sparklyvodka: September Favourites

Bioderma Sensibio H2O Reverse Pump Bottle
Bioderma will probably always be my favourite micellar water. I've used this stuff for years & I'm not planning on changing that anytime soon. I won't bore you with another rave about this wonderful makeup remover but there's a reason why I've included it in this post. A couple of months ago Escentual started stocking a reverse pump bottle of Bioderma. How cool is that?! It took me a while to finish off my old bottle but I finally got to buy this one a few weeks ago & I love it! I always used to end up drowning my cotton pads in the stuff which was a little wasteful. This pump allows you to control how much product is being put onto your pad so you won't waste a single drop. You don't even have to pick up the bottle, just lift the lid & press down. The lazy girl's makeup remover just got even lazier.

Eucerin DermoPurifyer Toner
Having previously reviewed Eucerin's DermoPurifyer Active Concentrate I was keen to try some more of their products. I'm currently obsessed with reading /r/SkincareAddiction. Like me, they're huge advocates of chemical exfoliation & one product that lots of people seemed to be having great results with is this Eucerin DermoPurifyer Toner. Most of the DermoPurifyer range features lactic acid which is a gentler AHA than glycolic acid. This toner contains 2% lactic acid & would be a fantastic addition for anyone with blemish prone skin. It smells a lot nicer than the Active Concentrate so I much prefer using this product. I only use it at night, maybe twice a week as it can be quite drying. Alcohol is fairly high up the ingredients list so I'm guessing it's down to that. Even though I've only been using it twice a week the results were pretty instantaneous. Some AHA products take longer to work on my skin than others but I really noticed a big difference to my skin within a couple of weeks. My skin is prone to closed comedones & I developed quite a few recently from testing out a retinol product. This toner has managed to clear up my skin completely. It's totally amazing & so much cheaper than the likes of Alpha-H Liquid Gold, Pixi Glow Tonic, Clarins Brightening Toner or P50.

John Frieda Full Repair Touch-Up Flyaway Tamer
For some reason I've been experiencing quite a bit of hair breakage recently. I guess all the bleach & heat is finally taking it's toll :( When my hair is freshly washed I have a few broken strands around my parting which tend to stick up & make me look like a bloody cockatoo. For a while I had to run a comb full of hairspray over those hairs to make them stay flat but I felt like this was drying out my hair & possibly exacerbating the problem. I normally use the John Frieda Full Repair range in between washes with my silver or pink toned Bleach London products. Boots had a 3 for 2 offer on recently so I decided to give this Flyaway Tamer a go. I'm so happy with product & wish I'd found it sooner! It's kinda like a hair serum with a mascara wand to brush the product through your hair. It doesn't make my hair greasy or flat, it just smooths down those awful sticky up broken strands so that everything looks perfectly healthy again. It features inca inchi oil to help repair the hair & gives it a polished finish. The tube format means that I can easily slip it in my handbag for touch ups on the go. I'd definitely recommend this if you've had any noticeable hair breakage or are just fed up of flyaways.

Rimmel Apocalips Lip Velvet in Orange-ology
I completely skipped over the original Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquers as I was just never that interested in them & I got tired of seeing 50000 reviews of them on Bloglovin'. Boots had a 2 for £10 offer on all Rimmel products a few weeks ago & I was instantly drawn to the new matte Apocalips Lip Velvets. My current favourite is Orange-ology which is a bright tangerine shade. The colour reminds me of MAC Morange which is one of my favourite ever lipsticks. I would also consider this to be a dupe for the Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Riviera. Even though these are supposed to be matte lip creams they still have a slight sheen to them. The formula is very silky & creamy, taking a while to dry down on the lips. Many matte lip products can be drying & start to crack on the lips but this lip velvet is so moisturising and feels very comfortable to wear. Drugstore brands are finally getting matte lip products right!

Benefit They're Real Push-Up Liner
Now this isn't strictly a 'fave' product as generally I do think it's a bit crap. The tremendous hype around the They're Real Liner was almost enough to put me off buying it but the liner lover in me couldn't resist giving it a go. Used to line the lids I just can't get to grips with it. The formula is far too thick & dry to apply smoothly. Despite being assured by a Benefit counter girl that it wouldn't transfer at all, it leaves me with horrid random black lines above my eyes. For me it's just not as good as a regular liquid liner or a gel liner with a brush. However I hate to see a product go to waste, especially an £18 eyeliner, so I decided to keep using it. I've been using this to tightline my eyes only and for that purpose it works brilliantly. I've always struggled to tightline my eyes as most of my eyeliner pencils are quite hard & it can be difficult to get them to show up. The soft texture & high pigmentation combined with the silicone nib means that it's really easy to tightline with. I never used to bother with this step but it makes a huge difference to the appearance of my lashes & ties in well with my cat flick liner to make my eyes look super defined.