Vichy Aqualia Thermal Awakening Eye Balm

Hello Lovelies

You may have seen in my most recent beauty haul post (see that post here) that I picked up some items from one of my favourite online beauty sites Escentual. One of the items I picked up was the Vichy Aqualia Thermal Awakening Eye Balm. I have very dry and dehydrated skin and although I don't usually use an eye cream as a rule, choosing to use my serum under and around my eyes, my skin has become much worse recently and I thought this might help. 

The packaging is a pale blue plastic tube with a pump dispenser, and silver lid. I like the pump dispenser, it does dispense quite a lot of product so a light hand is needed when pushing down on the pump. 

What Vichy Say About The Eye Balm

Some parts of the face lose water more rapidly than others, meaning that signs of dehydration can appear worse in certain areas. The eye contour can be particularly susceptible to the appearance of dehydration lines due to the fineness of the skin. The eye area feels dry, can look tired and the skin can appear dull. Aqualia Awakening Eye Balm, with an association of sugars, Hyaluronic Acid + Aquabioryl + λ Carragheenans, and caffeine, promotes hydration around the delicate eye area, restoring optimal and even hydration.

• Long-lasting hydration and instant freshness
• Smoothes the look of dehydration lines
• Skin appears plumped with moisture
• 92% of women said their eye contour looked hydrated 

• Suitable for sensitive eyes
• Enriched with Vichy Thermal Spa Water
• Tested under dermatological and ophthalmological control
• No parabens
• No perfume

My Thoughts

I have dehydration lines under my eyes and the skin underneath my eyes is dry and dehydrated, as I said I don't usually use an eye cream, preferring to use my Vichy Aqualia Thermal serum under and around my eyes, but recently my skin has worsened and is much more dry and dehydrated and I saw the Vichy Aquathermal Eye Balm on the Escentual site and thought I would give it a try, so far there isn't a Vichy product I have tried and not liked, so I had high hopes for this product too. 

The eye balm is pale blue and has a gel like texture, a little goes a long way so I only use a small amount. The eye balm feels lovely and very cooling and soothing around the eyes and sinks in nicely. I have been using the eye balm for over 2 weeks now and I have noticed the skin under my eyes feels a lot more hydrated and soft, I haven't yet noticed any difference to the dehydration lines but when I apply the eye balm they do appear smoother and my concealer applies nicely over the top. 

I am really pleased with the Vichy Aqualia Thermal Awakening Eye Balm, the skin underneath my eyes definitely feels more hydrated. The eye balm is a lovely refreshing product that leaves the skin underneath and around my eyes feeling soft and smooth, I have very sensitive and eczema prone skin and do suffer with eczema around my eyes but I haven't experienced any difficulties when using the eye balm. 

The skin around and underneath my eyes is definitely benefiting from me using the Vichy Aqualia Thermal Awakening Eye Balm, it feels soft, smooth and plump and the skin looks and feels nice and bright too. I am hoping that with continued use the dehydration lines fade, but if not the difference the eye balm has made to the way my skin feels is wonderful and I would highly recommend it if you are looking for an affordable eye cream that does what it says on the tin. 

If you would like to try the Vichy eye balm, you can find it on the Escentual website HERE for £12.75 (was £15.00) 

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x

Wishlist Wednesday - Fashion And Beauty Wishlist

Hello Lovelies 

Today I have another "Wishlist Wednesday" post for you and today's wishlist is a fashion and beauty wishlist. I have quite a few items to share with you today so without further ado, here's my fashion and beauty wishlist. 

1. River Island Light Pink Bomber Jacket  - Bomber jackets are everywhere at the moment with so many different colour variations available, I have seen some lovely Khaki and floral ones but this light pink one caught my eye immediately on the River Island website, I love this blush pink shade and think it would be perfect for spring/summer. 

2. Maybelline Vivid Matte Liquid Lipstick in Coral Courage - £6.99 -I have been waiting for these to launch here in the UK for months so I was super excited when I spotted them online, I'm sure you know by now that coral is one of my favourite lip colours for the spring/summer and this looks perfect for me. I am going to be giving away a couple of these soon, so keep an eye out for that giveaway. 

3. Essie Spring 2016 Lounge Lover - £8.99 -  As soon as I saw the Essie 2016 spring collection I knew I would love Lounge Lover, it is right up my street and again coral which needs no explanation, I adore coral nails for the spring/summer, doesn't it look a lovely shade? 

4. River Island Wrap Back Top - £22.00 -  I have a top like this in a neon pink that I bought a couple of years ago from River Island and it still looks lovely, made from quite a thin material they look lovely with a cami under, this is slightly different from my neon one and has a wrap back detail, I would wear a white cami style vest top underneath and think it would look lovely with my skinny jeans, I'm just a bit unsure if the colour will clash with my blonde hair. 

5. ASOS Drew Pink Trainers - £25.00 -  I love these, I have some Adidas Superstar trainers and have seen some plain peachy/pink Adidas trainers which I featured on my Instagram page recently but they are expensive and I would only get the same amount of wear out of the ASOS ones which are a lot cheaper, I really like these and think they make a change from my ballet pumps for the spring/summer.

6. Accessorize Bethany Statement Necklace - £25.00 - If you have been reading my blog for some time you will know that I adore statement necklaces and during the spring/summer I wear them a lot, I think they can completely change an outfit and this one is beautiful, I love it, it's quite expensive so I think I will wait to see if there are any discount codes available before ordering. I have some other Accessorize statement necklaces that I have had for a couple of years and they have worn really well, so I assume this would too. 

7. Pixi Glow Mist - £16.00 -  I have heard really great things about the Pixi skin care and went on the hunt after reading the lovely Beautylymin blog post about Pixi skin care, when I saw the Glow Mist I thought it might be good for my super dry skin to use before applying my foundation as I'm having problems with how my foundation looks due to my skin being extremely dry at the moment, I have only ever tried the Pixi Glow Tonic but there are so many other skin care products I'd love to try from Pixi. 

8. New Look Shell Pink 3/4 Length Sleeve Blazer - £27.00 I love this blazer and the pale pink shade too, it is also available in pastel blue, black and cream if the pink isn't your thing, I always end up pushing blazer sleeves up so the 3/4 length sleeves are perfect for me, I like the waffle texture too and think it would look lovely with a white vest top, skinny jeans and that Accessorize statement necklace too. I'm finding spring/summer jackets difficult to find and as I really need some new ones, I think this would be lovely. 

So those are all the items in my wishlist, which item is your favourite? Are there any items you would like to pick up for yourself? Let me know in the comments, I would love to know your thoughts. 

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x

Nars Audacious Lipstick - Kelly

Hello Lovelies

For my birthday back in February I received one of the Nars Audacious lipsticks in the shade Kelly, I only own 1 other Nars lipstick in the shade Mitzi which I bought around 6 years ago, I also have a couple of the Nars lip pencils. I wore Kelly recently and realised that I hadn't ever written a post on it,  and after I wrote my "what I got for my birthday" post (see that post here)  so many of you were interested in my thoughts, so I thought it was time I shared them with you. 

The packaging of the lipstick is plain black with a matte metal finish and the Nars logo in a satin finish, the lipstick has a magnetic closure which for me is amazing, I adore lipsticks with a magnetic closure, is it me or is there something really satisfying about that "click"?

The Nars Audacious lipsticks come in 40 shades which is a brilliant shade range and there are some stunning shades, all the shades have women's names and are named after women who have inspired Francois Nars over the years. As I said I have the shade Kelly, described as coral hibiscus, it is a bright coral/red with warm undertones and has a satin finish. The lipstick has incredible pigmentation and is opaque in one swipe, it doesn't feel drying at all on the lips and doesn't bleed or feather. 

The shape of the lipstick makes it easy to apply, the tip is pointed meaning I can get a precise application and I love that it has the Nars logo embossed into the lipstick too, I like little touches like that on makeup products. The lipstick applies well and feels nice on the lips, the colour payoff is incredible as is the wear time for a satin finish lipstick. I get around 7 hours wear time from the lipstick which for a satin finish I think is brilliant. Kelly is as described as coral hibiscus, I wouldn't describe it as a true coral, it's more a bright coral/red. Kelly is a lovely colour and one I would wear all year round, usually I wear a lot of true coral lip colours during the spring/summer but I will definitely wear Kelly all year round, I feel it will look nice in autumn/winter as a nice bright lip during the colder months. 

Me wearing the Nars Audacious Lipstick in Kelly 

The audacious lipsticks aren't the cheapest of lipsticks at £24 each but if you don't mind paying that, I would definitely say to give them a try, there are some incredible shades and with so many shades available there really is a shade to suit everyone, there are some beautiful nudes, pinks and reds that look as if they'd be right up my street! 

You can find the Nars Audacious Lipsticks on a number of different websites including John Lewis, House Of Fraser, Feel Unique and ASOS  all for £24 with Feel Unique offering free delivery. 

Have you tried the Nars Audacious Lipsticks? Which shade/shades would you like to try? Chat with me in the comments and let me know.

Thank you for reading, much love as always 

Zoe x

Klorane Nettle Sebo Regulating Dry Shampoo

Hello Lovelies

I suffer from very oily hair and it is the bane of my life, I have tried numerous dry shampoo's over the years always looking for the perfect one and each time a new dry shampoo is launched I will always try it, so far I have found some I like and some I absolutely hate but I have never found a dry shampoo that makes my hair have look like it's been washed and that I absolutely adore. 

At the beginning of April, one of my favourite websites for purchasing beauty items Escentual announced they were having up to a third off all French pharmacy brands throughout April, I immediately went on their website and compiled a wishlist. I then wrote this post featuring my wishlist and one of the things on my wishlist was the Klorane Oatmilk Dry Shampoo, I posted my wishlist pic on Instagram and Klorane commented on it and said that they thought the Nettle dry shampoo would be good for my hair, I thought this was so kind of them as they must have read my blog post and then took the time to comment. 

Since Escentual had such a brilliant offer on I decided to take advantage of it and I purchased some of the things on my wishlist (see my haul post here) and one of those things was the Klorane Nettle Sebo Regulating dry shampoo. 

To give you an idea of how oily my hair is, if my hair is washed in a morning at around 8am using a regular every day use shampoo, my hair will be oily by 6pm and will definitely need washing the following morning. If my hair is washed using a clarifying shampoo, I can usually get away with wearing my hair up the day after and using some dry shampoo and sometimes if I've used a very good clarifying shampoo I can go another day wearing my hair up with dry shampoo but I can't ever leave my hair down 2 days running even with dry shampoo. 

The first time I used the Klorane dry shampoo my hair was very greasy/oily, it had been washed on the Saturday and it was Tuesday when I used it so as you can imagine after 72 hours without washing it resembled an oil slick, I followed the instructions on the can and the dry shampoo was sprayed into my hair, left for 2 minutes and brushed out. When the dry shampoo was sprayed into my hair it did leave a white powder but when my hair was brushed I looked in the mirror and actually said "oh my God, look at my hair" I couldn't believe it, my hair looked like it had been washed, it didn't look white or powdery and just looked like it had been washed, I wore my hair in a pony tail and it wasn't greasy/oily at all. 

Later that morning I was speaking to my friend via Whats App video call and I was telling her about how amazing the dry shampoo was and she said to me "it's funny you know because before you told me about that dry shampoo, I thought to myself that you'd had your hair washed and put up today" so she thought my hair had been washed which is proof of how good it looked. I have recently used the dry shampoo the day after my hair was washed and was able to have my hair straightened and wear it down the day after my hair was washed which doesn't happen for me, I always have to wear it up. 

I have to say this is without doubt the best dry shampoo I have ever used, if my daughter Cole were describing it, she'd say "it's the dry shampoo of life" and it really is, I am so impressed with it, for me to use it 72 hours after my hair was washed and my hair to look freshly washed is nothing short of a miracle. I asked my daughter Lissy to use the dry shampoo as she has brown hair I thought it would be a good test to see if she would be left with any white powder in her hair but she wasn't, when she first sprayed the dry shampoo into her hair she said she had white powder in her hair but once she brushed it out after leaving it a couple of minutes, it all brushed out and you couldn't see anything, Lissy is also really impressed and said she will continue to use the dry shampoo and she was really pleased with the results too, she is like me and suffers from very oily hair that needs washing daily but she used this the day after washing her hair and styled it as normal. 

I cannot recommend the Klorane Nettle Sebo Regulating dry shampoo enough, it is incredible and is the best dry shampoo I have ever used and I will continue to re purchase it, I am so pleased with it, Klorane also have a nettle shampoo in their range and I would love to try that to see if it helps control the oil in my hair so that is definitely next on my "to purchase" list. 

If you would like to try the Klorane Nettle Sebo Regulating dry shampoo, you can find it on the Escentual website HERE for £8.00 150ml. 

Do you suffer with oily hair? Have you tried this dry shampoo or their nettle shampoo? 

Thank you for reading, much love as always 

Zoe x