Review - Clarins Body Care

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be talking about a couple of body products from Clarins that I received when I purchased my absolute favorite lip balm from them as a sweet gift with purchase! I usually keep my GWP products stashed away for whenever I'm traveling if they're in mini size, but these GWP were not exactly mini sized (not full sized either of course!) so I decided to use them up in the meantime. I've never actually used any Clarins products before other than their lip balm, so here is some quick info about the brand! ^.^

Clarins Group is a French luxury cosmetics company, which manufactures prestige skincare, makeup and fragrances products. A masseur called Jacques Courtin started CLARINS, a French luxury skincare brand, in 1954. Courtin made his own treatment oils that he claimed firmed the skin, and sold them from his salon in Paris. He built up quite a fanbase, including endorsements from some big French celebrities of the time.

The name CLARINS originally came from a character he played in a school production, and saw it as a good luck charm. In fact, it seems he loved the name so much that he incorporated it into his own in 1978, becoming Jacques Courtin-CLARINS. Courtin-CLARINS very much had women in mind when creating his line of products. He believed that, for women, happiness was inextricably linked to beauty. He is quoted in an interview as saying that "Beauty has become an important element in a woman's psychological make-up."

Clarins Exfoliating Body Scrub for Smooth Skin (With bamboo powders, Softens, Smoothes, Firms)

The essential first step to achieving a firm, youthful-looking body. This refreshing exfoliating treatment — with smoothing Natural Bamboo Powders — casts-off rough, flaky surface cells and impurities, giving body skin a sleek new start. Extracts of Mimosa and Shea caress skin with a delicate veil of softness. Preps skin for the treatments to follow.

  

Massage onto dry or damp skin 1-2 times per week (including the bust area and concentrating on rough areas such as elbows, knees, feet and thighs). Rinse thoroughly. Recommended before applying a Self Tanner.

I really enjoyed using this body scrub, and it actually prompted me to regularly scrub my body regularly like I would with my face, which honestly never occurred to me. I found the exfoliator really easy to use, it has a very pleasant scent and texture, the scrubby bits are housed in a lovely cream base which helps hydrate the skin you've just polished. I found it very effective and pleasant to use. 

 

What I Love

- Easy to use

- Works really well

- Cream base is really hydrating

- Smells and feels lovely

 

 

What I Don't Love

- Approx. $47 (I can't find it full size online in New Zealand stores)

 

Clarins Tonic Body Treatent Oil (100% pure plant extracts, Firming, toning)

CLARINS’ #1 selling body oil — with 100% pure plant extracts including Rosemary, Geranium and Mint — helps firm, tone and improve elasticity, smoothing the appearance of stretch marks. Hazelnut Oil locks in moisture to leave body skin soft and satiny-smooth. Aromatic natural botanicals promote an overall feeling of well-being. Preservative-free. 

Apply a small amount to damp skin, over the whole body or concentrating on problem areas. Lightly massage and follow with a cool shower if possible. For even greater effectiveness, use a CLARINS exfoliator once a week. Particularly recommended during pregnancy.

BENEFITS
Essential Oils of Rosemary, Geranium, Mint: fragrance and promote a feeling of well-being, tone and energize.
·Hazelnut oil: nourishes, maintains skin's moisture level.

This oil has a very interesting smell of minty herbs and is more than a little irritating to apply since it doesn't have a dropper or anything, just a very large hole at the top! I like to apply mine freshly out of the shower (even better when I've just exfoliated) to damp skin and massage in. I don't rinse it off because I find that it takes a while to absorb, but if you're a night shower-er like I am you probably won't find it too irritating! I don't have coloured stretch marks (they're super old and silver) so I didn't find that it helped or hindered my stretch marks at all, but it did make my skin super hydrated which I loved!

What I Love

- Incredibly hydrating

- Made my skin feel very very smooth

- Easy to apply to damp skin

What I Don't Love

- I don't think it's worth $79

- Takes a little while to absorb

 

Clarins Extra-Firming Body Lotion (Lifts, tones, smoothes)

Firming every body will love! Refreshing lotion — with an anti-wrinkle blend of Lemon Thyme, Centella and Bocoa extracts — helps improve skin’s natural elasticity for a sleeker, chicer silhouette. Firms, tones and helps restore youthful-looking contours to body skin effected by ageing, weight fluctuations and pregnancy. 

Apply morning and/or evening, concentrating on thighs, abdomen, bust and inner arms.
BENEFITS 
·Lemon Thyme extract – encourages the body to produce elastin. 
·Shea Butter – moisturizes and nourishes skin. 
·Centella and Bocoa Extracts – help skin look firm and refreshed.

I really enjoyed this lotion! It has a lovely sweet, yet neutral smell, (so you don't smell like candy) with a moderately thin and easily spreadable texture. The main upside for me personally is that the lotion sinks in very fast and doesn't leave a weird oily residue on my skin that causes me to stick to chairs. If definitely smooths my skin and makes it feel incredibly moisturized, but even though I've used 100mL of the lotion, I can't really agree that it lifts or tones my skin at all. Although, I wouldn't consider my skin saggy, so perhaps it's not a fair test.

What I Love

- Beautiful scent

- Light texture

- Easy to spread

- Fast to absorb

What I Don't Love

- I consider $87 to be too much for body lotion 

Final Thoughts

I absolutely loved trialling these products from Clarins, but I don't think I could bring myself to purchase them as they are incredibly expensive for what they are. My favourite of the three products was the Tonic Body Treatment Oil, which made my skin feel and look incredibly smooth and hydrated, but for the money I think I could find better products for the exfoliant and lotion. ^.^

 

Happy New Years everyone! ^.^

Manicure Monday - Happy New Years Nails

Hello Princesses!

Today I have a moderately early New Years manicure! I love to have full on glitter-tastic nails for New Years even though I actually do nothing for New Years, especially since I'm stuck away from my family for this New Years and it kinda sucks, so I decided to cheer myself up by sticking tons of glitter to my fingers! ^.^

I really love how these turned out, I literally just painted the tips with clear polish and dipped it into a jar of blue glitter. Easy and glitzy! ^.^

First Impressions - Skinfood Black Raspberry Eye Cream

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be talking about my first impressions of the Skinfood Black Raspberry Eye Cream! I was given a couple of these sample packets of eye cream somewhere along the lines of my many, many Korean cosmetic purchases and recently found them in an absolutely massive pile of samples!

What Is It?

This herbal medicinal anti-wrinkle eye cream contains black raspberry extract, and jayangboeumdan (滋養補陰丹) and cheongyeondan (淸連丹) extracted from 12 kinds of oriental medicinal herbs that have traditionally been used by women to treat rough, dry skin. It provides deep moisturization to skin in eye areas. Anti-wrinkle adenosine adds resilience to skin, keeping it healthy-looking.

This eye cream is incredibly thick in texture and has an odd, strong herbal smell that I really dislike. I found it very slow to absorb and it left a shiny residue on the area of application for hours, which meant that it made my concealer slide around when I wore this throughout the day. I found that the Eye Cream had absolutely no immediate plumping effects and during the two sachets I noticed no difference to the fine lines under my eyes, nor the level of hydration of my under eyes.

Would I Purchase This Product?

No. This eye cream did absolutely nothing for my eyes and I was not particularly fond of the scent. It's hard to tell the results of an eye cream product over only one week, so I can't really tell you that this product definitely does not work for absolute certainty. But what I can tell you is that it doesn't smell like raspberries like I imagined, and it takes a while to absorb. The rest I will leave up to you! ^.^

I hope you've all had a very Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah! ^.^ I've been having a lovely couple of days off retail work! 

Review - Etude House CC Cream

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be reviewing the highly requested Etude House CC Cream in Silky and Glow! I reviewed both colours of the TonyMoly CC Cream as well as the Missha CC BB Cream, and compared all of the CC Cream colours here on both my extra pale skin and my sisters tanned skin and the Etude House CC Creams are the lightest of the CC Creams that I swatched. As usual, I swatched both of the colours of the Etude House CC Creams on my extra pale skin, and my younger sisters tan skin.

Both of the CC Cream colours start off completely white with little beads inside the cream. As you rub the cream into your skin, the beads burst and supposedly change to match your skin, and in some sense they do an OK job at matching, but for either sides of the "normal" coloured skin, it probably won't match well. You can't please everyone, including me.

The Silky CC Cream leans to a more cool tone, whereas the Glow CC Cream leans more warm toned. The Glow CC Cream oxidizes a lot darker than the Silky CC Cream.

Both of the CC Cream colours could work quite well for my sisters tan skin, however since she is also warm toned the Glow shade would work the best for her!

I photographed these face and arm swatches in January 2014, but have used the CC Cream since then (don't worry!) The Silky CC Cream is paler than the Glow CC Cream, but is definitely cool toned so you can see the tone difference between my face and neck. It had a lovely demi-matte finish which looks a little bit dewy, but not to the point where I look oily which I loved! Both CC Creams are easy to apply with your fingers, brush or sponge but I definitely needed to set them with powder for everyday use.

I quite liked wearing this CC Cream, but it's not really a perfect colour for me since it is cool toned, so I probably would not purchase this unless I wanted to drown in face products (I already have 30, and that's too many!).

The Glow CC Cream is very warm toned and very dark for me. Like the name suggests, it's super glowy and dewy, but does tend to make me look like I've just run a marathon which isn't cute.

This is what the Glow CC Cream looks if I don't stand in front of a window or forward facing lights (that I don't have in Gisborne), it looks very dark, and very shiny.

A drastic comparison to where I have to somewhat lie on the floor to get an even spread of light on my face. First world problems for sure.

What I Love

- Well priced ($11USD each)

- Cute packaging

- Nice sunscreen scent

What I Don't Love

- Neither colour suits me

- "Glow" is too glowy for my oily skin

Final Thoughts

Both of the Etude House CC Creams are lovely, but neither of them are suitable for me. The Silky CC Cream would be great for cool toned, oily skin, while the Glow CC Cream would be great for warm toned dry skin while I need something for warm toned oily skin! However for $11USD they are a great little product to grab if you want something to apply really quickly for a healthy looking face. ^.^

Christmas is tomorrow! Are you guys getting as excited as I am? :D