Two From Yes To

There are a couple of things that have been featuring rather heavily in my daily routines lately that I have been absolutely loving.  One I have mentioned previously in my Sick Day Skin Care Routine, and the other is one I've been enjoying using over the past few weeks.  Yes To is a brand I've heard of, but it's not one that I regularly see raved about.  I've seen their facial wipes being spoken highly of quite a few times, and whilst I wasn't really a fan of the Cucumber Facial Wipes that I tried, I don't understand why nobody has branched out to try much else.  There are five different ranges to choose from, each aimed at a certain type of skin and here today I have the Yes To Blueberries Firming Eye Treatment and the Yes To Grapefruit Daily Facial Scrub to talk about. 

Yes To Blueberries has a "clinically proven formula to treat fine lines and nourish age damaged skin," which whilst it may not be strictly for my age group, I've been really enjoying using the Yes To Blueberries Eye Firming Treatment in my daily routine.  I have been using it daily during my evening routine for the past few months now, and I don't think I've got a bad thing to say about it.  It's thicker than any other eye cream that I have, which is why I choose to use it in the evenings, but it doesn't leave my skin feeling greasy or feel heavy on the skin.  It absorbs really quickly and leaves the area feeling really soft.  At first, I didn't think that I was too bad for fine lines, but I think that using this combined with the Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream in the morning has made a noticeable difference - maybe not noticeable to anyone else, but I feel like I can tell that something good has gone on.  Because I use two eye creams, I don't think I could pin point if it was one or the other in all honesty.

Next, the newer Yes To addition to my collection, the Yes To Grapefruit Daily Facial Scrub which I think smells just like sour gummy worms or something.  It's sweet, but sour and just smells pretty amazing.  I have often tried daily face scrubs before and some of them are just so harsh and scratchy that using them can become quite sore and leave my skin feeling irritated.  This one however has just been a complete pleasure to use; the exfoliating grains gently buff the skin, leaving my skin feeling soft without being at all abrasive.  Acne and big cystic spots haven't been an issue on my face recently (I almost don't dare type that in case it's one giant jynx...) and I'm feeling confident that introducing an exfoliator more regularly to my routine might have played it's part in keeping my skin look fresh and clear.  A random positive is that it also sits happily in my shower and doesn't collect water in the cap - don't you just hate when that happens!

Have you tried anything from Yes To yet?

Favourites: January 2015

As promised, I'm starting off the year as I mean to go on and am sharing with you today the bits I've been loving this month!  I haven't done a favourites post since...I think it was July 2013.  I don't tend to buy myself bits too often, so I've always worried that I'd just have the same favourites month in month out, but with my mission to clear through my ridiculous stash of bits, I think I should have something different to share with you every month!

Starting with my ultimate favourite for this month - The Body Shop's Almond Body Butter.  I've had this in my stock for a while now, but had been working my way through other body moisturisers.  I can't even begin to say how much I love this body butter - it's super moisturising, but this one smells incredible.  Even though it's just almond, I feel like it smells a smidge like a cherry bakewell because it's also a bit sweet!  But because of all that...I'm absolutely gutted that this seems to have been discontinued.  I can't see it online, and when I asked The Body Shop they told me to check outlet stores and the sale in April - please let me know if you spot it!

The lip balm that I've loved this month is LUSH's Lip Service.  I got it for Christmas from Liam's parents and spoke about it in my LUSH Christmas Haul - I've never tried a lip balm from LUSH before but I really like it!  It smells a bit orangey, but it's not a tangy citrus scent...more of a sweet orange scent.  It's really helped my lips this month - they were seriously dry when I was poorly with the flu!  Revlon's Matte Balm in Sultry has been my lip shade of choice this month.  I have already spoken about it here, so I won't bang on about it again, but it's definitely one that's worth checking out if you're into the whole 90's lip look.

I have a review of this coming up soon, but don't wait for it - you need the Jouer Long Wear Creme Mousse Eyeshadow in your life.  I have the shade Dusk and I hardly wear anything else.  I bought the Maybelline Color Tattoo in On and On Bronze this month to see what the fuss was on that - it's got nothing on Jouer.  I've already got my eye on the rest of the shades, particularly Galaxy and Twilight!

This month, I also picked up my first Illamasqua Cream Pigment in the shade Delirium.  It was in the sale already, but I got an extra 15% off with my birthday discount code!  It's been my contour of choice since I bought it, and I can't see myself switching to anything else anytime soon - it's really long lasting, and creates a beautiful natural shadow on the face because of the grey undertones.  I've been applying it with the Eco Tools Complexion Blending Brush as it's perfect for contouring.  It's paddle shaped which makes it ideal for slipping under the cheekbones, and because the bristles aren't super dense you can easily blend upwards!

What have been your favourites this month?

The Sick Day Skin Care Routine

This week hasn't been a great one as I've been plagued with the dreaded flu that has been making the rounds.  I've spent two days in bed watching the world go by from my window whilst watching a ridiculous amount of Friends.  Ten hours yesterday to be exact.  That's actually a little sickening writing that out.  But y'know.  Ill times and all that.

You might be thinking that fitting in a skincare regime when you feel so crap is a bit OTT, but I found that looking after my skin really helped in making me feel better in myself.  Don't get me wrong, I have spent the last three days completely make up free, and wearing very minimal make up on the days I made it into work, but my skin is feeling pretty peachy.

After cleansing, I started my day of lazing by applying my favourite eye cream which is the Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream.  I've raved about it here before, but it checks all of my boxes; smoothing, hydrating and brightening - brightening being the key here when we're severely lacking in energy.  I've been using The Body Shop's Soothing Aloe Day Cream for quite a while now, so kept it in my routine.  It's thicker than your usual day cream, but once applied feels really light and super hydrating.  I topped off my skin with Bioderma's Atoderm Cream but only applied it to the really dry patches on my skin which was mainly around my nose.  It really helped take care of the skin which had gotten sore from too much nose blowing!  I topped off my morning skin care with a swift application of LUSH's Lip Service Lip Balm to my super dry lips, ensuring that I did this straight after washing my hands seeing as it's a finger dip lip balm, and I don't fancy swiping my flu germs back into the pot.

The evening routine was also a pretty quick one.  I started the evening how I do every evening by using the Yes To Blueberries Eye Cream.  I like using this one in the evening as it's a bit richer than the Balance Me one and really helps to hydrate the areas around the eyes.  I follow that with the Vitamin E Moisture Cream from The Body Shop.  I haven't had this miniature too long, but I've already repurchased the full size!  It's really hydrating, but so light I could use it morning or evening and it smells really nice!

Following the Vitamin E Moisture Cream, I've been alternating between these two; the Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask and the ESPA Optimal Skin Pro Serum.  The Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask smells incredible and will probably always be a staple in my skincare stash.  I absolutely love using it, and my dehydrated skin is always thankful by the morning.  The ESPA Pro Serum is one that I don't see getting spoken about too much, but is a product that is a real skin treat.  I'm going to link you straight to the ESPA website to read up on the benefits of the serum as there are so many skin loving oils in there that my post would be ridiculously long if I tried to list them all, but it brightens the skin, enhances radiance, moisturises, soothes and protects just to name a few.  It really is an amazing product and one that I'll definitely be repurchasing despite its £48 price tag...  Finally, I slapped on some more of the Bioderma cream where needed - I'd definitely recommend picking one of these up, it's been amazing at sorting out my extreme dry skin areas.

So there we have it.  I'm feeling so much better today and have even ventured out of the house!  I'm back to work tomorrow, and hopefully having carried out these routines I won't look too grey and lack lustre...hopefully much better than I did on Thursday anyway!

Do you have a sick day skin routine?

Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream

You know when you get a sample sized product?  How often is it that you actually buy the full size?  For me, it's really not that often.  One product that I bought though as soon as I ran out was the Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream.  And let me tell you...I won't beat around the bush here.  It's bloody good stuff.

The Wonder Eye Cream claims to soothe, brighten and lift the eye area - check, check and not entirely convinced, but the other two do such a good job, you know what?  I'm not bothered if it lifts or if I would even notice if it did.  This is the first eye cream that I have actually loved to use; I always (used to) buy an eye cream with the best intentions of slotting it nicely into my skin care routine, but always used to get bored quite quickly of applying them - I'm a lazy girl, and I like things to be simple and quick!

Containing an extensive list of skin loving ingredients (hyaluronic acid, coconut oil, carrot oil, rosehip oil, chamomile, cucumber oil, witch hazel...), this is an eye cream that I just can't get enough of!  If I have had a tiring few days, this re-energises my eyes and makes me look more awake.  I feel like it has a slightly zingy scent to it - maybe a faint bit of a citrus or ginger?  And the scent even helps to lift me into feeling more awake!  I feel as though it erases any dark circles, and completely smoothes over my skin.

It absorbs quickly into the skin, but still leaves it feeling really moisturised and...just amazing.  I love it so ridiculously much.  It comes in a tube with a pump making it easy to dispense the perfect amount - one pump is more than enough to do both eyes.  The only thing that I don't like is that the tube is opaque so I can't see when I'm running out!  I have the fear that one day, I'll go to do my morning or evening pump and be out...cold turkey on the eye cream.  And then...just maybe then, I think a tear or two may be shed.

At £20, it's not your cheapest eye cream, but this is by far the most effective eye cream I have ever used.  Maybe when I am a bit older, I might have to invest in something different, but for now, this is just perfect!  I just can't get enough of this Wonder Eye Cream.

Have you tried the Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream?  What's your eye saviour?