Review: No7 Radiance Revealed Exfoliator

What they say: (From Boots.com) No7 Radiance Revealed Exfoliator contains a special blend of different sized exfoliating particles, this light and gentle facial exfoliator deeply cleanses, helps promote cell renewal and refines pores, leaving skin soft, smooth, energised and glowing with health. No7 Radiance Revealed Exfoliator contains natural fruit acids to brighten skin, plus conditioning pro-vitamin B5.

Price: £8

Swatch:
What I think: When I first started using this exfoliator, I didn't like it because I wasn't used to using an exfoliator with 'plastic' beads (I'd only ever used scrubs like the St. Ives Apricot Scrub). Now I love this exfoliator!

I really like that there wasn't a scent to this product. It has a clean smell, but isn't overly fragranced. It leaves my skin feeling really soft and gets rid of any flaky bits on my face. I feel like my skin does look brighter after use. I also found that it didn't dry out my skin.

The beads disperse really quickly, so some areas have loads of beads while some areas have none. I find that regardless of this, my skin feels exfoliated the same amount all over my face. The beads get everywhere! If you don't rinse the exfoliator off throughly, you may find a few blue beads in your hair the next day!

This is only a 75ml tube, but you only need a small amount each time so it will last for ages. £8 for such a small tube is a little expensive, but not as much as other brands. I used a £5 off voucher to buy this and was happy to pay £3, but may be a little hesitant if I had to part with £8 for this again as I like the St Ives scrub as well and you get double the amount for approximately half the price.

What are your favourite exfoliators?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

And Plié

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" - Martha Graham

I was re-watching Black Swan last night and it reminded me how much I love ballet and how much I miss taking ballet lessons. Ballet has always been one of my passions/hobbies. I took ballet lessons from the age of 3 to 18 and dance kind of consumed my life. I had to do a 5 minute presentation about one of my hobbies at a uni interview, so I decided to do it about the Royal Ballet. Approximately 10 minutes, 35 slides and millions of photos later, I was still talking... Oops! Although I wasn't always in love with it, as I grew up I fell more in love with the steps, the musicality and the prima ballerinas. I stopped taking ballet lessons due to my A-Levels and really wish I hadn't. I'm tempted to look for an adult ballet class in Birmingham, but my uni timetable will be rather crazy next year, so I don't know if that will be a possibility...

Inspired by 'Black Swan' and all the ballet trends at the moment, I decided to share a few of my favourite ballet photos with you. It took me ages to pick these, because I have so many favourites!

Alina Cojocaru

Svetlana Zakharova

Angel Corella and Julie Kent

Photos: Dance.net, Google.co.uk, GeneSchiavone.com

Do/Did any of you take ballet lessons? What are your passions?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Review: Soap and Glory Flakeaway

What they say: (From Boots.com) Superhero-strength skin smoothing body exfoliator with shea butter, sweet almond oil, peach seed powder, sea salt and sugar. Flake Away™ a spa-strength dry skin body scrub.

Price: £2.35

What I think: I know so many people that love this product and consider it 'holy grail' material, but I think I'm among one of the few people to not like this product.

I won this 50ml tub of Flakeaway in Leah's giveaway. I think it's great that Soap and Glory make full size products, which are perfect for use at home and mini sizes, which are great for travelling and/or testing out products before committing to a large tub.

Flakeaway has large salt particles in it, making it super gritty. I loved this, because it gives me the mindset that it's actually polishing my skin. It smells amazing and I found that the scent really lingered on the skin after stepping out of the shower. I was in Boots recently and noticed that you can buy an eau de parfum of the scent! That's definitely going on my wishlist!

Positives aside, here are my grumbles about this product. Firstly, I really wish it was in a tube! I hate using things in tubs when I'm in the shower, because you have to be careful not to get the water into the product, while holding the tub, getting the product out and putting the lid back on. I also find that tubs are less hygienic. I guess an advantage of having it in a tub is that you can get every last bit out.

Next, I really hated the oiliness of the product. It feels greasy in the shower as you spread it out over your skin and leaves this kind of residue on your skin. I'm guessing it's down to the sweet almond oil or something. I used this before shaving my legs and I found that the residue was coming off as I ran the razor over my legs and clogging up the razor head. I really don't like oily exfoliators, because all the residue makes me feel like I haven't washed properly/I'm not clean enough, if that makes sense. My skin did feel moisturised after getting out of the shower, but I put moisturiser on after I shower anyway so I didn't really care for that.

All in all, I really wanted to like this product. But I just can't get over the oily residue left on my skin. If you're considering this product, please don't let me put you off! There are so many people that love this.

Have you ever used Soap & Glory Flakeaway? Did you love it or hate it?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Project Empties #5

I had barely any empties at the end of May, so I've combined the past two months together. I might continue to do that for 'Project Empties' posts...

Throughout May/June, I've been a little lazy and used face wipes to remove my make-up. I normally buy cheap own brand face wipes, but after using the Neutrogena ones, I don't think I can go back!

Neutrogena Deep Clean Make-up Remover Refreshing Oil Free Wipes
Review: I absolutely loved these! They took off my make-up easily, including waterproof mascara, and didn't leave any residue on my face. They didn't make me breakout and have a pleasant, non over powering scent. I haven't seen many places stock these particular face wipes, which is annoying. For face wipes, these are quite expensive at approximately £3-something, but I think they're worth it!
Would I repurchase? Yes

Tesco Vitamin E Cleansing Wipes
Review: After using the Neutrogena ones, these felt inferior! I found that they weren't particularly moist and it took more effort to remove my make-up than the Neutrogena ones. But for approximately 75p, you can't really complain! They didn't leave a residue on my face and since they are from the Vitamin E range, they smelt nice.
Would I repurchase? No

I have so many moisturisers, that it takes me ages to use them up. But I find I always finish a couple at the same time. Does this happen to anyone else?

Garnier Youthful Radiance Night Moisturiser
Review: Here
Would I repurchase? Probably not

Oilatum Natural Repair Face Cream
Review: Here

Would I repurchase? Yes, if I can find it!

Superdrug Vitamin E Face Exfoliator
Review: I really didn't like this. It had large oat particles (I think they were oats or something like that...), which went everywhere. I'd occasionally wake up the next day with a piece of oat stuck in hair! I felt it was too abrasive for my face, so I started using it as a body exfoliator.
Would I repurchase? No

L'Oreal Full Restore 5 Replenishing Conditioner

Review: I guess it was ok... It made my hair feel soft and I really like the smell of it. I didn't feel that it lived up to its claims of targetting weak, limp, lifeless, non shiny and non silky hair to become replenished and restored. I bought some Aussie conditioner recently and have been loving that, so this was made redundant and I've been using this when I shave my legs instead!
Would I repurchase? No

Finished Items: 6
Accumulative Finished Items from December 2010 to June 2011: 19

What have you finished up recently?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy