Escentual Haul, June 2016

LINKS HAVE BEEN REMOVED AS ITEMS NO LONGER FOR SALE

I know people are very torn when it comes to hauls, some love them, some hate them. Well I’m one of the ones that love them. I love seeing what people have been buying because if I’m perfectly honest, it inspires me to go out and buy stuff too.. which of course is a bad thing but sometimes I really don’t care. I don’t often get to have a real spree, usually it’s just in Primark or while on holiday, I just don’t have that kind of money (mainly because i’m squirreling it away for adventures). Anyway, last week pretty much all my skincare and make up ran out at the same time, has anyone noticed how that always happens?! I was out of powder, and almost out of BB cream and foundation. I had no nighttime treatment, toner or moisturiser.. so after seeing a lot on Twitter about Escentual’s 1/3 off French Pharmacy (which ends tomorrow guys!) I decided to take the plunge and order a few things.

I can’t fault Escentual’s service. I ordered one evening and they were here within two days. Everything was well packaged and there were a few samples thrown in. I bought 8 products for just over £70. That does sound a lot but when I work out how much I usually spend on a MAC powder and foundation I’m usually almost half way there even when I do find a MAC discount code or buy from duty free. I have to be so careful with what I put on my face, and as French Pharmacy brands are known for being some of the best, it just made sense for when I was considering my own face. When choosing products I went for two brands I recognised, La Roche-Posay & Vichy. From the two ranges I was able to pick up everything I needed.

From La Roche-Posay I picked up the following;

Serozinc £5.67 (RRP £8.50). Probably the post raved about La Roche-Posay products since Effaclar Duo [+] (which I didn’t get on with & reviewed here) but as it seemed perfect for my skin and was under the £6 mark for a toner with the 1/3 off I thought i’d give it a try. Like with the Dermalogica toner, it’s a spray which makes it so much easier to apply. With only three main ingredients I’m sure it’s going to be fine on my overly sensitive yet still rather oily complexion. The reviews from other bloggers were definitely what convinced me to give this a go.

Effaclar AI £7.00 (RRP £10). This is a product I’ve tried again and I actually featured it in my skincare game changers earlier on this year because I really liked how well it worked for my skin. It does the same sort of thing as Effaclar Duo but I found it didn’t irritate my skin or cause excess breakouts. It works to prevent new blemishes and targets the old ones by deeply purifying the skin. It’s also great at preventing scarring which is something i’m prone to. If you find Duo isn’t working for you I suggest you give this a try instead!

Effaclar H £6.33 (RRP £9.50). I was hunting for a moisturiser that kept the oil in my skin at bay while still offering a good amount of moisture. Most of the time I either go for something that tends to dry my skin out (which isn’t great on my already quite dry cheeks) or something that leaves my skin feeling so greasy. This was the right price and is hopefully going to help improve my incredibly damaged skin.

From Vichy as far as skincare is concerned I went for;

Purete Thermale One Step Cleanser 3 in 1 £7.66 (RRP £11.50). I’ve been on a hunt for a cleanser I can use to clean my face with a cotton pad rather than while in the shower or bathroom. I find it so much easier to give my face a good wipe down while sat at my dressing table rather than running back and forward to the sink. Anyway, I hadn’t read any blogger reviews on this but I did like the fact it can either be lathered up with water or just applied with fingers then removed with a cotton pad. It removes all impurities without leaving your skin feeling greasy, what more could I want?

Normaderm Night Detox £10.33 (RRP £15.50). I have really enjoyed having something to apply to my skin at night that targets the causes of oily skin while I was trialling Dermalogica so when I saw this I thought i’d give it a try. It’s designed to regulated sebum production at night so hopefully eventually my skin will be a lot less oily when I wake up in the morning. It also tightens pores and reduces imperfections. I won’t lie, I’m holding out for this to be a full on wonder product so I’ll be sure to keep you all updated.

I also bought some Vichy products to add to my make up bag;

Idealia BB Cream SPF 25 £14.66 (RRP £22). For a couple of years now I have sworn by Kiehls BB Cream for my summer complexion but this year I just can’t afford to replace it. I’ve been searching for a good alternative that still offers a light coverage to ensure my face looks healthy (also known as something that tackles the bags under my eyes that come hand in hand with motherhood) but also doesn’t clog all my pores up if I get a bit hot. This BB cream offers everything i’m looking for, and is mineral base which is supposed to be important for oily skin. Fingers crossed I’m not lead down by it.

Dermablend Fluid Corrective Foundation £12.00 (RRP £18). This is another product I went with purely because it’s had some brilliant blogger reviews. I’ve been after a full coverage foundation for a while now, especially one great for oily skin (as I don’t want it to run off). It also offers 16 hours worth of coverage. I haven’t used it yet but I’m hoping it’ll give me desired coverage for evenings out and be my go to foundation for the winter. Fingers crossed.

Dermablend Setting Powder £11.33 (RRP £17.00). I have been after this product for ages but I wanted to wait until my current setting powder ran out. Which it has so I could warrant investing in this. Again, I have heard some rave reviews about this, especially when used with the foundation so it was a bit of a new brainer when it came to buying it. It’s also SPF30 and provides a matte finish, two things I find important when choosing a base. I’m hoping it’ll work wonder on my skin while I’m in Florida in September!

I’m so excited to try all these new products and hopefully really see an improvement in my skin. Did you buy anything from Escentual’s 1/3 off French Pharmacy?