bargains

You might have spotted Treacle Moon products at Tesco, where their simply packaged, sweetly scented products are exclusively stocked.  Treacle Moon has been created by the team behind the Sanctuary and Normandie bath and body brands, which are both made up of low to mid range products which pack a punch.

The range is made up of a variety of bath and body products with a selection of scents, all of which are simple but effective, centred around one particular element such as vanilla, coconut, or raspberry.  I chose to purchase the bath and shower gel from the One Ginger Morning set, mostly because I was looking for something that would fall into the invigorating bracket.

As a bath foam, it's pretty nice - while it doesn't create a mountain of bubbles, there are certainly enough to luxuriate in.  The scent is slightly dampened in the bath, and dissipates within a few minutes, which is a shame.  The bubbles last no longer than half an hour, which sadly isn't long enough for me.  As a shower gel, though, the scent really takes centre stage - richly, intensely ginger, it's refreshing, invigorating, and will definitely wake you up of a sleepy morning.  Used with a puff or sponge, it lathers up well, leaving the skin feeling clean and fresh, but not stripped of moisture or squeaky and over clean.

For a generously sized 500ml bottle, you'll pay a mere £2.95, which is a bargain indeed.  If you like a good invigorating or awakening shower, but find excessively lemon or mint based scents too much in the morning, this makes a great alternative.  Get it direct from Treacle Moon, or from Tesco, online or in store.

Yesterday I finally tracked down some of Superdrug's new "everything's a pound" MUA range after scouring London's streets for the last week. It's only available in 84 branches nationwide - helpfully, there's a list here. (Wouldn't you know, I eventually found it in my own local branch.)


MUA stands for "Makeup Academy", which sounds a bit posh for such a budget line. But as it's likely to be a first makeup purchase for many young people, I guess the element of learning does tie in with the name. It features all the basic essentials you'd expect to find in a makeup range - colours for lips, eyes, cheeks and nails.

Lipglossiping's review had helpfully pointed me in the direction of the eyeshadows as the best product from the MUA line-up, so I avoided the other bits and picked up 3 eyeshadows - 9 (purple), 7(green) and 12(brick/green duochrome). I chose the brightest and most pigmented-looking shades I could see.


They're well pigmented and pick up smoothly. However the reason for that is their high mineral oil content (4th on the ingredient list). They're almost cream shadows, in fact - there's a real greasy feel to them. And they're prone to staining (as I found out when I came to remove the swatches from my arm). For £1 though, not at all bad, and the greasy-but-pigmented outcome is at least a change from the gritty talc-fest you get with most cheap eyeshadow powders.

I thought my three eyeshadows looked like they'd be easily duped, and expected them to match various shades in my collection. I was surprised to find that none of them did exactly, although the duochrome is very similar to a lot of other colours which employ the same colour-shift micas/pigments.

Click through for comparison swatches.

Disclosure - this product was provided free for review

You may remember both Gemma and myself being very taken with old-school beauty item Ponds Cold Cream cleanser last year, which turned out to be both versatile and effective.

As a result, I was interested to investigate the range further. I have been using Ponds Hydro Nourishing Cream in place of my usual moisturiser for the last two weeks.

Hydro Nourishing Cream comes in the same heavy glass screw-top jar as the Cold Cream, with very similar branding on the label. The jar is a pleasingly solid piece of construction and the lid closes tightly. Although it is a finger-dipping-in sort of format, the aperture of the jar is quite small, so most of the product is not exposed to the air.

The cream itself is white with a medium-weight consistency. It spreads easily on the skin with a slight feeling of greasiness that quickly disappears as it sinks in. I found that I was surprised how much of it I needed, since on first impressions it seems rich enough to be used sparingly. In fact it is quickly absorbed and can be used quite freely. This is not a criticism - the 75ml fill weight and rock-bottom price point (£3.99) mean there's absolutely no reason to scrimp on application if you don't have to.

The cream is scented with a light floral aroma. I didn't find this unpleasant, but if you are sensitive to fragrance it's worth noting (as many such "basic" products are fragrance free).

Ingredients-wise, this is not one to go for if you are of the "chemical free" persuasion. It contains paraffin liquidum (vaseline), mineral oil, carbomer, and two flavours of parabens. However, it also contains Vitamin E and Vitamin C (antioxidants), plus Evening Primrose Oil (anti-inflammatory) and, interestingly, hydrolysed elastin (the same bounce-imparting ingredient found in Phillip Kingsley's Elasticizer).  

I have normal/dry skin and I was using this alongside a "regime" (ha, as if I'm even that organised) of Eve Lom cleanser on some days and Elemental Herbology Cool & Clear facewash on others.

For me, this is a great product, and I recommend it to those who have no aversion to perfume or mineral oil in their products. The fact that it costs a mere £3.99 and is available in most Boots and pharmacists in the land make it even more of a winner.