Michael Todd honey & oat cleanser

You may remember a while ago I reviewed the Michael Todd Soniclear cleansing system and absolutely loved it.  Well, now I'm back with another Michael Todd review, this time I've been trying out their Honey & Oat deep pore cleanser in conjunction with the Soniclear and wanted to share my thoughts with you on it.

First off, you get 210ml of product, which is pretty decent, for $23 - at today's exchange rate, that works out to be £15.23, so not a crazy amount, it's about in line with Clarins and the like, if not slightly cheaper.

It's a lightweight gel texture - I actually expected it to be really thick with lumpy bits of oat in it, but it's more like the texture of honey, than the texture of oats.  It smells lovely, it smells clean, sweet and has that 'organic' scent (if you know what I mean?).  I've used it both by itself (using my hands) and with the Soniclear cleansing system and it performs great both ways.  I do prefer using it with the Soniclear purely because using it with that helps to exfoliate too, but very gently.

My skin was left feeling lovely, nourished and ready to moisturise.  It didn't break me out either, which is a bonus and something you sometimes expect with products like this as they can draw out all the nasties in your skin, but this didn't do that for me, thankfully.  It also has a sulphate free 'no tears' formula, so if you do get it in your eyes it shouldn't sting.  They also say that it's fine to use on all skin types, but it's best used by people with normal, dry and mature skin. 

All in all I really liked this, it's become a part of my evening skincare routine, I don't use it every day, I use it typically about twice a week, alternating it with other pieces I use - maybe I'll do a skincare routine video for you, since it's changed quite a bit since my last video :)

You can shop the collection here.

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*Post contains PR samples

£15 high street challenge - January

So I've decided to start a new series on the blog, where instead of spending like, £13 a month on a beauty box, instead I'll hit the high street and spend £15 a month on makeup instead.  I've decided to do this for a couple of reasons, one because I like makeup and full size samples (makeup and full size samples don't seem to go hand in hand with beauty boxes, it invariably ends up being sample sizes of skincare) and secondly because I was becoming very self conscious of how many of my beauty reviews were PR samples and wanted to make sure I was also blogging about products I'm buying. But since I'm on maternity leave, I'm super skint, hence the low budget.  I'm hoping to get about 3 products each month for my money, so I'll be thriftily shopping!

Here's what I picked up for January.

I'd asked on Twitter for recommendations and Beth from @BethBlogsBeauty recommended the Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 hour foundation - I have (had) the lasting perfection foundation which I loved, so this was an easy buy.  It was £7.99, but with £1 off my Superdrug reward card, it was only £6.99, leaving me with £8 to spend.

I'd also debated getting the Seventeen Phwoarr paint - I think this is supposed to be a dupe for Benefit Boi-ing, which I used to love, but as I got older, it didn't sit on my skin very well (too thick and heavy), and I think this might be the same - however, I won't know until I try it.  It's the first thing from Boot's Seventeen brand that I've bought since I was about 19, which was a long time ago!  This set me back £5.50, leaving me £2.50.

This is where it gets annoying.  In Boots at the Collection stand, they had lots of stuff for £2.50. They had a shelf with mascara's on, and the banner underneath promoting the £2.50 offer spanned the width of it, so I naturally assumed all those mascara's were £2.50, but when I got to the checkout it was £3.99, which was £1.50 over my budget.  I was in a massive rush to get back home and get the cat to her appointment at the vet, so I couldn't go back and swap it - the lady behind the counter kindly ran down and picked up the ones that were on the offer, but all the ones she brought back were used... so I paid up and went on my way.  So I guess this month it's the £16.50 challenge... bah, never mind, it's not a big deal :)  I really do with these mascara's had seals on them as it's often so hard to tell if they've been opened... 

So, other than that slip-up, how do you think I did with my budget shopping?  If you have any recommendations for next month, leave them in a comment below :)

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Cover Girl Clump Crusher mascara

ONE COAT

TWO COATS

I'm a big fan of Cover Girl mascara, I just WISH we could get it over here in the UK.  I had the lash blast a couple years' ago in a box swap and loved it.  Then, in desperation, I tried the Max Factor clump defy mascara, which is decent, but is it worth the price tag (£11+) for a high street mascara? Probably not.

When my good friend Laura (A Scottish Lass) went over to New York for her 30th in Nov 2013, she brought this Cover Girl back for me, don't worry, it's stayed sealed in it's card and plastic packaging since then so it's still good!

Anyway, I've cracked this open because I want to use it before it's too late, because lets face it, I'm only going to get 3-6 months of use out of it anyway.  The pictures may not do it justice, but this is one of my favourite mascaras, I love the wand with the little rubber bristles, it grips the lashes so well, gives volume, length and really separates them out. I really should stop wearing liquid eye liner when I take mascara review pics, you might actually be able to see my lashes properly then :P

This is a fantastic mascara and I can't recommend it enough to all you lovely people out there who have access to buying Cover Girl - if you're over here, you might be able to pick it up on eBay, just make sure you're buying it in a sealed pack :)

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