Monthly Archives: May 2012

Review: Revlon Photoready Concealer SPF20 in 002 Light

I’ve been turning to drugstore products of late, what with all the glorious offers both Boots and Superdrug have in store for us! =D

Boots recently did a £3 off Revlon products for Boots Advantage Card holders and I happily took up the offer as I was in search of a miracle product that erases my eye sacks.

By definition of ‘miracle product’, yours truly means she is in search of a cheap and truly good product that is capable of at least reducing impact of people gasping in horror at the sight of my naked, unconcealed sacks.

Those who have been following me on Twitter would know that I’ve been having trouble sleeping which has amplified the size (and darkness) of my undereye area. Even my trusty Garnier Undereye Roll On simply refused to hide anything so I thought I should head out and give this Photoready Concealer a go. =)

Priced at £6.49, this stick concealer cost me an affordable £3.49 after discount.

I purchased the concealer in Light as we only get 3 shades here in the UK – Light, Light Medium and Medium. I swatched both Light and Light Medium but figured Light would suit me better as it leans yellow which really helps neutralise my dark circles whereas Light Medium’s darker and has more of a pink undertone.

Sorry that looks like a rather off and overly exposed shot of the product! Am not very good at photo editing and the iPad’s my only blogging tool for now so I’m still learning how to use both the tablet and it’s many applications! Thank you all for your patience <3

Housed in a 3.2g stick, the product is compact and I see myself bringing this on my travels due to its versatility. My first impressions of this is that it’s very soft and pigmented when I gave the testers a go in-store and I was rather impressed as I wouldn’t want an undereye concealer to drag on my skin, especially the delicate eye area. As much as I loathe my eye sacks I much rather live with them rather than with crows feet. The horror of having premature wrinkles around my eyes! *lives in denial and pretends she’s forever 21*

Revlon claims that this product gives you that ‘flawless, airbrushed appearance in any light’ and I found this to be quite true… Until the concealer melts away! =p I had no trouble blending the concealer into my skin as I do not have dry skin but I’ve read elsewhere that others noted that this product goes on cakey. This wasn’t the case when I used it so I’m happy to report that I found it really easy to use! Just swipe once under each eye and gently blend out (I pat it out with my ring fingers) and your eye area brightens immediately!

On bad days, I repeat the process twice before setting with powder and I find that this helps the concealer go further. However, lasting power isn’t great as I only managed to squeeze about 4 hours of wear before gasping in horror at the sight of those sacks when I headed to the loo so touch ups are a must for me when using this product.

Another thing to note is that this concealer contains glitter. They aren’t in-your-face but obvious enough for me to notice their existence so I would not use this concealer on blemishes as it would just scream

‘Hello everyone look at me!’

I’m still in search of a good undereye concealer as my eye sacks are really scaring the daylights out of everyone, bf included. Recently he commented

‘Oh my goodness you’ve got triple sacks on your left eye!’

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We were doing a video call, mind you where the video quality isn’t that great so I was mortified that even he noticed the severity of those darn sacks!

I’m turning to you lovely readers now in hopes of hiding or perhaps, curing them completely! Please help!!

I’ll end this post with the obligatory swatch photo:

Once again, I’m sorry the photo’s small! I’m currently battling against photo sizes and I wonder why my photos are all weirdly sized these days! =(

Hair woes solved with this affordable duo from Pantene!

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Okay, I am not big on Pantene. In fact, I used to stay away from the brand as their other ranges (they used to do a green and purple label range) turned my scalp flaky, itchy and bumpy.

Now that I’m a poor student in the UK without a good reason to visit good ol’ Bicester Village where I usually stock up on my L’occitane hair products by the luggage load, I resorted to stalking Boots for a much cheaper and hopefully better, alternative.

Who doesn’t like a bargain? Boots did this 2 for £5 offer back in November across the Pantene range and I thought I might as well give the Aqua Light range a go as it’s formulated for fine hair which sounded great. Instead of going for the Aqua Light shampoo, I went for their Repair and Protect conditioner for Normal – Thick Hair because I have this funny idea that conditioners shouldn’t be light…. They should be very moisturising so I came to the conclusion that the Aqua Light conditioner wouldn’t be conditioning enough for me.

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Sadly, I never got to use these products until now as I was trying to use up travel-sized products I amassed over the years (and they did wreck havoc on my scalp) but I dug these bottles out and started using them!

Being the bad blogger that I am, I didn’t bother taking photos of the products when they were new so apologies for showing you already used bottles!

For starters, Pantene created the Aqua Light range for Fine Hair where it’s meant to help nourish the hair by every strand and leaves the hair with virtually no weight. On the other hand, the Repair and Protect range provides protection and resilience especially from styling damage and prevents split ends from forming.

Living in the UK, especially in the South East comes with a massive price to pay – the water’s rock hard and this leaves us with dry hair and skin. Hence, moisturising products are a must-have! Also, hard water makes it difficult for products to foam up so I was rather surprised that the Aqua Light foams up beautifully even though I didn’t use very much! On the downside, this means that the product comes choc-ful with SLS but it’s not something I’m too fussy about. The above photo depicts one month’s usage for my slightly-over-the-shoulder length hair and this is the only shampoo I’ve been using for the past month. I usually alternate between a clarifying shampoo and a moisturising one as my scalp becomes congested if I only use moisturising shampoos but with the Aqua Light shampoo I only noticed product build up after over one month’s use! Impressive by my standards =p

I’m not too fussy with conditioners, as long as they leave my hair tangle-free and well conditioned. This Repair and Protect conditioner did all of the above and did not leave my hair feeling heavy so this gets a huge thumbs up from me!

This is one of the rare times when I’m glad I made an impulse purchase. I would repurchase only if there’s an offer in store because now that I’ve left my comfort zone (have always been loyal to L’occitane over the last 4 years) I am ready to try other brands!!

I’ll end this post with…. A question to all you lovely readers!

I discovered that my housemate has been using my conditioner (yep, the one above) and she practically emptied it. Would you

a. confront her

b. keep your toiletries in your room and pretend the incident never happened

Please help! =D Extra brownie points if you managed to guess which approach I took =)

Trigger-Happy Thursday: Spring hath commeth!

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Hello! As I pack, and unpack my life once more I thought I’d show you snippets of what’s life like over here!

It’s spring. It’s meant to be spring but the Great British Weather has better plans for us mere mortals. I came back expecting to see bursts of brightly coloured flowers everywhere but……

This greeted me:

At first glance, winter’s still very much a part of the English weather. But if you look closely at the photo you may just see a hint of life peeking out, perhaps suggesting a new beginning.

I have a sinus problem. Only in England. During spring, hayfever overtakes my life, rendering me useless. For weeks at an end I will be teary-eyed, looking like I’m mourning the loss of a loved one. However, the above photo has nothing to do with hayfever. I digress, as usual. =D The flu bug hit me the minute I landed in the UK and the above photo represents my essential go-away-flu kit. First, we have Kleenex’s Ultra Soft Tissues (a lifesaver. I can blow / rub my nose without having to worry about my nose peeling after) Then there’s Lemsip Max Cold and Flu capsules to fight the bug. Olbas oil clears a blocked nose really well, so does Origins Peace of Mind. =D I have a ty Beanie Ballz to keep me company during stressful times. Throw it everywhere and it still stands on its feet! =D

Westgate Towers in Canterbury. One of my favourite buildings in town. Vehicles are now prohibited from driving through the tower!

Ah, the road less taken. We meet again. =)

Daffodils in bloom.

I hope you are having a lovely Thursday! =)

Review: Vichy Aqualia Thermal Soothing Concentrate and Soothing Hydrating Care (Light)

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Back home in Malaysia, I happily spent the last four months deliberately forgetting to slap on body lotion, sometimes even omitting moisturiser due to the humid weather.

Well what do they say about bad habits? They leech on to you! Upon arrival in the UK, I kept this up for only two days before discovering my shoulders and legs felt scaly.

T____T

Only two days and the hard water in South East England wrecks havoc on my skin! Needless to say, my face suffered too as the high humidity levels in Malaysia pampered me a little too much.

Whenever my skin feels parched, I turn to hydrating serums and Vichy’s Aqualia Thermal’s Fortifying and Soothing 24Hr Hydrating Concentrate is my favourite basic hydrating serum!

I’m always on the lookout for a light, non-sticky serum that does what it says on the box and this product ticks all the right boxes! The Hydrating Concentrate is a gel-like serum that gives out a cooling sensation upon application and sinks in quickly without leaving any residue. I also deem this my dry-skin saviour as the serum not only helps relieve the dry patches but helps avoid the dreaded patchy looking make up!

I still apply a thin layer of foundation over my face as my skin turns an angry shade of red whenever it’s irritated and this includes when my skin cracks / peels so the Hydrating Concentrate creates a film that helps fill up the dry patches, allowing foundation to glide on easily.

Paired with the Fortifying and Soothing 24Hr Hydrating Care (Light) moisturiser, I have happily hydrated skin now! I purchased the light version of the moisturiser (it comes in light and rich) as I have combination / dry skin and I do not like using overly rich moisturisers as they tend to make my skin feel icky.

Like the concentrate, the moisturiser is a joy to use as it really soothes the skin and does what it’s meant to do – hydrate! I do not know if the two products really live up to their claims of being able to hydrate for a good 24 hours as I have never worn them that long but the only gripe I have of these products is the fragrance.

I’m not usually fussy about scents in products but I find the fragrance in the moisturiser slightly overwhelming and the scent does linger for a while. The serum too has the same ‘fresh’ fragrance as the moisturiser but thankfully isn’t as overpowering as the latter. Imagine slapping on two heavily fragranced products and smelling nothing but that for the next hour or so! :s

Here’s a swatch of the two products:

Overall, I really like both products as they work well on my skin but I would not repurchase the moisturiser as the fragrance is too cloying for my liking. I’m currently testing out Avene’s version of the hydrating serum (fragrance free!) and I will try to get a comparison between the two products some time in the future.

Do you suffer from dehydrated skin? What do you do to keep yourself hydrated?