Late to the Party

Ishtar Skinlights - Bioactive 2.5%  Retinol Serum £15.00 for 30ml. BUY HERE. What is it? A 2.5% microencapsulated Retinol serum with Rovisome. Retinol is the purest and most active form of vitamin A. It sustains collagen, reduces wrinkles and improves skin texture. Rovisomes are a type of liposome. They encapsulate pure retinol in a natural phospholipid (leciithin)  shell. The retinol molecule is released in the skin. This represents the most effective and potent way of delivering retinol to the skin so far developed in skincare. Also contains  Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans - This natural polysaccharide delivers fantastic hydration benefits. In the world of skincare it can be thought of as second generation hyaluronic acid. Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans are readily accepted into the skin because of their positive charge. They hydrate and improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Ingredients: Aqua, Isopentydiol, Spilanthes Acmella Flower (...

   Evolve Beauty - Daily Detox Facial Wash £6.00 for 30ml/£16.00 for 100ml BUY HERE   * Gifted/PR - Links are not affiliated.   What is it? A delicately foaming facial wash to detoxify and rebalance normal to combination skin. Natural sugars cleanse away impurities, organic papaya enzymes exfoliate, and organic aloe vera softens, leaving skin clean, smooth and supple. Natural Goji Berry extract defends against pollution.   Ingredients: Aqua (Water), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice*, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Coco-Sulfate, Coco-Glucoside, Glyceryl Oleate, Glycerin*, Gluconolactone, Lauryl Glucoside, Lycium Barbarum (Goji Berry) Extract*, Moringa Pterygosperma Seed Extract, Parfum (natural fragrance), Sodium benzoate, Calcium Gluconate, Maltodextrin, Arginine, Potassium Sorbate, Sorbic acid, Limonene, Linalool. *ingredients from organic farming     Scent and Texture: This has a gorgeous delicate, fresh scent - it sme...

I've been using Retinol for about 18 months now. Starting off with The Ordinary 2% Advanced Retinol and then choosing the Ishtar Skinlights 1% Bioactive Retinol as a replacement choice. It's been well and truly universally agreed that Retinol is the absolute superstar anti-aging ingredient and an essential product for anyone over 30 - helping to diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles; helping to even out skin texture and tone; firms the skin and can fight the effects of external stressors.   Ishtar Skinlights 1% Bioactive Retinol £13 for 30ml BUY HERE Firstly, I just need to give some major props to Ishtar Skinlight as a brand. A British indie skincare brand based in Truro, Cornwall, who were the first UK brand to offer mandelic acid products and the only one to offer organic, treatment strength mandelic acid products . They have a wide and impressive range of skin care products for every skin type. Their ranges focus  upon reti...

    Thyme Out - £18.00 for 200ml plus Mini Thyme-To-Go Refillable Spray BUY HERE   I first saw mention of this interesting tincture (love that word!) a couple of months ago on the Victoria Health online Newsletter. Initially, I was thinking about it in terms of a skincare product - a 100% organic natural repairing lotion. But so far, it's been used for so many more purposes. In fact, I think I can safely say that this has been a summer essential for all the family, and hasn't been confined to the skincare shelf at all.   What is it?   Thyme Out is a water-based tincture where the Thyme has been steeped for weeks to draw out all of it's healing properties. The ingredients are all natural and very simple - just organic thyme, purified water, organic grain alcohol, and organic aloe vera.   What does it do? Whilst the ingredients are simple, the list of ailments that Thyme Out can help with certainly is not!   Skin Sooth...

  I received some products from Ioma to test, including the Ioma Lip Lift and the Expert Rituel, which is a handy box of mini samples (enough for a weekend away) of several Ioma products.       Ioma Lip Lift - £44 for 15ml BUY HERE   What is it?   Lip Lift is a product designed to plump and contour the lips and can be used as a standalone lip treatment or as a base pre-lipstick. According to Ioma it provides 4D effectiveness: * helps 4 key zones: the lips, the contour, the lip shape, the corners of the mouth.  * 4 actions: plumps, smoothes, restructures, moisturises.  * 4 dimensions: immediately, long term, on the surface, deep within.   Key ingredients: *  Volulip: Mimics the effect of hyaluronic acid injections doubling the synthesis rate for this molecule, which is naturally present in the skin. Recreates lip volume and redraws the contour.  * Seacode: Reduces appearance of lines. Also improves the...

I picked up a box of five Space Masks last summer when there was so much hype about them online.     You can buy a box of 5 Spacemasks for £15 plus P+P HERE   You can also buy an individual Spacemask for £3.50 from Lobella Loves   My interest was initially piqued when I kept reading in reviews the magic sentence "...helped me fall into a deep and satisfying sleep..."   I Love Sleeping! And I'm good at it too! I'm very grateful not to be one of those people that have sleep problems. But there are several occasions when I know that I have to get up at silly o'clock in the morning (generally to go on a very long drive somewhere) and that seems to be the only time when I suffer sleep problems. You think so hard about having to wake up soon that you don't fall asleep and then when the alarm goes off, you feel terrible and not in the best state for a long drive or busy day.   So I bought these masks for those occasions where I really ne...

I've bought several new budget eyeshadow palettes recently and they were starting to topple rather dangerously on my growing stack of palettes kept on the side. I already have a box of eyeshadow palettes, so I thought I'd go through that box to see if I could get rid of any (I did - a couple of old MUA palettes and a Primark palette) and to remove some of the lesser-used palettes from the stack on the side into the box. A couple of palettes from the old box caught my eye so I wanted to play with them for a few days to see why they caught my eye in the first place, and why they had been shoved in a box and forgotten about for several months... I can see why I chose both of them colour-wise. The MUA Winter Forest palette (bought last winter but is still in the shops now) has some great wintry colours (mostly the teal and the navy). And the Freedom 'Pro 12 Secret Rose' palette has some of my favourite every-day nudes and rosy-brown tones. Most of my beauty budget ...

TonyMoly  ~The Fresh Phytoncide Pore Gel Cream   I'm coming to the end of this pot of pore gel cream which I have been using everyday, both morning and evening since I opened it nearly two months ago. But typically, there seems to be very little information about this online and it doesn't seem to be readily stocked and easy to buy!   I picked this up from T.K Maxx, which could explain why it doesn't seem like a popular product online (and I mean popular in readily available) as it was possibly an end of line product, hence the reason why it ended up in T.K Maxx.   The product   The Fresh Phytoncide pore cream gel is a lightweight gel cream in the same vein as the water/aqua gels. It contains 100% pure Hinoki Cypress Water instead of distilled water. The cream is suited for oily/combination skin and acne troubled skin and enlarged pores.   Ingredients The writing on the pot is all in Korean but I found a list of ingredients on th...