Biore Ultra Deep Cleansing Pore Strips Review!

We all read product reviews and have images in our heads; that they're going to be amazing and literally solve all of life's problems. I'd been meaning to buy this product for ages, after reading near enough 50 reviews and watching Youtube videos of people using it, I was expecting amazing things! Sadly this wasn't the case.   

I'll start by saying this isn't a product for someone who's grossed out by seeing the dirt from your pores literally peel of your face, or for someone who doesn't really have the patience to wait around whilst the strip dries on your face. This isn't something that bothers me at all as I do find it quite satisfying to pop a spot, or to use products like this where you can actually see they're working (or not in this products case). I originally selected the ultra deep cleansing pore strips by Biore because of all the amazing reviews I'd read online, claiming they do wonders for pores and blackheads. They are simple to use and the concept is good. I've actually used all 6 of the strips because I really wanted them to work for me, but no matter how I used them they did unclog some of my pores but from the evidence on the strips it was far from satisfying. 

The packet contains 6 of these strips and you simply wet your nose and checks, then with dry clean hands you place the stripe across your nose and press it down. The water reacts with the solution that's on the back of the strip to unclog pores and give your face a deep clean. After the time is up, you simply gently lift the strip off your face and you're done. After this the results should be on the strip shall we say.

 The concept of this product is great, you simply put it on your face and wait, there isn't any messing around with applying different products and I didn't have any negative reactions from it. The packing is quite appealing with the silver detailing but the price is slightly high for this product in my opinion. They do retail for £7.99 in most shops, so they are quite expensive for something that is very hit and miss for me personally. I have tried wetting my face a lot and I've even tried steaming my face first, which for me actually proved to be the most effective but it was still nowhere near as good as the results I was hoping for, or the results I'd seen on Youtube and other blogs. Because of all the reviews I've seen of this product I possibly would consider buying other products from this brand in the future, but I'll possibly avoid wasting £8 on these pore strips. 

If you've used any product on the same lines as these and they've worked for you please leave me a comment down below so I can give some of them a go!  Thank you for reading. 

Other posts you might be interested in: 

La Roche-Posay Review!

Welcome back to my blog, today I thought I would do a review on some skincare products that I've been loving for a while: and that it the La Roche-Posay range. Having suffered with acne for years, I'm always looking for new products to try! I've been using all these products for about 6 months and I've definitely noticed a huge difference in my skin. They aren't miracle workers that's going to make your skin perfect straight away but over time they have stopped my spots looking really red and sore.

La Roche-Posay range.

I didn't do any research before purchasing these products so I didn't really know what to expect from them. But they were on an offer so I thought I'd get three products from the Effaclar range and then a micellar solution. They are slightly more expensive than other acne and skincare products but they do last a long time! I've only just repurchased a new micellar solution after using it at least twice a day for 4 months so the prices that you have to pay is definitely worth it! 

Micellar Solution. 

I thought it would be easier to review these products in the order I use them, so the first product I use is the Physiological Micellar Solution. La Roche-Posay have several different ranges all targeted at different skin types and problems, because I didn't do any research before I bought these products I didn't know that so this product is actually meant for sensitive skin and not blemish prone skin! I tip a medium amount of this on a cotton pad every time I use it so it does last quite a long time. Generally I use this twice a day before I actually wash my face, in the morning to remove any excess oil and in the evening to remove all my make up! It's soap, alcohol, colourant and paraben free so it's gentle enough to use on your face, eyes and lips which I like before I can just use one product for everything. It's really fast at removing waterproof eye makeup and it doesn't sting at all. It doesn't really smell of anything either which I like because sometimes face products can have a really strong smell. For a micellar solution this is slightly more on the expensive side at around £11.00 for 200ml, but boots usually have an offer on their skincare so I make sure I repurchase them just to even out the cost a little bit! Overall I really like this product, it doesn't break me out, I can use it all over my face and it removes all makeup really easily. 

Foaming Gel Cleanser.

The next product I use is the Effaclar Purifying Cleansing Gel. This gel cleanser is actually from the Effaclar range which is designed to treat blemish prone skin unlike the micellar solution. Again it retails at £11.00 but it does last a lot longer at around 5/6 months. The product itself is a clear gel that lathers really well when you massage it on your hands with a bit of water before applying it all over your face. This is slightly scented and smells really clean so it isn't an unpleasant scent at all. I really like how it feels on my skin, it doesn't irritate and I haven't had any issue from using this product over the last six months. I use this twice a day and I wouldn't say this is a product that stops excess oil on your face but it does seem to dry out my stops and they now only last about 2/3 days. Also in conjunction with the Effaclar Duo cream it has removed/faded some of the acne scarring I had on my face which is a bonus. 

Astringent Lotion. 

I loved the idea and concept of this product when I saw it in boots. It's a lotion that cleanses and exfoliates the skin to help unblock and reduce the appearance of pores. Personally after trying it for a couple of months this is still my least favourite product out of the four! I apply this to my face using a cotton pad and I gently wipe it over my face avoiding my eyes and lips. As soon as I started using this I noticed that my forehead started breaking out more than usual and it also really stings my face if i use it near my eyes or lips. It has a really strong scent which might be what was causing the irritation to my eyes. At £11.50 its quite expensive to only be able to use it on half my face, but where I do use it, it has seemed to clear my pores a bit. 

Effaclar Duo. 

I've recently seen a lot of love for this product everywhere on social media. I use the Effaclar Duo all over my face in both the morning and evening as my moisturiser. (If my skin is really dry I do use a bit of the simple moisturiser as well.) I love this product, the consistency is brilliant, not to think not too think, it sinks straight into my skin so I don't have to wait ages before I can apply my make up and it really does minimise my spots and old acne scarring! It doesn't have an unpleasant scent either so you really don't notice any different when you've applied your make up! I also really like this because a small amount goes a long way, so it lasts a long time! I'm still on my first tube after 6 months and there still feels like there is plenty in there! At £15.50 I wouldn't say its that expensive for a moisturiser and a spot cream in one because you only really need this product so i do feel it is a reasonable price. 

La Roche-Posay.

Overall I would definitely recommend all these products! If you like the products you're currently using and just want to swap one thing, then I'd definitely try the Effaclar Duo cream first, because you could use it along with the products you're currently using, to see if you notice any difference! I've also recently noticed in boots they do a set which has three products from the Effaclar range, so if you was interested in trying more than one product that might be a cheaper way to try them first in case you don't like them or they don't agree with your skin. 

If you have any suggestions on other skincare products you think I might like then leave them down below in the comments! Thank you for reading.

Michelle xo. 

Links.

Micellar Solution.

Foaming Gel Cleanser.

Effaclar Duo.

Astringent Lotion.

La Roche-Posay.

Primark Beauty Make Up Brush Review!

If you're new to make up in general or if you just want to try make up brushes for the first time, then Primark has the perfect range of brushes for you! 'P.S Love... This' is the name of their current beauty lines and all the brushes retail between £1 and £3 so they're all very reasonably priced, easy to get hold of in any local Primark store and are reasonably good quality.

Primark P.S Love.. This. 

I now have five brushes from this range and a beauty blender and I'm shocked at how good they actually are! I wasn't really expecting amazing things from these brushes purely because they are so cheap compared to more high end branded make up brushes, but I was pleasantly surprised! 

Foundation & Concealer Brush.

The first brush I purchased was the 'foundation and concealer brush'. It's a double ended brush one end for concealer application and one for foundation application. The concealer end is really easy to use, the brush itself is really small so it makes applying and blending concealer really easily. The foundation brush is a lot bigger because it's being used for a larger area of skin! It's a flat brush so which is perfect for applying foundation around your eyes and nose but also to fix any lines after you've done your eyes or lips! This goes for the concealer and foundation brush, the brushes are so soft! They glide across the skin really easily, the foundation brush doesn't move the concealer if you apply it first and they're just really easy to use! I purchased this brush just after Christmas so I don't actually remember how much it was so don't quote me on this but I think it was about £2.00!

Stippling Brush.

After my success with the 'foundation and concealer brush' it really made me want to try more of the brushes from the range so I went ahead and purchased the stippling brush that retails for £1.50. As soon as I took it out of the packaging I was amazed at how soft this brush is, it's definitely softer than the 'foundation and concealer brush'. I do love using this brush to apply my foundation, but it's also a really good blending brush to use after you've applied highlighter and contoured! Again it's quite small so you can be really precise when you use this for blending. Sadly the handle has fallen off mine so I'll have to purchase a new one or glue the handle back into the brush base but for £1.50 I can deal with that!

Liquid Foundation Brush.

The next brush is a liquid foundation brush, which also retails for £1.50. Although this is for liquid foundation and exactly the same as the foundation brush end of the 'foundation and concealer brush' I actually purchased this for contouring! Because it's a flat brush it's perfect for applying a matte bronzer in the hollows of your checks, on your temples and by your jaw line! I then use the stippling brush to blend this out slightly so I don't just have random darker lines all over my face!

Blusher Brush.

Since I was using these brushes to apply the rest of my make up I thought I'd pick up the blusher brush which is again £1.50. It's not quite as big as a powder foundation brush but it's the perfect size to apply blusher and even bronzer to your checks! Like the other brushes it's really soft and doesn't smudge the rest of my make up. The handle on this brush is half to size of the others so it's makes applying blusher really light!

Kabuki Brush.

The last brush I purchased was the Kabuki brush! This is by far the softest out of all five brushes! It's really big compared to all the other brushes and perfect for applying powder all over your face to set your make up! It's slightly more expensive than all the other brushes at £2.50, but I've got no issues spending that small amount on these brushes even if they do only last me another couple of months! 

Egg Make Up Sponge.

The last item I purchased from the Primark beauty range was a beauty blender dupe. It's called an egg make up sponge and retails for £1.50. At first I was quite disappointed with this product it wasn't applying my foundation evenly and I was just using so much product that it wasn't really worth it! Then I tried making the sponge a little bit damp and this really improved the application of my foundation! It does slightly sheer out the foundation, so you might have to build the foundation in areas that you want more coverage but other than that it's really good! I also really like this sponge for applying concealer under my eyes and anywhere where I have a couple of blemishes quite close to each other! I just rub the concealer directly onto the sponge and then blend it onto my face! Out of the six products this is definitely the one I could live without, purely because it does the same job as all the other brushes but does require slightly more effort, but if you're going travelling or to keep in your handbag for touch ups then this is perfect because it's light, it doesn't take up much space and it's really small. 

I loved the packaging but sadly I threw my all the packaging away before I could take a picture! But the packaging is pink with small black dots on which really matches the brushes themselves which are black with pink tips. I really like the design, it's appealing, pretty, straight to the point stating the name and use of each brush and it has the price labelled on the front and back. 

Overall I would give these products a strong 7 out of 10, for between £1 and £3 they obviously aren't going to be the best make up brushes on the market, but they do the job and they do it well! The brushes are really soft on the skin, the make up looks a lot better than if I applied it with my fingers and it is a lot easier to blend and apply the make up! They wash really well! (I will have a post about how I clean my brushes, so keep an eye out for that one.) I'd would definitely recommend these brushes if you're just starting out wearing make up or if you want to try make up brushes for the first time because they are really well priced and they just do want a make up brush should do!

Thank you all for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post!
Michelle xo.

Links.
Primark Beauty.

My June Favourites!

We're on the last day of June already so I thought this would be the perfect time to do my June favourites! I have two fashion favourites I've been loving and three beauty favourites; so lets get started!

June Favourites.

My first fashion favourite are these white mock leather block heel sandals. At just £15.99 they are available in 6 colours, so there's plenty of different colours to pick from. They do state to be wide fit, but I have normal size 4 feet and the size 3 fits me perfectly, so I would definitely still try them on if you haven't got wide feet. I bought these because I was looking for a sandal that I could wear for casual but could still wear them if I wanted to dress up and these are perfect. As with all the other colours available I love the colour contrast between the actual white mock leather of the straps and the brown heels and sole of the shoe, it makes the shoes really versatile so you can wear them with loads of different colour clothes. The heel is only 2 inches so if you're like me and are terrible at walking heels these will be perfect! 

NewLook: Block heels.

My next fashion favourite is this £17.99 sleeveless blazer also from Newlook! I've seen these sleeveless blazers everywhere and I really think they add to a boring outfit, I choose an abstract orange and black patterned one instead of the plain colours, because I thought I would be able to wear it with more. It's really lightweight and ideal if you're going out on a sunny day and it gets a little bit cooler at night! It falls really nice when it's on and stops just below my bum so it's perfect to wear with skinny jeans and a plain crop top, (I like to pick out one of the colours in the print) and some sandals.  I'll definitely be purchasing more of these in different colours and patterns over the next couple of months. 

NewLook Sleeveless Blazer. 

Soap & Glory will always be one of my favourite body products on the market, and this month I've been loving the Soap & Glory sugar crush body scrub that retails for just £8.00! It's the perfect summer scrub, you can really feel the sugar when you massage it onto your skin and I've noticed a huge difference in my skin having used it just a couple of times! My skin feels so smooth after I rise it off and I love the smell of this product! It has a very strong citrus scent, from the freshly-squeezed sweet lime and sparkling lemons, it's also packed full of sweet vanilla musk and almond oil, sea salt, smashed brown sugar, glycerin and macadamia oils. I'll definitely be purchasing the other products from this range to last me for the rest of summer!

Soap & GLory: Sugar Crush. 

Another beauty favourite this month is the John Frieda 'Go Blonder Lightening Shampoo'. I was very sceptical about using this at first because I'd read lots of comments saying that your hair turns really yellow when you use this, so I've just been using it twice a week and so far I've been loving it! My hair has always had natural highlights running through it anyway, but I wanted something that wouldn't be harsh on my hair to slightly lighten the rest of my hair! I've definitely noticed a different in my hair especially when I use this before I spend a day in the sun, you do have to use the shampoo continuously though to notice a difference! The fragrance is really nice and fresh and it doesn't weigh my hair down or make it greasy like a lot of other shampoos I've tried does. It is slightly more on the expensive side at £5.99 for 250ml so I try to stock up on this product when it's on an offer. 

John Frieda: Go Blonder.

My last June Favourite is the Mitchum Advanced 48 hour protection deodorant. I've always used Dove deodorants but I got a bit bored of the fragrances so I thought I'd try something new! I got the scent 'Pure Fresh' because I wasn't overly fussed on the other fragrances. It's quite a hard scent to describe other than it smells like lemons to me? I can definitely smell it though out the day when I move which is good and it just smells really fresh all day long. My only issue with this deodorant is that it takes forever to dry because it's quite sticky when you first apply it and it does leave white marks under my arms when it is dried, so I might try using the stick style instead of the role on, but other than that, it's definitely my new favourite deodorant. It's also only £2.89 so that seems a pretty reasonable price to me. 

Mitchum Deodorant.

I hope you've all enjoyed reading about my June Favourites. Leave me a comment of any of your monthly favourites or if you want a full review of any of the items featured in this blog! Thank you for reading, Michelle xo. 

Links.

Newlook block heel sandals.

Newlook sleeveless blazer.

Soap & Glory body scrub.

Boots: Soap & Glory scrub.

John Frieda Go blonder shampoo

Boots: John Frieda.

Mitchum Pure Fresh Deodorant.

Boots: Mitchum. 

Cheaper alternative to teeth whitening?

With Coco white all over Instagram lately, I was intrigued as to how coconut oil can whiten teeth naturally without any harsh chemicals! I've always been afraid of having my teeth whitened at the dentist because I have sensitive teeth and I don't think I could personally bare the pain for slightly whiter teeth, but as this is natural, I set off on my quest to find some pure coconut oil and at just £2.25 for 500ml I had nothing to lose. I did however jump into this idea at the deep end and didn't have a clue how I was meant to use this coconut oil to actually whiten my teeth, so I went back to trusty google and instantly found ways of using this on my teeth. 

Coconut oil. 

One of the suggestions to using this that I found was; to swish around two teaspoons of the oil around your mouth for 10 minutes pushing and pulling it through the gaps between your teeth before brushing your teeth with normal toothpaste! It suggested that you should build up to this amount of time but I couldn't even stomach the oil in my mouth for a minute let alone ten! I kept trying this method every night using less oil for shorter periods of time and just repeating it, but it still made me feel sick because of the strange consistency to the oil. 

Coconut oil. 

The oil itself doesn't have an unpleasant taste providing you actually like coconut which I do, but it is a really thick paste to begin with when you first place it in your mouth and then it then quickly changes to a really thin oil that I just didn't like! Even using just a little bit at a time wasn't working for me so I decided to try a different method mentioned by people who also didn't like the traditional oil pulling method. 

The oil. 

This method was to cover a toothbrush in the oil and simply brush your teeth! I found this a lot easier to do and I also saw a noticeable difference after just a couple of days. I would suggest you buy a cheap tooth brush for this and definitely don't use and electric toothbrush because the oil will clog the brush. I brush my teeth like this for about 2-3 minutes every other night and then swish the remaining oil left in my mouth around before spitting it out. It's definitely easier than the traditional method and the results on me personally worked a lot better because I could keep it in my mouth longer! If you do want a quicker or more of a result you can mix the coconut oil with baking soda which is used in a lot of whitening toothpastes. 

Toothbrush method. 

Swallowing the coconut oil should be kept to a minimum because of the bacteria being collected when using these methods, and ensure after using either method you rinse your mouth throughly with warm water to remove any left over oil before brushing you teeth normally! I prefer to do this at night because I have more time but a lot of website do say that doing this in the morning has higher benefits for oral health. As well as whitening your teeth this is actually a great way to improve your overall oral health as it removes harmful bacterias and improves your gums. 

I would say if you really don't like the taste of coconut then coco white might be a better suggestion because they have three different flavours: light lemon, vanilla swirl and minty fresh which I could've personally handled better to swish around my mouth, but this is a great alternative if you want to try it first before ordering the real thing! Coco white itself retails for £19.99 plus £3.99 postage (within the uk) for 14 sachets so it can be quite expensive long term where are coconut oil is available from every supermarket and health food store and is a lot cheaper. So there is definitely benefits to each option. 

I will continue using this consistently to help me improve my oral health as well as keep my teeth looking whiter, so I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who doesn't want to spend a great deal on whitening there teeth, and also someone who prefers natural things to harsh chemicals. This is also suitable for vegans which can be a problem when using some whitening products. 

Thank you for reading and I hope you found this helpful! xo. 

Links. 

Cocowhite.

KTC Coconut oil at tescos.

Holland and Barrett coconut oil.

xo.

Other posts you might enjoy!

Lush 'no drought' dry shampoo review!

Looking for the perfect dry shampoo for summer? Let me introduce you to 'no drought', a 100% natural dry shampoo from lush! I've tried numerous dry shampoos on the market from shops own brands to Batiste, Dove and Aussie. But this has become my all time favourite! 

Dry shampoo.

The first dry shampoo I discovered back in high school was Batiste dry shampoo. In a can form it's easily sprayed onto the roots of your hair to absorb the grease and give your hair volume. I do still used this product because I love how convenient it is to use and it definitely gives second day hair a lift! It comes in a variety of different fragrances and sizes so its perfect for day to day use or travelling. I've used this products for years and will continue using it when I want a dry shampoo that doesn't require effort, but it was becoming quite costly to buy a new can of this every other week, so I went on the hunt for a cheaper product that would last me longer!  

Batiste blush. 

On a visit to Lush a member of staff introduced me to this product, 'no drought a grapefruit and lime scented, oil absorbing powder. For a quick freshness boost, no wash: just go!' It does just that! Slightly harder and more time consuming to use that the can dry shampoos, this is in a bottle and can be shaken directly onto your roots or into your hand before you work it into your hair! I personally prefer to shake it directly on my roots and work it in from there before I use my tangle teezer brush to brush out any excess because I feel I waste less product. 

Lush no drought 115g ad 50g.

I personally don't mind the scent of this product, it's very fresh and clean smelling which is what you'd expect from a grapefruit product, although I do wish they did other fragrances to mix it up a little. The packaging on this product is far more simple than others on the market which I personally like because it's straight to the point, it tells you what it is, the ingredients and that it's suitable for vegans. I also like how each bottle of this product comes with a sticker somewhere on the bottle stating who it was made by and when, which gives you an indication of how fresh the product actually is when you purchase it.

Lush no drought. 

Because this is a 100% natural product the ingredients in this are far less harsh than some of the ingredients that can be found in can dry shampoos. The main two ingredients are cornflour which is used to absorb the oil and then grapefruit oil to add a refreshing scent.  

Lush no drought ingredients. 

This dry shampoo retails for a higher price than other dry shampoos at £3.95 for 50g and £6.95 for 115g, but one of the large bottles lasted me a whole year using it at least every other day so I definitely feels it's worth that amount when it lasts for so long! Overall I'd give this product 9 out of 10 because it does what it says, the scent is nice and it lasts forever! The only reason it lost a point was because unlike other brands there is only one scent available and I do like to use different scents. 

I hope you all enjoyed this review if you've got any suggestions of other dry shampoos you think I might like, leave them in the comment box! Thank you for reading xo. 

Links.

Lush 'no drought'

Batiste

xo.

Other posts you might enjoy!