Allure Medi Spa Edinburgh

 

I love nothing more than having me a nice facial, and perhaps a massage, but you’ve guessed it, I’m queen of fussiness over the salon. I’m looking for welcoming reception staff, privacy, tell me what you are going to do to me before you do it, and do it well. I don’t want to be cold, or have rough hands on me, but I do want peace and quiet, with soft music and nice smells to take me to that happy place.

Allure Medi Spa is all of the above and actually exceeded my expectations which is pretty rare! Consider that it was a groupon deal I went there with, and it’s even more impressive.

I’ve now been there 4 times, twice for a facial, and twice for a massage. As it’s in Ocean Terminal shopping centre, there is free parking, and if you arrive early you can wander around the centre or Debenhams (which is where the salon is) until its time for your appointment.

When you arrive, you are greeted with a smile and offered a seat in the funky waiting area, and you are given a glass of ice cold water in a wine glass, which starts the whole process off nicely.

The facials provided are “Murad” facials and I have never used their products myself, but I had the Vitamin C infusion facial and the Anti-ageing and blemish control facial, both lasting 60 mins. You are left to get undressed down to your underwear and given a little wardrobe in which to put your clothes and then you get under a snugly duvet and towel. The therapist comes in and the lights are dimmed and the soft music begins.

What I love most about the facials at this salon, are that there is always something happening to you, even when you are just waiting for the face mask to dry – either a neck massage, or a hand and arm massage, or scalp massage. I also love the tingling effect of the products; it really makes you feel like it’s doing something wonderful! Finally, I love the scents of the products and the fact that each step of the facial is removed with an amazing hot flannel which is so relaxing and refreshing. After each facial my skin felt fantastic, and not just for that day, but for about a week after.

The back massage was almost as good and was a blissful experience that left me floating away from the salon. I say almost, only because the massage was not quite as firm as I need to get into the tension in my muscles.

Conversely, I had an awful experience in “Pure Spa” in Ocean Terminal where I had a facial by a woman with rough skin all over her hands that felt like sandpaper, loud music during the treatment, a bright light shining into my eyes from above, and it lasted 15 minutes less than it should have!

If you are looking for a treat, I would highly recommend Allure Medi Spa in Edinburgh. Or watch out for the next groupon and go for it. Enjoy!

x

Laura Geller Baked Highlighter in French Vanilla

Love it love it love it, Holy Grail product, new essential part of my makeup kit! About a year or so ago, I decided that I wanted to start using a highlighter, simply because I had learnt what they can do for your face and I felt like I needed a radiance boost and some contouring.

I don’t particularly like to put highlighter on the top of my cheekbones, cause I happen to have some crows feet there and highlighter just seem to draw attention to them. I do however, like a little stroke on the nose, some on that little dark corner on the inner eyelid, the brow bone, and cupids bow because any help I can get making my lips look plumper is grabbed with both hands!

I have tried a gazillion highlighters and was getting to the point where I thought maybe they weren’t for me after all, or I would just start using concealer instead. They all seemed to be too white, or have too much shimmer & sparkle, and at this ahem, 40+ age, I’m not looking to sparkle & shimmer too much. Then my lovely QVC package arrived with this cute little baked highlighter and aaaaaah, it was just my eyes that were sparkling!

The first thing I love is that it’s small. Highlighter is not a product that should run out quickly, so there is no need for huge packaging. It fits into the palm of my hand and will be perfect for travelling. When I opened it, I could see instantly it wasn’t too white but instead was exactly as described – vanilla. Then I swatched it and nope, no sparkle to be seen, but it does have a sort of mild sheen to it which is lovely and subtle.

I have used it two days in a row and amazingly it seems to last all day which is a bonus. Downsides? None so far. It cost me £20.00 from QVC but that was a 2 part set that also included an eye brightening eyeliner which is also pretty good. I don’t see me buying another highlighter now for a few years, so that’s a pretty good investment in my book.

Oh, and the ey brightening eyeliner is pretty good too, definately makes your eyes look wider and more awake if you put it in the waterline....

James Read Gradual Tan – Medium  

Hello hello, here come my thoughts on the James Read Gradual Tan…. Firstly, it’s expensive. £18.50 for 50ml, which I reckon is about 10 or so applications on the face and neck, so if like me you use it a couple of times a week, its not a cheap tan. My “usual” fake tan was £8.00 from Marks and Spencer and that was a 200ml tube, but the reason I put usual in inverted commas is because as always happens to me, once I find my holy grail product, it gets discontinued. Boo.  

What I’m looking for in a tan for my face is that it’s not too dark (coz I is of the pasty casper kind), but also not a non-existent colour (which is what you’ll get if you buy the No7 gradual tan, nothing gradual about it, they should have called it “No tan, just really greasy moisturizer that’ll give you spots”). I’m strangely not too bothered by the usual biscuit tan smell, but I don’t want it to smell like old dust, which is what Fake Bake smells like to me.  

I of course don’t want it to break my skin out in spots, I don’t want it to feel sticky for ages, I’d like it to be a non orange hue and if it comes in an easy to use container and looks pretty then it gets brownie points :0) Oh, and of course no streaks allowed and it should fade evenly.

So, the James Read gradual tan, apart from being expensive, has impressed me a fair amount, though it’s by no means Holy Grail status. The container is fairly nice looking, and is an easy to use pump dispenser. So far so good. I applied it on my face & neck at night, it dried fairly quickly, and I woke up the next morning excited to see if I had the healthy glow I’m going for. Before getting out of bed, I had a feel of my face and I did notice it felt a little dry. When looking in the mirror, I was surprised with the amount of colour I could see considering it was a gradual tanner, and you could certainly see a difference. There were no streaks and no smell at all.

Once I’d put my makeup on, I looked again and it did seem like there was a slight orange tone to my face, but nothing too drastic.  Fast forward to the evening and once I’d taken my makeup off I found myself staring at a small but red spot. Coincidence? Perhaps, since I do have a pimple here and there for sure, but I just have a feeling it was related to the tan.

This is now day 2, and I do like that it’s not an undetectable amount of colour by any means, and the colour hasn’t faded one bit despite my ruthless cleaning regime, but neither is it natural looking and my conclusion is that this Medium one is just too dark for me.  

I certainly wouldn’t repurchase this gradual tan in medium, but I will use up the rest of the bottle but maybe mix it with my moisturizer to lighten it up. I’ll watch my skin and see if it reacts again and if it doesn’t, I might try the gradual tan in light and see how I get on.  

Don’t you just wish there was some way you could tan your scalp to match your face though!

Any recommendations Ladies, for a tan that may meet my near impossible requirements?!

Inglot Freedom System Eye shadow Palette with 5 eye shadows

 

If you love eye shadow, you will LOVE Inglot! I bought this eye shadow palette from the Inglot store in Aberdeen. Unfortunately, I was in a rush so I just randomly chose colours and when I got home, I realised that I already had 3 colours almost identical, d’oh!

I do absolutely love the concept and the product though – it’s the same as Mac pro palette, i.e. you buy an empty palette in whichever size suits you, except Inglot is cheaper but you get more for your money! You can choose from a 1, 2 or 3 eye shadow palette with a mirror, with prices at £4.00, £4.50, and £5.00 respectively, or you can choose from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20 or 40, with prices from £4 to £24.

The eye shadows to go in the palettes come in Pearl, Shine, or Matte, and they are £4.50 each. You have a choice of over 200 colours. The slight downside is that the colour representation on the website is not that great so it’s best to get yourself to a shop and note down all the colours you like, then perhaps go home and figure out what you want, then order off the website. The only UK stores at the moment though are London, Stirling, and Aberdeen, although Glasgow is to open this year.

 As you can see, on this palette, 3 of the eye shadows are unused and the other two are half used. I “depotted” half of each of these eye shadows – this means I basically chopped half off, and recreated it into an eye shadow that will fit in my MAC palette! I’m actually selling this palette on EBay.

The eye shadows are extremely good quality, have good colour pay off, and hardly any fallout. The colours are beautiful, and I love using the gold and purple that I depotted - you'll see a photo of me wearing the gold & purple combination above. I will definitely be purchasing another palette when I have more time to choose colours. The only slight downside for me is that you get too much eye shadow; they are really generous, about twice the size of Mac shadows. The colours in this palette are, in case you would like to compare to the website (all pretty good representation except for Shine 34):

 

v      Matte 350 – Beige (Full Eye shadow)

v      Pearl 450 -  Cranberry (Full Eye shadow)

v      Pearl 445 - Mid purple (Full Eye shadow)

v      Pearl 452 - Dark purple (half)

v      Shine 34  - Gold  (half)

 

Fabby!

Update Skincare Regime

Updated Skin Care Regime

Hello Ladies and Happy New Year! (It’s ok to keep saying it till end of Jan no?!). I thought it would be interesting to see how different my current skin regime is, compared to the one I posted in February 2011, as in the run up to my wedding I tried a million and one products! Well, not quite that many but you know, not far off it. 

As well as trying new products for the big day, I also wanted to try and reduce the amount of products I use as I had 3 or 4 different bottles to remove my make up and cleanse, and it seemed excessive. So, the hunt was on for a multipurpose makeup remover that would sweep away my waterproof eye makeup effortlessly AND my face makeup, and a toner that would make my skin feel squeaky clean but be ok to use on the eyes too. Here’s what I’m doing now:

Garnier Simply Essentials 2 in 1 Make-up Remover

 

  This is my holy grail make up remover for eyes and face. The 2 in 1 title refers to the fact that it is a 2 part lotion – one part oil, one part water, and you just shake before use. What I love love love about this lotion, is that it takes off every single last drop of any kind of makeup, waterproof mascara included, but it doesn’t leave a greasy residue and you don’t have to drag your skin. Cleansing is now effortless! Oh, and it’s £2.99. Bargain.com :0)

 

Simple Kind To Skin Soothing Facial Toner  
This fulfils my needs perfectly – sweeps away the last remnants of cleanser and dirt, and can also be swept over eyes, for that perfectly clean feeling. Ahhhhh.  Another bargain at £2.99 from good old boots. What would we do without you Boots!

 Neutrogena Multi-Defence Daily Moisturiser SPF 25 - 
I have much love for this product for many reasons. Firstly, you can choose your skin type – it comes in Normal/Combination, Dry/Sensitive, and All Skin Types. Most days I use the one for Normal/Combination, as most days I have oily skin. It’s a lovely lightweight cream that doesn’t feel like it could possibly have SPF25 in it (cause you know, they are usually very greasy).  During the winter, and/or when I’m on medication for my oily skin, I use the one for Dry/Sensitive skin, and it’s a much richer lotion but still not greasy or thick. Once again, this is one of my bargain buys and is £7.99.

 Dr Jart Most Moist Water Max Sleeping Mask –
  Unfortunately, this is soooo not a bargain buy, but I do love it as my night regime, and at a recent facial I was told my moisture levels were great which I put down to this product. I’m definitely on the hunt for a cheaper one though so any ideas, please feel free to let me know! What I’m trying to avoid is products in jars as I’ve read and heard lots now that it’s just not hygienic and that the product in the jar becomes contaminated with the constant contact with air. So, one of the things I love about this Dr Jart is that it’s in a pump action bottle. The lotion itself is cool and a lovely gel like consistency that feels amazing on the skin. It really feels like you are giving your skin some TLC. It smells really fresh but is only a very light scent, and the bottle is so pretty don’t you think? Now for the bad news. It’s £26.00 :0( That’s the only bad thing I have to say about it though……..

Ponds Eye contour cream –
I’ve added an eye cream into my regime because I, ahem, turned 40 this year.  I am a big fan of botox and it has done me proud in the crows feet area for about 3 or 4 years now, but I just wondered if an eye cream could add anything else. I think to be honest I just felt guilty about not using one because so many beauty type people have told me I really should be “at my age”. I’m dabbing some of this on my eye area morning and night, and have been for about 3 weeks now and so far…… I can’t see even a slight difference. Not really sure what I’m looking for though to be honest. At £7.99 it wasn’t too expensive but I think I’ll just use up the pot and then go back to not using one. Shhhhh, don’t tell the professionals!