Review: Bioderma Sensibio H20 Micelle Solution

Have you heard the news? The fantastic news?! Bioderma is not just coming to the UK.. it's here! Yes, readily available to buy NOW. No more shipping over from eBay or trecking over to France for a bottle (only true dedicates would go that far). John Bell & Croyden are the first pharmacy in the UK to be stocking their shelves with the stuff, but others are sure to follow suit soon enough. This is a London based pharmacy so if that's still a little bit out of your reach then here's an alternative: http://www.escentual.com/bioderma/. Escentual are selling quite a vast range of Bioderma products, but I'm just here to rave to you about their micelle solution - this one: link. On Escentual they are selling sizes 100ml and 250ml for a very reasonable price, currently with 10% discount too - this is roughly the same price you can find it for on eBay (give or take about 50p) and will probably arrive a few days quicker and is more reliable too, so get yourselves onto Escentual and pick up a bottle or two! I'm going to get one of the 100ml bottles, they look so cute -  I love mini things!

If you're thinking 'what the hell even is Bioderma?', I will explain all to you:

If you like to read beauty blogs/watch beauty videos then quite frankly I will be amazed if you've not heard of this stuff! But hey, not everyone knows. Technically, 'Bioderma' is a French based brand that works closely with top dermatologists to create amazing skincare products. They produce all sorts of ranges; for sensitive skin, dry skin, oily skin, damaged skin, etc. etc., but they have got one product in particular that seems to have caught a lot of people's attention and is now incredibly popular: Bioderma Sensibio H20 - Micelle Solution. If you hear somebody say they're loving 'Bioderma', expect it to be this that they're talking about.

Here's your official description:

"a soothing non-rinse cleanser and makeup remover that perfectly cleanses and removes makeup from the face and eyes. Soothes irritated skin and minimises redness and provides an immediate feeling of freshness. The formula is fragrance free, alcohol free and contains no phenoxyethanol. The micelles contained in its formula effectively micro-emulsify impurities while maintaining the skin's balance (soap-free, physiological pH)."

So, in basic terms what this cult beauty product does is removes make up. Plain and simple. It's popular because it's very simple, very gentle, has no adverse effects on the skin; it just does it's job. Pour onto a cotton pad, sweep around your face and the make up is gone.

It's for sensitive skin, so it's completely alcohol free and is cooling and soothing on the skin. Sometimes I just use it to freshen my face up, especially before applying make-up. It smells and feels not that different from a bottle of water, but there must be something magic in it because water won't take eye make up off as good as this does! No stinging, no tugging, just a little soak and wipe and your eye make up is gone - waterproof mascara and all!

 

I would urge you all to try this out, just once. I wasn't convinced at first but it didn't take long for me to be hooked and now I use this every night!

Have you ever tried Bioderma?

Are you excited about it coming to the UK?

No7 Skin Care Treats Gift Set

Hi guys, today's post is about a little gift from myself, to myself. I purchased this gift set a couple of weeks ago in the Boots January Sale while it had 50% making it £8.00 instead of £16.00 - love a good little bargain. I thought that now would be a good time to talk about this seeing as though Boots are running a double No7 promotion at the moment with 3 for 2 across everything and money off vouchers too, so this could give you some ideas of what to spend you £5.00 off vouchers on if you're a little bit stuck!

The set contains a total of 7 items: 1x eye make-up remover, 1x hot cloth cleanser, 1x day cream, 1x night cream, 1x muslin cloth, and to top it all off 1x fluffy headband. When bought for £8 this set is such good value for money, making each of the items a little over £1 each and all of the products come in generous sizes too ranging from 25ml - 50ml. I'd never used any of these before, in fact I had never tried anything other than the make-up wipes from No7 as a brand before, so was very keen to give these a try, especially as the hot cloth cleanser receives a lot of praise. I knew that even if I didn't get along with one or two products in the set I definitely had a chance of liking at least one of them, and when you would pay at least £8.00 for a full sized bottle of one of these then it is definitely worth purchasing this set of travel size/mini versions.

This has really opened my eyes to how lovely some of the No7 skin care is and I definitely feel more confident about trying out some more things from their range! Specifically from the Beautiful Skin line I've got my eyes on the cleansing water, purifying mask, radiance exfoliator and the melting gel cleanser!

Onto what is in the 'skin care treats' set..

Beautiful Skin Hot Cloth Cleanser (50ml) and Muslin Cloth

I had really high hopes for this hot cloth cleanser because a lot of people do love it, and I have never used any kind of 'hot cloth' cleanser before ..and this one did not disappoint! To buy the full sized 200ml bottle of this it will cost you £9.95 (full price) and I am deeply considering making a purchase of this in the coming weeks. The cleanser itself is really rich and creamy and feels really moisturising and soothing on the skin - it is massaged around the face and melts away any make-up or everyday dirt that is on the skin and then muslin cloth is run under a hot tap and used to wipe the product away, exfoliating the skin as it cleans and clears. It leaves the skin looking radiant, and very 'polished' which is where I assume the famous Liz Earle variant gets it's name from.

Beautiful Skin Day Cream (25ml) and Night Cream (25ml)

I do really like both of these creams but I don't expect that either would be a repurchase simply because I already have so many lotions and potions lying around, and these didn't blow me away enough to justify buying full sized pots (both £13.50 each for 50ml) when I own so many already! I'm down to the last dregs in both of these tubes now and have found them both to be lovely to use with the day cream making a lovely lightweight base for make up and the night cream being a thicker and more intense nourishing cream that leaves you waking up with fresh and hydrated skin. I don't have a bad word to say about either of these, they just didn't stand out as anything extraordinary.

Beautiful Skin Eye Make-Up Remover (30ml) 

This costs £8.50 for a 100ml bottle and it won't be one that I'll be dashing off to buy again, even though it is really effective at removing eye make-up and I'm easily pleased by the way that it is separated within the bottle as two separate layers and needs to be shook to be activated, I am just not keen on the way that it is oil based and leaves the skin all around the eye with quite a heavy residue on them - it's an 'okay' product though.

A great idea for somebody who is maybe just getting into skin care, or someone who is new to the No7 brand and wants to try out a couple of new things, or even if you already love these products but want them in a miniature size so they're handy for travel! Unfortunately I cannot find this set anywhere on the Boots site anymore, but keep your eye out for it and if you're interested in skin care then I'd recommend grabbing one!

Fragrance Direct | Haul

Hey guys!

Thought I'd share with you some lovely new products that I've treated myself to recently, starting with and order from Fragrance Direct.

I'd seen a lot of people talking about Revlon's new product: their Just Bitten lip stain and balms, and as I am massive fan of Revlon's ever so hyped about Lip Butters I thought I'd give their new lip stains a shot too.

They don't seem to be readily available in the UK at the moment so I headed straight to trusty Google to see if there was anywhere online I could order them from. At the top of my Google search appeared a site that I have never used before called Fragrance Direct advertising the sale of these Just Bitten lip stains for just £1.99! Too good to be true? Nope!

Fragrance Direct has a whole range of amazing bargains and I could've filled my basket up to over £100 with many different products, not because I wanted or needed them, but because I felt like I had to have all these branded items for rare minor prices! Brands such as Calvin Klein, Gucci, OPI, Benefit, Bourjois, Revlon and Lancome are just a handful of the brands available with prices starting at just £1! 

Fragrance Direct's answer for why their products are so cheap is answered on their website:

Why are the products so much cheaper?

We sell directly to the public. There is no shop and are no middlemen, so our overheads are kept very low. We pass our savings onto you!

So I had a big long browse through the website and decided to restrain myself and stick to only what was 'necessary'. There wasn't a huge colour range available for the Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stains, but the only that I liked the look of most was 'Victorian', a dark pink colour. This is definitely a product I was disappointed with and I am glad I paid just £1.99 for it instead of full price of around £7.99! Then I would have been really disappointed. It felt like I was drawing on my lips with a half run out felt tip pen and then just putting on a regular lip balm over the top? The stain also sticks to and emphasises any dry patches on the lips so make sure your lips are well exfoliated before you use this! Definitely not a winner for me :(

Find my Instagram: Hannahripley1

Another product that I threw into my basket was a Neutrogena Make Up Remover Lotion which was £2.49 for 200ml which I think is a good price for a lovely refreshing lotion which is works well on just a cotton pad rubbed around the face and does remove 99% of make up. 

I also spotted these Hair Masks at the bottom of the page which were just £0.85 each and I chose a de-frizz one as my hair is prone to a bit of frizz. I've not tried this out yet but I love a good hair mask, it's a nice little treat that I tend to do on a weekly basis in an attempt to improve the condition of my hair. I'm looking forward to trying this out and for just 85p there's not a lot to lose really! 

A little surprise that was also in my box on delivery was two perfume samples as a little freebie - one male and one female. I haven't tried these yet because I'm up to my ears in perfume samples at the moment. I think they could have included the green EDT for men because I also purchased a male product. I got the Davidoff Cool Water for men for my boyfriend as an anniversary present and it was just £14 (RRP £22) so that was a nice little saving. I've not taken a picture because it's all wrapped up in pretty wrapping paper at the moment!

Check out Fragrance Direct if you want to find a range of discounted products and amazing bargains! Just a shame I wasn't keen on the Just Bitten Lip Stains as they could've been an amazing saving at just £1.99 each.

xx.