Amie Spring Clean Deep Cleansing Mask

Amie Spring Clean Deep Cleansing Mask* - £5.95

The weekend is always an ideal time for some pampering. You can fit in all of the beauty maintenance that you sometimes just don't have time for during the week. I particularly look forward to tidying up my eyebrows, painting my nails & putting on a face mask. The mask I use depends on how well my skin has been behaving that week. More often than not I go for a clay mask as they help to draw out impurities & soak up excess oil. One of my most recent skincare discoveries is Amie's Spring Clean Deep Cleansing Mask. All of Amie's products are very affordable yet they boast many high quality natural ingredients. Their gentle formulas are perfect for those with young or sensitive skin. If you're consciously trying to avoid things like parabens, SLS & mineral oil in your skincare products then it's well worth taking a look at what they have to offer.

The Spring Clean mask is a thick minty cream with the same green colour as the packaging. I like to apply all of my face masks with a flat foundation brush & this one is meant to be left on for 10 minutes. It feels incredibly luxurious & instantly refreshes the skin. It doesn't dry up completely like some clay masks but it does set into place. With a harmonious blend of organic peppermint, white clay & lime butter, this mask helps to purify pores for a brighter, clearer complexion. It also features zinc which promotes skin healing and glycerin which softens & hydrates the skin. The minty fresh tingling sensation can feel quite intense & continues even after washing off the face mask. The first time I used it the tingling was so extreme that it kinda felt burning. However on subsequent applications it wasn't anywhere near as bad & just felt like it was cleaning out my skin. The mint didn't make my complexion look red or irritated at all so I persevered with the product & now I can really see the benefits. If you're sensitive to mint then this might not be for you, otherwise it's a delightfully cooling treat for the skin.

After using this mask my skin is left feeling really clean & fresh. My complexion looks brighter, more radiant & less tired. The formula helps to regulate oil production so everything is better balanced. My T-Zone is less oily & my cheeks feel much softer. It tightens up the skin & makes my pores look practically invisible. This mask definitely delivers on it's deep cleansing claims. It has a huge impact upon the appearance of my nose & chin. Those areas are left looking super smooth without a sebaceous filament in sight! I also like to use the Spring Clean mask as a spot treatment. It helps to keep blemishes at bay as the combination of white clay with zinc oxide reduces redness & inflammation whilst unclogging pores. This lovely clay mask from Amie can work wonders on congested skin & at less than £6 per tube, it won't stretch your purse strings too far either!

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Love Me Beauty Box October 2013

Love Me Beauty Box* - £10 + £2.95 Delivery

Last month's Love Me Beauty box (previously BeautecoBox) was definitely an exciting one with four full sized products and just one sample. Love Me Beauty provide you with three different boxes to choose from which sets them apart from any other beauty box on the market. I was really looking forward to trying out some Lord & Berry products for the first time and the inclusion of a full sized bottle of eye makeup remover meant that I decided to opt for menu 3.

Balm Balm Indulge Bath & Shower Oil
I've made a conscious effort to have more baths than showers recently because there's just so many lovely bath salts, oils, bombs etc. out there. I love the NEOM bath oils so I had high hopes for this one & it smells gorgeous. It contains essential oils of ylang ylang, patchouli, & clary sage so the scent is quite a deep & musky floral one. It is incredibly relaxing and this little bottle lasted for 3 baths. A very indulgent organic bathtime treat. You can also pop some on a flannel for use in the shower or dab a drop on your pulse points for some instant relaxation.

Weleda Millet Nourishing Shampoo
This millet shampoo contains macadamia nut oil, extracts of organic millet husks and sage to gently cleanse and nourish your hair. Weleda are known for their natural eco-friendly products. This shampoo is SLS free and features extract of grapefruit & peppermint. The smell is kinda like minty porridge, which I have to admit I like haha. This was the sample of the box so the tube was a little bit small for my hair. I used it on Chloe instead and it made her hair really shiny. She has really frizzy curly hair so it didn't do much for the condition of it but it works as a gentle shampoo suitable for the whole family. However the full size bottle costs £9 so I can't see myself repurchasing it.

Amie Bright Eyes
I've tried a few Amie products now & they're a great choice if you want good skincare on a budget. I recently ran out of Bioderma so this product is one of the main reasons I chose this particular box. This eye makeup remover is very gentle and doesn't make my eyes sting at all. It features meadow cornflower, chamomile, grape water & cucumber to cleanse whilst soothing & refreshing the eye area at the same time. It is oil-free so there's no horrible greasiness afterwards. It manages to remove my normal eye makeup really well but it completely failed when I tried to get off the Lord & Berry waterproof products. For that reason I think I prefer micellar waters because the oil content in those helps to remove waterproof mascara without leaving any greasiness either. This works perfectly well on everyday makeup. I do seem to be getting through the bottle rather quickly though!

Lord & Berry Scuba Mascara
I go swimming every week so I've been looking for a good waterproof mascara. This came very close but it was let down by one thing - it is incredibly dry. If you ignore that dryness though, this makes your lashes look stunning. Never has anything made my lashes look so long or hold a curl like this before. They were almost touching my eyebrows! I had to run the tube under a hot tap first to get anything out though, which really isn't acceptable for a new product. The dryness also made my lashes quite flaky & I had some black bits drop down underneath my eyes. It is definitely waterproof though and it took a bit of effort with some cleansing oil & a muslin cloth to remove it properly. It's just frustrating that this was so dry because it had so much potential!

Lord & Berry Smudgeproof Eyeliner in Smoke
This waterproof eyeliner is actually grey in colour. It looks really nice & is a softer alternative to black eyeliner. This stuff does not move! It doesn't run, smudge or transfer at all & only comes off with an oil-based makeup remover. However again there were a couple of problems with this Lord & Berry product. The edges of the pencil were raised above the nib so I had to sharpen it a bit first before I could use it. It also wouldn't show up at all on my waterline. Instead I'd recommend using it all over the lid & then blending it out quickly with a MAC 217 brush. It does set quickly so you do have to work fast. I do like this product & the colour is pretty unique so I can see myself using this a lot. Grey smokey eye looks are my fave.

This is the first time I've felt a little bit disappointed with my Love Me Beauty box. I think it was mainly let down by the Lord & Berry products because they had the potential to be amazing but fell at the last hurdle. Apparently some other people have experienced problems with those products too. Product quality and customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance to Love Me Beauty, so they have released this statement:

"It has come to our attention that some products dispatched in our October box from our long term partner Lord & Berry, have not met the high standards set by Lord & Berry and ourselves. As our customers are the heart of our business, this has been brought to the attention of Lord & Berry's head office. Lord & Berry has set a team to investigate as to why the products fell below the high standards that they set themselves and are making additional quality checks to all of their products that they send internationally. As a gesture of goodwill and apology to our members, Lord & Berry will be providing in next month’s box a full sized lipstick which retails at £12 to all members. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

I think it's brilliant that they're putting things right and are giving everyone a free lipstick next month. It shows that they do care about the feedback they get from customers and don't just fob people off with a statement (take note, Bleach London). You can subscribe to Love Me Beauty for £10 a month plus £2.95 delivery with no minimum subscription term. Visit the Love Me Beauty website to find out more.

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Amie Morning Clear Purifying Facial Wash

Amie Morning Clear Purifying Facial Wash* - £4.95

I am totally willing to admit that I am a skincare snob and as a rule I tend to stick to premium brands. But recently I've found myself pleasantly surprised by some purse friendlier options. Amie are a brand with prices at the lower end of the spectrum but their products are packed full of high-quality natural & botanical ingredients. They leave out all the nasties like parabens, SLS and mineral oil too. Perfect for those of us with sensitive skin. I've been trying out their Morning Clear Purifying Facial Wash and I'm really impressed with this cleanser.

The product is a thick pink cream that feels very luxurious on the skin. After washing it off my skin is left feeling incredibly soft and plump. I keep wanting to stroke my face when I use this as it just feels so nice and smooth! I normally use a cleansing oil or micellar water first to remove my makeup but this does a pretty good job of getting off makeup all on it's own. The active ingredients in this cleanser are mayblossom & elderflower which help to control oil and prevent new blemishes. I'm a big fan of the REN Mayblossom Cleanser as it really decongests the skin so it's nice to know that this has similar ingredients. It also features orange blossom & raspberry to tone and refresh the skin. These also make the cleanser smell amazing & fruity. The cocoa seed butter & sweet almond oil it contains deeply nourish and add moisture to skin. When I use this I feel like I need to use much less Hydraluron and moisturiser as so much has already been added to my skin just by using this cleanser.

As I have combination skin I generally reserve this cleanser for night time. It's very rich and hydrating so it's a bit much for me to use twice a day and I find my skin needs a gel cleanser in the morning to balance it out. It would be ideal for anyone with dry or dehydrated skin though. I was slightly concerned that such rich ingredients would clog my pores but this has helped to hydrate my skin without causing blackheads or closed comedones. Despite being so moisturising it actually balances out my oiliness and doesn't leave a film on my face. Amie are the kind of brand I wish had been around when I was younger. Their products have much nicer ingredients than most of the stuff you find in Boots or Superdrug. Much like the Superfacialist range, this is one drugstore product that I can actually see myself repurchasing.

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