Skincare Revamp!

I've been a convert to the Boots No7 Skincare range for a few years now. It's a little on the pricey range (especially from a student POV!), but nowhere near the expense of other brands, and I certainly feel that my skin is in much better condition than when I used cheaper brands.Not to mention the fact that as a Boots own brand, it hasn't been tested on animals (Big Cheesy Grin!).
So, over the last few years, I've been very good to my skin and got into that age-old routine of CTM (Cleanse, Tone, Moisturise).

But now the good people at Boots have revised and revamped their skincare range, by bringing out the All-New-And-Shiny (drumroll please.....) Beautiful Skin range!!!
This is a new set of skincare products that cut out the need for toner. And as an even bigger plus, the prices of the new cleansers and moistuisers are pretty similar to the price of those in the old range, saving you around £8 a time (Even Bigger Cheesy Grin!).

The range has 3 lines: Dry/Very Dry skin, Normal/ Dry skin and Normal/Oily skin. Each range has a cleanser appropriate to the skin type, a day cream with SPF15 and 5*UVA protection, a night cream, and a mask and/or exfoliator.
If you're not sure what type of skin you have, you can ask one of the counter staff, or pick up one of the handy trial packs they have in stock right now.
The packs contain a mini bottle of cleanser, day and night creams and cost just £5. Not only are they great for trialling the product, but they're also perfect for taking on planes (So of course, I stocked up!).
Oh and did I mention the trial packs come with a voucher for £5 off the new range? No? Well now you know!

I've been using the Normal/Oily line, as I get an oily T-zone. The cleanser for this range is a cleansing water similar to toner (a foam wash is available as well). A little squirt on a cotton wall pad and a quick wipe over, and my face feels clean and fresh. It also removes makeup (including waterproof mascara). My cheeks can be quite dry, but they aren't left feeling tight and uncomfortable with this - in fact once or twice I've actually forgotten to put moisturiser on!
The best thing I've found is that because no water is needed, I've been TONS better at cleansing before bed (which I admit I was a little sloppy with before...)!
The moisturisers both do a great job at mattifying oily skin, and a little bit goes a VERY long way!

No7 Beautiful Skin, Normal/Oily. L-R: Night cream (£13.50), Day cream (£12.50), Cleansing water (£9), Starter Kit (£5).

Since I've been using the new range my skin has felt a lot fresher and looked a lot clearer and brighter (always a hard feat to pull off in Winter!).

Overall, I think this new skincare range is effective, easy to use and great value for money. I would recommend to anybody and I can't wait to play with some of the other new products!

Peace! X

PS.Keep following for a No7 BB cream review in the next week!



Sleeping Beauty Ballet

After receiving a joyful email telling us that classes on Thursday were cancelled due to the lecturer being ill, myself and some classmates decided to indulge our cultural sides and go to the ballet!
Scottish Ballet were performing 'Sleeping Beauty' at Edinburgh Festival Theatre.

Synopsis.
Everyone knows the general story, a beautiful princess is cursed by an evil witch to prick her finger and die by her 16th birthday. The curse is deflected by a good fairy, so that instead of dying, she will simply sleep for 100 years, when she will then be awakened by true love's kiss.
In Scottish Ballet's production, 4 would-be suitors serve as 'guardians' when she goes into her sleep. As you can imagine, they initially aren't happy when another man shows up to awaken her with a kiss! Luckily, the Prince has rounded up 4 other fairytale maidens, who prove welcome distractions to the suitors! FYI Red Riding Hood is a vamp!

This was the first ballet I've ever been to, and I really didn't know what to expect. Was 'Sleeping Beauty' going to be too childish for me to appreciate? Would I get bored with all dance and no talking? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding "NO!"!
The first thing that surprised me was how much of the music I actually recognised! As a big fan of the Disney film, I was surprised to learn that Walt Disney had used mostly Tchaikovsky's music to form the soundtrack for the film!

I soon became engrossed in the beautiful dancing, and the attention to detail that had gone into the set and costume design. With no dialogue, symbolism was used to demonstrate many things, such as the gift that each fairy was blessing Princess Aurora with.
I did find that I was grateful for the programme that I bought, as it provided a synopsis of the performance. I found that I understood a lot more of what was going on due to reading this beforehand, as the story was slightly different to any 'Sleeping Beauty' story I had heard before.

Overall, I found it a fantastic way to spend an afternoon, and at a reasonable price (Upper circle student tickets were £17). This particular ballet is suitable for adults and children (although I probably wouldn't recommend for young children).
It has certainly whetted my appetite to see more ballet performances!

2012 - It's all about me!!

Every year, people make resolutions that, let's face it, rarely last past January. Which is why, up until now I've never bothered. After all, I don't smoke or drink heavily, I'm not overweight and I exercise pretty regularly. But this year, I'm going to try not so much to make resolutions, but to make 4 'lifestyle aims' based on what I have experienced in the last year. These aims are one for each main area of my life: Health, Friends, Love & Work.
For example, I know that I can quite easily fit 3 visits to the gym into the average week. So my Health aim for 2012 is to stick to this!!
My aim for my Friends is to be better with communication that isn't facebook! Having moved from Bristol to Edinburgh last September, I now have lots of people's addresses, and I intend to use them and write letters!
My Love aim for 2012 is to avoid getting my heart broken! After spending around 8 months of 2011 in something of a 'love coma' after breaking up with my boyfriend of 5 years, I have learned that trust is something that REALLY needs to be earned, and any potential future boyfriends will have to take far longer than a year to earn it from me! That and the fact that I am embracing single life and enjoying just dating!
Finally, my Work aim is quite simply to pass my masters and FINALLY enter the grown-up world of the tax-paying workers!
So there we have it, 4 fairly simple aims for 2012. Time will tell!
Anyways, I'm off to facebook my friend about why I can't make the gym tonight...

Peace. X