I skipped this category last year –
probably because I already threw the packaging I needed out - but it’s back
this year! 2024 really was the year of body skincare for me and I upped my
retinol and AHA usage and saw good results!
Starting with theNaturium The Glow Getter Multi-Oil Body Wash RRP $16 USD | $21.99 CAD | £18and this really
does deserve the hype it gets. It’s gentle, contains 50% glycerin and a blend
of oils and squalane and changes from a light oil into a milky lather while
showering. It leaves my skin feeling soft and hydrated, doesn’t strip it and
doesn’t leave any residue. I wish it had a scent like I do with all Naturium
products but I’d rather it stay scent free than have a scent I don’t like! My
mum enjoyed using this so much when she visited me last summer she bought her
own to take home and I just repurchased during the black Friday sales along
with the next two products!
Moving onto body lotions now and I have a
few that I loved last year and have repurchased for this year too! The Naturium Skin Renewing Retinol Body Lotion RRP $44 USD for 414ml | $40.99 CAD for 234ml
| £27 for 234ml might just be my favourite of the three, so much so that I
repurchased the jumbo bottle! This is suitable for daily use and is formulated
with an encapsulated stabilised pure retinol complex that works to nourish the
skin all over the body to help improve its tone, texture and firmness. It has a
lovely creamy texture and sinks in quickly leaving my skin feeling soft and
smooth. It’s fragrance-free, keeps my skin hydrated, supple and firm and I
don’t experience any sensitivity. Obviously if you are using in the summer,
make sure you apply SPF! I picked up one for my mum for Christmas too as I
loved it so much!
The Naturium The Smoother Glycolic Acid Body Lotion RRP $17 USD | £19 is another great body cream that helps
with exfoliation and tackles uneven skin tone. It contains 10% glycolic acid to
smooth skin and encourage a brighter appearance and the shea butter in the formula
keeps my skin hydrated too! This worked well to keep KP on the backs of my arms
at bay and I loved this in the summer!
I find Naturium really well priced for
the quality of products and to be fair they go on sale quite often too but The Inkey List PHA Exfoliating and Hydrating Body Water Cream RRP $19 CAD | £13is
a really great budget pick! It’s a lightweight lotion containing 3% PHA to
gently exfoliate while hydrating my skin and made it feel so smooth! It is also
scent free and was another lotion I used to target my KP on which it worked
very well to smooth and brighten!
Lastly, the JVN Complete Pre-Wash Scalp Oil RRP $43.50 CAD | £28which I have been using regularly for a year
now. As you can see, I still have some left so a little goes a long way with this
one! It’s a pre-shampoo hair treatment that works to nourish, hydrate and
cleanse the scalp. I use it 1-2 times per week and leave it in for 10 minutes
or more before washing my hair as normal. It contains rosemary extract to aid
scalp circulation supporting hair follicles in the growth phase, turmeric oil,
a natural anti-inflammatory that helps reduce redness and irritation and
hemisqualane to improve hair health and strength. This has been working well
making my scalp less irritated and I notice less flakes. I haven’t noticed a
huge difference in hair growth but I am happy with how my hair is looking and
feeling right now. My hair is shiny and my breakage isn’t as noticeable and
neither is hair fall. It’s als silicone and sulphate free! Read more about it and my other haircare essentials here!
So, that’s the end of my favourites for
2024! See my makeup discoveries here and my skincare discoveries here! Let me
know if you have tried any of the hair or body products I’ve mentioned or tell
me what your favourite discovery was last year!
I got sent the Cohorted X ESPA beauty box* at the weekend and had an impromptu photoshoot so thought I’d make a
quick bonus blog post featuring it! I haven’t had a chance to properly try out
the products yet so this is more of a first impressions!
Cohorted is the UK’s No.1 premium beauty
subscription box and offer a monthly beauty box as well as Limited Edition
curations. July sees a collaboration with ESPA so you can enjoy a luxury spa
experience at home and included in the box are five ESPA products with the box contents
worth £139:
There is also a mini Chopard Neroli Eau
de Parfum.
The products are packaged beautifully and
I love the stone effect lids while the contents are a nice mix of body, skin
and hair products for a full pamper session! I am a big fan of beauty boxes,
they are a great way to save money and discover new brands and products and I
have to say, opening the Cohorted box was such a luxury experience! The boxes are
hand packed beautifully and 100% recyclable though aside from the stuffing, I tend
to keep the box itself anyway for storage and organisation!
The monthly subscription is £39.99 and you
can use the code WELCOME15INF for 15% off if you are a first time
customer! The boxes are the perfect gift for someone or to yourself and
Cohorted have collaborated with the likes of Fresh and Verso in the past too.
Some of the previous boxes are still available to buy as a one off for £50 in
their Classic Box Collection!
Overall, I am so impressed with the presentation
and contents, and I can’t wait to see what else they have coming up this year!
Have you bought any beauty boxes in the
past? What do you think of this one?
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 Necessairewebsite 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. TheBody Wash in EucalyptusRRP £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!
Happy Halloween! It’s that time again, and, as usual, I
have quite a few to get through so lets get to it!
Haircare
Schwarzkopf got2b Dry Shampoo
My dry shampoo go to, this features in
every other empties post as it's affordable, smells fresh and mops up grease
without leaving a white cast! Gives me an extra day out of my hair and I
already have a backup!
My favourite scalp scrub that I have
tried! It contains sugar crystals to exfoliate and does a great job getting
rid of build-up and making my scalp feel invigorated. I find with some scalp
scrubs I can’t even seem to get it worked into my scalp but this is a brilliant
formula – it’s sulphate free however lathers up well and it’s really easy to
get it worked into the scalp! It leaves my hair shiny and feeling hydrated but
not weighed down. Will repurchase once I finish another scalp scrub I have!
Read more here!
Olaplex No.3 Hair Perfector
The best hair treatment there is! I love
this stuff and notice a huge difference in the strength of my hair when I use
it! Have already repurchased and you can read more here in this Haircare Essentials post!
Olaplex No.8 Bond Intense Moisture Mask
Nice but I wasn’t blown away bythis – probably due to the size and me only
getting a couple if uses out of it – I would be inclined to purchase a full
size and try this properly though considering how much I love No.3!
Living Proof Intense Moisture Mask
A nice softening mask but nothing special
making me want to repurchase! Again, might just be because of the size though!
Not a repurchase!
Paradox Repair 3-in-1 Conditioner
Nicely softening but I did not love the
scent – very herbal. I like their sustainable packaging though so this would be
a brand I will maybe explore more in the future!
Skincare
Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm
Hands down my favourite cleanser! Super
luxurious formula and scent, this is a joy to use! Removed my makeup easily and
doesn’t irritate my eyes or leave a film behind and it feels hydrating! Pricy
but worth it and it’s always on offer! Will repurchase when I finish a few more
cleansers and you can read more about it here!
Jordan Samuel Skin The After Show
Cleanser
This is a thick, gel to oil formula and
feels and smells very luxurious with it’s citrus scent. It made easy work of removing
my makeup and my face felt clean and hydrated after use but there are other
cleansers I prefer so this isn’t a repurchase for me! Read more here!
Cerave Hydrating Cream-to-Foam Cleanser
I loved the OG hydrating cleanser so
picked this up to try but for me it isn’t on the same level! They both contain
ceramides and hyaluronic acid but the OG feels more hydrating to me. Nice to
try the cream to foam but I will stick with the hydrating in the future! Read more here!
BeautyBio The Nightly Serum*
Oops, I didn’t realise I’d had this for
so long! This contains deep-release retinol (though I can’t find any
information on strength) peptides and hyaluronic acid. Don’t get me wrong, it
is a nice product, I didn’t experience any sensitivity and my skin felt and
looked plump the next day but for the price (£105) I was not blown away by it and
felt like I saw similar results with products 10% of the price! Full review here!
Good Molecules Overnight Exfoliating
Treatment*
Another one I am embarrassed to admit
I’ve had for so long! I’m putting this down to being on Roaccutane earlier in
the year and not being able to use retinols or exfoliants so they got forgotten
about! This is a 10% AHA and BHA serum and tingled on application for me but
the effects were brilliant, it brough clogged pores to the surface and made my
skin smooth! I ended up using the end of the bottle on the back of my arms as I
realised how old it was and it did a great job of helping with KP too! Would repurchase!
Read more about Good Molecules here!
Lanolips Face Base The Aussie Flyer Recovery
Mask
Really enjoyed this overnight mask, as well
as lanolin, it also contains coffee to reboot dull skin and mint oil to restore
radiance. It's not recommended for sensitive skin but I personally haven't had
any reaction to it! It leaves my skin feeling plump and hydrated and I don’t
bother tissuing off the excess after 10 minutes, I just leave it on and
sometimes put some oil on top as well right before bed! I do have other
overnight masks I prefer so probably not a repurchase for me! Read more about Lanolips here!
One of the best Vitamin C serums I have
used to date! I struggle with formulations suitable for daytime i.e., not oily,
don’t pill and this was a lightweight, creamy serum that rubbed in easily and
sat so well with the rest of my skincare and makeup. It contains THD Ascorbate,
Q10, Vitamin E and squalane and did a great job brightening my complexion as
well as minimising fine lines. The price is eye watering however so this won’t
be a repurchase right away for me as I have some others to use up! Read more here!
Garden of Wisdom C-Deep Vitamin C Serum
Another great Vitamin C option however I
could only use this one in the PM as it’s oil based. I woke up to a hydrated,
bright and plump complexion! Have some more Vitamin C in my stash so not a
repurchase for now but I may go back to it if I can’t find a morning one I am
happy with the price and effects of!
This was a lovely thick hyaluronic acid serum
that helped plump my skin and improve the look of fine lines and texture. I
loved the consistency of this – it felt so luxurious - and it did a great job
hydrating my skin (I apply to slightly damp skin). It didn’t wow me anymore
than my usual go to, NIOD MMHC, which, although still pricey, isn’t as pricey
as this so it’s not a repurchase for me! Read more here!
Cerave Eye Repair Cream
I’ve been through a couple of these and
you really can’t go wrong – it’s a simple, lightweight, hydrating cream that
contains ceramides and hyaluronic acid and it’s great for puffiness and dark
circles and sits under makeup very well too. Will repurchase in the future!
Read more about it and some other budget eye creams here!
AHC Essential Real Eye Cream for Face
This was a lovely lightweight cream – I
used all over the face not just eyes – and it was perfect for daytime as it sat
well under makeup. Maybe a little too lightweight for me overnight as I prefer
thicker creams but I would repurchase this for summer! Check it out in this post!
Lumene Nordic-C Arctic Berry Oil
Cocktail*
This was a lovely hydrating product! It’s
a super lightweight oil/serum that brightened and hydrated my skin and I was
impressed with how well it sat under my makeup so I think anyone with dry skin
would love this! Would consider a repurchase in the future but I have plenty of
similar products I am working my way through right now! Full review here!
Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Kiss lip butter
I think this has overtaken Burt’s Bees as
my favourite lip balm! This is my second tube, it’s huge and leaves a gorgeous
hydrating sheen behind and it lasts so long between top ups leaving my lips super
soft! Same scent as the Bum Bum cream but much more subtle! Will repurchase
soon! Full review here!
Bodycare
Vaseline Essential Healing Body lotion
A classic moisturiser that I have
repurchased countless times and will continue to do so! Love the fresh scent
and it moisturises my body well. Will repurchase!
Nivea Crème Care Shower Cream
Another classic – love the fresh, clean
scent and it's £1, can’t go wrong, already repurchased!
Nivea Soft moisturising cream
Another affordable body care love, like
the shower gel this smells fresh and clean and sinks into my skin quickly! Will
repurchase soon!
Rituals Ritual of Jing mild body scrub*
via Look Fantastic
Enjoyed this scrub, it was gritty but
gentle and rubbed in easily and the scent was quite masculine which was nice! Plenty of other scrubs to get through so not a
repurchase!
ESPA Body lotion
Felt very lightweight and moisturised
well but I didn’t love the scent – not a repurchase!
Elemis Skin Nourishing Milk Bath
This was lovely – my skin felt so soft and
nourished after the bath and it had a subtle, powdery scent. Not a crazy amount
of bubbles but I would repurchase this for sure if I took baths more often!
Sol de Janeiro Brazilian 4 Play Shower
Gel
Again, scented like Bum Bum cream but
more subtle, this is a lovely shower gel! A bit pricy to purchase but I love
when these are in Christmas sets and I plan to repurchase soon!
Sol de Janeiro Bom Dia Bright Cream
Didn’t love this scent unfortunately but
it did moisturise and smooth my KP really well! Not a repurchase for me though!
Makeup
Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte
Longwear foundation in 150
Been through a couple of bottles of this
now and I love it. It’s full coverage, matte and lasts really well all day on
me especially now my skin is more on the normal side of things. When I was oily
I found my chin would wear away throughout the day. Will repurchase in the
future! Full review here!
Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Hydrating
Longwear Foundation in 150
Picked this up late last year when I was
on Roaccutane and I ended up loving it too! It’s medium to full coverage and it
really brings the glow! I found it didn’t fully set even when I powdered so it
transfers a bit but it really did work well for me while my skin was dry/more
dehydrated. My skin is more normal now so I will stick to the matte version
now! Full review here!
Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in
2N1 Desert Beige
My holy grail foundation and one I will
never be without in my makeup collection. It’s my go to if I need to look my
best and I trust it 100% to stay on all day, cover all my imperfections and
magically, this seems to look better as the day goes on. Already have a back up!
Read more about why I love it here!
Pat McGrath Sheer Colour Lip Balm in Blow
Up
Really enjoyed this lip balm and tinted
lip balms are all I have been wearing the last 2 years! This was a gorgeous
colour and though not the longest lasting tinted lip balm I have tried I still
loved it. Gave a great sheer wash of colour and felt nicely hydrating. There
was so much extra product in the tube too, I scraped it all out with a cotton
bud! Would repurchase! Read more about the Pat McGrath balms here!
Beauty Blender
The original and still the best makeup
sponge in my opinion – I already have a backup and about 3 more as I bought a
couple of Christmas sets on sale last year!
Miscellaneous
Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides
I couldn’t fit this in the main picture
but wanted to mention it again as its technically a beauty supplement. I love
taking this every day and the main difference I notice is that my joints are
a lot more supple. Dissolves really well too. Already using my back up!
I reckon I will have one more empties
right at the end of the year and I am trying to be more considered with
my purchases and what PR I accept recently so that has really helped me
concentrate on getting products finished! Have you tried anything I’ve
mentioned? Let me know what you thought!
