My NSpa Daily Skincare Routine

NSpa is a brand of skincare, bodycare and haircare created by the experts at the UK's Number 1 Day Spa - Nirvana spa.  The products are all dermatologically approved and paraben free, and none of the products or raw ingredients are tested on animals.  

After trying out the NSpa Beauty Rituals Beauty Box, I picked up a few more of their products and have fallen into a skincare routine that works perfectly for me, and my skin has never looked or felt better.  I've even switched to a light/sheer coverage foundation. I never thought that would happen! 

The Beauty Rituals Skincare range is a 4-Step system with multiple options for each step, which allows you to create a skincare routine completely tailored to your own personal needs and preferences. The first step is Cleanse, second is Exfoliate, followed by Treat and then you finish up with Moisturise.

For my cleanser, I use either the Melting Cleansing Gel, which you can read my review of here, or the Ultimate Cleansing Tonic, which I tend to use the most.  It's a one-step cleanser which is half water based and half oil/silicone based. You shake it up, squirt it onto a cotton wool pad and well, wipe your face until your makeup's all gone.  It has Witch hazel for toning and Ginseng for moisturising, so my skin is left soft and healthy rather than tight and dry.

Step 2 is exfoliate, and the product I use most is the Skin Renewal Gel.  It has no exfoliating beads, but uses natural fruit extracts to exfoliate instead.  Orange, lemon and bilberry extracts break down dead skin cells and leave my skin smooth and fresh.  And it's gentle enough that it does the job without irritating my sensitive skin!

The third step is Treat - my favourite step and probably my favourite NSpa product!  I use the Deep Hydrating Facial Oil.  It comes in a 50ml bottle with a dropper, and you use about 3 drops for your entire face and neck.  Again, it uses natural oils to give your skin a well deserved treat - Baobab oil, rich in vitamins A, D, E and F helps improve skin elasticity, Rosehip oil helps restore and strengthen, whilst Avocado and Jojoba oils rehydrate and condition the skin.  It's not too greasy, you only need a tiny bit as it goes a very long way, and it keeps my skin soft all day.  I honestly think that this product has something to do with my acne scars having lightened over the past month or so.  I love it.

Finally, I moisturise.  I use two products for this step - the first is the Youthful Eye Cream, an intensive moisturiser for the delicate eye area, that still feels super light and absorbs really well.  It's a tiny pot and it lasts a really long time because you need so little.  I can feel a difference as soon as I put it on, and it really helps to refresh my eyes after a long day at work looking at a computer screen.

The second moisturiser I use is the Night Repair Cream - a silicone based, very rich moisturiser with ceramides, ginseng, Vitamin E and sweet almond oil to make your skin feel super super soft and hydrated.  It's a light pink, very thick cream, and a little goes a really, really long way.
The great thing about this product (apart from that it works really well, obviously) is that it has a dual purpose that NSpa could really make a lot of money from if they decided to - being silicone based, it makes an AMAZING primer.  My makeup glides on over it and stays in place all day.  And I don't get annoying dry patches, because my skin's so moisturised.  Double winner.

All of these products are available at ASDA stores, or on the ASDA website, and are currently on offer for an amazing 2 for £8.  I cannot recommend these products enough!

As always, thanks for reading and if you've tried the products, or found my review helpful, leave a comment below! You can also like my Facebook page to be updated with new posts, or follow my blog on BlogLovin' 

Rach xo

October 2013 Glossybox Review

Glossybox is a monthly subscription of 5 high-end beauty product samples (with some full-size products sometimes, too) for £10 + £2.95 p+p)

You can earn Glossydots by reviewing the products in a quick survey, or by inviting friends, and redeem points for a free box.  Each survey is worth 50 points, and 1000 Glossydots = 1 free box, so if you review 5 products a month, every 5th Glossybox should be free.  You get 200 Glossydots for every friend that signs up and places an order. 

The October box was yet another disappointment from a formerly great company, and after opening this box, I immediately unsubscribed.  I'll keep this blog short, as there really isn't much to say about any of these products.







First up was Eva Professional Mystic Diamond - a hair oil that uses argan oil and diamond powder to supposedly nourish and regenerate your hair and give it extra shine power.  It made my hair pretty greasy, which I guess is almost the same as shine?  The sample was tiny so I couldn't possibly say if continued use would 'regenerate' my hair, but it all sounds very sci-fi to me so I think I'll stick to my BiOrganics hair oil.
RRP. £22.70/100ml, Expensive, probably not worth it.














Next is Cherubs Blush Cheek & Lip tint from MeMeMe, a brand that I actually loathe.  All of the products I have had from them have been poorly packaged, barely pigmented and not worth owning.  I tried it out nonetheless, and stick to my opinion of the products.  It hardly had any colour, zero staying power (how can they call it a stain???) and felt like gritty water.  Not nice.  RRP. £5.50/12ml.
















I also got a product from Monu, another brand that Glossybox keep insisting on including.  This time it was an illuminating primer.  It has SPF 15 which is the only redeeming feature I could find.  It didn't do a good job of priming my skin, and was quite drying.  RRP. £24.95/50ml.



















Next was Harmony Multi-Vit Serum from Premae.  I had to get my glossybox out and check that I'd actually got this because I couldn't remember it at all.  Turns out I did -  The packaging is bright yellow and looks really cheap and tacky, not something I'd pick up off a shelf.  I've used it a few times now since re-discovering that I had actually received it, and it feels pretty nice on the skin - light and quite refreshing, but it doesn't seem to do very much at all.  My make up doesn't last longer, and my skin doesn't feel any smoother, but it hasn't broken me out which is a plus.  It is a really nice idea though, a primer that acts as a shield against the chemicals etc in your makeup, but maybe just use makeup with less chemicals and a primer that works well? Each to their own though.  RRP. £22.50/50ml.













Finally, to top off the massive disappointment that was this box, it couldn't really have been anything other than a perfume sample.  I got a small sample of Killer Queen by Katy Perry.  It's nothing special really.  RRP. £38.50/100ml















And that concludes my Glossybox reviews!  I have just ordered a Latest In Beauty box, so I will be reviewing that once it arrives, and I have a TON of other stuff backed up waiting to be reviewed, but life has been pretty hectic recently, so I'm a bit behind!  I promise to be better from now on, though!

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Everyday Makeup Products: Primers

This is going to be a list of the products I put on my face every day - First up, Primers.

If you're interested in buying any of these products, I'll put links in the descriptions :) *
*I was not asked/paid by any of these companies to mention any of their products.




 
Elf Studio Mineral Infused Primer
RRP £6.00/14g

This is BY FAR the best primer I've ever come into contact with - the feel reminds me of the GOSH gel primer - the one that feels a bit velvety - it's just SO smooth.  Once you start to run out, if you take the pump off, you still have about half the product left, and I think that's a shame for people who didn't realise and bought another unnecessarily.  It's fine if you just use the pump tube to get it out, but it seems like bad design.

The only other thing I'm not keen on is that the ingredients include methylparaben, ethylparaben and propylparaben.  That's a lot of parabens for one face.


This in mind, I've discontinued my use of my favourite primer, and have been alternating between the following two:

Rimmel Match Perfection Fix & Protect Primer
RRP £4.99/30ml

It claims to have a 5-point attack on dull skin, smoothing, resurfacing, brightening, mattifying and protecting!  It's ok.  It doesn't feel great.  It feels more like a watery moisturiser than a primer, but then I'm used to a gel, not a cream.  It doesn't seem to do anything for my makeup, either.  It's a shame really, I wanted to like it.

Witch Anti-Blemish Skin Clearing Primer
RRP £4.49/30ml

So far, so good with this one.  It has a nicer feel to it - somewhere between the two finishes.  It's not as smooth a finish as I'm used to but it has antibacterial properties, is fragrence free and oil free and has absolutely no parabens! so it's probably the one I'll stick with for my regular use.  It doesn't provide a bad base for makeup, and it helps with my pore-guilt - at least I'm clogging them with something helpful, right?




Please leave comments below to let me know anything you'd like to see!

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