Skincare Right Now (aka The Skincare Tag)

L-R: SkinTruth Toner, Boots No.7 Eye Make Up Remover, Estee Lauder Daywear Plus, Antipodes Divine Oil, Purity 3-1 Cleanser and Dermalogica Micro Exfoliator.

Describe your skincare routine in 5 words..

Whatever works right now
(with a word to spare)

What's your skin type?

At the moment erratic - with my hormones dipping up and down, it show more on my skin. On Monday it was so clear and glowing, I wore no base but the next day I had to put on a full base on to cover the blotchy redness. It also can be sensitive, the routine I have now is a result of a lot of misses and it's the first time in a while that my skin has reacted positive to products for a while.

What's your favourite skincare product?

Antipodes Divine Avocado and Rosehip Facial Oil has been the biggest revelation to my skin, it has been soothing and noursing to my erratic skin. I love the scent of this, I like to breath it's relaxing scent in before I massage it in. It is now an essential part of my skincare routine.

Top blemish zapper

Witch Blemish Stick - had it since I was a teenager and I haven't found anything since that really comes close and is cost effective. The formula has never changed all the time its been available, if its not broke, why fix it? (A PS - the anti-blemish primer is also a brilliant high street product, I will be reviewing this in the next coming weeks)

Face wipes - yay or nay?

They are a huge nay - I never feel fully 'cleansed' after using one, it more feels like I'm moving the dirt/grime around my face rather than cleaning. They are however better than not taking make up off at all (very useful when I used to go out in the evening and return in the morning).

Toner - yay or nay?

I used to be very anti toner, even when working for Estee Lauder. This hugely changed as I got older, I underestimated how much of a cleansing bonus they are to routine and this was merely was I found 'The one' in Etat Pur. That has now run out and I am now finishing the one I had in my stock pile.

High End Skincare or High End Makeup?

Skincare without a doubt, look after your skin and it'll glow needing less make up. I have first no make up that comes close to that glowing fresh skinned look. I would also invest in more high end foundation just because of pigments and tones (As you know I am really pale), the rest the high street does perfect.

What's the most unusual facial product you've tried?

Nothing would you believe, if I wasn't pregnant I would of offered to be a trail person for my workplace as they just launched Vampire facial there. It involves taking blood from your arm, separating the layer that’s filled with platelets and then injecting it through tiny needles into your face. It suppose to smooth and rejuvenate the face.

You're in a French Pharmacy and can only pick one item - what would it be?

I wouldn't know to be honest, I would probably in my GCSE French ask for recommendations. I do like a little hidden gem.

Tell us your skincare tip

Review your skincare with every season, skin is constantly changing (remember you get new skin cells come to the surface every 28 days). Anything can affect it: stress, seasons and as I well know at the moment, pregnancy.

Many Thanks to the awesome Lisahh-Jayne for tagging me and I open it up to anyone who wants to give it go. Stick your link in comments, I'm nosey and want to read them!








 

Knowing Your Customer Rights

First of all a huge thank you to Grace from All That Slap for getting me wound up about Beauty Advisors, I have previously ranted about them here as well as my experience of being a former Counter Manager.

Knowing Your Rights

Sale of Goods Act 1979 states that when purchase an item from anywhere like a shop, you and the seller go into an agreement that the goods they are selling are

• as described - If it says a red jumper, it cannot be a pair of blue trousers
• of satisfactory quality - product must last a reasonable amount of time, a watch that lasts a day is not of satisfactory quality.
• fit for purpose - covers not only the obvious purpose of an item but any purpose you queried and were given assurances about by the seller.

This is applicable if you are purchasing in the UK, if it is abroad you are subject to their laws so it's worth reading up before purchasing.

Before purchasing anything I always ask what the returns policy is, there is normally a time limit when you can take items back (on average I've found 28 days). I would also take the name of the person who is serving you as well as a back up. If possible get a sample to try so you don't open the product up as it is more likely they will take it back.

Pay on card - You'll find out why in the next bit.

I have something to return, now what do I do?

Find your proof of purchase, it's the most powerful bit of paper you can take with you.

If you have lost the receipt, this is where the paying by card comes in - A majority of companies do also take bank statements as proof of purchase, and can also go back through their till audits to find the transactions (this however takes a long time and normally can only be done by certain people so there is a long wait involved, they might even ask you to come back another day).

Explain clearly why you are bringing it back, keeping the Sales of Goods Act 1979 in mind, and also what end result you would want and be willing to negotiate/compromise.

What is their rights as a seller?

They have the right to offer you (and probably in this order):

• A repair.
•  A replacement.
•  A refund.

As I mentioned before ask what their policy is before purchasing and take the sales assistants name.

"I am not getting the result I want"

First of all, remember they have a business to protect as well, that is why there are policies and time limits in place.

If they are being stubborn and you have followed everything that ask been asked of you to the letter, then demand to speak to someone higher like a manager. If in a department store, you can speak to several middle managers like department (who look after the section) or floor (who look after the whole floor, thus are higher management), you will very rarely speak to a store manager as I find they are hardly in the store hence the floor managers.

If this is still not resolved to your satisfaction then contact the company directly, put in as much detail as possible - who you spoke to, when, why you are speaking to them. Any company who values their customers will do everything to resolve the issue as they do not want an unhappy customer telling the world how bad their service was.

If you want to take it even further (and yes you can within your rights) you can contact the Citizen's Advice. They can offer support and legal advice on what to do. Same as contacting the companies head office, make sure you have as much detail as possible. It can go as far as going to court, but I have never heard of any retail purchases going this far.

I hope this has been a huge help for you. For me, great customer service is how a company not only handles it sales but ultimately how it handles it complaints.

My email and Twitter is always open (and if I don't know, I normally know someone who will).

Macadamia Natural Oil's Deep Repair Masque

One of the things you do get told about being pregnant is that your body will change, and then they will go on about the 'glow' you will get after your 3 months are over. This can be lie for some people, I didn't really get a glow until about 18 weeks, before then my skin looked dull and my hair looked life had left it.

I had tried this previously from another event I went to (got this one in my goodie bag from London Meet Up), so I knew it would already re-kick the recovery of my poor hair. The hair mask uses a combination of macadamia and argan oil infused with tea tree oil, chamomile oil, aloe and algae extracts. You put onto clean, damp hair for 5-10 minutes and then wash off with warm water, dry and style as normal.

It is a thick pale coloured cream and found that because I know has shorter hair (down to my jaw line), I could split the sachet into two uses in one week to give it a full recovery programme. After the first use it felt significantly softer, that kind of soft where you cannot stop touching your hair. It looked glossy and moisturised. After the second weekly use, it had looked like I had been at a salon and had treatment done, it looked more improved than the beginning.

For 100ml tube it starts from £12.50, which if I have worked this out correctly, for my length hair will give you about 7 uses at £1.79 each (my hairdresser tries to sell me their treatment at £4.79 each time). There is 250ml (£26.95) and 500ml (£36.75) available.

Read more about Macadamia hair range here

Apivita Anti Wrinkle Grape Face Mask

Apivita is a Marks & Spencer exclusive beauty brand, and what brilliant brand for them to have. Apivita started as a pharmacy in Athens in 1979 by husband and wife, Nikos and Niki Koutsianas, following the philosophy of of Hippocrates (a Greek who started the modern medicine movement and believed in treating the body and the mind).

For me the representive that I met at London Meet Up sold the brand for me, sun drenched fields and vineyards, I was already mentally booking my tickets there. However, I will have to settle with my grape in the face mask for now.

The mask has grape and the combination of A and E vitamins which is reported to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles and expression lines while offering skin unique softness and revitalisation. Olive and sunflower natural plant oils have moisturising properties and enhance skin's elasticity and firmness.
You apply to clean skin for 10 minutes and rinse off (as I do with my a majority of my face masks I use a face cloth to wash off).

 

I will warn you know, it is a fluid mask so it can come out quicker than expected. It also has little particles of red in them so I would assume this is parts of the grape as I cannot find any information anywhere on what they are. I did like the softer touch to my skin afterwards, it felt much plumper and look liked I have had a night's rest.

 

Doing my research on the Marks & Spencer's website, they also have 20% off Beauty and Fragrance until 26th August (That's Bank Holiday Monday). The set of two sachets of masks would cost £2.40 instead of £3.00, not the biggest reduction, however if this is a sample of the rest of the range it's well worth a treat (or two).

Entry 200

 

 

"What I love most about rivers is you can't step in the same river twice
The water's always changing, always flowing"
Pocahontas - Disney

What a huge difference a 100 blog posts can make?

Unevenlemming Beauty, I like to think, is entering another phase of evolution, as we never stand still and always change. I, myself are going through the biggest change since I got married, I am creating my own Minilemming to add to the family and as well as to the blog. I realise as my pregnancy progresses that it's going to play a huge influence to my life, people do not joke when they say 'life changing', but also the choices I make for myself and wellbeing.

I love blogging, even in the times that I am stuck in a rut, I still love writing, reading, and eventually planning (I'm still working on this!). I have also made lots of friends from this, who have been a huge support but also the kick up the bum I've needed in the ruts. Many thanks and hugs to them.

Hopefully over the next few weeks you will see some new improvements that will benefit me and give Unevenlemming Beauty a little more of a clear identity, so bear with me during this transition - It will be worth waiting for. Until then thank you for reading and sticking with me, for all the comments, tweets and messages - Some day's it's the best and only thing that keeps me going.

Beauty Swap with Clare (A Bit of This and That)

About late May I signed my name to a Beauty Swap organised but the retro fabulous Kat from Tales of a Pale Face. It is very simple, you get an email to say who you have got as well as contact mail, you send a lot of emails asking about likes/dislikes and arranging when. Clare and I found out that we were both going to London Meet Up at the end of July and decided to save the postage to send more surprises.

 

I mentioned in my emails that the pale person for me struggles to find a bronzer that doesn't turn me orange and I lacked any daytime lipsticks (all of them are mostly red!). Clare said that she kind of liked MAC lipsticks (owns 25 of them , you need help with a MAC lipstick - she's your girl!) and loved premium make up.

 

You can read what I got her here on her blog and see below what appeared in my little bag (beautifully wrapped up may I add, I lasted an hour before I opened them all).

 

Natural Collection lipsticks in Apple Blossom (on the left) and Rose Bud (on the right) - I already have one of the lipsticks and think they're really great value so it was great to see two more for my collection.

Bourjois Powder Bronzer - Smells delicious, have not tried it yet, but the other bloggers around me when I opened it, 'Ohh'd' at it and came with recommendations.

Not Pictured - Montagne Jeunesse peel off face masks - my favourite face mask brand and they have added to the collection. I also gave the exact same ones to Clare!

The one I got most excited about was:

My second ever MAC lipstick in Crème Cup - a beauty bloggers holy grail. I have worn this a few times now and it goes slightly pink on me but looks great for everyday which is what I have been looking for.

Big thank you to Kat for organising and Clare for being really generous.

Minilemming Update - Week 18

Minilemming aged 12 weeks - Look it's waving!

I did say I wouldn't attack with too many baby updates while there wasn't a lot to report.

The morning sickness thankfully went about week 10 and by the time this was taken I was finally getting some energy levels backs. This also meant working started increasing my work load until we found another pair of hands to come and help me. I spent most of my nights coming in from work, eating and then going to sleep on the sofa or going to bed.

No one explains that in the second part that you can still feel like the baby is sucking the life force of you (insert Twilight/Harry Potter reference here). During the heat was the worst bit, you are already feeling warm with everything going on, the heat just made everything unbearable and my ankles swelled to enormous size!

There are plus sides - feeling the first fluttering's of movements cannot be replaced or described, its very strange but amazing at the same time. I also have started to buy bits for them as I've spotted them in the sales and have started 'nesting' (aka cleaning out like a mad woman). My belly is now bigger than my chest, it arrives before I do and is starting to feel very heavy.

The next 20 week scan is the end of August where I get another little look at them, and no I will be finding out th sex. As long as they are doing all great them we're happy. For now its all getting rest as I can and putting my puffy feet up until baby comes along.

Blogsale is still going on!