Showing posts with label Serum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Serum. Show all posts

Sunday, August 23, 2015

FIT Skincare Moisturising Ultra Serum

Beautykinguk, looking a state so you don't have to......

So it came to pass, I was offered the chance to try out FIT Moisturising Ultra Serum, a rather expensive moisturising cream type thing in an attempt to get this old face of mine looking as good as possible. I’ve had it for some time but waited until I had the chance to give it a try on my recent break to Suffolk (after all what better place to try it than the seaside).



At £50 for a 30ml tube saying that its expensive in my view is an understatement, but hell, I find everything expensive these days (I'm firmly putting this down to my northern roots and our rep for being tight fisted but also the fact I'm getting on a bit).

With this is mind I expected miracles from this serum, and after having a good read of the marketing blurb waited a few days where I applied nothing to my face to get it prepped for one heck of a testing. By the time I used this I looked awful around the eyes and after squinting in the nice Suffolk sunshine the lines around my eyes and forehead were looking tasty - when I say tasty, what I actually mean is deep.




This is what they say about the serum over at the FIT Skincare website here: 

'Moisturising ultra serum intensely hydrates, repairs, protects & refreshes skin. Packed with premium performance active ingredients, vitamins and utilising OXY-FIT-10 technology it recharges & stimulates the skins natural repair mechanisms. Non greasy and lightweight the ultra serums molecules are quickly absorbed deep into the skin to act faster and work for longer.'

So, what does this actually having going for it? Well, the serum has a thick consistency and despite this it is absorbed into the skin really quickly. At first it looked like it would leave a greasy residue on the surface but this actually dried out within minutes of application. 

First of all let me explain something about my eyes - they often look swollen (thank you Richard Padgett for smashing with full force a cricket bat into my face when I was aged seven - oh dear god that was thirty years ago!) and have really dark bags. If you follow through the images you can see the effect that the serum has had and I admit it, even with the hefty price tag I was blown away with the results, particularly on the fine lines and deeper numbers - this knocked years off me (and for this I am truly thankful). 

In the words of Rod Stewart, ‘every picture tells a story’ (it was his third studio album released in 1971) so rather than endlessly describe the process this is what the serum did for me, so prepare yourself for images of face, and my eyes…..Taken before application, twenty minutes after and a couple of hours later. 



My skin feels and looks plumper and hydrated, fears of an oily or greasy residue were unfounded and after three days of using this in the morning my the swelling around my eyes wasn’t as bad (the usual recoil I suffer with that first look in the mirror in the morning stopped).

Yes this is a bit on the steep side but for results it knocks the socks off the Clarins Eye Serum and seems to last for ages. That 30ml tube will last for months if used sparingly and that is all you need - a little goes a long way and it isn’t something that actually needs to be used on a daily basis, instead it compliments my already huge and extensive grooming routine.

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Sunday, May 24, 2015

Xanthe Men Post Shave Serum

Today I will be giving my considered thoughts on Xanthe Men Post Shave Serum, a balm like product that claims to be a soothing and calming light hydrating serum for use after shaving. 



Products like this used to be a godsend after I had been hacking away at my face with a razor. In fact, my shaving ability has been so bad over the years that at times my face has looked like I had been slapped after shaving by Freddy Krueger (from Nightmare on Elm Street). If I wasn’t feeling faint from blood loss (I’m overplaying it a touch, but not much) I would suffer with irritation, blotchy face and razor burn (not a great feeling if I‘m perfectly honest).

While I have found some amazing products, when I was asked if I wanted to try Xanthe Men it was a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained. Now I have been using this on and off for well over a month after shaving off varying lengths of stubble and in two cases, a full grown beard I think I'm in a position to give a reasoned and balanced opinion of the product. 

Paraben and alcohol free, Xanthe Men is a skin soother and hydrator to help protect from free radicals (aren't they an American jazz band?!?) and UV damage, replenish lost vitamins and minerals while calming irritation. Suitable for all skin types it doesn’t contain any artificial fragrances or colouring and best of all, it isn’t tested on animals. 



All things being considered, I expected a rather bland product where my ultimate recommendation would be based solely on the results after using. 

I’m not sure what I expected when I took it from the packaging, it certainly wasn’t the heavy canister I was presented with. It had much more weight than I expected from a 30ml canister but actually it felt really solid in my hand and you can’t criticise the packaging for not being hard wearing - I immediately dropped it onto my tiled bathroom floor. Thankfully it didn’t smash, in fact it didn’t even crack the outer shell of the canister (phew, in the heart stopping moments as it fell I had visions of canister shrapnel embedding itself in my bare feet.





Despite being free of any artificial fragrance it does actually smell really good - it is a subtle fragrance as you would expect from a hydrator/post shave serum and the only fragrance I could detect was an incredibly light Aloe (I love Aloe). 

So, on the fragrance front it’s a thumbs up, but does it soothe and hydrate? Well yes, yes it does, and it does it in a no fuss way. The serum is absorbed quickly, the irritation I had around my jaw line after shaving when first using this was soothed and cooled - in fact, as you leave the serum to soak in I could feel my face cooling down after around two to three minutes. 

After using it during the recent hot spell in London I can hand on heart confirm that it does keep your face hydrated. After one particular long day in the sun and travelling on public transport in epic temperatures my face feel rather dry and tired. Layer after layer of this was applied to my face and soaked in instantly - after three applications my face looked hydrated, thos pesky dry patches that can break out on my face around my hair line were banished and overall, I have to say my skin felt smooth and soft to the touch. Result!

This isn’t just for after shaving in my opinion, it makes a bloody good hydrator for the face and after I had suffered a mild reaction to applying too much ginseng laced products to my face this cleared up the ensuing dry patches around my forehead. For me, the fact that it was soothing after shaving and doubled as a regular moisturiser really impressed me.

At around £20 for a 30ml canister of the post shave serum this doesn’t by any stretch of the imagination fall into a budget category but for the price and considering the results I think it is the bees knees. Cracking stuff that does what it says on the tin with no fuss and few frills.

Go on guys, give it a try. 

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