GBP

As I mentioned before, I have really sensitive lips and when I use lip balm which doesn't match my lips, they get chapped hard and start bleeding because of dryness. This lip balm by Caudalie really really nourishes and hydrates my lips and I immediately repurchased when I finished my 1st one. 

This time, I got this Winter Rescue Duo because the lip balm itself costs 4.95 pounds and it's only 2.25 pounds more and has got this miniature hand cream with it! I always wanted to try their hand cream and thought this small one would be ideal to keep in my handbag.

The consistency of this hand cream is perfect. It's not too thick and not too loose, yet doesn't make my hands greasy at all. I use a computer for more than 10 hours a day at work, and having a greasy hand to hold my mouse is the last thing I want. It moisturizes my hands without being heavy which I really like! Apparently it contains the grape extract which is beneficial for your skin, also shea butter and avocado oil moisturize your hands.

I'm not going to go on and on about the lip balm but I really really recommend this to those who's got chapped lips that nothing can repair. Because this one can! I am sure I will repurchase it when I run out of this one.


Over all this little bag of winter rescues is very satisfying. Both hand cream and lip balm are true winter essentials. If you're interested in the lip balm, I recommend this set so that you can enjoy the hand cream as well!


Here's a little thing I want to share, I'm banned from wearing contact lenses because of my allergy (did I have an allergy? really?) and my glasses give me a headache. It makes it really hard to blog because  I cannot see ANYTHING without contact lenses or glasses. Especially looking at the computer screen makes my head pounding so I have to stay away from blogging for about a week or two :( Still I will blog a bit but maybe not every day like I have been.  

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and read my blog, oh and I put the links to all of my pages like Twitter, Instagram and yes I finally made my Facebook page, so have a look if you're interested! :)

October Empties!

This is the time of the month to talk about empties again! In October I used up quite a lot of products considering the fact I am a slow-user. I am going through the products I used up quickly now!

Rahua Shampoo and Conditioner

Rahua is an american haircare brand which came to Japan at the end of last year I think. Their products are pretty expensive, these are 3900yen and 4200yen, and their hair oil which I don't own costs 18900yen for 30ml botttle. Ridiculous!

But trust me, this is the best harecare products I've ever used. They contain a plant oil called rahua oil and that seems to be the key ingredient. It makes my hair unbelievably soft and silky, like it's never been. They smell weird but I just don't care because the result is absolutely amazing.

I'm very sad that I've used them up. I was given them as PR samples from a Japanese company and just loved them so much but don't think I would spend about 8000yen on haircare products. Not that I don't want to but I can't! I strongly recommend rahua if you are interested, it's so amazing.

...Oh and I apologize for the dirty bottles, I washed them but wasn't able to make them crystal clear.

moemoe Spa Treatment

Can you believe this pair of small tubes costs about 1000yen? These are hair treatment tubes for an intensive haircare. They smell amazing, like fruity floral clean scent if that makes sense. You apply tube No.1 treatment mainly at the end of your hair after wash, then apply tube No.2 treatment on top, leave it for 5 minutes and rinse. It does make my hair soft and moisturized I guess but at the same time it makes my hair flat. I liked this product but I wouldn't buy it myself.

These are sent by Zanka from Zanka talks cosmetics, and it was fun to choose which one to use depending on my skin condition and mood! 

The honey one was a peel-off facial mask which I had never experienced, and it smelled just like honey!! I was like "Oh my gosh it does smell like honey and I feel like I'm Winnie-the-Pooh!" It felt a bit tingly on my skin but didn't make my skin red or irritated. I think it contains pretty high level of alcohol and maybe that is why. I really enjoyed how it worked and the smell of course, and it made my skin feel clean.

The avocado one smelled lovely too. It didn't smell of avocado and I cannot describe the scent but I liked it very much. This one tingled my skin as well but again it didn't affect my skin. Maybe it was because this facial mask is supposed to stimulate my skin, I cannot tell if it did to be honest but I really liked the smell. And the packaging is so pretty!

   
Caudalie Grape Water

It only lasted less than a month I guess but I can't blame it as it's only a 75ml bottle which is tiny! I used it as lotion after washing my face every morning and night. It doesn't have any smell in it and it doesn't hydrate skin too much but it was a nice product. I think it's good for summer to carry it around to refresh.

L'OREAL Paris ELSEVE Damage Care Pro

It's hair treatment in a spray bottle which you use in the shower. Basically you spray this mainly at the end of your hair after wash and rinse it off. You don't have to wait for 5 minutes to rinse as the oil sinks in quickly. It smells amazing and it does work. I will miss this product.

Caudalie Lip Conditioner

This lipbalm is one of the best ones I've ever used. I love the subtle smell of vanilla, and the matte finish it gives, and of course the fact that it moisturizes my often-chapped-lips! It really works and I actually repurchased this item recently! I recommend this lipbalm to anyone who's suffering from chapped lips.

I am not sure if I would use up more products in November as I finished quite a lot of products in October, but I will write about my empties when I have enough products to talk about for sure! 

Rimmel Match Perfection Illuminating Concealer

Rimmel Match Perfection Illuminating Concealer  5.99GBP

Although I have been using concealer under my eyes since I was 15, I had never found a perfect concealer to cover my dark circles up completely. The concealer I had been using for the past 8-9 months was too yellow and got cakey but somehow I didn't look for a better concealer. But the other day when I was wandering feelunique, I suddenly wanted to get a concealer and added this one into my basket without reading any reviews by any bloggers. 

The colour I got is 040 Soft Beige. I'm quite pale for Japanese and the foundation and concealer for Japanese are usually too yellow for me, so I thought this colour would match my skin colour.

I like this applicator with this small brush. But the tube is not so good to be honest because it doesn't come out even when I push the tube so hard! I push for like 5 seconds but it doesn't come out, and after a while it comes out suddenly and I end up with too much liquid on the brush! It's such a bother especially in the morning when I'm in hurry. 

Other than that I like this concealer. The brush is soft and doesn't irritate my sensitive eye ares. The consistency of the liquid is perfect, and it doesn't get cakey at all. It blends in really well and covers my dark circles and redness besides my nose.

At first I thought this colour was too pink for me, but it blends in perfectly actually. I would like a brighter colour actually for highlight because this concealer is supposed to be 2 in 1 -concealer and highlighter! This colour is a bit too dark to use as highlighter but it could be a cheaper version of YSL Radiant Touch Concealer. I really like this product, it's much cheaper and better than the one I'd been using!

I'm also interested in Collection 2000 Concealer as everyone's raving about it. Have you used Collection 2000 one? Do you have any recommendation for me? 

My Skincare Routine - Morning

Today I would like to share my morning skincare routine! Hope you enjoy :)

Shigeta Awakening Radiance Mousse
I wrote the full review here if you're interested. Shigeta is a Japanese brand which was actually launched in France first. They only use natural and organic ingredients and are against animal testing. This cleansing foam contains fragrant rose water and rose essential oil which give a heavenly scent to it. It comes out as foam so it's very easy to cleanse your face and I just like to use it in the morning because it doesn't remove makeup and also the scent is perfect to awake my skin.

Caudalie Grape Water
This is basically just water. It's fragrance free 100% grape water. Apparently grape water is good for your skin but to be honest I haven't noticed any difference since I started using it. I just like to spritzing this fine mist after I wash my face to refresh.

Aveda all sensitive moisturizer  34GBP
I'm not going to talk about how amazing this product is here as I've written enough already before, basically I cannot live without this product. The end.

Weleda Wild Rose Smoothing Day Cream 13.95GBP
I received this product from lovely Zanka from Zanka talks cosmetics, and I've been loving it so much. It's the perfect day cream which is light and yet moisturizing, with this amazing rosy scent. It moisturizes my skin just enough and I love it!

Devita Solar Protective Moisturizer SPF 30   $14.15
Read full review here! I love this creamy texture so much, it's easy to spread and feels like it gives a thin veil over my face to protect it from the sun. But recently I realized that my waterproof eyeliner transfers to my eyelid when I put this cream on my eyelid. So if you're considering getting this cream avoid your eye area otherwise it ruins your makeup! And the reason why I use Weleda's cream before this one is because it dries out my skin a little in this colder season. It might be too light for dry skin.
 
Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream 20GBP
 Full review is here.  This is my favourite eye cream ever! I love the pump because I don't have to scoop using a spatula like I used to do. The pump bottle makes it much easier to apply eye cream a few times a day. This cream is perfect under the makeup because it's very light-textured and does sink in quickly. It makes the skin around the eye area very smooth which prevents a concealer to get cakey. I also love the lovely scent in the morning :)

What are your morning skincare essentials?