ESPA Skincare: Haul & First Impressions

Armed with a £30 gift voucher*, I took to the ESPA website in the search for something nice to treat myself too. Not something that I needed, just something that I wanted - as you do when you have a gift voucher in hand! Something that I wouldn't usually buy myself, and something deemed a luxury. After a thorough browse of ESPA's extensive skincare range, I finally settled on a pair of products and chose my four free samples that are available with every order. ESPA is a fairly new brand to me, and these are the first products that I have tried from them so I thought that I would share with you what I chose and my first impressions of them:

Nourishing Cleansing Balm - 13g / £14.50

Essential Cleansing Mask - 55ml / £27.50

With the ever growing popularity of Emma Hardie's cleansing balm, I wanted in on the action of this particular style of cleanser and opted for the smaller of the two available sizes for ESPA's Nourishing Cleansing Balm. The small glass jar looks amazingly luxurious and I absolutely love the pattern on the lid! Unique, isn't it? This balm contains beeswax and just a small amount is massaged all over the skin, melting from the body heat on the skin, and it removes make up and other skin impurities before turning into a rich cream once mixed with water. It is so softening and relaxing on the skin and really helps it to feel fresh and purified. It also feels really supple and moisturised after using this, so if your skin is a little tight or dry here's a cleanser to try. I opted for the Essential Cleansing Mask in the only size available (55ml) and the product is a creamy soft clay that feels almost like an extremely rich moisturiser and this just completes the ultimate spa experience feeling - a generous layer is to be left on the skin for up to 20 minutes to help clear excess oils, impurities and congestion. It also contains antiseptic qualities to help heal and perfect any blemishes on the skin.

Free Samples:

Pink Hair and Scalp Mud (15ml)

Refining Skin Polish (7ml)

Skin Radiance Mask (7ml)

Skin Radiance Moisturiser (7ml)

I thought it was a lovely touch that every order comes with four complimentary samples to trial, and in generous sizes too - all of the skincare comes in 7ml tubes, whilst the haircare was a larger 15ml tube. The Pink Hair and Scalp Mud is one that I opted for out of curiosity - it's not something I've seen before, but it's the only product from the bundle that I didn't feel extremely impressed by. The pink mud works on the scalp to nourish and soothe and stimulate hair growth as well as strengthening the hair. My hair didn't feel much different from using this, but then again I did only get two uses from it and it can be hard to tell from a sample that small. However, I have taken a particularly strong liking to the Skin Radiance Moisturiser recently and know I'll be buying the full size in the not too distant future. It's not just a fad tinted moisturiser to fake radiance, this actually treats the skin with Hawaiian algae to dissolve away dead skin cells and other ingredients to stimulate new skin cell renewal with extracts of mulberry and liquorice to brighten and even the skin tone. The Skin Radiance Mask contains very similar ingredients to the moisturiser and works in a very similar way; just it works in an intense 10 minute time period. The Refining Skin Polish (can you tell I'm on a radiance mission yet?) contains the finest grains of exfoliating magic that I have ever felt and really helps to buff away dead skin cells and clear out pores. It also contains shea butter to soften the skin.

The products are available from ESPA online with free delivery on orders over £40, and also in selected stores such as John Lewis and Liberty.

Thanks for reading!

Follow Me On Twitter - Follow Me On Bloglovin'

* £30 voucher c/o ESPA provided part-payment for these products.

Voting is open for the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2013
Cosmetic Crave has been shortlisted for 'Best New Beauty Blog'

Spare a minute to vote for your favourite blog(s) here:
http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/blogs/cosmo-blog-awards-2013/cosmo-blog-awards-2013-shortlist-vote-here
♥