Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream - Product Review

Have you ever picked up a pot of Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream? If you have, did you notice the writing on "Greenland First Ascent" and wonder what the story was behind it?

Kiehls Ultra Facial Cream* available here 

"Kiehl's chemists are known industry-wide to go the extra mile by "tortute-testing" their highly effective formulas in some of the most remote plaes on earth. To ensure it hydrates even the most parched skin, Keihl's has sent its Ultra Facial Cream to the uncharted peaks of Greenland, 282 feet below sea level in Death Valley, 13,000 vertical feet to The Mount Whitney Portal - and this year, across the frozen sea ice of the North Pole.

"Most skincare products claiming 24-hour hydration are never exposed to real environmental elements to prove their all-day endurance. To test the performance of Ultra Facial Cream, Kiehl's partnered with adventure explorer and polar guide Doug Stoup, on his recent expedition to the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean. Amid waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice, The North pole has some of the harshest conditions in the world with temperatures reaching as low as -43 degrees C.

In his own words, Doug has said "I feel it really improves my skin from drying and chapping... I depend on it to provide all day continuous hydration."

So how does this iconic cream measure up to the claims?

This thick white cream looks and feels rich in texture and consistency before you've even put it anywhere near your face. As rich as it is, it's also suprising light, almost whipped, and not at all greasy. Once spread over your skin, this instantly leaves skin feeling super soft and comfortable. This feels so light on the skin, without any residue or greasiness, and it's also fragrance free. Light enough to be used under make up in the day, it can be used day and night.

The Verdict

A great all round moisturiser for men and women, that can be used day or night for instant comfort and hydration. For normal skins, especially in the winter months, that don't require additional benefits such as blemish or redness control. At £24 for this 50ml tub, the product does a great job of hydrating skin and lasts a pretty long time too.

*PR sample

Bullring Birmingham's Spring Fashion Fix

With Birmingham bloggers Emily of Emily Jayne Image and Sara of Pretty in Pink. Image courtesy of Sara Pretty in Pink. 

On Thursday 17th April, Bullring Birmingham hosted Spring Fashion Fix, a four-step trend, style, colour, and beauty fix to get you fixed up and ready for Spring Summer 2014.

With fashion shows, makeovers, manicures, colour consultations and blow dries available from 12-8pm, as well as a host of offers, you could easily spend the day there.

First up, I headed to Trend Fix to watch Bullring's take on the new season trends headed down the runway. Rather than the usual walk down the catwalk and behind-the-scenes outfit changes, the models showed us how versatile the items were by changing on the catwalk from one look to the next. Genius.

 

The key trends for this season are: Pretty Things, Sports Luxe, Going Global, Monochrome and Colour Palette.

The best thing about this fashion show? All of the clothes and accessories shown are available right here in Bullring Birmingham.

Next up, I was treated to a makeover courtesy of Urban Decay. The lovely Kiran started off by prepping my skin with Brightening and Tightening Complexion Primer Potion before buffing in Naked Skin Liquid Foundation in shade 2 with the Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush and applying a touch of 24/7 Concealer Pencil in NSA where needed. A touch of blusher in the fabulously named Fetish and the base was ready!

Next, I was treated to a smoky eye makeover using the Naked Palette. Can you believe I've never tried this?! I was so excited, and after going through the differences between the three, we went for the original palette for my olive skin. Prepping with Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Sin, a completely nude colour, we went in for my favourite colours on here were Sin, Sidecar and Toasted, as well as Creep for definition, which I'm pretty sure are everyone's favourites! With the addition of some serious Super Saturated Ultra Intense Cream Eyeliner, 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil for the waterline, the Arab Eye transformation was complete.

Finishing off with Naked Ultra Nourishing Lip Gloss in Naked and All Nighter Setting Spray, here's the finished look.

After the makeover, I was treated to a fabulous manicure courtesy of Nails By Rosie. If you haven't already heard of her, she's something of a legend in Birmingham and beyond and I've been admiring her work on Instagram. Rosie created 10 fabulous nail art designs using Topshop, Claire's and Urban Decay polishes especially for the event and I picked the blue and rose pattern design to co-ordinate with the Pretty Things trend. It was great to finally meet Rosie and I did manage to squeeze in a few questions for her! Top tips from Rosie: do what you love and don't be afraid to take a risk!

Last but not least was a Colour Me Beautiful Colour Consultation from the wonderful Emily. At last, I was able to see Emily in action as she showed me what colours to wear based on my colouring. I'm so guilty of wearing black and lots of it, but Emily introduced me to some beautiful jewel colours for my Deep skintone, and I'll definitely be looking to her Pinterest board for inspiration.

Trying not to smudge my nails!

Image courtesy of Sara Pretty in Pink. 

Just as I was about to head home, I bumped into Sara from Pretty in Pink. After a few silly shots on the podium, we headed to The Balcony in Selfridges for a quick drink and long overdue catch up.

Huge thanks are due to the Bullring team for organising Spring Fashion Fix, inviting me along and for the treats! Posts to follow on the Hotel Chocolat, Urban Decay and Kiehls products...

And P.S - don't forget to follow me on Instagram

Spring Fashion Fix at Bullring Birmingham

I can't wait for thursday. Want to know why? Because I'll be going to Bullring's Spring Fashion Fix!

Bullring is celebrating spring and fixing up our wardrobes, hair and nails with this fabulous event on Thursday 17th April.

I'm super excited to see Emily Jayne and finally have my colours done!

Here's a snippet of what to expect:

The Spring Fashion Fix arrives at Bullring on Thursday 17th April between 12pm and 8pm.

Get the four step Spring Fashion Fix:

Style Fix: Monochrome, pastels and brights are set to be huge trends for the season; get style tips and advice from our fashion expert at the Style Fix workshops. Book your seat here.
Beauty Fix: Some of your favourite beauty brands from around the centre will be offering complimentary pampering treats throughout the day at the Beauty Fix pods.
Colour Fix: Book one-to-one colour consultations with our colour consultant or book your seat at one of our Colour Fix Presentations.
Trend Fix: See some of SS14's most-talked about trends brought to life with the Trend Fix installations, which will include looks from Selfridges.

Nails By Rosie will be using polishes from Topshop, Claires and Urban Decay to create amazing nail art, inspired by the SS14 trends. Book your complimentary appointment here.

Umberto Giannini will be on hand with a dry bar service offering fabulous hair-ups and blow-dry looks. Book your complimentary appointment here.

Enjoy treats from your favourite shops and restaurants with bespoke offers and activity for the day, find out what colours work best for you with one-to-one colour consultations, get expert advice on how to wear the new season's trends, and enjoy fabulous beauty pampering treats too.

There's a whole host of discounts and goodies to be enjoyed on the day so if you've got your eye on a gorgeous top, eyeshadow or pair of shoes, don't miss it!

For more details or to see the full list of offers click here.

See you there!

An Oasis Outfit with a touch of Kim K

It's been a while since I did an outfit post so sorry this is long overdue! Here's a really simple outfit I styled from Oasis that I wore for a meal and drinks out with the girls.

Blue shirt // Oasis // Black leather effect skirt // Oasis // Black kitten heel pointed courts // Marks and Spencer // Gold lion chain necklace // New Look 

Apologies for the lack of accessory close ups and weird lighting but we were running late as it was so this is all we managed to get before the obligatory 'where are you?' text...

As it happens, the clothes are all from Oasis, the shoes are from Marks and Spencer and necklace is New Look. Shame you can't see the necklace as it's a chunky gold chain with lion discs!

The whole outfit feels a little Kim Kardashian to me, mainly due to the tight leather effect pencil skirt, but I love it with this loose blue blouse and think it would look equally great styled down with a casual jumper.

Payday Beauty Treats ft L'Occitane Clarisonic and Laura Mercier

Super quick post for you guys to show you what I got after payday! It was all thoroughly essential and I can't help but love these (high end) products. Oops. However, I did get to use the £5 off voucher from House of Fraser which made these a little bit more affordable

L'Occitane Jasmin and Bergamote fragrance, Laura Mercier Creme Silk Foundation, Clarisonic Delicate Brush Head Duo

Clarisonic Brush Heads - Delicate

A little bit of a dilemma here, I usually use the Sensitive brush heads but House of Fraser doesn't sell the double packs so I settled for these instead. Has anyone used both the Sensitive and Delicate heads? is there much difference?

L'Occitane Jasmin and Bergamote Fragrance

I tried this out at the L'Occitane bloggers event last year and have been lusting after it ever since. At £49 it is a little pricey but I'm all out of everyday fragrance so this will definitely be used!

Laura Mercier Creme Silk Foundation - Beige Ivory

My current favourite foundation, this is my second tube and I'm still in love. Delivering all the coverage of Double Wear with a far more natural finish, this is great for covering redness and imperfections. I use this everyday without fail and the colour match is spot on. I'll continue to wear this until summer when I might have to switch to something lighter.