Lush Fresh Fash Mask | Oatifix

 
The Lush Oatifix Fresh Face Mask is a mask formulated to help dry skin with banana and illipe butter to add moisture, oatmeal and ground almonds that create a gentle scrub that leaves skin looking brighter. Vanilla gives this mask a soft fragrance to finish off the nourishing formula. 
 
  The fresh mask is totally vegan, and never tested on animals. It's also free from preservatives, and must be kept in the fridge and used within about 3 weeks to keep ingredients fresh. 

I've never really thought about using 'natural' products before. I know I should. I know they are meant to be better but I like what I like and natural products have never done anything for me. This mask is changing my view on that. It felt lovely applying this and know that it was natural. It's nice to have something do something good for my skin without loading it up with chemicals. 

I was worried about picking this up because it's made from banana and the scent of bananas really makes me want to hurl. After trying it in a LUSH store (on my hand) I realized that it's more of a vanilla scent and the banana is almost undetectable. 

The mask is very thick, and I found it quite hard to spread it over my face. After warming it up a little in between my finger it was slightly more workable and I was able to apply it more easily.  The texture has a slight grain in it from the oats but it's nothing to abrasive to it shouldn't irritate skin or anything like that. 
 
The effect of the oats is felt more when you wash the mask from your face. The water makes the product more milky, leaving the oats to slightly exfoliate your skin. If you have dry skin, the effect is great to remove any flakiness and the milky texture when washed off leaves skin feeling even more nourished and hydrated than it did from the mask alone.   

A little bonus of using this up is that it can be put in my lush pot stash which is now just one away from getting me a free fresh face mask.

If you have dry skin, I would highly recommend this. It left my skin feeling soft and smooth.  You can pick up the Lush Oatifix Fresh Face Mask your local Lush store or online here for £5.95.

Follow Me 

twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest

P.S: I've heard so many rumors about GFC going away, so maybe pop over to bloglovin and give me a follow there to keep up to date with my blog! 

Skincare Routine | Random Additions

I have recently shared my skincare routines for day (link) and night (link). I didn't include some things in those posts because I don't use these things specifically day or night. I tend to use them when I'm having a shower, want a good ol' relax and pamper or have some spare time. 

I love a good face mask and try to do one atleast 2  - 3 times per week. I use them in the shower/bath and probably leave them on two long.  

One that I use only once a week is the AMAZING Fab Pore Facial Peel from Soap and Glory. It's an amazing clay mask that you can leave on from 5 to 15 minutes, and it clear out clogs pore, helps treat those pesky breakouts and leaves the skin feeling beautifully clean. I find I can only use this once a week of it gets a little too much for my skin. It's an amazing mask, but if you have sensitive skin this might not be for you. 

The other times in the week when I use a face mask I tend to use a range of miscellaneous ones that I've got as a sample or perhaps the sachets masks from Boots and Superdrug. The ones that I have on the go at the moment are the Sanctuary Thermal Detox Mask and the Montagne Jeunesse masks. I tend to stick to clay and moisture masks, because peel of masks tend to fail on me. 

I also use pore strips twice a week. These are just the little strips that stick to various part of your face to get rid of really clogged pores. I tend to stick to the nose area but if the forehead or chin is look awful I will use one on them. I just pick up the cheapest ones from places like pound land or when they are on offer at Superdrug. They all work the same in my opinion, but I couldn't be without them. It's kind of gross and fascinating all at the same time when you take it off your face and see the gorssness that comes out of your pores. 

Follow Me
twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest | youtube

Boots Botanics | Intensive Moisture Mask

Botanics Intensive Moisture Mask, £4.59.

I am on a mission to find a combination of products that will work for my skin type. I often get break outs around my chin area but the rest of my face is extremely dry. I get extremely dry patches that flake on my forehead, cheeks and just below my lips.

Most masks that I’m drawn to are usually anti-blemish and such like products but they are all very drying on my face so I don’t continue use! So, I have a different plan of action now. I’m going to try anti blemish moisturisers and things like that and use moisturising masks.

I brought because the Botanics range was on 3 for 2 and I had two products. It seemed interesting and I liked that it could be used over night as well as for 20 minutes or so.

It was £4.59 for 75ml.  It contains all those natural goodies that the Botanics bits usually do and its main ingredient. Honey is meant to add rich moisture to the skin. It has many traditional uses in drinks and other beauty products, but in this mask it’s used to bind moisture to the skin.

I usually just slap on  mask in the bath while I leave a conditioner on my hair so I never really prep my skin or anything but this specifies that it be used over cleansed skin. It suggests you leave in on for 5 to 10 minutes and then you can take it off with a cotton pad. It also says you can pop on a thin layer and leave it on overnight which is how I used it most often.

This doesn't 'set' like a clay mask, in fact if you do apply a thin layer it just sinks in like a regular moisturizer does. I like that it doesn't set because I really hate that feeling on my face even though that normally means they are doing something good.

It has a clean smell to it, which is great because I’m not a fan of scented masks. They tend to make my eyes water, and any irritated skin patches on my face tend to get really itchy if there is a scent in there. This doesn't irritate any sensitive areas of my face or make my eyes water at all.

This, used along side some great moisturizers, has helped me sort out the flaky dry patches on my skin and I think I have my breakouts under control for now. I like this product, but can't find it online which makes me thing that it might have been discontinued. I hope not because I want to repurchase this when I'm finished.   

twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest | youtube

Soap and Glory | No Clogs Allowed Self Heating Detox Mask

No Clogs Allowed Deep Pore Detox Mask, £11 link

 This mask is amazing! There is no other way to start this post off other than saying that. So, now that is out of the way, I’ll get down to the specifics!

The full name of the product it’s called On This Face, There are… No Clogs Allowed Super Self Heating Deep Pore Detox Mask.  Now that mouthful is out of the way, I’ll tell you what this claims to do!

The mask supposedly contains 1 Minute Hot Poreclear Technology! I don’t really know what that is, but it works I can tell you that. I’m not sure it does anything in a minute but after leaving this mask on for about 5 minutes, my pores a clear and look a little reduced! I have terrible trouble with clogged pores and this is the only this that can clear them out properly.

You’ll know you have this on right, when you are “blue in the face”. The mixture is initially white, but the exfoliating beads within the product are blue and once you’ve give your face a good scrubbing; the mixture turns a blue colour. The so called exfoliating beads are not exfoliating at all. The do create a little texture within the mask but nothing particularly rough. They do disintegrate when you rub it, which turns everything blue. It looks quite strange when it's on but it works amazingly well. 

At that point you can wash it off and feel refreshed (and you really do feel refreshed) or you can leave it for 3 – 5 minutes (the suggested time) and have a reasonably deep clean!

The sponge is a little crappy, but it works for a while. I just tend to wash it off my face like anything else (with my hands). So, the sponge is no selling point but THIS IS AMAZING! I would recommend this to anyone (as long as your skin is not too sensitive because it can be a little abrasive). It's not that it's rough in texture or anything like that but it does heat up quite a bit and deeply cleans your face.