Skincare Indulgence with YON-KA

Hello Ladies,

I hope you are all well, I have been more than a little obsessed with the brand I'll be talking to you about today. Ever since I purchased my Clarisonic, my enjoyment and love of skincare (yes, you read that right) has gone through the roof. Now that I have a better surface to work with, my skin seem to be loving my skincare products, and not only that but I'm feeling the benefits of these particular products on a level that I never have before, and I'm not going to lie, I'm excited. The brand in question? YON-KA.

I'm big on first impressions, and when I opened the box that these arrived in, the first thing I was greeted with was the most beautiful, aromatic scent, the packaging and fragrance literally had me at hello. YON-KA is brand that I have always had my eye on, it's just so luxurious and really, who wouldn't want to pamper themselves with these amazing products? The first of the two kits I was sent was the 'Hydration Kit', the second was the 'Vitality Kit'. The fantastic thing about these kits is that they are 21 Day Trial Kits, but they're also perfect for travelling. Now it says 21 days but I've been using these about a month and I have barely made a dent in them.

The Hydration Kit comes with a 75ml Cleansing lotion for the face and eyes, a 50ml Invigorating Toner, and a 15ml Creme 28 Hydrating moisturiser.The cleanser smells amazing, its a very thick lotion, and you only need about a euro size to cover your entire face and neck. It's beautiful, now I use this with my Clarisonic, and it does the job perfectly, it leaves my face feeling clean, soft and subtle. As I said above I have had this for about a month and with daily use I still have about three quarters of the bottle left. Amazing! The star of both kits for me has to be the Invigorating Toner Mist. If you have ever been for a luxury facial, where you come out feeling relaxed and pampered from the aromatherapy oils used, this is like that, in a spray. I have never had a toner that I just adore using. This smells sensational, the blend of oils and the general scent of it would sent you into a blissful sleep, its just.... to die for. The Creme 28 Hydrating Moisturiser is really lovely, it's luxurious and creamy and as with the others, you really feel like you're pampering your skin. The entire range really is just pure indulgence.

The Vitality Kit is perfect for normal to oily skin. I did give these a good try during our brief spell of good weather as whenever it is unnaturally hot here in Ireland, my normally dry/dehydrated skin seems to turn oily in my t-zone. The difference in the Cleanser in this kit aside from the fact that its targeted at oily skin is the fact that instead of being a cream cleanser its gel. Now, I have heard mixed reports about gel cleansers, that even with oily skin, they can dry out the area. I didn't find that with the cleansing gel, it controlled the oil without drying out my already dehydrated skin. Like all the other YON-KA products it smells fantastic. The toner as I mentioned before, smells absolutely incredible, one thing I love doing is spraying a few pumps of this into clean hands and taking a few deep breaths and then patting this all over my face. It's so good! YON-KA  need to make a candle of this scent, when you smell it, I know you'll agree! The moisturiser that accompanies this kit is the Vital Defence which is an antioxidant cream, which is just as nice as the Creme 28, but I just find that Creme 28 is more suited to my skin needs. I will keep this for travel, and weekends away, I think it will be perfect for that.

Last but by no means least is the incredible Quintessence Aromatic Candle, now I am a candle freak. I just adore them, I buy at least a candle a week and this has been a firm favourite of mine for the past month, the scent is hard to pin down. Now I have perused a few websites trying to find scent descriptions to give you a better idea of what it smells like, and a lot say its like spraying the toner, but I don't think so. When you first open it, a scent very similar to Arnica hits you, but when it's lit, the scent changes completely. There is a definite scent of lavender, geranium, rosemary and thyme. It's packed full of essential oils, and it has a great scent throw which is something I look for in a candle. The combination of essential oils make it a truly beautiful, invigorating scent, perfect for any room in your house, although I tend to favour it in my bedroom, as a little bit of a luxury treat!

So that's it for now ladies,

I hope you enjoyed!

What are your thoughts on the YON-KA range?

Has anything caught your eye?

As always, let me know below!

Until next time

xoxo

Aundrea

Clarisonic Mia 2 - First Impressions

Hey Ladies

I hope you are all well, I'm excited to share this first weeks review of the Clarisonic Mia 2! I know normally, you could never really give a full review of a product designed for your skin after one week, but honestly, I have been so impressed by this that I thought I would share with you my first impressions and give you the low down on my experience with this, the holy grail of skincare tools for women around the world.

I first thought about purchasing the Clarisonic about 4 years ago, but never went through with it, there was always something that put me off. I think the main reason was because I was never really that bothered about my skincare routine, and this, should I have chosen to buy it was a serious investment. And thats the thing about it, it IS an investment, if I had known then what I know now about skincare I would have had no hesitations. So a little over a week and a half ago, I decided to take the plunge and invest in this. It was always something I came back to looking at. I did my research, about two years worth, I watched YouTube reviews, I read blogposts, I spoke to some friends who had it, and thought this could be what I need to give my skin the boost it needs. If you are a regular reader, you will know the trouble I have had battling my dry skin. I was doing everything right on my part, I was drinking a tonne of water, using the best skincare and makeup but, things just were not working for me, or they would work and then suddenly stop, spending so much money on skincare, and then having it not work can be so upsetting, your makeup doesnt sit right and it can really knock your confidence. This was a last resort on my part, when really, it should have been my first.

The Clarisonic claims to cleanse 6 times better than using your hands alone, this includes any sort of microfibre or muslin cloths, the brush head ascillating over 300 times per second with its micro massage method works with the skin instead of against it, the sonic action removes impurities from the pores and gets rid of all the bad to let the good in. So what have I experienced in the past week? Well, ideally you use the Mia 2 for 1 minute, first apply the cleanser of your choice, wet the brush head, you press the on button and choose your speed, then use it in gentle circular motions for 20 seconds on the forehead, 20 on the nose and chin and ten on each cheek. It's not irratating in the slightest! In fact some days I will do it for 2 minutes, paying particular attention to my problem areas which are between my brows, around my nose, and my chin. after the first use my skin was incredibly soft, all my skincare sank in beautifully and my face just generally felt amazing. After two day of use, all that dry skin in the above mentioned areas? It was gone, I couldnt believe it, I almost cried! It was the most amazing thing, after almost a year of facials and expensive skincare, it was gone.

Another thing I wanted to mention was, that if you happen to be wearing makeup, you must remove it before using the Mia 2, I normally use a Micellaire water to remove my makeup before I apply an actual cleanser for use with this, and just let me tell you... You think your face is clean after removing your makeup? Its not. You would be equally surprised and kind of digusted to see how much remains in your skin after you've removed your makeup. So it just goes to show you, your skincare cant really do its job if it cant get passed that last layer of makeup. My cleansers of choice for use with the Mia are SkinCeuticals Gentle Cleanser and Bia Beauty's Orange & Grapefruit Facial Exfoliant and Cleanser. I generally use my SkinCeuticals 5 times per week, and then Bia Beauty's exfoliating cleanser maybe twice, just to give it that extra clean. The beauty of the Clarisonic Mia is that you can use whatever cleanser you want, it's fantastic. Everything sinks in so much better and you really feel you're getting the full benefit out of your skin care. In one week the difference in my own skin has been nothing short of remarkable. Some people, I have read, tend to go through a purge stage where they experience breakouts but fortunately, that has not been an issue for me, yet! I will keep you updated on that though!

So my final thoughts on the Mia 2? Well after one week I can say that it was totally worth the money, I have no regrets. It's not a chore to use, it's kind of fun. When you look at the good it's doing for your skin, really it's no contest. It's just incredible. I will keep you updated on my Clarisonic journey as it continues!

That's it for now ladies,

I hope you enjoyed,

What are your thoughts on the Clarisonic?

Are you tempted by it?

have you tried it?

As always, let me know below!

Until next time

xoxo

Aundrea

I purchased my Clarisonic Mia 2 from FeelUnique.com for €150.00

I believe it can also be purchased from ASOS.com x

Top 6 Summer Scents

Hey Ladies,

As some of you may know from my last post, my blog turned 1 just over a week ago. The first thing I posted on almost a year ago was 'My Top 6 Spring Fragrances'. I thought it might be nice to do something similar this year, with Summer scents. With today being the first official day of Summer I thought it only right to do a little post in honour of the gorgeous weather to come (I hear our Summer is on a Thursday this year) and we all love a good scent for the Summer months don't we?! Everyone knows I am a fragrance nut. There's no denying that, I think my collection has passed the 60 bottles mark (don't judge me). So, this year I have chosen 6 different scents, which I think are perfect for Summer.

Lancome - Miracle

It's really hard to believe this scent is 13 years old... Miracle was a fragrance that someone gave to me as a gift for my 21st birthday, I fell in love with it immediately. There's something so perfect about the way this lingers on the skin. It's breezy and refreshing, although it contains base notes of Jasmine, musk, and amber it's what I like to call spicy floral. It's one you really cant go to far wrong with for Summer!

Valentino - Rock n' Rose

Rock n' Rose was not something I thought would be for me. I'm not a massive rose fan, especially if it that synthetic rose scent or if its overpowering, but this is a beautiful scent, it's a very chic, feminine scent. Its almost like a powdered rose scent, mixed with soft wood and amber, when the scent dries down, you can almost get a faint vanilla smell, it's really lovely. I would wear this as more of an evening scent, mainly because the wear time on this isn't incredible so it's probably best worn when you only need a few hours wear.

Dior - Miss Dior

I absolutely adore this scent, it was a Christmas gift from my father. It is perfect for any time of year but I think especially so for Summer, Ms Dior is a very floral fragrance but it has a woodsy dept to it. It can be quite strong on first spritz but honestly once it dries down what you're left with is the most beautiful scent of floral, woodsy, amber amzingness. I just love this.

Thierry Muglar - Alien Sunessence Or d'Ambre

Alien is definitely a scent that people either love or hate, but either way it's a scent that is very easy to recognise. The distinctive scent of Alien is strong in the Sunessence Or d'Ambre, you would know it is part of the Alien family. The difference of this scent though, is that it is fresher, not as heavy and has a more amber present in the fragrance, it's stunning.



Roger & Gallet - The Vert

This is described a lot as a masculine scent... I don't get why. This scent is breezy and fresh. you can absolutely get the aroma of tea, but there is also a strong scent of lime, lemon and mandarin. I can see this working well on a really hot summers day (not that we're blessed with too many of them in Ireland!) it's not cloying or over powering just beautifully zingy and fresh! I definitely recommend this for Summer!

Lancome - La Vie est Belle

La Vie est Belle, oh how I adore you. This is my third bottle of this in less than a year. I ADORE this scent. It's perfect for all year round wear but, especially for Summer. This is one of those scents that pulls you in, it's stunning, praline, jasmin and patchouli stand out the most, it's intoxicating, the staying power is incredible and I cannot say enough about this scent to explain how much I love it, but you can read a full review here. 

That's it for now ladies!

I hope you enjoyed,

let me know what fragrances you will wearing this Summer!

Have any of my picks caught your eye?!

Let me know below

Until next time

xoxo

Aundrea

CocoaBrown Night & Day

Hey Ladies,

I hope you're all well, I'm so excited to share a first look at Cocoa Brown by Marissa Carter's newest epic offering of tan Night & Day Tan Mousse. I am a huge Cocoa Brown fan, so when I found out there was a new product in the pipeline I was more excited than I have ever been about a self tanning product. I was never a big tan person... Until I met Cocoa Brown, it changed everything for me. So, it has finally arrived, the newest addition to the Cocoa Brown family and the new love of my life 'Night & Day'. Let's have a look, shall we?

Here she is... and isn't she a beauty?! First up lets talk about the packaging. Incredible. One of the things I loved about the original CB was the colour, how it looked so feminine and pretty, basically something you would be proud to show off on your dressing table. The new packaging as you can see, is just as pretty. Half pink, half white to indicate this is your night and day tan. 'Dark by night, light by day'. Marissa's beautiful 'Cocoa Brown' logo still sitting pretty on the bottle only this time it reflects the half and half effect for the night and day, which I love. Just like its big sister, CB Night & Day is something any girl would be proud to have on show on her vanity table, mine would be there, except my mother has run off with it and is applying it as I type, shouting things like 'Oh it's loooooovely isn't it?!'.

Ok, so what's the difference between 'Night & Day' and the original Cocoa Brown tan, I hear you ask? Well, Marissa explained that there were some ladies who wanted a dark tan straight away, and didn't really want to wait the three hours for development time. They were looking for straight up dark after application and you can just pop your clothes on and run out the door. So, that's what this is, the beauty of this tan is that after your night out, when you step into the shower the next morning, you're not left with a streaky mess, you're not all patchy, what you are left with is a beautiful subtle glow to hide the sins of the night before that  usually include grey, tired looking skin. Cocoa Brown 'Night & Day' saves you the trouble of lets face it, probably not looking your finest the morning after... we're all friends here, we can talk about it! I applied it last night... there were cocktails involved (FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES) although I didn't realise the research would become part of it until the cocktails were consumed. I was astounded by the colour. I found it, beautiful. No, really. You know the people with just gorgeous sallow skin, who us pale girls secretly hate?! Like that, just gorgeous, full, radiant looking skin... I didn't want to take my shower this morning! But, alas, no one likes smelly girls. The tan didn't fade fully after the shower, I was left with an even, beautiful sun kissed glow.

I was very brave and even decided to add a small amount to my face. It wasn't the nightmare I had expected, in fact; I freakin love it! I will have pictures below, but honestly, I just want to straight up gush about the general fantasticness of Marissa and her Cocoa Brown. Seriously, you're looking at a girl who 6 months ago couldn't stand false tan. I hated everything about it, the effort, the smell, the aftermath of application like stained clothes, smelly biscuit/curry clothes. I really just didn't like tan. Marissa has created something truly beautiful here, something I love, something I look forward to applying, and believe it or not, something I love sharing with people. Friends, family, neighbours, strangers in chemists, my daughters teacher... I cant share the word or the love for this product enough. What really speaks volumes is that people who come back to me, say they've told their friends, and someone told me a bride did her own tan for her wedding day because she loved Cocoa Brown so much. How amazing is that?! Some day, not to far from here Cocoa Brown will become a global brand. I have no doubt of that. The following it has gained in such a short period of time,is amazing, the world is missing out!

I cant say enough good things about the new addition to the Cocoa Brown family, it's a beautiful product, Marissa has created an amazing range with Cocoa Brown, I'm so happy for her and can only wish her all the love and success she truly deserves with the new 'Night & Day' tan. It's fantastic and I really recommend you go get your hands on it once it becomes available. It wont disappoint, I promise!

So, that's it for now ladies,

I hope you enjoyed!

What are your thoughts?!

Are you excited for the new Night & Day?

As always, let me know below

Until next time

xoxo

Aundrea