My winter skin care

One of my pet hates is having dry skin. When winter shows its cold face I quickly change my skin care routine to cope with the change in the weather. I hate how the cold air makes my skin so dry, i can’t stand the feeling and I take an extra 10 minutes in the morning to get ready. (10 mins is a lot of time when you have 2 little ladies following you around and wanting to put lip balm on).

So here is my winter skincare regime;

Sukin Hydrating Mist Toner, made in Australia it doesn’t contain any alcohol or parabens. I use it straight after cleansing right after the shower. Rosewater and chamomile help hydrate and sooth my skin before moisturiser.

Yes to Carrots rich moisture Day Cream, I love its thick, creamy texture and almost no smell. It contains organic carrots that give my skin a vitamin boost and sweet almond oil to help hydrate. Also paraben free and it is 98% natural. Great for cold weather.

Yes to Cucumber soothing Eye Gel, I hate cucumber! But I love the smell and I know it is good for your skin, thats why I picked this eye cream. As I get older my eyes are getting more and more sensitive, this one is perfect. Doesn’t bother me at all. I use it almost every day in the morning to help wake up my tired, up all night with babies, eyes. It absorbs really quickly too.

Burt’s Bees beeswax lip balm, one of my all time favourites. Its 100% natural and really soothes my dry lips. It also prevents them drying out on my freezing walk to the train station. (This one is also a big hit with my 3 year old, she never leave home without it.)

Vaseline total moisture for dry skin, I don’t usually buy Vaseline products but I got this one as a gift with purchase from Priceline and I love it. I use it all over my body after the shower. I keeps my skin nice and soft all through the day. It soaks in really fast too, which surprised me. I am still getting used to the smell, but a quick spray of perfume fixes that!

If I feel like it is an extra cold, dry kinda day, I leave everything to sink in for a few minutes then apply a BB cream. My favourite is the Garnier BB cream but I also use the Clarins BB skin perfecting cream. They also have SPF so win win!

Do you change your skincare for winter?

 

 

 

 

Exfoliate, Moisturise with Eco Tan and Palmers

I am a mum of two little girls so I don’t get too much time to myself. I get up extra early just to have a shower while they are still sleeping, so actually using moisturiser is somewhat out of the question. Until now……

In my shower I have an Eco Tan – tan away glove and a bottle of Palmers Body Oil for bath or shower. Why not use them together and save even more time? So that is what I am doing.

All you need to do is put a little Palmers Oil on the Eco Tan-Away mitt and, using circular motions, rub away. I use it mostly for my arms and legs (thats all I get time for really) So it exfoliates and moisturises all in one step. Two birds, one stone! I’m all about finding an easy way to do stuff and this is my number 1 at the moment.

Don’t worry the oil sinks in to your skin really quickly and it wont leave greasy marks on your clothes or towels. Win Win!

You can read all about how much we love Eco Tan here and Palmers here and here

What are you waiting for? Get to the shower and make your skin glow!

check out everything Eco Tan and get your own Tan Away Glove, its great for preparing and removing tan. You can get Palmers at all your favourite supermarkets and Priceline.

 

Burt’s Bees Grab Bag

I am a little bit obsessed with Burts Bees. I love all their products and I have quite a few, mostly for lips but some other stuff too. (You can read about it here) I am really hanging out to try the baby bees on my little ladies but I have so many baby lotions and balms that need to be used up first.

When my moisturiser and toner ran out, I went on the hunt for a new one. I like to try new products when I can and it is also a good excuse to go to Priceline. Yeah! Unfortunately, at the time, the weather did not feel the same, and with 2 babies in tow, shopping was out of the question. So I did what any good shopper would do, I turned to the internet.

Grab Bag $39.95

First though, I checked Facebook. I saw that Burt’s Bees had their grab bag available. Cha Ching! I could get lots of stuff and really cheap! I ordered and it was delivered 2 days later. (so quick)

I got it mostly because I wanted/needed the Garden Tomato Toner and the Naturally Ageless line diminishing Day Lotion. I didn’t necessarily need these exact one but thats what the bag had in it, so I though I would give it a go, and that meant I didn’t have to pick something myself. Ha!

Toner $24.95                                          Moisturiser $49.95

I love them. The toner really smells like tomato plants, not so much a tomato but more the leaves and stem. Its very refreshing. It also has cucumber and parsley extracts to smooth, firm and cleanse skin.

The moisturiser feels really good on my skin and its just enough moisture for hot days, when you don’t want to feel greasy and cold days when you might need a bit more. Its full of antioxidant rich pomegranate that helps diminish fine lines and wrinkles and it smells delicious. The perfect way to start the day.

 I also got all this stuff,

• Thoroughly Therapeutic Body Butter – Honey and Shea Butter $29.95
• Hand and Body Pamper Pack
• Tinted Lip Balm – Tiger Lily $14.95
• Beeswax Lip Balm Tin $7.95
• Sugar Scrub – Cranberry and Pomegranate (free sample they threw in)

So you can see that the Grab Bags are great value, and a really good way to get lots of things to try out. Head over to Burt’s Bees website to check out all the great stuff, at the moment they have lots of gift pack for the lead up to Christmas. Perhaps put together a wish list and leave it lying around. You just never know what might happen!

Stay tuned to see my thoughts on all the other products in the bag.

Lush, Lush, Lush!

I only recently found out about Lush and now I cannot get enough. My first experience was a gift of a soap and ballistic. Oh so good! Then a friend kept on and on about these massage bars. So we went to Lush and now…..I’m hooked!

My first purchase was a present a bit before Christmas. I chose the Tiny Hands massage bar. After smelling it every day in my house before I gifted it, I had to get one of my own. Being around Christmas time I could not find it anywhere. I was told it was very popular and all 3 Lush’s that I went to were sold out.

New Palmers – Sneak Peek

We have been big fans of Palmers Cocoa Butter since….I can’t remember, but a long time now. We use it mostly because of the delicious smell but also because it really works. It softens, smooths and relieves dry skin and best of all it helps prevent and reduce the appearance of scars and stretch marks. Oh and it is super affordable.

We were recently treated to a sneak peek of a few new products by Palmers, that will be available in March/April. So put it in your diary because you will definitely want to snap these babies up asap!

Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula Daily Calming Lotion – I did mention this one in a previous post so now I will let you know a bit more.  I am using this instead of the Palmers Stretchmark Lotion, that I used religiously for my first pregnancy. I have found that the Calming Lotion is just as good, because 6 months in and still no marks of any kind on my belly and my skin is so soft and smooth, bonus!

It contains cocoa butter, soy and oats as well as soothing lavender and chamomile. It absorbs really quickly and provides relief for irritated skin conditions and creates a protective barrier to retain moisture. For this reason I also use it on my feet before bed to keep them soft and summer shoe ready. Perfect for everyone it is hypoallergenic, paraben free and fragrance free.

Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula Hydration Gel Lotion – Got sunburn? or is your skin just a bit dry from the summer heat (probably not if you live in Sydney) Well you need this! It is infused with aloe and cucumber for super-fast absorption and an extra hydration boost, perfect! It also has all the good stuff from cocoa butter but is a really light weight gel formula.

Palmers Ccoa Butter SPF 15 – By now you would all know how obsessed we are with sun protection here at The Makeup Case, so you could imagine our delight when we were able to try Palmers new SPF 15. In keeping with all Palmers products, SPF 15 has that signiture Palmers smell that is just delicious. The great thing about this product is that you are mosturizing and protecting your skin at the same time with just one product, so handy! I love to apply the lotion every morning before leaving the house to protect me from the summer sun. Every time I apply the lotion I get a great feeling that I am doing something good for my skin, thats what you want from a product right?

All of these babies will be available March/April 2012 from Priceline, Target, Kmart, Big W, Price Attack, Hairhouse Warehouse, pharmacies and supermarkets. In the mean time you can check out everything else Palmers on their website.

RRP $7.40 for 250ml.

*These products were sent to The Makeup Case for our consideration, please see our Disclosure Policy

*image courtesy of Beauty Directory

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Remove your makeup…….Simple?

After a long night out and a few glasses of bubbles the last thing I want to do is take my makeup off. I just want to crawl into bed and sleep, but then I know how I will feel in the morning when I wake up with yesterdays makeup all over my sheets (yuck). I usually just jump in the shower and use the water to wash my face only to find panda eyes and melted foundation when I get out. Enter; Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes with Vitamin goodness.

I have used lots of these makeup removing, cleansing wipes before and found that they did remove makeup but they left my skin feeling really sensitive and inflamed. It felt like my face was burning but prickly and cold at the same time (huh), so when I got the Simple ones the other day as a sample pack, I just threw it in the drawer not intending to use them. Until………

I got home after a big day of makeup and hair styling and could not even bring myself to have a shower but desparately needed a nap. I gave in. I found the Simple cleansing wipes and started cleaning. They don’t smell like much (good) and they are just moist enough. I needed to use 2 to get all my makeup off but it did remove it all, even my waterproof mascara. They left my face feeling soft and fresh and no burning, prickly, cold that I usually get. I followed these with a moisturiser and eye cream and a well deserved nanna nap.

They are not just for makeup removal, you can also use them to cleanse your face and neck each morning and night just wipe over your skin to cleanse and tone. Don’t forget to apply moisturiser and sunscreen for the day.

So heres the lowdown. Simple cleansing wipes contain pro-vitamin B5 to restore, soften and smooth your skin. They do not contain alcohol, oils, perfume or colour so they wont dry you out, make you greasy or upset your skin. They are also dermatologically tested and come in a handy resealable pack, (make sure you close it otherwise they dry out).

I only got a sample pack of 7 wipes and they are already gone and I will definitely be buying more.

RRP $6.99 for 25 wipes. Available at Priceline, Target, selected pharmacies, Woolworths, Coles and anywhere that stocks Simple.

Check out the whole Simple range.

*Image courtesy of beautydirectory.com.au

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Hot Tip!

It’s something that all girls (and some men) struggle with. No one talks about it and everyone hates it. That’s right the dirty S word…..STRETCHMARKS!

When I was first pregnant it was on my mind everyday and thoughts of how I could escape them. So being a fan of Palmers products already (moisturiser, lip balms, Foot Magic etc) I decided to use the Massage Cream for Stretchmarks. I didn’t think anything could prevent them but I thought it cant hurt. Right? I used it morning, after a shower, and night, just before bed, massaging all over my stomach, and sides.

Surprise! Not a single one. Must be the mix of collagen, vitamin E, cocoa butter and elastin, or maybe just that it smells so good.

So why not give it a go or check out all the Palmers products Palmers Australia

RRP $13.39 for 250ml. Available at Woolworths, Coles, Priceline and all good chemists.

* Image courtesy Palmers Australia

What’s In Our Makeup Case – Clinique!

This is the start of a series of posts about products that we have in our Makeup Kits that we would be lost without.

One thing that we cannot live without on a makeup shoot is a good moisturiser. Clinique’s Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel is our cat’s pyjamas. Like all of Clinique’s products it is allergy tested and 100% fragrance free, which is great when you are going to be using it on a lot of different skin types.

Not only is Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel a great moisturizer it also works at improving the skin, which is always an added bonus I think. It has a very light consistency and is great for combination skin. It really softens the face and is wonderful to use as a base before applying foundation.

To apply the moisturizer we usually start with the T Zone and gently rub into the skin away from the nose toward the ears. After this add a touch of moisturizer to the forehead and again brush outwards. Moisturizer on the neck should be rubbed in a downward direction. Remember to always have clean hands before applying moisturizer; you don’t want to have any nasty germs rubbed all over your face! Ew!

RRP: $40 for 50ml. Available from Myer, David Jones and the Clinique Online Store.

*Image courtesy of beautydirectory.com