All About Eyes: eye cream review

Reoccurring troubles with my eyes led me to take the plunge and finally opt for a high end eye cream. I've always had a love/hate relationship with the idea of eye cream, is it really all that, is there really a difference between a £5 'does the job' and a £50 'miracle worker'?

Having said that I had got to my 'last wits end' (only honey boo boo addicts will get that quote) with swollen, irritated eyes and so thought what the heck. I suffer from bags and redness, often with patches of irritated dry skin (tmi?) and so after a swift google and grilling of the sales woman I decided the Clinique All About Eyes Rich would do the job.

After a couple of weeks of use I am ready to report back. I was advised to apply this cream after moisturiser to the contour of my eyes (just on the bone of the socket), with a tapping motion always working out from the centre. And I did just that...

So; Bags? Still there. They ain't budging... But the cream has definitely helped them. They are less obvious and my lids are no where near as swollen in the morning. Bag blunder aside I haven't had a inch of dryness around my eyes since and packing on ample eye shadow hasn't been a problem. I also like the fact it is supposed to 'protect against environmental irritants' - always a good thing to hear! I do think this cream has helped, but I am still not convinced the £25 price tag is a worthy price.

What do you think? Is high end worth it?

The Big Three: Origins Masks

So I was lucky enough to get my hands on 3 full sized masks from Origins for Christmas, and boy I have been indulging non stop. As I had been suffering from very dry skin this winter I was keen to try out the overnight mask, a notorious product in the beauty world. I do however, suffer from break outs a lot (even without oily skin) so the charcoal mask was second on my wishlist.

Drink Up 10 minute Mask: A light mask that smells like apricots, great for a quick burst of hydration when your skin is feeling 'blahhh' and claims to act as 'a fountain of youth'. What more could you ask for eh? To sum it up - a quick fix of algae extracts aimed for very dry skin, and a little goes a long way with this product.

Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask: This mask has a thick night cream texture, designed to slowly sink into the skin and work it's magic overnight. whilst the cream is thick, it doesn't feel heavy - my skin can still breathe once applied. It contains a range of ingredients including; apricot kernel oil to replenish moisture, avocado oil and mango butters to prepare the face for the next day and Japanese seaweed to avoid further dehydration. It smells divine...think sweet mangoes!

Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask: Now, unfortunately this mask doesn't smell quite as amazing as the other two but that's not the selling point... This deep cleaning mask is aimed to unclog pores and remove pollutants. It applies really easily and fully dries in around 5 minutes. One bonus for me is that it doesn't flake one bit - something I hate in masks! (flaky masks and multitasking doesn't mix well) Once dry I remove it gently with a warm cloth and my skin feels immediately fresh and purified - making breakouts fear for their lives.

Are all three worth the hype? One word - YES!

The Body Shop Tea Tree

The Body Shop is one of those places that once you've step foot inside you ain't leaving empty handed, and of course little old me fell right into the trap. Having suffered from break outs for months and nothing helping, I popped into The Body Shop (or should I say I intended to pop in!) and was guided straight to their Tea Tree range.

This range is developed for blemish prone skin, the natural tea tree is ideal for balancing the skin plus it's antibacterial nature sure does clear up spots. Now, in my opinion these products have the potential to work wonders. They leave your skin feeling super super clean and fresh but, and this is a bigger than average but, this range is definitely aimed at oily skin types - the tea tree dries up blemishes and reduces them in size. If, like me, your skin is slightly on the dryer side these products aren't ideal - especially in winter! Much to my disappointment they completely dried out my skin, leaving it feeling drained of moisture.

As a result, have completely set aside the foaming cleanser and facial toner from my skin care routine. As for the night lotion, I still use this but then apply a thicker, more moisturising night cream afterwards. I find the pore minimiser primer works okay, I use it every now and again when my skin is feeling extra uneven and porous. Now, the squeaky clean scrub I love - just the right amount of exfoliation, even when skin is feeling blemished and sore. I use it about 3 times a week and apply a moisturising mask afterwards to avoid over-drying the skin.

I don't regret buy these products - I'll certainly reach straight for them if my skin becomes oily in the future. For now, I will continue the pursuit of a magical product to rid my dry skin of spots forever!