Moisturisers - the Rich, the Reasonable, and the Thrifty

I am forever on the quest for the holy grail of all moisturisers. Lets face it, there is so much product choice out there nowadays, most of which promising you skin that will emanate golden particles and make your face glow like the dewy morning, that it's really hard to stay loyal to just one range. Over the past 6 months, I've gone through a pretty vast price range of moisturisers (due to a varying cash flow) which has given me the opportunity to put a few of their age defying and face brightening claims to the test. Overall, I wanted to explore the notion of quality being exclusive to price - is the most expensive always the most effective?

Lets start with Product number 1: 'The Rich' - Creme De La Mer, £105

I have been intrigued by 'Creme De La Mer', which literally means 'cream of the sea', for quite some time now. Heralded as the be all and end all of all moisturisers, and 'the' classic skin quenching investment, it's perhaps too obvious a choice for this category, but a deserving one nonetheless. There are more expensive moisturisers out there, but at a retail price of roughly £105 for 30ml, it certainly sits in the quality aisle. I had been wondering about this for ages, so I decided to invest in a small pot after much deliberation. Who wouldn't be slightly curious about a miracle product that is revered by the stars? J Lo reportedly bathes in the stuff. I'm not ashamed to admit that I wanted to know why.

Personal observations:

• It's quite thick and dense when applying. I judge a moisturiser by whether or not it sinks into my skin and feels almost 'invisible', and this one did not. I found my face clogging up quite a bit after a collective amount of days using it.
• It's got a very calming effect. I have quite red skin naturally, and I did feel less 'rosy' after a few weeks of applying this.
• It feels very luxurious and smells very nice, too. They give you an applicator which helps you to measure the correct amount of product per application.
• The use of seaweed and algae amongst other sea based products does allure to the mysteries beneath the oceans blanket - which many believe hold the elixir for younger looking skin.

Overall, I do think that this was a little too heavy for my skin. That's not to say it might not be perfect for other skin types. I decided to use this as more of an intense night cream - I did find that it cleared up any dry patches unbelievably quickly and may work wonders on scars, too. Definitely a great product to grab for if you find yourself with sunburn!

Product number 2: The reasonable - Korres Magnolia Bark First Wrinkles, £22.50

I am getting past my mid twenties now, and I'm becoming more and more conscious of keeping any pesky fine lines at bay. I've been researching religiously for products that preserve. Korres seemed to tick all these boxes and seems to be developing a nice following, too. I used the magnolia bark range 'first signs of wrinkles' day cream (even though I don't think I'm quite there just yet) but if that's not what you're after, the rose 'brightening' cream looks great, too.

Personal observations:

• As a contrary to 'Creme De La Mer' the cream absorbed very quickly and 'sunk' into the skin. My makeup seemed to glide on easier, too.
• It has SPF 15 in it which is really handy - they say you should wear SPF every day whatever the weather and I've not been good at doing this, though I know I should! Plus, it smells nice, which is also a bonus.
• Apparently it prevents skin inflammation, which keeps wrinkles at bay - can't comment on this really as I didn't notice any difference in this respect, but then I don't think my skin is particularly inflamed in general!
• Magnolia bark active extract is a really interesting ingredient which I've not come across before in a skin cream. I did notice that the tiny lines on my forehead seemed to fade over time, too, and I'm hopeful that it is also preventing new ones from appearing!
• It seemed to help my dark circles, and even after a sleepless night, my skin still looked quite peppy. I could definitely see the difference.

I genuinely like this one so much I've actually invested in the night cream as well. My skin feels fresh, rejuvenated and moisturised and I have to say I have been very impressed with it.

The Thrifty - Olay Total Effects 7 in One Day Moisturiser - £10

I realise I could have gone for the very cheap end of the range here, but heres the story - I'd just spent lots of money on Creme De La Mer and wanted something (relatively cheap) and effective from Boots in a hurry, before I decided which product to jump to and eBay surf for next (which is when I found Korres). After much shelf navigating, I finally landed on this, which looked reasonable and seemed to be offering a lot of 'bang' for its buck.

For the quality of the product, I think £10 for Olay Total Effects is actually very cheap, which is why I chose to review it on the 'budget' end of the scale. I'll be honest, I'm thrifty when it comes to most things, but a bit of a snob when it comes to moisturiser, as I see protecting your skin as a serious investment. But what I thought would just be used for a few weeks and then tossed aside, turned out to be a good month long relationship with Olay (before my fickle mind started searching for something new).

Personal observations:

• Total effects seems to be a bit of a cosmetic warrior, fighting uneven skin tones, first signs of wrinkles, surface dullness, and other (the name would suggest 7) areas of difficulty. So it caters for a whole range of skin types at once.
• It is light and easily absorbed, and seemed to brighten my skin, though sometimes verged on a bit oily, so I was worried about putting it on more acne prone areas.
• Total Effects also includes SP15 - good for lazy people like me!
• Not much is needed for each application, so despite it being a small bottle, it does last a while.
• I prefer products with more natural ingredients, but 'Total Effects' does contain an impressive range of vitamins, which is said to have a good anti-aging effect.

The verdict: Overall Korres sinks into my skin the best and has the most natural ingredients, so for my combination skin, it wins the race! It caused me no complications in terms of skin blemishes, wasn't oily at all, yet made my skin feel very nourished and brightened it significantly, and from what I could tell, kept to its promise of reducing any early signs of wrinkles. Coming in at £82.50 cheaper than its expensive contender, I do think this does re-affirm that throwing more money at things doesn't always ensure that you'll get the right product for you. Though I will definitely be reaching for the Creme De La Mer if I ever have any burns or skin complaints, as I do believe its rich, thick qualities have a very soothing effect!

Whats your favourite moisturiser? Have you ever tried any of the above products?

Alice x

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The Clarisonic Mia 2 Cleanser - is it Worth the Price Tag?

Hello!

Just to note, this is not a sponsored post. Clarisonic don't know me at all!

I go through phases of being really good to my skin, and then being terrible with it again, so a few months ago, I committed to a few key changes to my rather basic 'cleanse and moisturize' daily routine. The first pledge was to never again forget to take my eye makeup off at night, and to start moisturizing my neck, as I completely neglect it. The other resolution was to finally take the plunge and buy myself a Clarisonic!

I have always suffered with problem skin, particularly in the lower part of my face, and despite working my way through hundreds of products over the years, nothing has really changed this. I wanted something to cleanse my skin much deeper, and I'd read tons of reviews and videos about electronic cleansers.  Clarisonic seemed to be hailed as one of the best, and I wanted to judge this for myself.

The Clarisonic Mia 2 retails for a rather hefty £125/$150. As you probably gathered, I'm a bit thrifty, but I believe the key is in spending your money wisely and buying the products that are worth the money! They are cheaper on Ebay, but you have to be really careful not to get yourself a knock off version as these are not safe. Clarisonic also offer a 90 day money back guarantee from their website with the purchase which is quite reassuring if you're umming and ahhing.

Clarisonic Mia 2, which also comes in a range of colours.

I decided the best way to test this would be to use this once a day, as religiously as possible over the course of a few months. Even after the first few days, your face feels instantly clean on a deeper level. I have to say it's been most rejuvenating as well, especially the morning after a night out, though that's a sidenote!  It does need charging every now and then, but I found that I've only needed to do this occasionally, the battery life seems to last about three weeks.


Plus points;

• The charger magnetically 'sticks' to the clarisonic, making it very easy to use
• It's very simple, you rotate the device in circular motions around your face and after one minute, it switches itself off
• It's very portable as the battery life lasts for ages
• It stops if you press on the skin too hard.
• It has two settings. I pretty much always used the faster one!

Negatives;

• I wasn't a fan of the cleansing lotion it came with, it made my skin burn a little bit. I switched to Environ's Sebuwash, which also tackles problem skin with tea tree and balancing ingredients, so this was a good combination for me.
• The heads need replacing after a while, which is to be expected, mine tend to last a few weeks before I feel I should start thinking about replacing them, though this could be down to the individual. You can sanitize and clean them too.
• It is pricey, but once bought the only costs are the replacement heads.

I have definitely noticed a significant improvement in my skin. It feels incredibly smooth, and makeup tends to glide on much better. Ratio of blemishes have definitely gone down quite a lot, though I still get the odd breakout. I would say this is partially my fault though, as you have to keep it up. It's only a minute a day, but sometimes we just don't have that spare minute! If I stopped using it for a couple of days (which I did rarely) I really noticed the difference, which is probably a testament to how much good it was doing.

The process is similar to microdermabrasion in the sense that it seems to help other products to penetrate the skin much more effectively. I have now switched from using it in the morning to the evening, because I feel this is better for enabling the night time products to work, and this helps me to stick to using it, too!

Have you used a Clarisonic? I would love to hear how you got on with it, too!

Alice x