The Body Shop Superfood Face Masks

The pinnacle of at home pampering, for me, has to be the face mask. It's the part of a facial that anyone can do with little or no skills; you just smooth it on and relax for 10 minutes while it works its magic. The only trouble is, that most face masks only address one or two skin complaints so I tend to always go for the ones which are most suited to what I want to target which is usually something to do with detoxing and dealing with blemishes. 

However, The Body Shop are exactly on point with their latest idea. 

Their idea of using several masks at the same time means that you don't have to use one masks as a 'blanket' treatment for your whole face.. Their new range of face masks consists of five different Superfood masks, each of them packed with natural ingredients and formulated to address different skin issues. Each of the Superfood face masks is 100% vegetarian and free of silicone, parabens, paraffins and mineral oils to ensure that what you're putting on your face is 100% natural. 

Whether it's detoxifying, hydrating, nourishing, brightening or energising, or a combination of the five, there should be something for you in the Superfood range because what you can actually do is create your own at-home facial based on your own skin complaints. 

Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask

Good for: releasing impurities and toxins

Amazonian Acai Energising Radiance Mask

Good for: energising skin which is tired and stressed

British Rose Fresh Plumping Mask

Good for: revealing a dewy glow

Ethiopian Honey Deep Nourishing Mask

Good for: a dose of replenishing nourishment

Chinese Ginseng & Rice Clarifying Mask

Good for: dull skin in need of a pick-me-up

I personally struggle with an oily t-zone but dehydrated, blemished cheeks so the Hydrate and Invigorate facial is what I tried first which inclues the British Rose Fresh Plumping Mask, the Chinese Ginseng and Rice Clarifying and Polishing Mask and the Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask.

Each of the masks is used to target a different 'problem' so obviously you apply accordingly; I put the Himalayan Charcoal on my nose and forehead (t-zone), the British Rose on my cheeks and the Chinese Ginseng and Rice on my chin. So in the 15 minutes I left it all on it was addressing 3 different problems rather than using a single mask as a 'blanket' treatment.

The separate face masks are absolutely perfect for me because I usually just apply masks to my t-zone as I usually buy clay based treatments to try and sort out my oily, blemish prone skin but I love the fact that now I can treat my dehydrated cheeks at the same time.

The masks are £15 each and available now from the Body Shop website.

Women's Contour Razor for Easy Shaving

Hair removal is a definite #girlproblem for those of us who wish to get rid of unwanted fluff, I approach summer with a sense of dread for the months in which I have to shave my legs on a regular basis because it's just such a pain. I did think I'd found my 'Holy Grail' of razors in the Gillette Venus range with the shave gel bar built in; I flitted to others when they were on offer but I've always gone back to Gillette. Until a razor with 6 blades was brought to my attention. 

You may be wondering what difference that extra blade makes, well I'll tell you that the more blades generally the smoother the shave. Have you ever noticed that most good mens razors have loads of blades? Well that's because more blades make it as gentle and close on their little faces so why shouldn't we have the same for our fuzz?? 

Anyway, enter the Dorco EVE 6.

On the face of things it looks just like any other normal razor and you'd be right, it's not dissimilar to loads of razors on the market in terms of the handle but there's a couple of features which do sort the ladies from the girls of the razor world:

- 6 blades split into a 3 blade format to help contour your bodyshape

- A brush finger on the head to help massage and raise hair follicles for a closer, smoother shave

- A Moisturising band with Aloe and Vitamin E to protect sensitive skin

- A flexible head which moves to the contours of your body

As you can see the Dorco looks quite a bit different to the Wilkinson Sword one which has 5 blades all together and the head doesn't move at all which doesn't make shaving impossible obviously but the additional little features of the Dorco really do make shaving so much easier. I think that the moving head makes a massive difference with how smooth the shave feels; there's absolutely no dragging and no nicks and cuts around the usual areas (ankles and knees) and it makes underarm shaving an absolute dream because it's so quick.

The final little gem about Dorco razors is that they offer them as a subscription service so I'll no longer be waiting for my blades to be on offer because the Dorco Eve 6 is so reasonably priced I can't afford not to snap it up!

To buy the Dorco Eve 6 on it's own with 1 blade it's £4.55 but for £5.45 you get a handle and 4 blades! I must have read that about 6 times on the website because I can't believe how affordable it is considering I usually pay around £15 for 4 blades! You can set the subscription for as often as monthly or push it to 6 monthly depending how often you shave which I think is brilliant because not only is it really affordable it also means you should never be caught short of razors.

I can't rave about this enough, just at least go check out the Dorco Razors website.

Skinny Bakery Low Syn Sweet Treats

As a Slimming Worlder I'm constantly on the lookout for my next low syn sweet treat so when my friend introduced me to The Skinny Bakery I knew I had to order some bits to try. The whole idea behind Skinny Bakery is one which I love; founded in 2013 by a home baker called Mariella who experimented endlessly to find the tastiest recipes containing a fraction of the calories. The fact that her business has gone from strength to strength speaks volumes of how nice the stuff must be so it'd be rude not to order selection of their sweet treats. 

They do a 'Not So Skinny Bakery Box' which contains one of each of their 8 product range and it's only £19.99 so I figured that'd be a good place to start if I was seeing what I liked. The box contains:

Sweet Potato Brownies

Mini Coconut Bites

Chocolate Pearls

Beetroot Pearls

Mini Flapjacks

Mini Gingerbread Men

Choc Chip Cookies

Double Chocolate Meringue Cookies

I've picked out 4 of my favourites from the selection which I can 100% recommend to you if you're looking for some low syn/low calorie sweet treats. You can of course buy each of these separately at £2.99 per pot. 

PLEASE NOTE: All syn values are approximate; calculated by the fact that 20 calories equals 1 syn.

Skinny Chocolate Pearls (208 calories/10.5 syns per full pot) are like squdigy mini cupcakes with a thick chocolate sauce in the middle which is actually made from low fat yoghurt. They're perfectly moist and the chocolate yoghurt frosting just gives the texture a little bit of something different. 

Skinny Double Chocolate Meringue Cookies (141 calories/7 syns per full pot) I think I'm going to declare these my favourite; although they look lighter brown than the other chocolatey bits, I think they actually taste the most chocolatey. They're crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside which is exactly how a meringue should taste in my opinion!

Skinny Choc Chip Cookies (187 calories/9.5 syns per full bag) I expected these to be hard cookies but I was so pleasantly surprised to find that these are actually soft and silky. They've got the sweetness just right with these and they're so perfect with a cuppa. 

Skinny Sweet Potato Brownies (189 calories/9.5 syns per full bag) I'll start by saying that these taste nothing like sweet potato; they're made with dates to sweeten them and they're soft and squidgy just as a brownie should be... they only trouble with them is that they're not big enough!

Admittedly, I didn't like everything in the box but the whole point of getting a selection was to see what I preferred and it was no surprise that the chocolate products came out on top! You can scoff your way through full packs of these with zero guilt because you know you're not consuming high amounts of calories, sugar and fat and they actually taste really, really good which is a revelation... a taste sensation!