Roaccutane Diaries | Month Three | Bodycare

I thought it was about time for an update on how I’m doing on Roaccutane! I just picked up my fourth month (out of six) last week and things are still going really well! Thankfully, I haven’t had any of the serious side effects, my face is looking and feeling a lot smoother and I have no active acne! I am still using the products I talked about in my first Roaccutane post as well as a few new ones for my pigmentation that I’m not finished testing out yet so for this update I thought I would concentrate on the body products I have been using over the last few months! I have noticed the skin on my body becoming a bit drier and I have been getting some small patches of itchy skin on my hands and legs and drier skin is a side effect of Roaccutane. Now, I do tend to experience this in winter anyway but overall, I generally don’t have sensitive skin on my body and I don’t suffer with eczema or psoriasis. 

 

 

First up, I was actually given some Aveeno products on prescription which makes a change from I think Doublebase the last time I was on it! I believe the Aveeno Daily Moisturising Body Wash RRP £9.59 has caused a bit of controversy recently as its been recently reformulated to include Sodium Laureth Sulphate (SLS). Although this is something I avoid like the plague in my haircare it’s in all of my shower products and I have personally never had a reaction or experienced sensitive skin with it! I find the body wash to be gentle while still working well to cleanse my body although I would prefer a pump on the bottle especially as I have the large size! Matching this, I also have the Aveeno Cream RRP £15.99 and I have already gone through a huge 500ml of this before Christmas and I love it! It hydrates my skin all day long and sinks in quickly! It contains Paraffinum Liquidum/Mineral Oil which I talked about more in this post but basically it works to help lock in moisture in the skin which is what I need right now and these are both fragrance free! 

 

 

The Bioderma Atoderm Ultra Nourishing Anti-Irritation Shower Oil RRP £10.50 has been mentioned quite a few times on my blog already so I won’t bore you but I bloody love this stuff! It doesn’t feel greasy at all and can also double up as a makeup remover. As well as being hydrating, it leaves my skin feeling supple and smooth after use and a little goes a long way! I was also kindly sent some more Bioderma body products before Christmas which I have also been enjoying. The Bioderma Atoderm Ultra Gentle Shower Gel* RRP £8.80 and Bioderma Atoderm Crème* RRP £12.50 are another two products perfect for my drier than normal skin right now. The shower gel feels lovely and doesn’t leave my skin feeling tight and the crème (also containing paraffinum liquidum) is soothing on my skin and again keeps it hydrated all day long and doesn’t leave my wanting to itch my skin later in the day! They all have a very subtle light scent too (though I can’t detect any in the creme) but worth bearing in mind that there is fragrance if you have super sensitive skin – it doesn’t bother me! I was also sent the Bioderma Atoderm Ultra Repair hand cream* RRP £4.50 which is a lovely, lightweight cream that sinks in quickly and leaves no greasy residue behind! Again, it’s very lightly scented and it’s been perfect for moisturising my hands after copious amounts of hand sanitizer!

 

Although I love the above products, sometimes I do just want a little more scent and luxury and the Dermalogica Phyto Replenish Body Oil* (full size £49) has been providing just that! I was tempted to keep this good and use it before an occasion then I wised up as we know those are few and far between right now. This is such a beautiful lightweight oil and I have been applying before bed and waking up to soft, supple skin. The mini has a rollerball which makes it a dream to apply – I am usually messy with oils but not this one and the bergamot and neroli scent is gorgeous and not overpowering at all!

 

I also want to give a shout out to the Frank Body Coconut Coffee Scrub RRP £7.95 for also keeping my skin smooth and hydrated! I don’t use this as often as I would like because it creates such a mess but every time I do I am reminded how great a product it is! If you are doing a big pamper session it’s a must and no other exfoliator leaves my skin as soft as this one! It’s gritty but gentle and the coconut oil keeps skin hydrated!

 

As the Aveeno is unscented and the Bioderma is very lightly scented sometimes I do want something stronger and the OUAI Body Crème RRP £32 (mine were limited edition holiday releases) and Sol De Janeiro Bum Bum Cream RRP £18 are always a winner for me! Hydrating (but more expensive than the others I’ve mentioned so too good for every day haha), sink in quickly and smell incredible!

 

Escentual currently have 1/3 off Biderma and French Pharmacy products for the month of January so it’s a great time to stock up on any products you are eyeing up! Let me know what your favourite body products are for dry skin!

 

*denotes a PR sample that was sent to me. All opinions are my own. See my full disclosure here.

 

Danielle xx

 

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Forever Repurchased #10

 

Fun fact – after my empties posts, these are my favourite to write up but always receive the least engagement haha so if you are reading or commenting, thank you! Coming up to Christmas, my spending was in full force and it resulted in a few repurchases of products I had either run out of or wanted to replace! 

 

First up, The Balm Down Boy and my original version of this is the oldest blush in my collection at this point! It’s very well loved (although no pan :() and has been on countless trips with me because as well as being in very sturdy packaging even though it’s only cardboard, the baby pink matte shade is super flattering, not too pigmented and lasts all day on my normally oily skin! It is also very reasonably priced at £13 (I got mine from Look Fantastic where there is always a discount as well!) I never hear The Balm talked about much anymore and this shade was out of stock on a few other websites so I just bit the bullet and repurchased as knowing my luck it will be discontinued or something!

 

Next up is another replacement in the form of Essie Bahama Mama! I got rid of a lot of nail polishes in my collection a couple of years ago as apart from two, I never wore them and they were just sitting there. Bahama Mama was one of the two and I thought it was finally time to treat myself to a new bottle as mine again was very well loved and the formula was getting a bit gloopy with whatever was left. This is the most perfect plum, burgundy shade and it’s opaque in two coats. I also wanted to replace Essie Midnight Cami aswell but unfortunately this seems to be discontinued which I am gutted about!  

 

The Becca Backlight Priming Filter has been a constant in my makeup collection for the last few years albeit in mini form as I kept getting them in GWP’s from Cult Beauty then Sephora. I picked up the value set at Christmas as I love having it in my routine! I don’t use this to make my makeup last longer but I do use it to add glow (not glitter) and blur imperfections. It’s a pearlescent cream that adds luminosity and as a matte foundation and powder lover, this gives my makeup the little somethin’ somethin’ that it can sometimes be missing. I also used to love their liquid shimmering skin perfector and I would mix that into foundation but it seems like it’s been discontinued!

 

A couple of skincare items next and I repurchased the Cerave Eye Repair Cream before I had even finished my first one! It’s the perfect, simple eye cream and works well to hydrate round my eyes! It contains ceramides and hyaluronic acid and targets dark circles and puffiness too! I find my fine lines aren’t as noticeable and while my circles aren’t that dark it helps to decrease my puffiness! It also sinks in quickly and sits well under my makeup as well as feeling hydrating enough overnight too!

 

Finally, the Pyunkang Yul Essence Toner which at this point features in every other post on my blog so I won’t harp on about it for too long! Basically this is the best hydrating toner I have tried and even though I have a couple other hydrating toners on the go and didn’t necessarily “need” this one right away I ordered it when there was a discount so it’s ready to go! It contains seven ingredients in a gel like formula and it is just perfect for my sensitive skin right now! It’s go gentle, cooling and hydrating and I totally get the hype surrounding it!

 

So that’s a roundup of my latest forever repurchased products! Do you own any of these? What’s one beauty product you always repurchase?

 

Danielle xx

 

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Best Beauty Discoveries 2020 | Makeup and Haircare

 

After last week’s look at my favourite skin and body care discoveries of 2020, this week is all about makeup and haircare! Again, a lot of this stuff wasn’t actually released specifically in 2020 but it was the year I finally got around to trying it! 

 

Starting with makeup, I lusted after the Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Bronzer in Medium 2 (full review) for ages before finally picking it up when Space NK did their £15 off a £60 spend and let me tell you – it was worth the wait! Aside from the fact it is absolutely massive, this is a beautiful, finely milled powder that is easy to build up without ever becoming cakey! It adds a lovely warmth to my face, it very smooth to apply (no harsh lines here!) and blends super easily! It is a matte bronzer but the finish is just gorgeous, it never looks flat! Expensive but worth it but I would always recommend waiting for a sale!

 

Next up, my only real lipstick purchase this year was the Fenty Beauty Slip Shine Sheer Shiny Lipstick in 06 Retro Rose (full review) which is a lipstick/balm hybrid! Retro Rose is a dusty pink shade which is very my lips but better on me. It’s creamy to apply, very comfortable on the lips as it’s so moisturising and though it’s sheer it’s buildable to a deeper shade. It also lasts a good amount of time on my lips despite being a sheer/nourishing lipstick and made a recent post on my favourite mask proof lip balms!

 

Something a bit more budget now and the Collection Primed and Ready Invisible Setting Powder blew me away earlier in the year and I have finally got round to repurchasing! I originally bought it as I hate wasting my Laura Mercier loose powder if I’m not going anywhere or if I have a mask on and you can’t see my makeup but I still wanted a powder I could trust to mattify my skin and not make me look cakey and I found it with this! It’s a very finely milled mattifying powder that doesn’t cling to dry patches and does a very good job of keeping my oils at bay! And it’s under £4! I’ve only used it a couple of times since I started Roaccutane but again I haven’t noticed any caking with my drier than normal skin! 

 

I wasn’t sure whether to put this with skincare or makeup but here we are! The Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Kiss Lip Butter was my favourite lip balm discovery of last year! It’s jumbo sized, leaves a gorgeous hydrating sheen behind and it lasts so long between top ups! It contains cupuaçu, acai and coconut oil and makes my lips feel so soft. I know the bum bum cream from the same brand is love or hate but the scent of the lip butter is not overpowering at all and once it’s on you can barely smell it! I recently finished this and couldn’t believe how much was left in the casing! Thank God I was at home and able to dig it out with a cotton bud lol. 

 

The NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealer in Light 2 Vanilla is the most recent addition to my collection from the ones I am mentioning today but I couldn’t leave it out! I resisted this for the longest time because the packaging reminded me of an old NYX pot concealer I had and hated – it was cakey, felt sticky and was not enjoyable to use! I can safely say this is the complete opposite! It’s matte but not drying and it has great coverage! I don’t experience any flaking with this and the colour match is great! 

 

I am a huge fan of Anastasia Beverly Hills brow products and the Brow Powder Duo in Dark Brown has been my go to since I got it for myself for Christmas 2019! It has the perfect shades for my, you guessed it, dark brown hair and it’s got great pigmentation too – not too much or too little! It doesn’t fade or move throughout the day and it’s so dinky and sturdy it will be great for travel when its allowed again! 

 

 

Moving onto hair, around May last year I was going through Olaplex way too quickly for my bank balance so I decided to pick up the Phyto Joba Moisturising Mask to use in between my weekly Olaplex sessions and it’s love! This is so hydrating so perfect for my damaged, dry ends and it gives such a beautiful shine to my hair while making it more manageable! I found it a bit harder to find a link so I’m paranoid it’s discontinued but I would be so disappointed if it was! 

I got a Cult Beauty GWP in the middle of the year after buying some hair products and found some absolute gems in there! One of the hair products I bought to get the GWP was the NatureLab Tokyo Perfect Shine Clarifying Scalp Scrub (US affiliate link here, 10% off with Danielle10), which I had previously tried a mini of and knew after one use I would need the full size. It’s sulphate free yet gives a good lather, the scrub actually reaches my scalp leaving it refreshed and it really does clarify it while making my so shiny after use! I think if you had a flaky scalp this would work wonders too! 

In the actual Cult Beauty GWP was the Color Wow Dream Cocktail - Kale Infused for Breakage and I am in love with this! Like I said, I have very damaged ends due to straightening and I get breakage too. This is a leave in conditioning treatment that doesn’t weigh my hair down at all, it strengthens brittle hair and leaves it feeling soft and healthy! I feel like my hair is in really great condition at the minute though I did get a haircut early December too but this and Olaplex No.3 in particular are amazing! 

 

Finally, another item I was introduced to through the GWP and one I repurchased after using as I knew I needed more, the Slip Skinny Scrunchie! I am a huge fan of my silk pillowcase so love the benefits for my hair and this scrunchie is the perfect thickness and so soft while minimising breakage to my hair when using! They are expensive but I know I will get so much use out of them! 

You will find a full review of the lip butter, hair mask, powder and scalp scrub here if you want to read some more about them! 

 

And that concludes my best makeup and haircare discoveries of 2020! Did you see any of your favourites? Let me know what yours were! 

 

*denotes a PR sample that was sent to me. All opinions are my own. See my full disclosure here. 

Danielle xx

 

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Best Beauty Discoveries 2020 | Skin and Bodycare

 

Welcome back everyone! I hope you were able to have a nice break over the holidays! I’ve been keeping a little list over the last couple of weeks of what my favourite skin and body care products have been this year and that’s what I’m going to share today! Ideally, I would have had hair and makeup favourites in this too but as always there are just too many to mention so I’ll get that up next week! I don’t think any of these are new releases for this year but they were new to me either at the very end of 2019 when it was too early for me to know how much I loved it or has been purchased this year! 

 

Starting with body products, the Bioderma Atoderm Ultra-Nourishing Anti-Irritation Shower Oil (full review) which quickly became a favourite when I picked it up to help with my drier skin due to going on Roaccutane (this will be a theme throughout this post lol). It’s so soothing, hydrating and not greasy at all! I have a full review here but I cannot recommend this enough especially if you find you get dry patches or drier skin in the winter! I’ve recently got sent some more bits from their Atoderm body range which I have been enjoying too but too soon to say they are my best discoveries of the year :P 

Sticking with bodycare, the Bali Body Self-Tanning Mousse* (full review) is the only fake tan I have used this year! It has a guide colour so is fool proof and it leaves a beautiful medium darkness natural tan when left overnight to develop! I can get a good 4-5 days out of this when I moisturise well and even when it starts to wear of it’s so even I don’t notice! Finally, in the bodycare category, I have to mention the OUAI Melrose Place Eau de Parfum (full review). I have worn this nearly every day since I got it earlier this year! It’s the perfect subtle, rose scent and I will be so upset if they ever discontinue it (which happens to all my favourite perfumes)! 

 

Moving onto skincare now and I’m going to try and go through these quickly as I feel like they get featured a lot on my blog already so I don’t want to bore you! Starting with cleansers, I finally picked up two very hyped budget cleansers this year and loved them both! The Cerave Hydrating Cleanser is just perfect at the minute for my morning cleanse, it’s a very simple cleanser packed full of ceramides and hyaluronic acid that doesn’t foam up too much and leaves my skin feeling clean and hydrated as you would expect from the name! Similarly, The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser is another hydrating product that can be used as a first or second cleanse and I am kicking myself for not getting on this hype train sooner! It feels beautiful, breaks down makeup easily and leaves my skin feeling soft and hydrated! Will definitely be getting the big size next! 

Next up, I have fallen in love with quite a few toners this year so this was a hard one for me but the Pyunkang Yul Essence Toner (full review) is one I have fully used up, loved and repurchased! It’s gel like, cooling and most importantly for my skin at the minute - hydrating! In terms of treatments, the Paula’s Choice 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant (full review) was a game changer for me at the start of the year. It works amazingly on congested, oily skin and my skin always looks so much clearer and brighter the morning after use! 

 

Moving onto hyaluronic acid and the Hada Labo Tokyo Lotion No1 Super Hydrator has impressed me so much – it contains 3 different types of hyaluronic acid and really helps keep moisture locked in all day for me. I was so worried going on Roaccutane about the skin dryness but I have been shocked at how well my skin is coping and this is one of the products I have been using every day! It’s also very reasonably priced for such a huge bottle! 

 

This year I have really gotten into K Beauty and I have started incorporating steps I wouldn’t normally such as using as essence and my weapon of choice is the I’m From Mugwort Essence (full review). It’s 100% mugwort and perfect for irritated skin, it absorbs quickly, adds an extra layer of hydration for me and keeps my skin feeling smooth too! 

 

The Vichy Mineral 89 Daily Booster has been my serum of choice over the last few months now and I’ll confess I have had this before a few years ago when I wasn’t blogging as much so I am cheating a bit but it has really come into its own for me this year! I was previously a fan of the Vichy Aqualia Thermal but with alcohol denat quite high up on the list in that one I made the switch to this and haven’t looked back! It’s a really cooling gel serum that hydrates my skin and makes it plump! 

 

Cerave Eye Repair Cream is another one I think I let fly under the radar. It’s a very simple lightweight cream, great for puffiness and dark circles and sits under makeup very well too, this is my backup as I repurchased straight away after finishing the first one I had! 

 

Finally, I have a couple of facemasks to share! First up, the Dermalogica Hydro Masque Exfoliant* (full review) which delivers in bucketloads on hydration and gentle exfoliation. It contains snow mushroom for hydration and bamboo to exfoliate as well as cucumber extract (which it smells like) to soothe and it’s so effective! It only needs to be left on for 5 minutes and my face feels instantly refreshed, hydrated and exfoliated! And even better, it’s fine on my currently sensitive skin! I also want to give the Huxley Secret of Sahara Sleep Mask: Good Night a mention as it’s been in constant use since I got it! It contains Pricky pear seed oil, hyaluronic acid and centella asiatica and though it’s an overnight mask it is very lightweight and absorbs quickly but somehow my skin doesn’t dry out overnight. I wake up with hydrated, smooth and plump skin so this is a winner for me! It’s also very cooling and soothing! 

 

And that’s my round up of my favourite skin and bodycare discoveries this year! I think the Dermalogica mask is the only product that was actually released this year haha! I would love to know if we share any of the same favourite’s or what some of yours were! Let me know in the comments! 

 

*denotes a PR sample that was sent to me. All opinions are my own. See my full disclosure here. 

Danielle xx

 

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