Review: Liz Earle - Hot Cloth Cleanse and Polish, Toner and Moisturiser

Hiiii! Sorry I've been a bit MIA in the last couple of months, I didn't really have much going on in life to review or blog about but I'm excited to be trying out a lot of new products now so I will have stuff to blog about! 

I've had quite a change in my skincare routine, having used Cetaphil for a number of years, I switched over to Liz Earle after having being gifted a cleanse and polish set as a pressie from a dear friend. Even using it for the first time, miracles started happening to my skin, for one, my colleagues at work noticed it the next day after I started the Cleanse and Polish process so I thought I'd do a little review of my experience using the products that are part of the Cleanse and Polish routine. 

The Cleanser

The cleanser is definitely my favourite product, it's different to your conventional cleansers, it's not a foaming or milky cleanser - it's a cream-like cleanser that you apply onto dry skin, yes dry skin. You squeeze out some of the product from the pump, apply it onto your face and massage in circle motions. I massage it in until it pretty much dries on my face. Then you get the muslin cloth that comes with the product, rinse it and wipe off the product. That's pretty much how you use it. 

The smell of this product is amazing, it's a fresh, rosemary like smell - it did take a while for me to get used to it but every morning I find myself loving the smell whilst I wash my face. After using the product, I feel that I've had less spots / redness, my face feels cleaner, softer and smoother in general. I find that the product gives a nice dewy glow to your skin which I find great when paired with my BB cream for that extra dewy complexion. 

The Toner

The toner comes after the cleanser, it helps tighten up those pores and helps control oil production in the face. 

I really love this toner, I can't compare it to anything else because being the lazy person I am, I've never actually used toner as part of my skincare routine before. I really feel like using this toner has controlled the oil production in my skin throughout the day well - I usually get quite greasy around the t-zone towards the end of the day but this seemed to go away ever since I started using this toner. 

The Moisturiser

Depending on what your skin type is you might get a different moisturiser. I have the oily / combination set so I was given the light moisturiser which comes in a pump tube (not in the picture). I think in terms of fragrance, this one is one I enjoy the least out of the 3 products, it's supposed to be of borage and avocado oil but it just smells... funky and sort of lingers on your skin. I only use this moisturiser as a primer base for foundation or not at all if I plan to use BB cream as the BB cream serves as a cream itself without the Liz Earle moisturiser. 

It is a nice light moisturiser however and feels silky and smooth on the skin. I really like everything about it except the fragrance probably. 

Would definitely buy all 3 again, it's changed my skincare routine for the better! I bought the set for £45 but each one comes individually as well on their website as well as in most large Boots stores. 

October Loves: The Face Shop Green Tea Water

MY SKIN HAS BEEN SAVED!!!

When it comes to this time of the year, my skin takes a terrible turn for the worse because of the sudden change in weather. Those of you living in the UK will be pretty familiar with what I mean, temperatures take a dive and things get a lot colder and drier as well as the pollution from the city.

I bought this Green Tea Water from The Face Shop during my trip in NYC, shopping around Korea Town and hadn't really used it religiously until now, normally, I would give my face a rest from daily moisturiser over the weekend if I'm not going out. I tend to use a very light moisturiser to prime my face before applying make up.

The horrible weather change has given me bad (I mean bad) acne, I've got this patch on my face that won't go away, this BIG spot on the side of my nose that just keeps getting bigger... you get the idea. Not sure when the last time I had such bad acne was, I'm 24 now so I would've thought I was past those days. So I've decided to ditch my night creams (which were probably making it worse due to the oily nature of these creams) and my day cream and just use this face mist to moisturise my face day and night and my spots have actually gotten a lot better. I've been doing my detox masks a bit more frequently (I use the Baviphat Strawberry Deep Detox Mask) to help and I'm finally seeing some progress. 

I absolutely love this Green Tea Water, it makes my skin feel refreshed but moisturised at the same time especially after a shower. I wouldn't say it's a long term substitute for moisturiser but it's a very light alternative especially if you're like me and have very sensitive skin and pores that clog pretty easily in this type of weather.

I bought it in 120ml size but it also comes in smaller 60ml sizes which would be perfect for your handbag if you need a small top up throughout the day. The great thing about face mists are that you can use them on top of make up as well without ruining it so I would say it's definitely a handbag essential!

Review: Baviphat Lemon Whitening Sleeping Pack

Gaaaah. First of all, can I just say sorry for being such a bad blogger. I've just been inactive as I've been settling into my new job, relaxing when I can and general project duties. I'll make another blog post about these soon-ish but I just wanted to do a review on this uh-may-zing product I've been using recently. 

So if you've been reading my blog, I reviewed the Strawberry Toxifying mask from this range back in November and I'm back again to review this Lemon Sleeping Pack as I bought a set of these Baviphat skincare products. This sleeping pack claims to be rich in Vitamin C and lemon extract to suppress melanin production and hyper-pigmentation of the skin. Also contains Arbutin (one of my favourite mask ingredients), which helps whiten the skin and even out skin tone. So in a nut-shell this mask is perfect for anyone with acne scars or uneven/dull skin tones. 

Texture/Appearance

I was a tiny bit surprised by the texture of this mask, it's pretty runny (for a "mask") and is of a creamy colour. The texture feels a bit sticky on application and doesn't feel very thick so it might seem like it's not really adding anything to your face. But for me, that's a good thing as my face gets quite greasy overnight so anything thick would probably clog my pores and make me break out. Overall, the texture is pretty smooth and applies on colourless, just a bit sticky though. 

Fragrance

As the product is named, this sleeping pack has a lemon fragrance. It's pretty strong but in a pleasant way and not in an overpowering way. The scent seems really fresh to me and I quite like it! Smells very natural and has no bad chemical smells to it. It eventually fades off after a while when the pack gets absorbed by the skin which is nice when you're falling asleep. 

Ease of use

Again, this product comes with a tiny spoon for hygiene purposes but unlike the strawberry mask, I feel that this mask is a lot harder to 'scoop' from the pot using the spoon due to its consistency. I've ended up shaking the pot and just scooping the mask off the plastic lid with my finger to be more efficient rather than use the spoon. 

But other than that, the mask is easily absorbed into the skin without much massaging to be done. Also a unique property of this mask is that it doesn't require a rinse when you wake up so it's quite convenient if you're travelling (though, I don't know anyone that doesn't wash their face when they wake up... Just saying.). Just a note for anyone wanting to sleep straight away after applying - you might want to wait 10 minutes before plonking your head down on your pillow as it tends to leave your face feeling sticky for a while until the mask is absorbed into the skin. 

Results

The most important part - does it work? I've only used this product a few times and I must say, it works wonders for spot scars, even more so than the cheap aloe vera gel I reviewed previously. I've actually been applying the mask frequently (despite directions saying once or twice a week) and it definitely fades dark scars the best. Not too sure about the whitening effects though, I feel like my complexion is still the same after use so no comment there. But I feel like the lemon extract and Vitamin C combinations in this mask work very well together, it makes me think of the bleaching effects of lemon juice but maybe not as strong. 

Overall, this mask is great for anyone looking for a convenient, easy to use, natural smelling sleeping pack. I've suddenly become a huge fan of sleeping packs because they aid restoration of your skin whilst you sleep which is brilliant, you wake up to nice skin without having to do much apart from sleep! So I'd definitely recommend this one. It's definitely a lot less work than the Strawberry Toxifying mask (sometimes clay masks are stubborn and take a long time to wash off completely = inconvenience) and can be used anytime during the week as it doesn't really dry your face out if overused either. 

100% recommend, even better if used alongside the Strawberry Toxifying mask during the week. Wouldn't recommend it to be plastered over existing spots though, better to use the toxifying mask or other deep cleansing masks to solve the spot problems before you applying this one. I'd say this mask is more of a acne scar eraser more than a skin maintainer. 

Aloe Vera Rescue!

Aloe vera gel was definitely my November PTM (product of the month).

Due to stress, hormones and whatnot, I've been experiencing episodes of bad skin particularly on my forehead. You know that frustrating feeling when you've tried almost everything to get rid of your spots and when you've just about cleared your skin, some more spots appear.

Aloe vera gel is usually used for sunburns as many holiday goers should be familiar with, I definitely used it on holiday as aftersun and it really does soothe your skin and helps protect it from harm. What I didn't know was that you can use aloe vera gel as a daily moisturiser, to fade acne scars and actually use it to help treat acne!

So I've been using for a couple of weeks now to see if it really does help my spot troubles and I was really surprised to see how much improvement there was even after 2 days. What I particularly love about aloe vera gel is that it soothes my face after washing, reduces redness and the size of spots and also really helps grease control.

If you're not a big fan of creams because you have naturally greasy skin and struggle to find night cream that isn't too greasy (which night creams usually are), then I would definitely recommend aloe vera gel as a substitute. It's not as moisturising as cream based products but it definitely feels nicer and lighter on the face due to it's gel like properties.

I'm currently using the Aloe Vera Gel from Aloe Pura which is only £3.05 from Superdrugs for 100ml!