Neutrogena Wave Duo review: could this be the cheaper alternative to the Clarisonic Mia?

Like a lot of you I'm sure, I have been longing for a Clarisonic Mia but can't quite justify the price to myself just yet (I don't think it'd go down very well with Danny if I spent £100 or so on a Clarisonic and then not be able to afford to buy anything for our house!)  I was in Boots at the weekend and was browsing the skincare section looking for a face mask to pamper myself with that evening when I came across the Neutrogena Wave Duo.  We've all seen the adverts on TV - Vanessa Hudgens and Hayden Panettiere cheesily smiling into the camera stating that their skin has never felt so clean.  But does it really live up to their hype?  I've seen a lot of mixed reviews on this, so I thought I'd try it out and add my two cents.....

Product

The Neutrogena Wave Duo comes in a box containing the power cleanser, 14 cleansing pads and a AA battery.  All you have to do is to pop the battery in (which I'll be honest, I found a little difficult - the battery cover is pretty difficult to get off!), stick one of the cleansing pads on to the power cleanser head and you're ready to go.  I was a little concerned that the pad wouldn't stick to the head but the head is slightly bumpy - a little bit like velcro - so it stays in place despite moving it around your face.

The Wave Duo has two speed settings - one for 'gentle massaging' and the second for 'deep pore cleansing'.  I started off with the first setting and it definitely removed my make up successfully but I didn't feel like my pores were getting a good clean like I wanted.  On the second speed, I noticed the difference.  The sensation is a little strange initially - mainly because your face is vibrating quite strongly - but afterwards my skin definitely felt cleaner and softer.

Price

I bought the Wave Duo on impulse, so I didn't shop around at all and I paid only £10 for mine.  Considering I was planning on paying a couple of pounds for a one use only face mask, I'm pretty impressed that I picked up a battery operated cleanser for only a couple of times more.  And when you consider the Clarisonic Mia has a price tag of £120, it definitely seems a bargain!

Effects

From the first use, my skin has definitely felt smoother and softer.  It also looks brighter and feels cleaner.  I know that a lot of people report a 'purging' period when they first start to use the Clarisonic Mia, and I think I am experiencing that at the moment with the Wave Duo.  I'm quite lucky with my skin in that I very rarely get spots, but a couple have appeared across my nose since using the Wave Duo.  I assume that, as with the Clarisonic, this is due to the product bringing all the dirt from the pores out to the surface and this should clear up in a couple of days.

Am I impressed?

If I'm brutally honest with you, I'm particularly bad at looking after my skin.  I quite often fall asleep with my make up on and I only moisturise my face when I've noticed it's dry (and admitting that on a beauty product review post makes me realise how bad that actually is!)  I guess it's laziness because I know that my skin isn't prone to breakout and therefore I don't worry about the effect that not looking after it has.  I go through phases of being really good with it, but then give up and go back to my bad habits.

I hope (and I feel that since the Wave Duo is so easy to use, I have a chance!) that I stick to a good routine now and I intend to use the Wave Duo every day - my skin is definitely noticing the difference already and brighter, softer skin is always a good thing, right?

My week in Instagram photos #3

1. Birmingham v Reading - last game of the season  2.  Favourite hair product ever

3.  Reading FC champions celebration   4.  Signing the house contracts

5.  Jack Wills Brilliant Pink & Models Own Ibiza Mix  6.  Date night

Weekly wishlist #2

Clockwise from top left:  Rituals Yogi Flow Indian Rose - John Lewis, £6.90, 

Benefit It's Potent eye cream - ASOS, £23.50, Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish - 

John Lewis, £12.75, Origins No Puffery cooling mask - Boots, £19,

Clarisonic Mia - ASOS, £120

I'm sure all of you find the same problem - reading blogs is damaging to your bank account!  The Clarisonic Mia coupled with Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish have received so many good reviews that I'm just waiting until pay day before I buy them!  

I featured a review of Rituals' Yogi Flow a couple of months ago and now that I've run out, I've decided that I definitely need to repurchase.  The scent just makes showers so relaxing!

I'm really paranoid about dark circles under my eyes so the last two products on my wishlist will hopefully remedy this!  I've heard very good things about the Benefit eye cream and I have a bit of a soft spot for Benefit products.  The Origins cooling mask is a product that I'm not very familiar with but claims to de-puff eyes.  Recently I've been suffering from quite sore, tired eyes so I'm going to give this product a go and see if it sorts them out!

What beauty products would you recommend?  What's currently on your beauty wishlist?

Rahua shampoo and conditioner review

Image source

According to Rahua's website "100% natural, organic shampoo cleanses to create healthy, lustrous, bouncy hair and is ideal for color-treated hair. Rahua oil fortifies weak, damaged strands while nourishing and regenerating the scalp and hair follicles." and "100% natural, organic conditioner protects to create manageable, soft hair without any build-up — and is ideal for color-treated hair. Rahua oil fortifies and nourishes weak, damaged strands."  So do they really do what they say?

Product

At first, I really wasn't too keen on the smell of either the shampoo or conditioner.  It smells kind of old and musty - not the most attractive smell for a beauty product.  Thankfully, the smell doesn't linger on the hair - once dry, you can't smell it at all.  The shampoo takes a bit of effort to lather up but the conditioner glides on really easily.  A little goes a long way with both products, especially the conditioner.

Price

At £26 for 275ml shampoo and £27.50 for 275ml conditioner, this is definitely a rather pricey product.  As I mentioned above though, a little goes a long way so you needn't worry that you'd get through a whole bottle in a week.  That said, is £26 a little too expensive for a bottle of shampoo?

Effects

After using both the shampoo and conditioner, my hair instantly felt much softer and smoother.  The products really do hydrate your hair and this is evidenced from the first use, making it much easier to style.

Would I buy them at full price?

Since I regularly have highlights put through my hair, my hair tends to be quite dry and I'd definitely buy these products to remedy the dryness.  At this price though, I'd make sure that I only used them as a treat for my hair, rather than for everyday use, especially since even one use has such an effect.

I received a free sample of both the Rahua shampoo and conditioner in my September GlossyBox but the views here are entirely honest and I have not been paid to write this review.

Weekly top 5

I'm on holiday!!!!!!!  As you're reading this, I'm travelling down to Cornwall with Danny and Max for a week of eating, drinking and relaxing.  Although it's not very long ago that we were in Mexico, things have been quite hectic since then - both with work and socially, and I'm really looking forward to getting away for a bit by ourselves - it'll be really nice to have a week alone!  It'll be Max's first trip to the beach while we're there too which should be interesting - a couple of friends have said that their dogs are a little confused by sand, bless them!

Although working overtime every day is most definitely not one of my 'loves' of the week, our biggest filing deadline is now over for another year so work will be a lot less stressful for a few months.  Having got the majority of my clients finished in time is a really satisfying feeling and I can't help but feel a little bit smug when I remember that one of the senior managers was convinced on Monday that we wouldn't file in time!

Yesterday was my first pay check since my pay rise for qualifying - yay!  That means that I can seriously plan which Mulberry handbag I'm going to buy to reward myself (although I think it may have to be next month that I buy it), and I'm also planning on buying a new laptop so that I can blog on the go more easily (I have a PC at the moment so spend most of my time nicking my brother's laptop)

All photos from weheartit.com

For a completely unknown reason, my hair has been really dry recently.  It's usually pretty soft, despite the fact that I have highlights, but over the last week or so it just hasn't felt the same.  I haven't even had my hair dyed in the last week so I'm not quite sure what's going on there!  Anyway, I seem to have remedied the situation thanks to one of the samples in my September GlossyBox.  I tried out the Rahua shampoo and conditioner that I received, since it claims to make hair soft and silky.  It really did!  Hopefully my hair will recover fully when I use the other sachet too (I got two shampoo sachets and two conditioner sachets)  I'll do a proper product review in the next couple of days.

Photo from BBC Sport

Today was the first bit of the 2011 Rugby World Cup that I've seen, and I managed to choose the ten minutes that saw England go through to the quarter-finals!  Apparently we played pretty badly to start with but we won in the end, but that's all that matters really!  Fingers crossed we get through to the final and have a repeat performance of 2003!

Five to follow:

danijohanna

Kawaii Nail Art

LionLovingTiger

ROMEO AND THE LONELY GIRL

Fashion Turn to the Right

Project 365: #088 September GlossyBox

I know that a lot of you have been subscribed to GlossyBox for a few months now, but I've been a bit behind the times and have only just got around to jumping on the bandwagon.  To be honest, I was a bit put off by some bad reviews of the July box so waited to see what the August box was like before subscribing.  I'm pleased I have now though!  I know some people were disappointed because the size of the samples differed quite substantially between boxes, and although I didn't get the Neal and Wolf hair treatments that everyone was raving about, I was still pretty pleased.  I'm honestly not too sure yet whether I'll purchase the full size versions of any of the samples, but I'm very impressed with HD Brows (the only sample I've tried so far)  Being blonde, I have very light eyebrows so HD Brows is exactly the sort of product I need.  There are four different shades in the palette which means that you can easily create exactly the effect you want, and they can be used as eyeshadows too!  What a good product!

Have any of you subscribed to GlossyBox?  What did you think of September's box?

Project 365: #087 Garnier UltraLiftPro-X

Whenever I complain to my mum about dark circles under my eyes, she tells me that she doesn't see what I'm talking about and that I'm just being paranoid, but I've spent a long time trying to search for the ultimate under eye concealer/product to reduce puffy eyes and dark circles.  I've never managed to find a product that's perfect - whether that's because I tend to forget to use it religiously after the first week or so, I'm not sure, although I'm sure that that has something to do with it!  I went into Boots earlier and since I had a bit of time to spare, I thought I'd have a browse to see if there was anything that caught my eye.  This is when I stumbled upon Garnier's UltraLiftPro-X.  Here's what it says on the box....

"Immediately, skin looks smoother and the eye area appears rested.  Each day, eyelids appear more tightened, skin feels firmer, wrinkles appear smoother.  Bags and dark circles appear reduced.  The eye contour looks brighter, more defined and youthful."

Being 26, wrinkles thankfully aren't a concern!  I decided though that any product professing to work wonders on older skin should sort mine out though, right?  Fingers crossed - I just need to make sure I stick to using it this time!

PS.  Let me know if you want me to let you know how I get on with it, and I'll do a post when I've been using it for a week or so