Palmer's Night Renewal Cream

Last year Palmers decided to expand their range by releasing new skin care products. Soon afterwards, I read a review of their eye cream that was very positive and I promptly filed that away in my brain for later.  I should also say that I have never used their body products before as I am not a fan of cocoa butter smells generally.

 The money I have wasted trying major brands only to break out in a couple of days is enough to make me cry – so I decided to try something more budget friendly – enter Palmer’s Night Renewal Cream.

I have hesitated in writing this review because unlike many review-based blogs that have a system (like Temptalia or Grey) I was unsure how to best organise my thoughts to make this  review useful for readers. I finally came up with – packaging, smell, texture,  performance against it’s claims and value for money.

Packaging – I like it. It is simple and reasonably forgettable.  I know some people hate jars because of the hygiene factor and possible degradation of ingredient but  I kept mine on the night stand so it was out of the way and sealed tightly.

Smell – in reading other reviews of this product some people noted that this had a strong fragrance – I tend to disagree but Lancome (my daytime moisturiser) are well known for strong fragrances so perhaps I am not a great judge. I certainly couldn’t smell anything once it was on my face and the scent is much more delicate than their body products.

Texture – I love the feel of this cream. It does have a thicker texture than a lotion but it is in no way gloopy or greasy. The cream itself is quite silky and I certainly feel softer in the morning after using it as well as when applying the cream at night. It does take a minute or so to be completely absorbed but as it is for night use this isn’t a real drawback for me.

Performance against its claims –

They Say:

•  “loaded with targeted skin firming and smoothing ingredients”
• “leave(s) skin soft, smooth and radiant”,
•  “maintain(s) moisture levels throughout the night for smoother, softer skin.

I say

•  I am not sure I can see any firming here but when my skin is hydrated my wrinkles seem milder anyway.
• I definitely agree with soft and smooth. I haven’t seen any brightening of my skin but I am pleased with the overall effect 
• Definitely agree that my skin feels more hydrated and pretty much like it did in my teens when I wake up.

I have consistently used this on my whole face including my eyes at night, where I had a persistent dry patch on my eyelid. After 3 days the patch disappeared and it hasn’t come back. I have no irritation with my eyes after application either. A very impressive but unexpected bonus.

Value for Money – I cannot express enough how fantastic I think this product is when considering I saw a great improvement in my skin’s hydration and softness without any breakout (even during summer). My first jar is almost empty now and I have been using this almost every night since November/December. And I get all of that for approximately $13 AUD. I love this stuff!

NOTD: China Glaze AHOY!

 

Now this is more like it! AHOY! (their punctuation not mine) is a completely fabulous raspberry colour with some super pretty gold shimmer thrown in. This colour is one of the 3 polishes I picked up from China Glaze's Anchors Away collection and I love it. 

Despite having a larger than average nail polish collection I don't own many berry or red shades, which I found puzzling after realising how flattering these colours are on my skin tone. I honestly think it is because of those hideously long fake nails of the 80s that had blight colours in hot pink and magenta - you know what I mean right? Anyway THIS polish is NOT one of those.

CG is back to formula perfection with this and the other colour I have tried (Sea Spray - which chipped after waiting the best part of a week for me to get around to photographing it). This dried quickly and was opaque in 2 coats (maybe even one but I can't be 100% sure on that). What I can say writing this on Saturday night is that this polish has lasted a week of work with no tip chips and just some very minor peeling away at the cuticle. I'm impressed.

I'm almost tempted to have this one again this week but I have First Mate to try - as well as Sea Spray to try and get a pic of as well. BTW Sea Spray is so beautiful. It's one of those lovely shades that took me a couple of days to work out if I even I liked it. 

NOTD: China Glaze Peace on Earth

 

I picked up a few extra China Glaze Christmas 2010 colours after being so impressed with Mistletoe kisses, Sugar Plums and Frosty. This shade is called Peace on Earth and immediately caught my attention being an olive green. Unfortunately for me this one came off as a miserable yellow-green rather than the rich olive green I had hoped for. The pictures shown all have 2 coats with no top coat.

Let's start with the good, this polish is very opaque, I could have got away with 1 coat. Now the bad - thick formula, shows brush lines slightly when dry, completely unforgiving of any nail imperfections like ridges (which I have) and not good for us pale people at all. I am sorry to say this colour was not my cup of tea... but for those of you who aren't so pale like me...I suspect it would look stunning. I must also apologise for my cuticles in these shots... dry summer hands.

 As there was no direct sunlight this one has been taken with flash outside.

Also taken with flash

I removed it after 1 day - in fact I think it looks better in the photos than it did in real life. That one is going straight to the back of the nail polish box. A complete colour fail. lol

China Glaze Crackle Glaze

China Glaze's Crackle Glaze Collection is now available on Head2Toe Beauty - squeee! There are 6 colours in total - white, grey, black, blue, pink and purple. They $3.49USD per bottle. GET ON IT!

I ordered black, blue and purple...

NOTD: Nicole by OPI's Sky's the Limit.

 All pictures shown are 2 coats, no top coat in direct sunlight.

I was recently surprised to learn that Terry White Chemists carry the Nicole by OPI brand and like the nail polish junkie I am, I made it my business to go in to have a look. Sky's the Limit caught my eye with it's happy shade of blue with blue micro glitter and after handing in $14.95 it was mine.

Beautiful Blogger Award

Rules of the Award:

• Linked back to the person who gave me the award
• 7 random things about me
• 10 blogs to which I am awarding the "Beautiful Blogger" title

Firstly I would like to thank the most lovely Su for giving my little blog this award. If you don't follow her... do it now... then come back and read the rest of this lol.


7 Random things about me:

It's Too Hot, Awards, Welcome and some other stuff

Let me start with a huge thank you to the lovely Su who gave me a Beautiful Blogger Award. Firstly if you haven't been to Su's blog do yourself a favour - her reviews of perfume are fantastic. Secondly, I am pretty wrapped to even get an award. Su I think said it best  "I feel so special and this is most definitely an inspiration to write more." She's so right!

My blog is very new and I only started after Dee encouraged me to blog all the makeup and nail polish rubbish running around my head that my husband was completely over pretending to listen to. To even have followers (who aren't my friends IRL) is pretty awesome and I love the things I have learned from reading other blogs out there. Now I will do  a proper post about this soon but I just wanted to say a quick thanks to Su and also to Dee who got me started :)

For those who aren't aware, I reside in the lovely city of Adelaide and summer can get pretty hot...like 45 degrees (Celsius) hot. With the random weather Australia has been experiencing in 2011 it hasn't been as hot as usual but it has been a lot more humid - ewww. All of this means I have been a bit lazy in the evenings, collapsing into the couch after work and watching Biggest Loser Families and a bit of Dexter as well.

As you can imagine the makeup has been pretty basic/plain and I have gone back to wearing my Everyday Minerals foundation again. I have a heap of NOTD pics to post as I have been painting my nails and a review of a moisturiser I have been using that I think is awesome (and it's under $15AUD).What is lacking at the moment, is the motivation lol. However this weekend my step kids are over and I will have additional arms for swatching so I should be back in business.

And while I have been slack, it looks like a few people have stopped by to follow my blog. So I just wanted to say a big hi to everyone who is new, thanks for the comments and to let you know that new posts are coming - really!

Hope everyone is keeping well and staying cool if it's summer where you are as well.
Jac x