Skincare | Murad Review and Favourite Products

I’m back today with a little roundup of Murad, a brand I was introduced to just before Christmas as part of their influencer ambassador programme – the Skin Wellness Squad! Founded in 1989 by Dr Howard Murad, Murad believe skincare is healthcare and selfcare and their products are science backed high-performance technologies and formulas. I have quite a few products here from different ranges so let’s get into it! 

 

 

The Environmental Shield is part of their brightening range and targets dark spots and uneven tones. This, along with fine lines and aging is currently my biggest skincare concern. Since finishing up my third course of Roaccutane a year ago, my skin has thankfully *touch wood* stayed clear this time! I have noticed a huge difference in stubborn spots of pigmentation since introducing the Vita-C Glycolic Brightening Serum RRP £74* into my routine. It really is a powerhouse antioxidant serum and after struggling with Vitamin C formulas that help brighten but don’t do much for specific areas of pigmentation this has been a welcome addition! The inclusion of glycolic acid gently exfoliates and helps ensure effective Vitamin C (in the form of L-ascorbic acid) delivery and the serum itself absorbs quickly, makes my skin look brighter and more even and over time I have noticed my attention being drawn less and less to the stubborn pigmentation I thought was never going to shift! I LOVE this serum!

 

Next up, the Vita-C Triple Exfoliating Facial RRP £67* and I know physical exfoliants can sometimes be a source of contention in the skincare world but personally, I am a big fan! As well as being a physical exfoliant, this also combines chemical (glycolic, lactic and salicylic acids) and enzymatic exfoliants to slough off dead skin cells and smooth skin. It contains Vitamin C too and on rubbing into the skin it changes colour from orange to while to let you know you can stop scrubbing! This isn’t as gentle as some scrubs I’ve tried but it’s in no way harsh either! I usually leave on my skin for 10 minutes after scrubbing before washing off and I am left with smooth, brighter skin that is primed for the rest of my routine! 

 

Lastly, from this range at least, is the City Skin Age Defense Broad Spectrum SPF 50 RRP £60*. This is a mineral sunscreen that shields against digital blue light damage, UVA, UVB & pollution. The formula is lightweight and has a peachy tint that is easily worked into the skin leaving no white cast (I have pale skin for reference). It sits well over the rest of my skincare as well as under makeup and I love that its SPF 50, my skin feels protected and the formula is beautiful, no difficulty rubbing in or pilling either!

 

 

The purple products are from the Hydration range and perfect for sensitive skin. The standout for me from this line is the Intense Recovery Cream RRP £69* and I already featured it a few months ago in this post! This is the ultimate comfort blanket for stressed out, dehydrated, sensitive skin and I am obsessed! It contains shea better, macadamia oil and microalgae extract to provide deep moisturisation and smooth the look of stress lines as well as reducing redness and irritation. My skin was really playing up at the start of the year, I think from a mixture of retinol products, the weather and working from home all day in central heating. It was red, inflamed, itchy and flaky and this came to the rescue thankfully! It feels instantly soothing on stressed skin and is so comforting! It reduced my redness as well as hydrating my skin and getting it back to normal and as you can see, I have been making my way through it quickly! It feels like more of a balm than a cream and it melts into skin keeping it hydrated and protected overnight. I also used this in the day under makeup and was pleasantly surprised how well it sat under makeup given it is so balmy, a must have for sensitive skin! 

 

Sticking with moisturisers and the Nutrient-Charged Water Gel RRP £55* is another favourite. It’s oil-free, lightweight and instantly hydrates, plumps and locks in moisture.

It’s made up of five vitamins (B and E), five minerals (silicon, iron, zinc, copper and magnesium) and five peptides to smooth skin, reduce the appearance of fine lines, improve tone and texture and restore the skins barrier. A little goes a long way with this one and like it promises, my skin feels and looks plump, smooth and hydrated, fine lines are less visible and it provides a lovely base for makeup, working well with the City Skin SPF!

The Revitalixir Recovery Serum RRP £75* contains these spheres which hopefully you can see in the photos and works for the eyes as well as the face! It’s a blend of niacinamide, caffeine, neuropeptide, paracress and cannabis sativa seed oil which helps smooth skin, calming and depuffing it and the illuminating pearls help hydrate! The scent of this is so familiar and nostalgic to me but I have no idea why as I had never tried it before, but it is very comforting! This is a nice serum but I am not blown away by it! 

 

The Resurgence line is for anti-aging and targeting line and wrinkles as well as lifting and firming. Starting with the Retinol Youth Renewal Night Cream RRP £73*, this is actually one of the products I have been reacting to as mentioned above - along with the Medik8 Crystal Retinal 6. I used both of those products with no issues a handful of times before Christmas but they both separately caused reactions around January/Feburary, and it took me a while to realise what was causing the reaction as I hadn’t had issues before! I have started reintroducing the Murad back into my routine over the last four weeks and have been sandwiching with the Revitalixir serum and a little intense recovery cream on top and no reactions so far so I do think it was down to my skin being extra sensitive in winter rather than the product itself!

 

I love the packaging of this with the pump ensuring you get the correct amount of product each time. The formula contains a fast-acting retinoid, a time-released retinol and a retinol booster as well as niacinamide to improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and strengthen the skins barrier. I’ll update this more as I use it for longer but since my sensitive skin issues have subsided this has left me with plump skin in the morning! My mum also has this and really enjoys it for her more mature skin also finding it plumping and targeting her fine lines and wrinkles.

Lastly, the Targeted Wrinkle Corrector RRP £70* and this is a nifty little treatment to diminish the look of wrinkles by working like a filler flooding lines with hyaluronic acid to plump and smooth. At 31, I am more concerned with fine lines than deep set wrinkles, so the effects are not so drastic for me! This is a nice little extra though if you are concerned with deeper set lines and a nice alternative to filler. Like I said, it contains hyaluronic acid, squalane to prevent moisture loss and hexapeptide to boost elasticity. Application is pretty important too – I used this without reading the directions and put it on right before applying my makeup which resulted in my foundation sticking to the places, I had applied it very obviously lol. The best way is to apply after cleansing and toning but before serum, moisturiser and SPF. It has a lovely cooling applicator but I find the best way to apply is with my finger by tapping into the areas I am using it on such as my elevens, forehead and smile lines. Used in this way it doesn’t affect my makeup and makes my skin look smoother. While working instantly it also it a preventative product too!

 

While the products are pricey, for me the stand outs are worth it (Vita-C Glycolic Brightening Serum, City Skin Age Defence Broad Spectrum SPF 50, Intense Recovery Cream and Nutrient Charged Water Gel) and if you shop around you can usually find a 20% off offer or pick up a set of minis to try! As well as their own website, they are also available from Space NK, Look Fantastic and Cult Beauty among others!

 

Have you tried anything from Murad before? What’s your favourite product?

 

*denotes a PR sample that was sent to me.

All opinions are my own. Affiliate links used.

See my full disclosure here.

 

Danielle xx

 

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Beauty Spend Report | April 2022

Another month, another beauty haul! I picked up a few new products and a couple of repurchases too so let’s get into it!

 

 

My first beauty buy of April was the CosRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence which was doing the rounds even more so on Instagram as it was on special offer on Amazon for £11.32. This had been on my radar for a while anyway but I took the plunge at that price as it’s usually £24!

 

Next up, Cult Beauty had 20% off during the month (or 25% off when spending over £120 but I was behaving myself!) so I picked up the Laneige Cica Sleeping Mask, another product I have been eyeing up for a while and I’ve just finished two other night creams so that was easily justified! I also got the new Olaplex No.9 Bond Protector Nourishing Hair Serum though I definitely don’t need any more hair products! This came to £43.45 instead of £55 which is just over 20% so not sure what happened there but I won’t complain! 

 

I am still on the hunt for a new perfume, but, being picky, I went for an old one instead. I had a mini rollerball of this scent years ago and as it was on offer on Just my Look, I grabbed the 30ml of the Clean Classic Rain Eau de Parfum for £14.25 instead of £22.50. This is a really lightweight, fresh scent and I am keeping an eye on the website for the Skin scent to come into stock! 

 

Boots had Fenty foundation on offer recently with £7.50 off so I repurchased the Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation for £22.50 instead of £30 (full review here) and the Eaze Drop Blurring Skin Tint for £19.50 instead of £27. Fenty put the prices up by a few pounds from the last time I purchased the soft matte foundation so I was happy to pick it up again with a bigger saving than 20% off and I’ve wanted to try the Eaze Drops for quite a while too! 

 

Lastly, I got my Liberty Beauty Drop box this month - £20 per month for quarterly beauty boxes with the £20 going into your Liberty account to spend on site and free delivery. I said in my last spend report that I was going to see what the contents were like then decide whether to continue or not and to me they were decidedly underwhelming so I cancelled! Included was the Frank Body Original Coffee Scrub, OTO Sleep Drops 10% CBD, Verden D’Orangerie Hand and Body Wash, L:A Bruket Body Lotion, Charlotte Mensah Manketti Hair Oil, Sisley Express Flower Gel Hydrating and Toning Mask and Vilhelm Parfumerie Basilico & Fellini Eau de Parfum. The first box I received also included a Frank Scrub/soak and while I love the brand this was just too similar for me, and I would have liked to have seen a cosmetics bag like they included last year (before I was a customer). I still think this is a great option if you shop from Liberty regularly or are planning to buy the advent calendars or a fancy perfume etc as it acts like a savings account but for me, I didn’t find their beauty offering the most inspiring as it’s quite curated and I prefer to shop around for discounts/more choice. 

 

 

That being said, my £80 credit was burning a hole in my pocket, so I decided to spend it this month too. I got the Omorovicza Omoressence which I have wanted for a while (£68), the Wet Brush Original Detangler (£12) which is a repurchase (though I would have liked a different colour/pattern, but this is what I mean by curated selection – this was the only option!) and the Frank Body Smoothing AHA Body Lotion (£14.95). I was also able to take advantage of the 15% off for new customers which I wasn’t sure would work and because of my £80 credit included in my previous spend reports this came to 71p instead of £94.95

 

My total for this month came to £111.73 instead of £158.50 (not including the Liberty haul). I’m really going to try harder over the next few months to curb my beauty spending – famous last words - but I do plan to pick up the new NARS Light Reflecting foundation soon once I swatch a few shades! Let me know what beauty purchases you have made this month!

 

All opinions are my own. Affiliate links used.

See my full disclosure here.

 

Danielle xx

 

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Necessaire | Worth the Hype?

 

Welcome back! Today I want to talk about a certain, very hyped brand that I have wanted to try for years! I finally picked up some products before Christmas and now I have had a chance to fully try them out I have some thoughts! I purchased these directly from the Necessaire website but about a month later the brand became more readily available in the UK via Space NK!

 

I purchased the Body Essentials set in the Eucalyptus fragrance while they had an offer on to get a free Body Serum with purchase. I assumed the body lotion was also in the Eucalyptus scent but it’s fragrance free which I was disappointed with – they have currently released a limited edition eucalyptus version though! They don’t do huge discounts as far as I could see but I did have a 10% off code and this came to $59 including shipping so £46.19 ish which worked out pretty good value compared to if I was buying from Space NK today with no offer on - it would be £130! 

 

First things first, the brand itself is beautiful, I love the aesthetic and Necessaire is also carbon and plastic neutral and allocate 1% of sales to environmental not for profit organisations - you can read more about how they offset their footprint here. Everything here is vegan, cruelty free dermatologically tested and non-hypoallergenic and I really wanted to love these products but I’m not sure if it’s because they are so hyped, the impressive ingredients/claims vs results or what but I’ve been left feeling a little underwhelmed! 

 

 

I’ll start off by saying my body skin is pretty normal – I shower and moisturise every day but it’s not overly dry or anything. The Body Wash in Eucalyptus RRP £25 is a light gel cleanser containing Niacinamide, Vitamins C & E and Omega 6 & 9 that is meant to lather into a rich foam and it has a nifty screw cap to release the body wash. As a huge fan of eucalyptus, I found the scent a little disappointing. It just isn’t strong enough for me, doesn’t last on the skin or linger in the bathroom. The cleanser feels good, but I wouldn’t say it lathers much at all though it does cleanse well, and I do love the packaging. Overall, I don’t notice much difference in the condition of my skin than if I was using my usual Nivea or lush shower gel.

As a fan of fake tan, I am a serial exfoliator and have high standards in order to remove old tan, keep my skin smooth and also help with KP on the back of my arms and The Body Exfoliator in Eucalyptus RRP £30 falls short for me! It is formulated with bamboo charcoal, pumice, glycolic acid, lactic acid and salicylic acid so provides both chemical and physical exfoliation. As you can see, it’s a gel formula, with quite a fine grain. This is a much gentler scrub than what I am used to – I use exfoliating gloves normally to remove tan and the Frank Bod coffee scrub at other times to keep my skin smooth, so this is more of a gentle polish to me. Again, the scent isn’t as strong as I would like and while this did help exfoliate my skin, I had to use more than I expected to cover my body but it didn’t leave it as soft as my usual coffee scrub and at £30 it ain’t cheap! 

 

 

The Body Serum Fragrance Free RRP £45 is my favourite from the bunch and the most expensive! It’s a Hyaluronic Acid treatment that’s a gel formula and it absorbs into the body quickly. It’s formulated with 5 molecular weights of Hyaluronic Acid as well as Niacinamide and Ceramide NP. I’ve really enjoyed this extra step in my routine, and I usually concentrate on the top half of my body before following with the lotion and I do think it’s helped with extra hydration. Prior to this, I had been using up the Inkey List Hyaluronic Acid on my chest area as I don’t love it on my face and while the Necessaire feels more luxurious, I don’t see a massive difference in them so at this price I couldn’t justify repurchasing!

Finally, The Body Lotion Fragrance Free RRP £28, a multi-vitamin and peptide moisturizer. As I mentioned before, I thought this was also scented so I couldn’t help but be disappointed when I realised it wasn’t as I find unscented body lotions a tad boring. Don’t get me wrong, they are a great option for sensitive skin and perfect if you don’t want a scent clashing with your perfume but for me I wanted something more! While the formula itself is thick, it takes some rubbing in before it’s fully absorbed but when it is there is no greasy residue, and my skin was hydrated. The packaging is similar to the exfoliator with a weighted cap that feels very luxurious but again it just too pricy to not hit all my boxes! 

 

So, to answer the question in the title – no, I don’t think for me personally these are worth the hype unfortunately! I’m glad I scratched the itch, but, aesthetically pleasing packaging aside, I get more joy out of products a fraction of the price and haven’t noticed any major skin benefits to these as opposed to my usual more affordable body care choices! I would consider picking up the hand cream in the future if on offer but I think I am in the small minority that hasn’t fully fallen for these and while I’ll happily use them up, they aren’t repurchase worthy for me!

 

Have you tried Necessaire? I would love to hear your thoughts!  

 

All opinions are my own. Affiliate links used.

See my full disclosure here.

 

Danielle xx

 

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