Friday 16 May 2014

Mega Drugstore Haul

So it happened, like it normally does I go to town to pick up one specific item and return with two huge bags full of beauty goodies for myself! Whoops! Well it happens, I enjoyed it and look forward to using it all too so I thought I would share my joy with you all! I picked this all up in Savers which is a cheap high street store which is full of all the popular high street brands and a few uncommon ones too normally for pretty damn cheap prices! 


First up was hair care, I orginally was planning to look for some more shampoo as I have trouble with many if they contain sulphates as it really dries my hair and scalp out and yet again I found nothing, but I did find some hair oils which I always love to treat my hair to! The first one is Hot Stuff Hot Oil and Conditioning Treatment, I have never seen or heard of this before and it was only £1 which can be a bit risky to purchase as it is likely it will not do a lot but hey it's a pound why not try it, plus it comes with 6 sachets for 3 treatments. I also grabbed two leave in hair oils for after I wash my hair and before I style it, I love to have a hair oil/ leave in treatment after washing my hair to keep it hydrated and these both were also only £1 each and claim to smooth and give moisture to the hair with both keratin and Moroccan argon oil.


I also picked up a few facial products, firstly the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water, I love using these to remove my make up and give my skin a refresh. I have used a few different brands of Micellar waters but have yet to use the Garnier one so thought I would give a go. I also picked up their soothing cleansing lotion which I love to use after a oil/ balm cleanser to remove any residue and just leave my skin super soft. Last for facial skin care I picked up these Cleansing Nose Pore Strips from Beauty Formulas, when I was a teenager I would always use these to unclog my nasty little nose pore and when I saw them I thought I really must use them again as I used to love them, I'll let you know if they still live up to my old expectations. 


On to body care I firstly needed some body soap bars, I am a complete convert to these at the minute as again the sulphates found in many shower gel type products really play havoc with my skin and soap bars like these contain none! The ones I picked up were from Dove and they are their Shea butter formula with a vanilla scent, what more could you want. I also got a Shea butter Intensive 7 Day Lotion from Garnier which again smells amazing, I have never used the intensive 7 day range so looking forward to trying it out. Finally a pretty exciting purchase the St Moriz Self Tanning Mouse, now I'm pretty sure I have previously said how much of a failure I am at self tanning but I have heard so much about this tan and how fool proof it is, and at just £2.99 I couldn't say no and had to pick it up to try... Fingers crossed!!

Following on from body care I did pick up a Nivea deodorant which I have used a number of times although still haven't found that one I really love and works wonders but it'll do for now. I also picked up another teenage goody I always used which is the Soo..? Kiss me Body spray, I still love the scent of this, it's quite light and not too fruity or too flowery just simple for a day to day spritz. I also grabbed two nail varnish removers purely because I was running low and needed one contain acetone and one without due to me currently have gel nails meaning I can still remove my toe polish with out ruining my gels and as they were there and pretty cheap..in my basket they came!


Finally all my little odd ball product I picked up, my standard cotton pads, hair ties and clips because you can never have enough but I also got a mini travel bottle set which are always super handy for travelling and decanting my favourite things with out lugging around the entire products. Also something I was far too excited for a body/ shower puff but it has a handle!  I'm not sure why this was so fascinating to me but the thought of it just seems so more efficient and entertaining so I'll keep you updated on my new shower friend. And that's all! A super huge haul for you, hope you enjoyed my little finds, have you picked up anything good recently? Let me know! Thanks for stopping by, bye for now.x 

Sulphates! Who? What? Where?

Recently there has been a lot of talk over the blogosphere on sulphates, what they are, what they do, should we use them, should we not and I thought I would share my personal experience with them and my views. As a teenager I suffered with a dry scalp and patches of dandruff but being unaware of various ingredients and products to help I just carried on with life like there was nothing I could do to help and that was it I had a dry scalp for life worry over. However as the years went by I would go through stages of it getting worse, being itchy and irritated and of course getting the dreaded flakes. I started to have a little research and came across the terms sulphates and it all changed from there.

The official name for sulphates is 'sodium lauryl sulphate' and 'sodium laureth sulphate' and these are what you will want to look for on ingredients lists of you beauty products if wanting to avoid them and shockingly they are usually the second or third ingredient! Sulphates are a cheap ingredient to make products lather and foam up helping to remove dirt and grease which ok sounds great but because they are so strong leads to irritating and stripping the skin. This ingredient is mostly found in shampoos and body washes/ shower gels but worryingly also in car garages and car washes for their strong de-greasing properties.

Some products can contain up to 30% sulphates which is pretty dangerous as it is so irritating to the skin, common side effects of using products containing sulphates include scalp irritation, eye irritation, dry and fuzzy hair and even inflation of the skin including hands and arms. However the chemicals can then also be absorbed further in to the body which can also cause some issues with pms and menopausal symptoms because it mimics the female hormone oestrogen. There are even articles saying it can increase female cancers but wether you believe the serious life complications it is completely up to you. On the other hand many. people say using sulphate free products can be just as dangerous as they simply replace the sulphates with other chemicals which can be just as harmful.

I personally prefer and am happy using sulphate free products as they don't irritate my skin and really improved the condition of my skin and hair and my dry scalp has completely gone! Currently there aren't a huge amount of easily accessible brands which are sulphate free however I have found a few which are both from the cheaper and higher end of the market. Firstly the brand 'Naked' is 97% natural and I believe all their products are sulphate free and range from around £4 - £7 which I love! Cheap and cheerful! Loreal have also recently released their 'Ever...' Product ranges such as 'everriche' for nourishing, 'ever pure' for colour care and moisture, 'ever sleek' for smoothing and moisture and finally 'ever strong' for reinforcing and vitality which all are sulphate free and range between only £6 - £8! There are also some higher end brands such as 'This Works' which can range from £8 up to £20 so there really is something for everyone out there and for someone who does suffer from any sort of irritation it's something I always recommend people to try.

Have you ever suffered from issues from sulphate containing products? Or have any other brands that are free of the nasties that you would recommend? Let me know! Thanks for stopping by, bye for now.x