Haul: Mario Badescu Skincare

Quite a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to win a £25 voucher for beautybay.com. I'd been eyeing up the RMK Cleansing Oil and some RMK palettes and had intended to save up a bit of dolla and get the lot in one go. Failing miserably, I settled on my original intention - Mario Badescu skincare.



I placed my order late Thursday night and to my surprise, found a well packaged box on my bed when I woke up this morning! I was expecting it to arrive Monday or Tuesday! Service - top notch peeps. I was informed of the process the whole time. I instantly received an order confirmation email and a despatch email the following day.

I purchased the Acne Repair Kit at £33.95 - which includes their infamous Drying Lotion, Drying Cream and Buffering Lotion, Acne Facial Cleanser at £12.50, Oil Free Moisturizer SPF 15 at £18.75 and the Whitening Mask at £20.50. The £25 off really helped!

Over the next few weeks, I'll be using these products religiously and documenting my progress weekly. I'll start this on Monday morning and will post "Before" photos.

Breakdown of each product (from beautybay.com):

Please click the thumbnail to see ingredients.

Acne Facial Cleanser:



"Mario Badescu Acne Facial Cleanser (177ml) will prevent and heal existing acne with this exfoliating and deep cleansing wash.

• Formulated with acne-fighting Salicylic Acid.
• Contains Aloe Vera and Chamomile, natural ingredients that calm and soothe acne inflamed skin.
• For best results follow with our Special Cucumber Lotion or recommended astringent.
• Suitable for combination and oily skins.

Acne Repair Kit:

"Mario Badescu Acne Repair Kit contains everything you need to keep oily and acne prone skin looking clean, clear and healthy.

• Kit Contains:
• Our world famous Drying Lotion (1oz.) clears up whiteheads overnight.
• Drying Cream (0.5 oz.) which is an effective treatment to dry up small under-surface blemishes.
• Buffering Lotion (1 oz.) helps to fight acne before it starts.
• Suitable for all skin types."

Drying Lotion Ingredients: Isopropryl Alcohol, Aqua, Calamine, Camphor, Calloidal Sulfur, Salicylic Acid, Glycerin, Talc, Zinc Oxide, (CI77947), Titanium Dioxide, (CI77891).

Buffering Lotion Ingredients: Aqua, Isopropryl Alcohol, Sodium Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Hydrolyzed Serum Protein, Hydrolyzed Yeast Protein, Pyridoxine, Niacinamide, Panthenol, Propylene Glycol, Allantoin, Biotin.

Drying Cream Ingredients: Aqua, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Beeswax (Cera Alba), Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon) Fruit Extract, Colloidal Sulfur, Mineral Oil (Paraffinum Liquidum), Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Ichthammol, Polysorbate-80, Polyglycerylmethacrylate, Propylene Glycol, Zinc Oxide (Ci77947), Titanium Dioxide (Ci77891).

Whitening Mask:



"Mario Badescu Whitening Mask (60ml) is a hydrating mask that will help brighten uneven skin tones and gently reduce the look of old acne scars and discolorations from the sun.

• Skin lightening, natural ingredients like Kojic Acid, Licorice and Mulberry make this mask gentle for all skin types.
• Contains no Alpha Hydroxy Acids making it safe for acne erupted skin.
• Suitable for all skin types."

Oil Free Moisturizer SPF 15:

"Mario Badescu Oil Free Moisturizer SPF15 is a simple, fragrance free, lightweight daily moisture for oily and problem skin.

• Non-clogging and ultra absorbent.
• It also has the added benefits of daily sun protection to keep scarring and discoloration to a minimum.
• Suitable for oily, combination and sensitive skin types."

So wish me luck! I've heard such fantastic things about Mario Badescu products and can't wait to see whether they'll help me as much as they've helped others.

Have you tried anything from Mario Badescu? How did you find their products?

Review: Lush Skincare

Last night, John ordered a bunch of Mario Badescu products from beautybay.com for me so I'll be finishing off my Lush skincare soon. I've been using these products for about a year and a half now and I've been really pleased with how well they've worked for me, but think it's time for a change! My skin seems to have gotten used to the products so fingers crossed, Mario will pull through.





First up is my cleanser. I use Fresh Farmacy both morning and night and find it does an excellent job of calming any redness in my skin and drying up breakouts. If you have mild to moderate acne or rosacea, I'd say give this product a try and see how it goes. It's inexpensive and Lush are excellent for giving samples. It doesn't smell amazing, but isn't unpleasant. It can leave the skin feeling tight but a dab of moisturizer fixes that problem easily. If you like a squeaky clean feel when you wash your face, Fresh Farmacy will do that. Another Lush cleanser I can recommend for oily skin is CoalFace. My boyfriend uses it daily and it has helped his skin immensely. Another inexpensive item we both use is the Body Shop's Facial Buffer to gently exfoliate each day which means I don't need to use a separate exfoliator!



Tea Tree Water is essentially a toner. It's very gentle, it doesn't sting when you apply it like many alcohol based toners can be and it cleans any cleanser or makeup residue from your face. Again, I use this morning and night and it's great for picking up any makeup your makeup remover and/or cleanser may have missed. You'd be surprised!



Grease Lightning is a blemish treatment but I use it as if it were a serum - especially when I'm breaking out. It does a wonderful job of gently calming and healing any spots you might have. I had a monster coming up just under my nose (ouch) on Tuesday. Today, it's gone. There's the slightest bump when I run my finger over it but it's no longer painful or red.

I use my Shu Uemura Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/o to remove my makeup and Cetaphil moisturizer and find they work well in harmony with each of the Lush products. It's a great routine and it has worked for me but like I said; time for a change! I've tried other products in between and found some winners (Shu oil!) but I've never changed my entire routine like this.

I'll be keeping a diary and photographing my progress with the Mario Badescu products. To some, they're quite an investment (myself included) so it's always nice to see how well they work (or not) before purchasing.

Are there any products you use that you wouldn't change for the world? I thought Fresh Farmacy was mine, but it turns out...it's my Shu oil!

Photo credits: Lush.co.uk

Busy Sunday + P5P update

As per usual, my Sunday was full of things to do. Laundry, dishes, chasing cats out of places they shouldn't be, researching places John and I might like to move to and a little bit of work. I'd intended to sleep in but of course Mimi decided she wanted a cuddle so rubbed her nose all over my face, then nipped my bottom lip. So it's quarter to 2 in the afternoon now and I've long finished the house work and looked at just about every area of South London and still haven't decided on where we want to move to. Now all that's left is to finish my write up on an event I attended for work called Blog for Sales. Very interesting; gave me lots of insight into how much power bloggers really have...and how much money some of them earn!

One more thing I'd intended to do today was place an order with BeautyBay.com. I won a voucher a while ago and have been saving up some money in my PayPal account to make a big purchase of Mario Badescu skincare and the RMK cleansing oil (still not violating P5P!) but then found out that they don't accept PayPal! My own stupid fault for not checking. I hope that I haven't lost my voucher! I entered it but didn't complete checkout. We'll see. I'll be placing my order on Wednesday or Thursday instead.

Speaking of wins, I very unexpectedly won Sarah's DKNY Be Delicious giveaway! It's my birthday week, perhaps the Gods are sending me luck this year.

Friday and Saturday were both eventful. We headed to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home to meet a 12 week old Husky/Lab cross puppy. He was extremely playful and absolutely STUNNING! We then headed out to the depths of the Kent countryside to set off fireworks and start a gigantic bonfire. A women's bike club + fireworks = good times. Always.



Saturday, John's mum brought the puppy home! He settled in really well and plays nicely with a friend's adult Alsatian! Pup really holds his own too! Because of how big he's going to be and his breed history, he's going to be a working dog as well as a pet and will help John's mum down the allotments. For now, we're all concentrating on getting him well trained - he's very intelligent - and getting the cats used to him!



Cream crackered after lots of playtime!

Saturday evening - more fires and fireworks...and lots of food. All the cuttings from where we were preparing the allotments for winter (as well as lots of scrap wood) went on a huge bonfire. John had fun setting off fireworks and actually managed to get a Catherine Wheel to spin properly! TWICE!





Project 5 Pan is coming along nicely. I managed to finish my Revlon ColorStay foundation yesterday meaning there's just the eyeshadow duo and UDPP left! I predict I will finish these by the end of the month meaning I can still snap up lots of Christmas deals and goodies in the January sales!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and a safe bonfire night!

xx