Tag Archives: beauty

Toners: Comfort vs. Balancing

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It’s well documented that I love Madara skincare, I even have an older in-depth spotlight post dedicated to all the products I had tried at the time here. Since then I’ve been using a couple of other products, two of which were these toners from their basic skincare line. I’m always looking for the perfect toner, it’s my favourite skincare step. Whether it’s a mist or one applied with a cotton pad, I always have a couple open and in use.

Madara actually offers three toners from their basic line and I’ve ended up with two of them – one to balance and the other to offer a little moisture. The third is for oily skin and since having a baby my skin is anything but oily! It’s actually been super dry and I’m struggling to adjust as I don’t really know what works for me anymore! I’ve just been layering on the moisturiser and hoping for the best!

I purchased the Balancing Floral Toner (£14/200ml) first before my skin really started to get dry, and I found it to be great and very refreshing on the skin. The toner has a base of rose water to remain nice and gentle, but also contains lactic acid to gently exfoliate. It’s also PH balanced to return your skin’s PH to normal after cleansing and helps the skin absorb products applied afterwards. There’s also Baltic raspberry, plantain, cucumber and chamomile in there for their added nourishment, balancing and calming properties.


The Comforting Toner (£14/200ml) is very similar, but with fewer ingredients making it more suitable for sensitive skin. Rose water, chamomile and glycerin make up the bulk of the ingredients here to soothe and hydrate dry skin. I do notice a difference using this compared to the balancing toner recently, especially if my skin is looking flaky and very dry. I apply this to a cotton pad and press the toner into the skin with the pad, then move it in circular motions to gently scrub away any flaky bits. That’s probably bad for my skin, but it seems to be a habit now.

Both of these contain alcohol so if your skin is 

very

 sensitive I would say to give these a miss, but I’ve found them both to be very gentle indeed. In that first week or two after Oliver arrived, I barely had a moment or the energy to bother with skincare, and used quite a bit of micellar water to clean and followed up with the comforting toner (or Balancing & Comforting mixed together) on my skin to get rid of that typical icky feeling after using a cleansing water. And that’s it. Who has time for moisturiser? (that’s probably why my skin is so dry now, come to think of it, oops!). I remember my skin was pretty great in those early days from the lack of fussing over it – and I think the blood loss helped my complexion look clear for a bit ha! grim. 

So there we have it, as usual some more great products from Madara for your face. I think I’m obsessed? They have another toner available as part of the Time Miracle range that comes as a mist and sounds gorgeous, so you know that’s on my list to try soon!

Are you a fan of Madara?


Spotlight: Esse Probiotic Skincare

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This South African, organic, all vegan, probiotic focused brand caught my eye back at the beginning of the year and boy am I glad they did. It took me quite awhile to get around to researching the extensive range (it’s a big ‘un!) to see what was for me. I read all of the product descriptions three times over and plenty of reviews to get a good feel for the brand and what to expect. It just sounded so good!

They have a core range split over different skin types, a range of body products, a special line for sensitive skin and a higher end super high-tech line of targeted anti-ageing products called ‘esse plus’. So there really is something for everyone here.

After much deliberating, I decided to try the serum from the core range. My skin was feeling a little dry and my current skincare wasn’t working to banish any flaky patches as effectively as usual so this seemed perfect. The serum contains a high dose of hyaluronic acid and a nice blend of soothing, hydrating ingredients such as rose, aloe and rooibos. There’s also inulin as a prebiotic for skin microbes, kigelia to lighten and much more, too.

This serum promises to deliver intense moisture (without overwhelming the skin with oils), reduce inflammation, brighten, firm and clean up any damage from pollution and everyday skin stress. It really is a little wonder and I fell in love with it very quickly.


The serum is a gel formula that is best used in the evening and applied to damp skin before following up with the rest of your routine. You can really tell it’s packed full of active ingredients as the gel is dark brown in colour and only a small amount is needed. It’s like a drink of water for your face!

My only negative is the size! This serum is just 15ml for £37 and I’ve used it up in around 3 months. I suppose this is a good thing to keep the ingredients fresh and potent, and just looking at the clean ingredients list below, everything has a purpose for bettering the skin.

I will compare it to something like Glossier and their hydrating serum Bounce, which is also 15ml for just £24, but contains a bunch of filler and rather useless ingredients that I wouldn’t want on my face.

Bounce full ingredients list: 


Water/Aqua/Eau, Biosaccharide Gum-2, Glycerin, Dimethicone, Sodium Hyaluronate, Panthenol, Caprylyl Glycol, Peg-20 Methyl Glucose Sesquistearate, Polysorbate 80, Ethylhexylglycerin, Xanthan Gum, Octyldodecanol, Isohexadecane, Hexylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate.




Esse Serum Ingredients:

Aspalathus Linearis (Rooibos) Leaf Extract*, Rosa Damascena (Rose) Flower Water, Inulin, Glycerin, Olea Europaea (Olive) Leaf Extract, Xanthan Gum, Astragalus Gummifer Gum, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Extract*, Sodium Hyaluronate, Kigelia Africana Fruit Extract, Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract, Vanilla Planifolia Extract, Cananga Odorata (Ylang Ylang) Flower Oil*, Salicylic Acid, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil, Levulinic Acid, Sodium Levulinate, Water (Aqua), Tocopherol, Limonene***, Linalool*** *ingredient from organic farming ***component of natural essential oils 99.9% of the ingredients are from natural origin 49% of the ingredients are from organic farming 7% of the ingredients are fair trade

For me, esse wins hands down. 

Luckily for us, the brand stands out with their really great trial packs for the core and sensitive ranges, so I was able to sample some more of their products before committing to a bunch of full sizes. The trial packs aren’t too expensive, come in sturdy tins that are perfect to re-use and contain everything you need to get a feel for the products you’re interested in.


There are 4 trial packs available; oily/combination skin, normal skin and dry skin variations which contain 6 mini products for £31, and the sensitive set which contains 3 products for £23.

As you can tell I went with the sensitive kit, because even though pregnancy has been quite kind to my skin, I have tried to be as gentle as possible with any new products I’m using to avoid any reactions.

The sensitive kit contains the cleanser and both light (hydro) and rich (nourish) moisturisers from the sensitive range. The only product missing is the sensitive serum, but as this is quite an expensive product and the full size is only 15ml I can see why they chose to leave this out – though, even a tiny sachet would have been nice to include just to fully test the whole set of products, especially as I’m really interested in the sensitive serum and it’s benefits for reducing redness and repairing barrier function.

I really enjoyed using the cleanser and two moisturisers, and have been considering a purchase of the full size lighter moisturiser as it really seems to calm my skin and works well in both the morning and evening. I really like that it contains both pre and probiotics and I’ve been so interested to learn more about how these can help our skin. The cleanser is a nice and creamy gel sort of texture, it’s exceptionally gentle and removes light makeup – one for those of you who have very reactive skin types as it’s just so gentle. I also really liked the nourish moisturiser as it paired well with the serum to help dehydration, but I don’t think it’s something I would want to use long term as my skin usually doesn’t agree with shea butter and this contains it.

And that’s our brief introduction to Esse!


This is definitely a brand I want to explore more of. The sensitive serum is on my list, and they have a gorgeous sounding mist/toner with probiotics! I do love a good misty toner.


If you’re interested in dipping your toes into this brand I would definitely suggest a trial kit, or picking up some sachet samples from the Love Lula sample section, they have some of the cleansers and moisturisers for 50p each!


*products received as part of the LoveLula blogger programme*

SPF & Suncare Staples

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I know. I KNOW. It’s October. What am I doing, blogging about SPF?! But apparently, some people still like to travel in winter, whether that’s running away to somewhere hot or heading skiing, ya’ll need SPF. And let’s not forget about the readers of my blog who live on the other side of the world! Where summer is just about to kick in. Or perhaps you live somewhere like the sunshine state, AKA California. You get what I’m saying? There’s always a time for SPF.

Whilst the British summer this year felt way too brief, I have had a small stint in the Spanish sun where I really got to put these to the test. Being pregnant in 30 degree heat I was super paranoid about catching any sort of sun as I know you can be more susceptible to these sorts of things. So it was really important to me to find a good SPF to protect my skin when I wasn’t covered up with the worlds biggest hat and floaty dresses.

I started my search early and ended up taking the above products for all my suncare needs. All three are carry-on friendly and vegan-friendly, too!


Odylique Natural Sun Screen, SPF 30, 50ml – £15


This thick and creamy SPF is incredibly moisturising and a great choice for dry, sensitive skin types. This was the SPF we would use first thing in the morning to give us protection for a good portion of the day until we needed to re-apply and then I would use the biosolis for convenience. This was too thick to use on my face, but great for the all over the body. Like a standard thick moisturiser, it took a few moments to work into the skin, and my boyfriend wasn’t 100% keen on applying it to his hairy legs ha! but other than that it was perfect and one I would purchase again as it’s so gentle and can be used on babies and children.

Biosolis Sun Spray SPF50, 100ml – £22.99


I actually found it really difficult to find vegan-friendly SPF’s – my choices were incredibly limited but I’m happy with the two I got in the end. This Biosolis spray caught my attention thanks to the high SPF and the promise of being a thin, easy to work with formula. This is the SPF I ended up using on my face and taking out with us for easy reapplications during the day and after going into the water. The formula is white, and does take a little working into the skin, but the thinner consistency means it does eventually absorb and disappear into the skin without leaving a white cast. It doesn’t leave a greasy typical SPF residue but it also doesn’t dry matte either. But when the sun is so hot, it does become hard to tell what’s SPF and what is just sweat, glam 😉 This also didn’t cause me any breakouts and worked really well under any makeup I wore!

Organii After Sun Cream, 50ml – £3.50


Bargain ALERT! Yes, that really does say three pounds fifty pence. This little tube of after sun combines aloe vera and shea butter to be soothing and moisturising for skin that’s spent all day crisping up in the sun. It would also be perfect for windburn and chapped skin from the cold I imagine. It’s a lovely thick cream and I smothered my skin in this each day after a shower. I didn’t burn at all thankfully but my boyfriend caught a little sun on his arms and this helped take the redness away and prevented the skin drying out and peeling, perfect! I would definitely purchase this again next time I need after sun, it’s an absolute bargain for a product that contains organic ingredients.

Have you used any of these products or brands before? This was my first time trying Biosolis!

A Serious Splurge On Dry Shampoo…

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I never imagined I would be using a £30 bottle of dry shampoo, but here we are.

When I think of dry shampoo I think of cheap, colourful cans of white/clear aerosol that make your hair feel matte and disgusting and often promise volume but fall flat.


The Rahua Voluminous Dry Shampoo comes in an aerosol-free, squeezy tube and is nothing like traditional dry shampoo. It’s clay based, and as such can feel a little heavy if not used correctly, but with practice, I now know just how much to use to give my hair volume, remove any oily roots and just generally refresh 2 or 3-day old hair.

To use I simply give the bottle a little shake upside down and then squeeze little puffs of the powder into my roots. I then work the powder into my hair to distribute it where it needs to be and leave it to soak up any oil for a few minutes before giving my hair a quick brush. I also really like the natural vanilla scent that comes from the addition of vanilla powder, it removes any other scents clinging to my hair.

What’s more amazing than how well it works for me? How long I’ve had it and how much my boyfriend likes it too! I purchased my bottle back in January(!!) and I still have just under half of the powder left, a little really does go a long way, and that’s with two people using it on the regular. My boyfriend likes to use this in two ways, as a styling powder, he finds it gives his hair some grit and hold and he can style it in his carefree ‘I’ve done nothing with my hair but really spent a few minutes trying to look like this’ look. And he uses it as a traditional dry shampoo to remove grease. He has a very sensitive head so I’m glad this has such simple ingredients that haven’t irritated his scalp.

The ingredients list is incredibly simple; Fuller’s earth (Clay), Organic Tapioca Starch (Cassava root), Illicium Verum (Star Anise), Vanilla Planifolia, Citric Acid. 


So why pay so much? Honestly, I couldn’t tell you, it’s like paying £40 for luxury natural toner that has the main ingredient listed as water! It’s a luxury purchase, and as I’ve often found with purchases like this you tend to convince yourself that the price means this must absolutely be better than the version that costs half the price.


I haven’t tried a cheaper version such as the Acure Dry Shampoo, and when my bottle of Rahua finally runs out (I would guess in another 4-5 months, giving me a full years use out of one bottle!) I will be torn choosing between a tried and tested product that lasts us ages and ages, to something new that we may not like as much. What would you do?





Would you spend £30 on dry shampoo?

New-In Beauty & First Impressions

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I’m in a real funk when it comes to makeup and you know what? I’m really ok with it. I’ve reached a point where I know what I like and I’ve got a daily uniform of products that I’ve used for yonks, love dearly and perform well. New stuff in the beauty department just doesn’t get me as excited as it used to. Now that’s not to say that it doesn’t get me excited at all – there are always a few bits here and there that tickle my pickle – so I’ve been hoarding on to a handful of items that I’ve discovered recently that have made me ‘ooh‘ and ‘ahh’ and today’s the day that I finally get to have a play with them.

You know the set-up of these kinds of videos by now. I take five new items, throw them on my face and give you my first impressions of them. Then I take you around for the rest of the day (on my new vlogging camera – ooooh fancy! Now I can finally see myself in the flip-up screen) and let you know my final thoughts after a solid 12 hours plus of wear. This time round there’s a new foundation from Hourglass which promises to bring coverage without the cake, an eyeshadow palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills that I’ve been dying to get my hands on, a liquid bronzer and highlighter from Cover F.X that I purchased because I completely fell for the hype and then some limited edition lip beauties from Clarins, which I know I’m going to be crazy about already.

That’s it for the new beauty hauling from me for a while. Time to get back to purchasing copious amounts of workout leggings. So have a watch and let me know what you think. What’s been tickling your beauty pickle recently?