AH SKINCARE. I’m on the eternal hunt for skincare that works miracles for my useless skin. I have big pores, oily, prone to blemishes, uneven… i.e. the biggest snore known to humankind. I’ve used products that work, products that don’t, but haven’t yet come across that one product that I am like, ‘yes, you are the one. Let’s settle down and have many children together’.

The kind humans at ChemistDirect.co.uk sent Claire and I a few products (I thoroughly recommend checking out their site if you haven’t already…makeup/skincare/EVERYTHING galore. The prices tend to be a bit cheaper than RRP – so worth it) and I picked the Apinourish Introductory Kit by Manuka Doctor. I’ve heard loads of good things about the brand and figured it would be a good way of trying a few of their products in one go.

So anyway…bee venom.

Am I the only one that imagines the concept of bee venom skincare as a swarm of bees stinging your face, while you run around shouting ‘GUT GOTT, I BETTER LOOK LIKE SCARLETT JOHANSSON AFTER THIS’? Apparently, that’s not actually how it works. The Manuka Doctor products come in quite unassuming packaging, not even a single live bee in sight. The idea of bee venom is to trick your skin into believing it’s been mildly stung, meaning your skin looks more youthful, wrinkle free and generally in better condition. I may only be 22, but I’m keen to get the anti-ageing process started so that I ideally look about 5 years old by the time I’m 40.

These are the products I chose, they’re sample size (25ml) but I’ve been using them for around a week and they are nowhere near running out. It’s practically magic.

Repairing Skin Cream:

I’ve been using this as my day cream under makeup, and I’ve been hugely happy. It’s not greasy at all and is so so soft. It smells quiet nice, fresh with a hint of chemically smell (it’s not unpleasant!). It works well as a primer too and I’ve noticed my makeup staying on really well. Top marks Manuka Doctor!

Rejuvenating Face Mask:

I love a face mask, there’s something about sitting with a load of gunk on your face to make you feel like a beautiful woman. This one is really moisturising and my skin feels and looks amazing afterwards. The large size of the face mask is £49.99 and I think you can really tell this is a higher end product (particularly as my masks masks usually come from the 99p price range). I totally recommend guys!

Restoring Night Cream:

Some of you may be horrified to know that I’ve never owned a night cream. I am a failure of a beauty blogger. So, I don’t have much to compare this one to BUT I love it! It smells lovely and is really thick/moisturising. My skin looks even and smooth when I wake up in the morning, which is something that doesn’t happen often.

OVERALL…I am truly loving this range of moisturiser. I’ve found my skin is improving daily (which is great for impatient gals like me) and I’m not wearing as much foundation as I usually do. HUZZAH AND THREE CHEERS FOR MERRY ENGLAND.

Manuka Doctor products are currently 3 for 2 at ChemistDirect.co.uk, so please do yourself and the bees of this world a favour and go and get involved!

Has anyone else tried Manuka Doctor? PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

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Good morning, special friends.

It is Saturday and today is the day that I continue my birthday celebrations, despite the fact that my birthday isn’t until Monday (clearly turning 22 is a big deal that warrants 3 weeks of celebrating). I’m going for dinner and drinks in Birmingham tonight, which is all very exciting – apart from the fact that my gentleman friend refuses to accept that the shorts I want to wear are dinner appropriate. He is wrong. When will boys learn that they have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to fash?

I’m talking skincare today, which is something that I am very passionate about. Not because I’m particularly an expert in the world of skincare, but because I like the idea that a cream or cleanser will make me BOOTIFUL. If you follow us on Twitter (hint, hint – follow us on Twitter), you might have seen me bang on to various people about how I have terribly oily skin that is prone to breakouts, which often make me look like I have a boil affliction. I once had a HUGE spot that Claire affectionately referred to as my boil and I get the feeling that she was quite sad when it finally disappeared. Interestingly enough, I have only recently begun to use skincare that is appropriate for my skin type. Don’t ask me why, it is probably because I wanted to pretend that I had lovely normal skin that only needed a spot of tinted moisturiser. Using products specifically for oily skin has made a big difference and I only get the occasional breakout these days (mostly when I’m stressed because I have nothing to wear).

A few months ago, I invested in some fancy skincare from Clarins. I did a blog post about it, which you can read here, and promised a review when I had got a bit more use out of it. Well, I have now just about finished the cleanser and toner and I really did like it. However, I didn’t think that it was anything massively special and certainly not special enough for me to fork out £20+ every few months (I am tight. I am sorry). With this in mind, I decided to go for something a bit more high street this time around and headed to Boots to make my decision last week.

I am a HUGE fan of Nivea products. I think they are fantastic quality for the price and they have a smell that I just love (it reminds me of using Nivea suncream as a child, I am transported to the beach every morning and evening!). I did a review of their In Shower Moisturiser a while back, which is one of my favourite beauty products at the moment, but I also am a big fan of their Irresistibly Smooth body moisturiser. I sort of gravitate to the Nivea skincare range when I go to Boots or Superdrug and while I did try to shop around, there wasn’t really any contest. I picked up a cream cleanser from the Daily Essentials range as well as a Daily Essentials moisturiser. They’re both geared towards combination or oily skin, so I was eager to see what difference they actually made.

Daily Essentials Refreshing Cleansing Lotion:

This promises to cleanse, hydrate, remove makeup and give a fresh skin feeling. I have a bit of a disclaimer to make; I don’t notice a huge difference between cream cleansers. Most of them do what they promise – at the end of the day, how hard is it to take makeup off really?! BUT saying that, I do really like this one. It smells great, it’s sensitive enough to use around the eye area and I would give it top marks for hydration. It hasn’t caused any breakouts and my problem chin area has stayed spot free! It’s really cheap too, so definitely worth picking up if you are looking for a budget friendly face cleanser.

Daily Essentials Oil Free Moisturising Day Cream:

This is definitely my favourite buy of the two. I have found it to be an AMAZING base for makeup especially; it really controls my shiny t-zone. I don’t even bother using primer under my foundation anymore, this stuff does the job of both moisturiser and primer in my eyes! It’s really light and feelings quite cooling when you put it on, which is nice when you have to wake up at 6am every day. I have quite large pores and this moisturiser doesn’t clog them in the slightest. My only beef with it is that it is quite a small tube and I can see myself getting through it very quickly. But saying that, it is also very budget friendly so I will be perfectly happy buying it again in a month or so. I’m finding it the best day cream I have used to date – thoroughly recommend it ladies!

Have any of you tried these before? What do you reckon? I had a chat with a blogger on Twitter this week about the benefits of sticking to a skincare routine and not chopping and changing products too much – I think I’m definitely going to stick with these two for a while!

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Skincare has never really been my forte. I’m definitely the type of girl who just used whatever mum bought from Tesco and that was that. I would go as far as saying I bothered to take my makeup off most nights (and feel proud whilst doing it) but other than that, my skincare regime has been pretty poor. Recently, I’ve been noticing how WUBBISH my skin actually is. I suffer from pretty much everything terrible; large pores, oily t-zone, blackheads, prone to breakouts etc etc (WHY. WHY MUST YOU SPITE ME, FACE). A bad skin routine hasn’t really helped this either and as I have become an old and wise twenty-something, I have decided that things have to change.

For people who have read a lot of our blog, you might have noticed that Claire and I are not ashamed to be bargain lovers. We’re firm believers in Primark, cheap tan from Bodycare and general poor person behaviour. This is partly because we are a bit poor (rent and council tax is something neither of us are fans of) but also because spending £20 on a plain tshirt when you could get it for £3 seems a bit silly. Saying that, I have come to notice that spending a bit of money on certain things does go a long way. For example, shoes that don’t feel like you’re walking with a thin bit of cardboard between your foot and the pavement are quite pleasant. Makeup that doesn’t give you a giant head rash is also preferable. And now I have joined the ‘skincare that doesn’t cost £2 is probably a good idea’ club.

This all came about approximately 3 days ago when I was having a lovely conversation on Twitter with a beauty blogger who had done a Clarins Pure Melt Cleansing Gel review (check her blog out here – Shot of Beauty). She got me thinking that it was probably time to bite the bullet and invest in some decent skincare and when I went shopping on Sunday, there was a Clarins offer on. It was fate. I shed a few tears. I clutched at the box with unadulterated happiness and shelled out £20 for a Clarins set. It wasn’t the cleansing gel I had my eye on but you can’t really shake your head at a bottle of cleansing milk, a bottle of toner, a little tube of exfoliator AND a washbag for £20. It’s definitely a good start and a good way to ease myself into the world of proper, grown up face care.

As I mentioned, the set included Cleansing Milk (with gentian), Lotion Tonique (with iris) and their Gentle Refiner exfoliator (with microbeads, ooo-er). It’s designed for oily/combination skin, which is grand because this is what my face actually is. I’ve only been using it for a few days, so I can’t give a full review but what I can say is that I have noticed a difference already. My skin looks a lot smoother, it feels fresher and I find that I don’t have to powder my nose as much throughout the day. The exfoliator seems to have done a good job with minimising my blackheads so I am excited to see what a few weeks of using the three together will do. I’ll keep you all updated with the results and do a more detailed review later on!

I also bought a product that I have heard quite a few mixed reviews on. I needed a new moisturiser, so decided to invest in the Nivea Express Hydration Primer from Bodycare for £2.99 (not breaking the bargain habit quite yet). I’ve actually been really pleased with it. It’s kind of a mix between a moisturiser and a primer so it feels a bit strange when it goes on. It doesn’t have the texture of either really and the only way I can explain it is that it is a watery gel texture. Saying that, I feel it gives the best of both worlds. My skin feels moisturised and my makeup is staying on a lot better than before, so a definite win-win in my books! What do you all think? Have you tried this before?

All in all, quite a successful skincare haul and I’m looking forward to seeing what difference it makes to my skin in the coming weeks. I’ll never have perfect skin but hopefully it will begin to even out and look a bit more fresh with proper care.

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Manuka Doctor: Apinourish Introductory Kit Review.

Has anyone else tried Manuka Doctor? PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

Nivea Daily Essentials Skincare: Review

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Skincare haul | Clarins and Nivea Review