Skincare – Kandigloss Blog

Natures Extracts Blissful Strawberry Moisturising Body Butter (bit of a mouthful that!)

I popped into the new beauty hall in Marks & Spencer, Dundrum recently for a browse – if you haven’t checked it out yet, you soooo should, but maybe not on payday…. don’t say I didn’t warn ya!! So while wandering round drooling at all the gorgeous beauty stuff there, I came across their range of Body Butters which are an absolute steal at €7!

After sniffing & trying them all (has to be done!) I decided to buy this lovely Strawberry one. They also had Cocoa Butter, Shea, Zesty Lime, and Peach and Almond to name but a few, so there’s really something for everyone.

Coming into the colder weather, you can’t beat a good body butter after a shower, it gets down really deep into your skin to moisturise it. It’s also great for prolonging your fake tan application.

An added bonus is that this smells amazing and lasts for ages on your skin. They also have matching shower gels and bath foam if you fancy the layered fragrance effect. They would actually make a great pressie too.

I love strawberry scented body products for purely nostagic reasons, the smell just takes me back to standing in The Body Shop as a teenager dousing myself in the perfume oils – Strawberry being one of my favourites! (The Dewberry and White Musk ones were close seconds!)

You should give these a go, I really think they’re fab for the price. Oh, and I’d love to know what particular smells do you always go for in body products and is there anything that you sniff and find it takes you back? Let me know in the comments below 🙂

With the weather going a bit schitzo on us lately here in Ireland, I thought it’d be a good idea to get you all prepared for the sunny days when you just want to lie out in your back garden and work on your tan! Or if you’re going on your hols (you lucky thing, I’m well jell!) you’ll do well to pack these in your suitcase.

We know a lot more about sun protection these days than we did years ago so there’s no excuse not to be protecting yourself from the suns harmful rays. And besides sunny days, you really should get into the habit of using a sunscreen every day to protect your skin from premature ageing and the products below make it easy to do that. As that weird song goes, if I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to wear sunscreen! I often think, if only I could go back to my teenage self and stop myself slathering every square inch of my skin in baby oil while sunbathing , I might have less fine lines on my face than I do right now!

There’s a whole plethora of suncare products out there so it can be a bit daunting, but these are some of my faves and they’re all half price in Boots at the moment. Score! :

1. Garnier Ambre Solaire BB Cream – with Factor 30 or Factor 50 – €10.50 – (cost at half price in Boots only)

Garnier now do a BB Cream for your face that contains a sunblock in either factor 30 or 50 which is perfect for protecting sun sensitive skin as well as avoiding premature ageing and giving you a bit of colour and a glow, how ingenious is that?! They only come in one shade so you would need to have a bit of a tan with but you can wear it sheer or layered for a bit more coverage and it’s easy to remember to apply it every day if you would normally be wearing makeup anyway. I have serious love for BB Creams during the summer so will defo have this in my summer makeup bag.

2. Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Protective Sun Lotion with 12hr Moisturisation and Hydrating Aftersun with Aloe Vera – €10 (cost at half price in Boots only)

I love Hawiian Tropic sun creams, they always smell lovely and just remind me instantly of lounging on the beach somewhere sunny. I really love their latest offerings of hydrating suncreams and aftersun lotion that moisturises your skin as well as protecting it. They range from Factor 15 to Factor 30 and have full UVA & UVB protection The lotion applies really light and feels more like a regular moisturizer than an actual suncream so it’s easy to just lash it on and go about your business. The aftersun has cooling Aloe Vera and is perfect for soothing your skin if you do manage to overdo it a bit but using this will also keep your skin moisturized and stop the dreaded peeling. Both smell unbelievably amazing, I can’t even tell you, and for that alone they get a huge thumbs up from me.

3. Ambre Solaire Golden Protect – Available in a cream or an oil – €12 (cost at half price in Boots only)

This is suncream or a spray oil with an added golden shimmer to it. Beautiful for if you already have a base tan and you just want to top it up, plus it goes up to factor 30 which is great. I love the idea of shimmering around the beach/pool with a glow like JLo! (but without the hot bod unfortunately!)

4. Aldi Lacura suncare range – From €2.50 at Aldi

This is budget suncare but can it do the job? Well yes it can, granted it doesn’t have any fancy schmancy added ingredients like the other ones above but it has full UVA UVB range protection and will keep your skin safe in the sun, PLUS you’ll have change left over for a bottle of wine to sip on while sunbathing! Sorted! 🙂