Bronze Goddess - A High Street Dupe

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As soon as the sun starts to show it's face I reach for Estee Lauders Bronze Goddess as my 'summer scent'.  Yes it's cliched and I tried to resist jumping on the bandwagon but when I finally gave in two years ago and tried it for myself I was sold and now it makes smile whenever I wear it and reminds me and my friends of fabulous holidays over the years.

Being a Summer scent it's lighter than what I usually reach for but that doesn't make the scent any less powerful and I find even as a smoker it doesn't get lost. Only the other day someone commented on how nice I smelt and it was Bronze Goddess I was wearing.

I've mentioned Bronze Goddess on my blog many times and my usual gripe is that despite over the years them expanding the Bronze Goddess range to feature many products with the familiar scent (currently I have my eye on the Cooling Body Gelee when I head to Dubai in September) they do not have a travel version. It baffles me. A Summer scent that doesn't come in a bottle that will slide easily into even on of those crappy plastic bags you can pick up at the airport before going through security. I even purchase my favoured Chanel Mademoiselle in it's travel version as whilst not as pretty on the dressing table for travel or simply throwing into my handbag it's the practical choice.

It was Zoe who alerted me to the Next dupe, Summer Sun, available and whilst I'm reluctant to buy things simply to blog about or indeed felt the need to purchase a fragrance dupe, especially when I've just opened a brand new bottle, my interest was peaked when I saw they had a travel version for £4 - worth a try surely?

I popped into my local branch of Next and was amazed and how alike it's 'inspiration' it was and did indeed purchase the travel version. This now sits in my handbag and allows me to top up my higher end scent should I wish - even better it's not a rollerball but a spray which I prefer.

There is a whole Summer Sun range of this Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess dupe and I'm even keen to dabble in the gift sets featuring body lotion, hand cream and most tempting the body oil and mist. Whilst I can appreciate the luxury and long lasting scent from Estee Lauder for the aforementioned products I could buy them all for less than their higher end counterparts.

Whatever your feeling on dupes sometimes a more affordable version of the accompanying items can be welcome to layer your fragrance without breaking the bank. In fact it was Next Summer Sun I showed a friend only yesterday and she's subsequently gone out and purchased Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess and like me, Next Summer in it's travel size for her handbag.

Do you have a favourite scent you reach for in the Summer?

Aldi Candles | A Jo Malone Dupe?

It's quite likely if our paths have crossed recently that you would have heard me wax lyrical about the joys of Aldi and indeed noticed a smattering of Aldi products starting to appear on these pages.

Whilst my Aldi love is in full force in recent months I was only dabbling at the beginning of the year and as such the realise of the candles being hailed in the press as dupes for Jo Malone had escaped. Luckily for me Aldi heard pleas from their customers and have now made them part of their standard range so I was able to pick them up for myself to try and see if indeed they were worthy of their dupe status.

On first impression you can't argue where their 'inspiration' has come from and indeed the fragrances are matched with Jo Malone offerings. Of course the biggest difference is the price tag. I've never treated myself to a Jo Malone candle - I'm prone to burning money at whim but the price of Jo Malone candles makes even me bulk. At just £3.99 I was happy to experiment with Aldi's offering.

I picked up each of the scents, Lime Basil and Mandarin, Blackberry Bay and Pomegranate Noir and started with the latter being my favourite scent from Jo Malone. On initial sniff the candle did indeed have that familiar scent but it wasn't as strong as I'd expected. When I use just a capful of the Pomegranate Noir Bath Oil my whole flat literally fills with the scent like no other product I've used before so I expected, even if not as strong it would still have some power behind it.

I lit the candle and nothing and I was disappointed. I belong to an Aldi group on Facebook and as with anything of it's type opinions were divided between those stating the candles had no scent, certainly in comparison to the first release which created such hype (and inflated prices on eBay) and others stating how fabulous they were. As I say for me there was nothing.

Now I am a smoker so I appreciate that any scented candle is fighting with cigarette smoke so I thought it could indeed be my 'testing conditions' but having conversations with friends and family who also tried them out they too fell the same.

I even added a dash of my Jo Malone Shower Gel to the wax to add a little punch and it did help but defeats the object somewhat.

I have since burnt the additional two scents and they were perhaps 'even worse' than Pomegranate Noir as I can smell nothing as they burn which is a shame. Even last week I saw someone shopping in Aldi with a friend, picking up a candle and declaring 'you need this in your life' so I presume she has a much better experience than I.

They have since released reed diffusers and in recent months I've had more positive effects from them in my home so I'm looking forward to trying those and hopefully finding a much better result but I will keep you posted.

Scent qualities aside as a candle they really to burn cleanly so it's just a shame they let down on scent. I will make do with stocking up on Bath and Bodyworks Mahogany Teakwood candles when I'm in the US next month - now that is a strong candle that works a treat for me.

Have you tried the Aldi candles? I'd love to hear if you had better success than I did.

New In Skincare | June 2017

Call me a bad beauty blogger but despite my new found love for ALDI and recently discovering their eye cream I had not heard the hype around Lacura Hot Cloth Cleanser which is being touted as a Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish dupe.

Luckily on my recent weekly shop I saw it on the shelves and for £3.99 it was mine; so first up it's significantly cheaper than Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish and I already consider that to be not too badly priced compared to other brands.

You'll find the packaging and many other similarities to Liz Earle from the colour palette to it's inclusion of a muslin cloth. Designed for 'all skin types' the Lacura Hot Cleanser states it 'gently cleanses and exfoliates to leave skin feeling soft and smooth' and with ingredients almost identical is 'skincare with cocoa butter and eucalyptus oil and extracts of chamomile, rosemary and white tea'.

I have to say I'd be hard pushed to identify which is which in a blind test and I'm thinking if there are any more left when I do my next food shop I need to stock up.

Other products I've been adding to my skincare regime in recent months include other high street offerings; B. Lifted Contouring Cream* and Optimum PhytoFreeze Ice Wine Eye Cream* both available from Superdrug.

I'm somewhat bemused by the name of the B. Lifted Contouring Cream*, contouring is so heavily focused on make up it was strange to see it as the name of a skincare product but it's premise is that it is 'like a yoga work out for your skin' as it delivers an instant tightening effect.

I can't say whether it's my contouring cream or dabbles with contouring of the cosmetic kind but I do feel like my face is perhaps looking 'slimmer' but that could be placebo in effect but I'm not finding any more lines on my face and don't find those I do have are any more evident.

Word of warning that is a strong scent I find from B. Lifted Contouring Cream* that may irritate or offend some. There is no smell from Optimum PhytoFreeze Ice Wine Eye Cream* and anything that helps to tighten the fine lines around my eyes I'm a fan of which is thanks to an ingredient called Vin-upLift based on premium Swiss Ice Wine produced from naturally frozen ripe grapes - so am I taking my love of wine too far?

There is a familiar metal applicator, the type I'm generally not a fan of and whilst for me I don't believe it allows for easy distribution and application of the product it has a lovely cooling effect to wake me up in the morning and soothe hayfever eyes.

Interestingly I've actually forgot to apply concealer under my eyes on one or two occasions this week and I don't feel like I've missed it. Of course the dark circles do peek through but they're certainly not as bad as they have been and this is from someone only a month back into work and having to wake to an alarm.

I could list all the various ingredients and what they do but it's somewhat unnecessary as I can simply tell you that using this cream has certainly perked up my eye area, again I'm not suggesting my fine lines have disappeared but they are certainly less noticeable and I find that it's very hydrating even after a day sitting at a computer.

As the Summer makes it's appearance you will have seen my dabbles with fake tan but I have always steered away from facial tanning until Solait Gradual Facial Tan* arrived at my door. I have tried this on a couple of occasions and it definitely adds colour to the face and gives the 'sunkissed' appearance come morning but it's not something I'm a big fan of.

I found this really drying and of an evening I'm more interesting in applying my various oils and serums as part of my nightly regime than waking up with a tanned face. As it contains glycerin I thought I'd try using in the mornings by way of a primer and allowing the colour to come through during the day and it didn't work too badly but it's just not a step I'm interested in. As I say with applying so many other products I'm removing every bit I apply so it's a little bit of pointless exercise but it's worth having in my stash if I'm in desperate need of some colour in my face.

What skincare products have you found on the high street recently?

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