Simple - day 4

The wipes. Well I turned the packet upside down as I said in my last post and it has made so much difference. It has made the wipes so much more effective. They feel really rather refreshing and leave skin feeling really clean and fresh, although they were used this morning on a make-up free face.

I still think the toner is not worth that extra step. Although having said that I guess if you are a lazy moo like me and use wipes instead of a facial wash then its no bad thing to tone, just to get skin that extra bit clean.

The moisturiser. Hmm. It is nice enough, but being a 31 year old mother of two kids, who doesn't sleep well I feel that it is just too, er, Simple! It is what I would imagine would be a perfect moisturiser for those who are young, wrinkle free and fresh faced! But I feel that my skin needs more softening, hard working ingredients, ones that I can really feel working and keep the smoothness going all day. This appears to lose its softening powers after a few hours. The more I use it, the less time it keeps my face hydrated and soft.

I will carry on with it for a few more days, otherwise it will go in the travel pack and be taken on holiday, being travel sized and all!

I have a crush......

A girl crush to be exact! http://www.cherryhealey.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cherry-Healey/138114232896012

Cherry first came to my attention in the BBC3 documentary about female drinking, and since then I have watched all of her programmes since. She has taken over from Dawn Porter and Anna Richardson as my favourite, down to earth tv presenter.

She is so so likeable, and appears to relate to everyone, you can see that everyone she interviews from the rich, poor, old, young and all the extremes of people she meets just seem to adore her.

Her issues in the shows range from parenting, marriage, childbirth, money and body issues. All things that concern modern women these days, especially those of a similar age to Cherry. Which is me!

She has the ability to make me laugh, a lot, and cry, a lot and nod my head, a lot! She is willing to do some crazy things for the show, be at a home birth, hitch hike for 5 hours. Rummage in bins and the funniest, being wagged up by a load of wannabe wags!

Cherry is someone that you could really imagine being friends with and I think that helps hugely when it comes to good tv presenters. Down to earth, funny without trying too hard and natural with everyone, and very very brave!

Her series is currently running on BBC3, Mondays at 9pm

My Soap and Glory essentials

Every Christmas for 3 or maybe 4 years I receive at least one present that upon unwrapping contains the iconic blank and pink packaging of a Soap and Glory gift set, and my heart always soars as it is my favourite body care brand.

For years I have been a chop and changer when it comes to shower stuff, body lotions and creams and often get seduced by something new and shiny with promises of sparkle, softness, moisture, firming, yada yada yada.

Soap and Glory is one brand that I use 99% of the time and buy it as well as wait for my gift box, which having a great mum, is usually the biggest gift set in Boots!

My favourites are

http://www.boots.com/en/Soap-Glory-Flake-Away-trade-Body-Scrub-300ml_27894/

This is heaven. The smell is divine and it is packed full of exfoliating granules, which I love! It is like a spa strength scrub and it really zings up my skin and the oils in are really moisturising too. The scent lasts for hours. 9 hours post shower and my arms are still soft and fragrant. A must buy for lovers of body scrubs!

http://www.boots.com/en/Soap-Glory-The-Righteous-Butter-trade-Body-Butter-300ml_27858/

This has the same fragrance as the Flake Away scrub and is a gorgeous rich and buttery (who'd a thunk it?!) texture and is readily absorbed without being greasy. I tend to use this more in the colder months, when the scrub and mositure rich body wash won't really cut it alone.

A little goes a long way, although the pot makes it tempting to just dive in and scoop out a handful!

http://www.boots.com/en/Soap-Glory-Clean-On-Me-trade-Creamy-Clarifying-Shower-Gel-500ml_27846/

Again, the same Original Pink fragrance. This is a lovely body wash and lathers up really well if you use the body puff (there own super sized puff is amazing!) Skin is left feeling soft and sweet, and in warmer months I find I don't need to follow on with a body moisturiser.

http://www.boots.com/en/Soap-Glory-The-Breakfast-Scrub-trade-Body-Exfoliator-300ml_1114195/

This is a fairly new S&G product. I got it in a gift pack as being a devoted Flake Away fan I would have other wise ignored this! It smells like breakfast, in all honesty the name gives that away but I wasn't expecting it to smell of sweet, honeyed porridge!

It is a nice scrub, it is not as hardcore as Flake Away, so people of a softer nature will love it. It is amazingly softening, thanks to the oats, shea and honey.

Now for my fail safe, speedy shower cream!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SOAP-GLORY-FOAM-BODY-200ml/dp/B005GH4IYQ/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1313866586&sr=8-13

This is the bees knees. I adore it, it smells fresh and fab, and totally different to the Original Pink, which I love but sometimes want a fresh scent. This lathers up a treat, using a fairly small 10p sized blob. I use a body puff but once that is lathered and I have bubbled up I also rub with my hands, and this releases little blobs of moisturiser and it feels totally amazing! Skin is hydrated and radiant once out of the shower and dry. A fail safe that appears to be off the Boots website, and S&G's. Which is concerning!

Review - Simple wipes

I confess my sins today. I slept in my make-up. I know, I know, shoot me now. I actually forgot I was wearing it, but thats another review!

So this morning I used a wipe. I am a fan of using wipes to take off the general make-up and I also like to use a cleanser as well. But alas today I did not have time.

On taking the wipe out of the pack I was pleased at how thick and lux it felt, really soft as well. Sadly this is the only good news, I wiped, and wiped in circular motions to get the grime off and it just didn't feel 'cleansing'. The wipe felt quite dry, so I have put the packet to store upside down to see if the next one is more wet.

There was no real smell, no irritation and no dragging of the wipe.

The real problem came when I came to tone, two pads of toner, all coming up with make-up on them still! This tells me the wipes were not so good. So when my daughters friends have gone I have to go and cleanse my face again!

I guess if you come home from a big night out, these wipes would be better than nothing (says me, bit rich eh!) but I wouldn't recommend them for daily use, unless you use them pre-cleanse.

http://www.boots.com/en/Simple-Kind-To-Skin-Cleansing-Wipes-25_784/

Nails, nails nails

Make-up time. Mainly nail polish! Now I do not wear make-up on a daily basis, even if I am leaving the house. Apart from a few scars and the odd teenage breakout (at 31! thanks!) I think my skin is ok, although I hate hate hate my ruddy farmers wife cheeks!

Anyhoo, nails. My nails are NEVER bare. I am aware in some beauty circles this is a crime, but why would slightly yellow nails bother me when I have them covered all the time?

Now, I am not quite sure on my skin tone anymore! Facially I used to be more pinky, but now I have a tan (yuck!) I seem to suit warmer shades. The same is for my hands too, they have taken on a yellowish tone, as opposed to blue. But I still like to mix it up with a wide range of colours.

So this is my first nail review!

http://www.boots.com/en/LOreal-Paris-Resist-Shine-Titanium-Nail-Polish_863461/ in 732

Don't be fooled by the colour on the website.This is not purple. It is black shot through with purple shimmer. It takes on an almost inky blue after 2 fairly thick coats. The brush is a pain, very thin. But this is not a problem for me, been doing my nails for y

ears and am used to all sorts!

I find these some of the best, hard wearing 'high street' polishes. No chips, and often I get nail regrowth at the cuticle before any tip wear. As my nails grow quickly this is usually after 5-6 days.

Here are some pics. In

this light you can see the purple shimmer.

Whereas the bottom two pics seem to have the inky blue tones visible.

My Simple Skincare, first use review

Ok, so my first review of this was going to be post make-up but I like to cleanse etc pre make-up so decided to try this.

This is what I used http://www.boots.com/en/Simple-Refreshing-Facial-Wash-50ml_955963/

So, on opening this I had the essential sniff. It smelt of nothing, well not quite nothing, its that non smell. No chemicals, no perfumes etc. I must admit to being a sucker for a nice smell!

I dampened my face and lathered a 5 pence piece sized between my damp palms to create an impressively creamy lather, no synthetic looking, washing up bubbles here!

I removed the product with a damp muslin, I use nothing less these days as I love the feeling it gives me and my skin.

All in all, actually a little gem, and not bad for less than £3.50 for the full 150ml size.

http://www.boots.com/en/Simple-Soothing-Facial-Toner-50ml_956091/

Onto the toner. I will admit I do not use, nor generally like toners. Cliniques Clarifying lotion for one is a horror for my skin, and it is not sensitive. I use http://www.superdrug.com/toner/garnier-pure-astringent-200ml/invt/596619/&bklist= when I feel my pores have taken on a crater like appearance, thank you mother nature.

I am also partial to the fine smelling, non stinging and glorious http://uk.lizearle.com/cleanse-tone-moisturise/instant-boost-skin-tonic.html it is a heaven for the skin.

Back to the Simple range. Honestly? Just a bit meh. It had the same non smell as the cleanser, felt fine using it, but to be frank I could have just put water on the pad and I wouldn't have known the difference. There was certainly not traces of any grime or cleanser on the pad. It was just a bit pointless. Although for die hard toner fans, I would say that it is worth using if you have sensitive skin but don't want to skip toning, nor do you want to use virtual paint stripper on your delicate face!

http://www.boots.com/en/Simple-Hydrating-Light-Moisturiser-50ml_955955/

Final step. Hmm, well firstly the bottle is super annoying. It is not a pourable moisturiser, it is in a bottle that has no pump. When you squeeze said bottle it gives you far too much and its not the kind of bottle you can put it back into! Pump bottle or jars for me!

Gripe over. Smell wise, it actually has a smell. It is a light, kind of natural smelling smell. Not really anything to write home about.

Performance wise it is quite thick, but feels light on the face, hence the name I guess! Due to the amount that came out I did have to wipe my hands to continue massaging it into my skin. It left my skin feeling moisturised but in no way heavy and was light enough to use on my oily t-zone. 1 hour later and my skin still feels lovely and moisturised.

I like it, but not sure how it will hold up as a night time moisturiser, but I shall report back in the morning!

http://www.boots.com/en/Simple-Kind-To-Skin-Cleansing-Wipes-25_784/

Watch this space, trying these a bit later, or maybe tomorrow

I have won a prize!

Many thanks to www.mydaily.co.uk!

So I got this -

It is a travel pack by Simple. Tbh I have never really tried much in the way of the cheaper end of face care.

Having said that I am also a little useless with keeping up my face care routine (I know, sacrilegious huh?!) But for my (hopefully) eventual followers, I shall test this for you!

I shall use twice daily and let you know what I think!

Which involves maybe showing pics of my face post make up removal with said products to test the effectiveness, feel any tremors? Yep thats me, feeling nervous at what I have just promised! So, I shall report tonight after make-up removal for first impressions. Then again in 7 days to let you know how it has fared on my ageing skin!