Aldi Lacura Caviar Illumination Day/Night Cream and Intensive Treatment Review

Aldi have some new products out in their Lacura range and I was sent this gift set to review for them. I have broken it down into each product as you can buy them all separately (which I will be doing from now on!)

Although they recommend 40 – 60 age group, in my opinion the products are suitable for all skin types and those with dry, sensitive or dehydrated skins would benefit especially from using these due to the main hydrating ingredient being Glycerin. The marketing statements below are very generalised and it would be nice to know more about their star ingredient Snow Algae and the other great ingredients, but after doing some research I found the Aldi website very informative and would advise you to take a look if you wanted to know more.  If you want to then click here.

Packaging

The packaging screams quality. If I didn’t know it was from Aldi I would never have guessed. The silver and blue reminds me very much of Elizabeth Arden or La Prairie. The sliver box is well structured and I like how on the inside of the packaging it tells you what each product is. The ingredients are well labelled and there is some information about each of the products on the back of the box. I’m so pleased to see a full ingredients list on the box, but it would be nice to have them listed on the website as like most people I know, I bin the box almost immediately when I buy a product and sometimes it’s nice to know that they are listed elsewhere should you need to find them again!

The items themselves are in foil sealed lidded glass jars. The silver glass jar is the day cream and the blue glass jar is the night cream and the treatments are in small glass vials. They look expensive and well thought out to be eye catching. I wouldn’t mind having these jars on show on my dressing table!

Caviar Illumination Day Cream SPF15 50ml

Let me just start in saying that I love this Day Cream. I am already in love with the Lacura Q10 Day Cream, but after trialling the Illumination cream this has beaten the Q10 for the top spot. The Jar is just beautiful to look at and looks very high end. Although jars aren’t very hygienic in terms of having to dip your fingers each time, maybe Aldi will look at adding a little spatula into the set to make this much more hygienic. The cream itself is lovely and soft to apply and has a very clean smell. It reminds me very much of the Nivia Crème in its smell and consistency. The SPF 15 is a nice touch and after trialling it with a camera, it didn’t leave a dreaded ghost face on photographs. Brilliant!

Marketing Info –

LACURA® Caviar Illumination Day Cream SPF15 offers the ideal anti-aging protection for day time. Light in texture it can be worn under make up to help rehydrate and protect skin from external environmental influences. In conjunction with caviar extract it contains the revolutionary snow algae extract which stimulates collagen synthesis, effectively counteracting the skin aging process and therefore the visible signs of aging.

Recommended age group: 40-60

Additional anti-wrinkle caring benefits include hyaluronic acid and an anti-aging active complex to pamper and intensely moisturise your skin as well as SPF 15 UVA/UVB for protection against the sun’s damaging rays

Ingredients

As stated above the main hydrating ingredient is glycerin, which is fab for dry, dehydrated and sensitive skins. Other good ingredients are the caviar extract and also sodium hyaluronate (hyaluronic acid) which has the ability to help hydrating ingredients penetrate further. Some iffy ingredients would be the citric acid, fragrance, cetyl alcohol and linalool which can be irritants, but they feature very low down on the ingredients list and this product isn’t for you if you are against parabens.

Overall the ingredients show that the product is very hydrating which makes is a superstar in my book. There are no cheap hidden nasties such a mineral oil.

Caviar Illumination night cream

This night cream as with the day cream is lovely and soft and non-greasy on the skin. It too also has the smell and texture of Niva crème, but with much better ingredients. I’ve found with continuous use in my usual routine that my skin tone looks more even and more hydrated and I’ve found that during the day my makeup sits better on my face.  

Marketing Info:

LACURA® Caviar Illumination Night Cream offers deep skin hydration whilst you sleep. Its rich texture ensures intensive regeneration of the skin to improve suppleness and prepares the skin to help fight daily environmental influences. In conjunction with caviar extract it contains the revolutionary snow algae extract which stimulates collagen synthesis, effectively counteracting the skin aging process and therefore the visible signs of aging.

Recommended age group: 40-60

Additional caring benefits include hyaluronic acid to help increase moisturisation and prevent water loss as well provitamin B5 to help soothe and repair damaged skin. Your skin looks recovered and relaxed in the morning.

Ingredients

As with the day cream the main hydrating ingredient is glycerin. It also contains mostly the same ingredients as the day cream minus the SPF as it’s not required in a night cream, but it does have a few more hydrating and nourishing ingredients such as coco-caprylate and simmondsia seed oil. An iffy ingredient is the Hydronated palm glycerides. Sometimes this can come from an unsustainable source and can be quite controversial. It’s used as it can be a good antioxidant component and contains a lot of fatty acids, but it would be nice if Aldi would pop onto their packaging that’s it’s derived from a sustainable source (which I know it probably has!).

Day/ Night Intensive Treatments

These are just taster samples. If you bought these separately from the gift box, they come in a 7 day treatment pack. The vials are quite substantial and I found them fab to massage into my skin. I used these in my “serum stage” of my routine and I applied the appropriate day/night cream afterwards. They don’t particularly smell very nice, but that’s because they don’t contain any fragrance which is great. In my opinion all the best oils and serums smell horrendous! it did take a while to sink in but when I applied the cream on top it did help it along, although I don’t think I would use the day treatment on my makeup days as my makeup sat awful on top of this, but on my days off I will definitely use this! The vial packaging is actually very useful as sometimes you never know if you’re applying the right amount, but with this it’s just one vial each time. Perfect! This is a lovely serum option and my skin did feel softer and more hydrated with use.

Marketing Info:

LACURA® Caviar Illumination Intensive Treatment is a highly concentrated skin care regime for day and night. It offers an ideal solution when skin has been put under additional stress and extra care is needed. With every ampoule, skin is lavished with high concentration of anti-aging ingredients including caviar extract and the revolutionary snow algae extract that stimulates collagen synthesis, thereby counteracting the aging process of the skin, helping to reduce the visible signs of aging. In addition, a dual-effect complex consisting of an anti-aging peptide and heart-leaved globe daisy protects the skin and stimulates the skin's own defence system. Your skin is left feeling refreshed and smoother.

Recommended age group: 40-60

Use day ampoule with provitamin B5 to combat external environments factors and night ampoule with duo hyaluronic complex to help keep skin moisturised throughout the night.

Ingredients

Each of the intensive vials has slightly different ingredients but from my untrained eye there doesn’t seem to be any nasties there. As with both the day and night creams the main active ingredients is glycerin. The caviar extract appears much higher on the lists that they do in the day and night creams, which although they don’t state it, makes me think they are in a higher quantities in these treatments.

Overall this would make a fab Christmas present. The expensive looking packaging and the good hydrating ingredients without the cheap filling agents all make these brilliant products that are suitable for all skin types. They also sell each of these products individually so this would make a great starter set to try everything out. Get yourselves down to Aldi quick before they sell out! Such great value for money!

Off to meet the Aldi Mamia team!

So today me and the family are off to Birmingham to see Aldi Mamia team and also meet the other Mamia Parent Panel members. So excited and can't wait! I'll share some lovely photos and tell you all what happened later today! 

So to let you know all about our day. Phew it was a busy one! We got to meet all the other families involved in the parent panel and got to meet all the Aldi Mamia team and we learned all of what they expected from us mummies. We got lunch and some goodies including a nappy cake which was fantastic! It was created by nappytastic. You can check them out here http://www.nappytastic.com/ it was beautiful and very sturdily put together. It contained nappies of different sizes, wipes and baby food all wrapped up in ribbons and netting. It would be ideal as a baby shower present and I wish I had gotten one when I was pregnant! 

We also got free tickets to the think tank museum and after we left the meeting. We had a good explore around and frans got really excited at all the moving displays. 

Overall I learnt about the full range of mamia products on offer including the baby food pouches which I didn't know about!! We excitedly got to take some home and frans absolutely loved them! 

Please do check them out, especially if your little ones love the Ella's kitchen range. The recipes are exactly the same but the price is roughly 50p cheaper!! Bargain!! I wonder if they are going to be on offer at their baby event this Thursday 17th September? 

Brilliant day was had by me and my family and I can't wait to see what we are reviewing next! 

Pampers baby dry size 4

So the lovely guys at supersavycircle asked me to review pampers baby dry in size 4. I will hold my hands up and state that I'm not a pampers fan and I absolutely love love love Aldi mamia nappies. 

My reasons for not being a pampers fan are mainly the price, but the fit of the newborn pampers was all wrong on my little bubby. He leaked all the time and to my nose I thought they smelt very chemically so when I was asked to review the baby dry I didn't hold my breath to like them.

So how did we get on with them? Well we actually love them! The fit still is a little iffy and I find pampers to be smaller fit than Aldi nappies but gosh they hold so much wee! I found them so much better than the normal pampers. The fit was a lot better and I didn't have to change frans during his night feed as I usually have to do with the Aldi ones and also the tabs on the sides are very stretchy and give a better hold when frans wriggles in his sleep. The nappy when full  doesn't feel wet but more like the wee had been absorbed and locked away. 

The price is still a stickler for me. But there seems to be a lot of offers around In the supermarkets at the moment and although they do seem excessively priced against other packs of nappies I will be purchasing again but just for nighttime. If you find your little one leaks during the nighttime the. I would highly recommend you take a look at these. 

The taboo that is talking about Miscarriage

so I thought I would write my account of my miscarriage to help anyone searching for information or what to expect when you are told it’s a threatened miscarriage as I know I searched and although I found lots of clinical and factual information I found very little personal stories and accounts to help me during an uncertain time so here is my story. If you are reading this and going through a miscarriage then I’m so sorry. This is something truly horrible.

On Saturday 22nd August I started bleeding. I was 8 Weeks pregnant. We were out and it was just spotting and I felt fine so I wasn’t worried. I popped in a sanitary liner and carried on. On Sunday morning I woke and felt like a bus had hit me. My body ached. I had period pains and I felt weak like I had the flu. I went to the toilet and the bleeding had gotten heavier to a light flow but it was bright red. I took some paracetamol and tried not to do too much that day. The hubby looked after our 7 month old baby most of the day. At around midday the bleeding continued so I called the maternity unit at Frimley Park Hospital. I was advised to call my GP. I called the GP, but as it was a Sunday I didn’t know if they had an emergency doctor on call. Well they didn’t and the answer phone message told me to call the NHS direct service which I did. The adviser told me that it sounded like a threatened miscarriage but as I hasn’t passed any clots and wasn’t in too much pain then it was just threatened and told me to rest and booked me in to see an emergency out of hours doctor that evening.

Sitting in the waiting room at the doctors was hell. I felt like I could almost feel the blood trickle out of me and I just didn’t know what to do or expect or how to feel. It didn’t help that the first thing the doctor said to me was "I’m not sure why they have booked you in to see me as there is nothing I can do". My heart broke then and I felt lost and it took all my effort not to cry. I explained to the doctor that I had my booking in appointment with the midwife in 2 days’ time and after feeling my stomach he advised me to wait until Tuesday to see my midwife and she will book in an early scan for me and in the meantime just to take paracetamol.

I can tell you that the next 4 days were the worst. The following 2 days were terrible. The bleeding stayed consistently light to moderate and I didn’t pass any clots but the period pains got worse. I felt so out of my depth and didn’t know whether to hope or not. As I walked into my booking appointment I just broke down at the smile on my midwife's face as she greeted me. It was the same midwife who was my midwife with my first baby and we had a really good relationship.

She requested an early scan there and then and they told her on the phone it was booked in for 2 day’s time. She did a pregnancy test and it was still positive and as I hadn’t passed any clots or soaked a pad she continued with the booking in and took all my details. She calmed me and explained the bleeding didn’t always mean a miscarriage and that it could be a number of things like a twin dying, my body stretching or just early unknown bleeding. I got my hopes up and I left the appointment feeling more positive then when I went in, but as the next 2 days passed and my hopes got desperate. I wanted it to be ok so bad and I felt guilty for not taking better care of my body and stopping exercising or not stopping myself having runny eggs that one time or the odd latte. The bleeding got heavier and I passed 2 small clots about the size of my little fingernail.

At the early scan I was grateful that the hospital didn’t make me wait in the main waiting room with all the pregnant ladies, but brought me round to a side waiting room. I was seen pretty much the moment I got in there and they explained they would prefer to do an internal scan rather than the one on top of my stomach. The scan seemed to last ages and I had asked my hubby to watch the monitor and if he saw anything that looked like a heartbeat to let me know instantly. When the room was silent and my hubby just kept glancing at me I knew it was going to be bad news. The sonographer explained that she couldn’t see anything that looked like a sac or a baby and that I was to wait in the next room where someone would come and talk to me.

The woman that arrived asked for a urine sample to do a pregnancy test and when that came back positive she explained that she would need to take blood samples that day and then again in another 2 day’s time. If the levels doubled I was pregnant, if they rose a little it was a sign of an ectopic pregnancy, but if they dropped then it would be a confirmed miscarriage. She gave me a few leaflets and asked if I had any questions. I had loads, but I didn’t feel able to ask them. It felt too cold and clinical and rushed if I am to be honest and as much as I love our NHS system I felt a little like it was a conveyor belt and that my feelings were last on the list to bother about. She gave me a blood form for 2 days’ time and told me where to go to have my bloods done that day.

Still at this point I felt uncertain. There still could be hope that it was not a confirmed miscarriage as crazy as that sounds. No one was being upfront with me and everything seemed wishy washy - all maybes and usually and nothing 100% certain. At home I just felt on hold. I was hurting and so sad, but I couldn’t tell anyone whether it was a confirmed miscarriage or not. It was 4 days later after I had my second round of bloods done that I could call the early pregnancy unit and have the blood results. The HCG had dropped and it was a confirmed miscarriage. I felt heartbroken, but strangely relieved that I finally had an answer to practically 2 weeks of uncertainty. At least at this point I could grieve.

I am still grieving and I have created a memory box for baby no2. It contains my pregnancy tests, booking in forms and the leaflets I received from the hospital as well as a letter I wrote to the baby. It has helped immensely. I am grateful to have had my hubby in this whole process. Although sometimes he hasn’t known what to say he has always held my hand and cuddled me when I have needed it and I know it has hit him as hard at it did me.

Of all the research I did I have found out myself that you don’t always pass an obvious clot that is your baby. The pain for me wasn’t unbearable but manageable. I didn’t bleed extremely heavy. I bled for 5days. The pregnancy symptoms didn’t disappear until I started bleeding.

So that’s my story. Writing this has been a therapy and has helped and I hope it helps you if you are going through this process. I can only offer virtual hugs and my thoughts are with you. Should you need to speak to someone then please do message me and I will help any way I can.

Im on the Aldi Parent Panel!!

woohoo!! I made it!!

Back in March in the wee early hours of the morning while feeding little Frans I stumbled across a application to be on the Aldi Parent Panel. I completed it in along with a review and then forgot all about it until I recieved a letter informing meIi had got through to the next round. Gobsmacked!

I completed a video review for them and bam I got onto the panel along with 9 other lovely people. so alongside my reviews of beauty and skincare you will also see some lovely Aldi reviews as I thought well you might be interested in some bargains and I'll always be honest and say whether they are worth buying. Ill update you along the way with what exciting things happen while on the panel and hopefully it might inspire you to also apply to be on the panel next year!!

Im sorry Ive been so quiet!!

well ladies,

I'm sorry I have been so quiet but I had a baby!! and boy has it been a busy time! life has just flown by since i had my little bundle of Joy but I'm back and I'll get right onto writing more reviews!! If there are any reviews you would like then please let me know!! In thre meantime enjoy a picture of the love of my life and a very tired mummy!!