ASOS Travel Essentials

ASOS is probably one of the biggest online shops in the UK, and since they have added a Face and Body section to the site, it has become one of my go to shops without needing to leave the house.

I bought all my Crayola beauty bits on there, and I noticed they were doing a limited edition travel box in the middle of Summer featuring some of the products they sell on the site. A lot of the products in the box were ones I have wanted to try for ages so I snapped up the box before it went out of stock, and for only £10, it went out of stock fast!

Some staple brands out there at the moment are OUAI, Glam Glow, Rodial and Too Faced. The beauty industry really is saturated with so many amazing brands, and as a beauty blogger I am ashamed to say I had never tried any of these before now! I thought buying this box would be a great introduction into using them, making sure I liked them before I delved a little deeper into each one.

One of the brands I had never heard of before was Touch In Sol, which is a Korean brand. The No Pore-Blem Primer, £15, ASOS is a lightweight primer which doesn't have that silicone feel afterwards. It is creamy and hydrating but looks a matte finish prepping the skin for makeup.

I wasn't mad about this primer, and probably wouldn't rush to go and buy it, but the brand in general offers skin care at a low price point, and Korean beauty is something I want to explore in the future so I may come back to this brand when the time is right.

Emma Hardie is a brand I have tried before, and I wrote about her amazing Moringa Cleansing balm a few years ago where I claimed it may be my favourite ever cleansing balm! It is definitely still up there in one of my favourite cleansers, so I was excited to try the Brilliant Face Oil, £39, ASOS

This is a very luxury brand and just a few small drops from the face oil before bed hydrates my skin until the morning. It contains essential oils and Omegas to help plump and generally feed your skin what it needs. It smells really lovely and this has become a staple part of my night time routine if I need something to give my skin a boost. It can be used on all skin types too including oilier skins, as it is a dry oil and doesn't leave a greasy finish.

Glam Glow is a brand you always see plastered over Instagram as it is very popular with the beauty community. If I'm honest, they're packaging has never screamed out to me as a brand I wanted to try as there are lots of different colours and I always found it a little confusing. I am so glad I got the chance to try them in this box though as I have loved using this Thirstymud Hydrating Glam to Glow Treatment, £16, ASOS. It smells super coco-nutty which makes me think of instant hydration, and the formula is very thin and clear, so you can either wash it off or let it sink into the skin which is what I like to do overnight.

I wake up to super hydrated, plump and soft skin after using it, and the smell really is just wonderful if you're into coconut!

I have always loved using  hair oil but I have never tried one infused with Rose and also never tried any products from OUAI which is so hugely popular. The OUAI Rose Hair and Body Oil, £26, ASOS is beautiful oil that I use on the ends of my hair to seal in moisture and smooth any fly aways. It smells really pretty and can also be used on the body so a great little multi purpose product. I really want to try some of the styling products from OUAI as they are meant to be unreal.

Another brand I have been desperate to try but been desperate to try is Rodial. In particular the Dragon's Blood range which I am sure I saw Kylie Jenner was a huge fan off. Included in this box was the Dragon's Blood Hyaluronic Tonic, £38, ASOS, and it has become and it has become another staple item in my daily routine. I like to spray this on my face in the morning before I apply other skincare, and also just before I go to bed as an alternative to a thick cream or as a base for a facial oil such as the Emma Hardie one above.

This contains Hyaluronic acid which the skin naturally produces as a skin hydrator, so I like to use this under other products to help my skins natural production of this.

And yet another brand I have always wanted to try (seriously I am terrible beauty blogger) is makeup brand Too Faced. The Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara, £10 for Travel Size / £19 Full Size, ASOS was unfortunately a little disappointing for me though. Although It did leave me with fairly nice looking lashes, I just found this mascara was so smudgey, and everytime I wore it I found myself with panda eyes or black random smudges around my eyes. Granted, the first time I wore it I was at a wedding so I may have been a little teary so forgave it, but ever since I have had the same problem. so maybe the waterproof one is worth trying. The hourglass shaped wand allows you to coat each lash and add volume and curl.

For me the effect of the mascara didn't justify the smudges. You can see in this image that the lower outer corner is a little messy and I found it did this throughout the day and transferred onto my upper lid too. 

I love that ASOS is now stocking beauty products, and I think boxes like this are a great way for people to discover and try out brands they may not usually experiment with.

Are you interested in any of these brands? If so want products have you tried and loved, or are there any you want to give a go?

Clinique Clarifying Toner

This product has saved my face.

Dramatic statement to make, but in order for me to express just how amazing this product is, I will need to set the scene for you. Let me take you back to a few weeks ago...

 The dryness around my nose that I have spoken about in quite a few of my posts hit a new low. It was constantly flaking and was drier than ever. It had spread round my mouth and people started commenting on it which is when you know it has got bad. Luckily, I don't get upset when people mention these things, and will often prompt conversation about it in order to find a solution. My friend took me over to the Clinique counter where I work, as she had seen they do a cream called 'Moisture surge intense', which she thought would be perfect for my dryness. When I got to the counter, the lovely lady shocked me by recommending something that would have been the last thing I would have thought to remedy my dryness: a toner.

I usually think of toners as being very harsh and drying on the skin, but she explained that the clarifying lotion works as a very mild exfoliant, and gently buffs away at dead skin in order for the skin to balance itself out. It restructures itself leaving a flat surface for more moisturising products to penetrate the layers of skin. The way she described it to me, was that my flaky skin was leaving big holes in the surface of my skin, so any moisturising products were just falling through and not actually hydrating the dryness.

I can honestly say that from the first use, my skin was 100% healed! She gave me a sample pot to try and a couple of days later I went back and bought the full lotion for £16.50 because I was so impressed by the results. The lotion she recommended me was the mild one as the dryness is a sensitivity, although there is a lotion for every skin type, ranging from skin type 1 being very dry, to skin type 4 which is very oily, plus a full skin care regime to try for each skin type which I want to try next.

I wish I had taken a picture of how bad my skin was before to show you the dramatic difference it has made. I have had absolutely no problems whatsoever since using the lotion which is such a huge relief for me. I can now concentrate on my skin as a whole, rather than constantly thinking about how my dry nose would react to certain products.

I must also mention the original product that prompted me to try Clinique, which was the 'moisture surge intense'. The Clinique lady also gave me a little pot to try and it has lasted me forever, probably because I am not needing to use it as much anymore. This was really good for the couple of days following the clarifying lotion, and is a great product to reach for as an instant relief.

If you want to give Clinique a go, then take a look at their website here. You can also take a quiz which will diagnose your skin type for you

www.clinique.co.uk

I am really impressed with the results I have had from Clinique, have you ever tried any of these products?

Caudalie Cleansers

This time last year I only just started using a cleanser as I was completely clueless about the skincare world. Today, I will be telling you how I now use two cleansers in my daily skincare routine. As many of you may know, I love Caudalie and have down lots of posts about their products. Most recently I have been using their cleansers morning and night. Double cleansing is really important, especially at the end of the day after wearing makeup. After initially removing makeup, you would be surprised at how much dirt is still there on your face. Even after removing your makeup, you need to actually cleanse the skin after it has had a layer of makeup taken off if you see what I mean?

The cleansing milk pictured on the left is now in newer packaging similar to the green bottle on the right. The cleansing milk is great at removing makeup, and has a a sweet, light scent to it. It's very gentle on the skin and eyes and feels very moisturising too, like it has a slight oil feel to it. 

The foaming cleanser I was dubious about to start, as I have often found foam quite astringent. This cleanser is not drying at all, and is actually quite moisturising. Most foaming cleansers have a foaming agent in them which is what makes them so drying. With this cleanser, the actual pump is what makes it foam, so the liquid in the bottle is not actually a foam at all. This makes my face feel really really clean, and I often use it with my Konjac Sponge which give it a perfect exfoliation effect. They're a match made in heaven. 

Both cleansers together mean my makeup is removed and my skin is gently cleansed as well. I have had these cleansers for a while and they work really well for my skin. Even when my skin became slightly more oily, the cleansers in unison balanced my skin where it was dryer and also where it was more oily. At this point it is also worth mentioning the moisturising toner. I have a similar view on toners as that of the astringent foam. This toner however also changed my mind, as the name says, it is actually very moisturising.

In the summer when my skin is not as dry, I will use this toner after cleansing just as my night cream. It is a very 'juicy' toner and perfectly damps the skin before moisturising, allowing your moisturiser to go further and helping it soak into the skin. Again, this toner is perfect at balancing the skins natural oil levels and it is very comfortable to wear.

Both Cleansers and the toner are £15.00 which I think is good value for natural products. I think they work well individually but work as a power team altogether.