Mybeautywaxstash

Tag: charcoal

  • Shea Moisture’s Bamboo Charcoal Balancing Shampoo & Conditioner

    Haircare can be a very personal thing. What works for one person isn’t always the best for another. One brand I’ve used many times in different forms has been Shea Moisture. My most recent purchase from this brand was their African Black Soap Bamboo Charcoal Deep Cleansing Shampoo & Conditioner. I bought this from Home Bargains for £3.89 each, both containing 384ml of product.

    Shea Moisture’s African Black Soap Bamboo Charcoal Deep Cleansing Shampoo & Conditioner
    Why did I buy this?

    The last shampoo and conditioner I was using was Shea Moisture’s Moringa & Avocado Power Greens. I loved it but ran out of the shampoo and couldn’t find an alternative at a good price. Shampoos from this brand cost around £11.00 on the high street, so I grabbed this duo without hesitating! The price, how well the range works for my whole family and needing help with a dry scalp (my son’s), meant these needed to be purchased.

    What are these products designed to do?

    Bamboo Charcoal Deep Cleansing Shampoo & Conditioner are designed to gently remove any build up on the scalp, clean the scalp and help with any dryness on this area. They also are supposed to help maintain a healthy and hydrated scalp alongside clean, more manageable and well conditioned hair.

    The look, consistency & fragrance

    The shampoo’s colour looks like a very very milky hot chocolate. It doesn’t look very appealing but not off putting either. Very liquid in consistency but silky smooth and shiny. The conditioner is similar in colour but more on the grey side rather than brown, with tiny black little specks visible in it. The consistency is totally different to the shampoo. The conditioner is much more thicker and has more hold to it. Fragrance wise, there’s a distinctive hint of tea tree to this range with a little sweetness to it.

    On the hair

    The shampoo lathered up surprisingly well on my hair even on the first wash, which isn’t the norm for me. I’m generous with my use of shampoo, but did find I didn’t need as much as usual for this to lather up and wash my hair effectively. It made my hair and scalp feel very clean but not squeaky clean, which is what I wanted.

    The conditioner made my hair feel ok. My hair already was in good condition after using the shampoo, so I thought this only added to that feeling just a little bit. It washed out easily. I did feel my hair could’ve felt more softer after the conditioner though and less tangled.

    My scalp was beautifully clean. I’m that person who can still have a little product or flaky scalp left after a wash usually, but there was nothing after using this duo. Both scalp and hair looked and felt clean with a hint of fragrance to it. I styled my hair straight after and felt this set made my hair more controlled and better behaved.

    Recommended?

    I love the shampoo in this set! The conditioner was ok but but getting my hair and scalp clean is important because of how I wear my hair. This did the job brilliantly! It smells great and totally unisex with that fresh and clean fragrance to it. Shampoo lathered up and cleaned scalp and hair without stripping it. And the conditioner did what a conditioner should do which is give the hair a mini treatment. Totally recommended and if you use this hair care range already, this is a great buy if you can get this in Home Bargains!

  • Garnier SkinActive’s Pure Charcoal Black Tissue Mask

    The recent heatwave in the UK KILLED ME! Just when I was ready to enjoy the start of the Autumn season the UK delivered blistering heat consistently hitting 27 and above degrees! Have I enjoyed it? No! And neither has my skin. Even though I walked around with a constantly wet face, I was worried about hydration and the general condition of my skin. Easiest and quickest thing for me to do was use a mask, so I dug out Garnier SkinActive’s Pure Charcoal Black Tissue Mask.

    Garnier SkinActive’s Pure Charcoal Black Tissue Mask
    Why did I use this?

    My skin feels all over the place at the moment. The heat made me spotty and a little oily and just looking and feeling a bit rubbish. So, a little quick fix pampering was needed. I wanted something hydrating, soothing and comforting on the skin and I hoped this would do the trick!

    What is this supposed to do?

    Garnier SkinActive’s Pure Charcoal Black Tissue Mask is designed to hydrate (contains hyaluronic acid), purify and unclog pores (black algae and charcoal).

    How to use

    Take out of sachet, unfold and place onto clean skin for 15 minutes. Ideally follow up with other skincare products from the Garnier range.

    How does it look?

    The material this is made out of is typical of sheet masks. Material like, quite thick but not rigid. Holes are cut out for the nose, eyes and mouth and this mask is black in colour.

    Fragrance

    This was quite a fresh scent, almost verging on masculine. I’m used to masks having a floral base to it scent wise, so this was different and welcomed. Neutral, fresh, almost mineral like. Very pleasant, not strong and not distracting.

    On the face

    Taking this mask out of it’s sachet it was saturated with solution so quite wet in feel and look. Garnier Skin Active’s Pure Charcoal Black Tissue Mask was very easy to place onto my face and needed very little positioning. It sat on well, no slipping and all the various holes were big enough to provide a comfortable wear.

    The first thing I noticed was how incredibly cooling this was on the face. 15 minutes felt like 5 seconds and I enjoyed this sensation on my skin a lot. The fragrance wasn’t particularly noticeable.

    Did I mention I felt like a bank robber wearing this? Couldn’t help having a good laugh at my appearance.

    After use

    When I took this off some of the solution was still on my face which I patted in. It didn’t look greasy but I could tell something was on it, but it soon disappeared. My skin looked and felt a little fresher and it did feel a little more hydrated. After an hour or so I felt my skin needed something else added to it to give it a little moisture top up so added a product from Glow to finish it off.

    Recmmended?

    Personally, I think it’s hard to get a skincare tissue mask wrong. All of them should be easy and comfortable to wear. They should hydrate and provide a pampering experience. This face mask does all of the above. Did it fix particular issues or concerns of mine e.g hyperpigmentation? Spots (caused by the heat in the UK)? No. That’s not what this is designed to do. But what it did do it did well. What I like about this mask is it’s readily available in supermarkets and various stores on the high street or online, so easy to purchase.

    At the moment, the cheapest I could find this mask was from ASDA for £2.33.

  • Skin Republic’s Bubble Purifying + Charcoal Sheet Mask

    I am no skincare expert, just a skincare lover. Whatever I buy I don’t expect miracles (although the occasional crossed fingers sometimes happen!), but I do want to see some improvements. Some over time, some a short term quick fix. And I find a quick fix product can be found with a face mask. Skin looks tired? Possibly dry? A need of TLC? A sheet mask can be very handy. Precisely the reason I grabbed Skin Republic’s Bubble Purifying + Charcoal Face Mask Sheet. I bought this as a set ages ago from Superdrug when half price but they can be bought individually there for £5.49.

    Skin Republic’s Bubble Purifying + Charcoal Face Mask Sheet

    Why did I go to use this?

    Honestly? My face has been a state! I know my skin and within the last week I’ve suffered from quite a few spots and uneven skin in general. This isn’t how it normally looks. One spot, maybe two, not a football team’s worth! Not too sure whether it’s because I introduced a new product to my skincare routine or just bad luck, stress, facial covering wearing etc. But not good! And my skin has looked a little lack lustre too which is another no no. I needed something easy and fast to use. This mask, and what it claimed to do, seemed perfect and worth a go.

    What is this mask supposed to do?

    Gently exfoliates, deep cleanses to provide a clearer, cleaner and more vibrant look to the skin.

    Packaging.

    Comes in rectangular shaped packet. Even though all tissue masks come in the same type of packaging where it’s in a flat packet and you rip the top off to get into it, this is an eye catching one. Silver and black in colour with hits of purple, and a picture of half a face on the front wearing the bubble mask. Not particularly keen on the image because it’s not a true image and photoshopped to an inch of it’s life.

    Application.

    To activate the mask you have to rub the unopened packet. Once opened and unfolded, place onto clean skin and leave on for 15-20 minutes. Take it off, rub in any left over bubbles into skin then rinse off with water. To get the best result, use once a week.

    In Use.

    I used this while having a bath, cleansed my face and gave this packet a good little rub. Once I opened it I could see the mask was black in colour but was slowly but surely being covered in foam. Taking it out of the packet, it was less black in colour as the foam was taking over. But the look of this is pretty much the same as other tissues masks. So expect holes for the eyes, nose and mouth. The thickness and quality of the actual mask was good, and it sat on my face comfortably.

    Now, this is where the fun began! This..mask..fizzed! I could feel it delicately fizzing over my skin, almost tickling it. It wasn’t uncomfortable, it was an unusual sensation and enjoyable! And as time went on this lightly covered foam got thicker, and I couldn’t even see the actual mask anymore!

    After 20 minutes had passed, I took the mask off and rubbed in the remainder of the foam on my face into my skin. It felt so creamy, almost like shaving foam and there was a good amount of it. Rinsing off was easy and then I used a warmed damp cloth to pop over my face. My skin felt refreshed and clean and I loved the experience from beginning to end!

    Nearly forgot…Fragrance.

    This mask was fragranced. Not heavily, but perfectly scented in a neutral and clean and fresh scent. Pleasant, helped with relaxation and not heady at all!

    Skin Afterwards.

    I didn’t see a dramatic or a massive change after I used this but it felt good, felt and looked clean and that’s what I had hoped for straight away. Not dry, not irritated, no issues. Did my skin look fresher immediately? I would say a little yes. Enough for me to feel that my slightly textured skin looked less textured.

    The Morning After The Night Before.

    My skin looked better in the morning than after application. Although I was exceptionally tired, my skin didn’t look it. Still retained that fresh and clean look, and was less lifeless. I was actually quite impressed!

    Recommended?

    I remember sitting in the bath with this on my face thinking how I would buy this purely for the experience! I LOVED using this! It was something different, interesting and I really enjoyed it. And personally that’s what I want from skincare, I want to enjoy using products AND get some form of results. Results wise my skin looked a touch tweaked, less rough with a little more life in it after one use. The following day it looked tweaked even more. So recommended? Totally! I couldn’t use this once a week as suggested but once a month more likely, only due to cost and nothing more.

    After doing a quick search, the best price I could find for this was £3.84 (30%off currently) at Look Fantastic here. Worth the price if you are looking for your instant facial fix with a touch of fun thrown in!