Alva Naturkosmetik Coleur Silver Eyeshadow Duo and Hot Red Lipstick Review

Hello lovelies - hope you're all ok and coping (for most of you) with the shock of being back at work. My first day back was a little crazy but that's always the way with a new term. This evening, I'm bringing you a couple of quick reviews of a couple of bits of makeup I received from My Pure recently. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with showergels and body lotions, so I chose the Hot Red lipstick and Silver eyeshadow duo. I can only photography when I'm not at work, hence artificial lighting - apologies lovelies.

Organic Lipstick in Hot Red

I chose Shade 4 which is Hot Red - a lovely, wearable orange toned matte red (which is a little deeper than the picture above would have you believe). I really like this lipstick as I'd been looking for a matte red for quite sometime and this is the perfect shade for me. It's not too bright and not too vampy - lovely! Also, despite being matte, I don't find it at all drying which is always a bonus! The only slight downside is the smell ... it has a weird floraly herby smell. I don't really like it and it puts me off wearing it which is a shame but then again, I'm uber sensitive to smells so it might not bother you as much!

£13.80 from My Pure

Organic Duo Eye-Shadow in Silver

Ahhh, I love these eyeshadows - they're beautifully pigmented, complement each other perfectly, have a good amount of staying power, are shimmery without being a glitterball on my face but they have one fatal flaw. The packaging! Arrgggh. Ok, so firstly, it's just a bit ugly... that I can sort of deal with.  I mean being aesthetically pleasing isn't the be all and end all right? But it gets worse. The actual pan holider (i.e. the bit that the eyeshadows are set into... with the dippy hole for the applicator) itself comes out... on its own. For no reason. And then it's really hard to get back into the case. Sadly, this makes it feel a little cheap and tacky. For just under £12, I expect my eyeshadow casing to stay together. So as much as I love these eyeshadows, I'm not sure if I could ever bring myself to buy any more of them. *sigh*

£11.95 from My Pure

*Disclaimer* I was sent these products for review as part of the My Pure blogger scheme.

Lovea Bio Argan Oil Cell Renewal Body Scrub Review

You might have noticed a lack of My Pure reviews from me over the last couple of months - unfortunately my 2nd box got sent back and then sent out and then lost in the land of Royal Mail so this month is going to be choc-full of reviews! I thought I'd start with this Lovea Bio Argan Oil Cell Renewal Body Scrub:

Some of you will know (and those of you that don't will no doubt be happy to hear) that My Pure is changing the way that they put together the packages for bloggers to review (this month was a customised box and from next month bloggers will be selecting their own products) - hopefully this means a little less repetition in the blogging circles :)

Annnnyway, onto reviewing the actual product. I'm very much in two minds about this body scrub - one the one hand, it does an alright job and leaves your skin relatively smooth etc, but on the other hand, it's just... weird. 

The texture of it is odd - the scrub itself is held in a gel type substance, which occasionally separates and drips oil (I'm guessing Argan Oil) all over you as you open the lid. The actual scrubby bit doesn't really feel that effective either - all the particles are varying sizes (I'm guessing due to being made of a variety of different nuts and seeds) and you don't get that satisfying "scrubbed" feeling after using it.... well you do on about 1/3 of your scrubbed area, but there's no where near enough actual scrubbyness to make it a satisfying or worth while experience. 

The argan oil means that your skin does feel quite nourished afterwards and I definitely didn't need to use a moisturiser (although it's no where near as moisturising as something like Origins Incredible Spreadable Scrub), but my overwhelming feeling after using this product is just a bit "meh". Sorry Lovea - your shampoo was lovely, your scrub is kinda blah.

♥ ♥ and a half out of 5

Would I buy this again? Probably not to be honest - at £7.50 I expect a lot more scrub satisfaction

Price: £7.50 from My pure

Disclaimer: I was given this product for free for review purposes as part of the My Pure Blogging Panel

Lovea Moroccan Argan Brilliance Shampoo Review

Hello! This is the last review for my current box of My Pure goodies - I have to say, I really am excited about getting my next box. The things in this package have been surprisingly good - one of the things I've really like is that they're the sort of products you wouldn't automatically think about buying (maybe because the packaging isn't "cool" or because they're not big, well known brands or maybe just because they fall into the realms of natural products) but that actually they're a lot better than loads of high street brands I've tried.

Anyway, here's my thoughts on the Lovea Moroccan Argan Brilliance Shampoo

So first things first, I was very, very wary about using this shampoo. I have a horrendously sensitive scalp and It'll flake, itch and go generally scabby at the slightest thing *coughfaithinnaturecough*. Anyway, for the sake of all things blog shape (and knowing that My Pure wouldn't attempt a lawsuit if I said it was utter rubbish), I gave it a go. And you know what? I flipping love it! No, seriously. I have this on our shelf next to Lush Daddyo (my normal shampoo HG) and I just find myself reaching for this every time. My scalp is fine, my hair is incredibly shiny and full of life and even in the hot sticky weather of a couple of weeks ago, my hair doesn't seem to get greasy quickly at all. It also smells gorgeous!

I also did a wee bit of research about Argan Oil and according to Wikipedia (that oh so reliable fount of all knowledge) it's got great anti-ageing properties. Not sure how that quite affects my hair, but if I have a nice youthful scalp I guess that's never going to be a bad thing.

The bad points? I have to use quite a bit to get it to properly lather in my thickish mid-length hair, but that's not really unusual for me.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ out of 5

Would I buy it again? Yup, I think I would

Price/Where can I buy it from?: £4.99 and you can get it from My Pure

*Disclaimer* I was sent this product for review purposes

Kosmea Eighth Natural Wonder Facial Revitalising Serum and A'kin Pure Rose Hydrating Mist Review

As I'm sure you've picked up, the people at MyPure have selected 50 bloggers to recieve a package of goodies each month to review. At the moment, we're all receiving the same thing but hopefully it'll get a little more customised as it goes on. Anyway, here's my thoughts on the Facial Serum and the Face Mist that we were sent.

Kosmea Eighth Natural Wonder Facial Revitalising Serum

I have to admit when I first received this, I was pretty skeptical. My main reason? The smell - I couldn't see anyway that my sensitive nose and the strong smell of this serum would get on. It's not a horrible smell, it's just very errrr "natural". Sort of a herbal, rose health shop kinda smell. I was also skeptical because I've been around the natural organic skin care world for a fair while now and I've tried a multitude of things - what I generally find is that they either a)don't really do anything or b)don't really do anything other than make me break out. However, I was pleasently surprised by this serum!

Basically over the last couple of weeks, I've changed my skin care completely - partially because of the weather and partially because it just needed to change. I'm going to do a vlog soon on my morning routine so I won't bore you with the full details but basically I cleanse (sometimes... I'll explain another day), tone, spritz with the A'kin mist, pop this Serum on and then moisturise (apart from at night when I just put the serum on and nothing else) and it's utterly transformed my skin. 

Obviously because there's so many variables, I can't say for certain that it's just this serum, but it's definitely good stuff. The first time I used it was at night and I was shocked my how smooth my skin felt in the morning. I've also noticed my skin looking brighter and generally having less flakeyness and redness.

The downsides? Well, the smell for one! I also find the pump on the bottle a little annoying - it's hard to get exactly the right amount out (I always end up with a little too much) and sometimes I end up with (very expensive) serum all over the carpet after it spurts out. I also find the texture of it on my face a little odd - not bad, just weird. It's quite slimey and always makes me think of snails. I guess that's not really a reason to buy it though as it only feels like that for a short while and it's really not that bad!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ out of 5

Will I buy it again? Not sure - a 20ml bottle is £25.0 and a 50ml bottle is £49.99 so it's definitely a big investment - I'll see how my skin copes without it when it runs out and maybe that'll sway me!

Where can you get it from? My Pure

A'kin Pure Rose Hydrating Mist

This is the other thing that has become a daily part of my adapted routine. I imagine some of you are wondering why I don't use this as a toner? In all honesty, it's because I utterly love my toner and I don't think that anything ever leaves my skin feeling quite as clean as that does (It's Origins Perfect World Moisturising Lotion with White Tea in case you're wondering). However, I have been loving this for adding an extra level of hydration to my skin. I don't know why I thought of using toner lots of toner - I just did and it really has been excellent! I use my Origins one on cotton wool to remove dirt and rubbish and then sprtiz with this. It's super gentle, really refeshing and seems to make my moisturiser absorb better.

Saying that, I really don't know if I'd buy this myself - it's kind of nice in an extra treat for my skin kinda way, and it's looovely on super hot days, but really it's nothing that I've not seen done before. The Body Shop Vitamin E Face Mist or Lush's Eau Roma Water are similar and have less air miles (This is an Austrailian product and even contains purified Australian Water according to the bottle). One really great addition that this does have is Aloe Vera which means its probably been helping some of my sore and red bits on my face a fair bit more than other hydrating mists will. Overall, it's good, but it's just not got the wow factor!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ out of 5
Would I buy it again? Maybe, maybe not...
Where can I get it from? My Pure

*Disclaimer* I was sent this products for review purposes