Liz Earle, Daily Eye Repair - Product Review

I want to apologize in advance for such a long post but this product deserved it. If you are short on time, as always: skip to the end of the post and see my answers to the two questions in orange (Will I repurchase it? Do I recommend it?). I hope you can fall in love with is product as I have. :)

An eye cream that really works? That’s right!

I have lots of problems with my under-eye area: from super dry skin and fine lines (and I’m just 22!) to puffiness and the dreadful dark circles – I’ve got it all. Until I came across this little guy I had given up on brightening eye creams. I’d tried both drugstore and high-end super-raved ones, but nothing worked – worst even, they would leave my under-eye area feeling super dry and hence made my concealer look cakey. So I resorted to a really hydrating eye cream (my favorite so far was the Estée Lauder Hydra Complete Multi-Level Moisture Eye Gel Crème) and a brightening concealer – that’s it. I wasn’t really satisfied but there wasn’t much I could do about it.

The packaging seems carefully thought about, with these lovely drawings on the sides.

And then, the Liz Earle Daily Eye Repair came into my life. I didn’t have high hopes for it, I’ll admit. I got it, as my free full-size product, a while ago when I purchased the Liz Earle Monthly Essentials. But then I tried this preciousness and got hooked from day one.

Ingredients

This is an amazing product. I don’t know how it works to achieve that but it does, it ticks all my boxes (yes, all of them and some extra ones, I didn’t know I had).

But first things first - what the brand has to say about this product:

“Use this triple-action cream every morning after moisturising to help reduce the appearance of fine lines. Light-reflective particles brighten dark under-eye shadows, while SPF10 mineral sunscreen helps protect this delicate area from UV light.”

After testing this product for a while I can assure you of something: this ISN’T a triple-action cream. It’s an at-least-FIVE-that-I-remember-action cream.

This eye care product meant for the mornings, has a thick creamy consistence and a slightly herbal scent – so far I bet you’re not so impressed, right? Let me just tell you this – forget the scent for a while (it doesn’t last, anyway, and it’s not strong at all) and apply this white cream under your eyes. I bet you’re thinking “How the hell will I be able to apply my makeup afterwards?” Yes, I know it looks a bit too dense for a morning cream but if you’ll just pat it under your eyes – yes, you’ll notice, it isn’t at all. “Maybe this isn’t moisturizing enough for me…” - it might occur to you. That’s because in less than a minute it looks like the product was completely absorbed and you no longer have that sensation of just having applied moisturizer to your skin. So why was I raving about this product after all?

This product is definitely the underdog that ends up coming out on top. It doesn’t seem anything special right after you’ve applied it but then:

• You’ll notice that you under-eye area is brighter and you look more awake. How? Do you know those light-reflecting concealer/highlight products (like the YSL Touche Eclat), that are so super flattering? Imagine those in a translucent/no-color-to-them version. This is what this product looks like. You can’t see the light-reflecting particles (not even on a magnifying mirror – don’t worry) you just look more awake and really well-slept. It’s really beautiful. And after, perhaps, two weeks of using this non-stop I started to notice that my dark circles were getting less and less prominent, even before applying this product in the morning. Since day one you’ll notice that your need for concealer will decrease (because of the light-reflecting particles your eyes will immediately look brighter) and given time the appearance of your dark circles will get better and better- they’ll be less and less noticeable.
• Hydration-wise you’ll have to wait up until the end of the day to see for yourself how this product works. Right after applying this eye cream, you may have your doubts about is replenishing powers, but the reality is that more than 12hours later if you touch your skin it still feels as nourished as if you had just applied your cream. I’ll be honest I had never, never tried an eye cream that kept my skin as hydrated for such a long time (usually after 6-8 hours I need to reapply them because otherwise my under-eyes get really itchy and I feel uncomfortable).
• You might also notice that you don’t have as many fine lines after a couple of weeks of using this (at least I did!).
• Another achievement for this product was reducing puffiness. It doesn’t promise to do so but the thing is, after a week I realized that my lids didn’t feel so heavy anymore (but dismissed it). However, after 3 weeks I couldn’t deny it anymore – the difference was visible (to me, obviously – this probably won’t have your friends asking you if have just done some plastic surgery to that area – but it was enough of a difference to make me feel more confident about a part of my body I used to hate).
• Last but not least, two important extras: it contains SPF10 – which is not the highest but since I always wear sunglasses - and would never apply sunscreen around my eyes anyway (except on the beach/pool) because they’d be to drying – this is just a nice bit of extra protection (and ageing prevention too!); besides, this cream results from lots of nice ingredients instead of a bunch of chemicals put together on a tube.

Will I repurchase it?

YES! YES! YES! It’s just a wonderful product that works like no other I’ve known. Already a holy grail in my collection!

This product makes me look fresher and feel prettier every single morning. And at night, after taking all of my makeup off, my under-eye area still feels and looks properly taken care of and ready to enjoy the full benefits of whichever night cream I choose to apply.

Moreover, it’s much cheaper than many, not so effective, eye creams I’ve tried (it retails for 17,75euros (10ml tube) on the Liz Earle Website - but a little goes a long way!)

Do I recommend it?

In all honesty, I couldn’t recommend it more: no matter how old you are, whether you have a problematic under-eye area or a flawless one – just give it a go (they have it in a travel version too).

This product just works: it brightens the under-eye area; diminishes dark circles, wrinkles and puffiness; it’s very hydrating, but not too much, so it just works brilliantly under makeup; has SPF on it which also helps preventing ageing and wrinkles; it’s made out of very nice ingredients; it isn’t ludicrously expensive and finally it’s suitable for all skin types.

Please, let me know if you have already tried this eye cream. Do you share my thoughts on it?

Any suggestions for future posts are very welcome! :) Thank you for your time!

Yours,

M.

Monthly Favorites - August 2013

Hello!

From this month on I decided to start having a Monthly Favorites rubric here on the blog.

This month you won’t find any makeup products in my favorites. Why is that? Well August is the only month throughout the whole year during which I feel like not wearing makeup. I just don’t feel like I need it (I wish things were like that every month but one can only wish for so much...). I sleep better, eat better, reduce my caffeine intake, my stress levels are at its lowest and usually I get a bit tanned. All of this makes for really nice, happy skin that looks its best- with almost no redness or sallowness to it, no pimples or bad breakouts and most importantly much reduced under-eye circles. Unfortunately September has already come along and this past couple of days I’ve already seen myself forced to fall back on my makeup stash. As sad as that is, now is time to talk about August and the products that really made a difference.

• 1.       Garnier Skin Naturals Pure Active 3 in 1 Wash/Scrub/Mask
• 2.  Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex
• 3.       La Roche-Posay Posthelios Melt-in gel

These three first favorites were the ones responsible for keeping my skin on perfect conditions all summer long. I used the wash/scrub every morning before applying my sunscreen and going to the beach. I also used it as a mask once a week. It kept my skin free of breakouts and prevented black heads to overpopulate my nose. Using this product as a mask also helped my skin stay a little less oily in the T-zone, especially.

Garnier Skin Naturals Pure Active 3 in 1 Wash/Scrub/Mask

The Advanced Night Repair has been a part of my nighttime skincare routine for almost 2 years now and I absolutely love it. Its effects are particularly noticeable when your skin is exposed to a more aggressive environment (sea salt, chlorine, direct sun exposure). It seems to cancel all the bad things you’ve done to your skin during the day leaving it radiant and healthy looking again by the following morning. This is a product I just can’t live without!

As a last step in my nighttime, holidays version, skincare routine I would apply the Posthelios Melt-in gel. It’s the second summer in a row that I’ve used it and it’s just amazing. You can use it both on your face and body but I couldn’t enjoy more the way it works on my face. It leaves it super hydrated, nourished and soothed without being too greasy or clogging my pores. I used it on my lips a lot, as well.

La Roche-Posay Posthelios Melt-in gel

I’m planning to post thorough reviews of all this products soon.

• 4. Bioten Repairing-Nourishing Body Lotion

As for body products, I fell in love with this Bioten Lotion with Cotton Herbamilk and Rice Proteins for very dry skin. I already knew Bioten’s skincare line was good but had no idea their body care products were even better. This Lotion is super moisturizing but at the same time it absorbs quickly onto the skin. It’s also very refreshing and it smells better than amazingly.

I’ll blog about this lotion later, don’t worry. Besides that, I have other Bioten’s products that I’ll also be reviewing.

• 5. L’Oréal Professional Solar Sublime After-sun Nourishing Balm

Last but not least, I couldn’t not mention this hair mask. It kept my hair soft, shiny and healthy looking throughout the holidays. It’s smells amazing and it doesn’t have to sit long in your hair to do its job. If you want to know more, click here to read my review.

L’Oréal Professional Solar Sublime After-sun Nourishing Balm

And that’s it for my August favorites.

I hoped you enjoyed it.

Yours,

M.

Beauty Haul Part 1 - Sephora

Recently I did some shopping and thought it might be interesting to show you what I bought. Firstly I went to Sephora and then to The Body Shop. This post will be exclusively about my purchases at Sephora and tomorrow I will show you the goodies I got at The Body Shop.

I will review each of the products  individually on a later post, after I have properly tested them. In the meantime you can tell me if there is a specific product you are particularly interest in and I will post its review as soon as possible.

But now let's talk about the two products I bought at Sephora. I didn't really need more stuff but when I received a text message offering a 25% off discount if I bought 2 products, I couldn´t resist. Anyway it wasn't too bad for my bank account since the two things I chose, which I had been wanting for a really long time, were not pricey at all.

The first thing I new I wanted was the Sleek Oh So Special eyeshadow palette. I already own the Au naturel and the Snapshots palettes and love them to death. They are not at all expensive: they retail for 10 euros in Portugal, and if you take into consideration the amazing quality of the eyeshadows (their only downsize is that some of them can be a bit powdery) I think there are pretty cheap even. So when faced with the possibility of buying one more of these palettes for just 7,5euros (isn't it a bargain?) I couldn't resist.

I had been eying this palette specifically for quite some time. It seems to be the perfect match for the Au naturel one, having seven matte eyeshadows and 5 more glittery ones all in neutral, mostly rosy, tones whilst the Au naturel palette has more neutral browns and beiges. So I think they will be a fantastic combination for achieving a variety of natural everyday looks. 

The second thing I had to bring with me was the Sephora Collection Classic Foundation Brush (nº47). I own quite a few of Sephora's brushes and adore them. I don't think they are talked about enough. They are not cheap but they are extremely high quality (at least I haven't had any problems with mine) and I think they are worth the money even more if you have a 25% off discount over the original price (13 euros).

After having picked this to products my eyes were drawn to the Estée Lauder (my favourite cosmetics brand) and saw their new Advanced Night Repair Eye Serum Infusion. I have to admit I was this close to buying it but since my experience with the Advanced Night Repair eye cream wasn't the best I didn't want to risk it and just asked for a sample. I have to tell you, I don't think I will be able to restrain myself much longer before I cave in and buy it. I used it twice and have already noticed a difference.

At the checkout counter the lady there was kind enough to give a couple more samples that I am very curious about since I haven't tried anything from this brand yet. They're both from Biotherm: one from their Aquasource Nuit high density hydrating jelly and the other from the Aquasource Deep Serum. 

And that's it for today. 

I appreciate any suggestions you might have.

Yours,

M.