Review: Clarins New Double Serum

I am about to buy Clarins New Double Serum, I have been circling the Clarins counter in Boots over the last few days and several times have applied the serum to the back of my hand!

Now I know my hand and face are completely different but this serum felt lovely on my hand, it feels nice to apply, it absorbs within minutes, smells nice and leaves the skin feeling really soft.  I am seriously impressed especially as I generally don't have good experiences with serum.  I have found, in the past, they leave my skin feeling oily and have made me break out.  I should probably mention I have combination skin.

On www.clarins.co.uk they say all skin types can use this serum - normal, dry, combination and oily.  The assistant on the Clarins counter told me it helps with skin tone and makes enlarged pores appear smaller - I think that is what convinced me!!

Today was payday and tomorrow is Friday so I am going to treat myself and I will post back shortly with a review - fingers crossed!

Have any of you treated yourself?  I should probably mention that 100ml retails at £55.

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Review

I have now beeing using the serum for 12 days so I thought I would write my review, however I am going to continue to use the product so will probably pop back at some point to let you know how things go after using for longer.

The texture is fairly runny, I pump twice into my clean hands and gently apply to my cleansed face and neck.  The smell is lovely and it feels good going on.  However it leaves my skin quite oily looking for a good ten minutes so I only use this as night, I know the directions say to use morning and night but I am always in a rush in the morning so don't have the time to wait for it to absorb.

I wish I could rave about this product as there has been so much hype and for some reason I totally bought into it and thought this would transform my skin but I can honestly say after using this for the best part of two weeks I can see no difference to my skin.  I have been looking into the mirror each day to see if my pores look smaller or if the redness in my skin has evened out but it hasn't - not one bit.

On the other hand, the serum hasn't made me break out or made my skin oilier so I am going to continue using this.....maybe as I am not using it twice a day it will take me twice as long to see results?! 

I was hoping to come back and rave about this product but I am on the fence at the moment but I will report back again in two or three weeks.

I would love to hear how you are all getting on with this serum if you are using it!

Review: Essie Bordeaux

The Essie varnish in Bordeaux is one of my favourite varnishes, its a fail safe option that I always go back to.

Its a deep dark wine colour and I first discovered it when I asked at a local nail salon if they had a colour similar to Chanel's Rouge Noir and they showed me this!  I fell in love with it.  I find it really suits me, I have very pale skin and some colours just look wrong on me and bring out the blue tones in my skin (not attractive!) but this colour really works for me!

Here is a shot a couple of hours after my manicure:

What are your fail safe varnishes?

Jo Malone Blackberry and Bay Body Creme

In September 2012 I discovered Jo Malone's new Blackberry and Bay fragrance.  I was rushing through Gatwick Airport and bought myself a small bottle as a pre-holiday treat!  I fell in love with the fragrance, I can only describe it as a warm, slightly fruity, woody scent.  It was perfect for autumn. 

Later in autumn I ran out of body lotion so I threw caution to the wind and spent £48 on the Blackberry and Bay Body Creme (picture below)

It was the first time I had ever used a Jo Malone Body Creme and can I just say it was a wonderful experience!  The cream is rich yet absorbs quickly so I would lather this on after a shower.  I suffer from problematic skin in winter, I think its the result of the cold weather and central heating, but this creme meant my skin was happy and didn't feel in the least bit dry.

And the fragrance, well I already knew I loved it and the creme smells equally as good as the perfume and lingers on the skin for a good few hours - it was a pleasure to use and go keep getting the wafts of fragrance!

You cannot see from the photo above but I don't have a single drop of creme left - I was sad to finish it but enjoyed using it so much.  When I am next feeling flush I will treat myself to another Jo Malone body creme but think I will try a different one, I like to wear different scents for the different seasons.  Can anyone recommend a lovely Jo Malone spring scent?

Shellac rocks!

I have tried many of the longlasting gel manicures - BioSculpture, Jessica Geleration and Artistic and I have to say I have been mainly impressed with them but my new favourite is Shellac which is Creative Nail Design's longlasting nail system.

The Shellac system comprises of a base coat, layers of colour and a top coat - all of which are sealed under UV light.  This means there is no waiting around for nails to dry.  It also dries to a high gloss finish.  It really looks stunning and the gloss doesn't wear off either.

CND promise that Shellac will last for two weeks but the few times I have had it done it has lasted three weeks plus!!  The only reason I've had to get it removed is because it was growing out - if my nails didn't grow I'd be keeping it on forever!

So here is a photo of my nails which I got done two weeks and six days ago!!!  You can see it still looks pretty perfect - the only thing is its growing out and my cuticles look a bit shot but that's not Shellac's fault!!  I love this red colour too and I am kicking myself that I can't remember what its called - sorry!

The only good thing about getting Shellac removed is that I can have a manicure and get those cuticles sorted!!  I think I am going to have Essie Russian Roulette put on next - that's my favourite colour at the moment!!