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Boots Essentials Cucumber Eye Make Up Remover Pads
by europe-chick
I do use a few items from the Boots essentials cucumber range occasionally, and I'm happy enough with most of the items that I've tried. One of the items in the range that doesn't really suit me though is the eye make up remover pads.
Like most of the items in the essentials cucumber range the eye make up remover pads are ... priced at just £1.50. You get a small tub containing 40 small moist circular pads. I do normally use liquid eye make up removers, but figured that I'd give these pads a go as they would be handy for travelling. I like that they're packaged in a little tub with a twist off lid, as this ensures that the pads will stay wet and moist until you've finished the tub.
The pads are quite small, and very, very thin. I would actually say that they're not 'wet' as such, I'd say that they have more of an oily and a greasy feel to them than a damp feel like a face wipe. I also don't think that they smell all that great, they certainly don't smell like the other products that I've tried in the cucumber range, I would say that they have quite a chemically fragrance to them.
As for removing eye make up, well I personally didn't think that these little pads were that great. They claim to remove waterproof mascara - which they didn't, and they also struggled with dark and heavy liners - they always left traces of my liner close to my lashes which then turned into panda eyes overnight. I found that I was using up to 4 pads at a time to try and remove heavy eye make up, making the little pads not so cheap and economical after all.
Another issue that I found is that the pads are far too oily and greasy, they left an oily and greasy film on my skin and they also seemed to irritate my eyes and my contact lenses. On the plus side though they didn't dry out the delicate skin around my eyes! I couldn't use these make up remover pads and then a face wipe, I always had to follow these up with my wash off cleanser to get rid of the oilyness and greasiness on my skin. They are easy enough to use and wipe over each eye, but they do slip and slide around in your fingers and over your skin a bit too much as they're so oily and greasy.
I haven't finished the little tub, I've got about a dozen pads left, and I will hold on to them for emergencies. I wouldn't buy another tub though.
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Boots Four Way Buffer
by thehonesttruth
After noticing in recent photos how awful my nails look, I've been making real attempts to look after them better, not only by filing them rather than biting them, but also by buffing them regularly, and giving them various treatments. The buffer that I regularly use is this Boots 4 way buffer, which costs £2 and is available, shockingly ... enough from Boots.
It's essentially a chunk of fairly firm foam with 4 different coloures (and differently textured) sides stuck to it, house in a small clear plastic bag which helps to keep it clean when stored in a make up bag. It does come with a very small instruction card, which might seem superflous to requirements given that the 4 sides are labelled with the order they should be used in, but it does actually include the information (not printed on the sides) of the motions you should make when using and which part of the nail it is for.
You start with the darkest grey side, labelled as number 1, Nail file. This is the roughest feeling side of the block, and is designed to be used only on the edges of the nail, not on the flat nail surface itself. To use this, simply from one side of the nail to the other, lift, return, and repeat until the nail edge is smooth and is the shape you want. Don't rub it back and forth over the nail - you'll only end up splitting the layers and making it look awful. I actually have another file that I prefer for this step, but in the interests of the review, I did try it out and it is adequate, it perhaps a little difficult to remember not to drag it back and forth.
Side number 2 (blue)is designed to smooth any ridges on the nails, and can be used all over the nail. This is actually a very fine file, and should be used in small circular motions. I actually do have one nail in particular that has a very defined ridge due to a childhood injury, and I do find this dramatically reduces it.
The third side is the white smoothing side, which is very very smooth indeed - you'd be hard pressed to notice any real texture, but the idea is that this can be used over any part of the nail, and will take care of any fine details that may have been missed with the first two sides. I have to say, I never notice much different between my nails from stage 2 to stage 3, but never mind!
The fourth and final stage, stage 4, is the shine stage, and this is where the magic happens. This side is again entirely smooth feeling , and just needs rubbing on the nails to bring up a natural shine. I'm always amazed watching this happen, going from dull just filed nails to nails that look cared for and well groomed. I like to add a drop of olive oil onto each nail at this stage as I really feel it helps increase and deepen the shine, and whilst the other steps shouldn't be repeated more than a couple of times a weak for fear of damaging or weakening the nails, this last surface can be used as often as desired to keep the shine.
I love this - the whole process from start to finish takes maybe 10 minutes, and leaves my nails looking as good as if I'd paid someone to look after them for me. I've also stopped biting them as much as they look too nice to damage - and all this for only £2, which is less than the cost of a bottle of nail varnish, which I would previously have used to cover up by biting shame. The full five stars!
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Boots No7 Stay Perfect Nail Varnish
by northernlovely
I must say I'd never actually used Boots nail polish at all before Christmas 2011 when I was given a till-spit (that's a voucher you get with your receipt, savings watchers!) in Boots for £5 off my next No7 purchase, no minimum spend. So I decided to add the princely sum of 50p to it and get a bottle of Boots No7 Stay Perfect Nail ... Varnish, which normally retails at £5.50.
The bottle is nice; tall, and thin, and with a glass base and tall black lid / handle for the brush applicator. The shade I went for is 'gunmetal', which though it sounds shimmery is a matte grey, an odd choice maybe for a nail polish but I prefer mattes for work, and I wear lots of grey in the office. Plus, Leighton Denny the nail expert on QVC did assure us all that 'grey is the new black' and 'concrete chic is in' before telling us all about a new colour, greige, which is apparently a cross between grey and beige... anyway, this is a nod to his advice and a practical colour for my office nail collection.
So, application. I can honestly say that Boots No7 Stay Perfect Nail Varnish is very easy to apply as the applicator brush is very good, long and elegant, like the handle, with the perfect amount of splay to allow for a nice, neat, two stroke application.
It being a heavily pigmented colour, the gunmetal needed two coats, but it took only 15 minutes per coat to be acceptably dry and probably an hour to be solidly dry. Once it was done I loved the look, full coverage, matte and very neat, you can tell Boots No7 Stay Perfect Nail Varnish is a quality nail polish.
In terms of lastability I suppose it does really depend on what you do. I spend all day typing in the office, and then in the evenings cooking, cleaning, changing nappies and generally bashing my manicure about! But that said, I can get three days out of Boots No7 Stay Perfect Nail Varnish, which for me is good, before I see any chips. It never peels, always chips. If you have a slightly less hectic nail life then you can probably eke it out to 5 days.
For 50p I am obviously very happy with it but for £5.50 I still think it's an excellent nail polish well worth the money, as it gives impressive results I'd only previously seen on higher end nail polishes like Nails Inc. The range of colours is quite 'safe', that said - no outlandish neons on offer - but it does have a good selection of wearable nail polishes for all occasions.
Removal of Boots No7 Stay Perfect Nail Varnish was very good, too, it removed cleanly and evenly with regular acetone free nail polish remover. Certainly it was easier to remove than other nail polishes I own, matte and gloss.
So, overall, I do of course recommend Boots No7 Stay Perfect Nail Varnish, and I've gone on since to buy others both for myself and as gifts (at Christmas they do miniature sets which are lovely). I can't criticise them at all for the money, design and quality of the nail polishes and will be sure to buy more. So I'll give Boots No7 Stay Perfect Nail Varnish 5 out of 5 because they do deserve it.
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