Body Oils: Bio Oil vs Palmers

With so many belated posts to share I'm really sorry I haven't had the chance to actually put them up in the last few days. With my hectic and last minute preparations for going back to university, I just honestly haven't had the time.

But I'm very glad I found some time today to share my review of Bio Oil and Palmer's Skin Therapy Oil. Both are drug store products that both retail at pretty reasonable prices:

Bio Oil - £13.67 for 125 ml

Palmer's - £9.49 for 150ml

What these products offer is very similar. Bio Oil promises to help reduce the appearance of scars, stretchmarks and uneven skin tone. Palmers also promises to improve the appearance of scars, stretchmarks, as well as dry, damaged skin and wrinkles.

So do either of these brands really live up to their promises?

I tested both out for a fairly long period (several months for each as you can tell by the bottles) and applied them at least twice a day so I can give you a full and honest review.

I have to say after trying them out I have fast become a fan of body oils. They both seemed to absorb well into my skin and left more of a silky feeling than a moisturiser would. However, one thing's for sure, I did not like the smell of Bio Oil, whereas I absolutely loved Palmer's cocoa scent...but you could definitely say that's down to good old personal preference.

When it came down to the important promises, they weren't all delivered from either product.

I was the most dissapointed with Bio Oil, which is somewhat of a cult beauty item now and I expected more from it. My stretchmarks (yup I've got a few) showed no improvement, and a small scar that has has never fully healed looked no different. It did help to hydrate my skin a little though...well, I guess that's something.

Palmers on the other hand was a different matter. No, it didn't deliver on all counts either, but I saw visible improvements with strecthmarks with this product. My scar still remained the same and I couldn't comment on how it affects wrinkles, but any cracked or dry skin disappeared amazingly quickly.

Overall if you're deciding between these two products I would say go for Palmers. It beats Bio Oil on pretty much every promise, it's cheaper and is just a lovely product that I'll be using from now on.

Both brands ship to a wide range of countries, you can find Bio Oil here and Palmers here.

Have you tried either of these products? What did you think?

First ever Glossy Box!

Yesterday I received my first ever Glossy Box. Did I run down the stairs in anticipation?... Of course not, I clearly paced nonchalantly over to collect it.

Ok I lie. If you haven't been able to tell by now I'm pretty much a full blown beauty addict, and I painfully have to admit that I was probably comparable to a 5 year old kid on Christmas morning. Yup, it was that bad.

For those of you who don't know what a Glossy Box is...well, it's pretty much a box full of beauty products that gets sent to you every month for £10. If you're from the US, it's the equivalent to a Birch Box. The products are all supposed to be miniature, so you can sample new products, although I was very happy to find that I had two full size products in my box!

I have to say firstly that the packaging and design is absolutely lovely. A big plus is also that descriptions are provided for each product as well as discounts for each brand!

When you subscribe for a Glossy Box, you complete a 'beauty profile', so products are able to be matched to your requirements and tailored to you. This is great in theory, although from other bloggers boxes that I've seen I actually feel like I've missed out on some products I really would have liked. 

 My box included

 Dead Sea Spa Magik Salt Brushing (sample size)

I don't think this product is anything too exciting, but I have coincidentally just run out of my body scrub, and so will definitely be using this in the next couple of days! I have heard good things about Dead Sea Spa, so I'll happily use this up.

HD Brows Eyes & Brow Palette (full sized product!)

A well known and respected brand in the industry, I was very excited to find this product in my Glossy Box and really can't wait to try it out. I'm not entirely sure of the cost of this palette, but I'm sure it would surpass the amount I paid for everything.

Kimia Exquisite Rejuvenating facial System

This is a brand that really interests me. My skin can be pretty problematic at times and I'm excited to try these samples out. One problem - they're pretty tiny! Don't get me wrong, the value of the other products Glossy Box has supplied probably makes up for this in value, but I don't think that justifies sending samples this small. This is something I have a bit of an issue with.

Neal and Wolf Harmony Intensive Care Treatment (Full sized product!)

This product normally retails for £12.95, an unbelievable steal! I haven't heard of the brand before, but I'm definitely glad this was included and can't wait to try it out.

Plum by Mary Greenwell Eau de Parfum

I think this was probably my least favourite product. Apart from again the very small sample size (someone did ask me why I had payed for something I could get for free), I just didn't like the smell of this perfume. But of course that's just personal preference.

So is it worth it? I absolutely love the concept. It's always nice to have this as a lovely surprise each month and in regard to price I would say the two full size products I received are worth a lot more than what I payed for the whole box. Still, some of the small sample sizes did annoy me as you really could just go up to a counter and ask for these for free. However, overall I'm happy with my purchase and can't wait to see what next month's box will bring.

What do you think? Would you pay for a Glossy Box?

'Tell Me About Yourself' Blog Award!

I was very flattered to learn that Charlee, from the lovely blog, 'Charmed Charlee', had awarded me with the 'Tell Me About Yourself Award'. I love reading her blog for beauty reviews and tutorials, and I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

This award means I get to tell you 7 random things about myself, as well as passing on the award to 15 other lovely bloggers.

A quick mention of the rules...To accept this award you need to:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you

2. Write 7 random things about yourself

3. Award 15 other lovely bloggers.

So, 7 random things...

1. I recently ate meat for the first time in a year, breaking my short lived attempt of being a vegetarian!

2. I love to go shopping in central London with friends.

3. I am desperately in need of a new winter coat, having owned my current one for the past 4 years...maybe 5 :/

4. Reading, watching movies and drawing are some of favourite things to do when I get the time.

5. I'm probably far too addicted to junk food.

6. I have a real love for writing.

7. I own way too many beauty products :p

The 15 other lovely bloggers I nominate are ones that I love to read and regularly check for their latest posts, so I'd genuinely recommend that you check them out.

Never Quite Elegant

Blush and Zero

Metaphors in Blue

The Quirky Poet

Vintage Vagrant

Lily Lipstick

 O So Inspired

Tafetta Ramblings

Natallino

Surviving College Fashionably

 A Peek of Chic

 The Desert's Visionare

Lovely By Lucy

 Fashion and My Life

 Recess Pieces

Long time, no blogging!

I can't believe it's been 12 days since my last post, sheer utter blogging madness in my opinion. I had so many posts lined up for this period as well, that I was pretty upset when my blogger decided to crash, and I couldn't do anything until yesterday when it appeared to magically spring back to life. Has anyone else encountered a problem like that with blogger?

It was pretty touch and go there for a while, but I'm so happy to finally be posting this! It was definitely weird to have that taken away from me for a while, so expect quite a few belated posts in the next week!

But anyway, back to the important stuff! My latest skincare purchase a couple of weeks ago was Burt's Bees Milk and Honey body lotion.

This was actually the first body lotion I ever purchased at the age of 13. Pretty high standards for my 13 year old self... although I didn't really know much about the brand then. I've since learnt of their cult status and the amazing quality of their products. What drew me to them in the first place is that the majority of their ingredients are natural, a massive plus in my book.

Since using this lotion for the first time, I've tried endless others, but always end up coming back to this one. Not only is the smell gorgeous (I normally get asked what I'm wearing...sometimes from strangers when I use this!) but it also hydrates your skin all day. As someone who suffers from dry skin, I really can't recommend this enough, although there are also different lotions in the range for different skin types, which I imagine are just as good.

However, the formula has changed somewhat since I last purchased this... but I think it's better! The lotion itself used to be thinner and took longer to absorb, so I'm really loving the new consistency, which now seems to sink into my skin. The packaging has also changed, which has made it easier to get the product out.

Price-wise, it competes with drugstore brands at just £9.99, and lasts for months. Overall, I'm really loving the new changes, and I think this is just one of those products for me that I'll use again and again.

Coincidentally, Burt's Bees have just brought out their new Body Spa Range, which includes new body scrubs, body bars and body butters...

Image: fleurdeforce.blogspot.com

These look amazingly tempting... in fact I might just be tempted enough to try out one of the scrubs once my current one runs out. Product review would of course ensue :)

Have you tried any of Burt's Bees products, or anything from their new range? What product do you always come back to?