Balance Me Congested Skin Serum

Some people like to find a skincare routine that works for them and stick to it. Me? Not so much. I've been trialling a lot of newness (or at least new to my skincare stash-ness) lately and one of the things I've been playing with for a little while is the Balance Me Congested Skin Serum. So I figured I'd let you know how it's been working for me.

So this product is a little confusingly marketed, my first thought was "ooh, a serum for £16, that might be a nice budget product for the blog"! Upon it's arrival I noticed it was only 15ml of product which pushed it more into the mid-range price bracket, and then upon reading the packaging, it doesn't seem to be a serum at all, it's a spot treatment.

So confusion aside, it seems to be reasonably priced compared to higher end spot treatments (Origins Super Spot Remover is £15 for 10ml, Benefit Boo Boo Zap is £14.50 for 7.4ml for comparison). The packaging is also quite nice, it's a hard-plastic tube with a pump on the top. The pump doesn't pump out too much product and it keeps things nice and sanitary which is exactly what you need on a spot treatment.

The actual product is white in colour but goes clear and colourless as you press it into the skin. It has a thin, slightly gel-like texture to it which absorbs into the skin fairly quickly. As I've mentioned this is intended to be a targeted spot treatment which you just dab directly onto blemishes, but the formula isn't at all stripping and I see no reason why you couldn't use it all over the face. I myself have used this as an all-over serum and didn't notice any dryness or dehydration at all, and I find even when used all over the face that it sits well under makeup and won't drink up liquid foundation.

I found the scent on this serum/treatment really pleasant, it's a nice sweet citrus-y scent that will wake you up a bit if used in the morning. I didn't notice the scent lingering on the skin too long after application and it's not at all over-powering for those of you that are sensitive to fragrance. However for those with sensitivities I will mention that the formula does list some ingredients like essential oils so if that's something your skin doesn't like this might be one to skip.

Other than that I think this is a nice product - I personally prefer it as a serum than a spot treatment but if it's a spot treatment you're looking for, this is a nice gentle one that might be worth a try.

The Friday Review: KIKO Lash Growth Mascara

I've had this one in the working for a while but the packaging said it takes 30 days of consecutive use to work and with it being a lash growth product I thought it would be more fair to follow the directions for use. I've recently gotten quite into using KIKO products and I'm super excited to hear that they're opening a location in Manchester soon (although I will soon be penniless I can imagine), and this really intrigued me.

The packing for the product is nice, it's quite a standard size for a mascara and the metallic finish on the tube is a nice touch. You get 8ml of product and it's around £8 a tube which is a good price for mascara, considering brands like MaxFactor and L'Oreal are charging £10+ for mascaras these days.

Since it's supposed to be worn as a regular mascara I figured I'd mention how it wears. The effect on the lashes is very natural so if you're someone who likes big fluttery lashes this might be a disappointment but I used this as a base coat and often went in with a more dramatic formula on top and this gave me the look I liked whilst still being able to use the lash growth. It didn't flake or smudge on me either.

In terms of it's effectiveness as a lash growth serum, I'm not sure. I tried to take before and after photos but it's actually really hard to photograph your own lashes and I'm not at the point where I have a cameraman to help me with the blog so I don't have anything to compare but my ashes do seem to look a tiny bit longer. It's definitely not a dramatic growth and if you have short lashes to begin with (like me) you might not see much of a difference but I feel like my mascaras are sitting on my lashes better these days.

All in all, it might be a bit of a gimmicky product and I'm not sure the amount of growth I've got from the mascara made it worth the 30 days of extra effort applying my makeup. If you're really struggling with short lashes though it might be worth picking up, I suppose mascaras always work differently on different people.