Liz Earle Strengthening Nail Colour

Liz Earle already have a colour range and towards the end of last year added nail polish to their collection.

The collection started with 12 shades, grouped into three sets of four: classic nudes, bold brights and deep darks and I feel I can confidently say there will be at least one colour that you love. The bold brights aren’t particularly bold, especially if you are drawn to neon shades, but all the colours are muted and gentle, perfect for everyday wear.

The formulas are designed to be strengthening and are enriched with avocado and borage oils to  nourish the nail and give a glossy finish.

The formula is on the runny side, but the colour payoff is great and something I haven’t experienced with such a formula before. In a hurry one coat would be enough, but I always prefer to add a second. The finish is streak-free and glossy and the drying time is pretty quick too.

At the event I was matched to the shade Sandstorm at the nude colour that would suit my skin tone best, and it really does. It is such a beautiful everyday colour that will see me through all seasons.

I also chose to try Pink Perpetue from the bold brights collection. As you can tell for a “bold” shade it is pretty muted, but I like that it is what I consider an office and night out suitable shade.

The polish claims to last 12 days, but unfortunately that wasn’t my experience, without a top coat I managed around 2 days, but with a top coat I only started to noticed wear at the tips at day 4 and chipping on day 5. Although it is not 12 days that is still excellent wear in my opinion.

I have to admit, the colour range was something I largely ignored from Liz Earle since I was convinced it was only good for skincare, but I am really looking forward to trying some of the makeup collection now.

I am very impressed with the polish launches and, as I said before, I am sure there will be at least one colour for all. The range has since been extended to include some beautiful spring inspired shades. Each bottle costs £7.50, which for the formula and colour payoff is a price I would be willing to pay.

If you are interested in getting your own Liz Earle Strengthening Nail Colour is available now online and instore. You can also find Liz Earle stands in Boots and John Lewis stores.

Liz Earle Superskin Hand Serum

Considering that my hands are probably the most neglected body part after my feet, I was excited to hear that Liz Earle were extending the wonderful Superskin line to include a hand serum.

Yes, a serum, which I believe may be a first.

What makes a serum a serum is that all the ingredients are in a single phase, that is that they are dissolved in one another. So fun fact, Johnson and Johnson Baby Shampoo is actually a serum!

Liz Earle Superskin Concentrate

I spent this evening hearing all about the new offerings from Liz Earle (post to come) and was reminded how much I love the brand. If you ask me what one product you have to try you might be surprised to know that it's not Cleanse and Polish.

Excuse my packaging, as you can see it’s been loved!

As nice as it is there is a product that is an unsung hero in my opinion and that's Superskin Concentrate. Packed with Argan oil in the days before it became so popular, the concentrate also contains rosehip oil, neroli, lavender and chamomile essential oils and vitamin E.

I'm a huge fan of oils in general, and if you don't have one in your routine I highly recommend. SSC promises to soften dry or mature skin and balance combination or oily skin

My story with SSC goes like this...

At the height of my acne and scarring problem I was using lots of products aimed at oily skin that were drying out my skin and just making the problem worse.

I had a bottle of SSC from a set I purchased, from QVC of course, and for whatever reason I whipped out the little tube and slathered it all over my face and went to sleep.

The next morning my skin was soft, plump and glowing and my spots smaller and less red.

Since I use this as my bedtime treat and it is the only product that remains by my bedside. The smell is gorgeous, the blend of the oils results in a smoothing, calming scent that

At the event I learnt that the concentrate is actually very versatile, it can be added to moisturiser for a boost and cleanser too, used in the bath and under face masks.

The entire Superskin range is great, after the concentrate I would recommend the body cream, which is ideal now we are getting into the colder months because it is so hydrating. It has the same great smell as the concentrate and it soaks into the skin well without leaving a greasy feeling. It is a little on the pricy side for a body cream, £29.50 for 200ml, but you could just invest in the concentrate and add a few drops to your regular body cream for the boost.

The Superskin concentrate costs £40.50 for a 28ml bottle and £20 for the 10ml rollerball, which I own. Although the price seems high, I’ve had mine longer than I can remember and a little goes a long way so the value for money is there. What I love is that there is also a 2ml sample size available for £6 available from the Liz Earle website.

As always I would recommend heading to QVC for a real bargain with the prices. A lot of the time individual items are cheaper and sets have multiple products for the price of one.

Let me know what your unsung hero product is for Liz Earle or another brand. I would love to know what to try next!

Liz Earle series: Sheer skin tint

It has been a while since my last Liz Earle series post but I’m back with a review of the sheer skin tint, which I have been using on and off since my trip to Dubai back in March.

 Looking back I am not sure what I expected from this product. I hoped that on holiday it would provide a good alternative to foundation, evening out my skin tone without being too heavy and not melting in the heat.

Unfortunately while I Dubai my skin broke out quite badly. I suspect that it was the water because my hair wasn’t in the best condition either. Anyway, this meant that something with only sheer coverage just wasn’t going to cut it for covering up redness. The product naturally gives a dewy finish, which in the heat meant that I looked very shiny, nothing that a dusting of powder couldn’t fix, but being shiny and red isn’t a good look. Suffice to say, I wasn’t loving it and was glad that I made a last minute decision to include my mineral foundation!

After I returned to the UK and my skin calmed down I gave the product another shot, but it just didn’t deliver the “perfect way to enhance your skin”. It really is sheer (hence the lack of face photos), but that left me wondering, whats the point? Even away from the heat here, the product still looked to shiny rather than dewy.

I use shade beige (02), which is the closest match to my skin tone but not perfect. The consistency is slightly heavier than a moisturiser and there is no smell to the product. I have applied with my fingers and a foundation brush, but personally, I tend to over apply with fingers and like to buff the product in.

If you are looking for any sort of coverage, this isn’t the product to try. Equally, if you are looking for something to enhance your skin, I would recommend a tinted moisturiser or a BB cream, which in some cases are cheaper and have added benefits. I think this is only suitable for those with a next to flawless complexion and to them I would say, lucky you, skip the tint!

Liz Earle Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask

The intensive nourishing treatment mask by Liz Earle is something that has been a part of my skin care routine for years and a firm favourite.

There are a few reasons I love this mask.

1) It does what it says — it is a moisturising mask and therefore suits my dry skin perfectly.

2) It is easy to use — slap on a generous layer all over the skin leave for 10-15 minutes and wipe off the excess. It doesn’t dry and create clumps that are difficult to remove or stain my cloths so no mess and no fuss.

These are not the most attractive photos I know, but they do show how the mask works. After applying a generous layer all over a clean face and leaving for 15 minutes all the dry areas of skin — which in my case is all of it — soak up the mask. I then wipe away the residue using a muslin cloth, tone and moisturise.

3) You can use it as often as you like — this might not matter to anyone else, but I would use a facemask every day if I could, so the fact that this one can be used as often as needed means that if I just feel like a pamper session this is a good mask to choose.

Liz Earle series: cleanse, tone and moisturise

So where better to start in my Liz Earle series than with the skincare? I believe cleanse and polish was one of the first things developed, and if it wasn’t it is definitely the product she is known best for.

Cleanse and Polish

As I said in the last blog post I have been a user of Liz Earle, on and off, for about 10 years. When I decided I wanted to sort out the problems with my skin, cleanse and polish was one of the products I turned to because it is so simple to use as well as gentle.

I’m sure many of you are aware that cleanse and polish is a cream cleanser, which you apply to dry skin and wipe off using a damp muslin cloth. It has a delicate scent and is very good at removing makeup (including eye makeup) easily, not quite as good as my clarisonic but much better than a lot of wash cleansers — also, using the muslin cloth there is also a gentle exfoliating effect.

At the moment I have the cleanser in a tube but I prefer the pump bottle since I can control the amount of product I get out much more easily.

I’ve heard Liz Earle claim she doesn’t have blackheads as a result of using this cleanser and although I haven’t noticed anything quite as drastic as that, I know a combination of this and the superskin oil (review to come) really helped to control my breakouts and even out my skin tone.

Skin boosting tonic

The skin boosting tonic (toner) is one of those products in the collection, which I believe is hugely underrated. It smells beautiful, is really gentle and refreshing on the skin and I can be used in a number of ways.

I won’t take credit for these ideas since I heard them all watching Liz Earle on QVC, I use a spray bottle to spritz the tonic on my face, which is refreshing and hydrating on hot days and I have also used this to set my makeup — not sure how good it is at keeping my make up in place but it does give a nice finish! Finally I also use soak cotton pads with the tonic and place them over my eyes when I put on face masks and want to imitate a home spa experience.

Skin repair moisturiser

This is the weakest link in the collection in my opinion. Over the years I am pretty sure that the formulation has changed, the scent seems more subtle than I remember (which is a good thing).

I am using the normal/combination moisturiser at the moment (even though my skin is actually dry) and after 10 minutes I can still feel a very slight residue on my skin. I personally don’t mind this, but anyone with true combination skin might find this a bit heavy.

There is also a light moisturiser, for oily skin, and a dry skin moisturiser. There are also other moisturisers in her collection such as the superskin moisturiser (and oil), which I think are better.

I do think I have found a dupe to the cleanser and toner, which I will review soon! In the meantime I would love to know what you think and what products are your favourites.

Liz Earle and I – product series

I have been a user of Liz Earle since for about 10 years, my mother brought me a today’s special value from QVC and since then I have been hooked. To date I think I have tried almost everything she has to offer.

Two of her products really stand out for me in terms of how they helped me to deal with my skin, cleanse and polish and superskin concentrate. When I finally resolved to improve my skin, I switched from using acne-prone targeted products to using gentler, more natural products – one of which, was cleanse and polish — and I quickly noticed a huge difference in the condition of my skin, how much I would break out and a reduction in the scarring.

I wanted to start a series reviewing selections of her products. I have always brought the QVC special value sets, which has allowed me to restock on favourites as well as try out new products and I have a firm list of favourites.

Although I am big fan, two things stop me using her products exclusively. The first is the price, although I have heard Liz describe herself as "masstige" In my opinion her products hit the higher end of the scale, and this is partly the reason I always buy from QVC. The second is that I have tried to switch to more natural products but I am not sure how well Liz Earle products fit into this. I have read articles, which suggest that the products are marketed to appear natural but they are not actually so, but I need to do a bit more research into this before I make up my mind, or say any more on this blog for that matter!

Let me know if you are a fan of Liz Earle products, what your favourites are, and what are your misses. I am hoping that the series will help anyone who hasn’t tried her products yet or can’t decide what to try next.

Marie Claire, Inspire and Mentor Event with Liz Earle

When my Marie Claire email came through, advertising 3 events for anyone interested in getting into the world of fashion, beauty and business, I immediately signed up to the beauty event ‘How to get into Beauty with Liz Earle’. Having always wanted to be a dermatologist and being interested in science, skincare and beauty, as well as being a Liz Earle user intermittently, I was intrigued by it all, and went along somewhat unprepared. 

The ‘inspire and mentor’ programme aims to help women to achieve new heights in business, beauty, fashion, media and science. The option is available to apply for 4 hours of mentoring with one of the 17 women involved in the campaign this year. 

The event ran from 6.30-8, with an initial half hour reception, I wasn’t expecting this and walked in alone feeling very awkward! The room was filled mostly with women and very well dressed and made up at that! Luckily, I found two other women who were alone and ended up striking up a conversation with them about what they did for day jobs, as well as why they signed up to the event. 

I have always secretly thought about my own skin care product, similarly to Liz, it stems from wanting to make something that works for you, and then extending that so that other people can benefit too. If I didn’t have bad skin I don’t think I would have been quite as interested. Although I have nothing planned for the future, I wanted to hear about her background and get a better idea of what is involved, as well as finally see in the flesh this woman I always watched on QVC!

A little before 7pm, everyone migrated toward the meeting room, which was had an intimate and comfortable feel. Helen Russel, online editor of Marie Claire, led the interview, talking through Liz’s history and initial career, as well as how she and her partner set up Liz Earle and expanded it over the years. Liz was lovely, very calm and serene, I have to admit she does annoy me a little on QVC but I guess that is just the sales persona, but in person she truly is lovely and her skin is flawless and has as lovely glow, helped in part by Bobby Browns Shimmer Brick. 

I have to admit, her first words left me a little disheartened. She said something along the lines of always taking opportunities as and when they arise. As much as I believe that, in terms of going after your dreams or trying to build a business as she has, I would like to think I could rely on a little more than luck and good connections to get me started if I chose to. Of course Liz has worked very hard and also has great connections, which leads to another big point she made about maintaining good relationships with people, which I think we can all understand is advantageous, whatever your background.  

Briefly, her background, she initially worked in editorial, and wrote a book about oils, linked to diet I believed. After deciding on setting up a business with her business partner in 1995, they developed the company from mail order (and QVC) to what it is today, having sold it a year ago to Avon, whilst still maintaining independence. 

I found it fascinating to hear about the way ingredients were sourced, with some products requiring the perfect ingredient to be complete (for example their shampoo which took 6 years to produce) and some products being developed from finding a perfect ingredient (for example the firming bust cream). Now more than ever, sustainability of these sources is a key issue, so the great connections and relationship Liz has with growers means that she has the ingredients she needs. 

There were some other great things that Liz said; 'Crawl, Walk, Run', and ‘if it has to be now, it has to be no’ - the idea that you should never rush a decision or a product and that you should always stick to your principals and not succumb to the pressure, ultimately striving to produce something that works and that you are happy with. Surprisingly, she also said something along the lines of not having time frames when initially starting up, and I get the impression that there wasn’t too much planning, linked to taking opportunities as they come. 


She also talked about the importance of valuing and keeping your customer happy. I personally know that Liz Earle are true to this, since I previously had a problem with products I had brought from QVC which were off (unused but pretty old and smelt bad) which they replaced no questioned asked. Liz also made a very good point that beauty is a luxury and about pleasure rather than a necessity, which is why she believed so strongly that the packaging and feel of her products should be like ‘getting a present’ She also introduced me to the word ‘ masstige,’ the middle ground of products between mass market (drug store) and prestige. Personally, I have always considering Liz Earle products as prestige, for me anything more than £10-£15 are!   

Every guest was also given a goody bag containing: this months Marie Claire, which luckily I hadn’t brought yet and contains a Body Shop body butter freebie as a bonus, three Liz Earle skin care products (which turned out to be my favourites!), all presented in a specially designed Marie Claire bag by Reiss.


Overall it was a great event, and I am hoping to attend another related to publishing when the tickets go on sale in June. 

Finally one my favourite things said on the night and one I definitely inspire to achieve;

‘If you do something you love, you never do a days work’