Winter Skincare SOS - Jojoba Hydrating Day Cream

Everyone in our house is suffering from dry skin at present; the cold weather always makes it worse and poor old Holly is suffering most. My face is crying out for hydration in a response to the dark nights and the freezing conditions but at this time of year I'm really bad about treating myself, even when it is a treat I really need. The Jojoba Company sent me a little pre-Christmas treat in the form of their awesome hydrating day cream to try and combat the winter blues.

The Jojoba Company are an Australian skincare brand who pride themselves on their natural skincare solutions. Their Hydrating Day Cream is a vegan-friendly moisturiser that is incredibly light and instantly absorbed.  It comes in a pump dispenser and is compact enough to fit into a handbag so that you can apply it throughout the day if your skin is crying out for a quick moisturising boost.

And that's exactly what it is...a boost. I love the way that my skin feels like it is bounding back in a refreshing zing every time I apply it. As the brand name suggests, the day cream features moisturising jojoba oil. Alongside this you'll find Siberian ginseng extract, green tea and olive leaf extract which all add to the boosting effect. Vitamins B and E are there to support the skin and chamomile helps your skin to feel soothed after a day out in the fresh air.

My skin is feeling quite genuinely fabulous at present (this may also be related to a change in face wash). The feeling might be explained by the fact that this Jojoba hydrating day cream has been clinically proven to help your skin increase its elastin levels by as much as 97% so it helps your skin to bounce back from stresses. I'm loving having this moisturiser with me and I can picture it being just as refreshing and rewarding in the warmer months as it is right now in the depths of winter.

You can find The Jojoba Company skincare products in Holland and Barrett.  The  hydrating day cream costs £22.99.

Avène Hydrance Optimale Light Hydrating Cream Review

You know how I'm still on my mission to find my perfect moisturiser? Well, it is very possible I may have found a true candidate for the role... behold, the Avène Hydrance Optimale Light Hydrating Cream.

There are four different moisturising creams in the Hydrance Optimale range by Avène but this really light cream seems to be ideally suited to my skin. It is a no-nonsense, light cream that absorbs well and is totally non-greasy. The light hydrating cream is designed for dehydrated or sensitive skin (I drink too much coffee, thus dehydrated skin and pregnancy seems to have made my facial skin pretty damn sensitive too).

The light hydrating cream contains ingredients designed to reduce evaporation - I guess the idea is that you want to make the most of that Avène spring water before it evaporates away! It also has sebo-reducing ingredients to prevent greasiness and that leaves your skin with a really nice moist feeling but with a matt finish. When I use this moisturiser, I'm reminded a lot of the Clarins Hydra Matte lotion (one of my all time favourites) but without the parabens or strong scent and with a slightly lower price tag.

Avène Hydrance Optimale light hydrating cream is incredibly gentle on my skin and I barely notice its there (the scent is very subtle too). I have however noticed that when I use it first thing in the morning, it has reduced the look of the pores on my cheeks and forehead (one of the key signs of dehydration). I'm really enjoying using the moisturiser and have already done a bit of research into where I can buy my next tube of it and was pleasantly surprised to find I could order it online from Boots for £13.50.

Trilogy Vital Moisturising Cream Review

I have a tradition that I've held since my school days that in the new year I refresh all of my cosmetics and make a new start. This year I have opened up a bottle of Trilogy Vital Moisturising Cream that I was sent to review.

The Vital Moisturising Cream is one of Trilog's flagship products and I can understand why. It is made with a heavenly scented combination of active ingredients such as Evening Primrose Oil, Rosehip Oil and Carrot Seed Oil. They don't only smell great but they also provide nourishing omega 3 and 6 oils which help to help your skin repair and replenish itself.

The moisturiser claims it is suitable for all skin types, especially dry skin. I have combination skin and I've found that it leaves my skin feeling quite heavy and greasy after use - I think it would be better suited to a drier skin type.

I love the scent and I love the pump action of the dispenser (a feature I was also impressed by on the Trilogy gentle calming fluid. the texture of the cream is really light and it is almost instantly absorbed. I really appreciate the ethical and environmental philosophy of Trilogy and I just wish that the cream suited my skin a little better.

You can follow Trilogy on facebook. Trilogy Vital Moisturising Cream costs around £24.50 for a 60g jar or 50ml pump and can be found at trilogyproducts.co.uk, Boots.com, House of Fraser and John Lewis.

The Sunday Review - L'Oreal Revitalift

This week I have a guest review from Jane Willis from The Competition Grapevine (aka my Mum) of L'Oreal's Revitalift Moisturiser for 40+ skin.



I have been using this for several weeks now and have not found any significant change in my skin. My usual cream is L'Oreal Age-Reperfect so I presume the active ingredients are very similar. The Revitalift cream seemed to be slightly heavier on my skin and not quite so easily absorbed - an advantage at night, but the very slight residue it left made it less suitable for day time use,especially as I am a spectacle wearer and find cream residue around the outer eye area can smear my glasses.

One thing I did particularly like about the cream was the fragrance. When I was in my teens, I already had dry skin so while friends were trying the latest anti-grease ands pot treatments, I was already buying moisturiser. As soon as I opened the Revitalift jar I was taken back to the smell of my first ever moisturiser. I can't remember the brand name but there was a very 1960s style dolly-bird face on the jar!

Overall I prefer Age-Reperfect but wouldn't rule out buying Revitalift in the future

Image courtesy of L'oreal

The Sunday Review - Senzimi Skincare

I am really enjoying my journey of discovery of sensitive skin care products - I had no idea that there was so much choice available when I first developed sensitive skin this time last year. I've recently been trying out Senzimi products.

Senzimi have lots of great information on their website about the causes of sensitive skin and the things you should look out for on ingredients labels if you are a sufferer. Their products are paraben free, sulfate free and mineral-oil free (which is one of the things that causes my skin irritation).

The Daily Cleanser is a wash-off cleanser which means it leaves you skin feeling really squeaky clean. Because it is free from synthetic fragrances, I found that it lacked that bit of zing that I look for in a wash -off cleanser to help me wake up in the morning. I didn't feel any greasiness after using it but then again, my skin didn't feel amazing and I know that there are wash-off cleansers out there that can really make your face feel taught, bright and ready for the day.

The Daily Moisturiser is very easily absorbed (despite looking a little oily on my fingertips). It is designed to help soothe irritated skin and reduce the effects of UV damage so it is a great long-term moisturiser. I didn't notice any dramatic differences to the way my skin felt after using it but I certainly didn't feel any ill effects, any irritation or redness. I actually have grown to really like this as a daily moisturiser for wearing from the start of my day all through my working day as its light and doesn't sit heavily on my skin. The fragrance is a little over-powering though.

The Daily Moisturiser boasts some wonderful ingredients such as the miracle-working argan oil, rose hip oil, oat extract, cucumber extract, aloe vera and olive-oil derivatives. All lovely ingredients that I shall leave to do their work on me!

Senzimi products are available to buy on their website www.senzimi-skincare.com.

Images courtesy of New Chapter

The Sunday Review – Olay Total Effects Wake Up Wonder

Regular readers of Mellow Mummy will know that I am still on the lookout for a moisturiser I can fall in love with. In my entire adult life I think I have only been back to buy another bottle of a moisturiser brand on two occasions – I’m not brand loyal when it comes to moisturiser. For the past fortnight I have been using the new Olay Total Effects Wake Up Wonder; I’m not going to jump the gun and say that this IS the moisturiser I have been looking for all these years but yes, things are looking promising.

On the first day, I was wowed by the light texture and the zingy, minty freshness of the fragrance. When I put it on my face, my skin said “aaah”. It felt and smelt just like the feeling you get after having a really powerful shower with expensive shower gel at a posh hotel the night after a few too many drinks. Refreshing and rejuvenating.

Things went a bit downhill from there though. Every time I used it, my skin felt great for about 15 minutes but within an hour it started releasing grease by the bucket-load. It felt gross. After 3 days of use I was ready to give up the trial but I stuck to it. I guess it must just have been my skin responding to a change in product because on day 4 my skin didn’t turn greasy and my face felt firm, clean, smooth and generally fabulous.

Having used the product for a fortnight, I really can see some changes to the 7 signs of ageing that Olay boast about. I certainly have more even skin tone after just two short weeks and my skin feels smoother and more refined but I think I shall have to wait to see if there are more significant changes to the appearance of pores and small lines.

I’m really loving my Olay Total Effects Wake Up Wonder and I hope that the honeymoon period doesn’t wear off for me.

The Sunday Review – Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair

I have been using the Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair products since early Autumn 2009. Both the Synchronized Recovery Complex and the Eye Recovery Complex have been very good to me over the past few months. They were prizes; I love entering competitions (read more about my hobby here) because its a great way to find out about new and existing products which you wouldn't otherwise buy; every once in a while, you get to try out a product where the competition really does achieve its goal – you become a convert and will go back to buy the product time and again. Now that I am approaching the end of the bottles of Advanced Night Repair, I have been evaluating whether or not I love them enough to justify forking out real cash for them when I run out.

Image courtesy of Estee Lauder

The Synchronized Recovery Complex is an anti-ageing serum that you apply to your skin each evening beneath your existing moisturiser. Using the integral pipette, you apply just four or five drops and then massage it onto your face and neck using your fingertips. The serum feels incredibly silky smooth on your skin and you'd be surprised how little you need to use in order to coat your entire face. Before I received these Estée Lauder products, I had been on the lookout for a new moisturiser (I've yet to find the perfect moisturiser and tend to flit from brand to brand). After using Advanced Night Repair for several months, I've found that no matter what moisturiser I use after the serum, that when I wake up in the morning my face feels well hydrated, soft and healthy. It has given me a chance to use up all the odds and ends of moisturisers with which I had previously fallen out of love.

The Synchronized Recovery Complex claims to both repair existing damage to the skin, and to protect against future damage. It's anti-ageing claims are three-fold:-

• Reducing/preventing the appearance fine lines (check!)
• Evening out skin tone (check!) and
• Continuous hydration (most certainly check!)

The Eye Recovery Complex is a restorative eye gel designed to reduce the fine lines around the delicate eye area. It has its own funky applicator (but fingertips will do just as well). It is recommended for use both morning and night but one of the things I love most about using an eye gel is that feeling of refreshment and renewal I get when I apply it after a long day staring at a computer screen as I sink down into my pillows at the end of the day. Sadly, there was no sense of refreshment with the Eye Recovery Complex. Don't get me wrong, it does feel gentle and non-greasy but it is missing that wow factor, that sense of zing and immediate recovery that I look for in an eye gel. After about two weeks using the Eye Recovery Complex, I could notice a difference to the skin around my eyes but since then, there has been no further improvement. I would be interested to see how quickly those barely perceptible signs of age return if/when I stop using it.

So, would I spend my own money on Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair? Yes. Certainly (although I think I'll drop some hints to Mr. B. first and see where it gets me). I genuinely feel that over the past four or five months, my face has felt a lot healthier, more resilient to the winter weather than in previous years and generally more even in tone and hydration than I have ever known it before. I am very likely to be purchasing the Synchronized Recovery Complex but will have to consider carefully whether the benefits of the Eye Recovery Complex are great enough to compensate for the lack of wow factor.

The Synchronized Recovery Complex is available from £36 and the Eye Recovery Complex is available for £33.50.