Bedside Beauty

I've unintentionally accumulated a small gathering of products beside my bed, and thought I'd talk a little about them today.

Just before bed, I'll sometimes want to moisturise areas such as my elbows, knees, and feet. My body butter of choice at the moment is Soap & Glory's Sugar Crush Body Buttercream (review here), but I'm also a fan of The Body Shop's Raspberry and Vineyard Peach varieties. They all smell incredible, aren't too greasy, and provide my skin with a lot of moisture, leaving it soft and subtle.

I've also been moisturising my hands before bed because they've been needing more TLC since starting work. I'm absolutely loving the Figs & Rouge Hand Cream in Cherry Blossom (review here). It isn't greasy in the slightest, but still leaves your hands feeling hydrated. It also smells amazing!

For facial moisturisers, I have the Organic Surge Blissful Daily Moisturiser (thoughts here) and the Balance Me Moisture Rich Face Cream. I used, loved, and finished my pot of Organic Surge Super Intensive Daily Moisturiser, so am now making my way through the Blissful Daily version. It's obviously not as moisturising, but still sinks in well and leaves my skin feeling soft. The Balance Me one is a generous sample I received in a magazine the other month, and I'm still making my mind up about it. It isn't greasy, and leaves my skin adequately moisturised, but it's heavily fragranced. If you don't like strong rose scents, you'll struggle to use this.

For lips, I have the Blistex Intensive Moisturiser and Nivea Soft Rose Lip Balm. The Blistex Intensive Moisturiser is amazing, and leaves my lips feeling softer than any other product. More often than not, though, I find myself gravitating towards the Nivea Soft Rose Lip Balm because my lips don't need the Blistex one every night. The Nivea one is just like your standard tube of lip balm, but it's one I use a lot.

For blemishes, I use the Nelsons Pure & Clear Blemish Gel. It seems to do the job better than others I've tried, and that includes Lush's Grease Lightning.

Then I just have some products that I haven't been using that often, but are there just in case. I'm still deciding whether The Body Shop's Vitamin E Moisture Serum gives my skin any extra moisture. I'm honestly not sure. Then there's the Superdrug Vitamin E Skin Oil, which I'll use if my skin is feeling particularly dry (which is not that often).

Have you tried any of these? What products do you use in the evenings/just before bed?

Magazine Freebies - July (August Issues)

I only ever buy magazines these days if the freebies are good, and this month, they're good.

This month's Glamour (£2) comes with the choice of four Clinique samples, two of which are Chubby Sticks. I managed to find Woppin' Watermelon, but had no luck finding Super Strawberry (the darker of the two). The amount of product you get is tiny, but for a sample, I think it's fair. The actual product is nice, but I don't know why it's so hyped. It's a tinted balm. Now I love tinted balms, but wouldn't pay £17 for one!

This month's Marie Claire (£2.50, but usually £3.90) comes with the choice of two Balance Me products, and I managed to get both. The first is the Cleanse and Smooth Face Balm, and the second is the Moisture Rich Face Cream. The Cleanse and Smooth Face Balm is just under a third of the size (40ml) of the full sized one, which retails for £20/125ml. You could get three for £7.50/120ml, which isn't bad at all. The Moisture Rich Face Cream is even better, though, and is half the size (25ml) of the full sized one, which retails for £24/50ml. You could get two for £5/50ml. I've read some great things about these products, so can't wait to try them.

Have you picked up any magazine freebies this month?