I was sent this product for review and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to try it. Look at the name: it’s like it was made for me!
Dermalex is a specialised cream that is designed to help alleviate all of the horrid rosacea-associated side effects: redness, dryness, spider veins and the dreaded itch.
This has been a really tough week for my poor skin: super crazy hours at work which means a lot of stress; weather that can’t make up its mind; no sleep; a leaking roof… You name it, it has gone wrong this week! And the first thing that happens when I have a crazy week? My rosacea plays up. I know my skin so well by now that I can feel it happening before it even flares up and thankfully I have tried enough skincare to know what to do straight away.
I bought the Avene Antirougeurs Fort cream in France and it has seriously rescued me this week. I put it on every evening when I get in from work after cleansing my face. Like all Avene products, this contains Avene thermal spring water which is non-irritating and very soothing for skin that feels red raw. It is designed to reduce redness while taking that awful prickly, tight and hot feeling out of your cheeks.
This stuff is truly genius and I highly recommend it to anyone who has rosacea or sensitive skin. You can buy it HERE from escentual who have great sales fairly often.
Lex
I have always had a soft spot for the Seventeen brand (or 17 as it was before their rebrand). It reminds me of being young and my first forays into make up. Their nail polishes are usually very good: super affordable, tons of beautiful colours, great application… which is why this one really disappointed me.
The brush was a complete nightmare. The bristles were all different lengths and really stiff which meant that neat application was impossible. I had to do so much clean up afterwards to get them looking acceptable which is very frustrating.
I’m hoping this was just a bad brush as I’ve had other bottles from the same range that are brilliant.
So ignoring the crappy brush, this colour is truly gorgeous. A very deep pinky red, that was a perfect 2 coater. Topped with Seche Vite, but shiny without it and quite fast drying as well. Just a shame that I probably won’t wear it again due to the awful brush…
You can see the full Seventeen nail varnish range HERE.
Lex
I love summer, but it doesn’t tend to love me. I am very fair and burn if I even look at the sun, so I am very careful with my skin protection in the summer months. I have tried lots of different face creams with high SPFs, but they have all aggravated my rosacea by being too heavy or full of irritants.
This is a very high SPF cream which protects my hyper-sensitive skin from burning, but Avene products are also rich in Avene thermal spring water, which means it’s soothing and non-irritating. I wear this every day in summer, in other seasons I wear it if I know I’m going to be outside for an extended period of time. It isn’t a super lightweight cream but I didn’t find that it made my skin feel too heavy or smothered. They also do an emulsion version, which in hindsight would have been better for my oily skin, I think the cream version is aimed at dry skin types.
It is quite white and you do have to rub it in to make sure you don’t have white patches – however I’m very pale so maybe that would be more annoying or noticeable if you are more tanned.
This comes in a 50ml size, so you can throw it in your hand luggage if you’re going away for a sunny weekend. It also has a pump dispenser which I much prefer to a squeezy tube, which tend to explode all over me on planes!
This was another French pharmacy purchase. I usually wait for Escentual to do one of their amazing sales (you can buy it HERE), or wait to stock up when I go over to France.
Have you used any other Avene products? What’s your summer skin care saviour?
Lex
This dry oil is from another of my recent French pharmacie hauls. I had heard great things about this oil and was desperate to try it. In the UK you can get this in Marks & Spencer’s for £21 HOLD THE PHONE I have just seen that you can get it on Look Fantastic for £17. I got it in France for about 15 euro – bargain – so if you’re planning on going to France I’d wait and stock up!
Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Dry Oil is a multi-purpose oil: you can use it as a moisturising body oil on dry skin or put it in your bath as an all-over body treat; a pampering facial oil; use it on your cuticles; or on your hair as a conditioning step. I prefer to use it as the latter as it smells absolutely divine – I have been walking around sniffing my hair like a crazy person! It’s a great product to take on holiday for all of the above reasons – you only need one bottle to do all of those jobs!
Have you tried anything else by Nuxe?
Lex