Beauty Favourites #4: From Female-Founded Brands

In this, the fourth instalment of my beauty favourites series, I am reviewing products from three female-founded companies: The Body Shop, Swiss Toniq and Liz Earle.

Body Shop Vitamin C Serum (gifted PR product)

*The Body Shop Glow Revealing Serum is a gorgeous, lightweight gel serum enriched with 10% natural origin vitamin C. It contains bakuchiol, a naturally derived ingredient known to have similar activity to retinol. The serum has a gorgeous scent and absorbs easily to leave a subtle glow on the skin. I’ve been using it now every morning for about three weeks and can see a slight difference already. I’m looking forward to seeing even more change with continued use.

I have aways had a soft spot for The Body Shop. The late Dame Anita Roddick was years ahead of the game with her sustainable ethos- she’s one of my heroes. As it happen, this glass bottle, made from recycled glass is fully recyclable.

Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic (gifted PR product)

Another hero of mine is Liz Earle. She has created a business empire based upon her passion for beautiful, effective skin care. I have used her Cleanse and Polish over the years and it remains one of my all-time favourite cleansers.

*The Instant Boost Skin Tonic is an alcohol-free toner which is gentle, soothing and non-drying. Instant Boost™ replenishes skin in preparation for the next step. It contains ingredients which have been expertly selected for their efficacy, including aloe vera to hydrate, calendula, chamomile and cucumber to soothe and vitamin E. This product smells absolutely divine. It contains an uplifting blend of pure essential oils, including rose-scented geranium, lavender and sweet orange.

It is a pleasure to use and because the fragrance is so gorgeous, it makes me stop and breathe it all in- perfect at the end of a busy day.

Award Winning Swiss Toniq Three-Step Regime (gifted PR product).

The woman behind Swiss Toniq is British born mother and professional show-jumper Fiona Pittaluga-Nicholls. In 2017 she broke her spine after a horse fall. She wanted to care for and heal her body so began collaborating with a renowned Swiss biochemist and organic cosmetics laboratory.

I’m always keen to try new beauty products and this three-step regime by *Swiss Toniq can be described as in innovative. Just three products contain everything the skin needs to repair, protect and regenerate.

Creamy Facial Cleanser Bar

“The Creamy Facial Cleanser Bar is a gentle, natural daily cleanser that dissolves makeup and leaves the skin feeling clean and refreshed without leaving it feeling dry or tight”.

I haven’t used a cleansing bar for decades. When I was about 15, I occasionally used to treat myself to a Clinique cleansing bar with the proceeds from my Saturday job. Then, I didn’t have the knowledge to realise that it was too harsh for my young skin. It was a cult product at the time and my older workmates swore by it so I thought it MUST be good for my skin, so I persevered with it. I’ve lived and learned. Since then, I’ve used a cream or oil cleanser which I remove with a cloth. I was therefore, a little apprehensive about using the Swiss Toniq cleansing bar.

Well, I needn’t have been because it is excellent. It removes makeup effortlessly, (I use Micellar water to remove eye make-up), and leaves my skin feeling soft. Nothing like the dry, tight feeling I used to experience after using the Clinique bar. I’m truly impressed with this product A little goes a long way- this is brilliant for the skin, he pocket and the environment.

Advanced Repair Serum

This product is the Winner of Best European Organic Anti-Aging Serum 2020. This multi-tasking product works as toner, serum, eye cream and moisturiser, so it is excellent for travel. It contains a cocktail of top quality ingredients to promote collagen, lift, tighten and moisturise. Ordinarily, I use a moisturiser on top of my serum so I was concerned that my face would feel tight- but it didn’t. It felt fully moisturised and very soft. It leaves a subtle glow too which is nice for make-up free days. On a superficial note- I love the bottle. It’s different and is aesthetically very pleasing

Moisturising Facial Polish Exfoliant

This facial scrub is designed for very dry, damaged and tired skin that is also sensitive. That’s my skin in a nutshell. It combines skin-pampering ingredients to gently remove dead skin and debris to gently polish the skin without scratching or irritation. The rich oils leave the skin feeling soft, smooth and glowing. It contains among other things, rosehip oil, tea tree oil and aloe vera leaf juice.

The exfoliating grains were harsher than I expected so I used a gentle hand when rubbing the product into my skin, but I couldn’t believe how soft my skin felt once I’d rinsed it. The high concentration of oils really does soften and moisturise the skin.

I am very impressed with these three Swiss Toniq skincare products, not least because they are vegan and organic too. It seems to me that Fiona knows exactly what women in our age group want and need for our skin.