Products I Loved and Did NOT Love in March

Sorry that this post is a bit belated, I would have written it for last weekend but my boyfriend and I treated ourselves to a cheeky trip to Paris! But, tah-dah, here is the very best and worst of what I tried this month. 

The first product I loved and I mean LOVED, was Elemental Herbology’s Perfect Balance moisturiser. My skin has improved so much since I started using this a month ago; I’ve had remarkably less blemishes and smooth, clear skin. It’s oil free, but still feels nourishing and hydrating, and makes a great base for makeup. Packed full of antioxidants and bio-actives, it’s natural but it really works. A great investment, I use this morning and sometimes at night over my serum. 

I also loved Zelen’s Micro-Refiner Bio-Active Exfoliator for face and neck. I used this all month but especially in Paris, when my skin felt a bit grimy from being out in the city at the end of the day. It is so purifying and so gentle, plus unlike a lot of high performance exfoliators there’s no glycolic in it (yay) to strip the skin. Instead, fruit enzymes and tiny silica beads cleanse and polish, and its re-hydrating complex leaves your skin feeling like a baby’s bottom. Its more than I would usually pay for an exfoliator so it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure, but that’s its only downside. 

Lush’s Popcorn Lip Scrub was a Christmas special but it’s now in shops full time and this product is a total lifesaver for dry chapped lips. Dab a bit on the end of your finger, scrub your lips smooth with castor sugar and sea salt and let jojoba oil moisturise. This is great if you wear a lot of matte lipsticks, as smooth lips are essential to a clean finish. Just try not to eat it all because it actually does taste of popcorn.

Rimmel’s nail polishes are my favourite, I think they’re some of the best you can buy on the high street for the price, and new shade Ethereal in the 60 Seconds range is my current favourite shade. It’s a pearl pink which I love wearing over nude tones, subtle, but so pretty. 

There were three products for me that stood out as being particularly bad this month, and the first of these is Bourjois’s Eclat Mineral Pressed Powder. It was cakey, and the lightest colour available was so orange on my skin. I’ve always maintained that with powder, it’s worth paying a little more for a quality product (the MAC Mineralize pressed powders are incredible) and I thought I’d take a chance on a cheaper one as Bourjois are usually pretty reliable, but I think my theory is still right. 

I’m sure the Living Proof Frizz Styling Spray for waves is probably a great product but I couldn’t use it because it smells so bad. It had an overpoweringly chemical-y smell which I was really not a fan of. My hair wasn’t frizzy, but then it usually isn’t, so I didn’t really notice a difference, it didnt seem to really define any of my natural waves either.

Garnier Pure 3 in 1 Scrub/Mask/Wash was something I used when my skin had a lot of blemishes around my uni deadlines.  This is actually my brother’s , and at a loss for what to do with my skin, I thought ‘I’ll give it a go’ and grabbed it off the bathroom shelf. After using it my skin was so tight and parched feeling it put me right off using it again.