January favourites

Okay I know this is 10 days late, I’m sorry about the lateness of this post, I’m never usually so late about getting these posts up on my blog. However the reason for this only being written up and posted now is due to how busy I’ve been with work. 5-6 days in a row and I’ll finally have a day off so I’ve not had much chance to take pictures and write the post up without falling to sleep or to be honest being too lazy and lethargic to do anything about it.

But the wait is over and finally, here are my favourites from January.

• Love Diane EDP by Diane Von Furstenberg.

Bless my brother he bought me this for my 23rd birthday at the start of January and since then it’s all I’ve used pretty much. At first I was rather disappointed with this perfume as I would spray it and no scent would linger, but maybe this is due to me using stronger perfumes for a while beforehand. Who knows! Anyway I decided I would use this for a month at work and see how I got on and due to being at work so much this is all I’ve used for the majority. I’m under halfway through the bottle now, which is a shame as it’s a 50ml bottle too but it’s lovely and refreshing. I’ll be talking about this some more in an updated perfume collection post towards the end of February. This is all I use for work lately so I’m not entirely sure what I’ll be replacing it with when the bottle runs out! We’ll soon find out eh? The 30ml bottle retails for £28.99 whilst the 50ml bottles retails for £43.99.

• Clinique dramatically different moisturizing gel.

I’ve noticed over the years that with the 3-Step products from Clinique that people either love or hate them. I can see why people love and hate this products, but I can safely say that I love the 3-Step system and have done since I was fourteen/fifteen. It was only last year when I decided to start the 3-Step again that I realised that maybe the lotion wasn’t for me, even though I am skin type 2. Whenever I put the lotion on it would sit on my skin all day and it would end up making me sweat due to it feeling too heavy on my skin, this ended up breaking me out more than I was in the first place. So upon talking to one of the lovely ladies at Clinique, she agreed that my skin was better suited to the gel, which is for skin types 3 and 4. Due to the cold weather and all the snow we’ve had lately this gel has been a saviour! My skin has been so dry on my nose and forehead that this has just been some sort of drink for my skin. I love it, it’s just a shame it runs out every 6 months, but so worth the money! The pump which I have costs £29.50 but a 50ml tube is £17.00. If you fancy trying this product but don’t want to pay a lot, ask one of the ladies at Clinique if you can nab a sample to try, is what I did when I first tried the gel!

• Tesco moisturising bath bubbles.

For a while now I’ve been craving a bubble bath full of Johnson’s blue bubble bath, but for over £1 for a bottle I thought sod it and walked away. However this and the normal blue-bottle of Tesco’s baby bath bubbles took my eye, they were on offer for 2 for £2 so I couldn’t help but grab a bargain! After a long day at work and in Wolverhampton visiting two of my closest friends I decided to have a long bath with this and it felt amazing. This is really moisturising and my skin felt silky smooth afterwards. Not just that but it smells identical to Johnson’s, which of course is a plus side of it. As well as putting it in the bath I’ve been using it in the shower before work to comfort me somewhat. It’s lovely and makes my skin feel silky smooth all over again! I recommend this for mothers with babies for sure, as well as for anyone of any age, especially if you don’t get time to moisturise due to a busy schedule, like myself.

• Carex strawberry laces handwash

I’ve been after this handwash for MONTHS after seeing people on their blogs and Instagram talking about it. There was also a chocolate orange one out (if I remember right anyway!) and that sounded delicious, but I couldn’t find that one when I looked. I was only wandering around for a mooch when I found this and snapped one up straight away. They were and are still only 90p each as they’re half price, but since using this I would for sure pay full price to have this by my sink. As I’ve mentioned many times, I have eczema but as well as that I also have sensitive skin, so as soon as my skin has got used to certain products it sometimes rejects them, my hands so this ALL the time. However they have got better and better since using this hand wash so I can only keep my fingers crossed it stays that way. As well as it killing germs and keeping my hands soft and smooth, it smells amazing! Having a cheeky sniff of it now as I type this up. If you can get hold of this and love sweet smells, do it! You won’t regret it!

• Nivea sensitive pure gentle care 48h deodorant stick.

I sweat like no ones business, especially at work. Half the time you never stop, you’re always on your feet and keeping busy. It was getting so bad with my sweating that it was making me rather paranoid and anxious. I decided I needed change and my Lynx deodorant wasn’t working for me anymore, so it was used up and binned and off I went to try to find something better. A spray was out of the question, I’ve learnt over the past 10 years that they don’t work for me and I needed something else. Thanks to my Boots advantage card I had a voucher that gave me 1/2 price on women’s deodorant so I thought I’d try a roll on, one of the dry ones as I’ve had many bad and embarrassing experiences with the wet versions. After a month of use I can happily say that I don’t sweat as much as I used to and I really do put it down to this deodorant stick. It’s lasting well and it’s easier to pop into my handbag than a huge can of Lynx or Nivea spray. I recommend these to anyone who suffers with constant sweating, mines not happening as much as it was before and I’m glad. Never been happier and feel more relaxed now and for £2.50 it’s worth feeling that.

• Philosophy purity 3-in-1 cleanser for face and eyes.

I received this back in the summer from Debenhams Beauty Club after entering a competition via their Facebook like page. I never really tried it until around Christmas time and I really love it. Due it only being a small tester it’s only used once in a blue moon, that being when I have a relaxing bath and I don’t wish to use my Clinique face wash. I put a little bit on my face brush and it really does go a long way. After scrubbing and rinsing off my face, my skin feels baby bum soft and I don’t even feel like I need to use a moisturiser afterwards! I’d love to start using this as part of my daily routine but I love my Clinique 3-Step system too much. We’ll see for in the future. My Mom bought a bottle of this back in 2011 and she uses it often, she loves it and uses it to wash her make up off, which is what this is for! It works as a cleanser, toner and make up remover. It’s amazing stuff and worth the money, even though I got my cute little bottle for free.

• The Body Shop chocomania body scrub.

I got this cute little tub in my chocomania gift set in the Christmas sales and I love it so much, I’ve not used a scrub like this that worked really well for years so I’m glad that I bought the tin for this alone! The tub is a 50ml and so far it’s gone a long way, although there is only a few more uses left out of it (one I’ll possibly be using tonight before I go to bed). To me it smells like chocolate, but to my friend Gabz and my Mom, it smells like shit (saying poo is so… youthful…?) but I can’t agree with them there! I use this scrub all over my body, especially my arms, thighs and bum and it leaves me feeling silky smooth! Can’t help but run a hand over my bum to feel what a great job this product has done. I’ll definitely be buying the 200ml tub of this, which is priced at £12.50. I recommend getting a sample from The Body Shop as I know for me with my sensitive skin, sometimes products can be too gritty or just the wrong ingredients for my skin, so I’m glad this works for me! I’ll be posting a review for this as soon as the tub is empty and I buy a new one.

So that was my January favourites! I apologise again for how long it took for me to write this post up, but at least it’s here now and there’s plenty of goodies I’ve spoken of and mentioned.

Look forward to seeing you next month for February! Enjoy this month guys, Valentines Day and Pancake Day are upon us this coming week!