REVIEW: Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Cream

Feet - an area of the body that we all sometimes ignore. Our feet go through an awful lot and sadly it can subsequently show in their condition and so, sometimes we need to give out feet a little bit of a pamper. With that in mind, I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on a product specifically for those tootsies from Burts Bees: their Coconut Foot Creme. I got this product as apart of their Tips and Toes set that I purchased from FeelUnique which you can check out here.

As described by Burts Bees themselves, their Coconut Foot Creme is a natural product combining coconut oil, lanolin, rosemary and peppermint to rejuvenate and refresh your feet. Now, Coconut and Peppermint sounds like a bit of a weird mix right? But this cream actually smell lovely - it's not overpowering as you may think and it's actually a very pleasant scent in my opinion.

The cream itself is very thick in consistency - think of something along the lines of Elizabeth Ardens 8 Hour Cream for instance. And as you would know from that product, it's meant to be instensley moisturising which is exactly what this foot cream is too.

And it is exactly because of it's thick, oily consistency that it's very rich and helps to soak your feet in moisture and give it the hydration and treatment it needs to relieve dryness and cracked skin. This factor also means that it can therefore feel a little bit greasy on the skin and it can take a minute or so to melt the product and effectively work into the skin. 

So, with this in mind, it's probably not ideal as a day cream - unless of course slipping around the house sounds like fun... For me, this is an ideal deep moisturising treatment for overnight use - apply liberally to your feet, pop on some socks and let this stuff do it's magic as you catch some z's.

Overall, I really love this cream and I'll definitely be repurchasing it in a bigger size. A little bit of this goes a long way because of how rich it is and I therefore think that £10.75 (FeelUnique) for full size isn't bad at all - especially because it does actually work for me.

Winter Lip Care!

It's getting cold, and that means our skin often needs a little more extra care - especially our lips! They can get cracked, dry and sore and that's not a good look under your favourite lipstick now is it? So, in this post I thought I'd share with you my favourite lip treatments and products to help renew and protect your lips!

Eucerin Aquaphor Soothing Skin Balm:

Eucerin's Aquaphor is a multi-purpose skin balm that can be used on any sore, dry and cracked areas of skin. It's fairly thick in consistency and once rubbed into the skin or lips, goes very far so you really only need a small amount. It has a kind of vaseline-like finish to the skin and so it is therefore quite shiny. As a treatment, I like to use this in the night time which means I can really use as much as a I want and not care what it looks like! I find it be instantly soothing and to not in any way irritating. It has no scent to it (from what I can tell, anyway) and it's definitely not perfumed meaning it's great for use on sensitive skin. I find this stays on the skin for quite a while, leaving my lips feeling soft and moisturised for a long time. I also feel as it really helps to soften any dry skin and I do personally notice a difference in dryness after around 2 days of use.

Burts Bees Lip Balm:

This is a really nice lip balm for daily use. It's a great base for lip products and the peppermint oil it contains give your lips that fresh, tingling feeling - it's not too overpowering either so it's actually quite placement. This also helps to give it a lovely scent too which is why it's nice to wear all day long. It's not an intense treatment by any means but is a good product for maintaining a bit of moisture in the lips.

EOS Lip Balm:

I really like the EOS Lip Balms - again I think they're ideal for every day use. They're non greasy and they smell GREAT! Especially this particular scent / flavour (Strawberry Sorbet) which smells so good I'd happily eat it! They do condition the lips and I'd say they're a little bit more moisturising that the Burts Bee's balms. The downside of this product is that it is a little more pricier for a simple lip balm, at an average of £6.00, I do think it's a little bit expensive for what you get. Nonetheless, I do really enjoy the smell and performance of this product and so I would recommend them. In the UK, the only place I've seen them is in Urban Outfitter and Selfridges so they can also be a little bit hard to come by, too.

Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Treatment:

This is sort of a similar product to the Eucerin Aquaphor but it's a lot more intensive. It's also a lot more pricey, but for me it's definitely been worth it. This product eliminates and reduces redness, dryness and any soreness on the skin literally overnight. While more stubborn areas may not be completely restored, they are significantly treated after just one night. Once again, a little bit does go along way, so you do actually get an awful lot of product considering this fact. This product also has multiple uses - both skincare and beauty related. It can add a beautiful shine to your lipstick, is a great base for glitter or pigments and is also brilliant for keeping those brows in place. As a lip treatment, this stuff is seriously moisturising and conditioning and really helps to sooth my dry and sore lips. I also use this on areas of irritation from my eczema or simply just any scrapes or cuts I may get - it works brilliantly on both! Yes, it's a little bit expensive but there are places you can get it discounted (which I've linked in it's title) and I do believe it's worth it if you're looking for something like this!

SKINCARE: My Favourite Brands / Products for Sensitive Skin

Hey guys! As some of you may know, I have very sensitive skin. Since a very young age I have had eczema too and so my skin is very vulnerable to certain things and this can cause irritation and flare ups.
Recently, I also had a flare up of eczema on my face - the only part of my body that had never been affected by my sensitive skin. Since this, I decided to really evaluate all the products I use on my skin and in this post I thought I would share with you the brands and products that I find work the best for me and that will perhaps therefore work for some of you too. All the brands I am going to mention are great even if you don't have sensitive skin and perhaps want products more gentle and more natural.
This is going to be a two-part post: today I'm going to talk about the facial skincare products I love, and then my next post is going to be all about the body products I love. So, let's get started!

Burts Bees:

I have raved about Burt's Bees in the past and todays post will be no different as I just had to give them a mention. Before my face became so sensitive and I had a flare up, I'd never really paid an interest into this brand. However, since using their products I've fallen in love. They're products are natural and contain honey - a known ingredient that is good for nourishing and treating the skin.

 I started off with buying a mini set of a few products before diving in and paying for anything full-sized. The product I loved and immediately bought in full-size after trying was their Soap Bark and Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream. This product is so gentle and leaves the face feeling so fresh and clean. It removes makeup and any other build up on the face like a dream and your face feels really moisturised after. As I said, it's very gentle and causes me absolutely no irritation. I've reviewed this product more in depth on my blog and you can check that post out here.

I also love their Sensitive Facial Cleanser specifically made for more sensitive skin which I find works more or less the same way as the chamomile one but this one lathers up a little more and goes on a lot thinner. Both products cost more than a regular cleanser would but I personally think the amount you get (and how far it goes) teamed with the quality of the product itself, makes it more than worth it!

Bioderma:

Biorderma is another brand that I discovered around the same time as trying out Burt's Bees. You may well have heard of Bioderma as their Sensinio H20 Miscellar Water is very popular in the beauty community. I do actually use this myself and it's perfect for sensitive skin. Whilst I don't use mine to remove makeup, I love it when used as a toner. It helps to prevent my skin feeling irritated whilst also making sure it is nice and cleansed and helping to dispel redness.

Photo credit: Bioderma Website

Other products I have really been enjoying Bioderma is their Atoderm PP Baume and Atoderm PO Zinc moisturisers. Both of these are targeted specifically at Atopic skin conditions (such as eczema) but are also perfect for dry skin. The PP Baume helps to repair the skin and reduce the urge to scratch any irritated areas. The Atoderm PO Zinc also helps to repair the skin as well as helping to soothe symptoms of dryness. Both products are suitable for use on adults and children. I find both to be very gentle and thin enough to go along way on the skin but to also lock in moisture and keep my face feeling supple.

Photo credit: Bioderma Website

Simple:

Simple is a brand I have used and enjoyed for a long time. It's an ideal, basic brand for people with sensitive skin as their products contain no nasty perfumes and only pure ingredients. This means that their products are gentle and soothing to those of us with easily irritated skin. As well as this, their price are so affordable for a skincare brand so they are perfect for every day use.

The main product that I love to use is their Replenishing Rich Moisturiser. It's a basic, light weight moisturiser that keeps my skin feeling soft and nourished without being heavy. It's just a great everyday moisturiser.

I also really love the Refreshing Facial Wash Gel and Facial Scrub. Both products cause no irritation (even the scrub) and leave my face feeling clean and most importantly not dried out or tight. The scrub really helps to rid my skin of dead skin without my skin feeling uncomfortable from using it.

Eye care has been something I've really gotten into these past few months and Simple's Soothing Eye Balm and Revitalising Roll On are products that I've been enjoying. Knowing that they are so 'simple' and gentle, I feel confident on using them on my eyes. They help to keep my eye area feel moisturised and soft and I can feel confident that won't become irritated from use. I particularly love the roll on for reducing puffiness and dark circles in those mornings.

Olay:

Finally, I'm going to talk to you about Olay. Olay is one of the only drugstore brands that I've found do quite an extensive range of products with variations specifically for sensitive skin. One of my favourites is their classic Beauty Fluid. As the name suggests, the product is very thin and for this reason you really don't need a lot of it. You get an impressive amount of product for the price and I find the fluid itself to be really softening and moisturising - helping to lock moisture into my face throughout the day. Similarly to the Simple moisturiser, it's great for everyday use.

Night time is the best time to really treat your face and apply a product to work through the night so that you can wake up with lovely feeling skin. Olay's Anti-Wrinkle Night Cream is a product that does just that. It's just the right thickness for a night cream in my opinion and it really sinks into the skin making it feel so supple all night long and when you wake up. As well as this, it also has the anti-ageing side to it which means that it's going to help prevent the signs of ageing as well nourish my skin - which is always nice.

So, there you have my favourite facial skincare brands and products for sensitive skin right now.

 I hope you found this post helpful, there's quite a variety here so I think there is definitely something for everybody. I love trying out new products so if any of you have any suggestions of new ones to try, please do leave them below! And as always if you have any comments at all, i'd love to hear from you.

Thank you for reading this post!

My Favourite Lip Care Products.

Hey! Today I thought I'd share with you my favourite lip care products. I'm kind of obsessed with buying lip products - especially lip balms and chapsticks, so I thought this kind of post would be pretty ideal for me...

Good old Vaseline:

I think Vaseline is a product pretty much everyone has and carries around with them, I know I do. It has multiple uses but of course the most popular of which is for moisturising the lips. Whilst I don't think it is super moisturising despite it's super oily feel making you feel like it is, I think it is a great base for other lip products. It does do what you want it too in terms of making you lips feel softer, but I'm not sure whether it really improves the condition of my lips as such. It does tend to dry on the lips fairly quickly - even when it feels like you've used too much. That's not a big issue though because a little bit of it does go a long way.

Burts Bees Lip Balms:

I've been such a fan of BB lately. I just love their skincare range and in particular their lip care products. My favourites and probably the most well known of such are their chapstick-style lip balms. Currently, I have mine in Pomegranate and in Vitamin E and Peppermint. What I love about them is that they don't feel heavy or majorly noticeable on the lips but they are doing something lovely for them. They are very soothing and hydrating on the lips and the Peppermint one gives you that kind of cooling sensation that other lip products like lip plumbers do. These really do work - especially overnight and I think you can see a difference in the condition of your lips after using them.

Vitamin E:

Vitamin E has multiple uses. It's natural and pretty inexpensive which is always a bonus. It is also very moisturising and soothing in it's oil form. This is a Superdrug Vitamin E Balm and when warmed up between you fingers it will melt into an oil like consistency - much like coconut oil does. This has a very similar feeling to vaseline and whilst it can be used on any dry area of your body, for me it does wonders on the lips. Not only is it nourishing and great for softening them, it's perfect for any cuts you may have on them because it's very soothing and gentle. I use this mostly at night and I really enjoy it.

Blistex Intensive Repair:

This is a treatment for particularly damaged and chapped lips. It's mega moisturising and has quite a liquidy consistency. It's white in colour but it will become transparent on the lips as you apply it all over them. It also gives your lips that cool, tingling feeling and this helps to eradicate discomfort from having dry and damaged lips. It also restores the moisture back into your lips and this is the kind of product I would use once or twice a week to sort of 'deep condition' over night.

Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub:

Sometimes, your lips need a little help in removing all the dry and dead skin so your lips can be softer, smoother and ready for a lip product. This lip scrub is really effective and not to mention delicious. The pieces of sugar help to exfoliate and scrub away the dead skin leaving you with lovely soft lips. The best part is, the delicious smelling bubblegum scrub can be licked away when you're done! I really enjoy this product and you really only need the tiniest bit. I've had it since around December and I've barely made a dent in it. It's a handy product to have - especially in Winter months when your lips are most likely to be at their worst.

So, those are my personal favourite lip care products. I'm always finding and changing up my products but these are the ones that are proving the most effective for me currently. 

What are some of your favourite lip care products? Do you have any recommendations? Let me know!

UPDATED - Facial Skincare Routine! (Products and Prices)

Hey! In this post, I thought i'd share with you my new and updated skincare routine. Recently, my skin has become a lot more sensitive and this development has caused me to completely change and re think the products I use and purchase for my face and skin. I'm now trying to use things that are all natural and mainly 'simple' - in the sense that they contain no nasty chemicals and perfumes that could potentially cause irritation and harm my skin. 

So, these are the products I am currently using - I've also listed how much they are and where you can get them from. I hope you enjoy this post!

Daytime:

In the day time, I firstly use my Simple Refreshing Facial Wash gel. True to it's name, this is a basic, simple product that just helps to cleanse and freshen up my face in the mornings. It lathers really nicely and you only need about a pea size of it to do the job.

Simple Refreshing Facial Wash Gel - £3.25 (Boots).

Next, I use a toner - currently I am using another one from Simple but I alternate between that and the  L'oreal Skin Perfection Micellar solution (a good dupe for Bioderma and a product you can also use to remove make up).

Simple Facial Toner - £2.99 (Boots)

For a moisturiser, I use yet another Simple product which is there Replenishing Rich Moisturiser. A little bit of this goes a very long way and it's perfect for those with normal skin that doesn't need anything special or for those of you who have super sensitive skin prone to irritation.

Simple Replenishing Rich Moisturiser - £3.99 (Boots)

Night Time:

If I have been wearing make up that day, I like to use cream cleansers to remove it. My personal favourite at the moment is Burts Bee's Soap Bark and Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream. This removes make up - even heavy make up - really well and it's very gently and moisturising. I have reviewed this product recently, you can read the post here.

Burts Bees Deep Cleansing Cream - £7.99 (Amazon)

Next, I'll tone again using the same toner I mentioned above and then of course I'll moisturise. On a daily basis, I'll firstly use my Bioderma PP Baume. I use a pea sized amount and massage this into my face and neck. It's very repairing and moisturising for those of you who have sensitive and dry skin - it's really made a difference for me. On top of this, for some extra moisture I also apply my Simple Regeneration Age Resisting Night Cream.

Bioderma
 Atoderm PP Baume - 
£14.50
(Escentual.com)

Simple Age Resisting Night Cream - 
£6.49
(Boots)

For those nights when I want to give my skin that little bit more, I will apply my Vitamin E Serum Oil from The Body Shop. You can find a more in-depth review of this product here.

The Body Shop Vitamin E Serum - £12 (The Body Shop)

Finally, if I'm having any breakouts, blemishes or spots - I like to apply this Tea Tree Oil treatment that I purchased from Holland and Barrett.

Organic Tea Tree Blemish Stick - £4.99 (Holland and Barrett)

Eyes / Lips:

Sometimes, there are areas of my face that I like to focus on and treat a little bit more. Eyes especially are such a sensitive part of your face that you really need to be careful of what you put there. To keep my eyes nice and moisturised and refreshed I use a Cucumber eye gel from Boots and a Vitamin E eye cream from The Body Shop. Bother products are natural and most importantly very gentle.

Boots Eye Gel - £1.50 (Boots) and The Body Shop
Vitamin E Eye Cream - £10 (The Body Shop)

My lips can get quite dry and cracked now and then and so I like to use a scrub on them. Right now, I'm using Lush's Bubblegum Lip scrub. It smells great and the best part is you can lick it away off your lips once you are done!

Lush Bubble Gum Lip Scrub - £5.50 (Lush)

To moisturise my lips and keep them nice and hydrated, I really love the Burts Bees lip balms. They smell great and are all natural.

Burts Bees Lip Balms - £3.50 (FeelUnique.com)

And that is pretty much everything I use on a daily basis for my face, eyes and lips. I really hope you enjoyed this post and maybe found some new products you'd like to try. Have you tried any of these products - if so what did you think of them? Do you have any recommendations for me? Let me know down below!